Job had finished his speech. And his friends were silent. But a young
man called Elihu wanted to speak.
People have different opinions about Elihu. Some people say that Elihu
was foolish. And, they say that his words merely repeat ideas from the
speeches of Job’s friends. We do not agree. We think... [ Continue Reading ]
JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD
Job
_KEITH SIMONS_
Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible.
This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.
CHAPTER 32
ELIHU PREPARES HIS SPEECH
ELIHU’S REACTION TO THE OTHER SPEECHES
V1 So, these three men did not continue to answer Job. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Job protested that he was innocent. And he blamed God for his
troubles.
In fact, Job was a good man. His behaviour was right. But nobody
should accuse God. Job should have insisted that God is good.
We do not need to prove that we are right. Instead, we should trust
God. God is a fair judge. And i... [ Continue Reading ]
The three friends blamed Job for his own troubles. They were being
cruel to Job. They had no evidence. But they still accused Job.
Jesus warned that we should not act like judges. Of course, there must
be real judges in the courts. And the Bible gives great honour to
these judges. But many people w... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu was polite. He respected the older men. He did not interrupt
them.
ELIHU THOUGHT THAT THE OTHER MEN SHOULD BE WISE
V6 So, Elihu (son of Barakel, who belonged to the people called
Buzites) spoke. He said:
I am young. You are old. So, I was afraid to tell you what I know. V7
I thought that an... [ Continue Reading ]
Older people are usually wiser than young people. Older people have
learned many valuable lessons in their long lives.
But there is a difference between human wisdom and God’s wisdom (1
Corinthians 1:18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:27). So we need God’s Holy
Spirit to teach us about God (1 Corinthians 2:9-1... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu spoke like a lawyer. He had listened to the other speeches. He
thought carefully about them. But the three friends’ arguments did
not impress him. He saw that they had no evidence to accuse Job. He
believed that Job’s speeches were better than theirs.
The three friends had failed to prove tha... [ Continue Reading ]
In Job 2:13, the three friends were silent because Job’s words upset
them. But now they had argued with Job. And so nobody wanted to speak,
except Elihu. He had waited patiently during their long speeches. And
he was desperate to speak.... [ Continue Reading ]
In the Bible, many holy men are called prophets. These men did not
merely speak their own ideas. Rather, they spoke by the Holy Spirit (2
Peter 1:20-21). They described their experience in different ways.
Sometimes the Spirit felt like a wind that was blowing through them
(John 3:8). In fact, in the... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu spoke like a lawyer. He promised to be fair to everyone. So he
realised his own responsibilities.
Elihu would not lie to try to prove his ideas. His words would be
sincere. He knew that God was listening to his words. And God was not
merely Job’s judge. God was Elihu’s judge too.... [ Continue Reading ]