Elihu

Five men in the Hebrew scriptures bear the name Elihu. The most prominent is the Buzite who breaks his silence near the close of Job's dialogue and answers Job in his own right rather than as one of Job's three companions. The remaining four are an ancestor of Samuel, a Manassite warrior who joined David at Ziklag, a Korahite temple porter, and a chief of the tribe of Judah whose verse names him as one of David's brothers.

Elihu the Buzite, Son of Barachel

Elihu enters the book of Job after the three companions have fallen silent. He is named with full lineage: "Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified his soul rather than God" (Job 32:2). The text deliberately distinguishes Elihu from "his three companions"; "Also against his three companions was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job" (Job 32:3). He has waited for them to finish out of deference to age — "Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he" (Job 32:4) — and only when their silence becomes settled does he speak (Job 32:5).

Elihu's opening defends his right to speak despite his youth. "I am young, and you⁺ are very old; Therefore I held back, and didn't dare show you⁺ my opinion" (Job 32:6). He overturns the assumption that wisdom belongs to the aged: "But there is a spirit in common man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. It is not the great who are wise, Nor the aged who understand justice" (Job 32:8-9). He is, by his own account, full of words and ready to burst, "as wine which has no vent" (Job 32:19). He pledges to flatter no one — "I don't know to give flattering titles; [Else] would my Maker soon take me away" (Job 32:22).

The Address to Job

In his second movement Elihu turns directly to Job by name. "Nevertheless, Job, I pray you, hear my speech, And listen to all my words" (Job 33:1). He stakes his own claim to creaturely standing: "The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4). Elihu insists he meets Job on level ground — "Look, I am toward God even as you are: I also am formed out of the clay" (Job 33:6) — and that Job will not be terrified into silence by him (Job 33:7).

He then summarizes Job's complaint as he has heard it: that Job claims to be clean and without transgression while God treats him as an enemy, putting his feet in the stocks (Job 33:9-11). Elihu answers that "God is greater than common man" (Job 33:12) and that God does in fact speak — once, twice — though men do not regard it: in dreams and visions of the night, opening the ears of men and sealing their warning (Job 33:14-16). The result of such warning is to withdraw a man from his purpose, hide pride from him, and keep his soul back from the pit (Job 33:17-18).

Suffering itself is a second mode of divine speech. The man chastened on his bed, his flesh consumed and his soul drawing near to the pit (Job 33:19-22), may yet meet "an angel, An interpreter, one among a thousand, To show to man what is right for him" (Job 33:23). When that mediation is found, God says, "Protect him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24), and the man is restored. Elihu summarizes: "Look, God works all these things, Twice, [yes] thrice, with a [noble] man, To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of the living" (Job 33:29-30).

The Defense of Divine Justice

Elihu's third speech presses the question of God's justice. He calls the wise to weigh his words as the palate tastes food (Job 34:2-3) and recapitulates Job's charge: "For Job has said, I am righteous, And God has taken away my right" (Job 34:5-6). Against this Elihu argues a categorical principle: "Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, And from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. For the work of man he will render to him, And cause a man to find according to his ways" (Job 34:10-11). The argument grounds itself in God's office as creator and sustainer: "If he sets his heart on himself, [If] he gathers to himself his spirit and his breath; All flesh will perish together, And man will turn again to dust" (Job 34:14-15).

The same God who sustains all flesh sees all conduct. "For his eyes are on the ways of a man, And he sees all his goings. There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves" (Job 34:21-22). He shows no favoritism between princes and the poor; "all of them are the work of his hands" (Job 34:19). Elihu's verdict on Job's words is sharp: "Job speaks without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom" (Job 34:35), for he "adds rebellion to his sin" and multiplies words against God (Job 34:37).

In a fourth speech he argues that human righteousness and wickedness do not enrich or impoverish God himself. "Look to the heavens, and see; And look at the skies, which are higher than you. If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?" (Job 35:5-6). The reach of conduct is sideways, not upward: "Your wickedness [may hurt] a man as you are; And your righteousness [may profit] a son of man" (Job 35:8). When the oppressed cry without asking after their Maker — the one "Who gives songs in the night" (Job 35:10) — God does not answer the empty cry (Job 35:12-13).

The God Who Teaches and Thunders

Elihu's final discourse opens by claiming to speak on God's behalf with knowledge fetched from afar (Job 36:2-3). The God he describes is "mighty, and does not despise any: He is mighty in strength of understanding" (Job 36:5). Affliction is shown to be pedagogy: when men are bound in fetters, God "shows them their work, And their transgressions" and "opens also their ear to instruction, And commands that they return from iniquity" (Job 36:8-10). The two outcomes follow the response — "If they listen and serve [him], They will spend their days in prosperity" (Job 36:11); "But if they don't listen, they will perish by the sword, And they will die without knowledge" (Job 36:12). "He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, And opens their ear in oppression" (Job 36:15).

The discourse moves from instruction to creation. "Look, God is great, and we don't know him; The number of his years is unsearchable" (Job 36:26). Elihu describes the water cycle and the storm — drops drawn up and distilled in rain (Job 36:27-28), the spreadings of the clouds, the thunderings of God's pavilion, the lightning that strikes the mark (Job 36:29-32). His own heart trembles as he speaks: "Yes, at this my heart trembles, And is moved out of its place" (Job 37:1). He calls Job to listen to the noise of God's voice (Job 37:2-5) and to consider the snow, the rain, the ice that comes by the breath of God (Job 37:6-10), the cloud turned about by God's guidance to do whatever he commands "Whether it is for correction, or for his land, Or for loving-kindness" (Job 37:12-13).

The closing summons to Job is deliberate: "Listen to this, O Job: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God" (Job 37:14). Question after question presses Job's ignorance — the balancings of the clouds, the warming of garments under the south wind, the spreading of a sky "strong as a molten mirror" (Job 37:15-18). Elihu ends in confessed limit: "[Concerning] the Almighty, we can't find him out: He is excellent in power; And in justice and plenteous righteousness he will not afflict. Men therefore fear him: He does not regard any who are wise of heart" (Job 37:23-24).

Elihu, Son of Tohu

A second Elihu appears in the genealogy of Samuel: "Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite" (1Sa 1:1). The same line surfaces in 1 Chronicles with variant spellings: "the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah" (1Ch 6:34), and again as "Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son" (1Ch 6:27). The names Elihu, Eliel, and Eliab attach to the same position in the line of Samuel's forebears.

Elihu the Manassite

A third Elihu joins David at Ziklag among defectors from the tribe of Manasseh: "As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh" (1Ch 12:20). He is named among "captains of thousands" — military leaders who came over to David before his accession.

Elihu Among the Temple Porters

A fourth Elihu appears in the Korahite line of doorkeepers, listed among the sons of Shemaiah: "The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, Elzabad, whose brothers were valiant men, Elihu, and Semachiah" (1Ch 26:7). He is identified by his brotherhood to Elzabad in a roster of valiant men.

Elihu of Judah

A fifth Elihu appears in the list of David's tribal chiefs: "of Judah, Elihu, one of the brothers of David: of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael" (1Ch 27:18). The verse identifies him as a brother of David. The same text in 1 Samuel uses the name Eliab for David's eldest brother — "And it came to pass, when they had come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him" (1Sa 16:6) — which is why this Elihu and Eliab are sometimes treated as the same man under two forms of the name.