Scripture Daily

Context No. 1417 of 4322 · Job

Context · Reflection

Job 32:6-22: in context

6Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old. Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion. 7I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ 8But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding. 9It is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice. 10Therefore I said, ‘Listen to me; I also will show my opinion.’ 11“Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say. 12Yes, I gave you my full attention, but there was no one who convinced Job, or who answered his words, among you. 13Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom. God may refute him, not man;’ 14for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches. 15“They are amazed. They answer no more. They don’t have a word to say. 16Shall I wait, because they don’t speak, because they stand still, and answer no more? 17I also will answer my part, and I also will show my opinion. 18For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me. 19Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst. 20I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. 21Please don’t let me respect any man’s person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man. 22For I don’t know how to give flattering titles, or else my Maker would soon take me away.

A new voice enters the book of Job. Elihu, a young man who has held his tongue while his elders spoke, can no longer keep silent. I am young, he says, and you are old, so I held back and did not dare declare my opinion; I thought that age should speak and length of years teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in a mortal, and the breath of the Almighty gives understanding; it is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice. He has listened, given the older men his full attention, found that none of them answered Job, and now, full of words and unable to hold them in, he must speak, and he resolves to flatter no one.

Elihu names a truth that both humbles and emboldens: it is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand; the Spirit of God gives understanding. Wisdom is not automatically conferred by age or status or position; it is a gift of God's Spirit, and it can rest on a young and unimportant person while eluding the eminent and the old. This cuts two ways. It humbles the great and the aged, who cannot presume that their years or their standing make them wise; understanding is God's to give, not seniority's to claim. And it emboldens the young and the lowly, who need not assume that truth belongs only to their elders and betters; if God has given them to see something true, they may have something to say that the eminent have missed. Elihu holds both sides well. He waited, out of genuine respect for his elders, and gave them a full hearing before speaking; his was not the brashness of youth that will not listen. But when he saw that they had failed to answer Job, he found the courage to speak the truth God had given him, and to speak it without flattering anyone, whatever their rank. That is a rare and good balance, the humility to defer and listen, joined to the courage to speak the truth when it is given, without deferring so far that truth is silenced. Wisdom comes from the Spirit; hold it humbly, but do not bury it because you are young or the others are great.

Do I assume that wisdom belongs to the great and the aged, deferring so far that I bury the truth God has given me, or do I hold Elihu's balance, listening humbly to my elders yet finding the courage to speak the truth when it is given, without flattering anyone?

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