The Book of Job, like the Book of Ruth, the Book of Tobiah, and the Book of Esther, are sapiential books that contain an ethical or moral message. And in particular, the Book of Job is intended to show the importance of the gift of the security in God in a world where evil reigns, and that God can allow an evil to bring a good out of it. In a certain sense Job, who is the central character of this book, represents a metaphor for Israel; because many Israelites during the times of exile in Babylon wondered how God's favorite people could suffer so many misfortunes. And as the book shows, God's designs are inscrutable, and the wisdom mentioned so many times in the book for its perfection and excellence, is shown at some point to be insufficient to find all the answers.
The Book of Job relates that the main character of the book, after suffering a series of misfortunes, is visited by his friends Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz, but despite the dialogues between the participants of the meeting, no precise idea is reached until the arrival of a fourth friend called Elihu, who with his speeches changes the situation.
Elihu at the beginning of his speeches presented himself in a very particular way, Elihu introduced himself explaining that true wisdom and not prudence, is a grace from God, and that this grace cannot be acquired either by age or by experience, the gifts are not like the natural virtues of the soul.
And so Eliju with these words introduced himself:
"I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.
I thought, ´Age should speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.´
But it is the spirit in a person,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
It is not only the old who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is right" Job 32:6-9.
God has a plan, and the spiritual gifts that the grace grants to men such as wisdom or understanding respond to this plan, but it is within men's freedom to live them or not, as the book of Job taught and in particular the character of Elihu.