We weren’t expecting young Elihu, especially when he tells us he’s expecting divine revelation!
Elihu addresses, head on, the first objection people might have with him speaking about such difficult subjects. If all these sage old fellows can’t figure things out, how does he think he will be able to untangle the Gordian knot? At the same time, he acknowledges that wisdom can accumulate over the years, but that there is another source of wisdom available to all—including young people like Elihu. “I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice” (Job 32:7-9). Again, don’t you find it remarkable that these men at the dawn of history somehow had a grasp of things we read as fresh discoveries in the New Testament? Here’s James: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (Jas 1:5). And Paul: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Cor 2:13). Now the words for “spirit” and “breath” in Job 32:8 are different, but as is often the case in Hebrew parallelism, the ideas are clearly related. Elihu is not thinking of an actual breath, as in the case of Adam’s creation, but a miraculous transfer of wisdom from God’s Spirit to man’s. How is it possible for some of the mighty thoughts of God to enter our little minds? In our case, the secret is that “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). So God the Father gives it, God the Spirit transfers it, and the mind of Christ receives it! Say, believer, are you struggling in the dark over some issue? Asking God for His wisdom is much better than Googling the answer!