Then was kindled the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram against Job was his anger kindled, because he justified himself rather than God;
After twenty-nine chapters of argument, Job's three friends fall silent, and a fourth man speaks at last — in anger. His wrath burns two ways at once, and the first reason sums up the whole book: Job put his own case above God's.
The long debate had reached a dead end. One writer traces the deadlock to two fixed positions:
He could see nothing wrong in himself; and they could see nothing right. He was determined to maintain his integrity. They were just as determined to pick holes and find flaws. There was no point of contact at all — no common ground of understanding... In short, a completely different kind of ministry was needed, and Elihu is the one who brings it.
The verse gives Elihu's family line, and each name carries a meaning:
His name is full of meaning. Elihu means "my God is He." Barachel means "the Blessed God." Buzite means "the rejected One." Ram means "exalted." These names find their fullest application in our Lord, whom Elihu represents in his work as mediator.
His family puts him just outside the chosen line, yet near it:
He belonged to the family of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. He was not strictly part of the chosen family, but he was closely connected to it, like Laban and others.
Elihu names one fault on each side. One writer notes how much ground his few words cover:
Here Elihu, with remarkable force and clearness, seizes upon the very root of the matter on each side. In two short sentences he sums up the whole long discussion of twenty-nine chapters. Job justified himself instead of justifying God. They condemned Job instead of leading him to condemn himself.
Another writer weighs the two charges side by side:
Elihu's anger is stirred in two directions. He is angry with Job for failing to glorify God by owning His righteousness, and with the friends for clinging to their accusations when they could not give a single proof.
The words "rather than God" set up a choice that reaches far past Job:
Nothing matters more morally than to see this. Whenever we justify ourselves, we condemn God. And when we condemn ourselves, we justify God... The moment the soul breaks down in true self-judgment, God rises before it as a Justifier, in all the majesty of His grace. But as long as self-defence or self-satisfaction rules us, we stay complete strangers to that blessing. It is the deep blessedness of the person to whom God credits righteousness without works. The greatest folly anyone can commit is to justify himself, since God must then charge sin against him. But the truest wisdom is to condemn yourself completely, for then God becomes the Justifier.
Job's facts were right. His self-defence was still the wrong move, and the same root held his friends back:
He did justify himself. The chapter we have just read is self-justification from beginning to end. What he said was true as a matter of fact. But it was completely out of place in a question about God's dealings, and about why this great affliction had come upon him... What was it that hindered these three friends from understanding him? The same thing that hindered Job — self. Self was not judged. Self is one of the greatest difficulties in the way of a Christian.
Elihu's anger targets something in Job, not Job himself. One writer compares it to the anger of Jesus:
Elihu was for Job; but he was not for his self-righteousness. This is what he was angry at. When the blessed Jesus walked this earth, nothing made Him as angry as the self-righteousness of the Pharisees. It filled Him with indignation... Yet though Elihu was so grieved at Job's great mistake, his heart still yearned over him.
Another writer reads Elihu's late entrance as a picture of Christ:
So the Lord Jesus did not come on the scene until late in the world's history. Men were first given time to state all their opinions about why God allows suffering, even in people who were not guilty of wrongdoing... Now the true Mediator between God and men has come, and every question is resolved in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Self — the root problem in all four men was self unjudged. Job defended himself, and his friends defended their accusations.
- Swap — Job justified himself instead of justifying God. The friends condemned Job instead of leading him to condemn himself.
- Cost — whoever justifies himself condemns God, and God must then charge sin against him.
- Exchange — whoever condemns himself justifies God, and God then becomes the Justifier.
- Mediator — Elihu's anger is against self-righteousness, not against Job. His name and his timing point to the one Mediator who answers every question.
and against his three friends was his anger kindled, because they found no answer, and [yet] condemned Job.
Elihu's anger flares in two directions at once. It burns at Job. It also burns at the three friends who had argued with him for chapter after chapter. Verse 3 explains the second half of that anger. The friends had condemned a man without ever answering him. So what makes a rebuke worthless, even when the speaker means well?
The three friends have run out of words. Job still stands on his own innocence. One writer sets out what stirs Elihu on each side:
The three friends have been silenced, and Job is left entrenched in his self-righteousness. So Elihu's anger is stirred two ways. He is angry at Job for failing to glorify God by acknowledging His righteousness. He is angry at the friends for holding on to their accusations when they could not give a single proof.
This is not a man taking sides in a quarrel. Having heard everything, he finds fault everywhere:
So we can understand why Elihu's anger burned against Job. He was entirely on God's side. Job was not. We hear nothing of Elihu until chapter 32, yet he had clearly listened closely to the whole discussion. He gave a patient hearing to both sides, and he found that both were wrong. Job was wrong in trying to defend himself, and the friends were wrong in trying to condemn him.
The charge in verse 3 is precise. The friends had a verdict but no case. One writer weighs their speeches one by one and finds the complaint fair:
He had listened carefully to all they had said, and not one of them had convinced Job or given him a satisfactory answer. Look back at the speeches of Eliphaz. They begin in a lofty, dignified way and end in the most brutal charges. Bildad's words are similar, though not so harsh. Zophar's declarations are fierce. Look at all this, and you see how fully Elihu was right in what he said. He could truly add that they had no right to claim they had found wisdom. It was God, he declares, not man, who had thrust Job down and made him feel his own helplessness.
The words "found no answer" reach further than these three men. Their failure shows a limit no human argument can cross:
Note this: there was "no answer." In all their reasoning, in all their arguments, in all their appeals to experience, tradition, and law, there was "no answer." This is very instructive. Job's friends had covered a very wide range. They had said many true things. They had attempted many replies. But note it well: they found "no answer." Earth and nature hold no answer for a self-righteous heart. God alone can answer it.
Why could three thoughtful men produce nothing? The obstacle in them turns out to be the very thing they were attacking in Job:
What was it that kept these three friends from understanding him? The same thing that held Job back — self. Self was not judged. Self is one of the greatest difficulties in the way of a Christian — it stood in the way of a sinner long ago, and it still does among Christians today.
Elihu is not alone in this judgement. God Himself later rebukes the three friends — and their whole aim had been to defend His righteousness:
So we need not be surprised that God turns to Eliphaz and his friends with a stern rebuke for their part in the argument, which has now closed so happily for Job. He speaks to Eliphaz as the leader of the three. He declares His anger against them all, because they had not spoken what is right about Him, as His servant Job had. And yet their whole case had seemed to be for God's righteousness! Had they not pinned the charge of wickedness on Job with no proof at all, and against well known facts to the contrary?
Elihu's anger did not make him interrupt. One writer sees a larger pattern in that delay:
Elihu knew their accusations against Job were unjust. But since he was younger than they were, he waited. He gave them time to say all they had to say before he spoke. In the same way, the Lord Jesus did not come on the scene until late in the world's history. First men had time to declare all their opinions about why God allows suffering, even the suffering of people who had done no wrong. Many, including philosophers, had raised questions about God's dealings. They discussed them from many angles, and the questions were left without any answer. Now the true Mediator between God and men has come, and every question finds its answer in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Two targets. Elihu is angry at Job for justifying himself. He is angry at the friends for condemning Job with no proof. Both sides were wrong.
- One root. What blocked the friends is what blocked Job: self, unjudged.
- No answer. Nothing in experience, tradition or law can reach a self-righteous heart; God alone can.
- Zeal misfires. The friends set out to defend God's honour, yet God rebuked them for not speaking rightly of Him.
- Waiting first. Elihu let every voice finish before he spoke. In the same way the true Mediator came when every other answer had run out.