nce, headlong in statement and method; for he is youth, not
experienced, not deliberate, and easily influenced by the aged
argument, and taking strong ground, and is infallible in his own eyes;
and in him are visible the swagger and audacity of a boy. He makes no
contribution to the argument. His is a repetitional statement, though
himself does not know it. He thinks he is original. How delightful
the audacity of his opening: "If thou canst answer me, set thy words in
order before me. Stand up. Behold, I am according to thy wish in
God's stead." Clearly this is a young man speaking. A novice he, yet
with all the assurance of a man whose years have run more than
fourscore. He is bursting with speech and impudence, not perceiving
that to answer where old men have failed is a valorous task, to say the
least; and to attempt answer to Job, who has unhorsed every opponent in
the lists, is a strong man's work; but beyond this, Elihu undertakes to
answer for God. He will be in God's stead. See in this a young man's
lack of reverence. What the old men hesitated to attempt, knowing the
work lay beyond their united powers, this youth flings into as he would
into a swelling stream, swollen by sudden rains among the uplands. His
ears have been keen. Nothing has escaped him. All the words of
everybody he has in mind, his memory being perfect, since he is young
and no faculty impaired, and as the debate has proceeded and he has
seen old men overborne by the old man Job, his impetuous youth has seen
how he could answer. This is natural, as any one conversant with
himself (not to go further in investigation) must know. We itch to
reply, thinking we see the vulnerable joint in the harness. Job has
spoken last, and silenced his adversaries, and Elihu recalls
practically but one thought of Job's reply; namely, that he was not
unrighteous in intent, and gets, as most of us do, but a part of the
afflicted man's meaning, and concludes that Job is glaringly
self-righteous, missing the true flavor of Job's answer; for what Job
was, was self-respecting. And so Elihu gives Job a piece of his mind;
takes up the thread of argument where the old men had broken it, and
drives on, with many words and few ideas, to prove Job is wrong and
bad, and that God has simply meted out justice, no more. Elihu's words
fairly trample on each other's heels, and though only giving a weakened
statement of what had been said before, like a strong voi