Job 32:12

Elihu had waited patiently while Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar made their arguments. He paid close attention to everything they said. He would not speak at all until the three friends had fallen silent and Job too had finished his words. Clearly it was true that not one of the three could convince Job or answer the problems he had raised (vv.11-12).

He had listened closely to all they had said, and not one of them had convinced Job or answered him properly. We need only look back at the speeches of Eliphaz. They begin in such a lofty, dignified way and end in the most brutal accusations. Bildad's words are similar, though not so harsh. Zophar's declarations are fierce. Put them together, and we see how fully Elihu was justified in what he said. Truly he could add that they had no right to claim they had found out wisdom.

"I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words." And that was perfectly true. He saw that it was a question of God. They had not really brought in the true God as He is. ... Their speeches were entirely powerless. He was full of indignation that they went on still blaming Job, and could not convince him of anything wrong. They had entirely missed their way.

Note this: "There was no answer." They reasoned, they argued, they appealed to experience, tradition, and law. Still there was "no answer." ... Job's friends had covered a very wide range and said many true things. They tried many replies. But note it carefully: they found "no answer." Nothing on earth or in nature can find an answer for a self-righteous heart. God alone can answer it, as we shall see later on. The unbroken heart has a ready reply for everyone except God.

"There was none among you who refuted Job." This was clear enough. Job was as far from being convinced at the end of the discussion as he was at the start. Indeed, each fresh argument drawn from the store of experience, tradition, and law only stirred up something fresh and deeper in Job's nature — a nature he had never judged, never subdued, never put to death.

Elihu was silent for a long time, and at last he speaks. In this we see the modesty, and yet the holy confidence, of a man who knows the Spirit is in him and with him. He waits until "years" have spoken, fully allowing that "years" should know wisdom and speak with understanding. But he finds it is not so at all. Their answers to Job only made bad worse, and that proved it. ... His silence had given "years," the elders, the men of old, their due. He did not refuse their rightful claims out of pride or a rebellious spirit. But he would not sacrifice the truth, or the rights of the Spirit, to anyone.

Elihu is a name with a meaning, and the meaning given to us is "God Himself." Keep that in mind, then read verse 6 of Job 33. We shall see that he stepped in to play the part of a mediator. So he becomes a picture — though a faint one — of the true Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Elihu was truly a man, formed out of the clay, and he stood before Job on God's behalf, which is just what Job had asked for in Job 9:33.