John Gill Commentary Job 32:6

"And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; Wherefore I held back, and durst not show you mine opinion." — Job 32:6 (ASV)

And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said ,
&c.] Since there was no answer in them, he takes upon him to give one himself; but first makes an apology on account of his youth:

I [am] young, and you [are] very old ;
or "few of days"; a few days, comparatively speaking, had he lived in the world; or "small", or "little as two days" ^F13 ; he had been but a little time in it, and so could be thought to have but little knowledge and experience; whereas they were old, even very old; with them were the aged and the grayheaded, (Job 15:10) ; in whom it might have been expected was much wisdom and knowledge:

wherefore I was afraid, and dared not show my opinion ;
declare what knowledge he had of the things in dispute, lest it should appear mean, small, and contemptible; or give his sentiments concerning them, lest he should speak wrongly, and not only give offence, but do more harm than good:

The first of these words, in the Arabic language ^F14 , as Aben Ezra observes, signifies to go back; it is used of worms, which, through fear, withdraw themselves from men; so mean an opinion had he of himself, and such a sense of his own weakness, that it not only kept him back, but even caused him to draw back, and keep out of the dispute, and at a distance from it, instead of being forward to engage in it: one Jewish commentator ^F15 paraphrases it ``I humbled myself as one that goes on his belly;'' referring to worms that go low and creep upon their belly, or to the prostrate posture of men that humble themselves to their superiors.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (Mymyl yna ryeu) "minimus ego diebus", Montanus; "parvus diebus sum", Mercerus.
• F14: "recessit suo loco", Castel. col. 1036.
• F15: Sephorno.