ELIU (Hebr. 'Elīhā, Septuagint 'Elīhā). — An interlocutor of Job (Iob 32–37), who speaks after the three friends Eliphaz, Baldad, and Sophar.
To demonstrate his innocence, Job calls for a formal judgment in which he proposes to confront God, whom he believes to be angered against him, and to refute the three friends, who have become his implacable accusers (Iob 13:18; 31:35b–37); he therefore desires an arbiter, an advocate to plead his case: «O that there were an arbiter between us...» (Iob 9:33); «Who will grant me someone to listen to me?» (ibid., 31:35a). This arbiter is E., who intervenes in a wholly distinctive tone: Job must not say that God is persecuting him; He sends evils not only to punish but also to preserve and purify. He thus vindicates Job’s innocence, enlightens him concerning the purpose of his trials, and foreshadows the final intervention on his behalf. In this way, E.’s speeches occupy an essential place in the structure and doctrine of the entire book (v. GIOBDE).
[Francesco Spadafora