What is the role of Elihu in the book of Job?
There are wildly different opinions of this character in the book of Job. What is your opinion about him and his role in this story? Moderator's note: Please support your opinion with biblical evidence.
Job 32:1 - 37:24
ESV - 1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
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Asked 3 days ago
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Christopher Monroe
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
Commentaries that I have read place Elihu in the role of "God's man" in the dialogue in the book. Even God Himself, when He enters the "conversation", says to Eliphaz in Job 42:7, “I am angry with you and your two friends [Bildad and Zophar, but omitting Elihu], because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has". Even though Elihu's name is not mentioned specifically at that time, this clearly implies to me that God was satisfied with his viewpoint and words in a way that He had not been with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, for the reasons stated in Job 32:3.
Shirley H
Supporter
I quote from KJV footnote -- Job 32:2: "Elihu has a far juster and more spiritual conception of the problem than Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar because he has an infinitely higher conception of God. "The God of Eliphaz and the others, great though they perceive Him to be in His works, becomes in their thought petty and exacting in his relations with mankind. "It is the fatal misconception of all religious externalists and moralizers. "Their God is always a small God. Elihu's account of God is noble and true, and it is noteworthy that at the last Jehovah does not class him with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar (cf. Job 42:7); but he is still a dogmatist, and his eloquent discourse is marred by self-assertiveness (e.g. 32:8,9; 33:3). "Jehovah's judgment of Elihu is that he darkened council by words (38:2); the very charge that Elihu had brought against Job (34:35; 35:16). "Furthermore, the discourse of Jehovah is wholly free from the accusations of Job with which even Elihu's lofty discourse abounds."
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