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The Pause After Job's Speech
v. 1. So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes, because they could not get him to admit that his sufferings were in any way the result of some particular iniquity because his protestations of his innocence silenced them,
v. 2. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, a descendant of Nahor, whose tribe also lived a nomadic life in the Arabian Desert, of the kindred of Ram, that being the name of his immediate family; against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himself rather than God, declaring himself to be righteous before God and insisting that he had not merited the sufferings which had come upon him.
v. 3. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. They had not been able to refute his statements, they had not hit upon the right answer to his arguments; their condemnation of Job in those circumstances was a poor substitute for a conviction, a cowardly expedient.
v. 4. Now, Elihu, who may have been present from the beginning of the debate or had heard at least a large part of it, had waited till Job had spoken, until he had finished his entire argument, all that he had to say in his own defense, because they were elder than he, he was younger than any of those who had joined in the debate till now.
v. 5. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, they were unable to present a solution of the problem, then his wrath was kindled, he felt that he could now no longer be quiet. The respect shown by Elihu in waiting till the older men had finished their discussion is very commendable and may well serve as an example to many forward young people of our day.