The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 511

!ffld h~s fri~nda, to _whioh alRO we oan euppoee the.t Elihu he.d list.ened, the oite.del of Job's rntegnty, 1f not rn de.nger of being o&ptured, waa at any rate rudely shaken, e.nd that victory, in the grand fundamental debate or controversy of the poem was inclining to the side of the devil. But as God never lee.ves his people in their h~ur of neP.d, so neither was Job eu1fered to be taken captive by the craft of Satan. And accordingly Elihu is at this point introduced upon the stage. 3, The purpose of hia introdu<:tion. (1) Doctrinal completeness. Oonsidered as a theological discussion, nothing could have been less satisfactory than the position of matters e.t the close of Job's monologue. On the one hand, the friends had exhausted themselves in e.n attempt to demonstrate their particular theory without convincing Job. On the other hand, Job ha~ uttered his l9:5t word without converting them to his we.y of thinking. On the one e1de, they rema.1ned. exactly as they were, both BB to the truth of their dogma. and as to its bearing on the case of Job. On the other side, Job himself was hopc>lessly entangled in a futile endeavour to reconcile the seemingly insoluble contre.- diction which existed. between his outward lot e.nd his inward condition. So far &s the right rela.tion of suffering to sin WBB concerned, neither of the disputants had discovered it. Occasionally, indeed, Job seemed to izet a glimpse of it (eh. xxiii. 10), as also did Eliphaz (eh. v. 17); but for the most part the remedial, corrective, beneficent, preda- gogic uses of e.dversity were not understood. This view of affliction, therefore, required to be prominently exhibited, if the poem were at all to be redeemed from a charge of incompleteness, of starting a problem it could not answer, of propounding an enigma it could not solve; e.nd this was done by setting forth Elihu to clear away the doctrinal fogs which he.d gathered around the otherwise acute mind of Job, no less than round the less penetrative intellects of his friends. (2) Dramatic unity. Recurring to the problem lying at the basis of the poem, the controversy represented as existing between God and Satan, and solemnly put to trial in the person of Job, was not whether man, standing alone and unaided on the platform of nature, could maintain bis integrity to Heaven, but whether man could do so on the platform of grace (vide eh. i. 9, homi- letics). It was needful, therefore, that, just at the moment when Job seemed to be on the eve of giving way, he should receive such assistance as grace could impart; and this, again, wz.s done by Elihu, who, speaking from a Divine impulse, "sets before Job clearer, fuller, and more accurate views of the Divine character and modes of pro- cedure in dealing with the children of men. and thereby seeks to reinforce him in his struggle with his friends, and to prevent him from succumbing beneath the temp- tations of the foe" (vide British and Foreign Evangelical Review, October, 1872, art. "The Problem of Job," by the Rev. T. Whitelaw, M.A.), 'l'hus the interlocution of Elibu is not so much "what Job had repeatedly called. for, a confutation of his opinions, not effected by an overwhelming display of Divine power, but by rational and human argument" (Canon Cook, in • Speaker's Commentary '), or "the human verdict on the controversy between Job and the friends, which we want to hear almost as much as the Divine verdict" (Cox), as the special illumination which Divine grace had t.o shed upon the problem agitated between him and them, which illumination wa.s conveyed to him through the instrumentality of Elibu, as it is now more amply and luminowtly unfolded to us in the gospel. 4. The spirit of his intervention. (1) His wrath was kindled. That F:lihu should have given way to an uncalled-for ebul- lition of anger, if such be the view adopted of hie passionate excitement, was no more a proof that he did not speak under inspiration than was the fact that be me.de use of Aramaisms, and committed certain inelegancies of style. "It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing," and Elihu's indignation was amply vindicated by the conduct first of Job (ver. 2), e.nd secondly of the friends (ver. 3). Yet (2) bis modesty was conspicuous. The style of severe animadversion &dopted by many commentators, both ancient and modem, in stigmatizing Elibu as "an emblem of confident arrogance" (Gregory the Great), as an example of the ambitious orator (Strigel), as" arrogant e.nd bold" (Herder), aa "a conceited prati:r" (Umbreit), an(l his addresses e.s "the weak and rambling speeches of a boy," is quite unwarranted. Not only had he waited respectfully until his elders had concluded. their disputations (ver. 4), but with much humility he attributed any value his contributions might possess, not to the intrinsio excellence of bis own genius, but to the fact of his inspiration (ver. 8), which rendered him little more than the mouthpieoe of Heaven. cm. :xxxn. 1-22.] TRE BOOK OF JOB.