Job 33 · a question people ask
Elihu tells Job, "In this you are not just" (33:12). Is Elihu right about Job?
Chapter 32's honest questions set out what the book does and doesn't say about Elihu; this is what this chapter adds. Before Elihu speaks, the book gives the reason for his anger with Job: "His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God" (32:2). Here, straight after the words he gives as Job's (33:9-11), he says, "Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man" (33:12). From 33:14 he speaks of man: of God working "that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man" (33:17), and of one "chastened also with pain on his bed" (33:19). He doesn't say in those verses whether he means them of Job, whom he names again only at 33:31. When the LORD speaks of Job's friends at the end, his words are to Eliphaz, about him and "your two friends" (42:7); Elihu isn't named there, or anywhere after 36:1. These notes add no verdict on his speeches, for them or against them.
The verses
“Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.”
“‘I am clean, without disobedience. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy. He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.’ “Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man.”
“For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention.”
“that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.”