NOTES for Job 32:1-22
Elihu has not been mentioned even once until now. He appears quite unexpectedly, and we know nothing about him except his origin and the fact that he is young. Still less do we know whether he had known Job in earlier times and, if he had, what their relationship had been. In any case, Elihu did not try to accuse Job under the guise of sympathy, and his words were not a stab in the back from someone whose support was expected.
Elihu's anger is prompted by zeal for God, whom none of the participants in the long conversation managed to defend properly. Here again we encounter the evaluative judgment of the unnamed narrator, who notes that Job justified himself rather than God. Elihu is a human being like everyone else, and he is aware of his lesser experience compared with those present. His words, like those of the other participants in the conversation, cannot contain the whole truth in an absolute sense. Yet to draw nearer to it, every point of view must be taken into account, especially one that comes from an unexpected direction.