I assume, as the reader will observe, the one assured result of the criticism of Job. To those who follow me in this, the speeches of Elihu will, I think, gain greatly in interest. They mark out a time when, partly through the teaching of history, partly through a deeper inward experience, and partly through the reading of the poem of Job, the old difficulties of faith were no longer so acutely felt. Two courses were open to the Epigoni of that age—either to force Job to say what, as it seemed, he ought to have said (this, however, was not so easy as in the case of Ecclesiastes), or to insert fresh speeches in the style of the original, separating the corn from the chaff in the pleadings of the three friends, and adding whatever a more advanced religious thought suggested to the writer. In forms of expression, however, it must be admitted that Elihu does not shine. (True, he does not profess to comfort Job.) For offensiveness the two following verses are not easily matched:
Where is there a man like Job,
who drinks[[43]] scoffing like water? (xxxiv. 7.)
Would that Job might be tried to the uttermost
because of his answers in the manner of wicked men (xxxiv. 36).
A ‘vulgar braggart’ he may not be from an Oriental point of view, nor is he ‘the prototype of the Bachelor in Faust;’ but that he is too positive and dogmatic, and much overrates his own powers, is certain. He represents the dogmatism of a purified orthodoxy, which thinks too much of its minute advances (‘one perfect in knowledge is with thee,’ xxxvi. 4).
Elihu distributes his matter (of which he says that he is ‘full,’ xxxii. 18-20) over four speeches. His themes in the first three are: 1, the ground and object of suffering (chaps. xxxii., xxxiii.); 2, the righteousness of God (chap. xxxiv.); and 3, the use of religion (chap. xxxv.), all of which are treated in relation to the questionable or erroneous utterances of Job. Then, in his last and longest effort, Elihu unrolls before Job a picture of the government of God, in its beneficence and righteousness as well as its omnipotence, in the hope of moving Job to self-humiliation (chaps. xxxvi., xxxvii.) Let us remember again that Elihu represents the debates of the ‘wise men’ of the post-regal period, who were conscious of being in some sense ‘inspired’ like their prophetic predecessors (xxxii. 8, xxxvi. 4; Ecclus. xxiv. 32-34, l. 28, 29), so that we cannot believe that the bizarre impression made by Elihu on some Western critics was intended by the original author. That his portrait suggests certain grave infirmities, may be granted; but these are the failings of the circle to which the author belongs: the self-commendation of Elihu in his exordium is hardly excessive from an Oriental point of view, or would at any rate be justifiable in a more original thinker. Indeed, he only commends himself in order to excuse the unusual step of criticising the proceedings of men so much older than himself. After what he thinks sufficient excuse has been offered, Elihu takes up Job’s fundamental error, self-righteousness, but prepares the way by examining Job’s assertion (xix. 7, xxx. 20) that God took no heed of his complaints.
Wherefore hast thou contended with Him
because ‘He answers none of my words’?[[44]] (xxxiii. 13.)
To this Elihu replies that it is a man’s own fault if he cannot hear the Divine voice. For God is constantly speaking to man, if man would only regard it (‘revelation,’ then, is not confined to a class or a succession). Two means of communication are specially mentioned—nightly dreams and visions, and severe sickness. The object of both is to divert men from courses of action which can only lead to destruction. At this point a remarkable intimation is given. In order to produce conversion, and so to ‘redeem a man from going down to the pit,’ a special angelic agency is necessary—that of a ‘mediator’ or ‘interpreter’ (Targ. p’raqlītā; comp. παράκλητος, John xiv. 16, 26), whose office it is to ‘show unto man his rightness’ (i.e. how to conform his life to the right standard, xxxiii. 23).