Job 32:10

Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Therefore I said.—Equivalent to, Therefore I say. It is what he says now, as the result of former convictions.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:6-14 Elihu professes to speak by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and corrects both parties. He allowed that those who had the longest experience should speak first. But God gives wisdom as he pleases; this encouraged him to state his opinion. By attention to the word of God, and dependence upon the Holy Spirit, young men may become wiser than the aged; but this wisdom will render them swift to hear, slow to speak, and disposed to give others a patient hearing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Great men are not always wise - Though wisdom may in general be looked for in them, yet it is not universally true. Great men here denote those who are distinguished for rank, age, authority.

Neither do the aged understand judgment - That is, they do not always understand it. The word judgment here means right, truth. They do not always understand what is the exact truth in regard to the divine administration. This is an apology for what he was about to say, and for the fact that one so young should speak. Of the truth of what he here said there could be no doubt, and hence, there was a propriety that one who was young should also be allowed to express his opinion on important subjects.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Rather, "I say."

opinion—rather, "knowledge."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I said within myself, and now I say it with my mouth. Hearken to me; thou, Job, especially, who art more nearly concerned, (to whom therefore he speaketh in the singular number,) and thy friends with thee.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore I said, hearken to me,.... Thou O Job, and every one of you his friends, for the word is singular; though I am but a young man, yet if I have the Spirit of God, and am under the inspiration of the Almighty, I may be able to say something to you worth your hearing:

I also will show mine opinion; for though for a while he was timorous and fearful of doing it, lest he should mistake and expose himself, yet having duly weighed and considered the above things, he was determined to do it.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Therefore I said, Hearken to me. Elihu evidently claims, not exactly what is ordinarily understood by inspiration, but that his spirit, is divinely enlightened, and that therefore he is more competent to take part in the controversy that has been raised than many of the aged. I also will show mine opinion. "I also," or "even I" - i.e. I, young as I am, "will show my opinion," or "utter what I know on the subject." Elihu does not speak of his convictions as mere "opinions," but claims to be in possession of actual "knowledge." Job 32:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

8 Still the spirit, it is in mortal man,

And the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding.

9 Not the great in years are wise,

And the aged do not understand what is right.

10 Therefore I:say: O hearken to me,

I will declare my knowledge, even I.

The originally affirmative and then (like אוּלם) adversative אכן also does not occur elsewhere in the book of Job. In contradiction to biblical psychology, Rosenm. and others take Job 32:8 as antithetical: Certainly there is spirit in man, but ... . The two halves of the verse are, on the contrary, a synonymous ("the spirit, it is in man, viz., that is and acts") or progressive parallelism) thus according to the accents: "the spirit, even that which is in man, and ... "). It is the Spirit of God to which man owes his life as a living being, according to Job 33:4; the spirit of man is the principle of life creatively wrought, and indeed breathed into him, by the Spirit of God; so that with regard to the author it can be just as much God's רוּח or נשׁמה, Job 34:14, as in respect of the possessor: man's רוח or נשׁמה. All man's life, his thinking as well as his bodily life, is effected by this inwrought principle of life which he bears within him, and all true understanding, without being confined to any special age of life, comes solely from this divinely originated and divinely living spirit, so far as he acts according to his divine origin and basis of life. רבּים are here (as the opposite of צעירים, Genesis 25:23) grandes equals grandaevi (lxx πολυχρόνιοι). לא governs both members of the verse, as Job 3:10; Job 28:17; Job 30:24. Understanding or ability to form a judgment is not limited to old age, but only by our allowing the πνεῦμα to rule in us in its connection with the divine. Elihu begs a favourable hearing for that of which he is conscious. דּע, and the Hebr.-Aramaic הוּה, which likewise belong to his favourite words, recur here.