Job 32:22

For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) In so doing my maker would soon take me away.—Or perhaps the meaning may be, “My Maker will almost have to forgive me:” that is, for being too candid, frank, and straightforward; for speaking too plainly. Some commentators regard Elihu’s character with great disfavour, and consider him to be an empty and arrogant talker, mainly, perhaps, from Job 32:18-19; others accept him as a wise and pious friend of Job, who not only gave him good advice, but perhaps more nearly than any other of the disputants hit the truth about Job’s afflictions. We are probably more right in this latter view, because at the climax of the poem we do not read that Elihu had any share in the condemnation which was passed by God on the three friends of Job. He is not noticed for either praise or blame.

It is to be observed that the last eight verses of this chapter are a kind of soliloquy, unlike the former part of it, which was addressed to the friends, or the next chapter, which is addressed to Job.

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

For I know not to give flattering titles - I do not know how to flatter. It is not in my character; it has not been my habit. "In so doing." These words are not in the Hebrew, and they greatly mar the sense, and give a different idea from that which was intended by the speaker.

My Maker would soon take me away - Or, rather, "My Maker will soon take me away." That is, "I know that I must soon be removed, and must stand before my Maker. I must give an account for all that I say. Knowing that I am to go to the realities of another state of being, I cannot flatter people. I must tell them the exact and simple truth." There could be no better preventive of flattery than this. The conviction that we are soon to appear before God, where all are on a level, and where every mask will be stripped off, and everything appear as it is, would prevent us from ascribing to others qualities which we know they do not possess, and from giving them titles which will only exalt them in their own estimation, and hide the truth from their minds. Titles which properly belong to men, and which pertain to office, religion does not forbid us to confer - for the welfare of the community is promoted by a proper respect for the names and offices of those who rule. But no good end is answered in ascribing to men titles as mere matters of distinction, which serve to keep before them the idea of their own talents or importance; or which lead them to forget that they like others are soon to be "taken away," and called to give up their account in another world. The deep conviction that we are all soon to try the realities of a bed of death and of the grave, and that we are to go to a world where there is no delusion, and where the ascription of qualities to us here which do not belong to us will be of no avail, would prompt to a wish to state always the simple truth. Under that conviction, we should never so ascribe to another any quality of beauty, strength, or talent, any name or title, as to leave him for one moment under a deception about himself. If this rule were followed, what a change would it produce in the social, the political, the literary, and even the religious world!

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. take me away—as a punishment (Ps 102:24).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I have neither skill nor will to flatter Job or any man so as to debauch my conscience, or corrupt the truth, or speak falsely for his sake. If I should be guilty of that sin, God would quickly and sorely punish me for it. Or without this supplement,

my Maker will quickly take me away, to wit, out of this world. I dare not flatter any man, because I consider I must shortly die and go to judgment, to give an account of all my words and actions.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I know not to give flattering titles,.... He had not been brought up in such a manner, nor taught to use them; he had not been inured to them, nor did he know or approve of them; nor could he in conscience give them;

in so doing, my Maker would soon take me away; it being such a piece of wickedness, so abominable to him, and so highly resented by him, that I might justly expect he would, as he could, strike me dead at once; just as Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying, Acts 5:5, or he knew that it would be but a short time at most, and he should be taken out of the world by death, when he must appear before his Maker, his Judge, to whom he must give an account of his words, as well as actions; the awe of this being continually on his mind would not admit him to flatter any man. Some render it, "will burn me" (c), as in 2 Samuel 5:21; so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom, that is, in hell fire; see Psalm 12:2.

(c) "comburet me", Pagninus.

Geneva Study Bible

For I know not to give flattering {n} titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

(n) The Hebrew word signifies to change the name as to call a fool a wise man: meaning, that he would not cloak the truth to flatter men.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. Elihu is conscious of sincerity; it is not in his nature to flatter. His fear of God also and sense of His rectitude would deter him from such a thing; comp. Job’s language, ch. Job 13:7 seq.

These last words and many other things which Elihu says enable us to judge rightly of the part which the author intends him to play. There are some things in his manner of introducing himself and in the way in which he speaks of his own arguments, which seem to offend against modesty and almost shock our sense of decorum. We must not, however, apply Western standards of taste to the East. There was nothing further from the intention of the author of these Chapters than to make Elihu play a ridiculous part. This speaker is meant to offer what the writer judged a weighty contribution to the discussion, and to the vindication of the ways of God to man. It is just this fact, however, that Elihu is a serious speaker and yet so characterized by mannerisms that raises the question whether the author of such a character possessed the severe taste and high dramatic genius which so conspicuously belong to the author of the other characters; in other words, the question whether these chapters are not the composition of a different writer (see the Introduction).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - For I know not to give flattering titles; i.e. it is not my habit to give flattering titles, nor have I any knowledge of the art. I should expect that, if such were my habit, my Maker would soon take me away; would soon, i.e., remove me from the earth, as one whose influence was not for good, but for evil. Flattery is condemned by Job, in Job 17:5: by David, in the Psalms (Psalm 3:9; 12:2, 3; 78:36); and by Solomon, in the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 7:21; Proverbs 20:19; Proverbs 28:23, etc.).



Job 32:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

18 For I am full of words,

The spirit of my inner nature constraineth me.

19 Behold, my interior is like wine which is not opened,

Like new bottles it is ready to burst.

20 I will speak, that I may gain air,

I will open my lips and reply.

21 No, indeed, I will accept no man's person,

And I will flatter no man.

22 For I understand not how to flatter;

My Maker would easily snatch me away.

The young speaker continues still further his declaration, promising so much. He has a rich store of מלּים, words, i.e., for replying. מלתי defective for מלאתי, like יצתי for יצאתי, Job 1:21; whereas מלוּ, Ezekiel 28:6, is not only written defectively, but is also conjugated after the manner of a Lamed He verb, Ges. 23, 3, 74, rem. 4, 75, 21, c. The spirit of his inner nature constrains him, since, on account of its intensity and the fulness of this interior, it struggles to break through as through a space that is too narrow for it. בּטן, as Job 15:2, Job 15:35, not from the curved appearance of the belly, but from the interior of the body with its organs, which serve the spirit life as the strings of a harp; comp. Arab. batn, the middle or interior; bâtin, inwardly (opposite of zâhir, outwardly). His interior is like wine לא יפּתח, which, or (as an adverbial dependent clause) when it is not opened, i.e., is kept closed, so that the accumulated gas has no vent, lxx δεδεμένος (bound up), Jer. absque spiraculo; it will burst like new bottles. יבּקע is not a relative clause referring distributively to each single one of these bottles (Hirz. and others), and not an adverbial subordinate clause (Hahn: when it will explode), but predicate to בטני: his interior is near bursting like new bottles (אבות masc. like נאדות, Joshua 9:13), i.e., not such as are themselves new (ἀσκοὶ καινοὶ, Matthew 9:17, for these do not burst so easily), but like bottles of new wine, which has to undergo the action of fermentation, lxx ὥσπερ φυσητὴρ (Cod. Sinait.1 φυσητής) χαλκέως, i.e., חרשׁים whence it is evident that a bottle and also a pair of bellows were called אוב). Since he will now yield to his irresistible impulse, in order that he may obtain air or free space, i.e., disburdening and ease (וירוח לּי), he intends to accept no man's person, i.e., to show partiality to no one (vid., on Job 13:8), and he will flatter no one. כּנּה signifies in all three dialects to call any one by an honourable name, to give a surname, here with אל, to speak fine words to any one, to flatter him. This Elihu is determined he will not do; for לא ידעתּי אכנּה, I know not how to flatter (French, je ne sais point flatter), for כנּות or לכנּות; comp. the similar constructions, Job 23:3 (as Esther 8:6), Job 10:16, 1 Samuel 2:3; Isaiah 42:21; Isaiah 51:1, Ges. 142, 3, c; also in Arabic similar verbs, as "to be able" and "to prepare one's self," are thus connected with the fut. without a particle between (e.g., anshaa jef‛alu, he began to act). Without partiality he will speak, flattery is not his force. If by flattery he should deny the truth, his Maker would quickly carry him off. כּמעט followed by subjunct. fut.: for a little (with disjunctive accent, because equivalent to haud multum abest quin), i.e., very soon indeed, or easily would or might ... ; ישּׂני (as Job 27:21) seems designedly to harmonize with עשׂני.