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and with reference to Job’s expressed desire to find an umpire (<a href="/job/9-33.htm" title="Neither is there any judge between us, that might lay his hand on us both.">Job 9:33</a>), and one who would maintain his right with God (<a href="/job/16-21.htm" title="O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor!">Job 16:21</a>), he declares that he is ready to do so, and that he is, like Job, made out of the clay, and consequently disposed to deal favourably with him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-7.htm">Job 33:7</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, I will deal gently with thee, and not be harsh.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-9.htm">Job 33:9</a></div><div class="verse">I am clean without transgression, I <i>am</i> innocent; neither <i>is there</i> iniquity in me.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">I am clean without transgression.</span>—Job has nowhere used this language; but many of his statements were capable of being so perverted and misrepresented (<a href="/context/job/9-20.htm" title="If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.">Job 9:20-21</a>; <a href="/job/16-17.htm" title="Not for any injustice in my hands: also my prayer is pure.">Job 16:17</a>; <a href="/context/job/23-10.htm" title="But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.">Job 23:10-12</a>; <a href="/context/job/27-5.htm" title="God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove my integrity from me.">Job 27:5-6</a>). This shows that Elihu even was incapable of entering fully into Job’s position. He did not understand that a man could alone be righteous in proportion as he trusted God, but that, trusting God, he was righteous with His righteousness. This was the truth that Job dimly perceived and was faintly, though surely, striving after; and to his friends it was unintelligible, and not wholly apprehended by Elihu.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-10.htm">Job 33:10</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Behold, he findeth occasions against me.</span>—See <a href="/job/13-24.htm" title="Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?">Job 13:24</a>; <a href="/context/job/13-26.htm" title="For you write bitter things against me, and make me to possess the iniquities of my youth.">Job 13:26-27</a>; <a href="/job/19-11.htm" title="He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts me to him as one of his enemies.">Job 19:11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-11.htm">Job 33:11</a></div><div class="verse">He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">He putteth my feet in the stocks.</span>—Referring, probably, to <a href="/job/13-27.htm" title="You put my feet also in the stocks, and look narrowly to all my paths; you set a print on the heels of my feet.">Job 13:27</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-12.htm">Job 33:12</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, <i>in</i> this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Behold, in this thou art not just.</span>—But had not Job said the same thing? (<a href="/job/9-2.htm" title="I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?">Job 9:2</a>, &c., <a href="/job/9-14.htm" title="How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?">Job 9:14</a>, &c.); and is it possible to conceive that any one could think otherwise, more especially as Elihu used the word which specially means man in his frailty?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-13.htm">Job 33:13</a></div><div class="verse">Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Why dost thou strive against him?</span>—Job had not striven against God, he had only expressed his longing to come into judgment with Him (<a href="/job/23-3.htm" title="Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!">Job 23:3</a>, &c.). Job was striving with and against the darkness that was round about His throne, not with the justice of God, which he entirely trusted. Some render the last clause of the verse, “For none can answer any of His words,” but the Authorised Version seems preferable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-14.htm">Job 33:14</a></div><div class="verse">For God speaketh once, yea twice, <i>yet man</i> perceiveth it not.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">For God speaketh once, yea twice.</span>—The two ways are dilated upon (<a href="/context/job/33-15.htm" title="In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumberings on the bed;">Job 33:15-26</a>). Abimelech (<a href="/genesis/20-3.htm" title="But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, you are but a dead man, for the woman which you have taken; for she is a man's wife.">Genesis 20:3</a>) and Daniel (<a href="/daniel/4-5.htm" title="I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.">Daniel 4:5</a>) were instances of this first method. (Comp. also <a href="/genesis/15-12.htm" title="And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, see, an horror of great darkness fell on him.">Genesis 15:12</a>. &c., <a href="/genesis/28-12.htm" title="And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.">Genesis 28:12</a>, &c.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-16.htm">Job 33:16</a></div><div class="verse">Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth.</span>—Comp. <a href="/job/14-17.htm" title="My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up my iniquity.">Job 14:17</a> : “My transgression is sealed in a bag.” “He openeth their ear,” that is, He showeth them that He will decree, confirm, and seal up their chastisement, the sentence that is to be executed upon them, if they will not repent. If taken in the sense of instruction, it must mean that He will complete and confirm it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-17.htm">Job 33:17</a></div><div class="verse">That he may withdraw man <i>from his</i> purpose, and hide pride from man.</div>(17) F<span class= "bld">rom his purpose.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">That He may witharaw man from carrying out his evil actions, and may remove that pride from man which he secretly cherishes. </span>This is the main point of Elihu’s teaching: that the purposes of God are disciplinary, to keep man from the sin which otherwise he would be prone to commit. In this way Job might have been a righteous man, and yet be justly chastened lest he should prove unrighteous.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-19.htm">Job 33:19</a></div><div class="verse">He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong <i>pain</i>:</div>(19) <span class= "bld">He is chastened.</span>—This is the second manner in which God speaks—first by dreams, &c., then by afflictions.<p><span class= "bld">And the multitude of his bones with strong pain.</span>—Or, reading it otherwise, we may render, <span class= "ital">And with continual strife in his bones</span>—<span class= "ital">e.g., </span>rheumatism and gout.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-23.htm">Job 33:23</a></div><div class="verse">If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:</div>(23) <span class= "bld">To show unto man his uprightness.</span>—Some render, “to show unto man what is right for him,” but it seems rather to mean, <span class= "ital">to declare concerning that man his uprightness, </span>to plead his cause before God and be his advocate. (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/14-13.htm" title="And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.">1Kings 14:13</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/19-3.htm" title="Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have taken away the groves out of the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.">2Chronicles 19:3</a>, &c.)<p>This angel, who is one among a thousand, and discharges the function of an interpreter, is a remarkable anticipation of the existence of that function with God which is discharged by the Advocate with the Father (<a href="/1_john/2-1.htm" title="My little children, these things write I to you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:">1John 2:1</a>; <a href="/romans/8-34.htm" title="Who is he that comdemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.">Romans 8:34</a>; <a href="/hebrews/7-25.htm" title="Why he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.">Hebrews 7:25</a>). It is impossible for us who believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God not to see in this an indication of what God intended afterwards to teach us concerning the intercession and mediation of the Son and the intercession of the Holy Spirit on behalf of man (<a href="/romans/8-26.htm" title="Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.">Romans 8:26</a>). (Comp. <a href="/john/14-16.htm" title="And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;">John 14:16</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-24.htm">Job 33:24</a></div><div class="verse">Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Then he is gracious unto him</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, God is gracious; He accepts the mediation of the mediating angel. These words of Elihu’s must have fallen on Job’s ear with a grateful and refreshing sound, confirming to him his longing for the daysman (<a href="/job/9-33.htm" title="Neither is there any judge between us, that might lay his hand on us both.">Job 9:33</a>).<p><span class= "bld">And saith</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>to the destroying angels of <a href="/job/33-22.htm" title="Yes, his soul draws near to the grave, and his life to the destroyers.">Job 33:22</a>. It is remarkable that it is <span class= "ital">God </span>who finds the ransom, as it was by God’s grace that the interpreting angel was forthcoming. It is not man’s righteousness that has saved him, but the ransom that God has found, even though God, who judgeth the actions, may have justly recognised what of righteousness there was in man.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-26.htm">Job 33:26</a></div><div class="verse">He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">He will be favourable unto him.</span>—Very beautiful is this description of the restoration of the penitent sinner and his recovery from sickness. He shall thankfully resort unto the house of God with joy, for that He has rewarded him according to his righteousness, which was the fruit of faith (<a href="/genesis/15-6.htm" title="And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.">Genesis 15:6</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/32-1.htm" title="Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.">Psalm 32:1-2</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-27.htm">Job 33:27</a></div><div class="verse">He looketh upon men, and <i>if any</i> say, I have sinned, and perverted <i>that which was</i> right, and it profited me not;</div>(27) <span class= "bld">He looketh upon men, and if any say.—</span>Rather, <span class= "ital">He looketh upon men, and saith, I have sinned, &c.: </span>that is the confession of the restored sinner. Some render it, <span class= "ital">He shall sing before men, </span>but hardly so probably or appropriately.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-28.htm">Job 33:28</a></div><div class="verse">He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">He will deliver his soul.</span>—There are two readings in the Hebrew here, of which one is represented by the Authorised Version; but the better one is, “He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light”—this is part of the restored man’s confession, which appears to be continued till the speaker resumes in <a href="/job/33-29.htm" title="See, all these things works God oftentimes with man,">Job 33:29</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-30.htm">Job 33:30</a></div><div class="verse">To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">To bring back his soul.</span>—Here, again, is the very key-note of Elihu’s doctrine. God’s dealings are for the purpose of education and discipline, and this is what he wishes to impress upon Job.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/33-32.htm">Job 33:32</a></div><div class="verse">If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">I desire to justify thee.</span>—He wishes to justify Job before his friends, that is, to maintain that his afflictions are not on account of past sin, but as a preservative against possible future defection. This being so, he considers that Job’s case may justly be defended, and Job himself vindicated against his friends.<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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