Job 32King James Version

The three friends have stopped arguing because Job justified himself. Now a fourth figure speaks: Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite. He is young and has been holding back out of deference to the elders. But the friends have not refuted Job and God has not spoken, and Elihu is full of words that must come out. He is angry with both Job and the friends. He speaks at length in chapters 32 through 37.

Elihu is the wild card. He criticizes both Job's claim of innocence and the friends' failure to answer. He claims his words come from the spirit of God. The reader must decide whether to trust him.

2: "Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God." Elihu's anger is specific: Job has made his own righteousness the center of the argument rather than God's.

Elihu's genealogy is given with care, suggesting he is a real figure in the tradition, not a literary device. He is young enough to have deferred to the elders but old enough to have formed definite opinions. He has been listening to the entire dialogue. His patience has run out.

Elihu, a new and younger figure not introduced in the prologue, speaks for the first time. He is verbose, earnest, and somewhat self-impressed. The three friends are addressed and criticized. Job is the primary target of Elihu's correction.

Elihu's role in the book is contested. Some see him as a transitional figure preparing Job for God's speech. Others see him as another failed comforter. Notably, God does not rebuke Elihu at the end of the book the way he rebukes the three friends. His contribution may be more nuanced than the friends' but it still fails to satisfy.

Elihu is the person who was quiet during the argument and then, when everyone else runs out of things to say, launches into the longest monologue. His self-description as full of words like new wine in a bottle is both accurate and a little much.