Summary
Chapter summary
Elihu's first argument, addressed to Job by name. 'Behold, I am toward God even as thou art: I also am formed out of the clay'. No terror from me shall make thee afraid. Job said he is clean and God counts him an enemy; in this thou art not just, 'for God is greater than man.' Then Elihu's real contribution: God does speak, only man does not perceive it: 'God speaketh once, yea twice, though man regardeth it not' (33:14). In a dream, in a vision of the night, in pain upon the bed. And where an interpreting angel stands by, God saith, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.'
Context
Poetry · Unknown — Job overview
- A. 1–13 Elihu: Behold, I Am Toward God Even as Thou Art
- B. 14–22 Elihu: God Speaketh in a Dream, in a Vision of the Night
- C. 23–33 Elihu: If There Be an Angel, a Ransom — His Flesh Renewed as a Child's
The outline
A.Elihu: Behold, I Am Toward God Even as Thou Artvv. 1 to 13
Read vv. 1 to 13 →B.Elihu: God Speaketh in a Dream, in a Vision of the Nightvv. 14 to 22
Read vv. 14 to 22 →C.Elihu: If There Be an Angel, a Ransom — His Flesh Renewed as a Child'svv. 23 to 33
Read vv. 23 to 33 →
The world behind this chapter
Job 33The history
Elihu is the only speaker in the book who calls Job by name, and he opens by putting them on the same footing: I also am formed out of the clay; behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid. That is a direct answer to Job's complaint in chapter 9 that God's overwhelming power made a fair hearing impossible. Elihu offers himself as the human counterpart Job asked for.
His first point is that Job is wrong to say God never answers. God speaks once, and twice, though man does not perceive it. The two channels he names were both taken seriously in that world. The first is the dream or night vision, when deep sleep falls on men — a recognised means of divine warning across the ancient Near East, and one the Bible reports repeatedly. The second is pain: a man chastened on his bed, his appetite gone until his flesh wastes and his bones stick out, drawing near to the grave.
Then Elihu introduces a figure. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show a man what is right for him — then God is gracious and says, deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. The word for ransom is the ordinary term for the price paid to release someone from a penalty or from slavery, and 'one among a thousand' means a rare and qualified go-between.
The result he describes is physical restoration in the language of that culture: his flesh shall be fresher than a child's, and he shall return to the days of his youth. Then the man prays, sees God's face with joy, and tells other people what happened — the public testimony expected of anyone God had delivered.
What it meant to them
Elihu is the first speaker to suggest that suffering might be God speaking rather than God punishing — that pain can be a warning shouted at a man walking toward a cliff.
And for hearers, that third figure keeps the book's deepest thread running. Job asked for an umpire, a witness, and a redeemer. Elihu adds a mediator who names a ransom. Nobody in the book fills the role, and the hearers were left with the outline of it.
Sources cited
- John E. Hartley, The Book of Job
- Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Job 33. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.