Job 32:17

I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Job 32:17-18. I will answer also my part — I will take my turn and speak what they have omitted. I am full of matter — I have many things to say in this cause; the spirit within me constraineth me — My spirit, or soul, is so entirely dissatisfied with what hath hitherto been spoken, and so clearly apprehends what may silence Job and end the dispute, that it forceth me to speak. Or rather he means, that God’s Spirit had so enlightened his understanding by discovering the truth of the matter to him, and had so inspired him with zeal, that he was constrained thereby to plead God’s cause against Job. “As he was a young man,” says Heath, “he dared not claim much authority from his own sayings; but he claims it from the inspiration of the Almighty, by whose Spirit he was actuated, and whose oracles he was delivering.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:15-22 If we are sure that the Spirit of God suggested what we are about to say, still we ought to refrain, till it comes to our turn to speak. God is the God of order, not of confusion. It is great refreshment to a good man, to speak for the glory of the Lord, and to edify others. And the more we consider the majesty of God, as our Maker, and the more we dread his wrath and justice, the less shall we sinfully fear or flatter men. Could we set the wrath Lord always before us, in his mercies and his terrors, we should not be moved from doing our duty in whatever we are called to do.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I also will show mine opinion - In this language, as in Job 32:6, there is a delicate expression of modesty in the Hebrew which does not appear in our translation. It is אף־אני 'aph 'ănı̂y - even I. "Even one so young, and so humble as I, may be permitted to express my sentiments, when the aged and the great have nothing more to say. It will be no improper intrusion for even me to speak when no other one more aged and honorable desires to." In all this we may discern a degree of courtesy, and a delicate sense of propriety, which may be commended to the imitation of all, and especially to the young. In the manners of the pious men whose biography is recorded in the Bible, there is a degree of refinement, delicacy, and courtesy, in their treatment of others, such as will seldom be found even in the most elevated walks of life, and such as religion only can produce. The outward form may be obtained by the world; the living principle is found only in the heart which is imbued with love to God and man.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. my part—for my part.

opinion—knowledge.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will take my turn, and speak what they have omitted.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I said, I will answer also my part,.... Or take his turn in giving an answer to Job; what they had given being quite insufficient and unsuitable:

I also will show mine opinion; knowledge, or sentiment; this for a while he was fearful of doing, but, upon a thorough and serious consideration of things, he determined upon it, and now repeats it, to assure he would do it; the reasons of which follow.

Geneva Study Bible

I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - I said, I will answer also my part, I also will show mine opinion. The initial "I said" is superfluous. Elihu, having asked himself the question, "Shall I wait?" in ver. 16, here gives the answer. He will not wait any longer, he will take the word, he will set forth his conviction. Job 32:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

15 They are amazed, they answer no more,

Words have fled from them.

16 And I waited, for they spake not,

For they stand still, they answer no more.

17 Therefore I also will answer for my part,

I will declare my knowledge, even I.

In order to give a more rapid movement and an emotional force to the speech, the figure asyndeton is introduced in Job 32:15, as perhaps in Jeremiah 15:7, Ew. 349, a. Most expositors render העתּיקוּ passively, according to the sense: they have removed from them, i.e., are removed from them; but why may העתיק not signify, like Genesis 12:8; Genesis 26:22, to move away, viz., the tent equals to wander on (Schlottm.)? The figure: words are moved away (as it were according to an encampment broken up) from them, i.e., as we say: they have left them, is quite in accordance with the figurative style of this section. It is unnecessary to take והוחלתּי, Job 32:16, with Ew. (342, c) 2 and Hirz. as perf. consec. and interrogative: and should I wait, because they speak no more? Certainly the interrog. part. sometimes disappears after the Waw of consequence, e.g., Ezekiel 18:13, Ezekiel 18:24 (and will he live?); but by what would והוחלתי be distinguished as perf. consec. here? Hahn's interpretation: I have waited, until they do not speak, for they stand ... , also does not commend itself; the poet would have expressed this by עד לא ידברו, while the two כי, especially with the poet's predilection for repetition, appear to be co-ordinate. Elihu means to say that he has waited a long time, surprised that the three did not speak further, and that they stand still without speaking again. Therefore he thinks the time is come for him also to answer Job. אענה cannot be fut. Kal, since where the 1 fut. Kal and Hiph. cannot be distinguished by the vowel within the word (as in the Ayin Awa and double Ayin verbs), the former has an inalienable Segol; it is therefore 1 fut. Hiph., but not as in Ecclesiastes 5:19 in the signification to employ labour upon anything (lxx περισπᾶν), but in an intensive Kal signification (as הזעיק for זעק, Job 35:9, comp. on Job 31:18): to answer, to give any one an answer when called upon. Ewald's supposedly proverbial: I also plough my field! (192, c, Anm. 2) does unnecessary violence to the usage of the language, which is unacquainted with this הענה, to plough. It is perfectly consistent with Elihu's diction, that חלקי beside אני as permutative signifies, "I, my part," although it might also be an acc. of closer definition (as pro parte mea, for my part), or even - which is, however, less probable - acc. of the obj. (my part). Elihu speaks more in the scholastic tone of controversy than the three.