Albert Barnes Commentary Job 32:8

"But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding." — Job 32:8 (ASV)

But there is a spirit in man - This evidently refers to a spirit imparted from above, a spirit from the Almighty. The parallelism seems to require this, as it corresponds to the phrase “the inspiration of the Almighty” in the other hemistich. The Hebrew expression here also seems to require this interpretation. It is, הוא רוח (rûach hû'), the Spirit itself, meaning the very Spirit that gives wisdom, or the Spirit of inspiration. He had said in the previous verse that it was reasonable to expect to find wisdom among the aged and experienced, but in this he had been disappointed.

He now finds that wisdom is not an attribute of rank or station, but that it is the gift of God, and therefore it may be found in a youth. The sentiment is that all true wisdom is from above; and where the inspiration of the Almighty is, there is understanding, no matter whether with the aged or the young. Elihu undoubtedly means to say that, although he was much younger than they were—and might be supposed, according to the common estimation of the relative wisdom of the aged and the young, to have much less acquaintance with the subjects under consideration—he was nevertheless qualified to speak, because all true wisdom comes from above.

The word “spirit” here, therefore, refers to the spirit that God gives; and the passage is proof that it was an early opinion that certain men were under the teachings of divine inspiration. The Chaldee renders it נבואתא רוח, a spirit of prophecy.

And the inspiration of the Almighty - This refers to the “breathing” of the Almighty - שׁדי נשׁמה (n^eshâmâh Shadday). The idea was that God breathed this into man, and that this wisdom was the breath of God (John 20:22). The Septuagint has πνοή (pnoē)—breath, breathing.