Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel
the
Buzite
Both against Job and his three friends, for reasons after given;
who this person was is not easy to say; they debase him too much,
who make him to be Balaam the soothsayer, according to the
tradition of the Jews F7; for neither the time he lived in,
nor his character, will agree with him; this man living before
the times of Balaam; and being also a holy good man, which all
his discourses show: and they too much exalt him who make him to
be Christ; for though some phrases, being strained, may seem to
agree with him, and some things in the signification of his name,
and the names of his ancestors, may be thought to answer to him;
Elihu signifying, "my God is he"; the son of Barachel, "the son
of the blessed God"; of the kindred of Ram, of the high and holy
line; the Buzite, one "despised" and reproached; yet there are
other things that cannot be said of him, as particularly in (
Job 32:22 ) ;
besides, the Messiah seems to be spoken of by him as another
person, ( Job 33:23
Job 33:24 ) ; it
is very probable that he was one of Job's relations that was come
to visit him in his melancholy circumstances, had been a
bystander, and an hearer of the whole dispute between Job and his
friends, with the management of which he was not a little
displeased; he is described by his descent, when Job's other
three friends are not, because he was a young man, and not known
as they were: and this serves to show the truth of this history,
that it is not a mere apologue, or moral fable, but a real fact;
though who his father Barachel the Buzite was cannot easily be
determined; it is probable he was a descendant of Buz, the son of
Nahor, Abraham's brother, ( Genesis
22:20 Genesis
22:21 ) ; of this opinion are Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom;
unless it can be thought he was so called from the city Buz, of
which he might be an inhabitant, mentioned along with Dedan and
Tema, ( Jeremiah
25:23 ) , places in Edom or Idumea, where or near to which
Job lived:
of the kindred of Ram;
according to the Targum, of the kindred of Abraham, in which it
is followed by other Jewish writers F8; and some even take him
to be Isaac, the son of Abraham F9; Aben Ezra thinks he is the
same with Ram the father of Amminadab, ( Ruth 4:19 ) ; but he is
abundantly too late for this man to be of his kindred; others
take him to be the same with Aram, the son of Kemuel, a brother
of Buz, ( Genesis
22:21 ) ; these names being used for one another, either by
adding or removing a letter; see ( Matthew 1:3 ) ;
compared with ( Ruth 4:19 ) ;
against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified
himself rather
than God;
not that he made himself more just than God, he could never think
or say so, see ( Job 4:17 ) ; nor that he
was just before him or by him; for he was so in an evangelic,
though not in a legal sense; and Elihu would not have been
displeased with him for asserting that; he did not deny that Job
was a righteous man in the sight of God; nor that he was
righteous, and in the right in the sight of God, with respect to
the controversy between him and his friends; nor did he blame him
for justifying himself from their charges; but that he justified
himself "more" than God; so the Jewish writers F11
generally render it: he spent more time, and insisted longer on
his own justification than upon the justification of God in the
dealings of his providence with him; he was more careful of his
own character and reputation than he was of the honour of God,
and the glory of his justice; he said more for himself than he
did for God; and this displeased Elihu; it gave this good man
some concern, that, though Job did not directly charge God with
unrighteousness in his dealings with him, yet by consequence; and
he expressed himself in such language that would bear such a
construction, whether it was his real sense or not; and to hear
him complain so heavily of God, and at the same time enlarge so
much on his own innocence, and to importune in so bold and daring
a manner to have a hearing of his cause; these things being
observed by Elihu, raised his choler and indignation.
F7 T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 20. 4. Hieron. Quaest. seu Traditiones in Gen. fol. 69. D. so Bolducius.
F8 Jarchi, Bar Tzemach
F9 T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 20. 4.
F11 Jarchi, Aben Ezra. Ben Gersom.