Job 33:1-7

B.

THE WORD FROM OUTSIDEGOD HAS ALREADY SPOKEN. (Job 33:1-33)

1.

A mortal himself, formed by God's spirit, yet he will answer Job. (Job 33:1-7)

TEXT 33:1-7

33 Howbeit, Job, I pray thee, hear my speech,
And hearken to all my words.

2 Behold now, I have opened my month;

My tongue hath spoken In my mouth.

3 My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart;

And that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely.

4 The Spirit of God hath made me,

And the breath of the Almighty giveth me life.

5 If thou canst, answer thou me;

Set thy words in order before me, stand forth.

6 Behold, I am toward God even as thou art:

I also am formed out of the clay.

7 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid,

Neither shall my pressure be heavy upon thee.

COMMENT 33:1-7

Job 33:1Elihu has called our attention to his wisdom, impartiality, and competence requisite for his present task of subduing Job's rebellious spirit. Here for the first time in the dialogue Job is addressed by nameJob 34:5; Job 34:7; Job 34:35 ff; and Job 35:16. This familiarity is more to be attributed to Elihu's temperament than his close ties with Job, though he could be a blood relative of Job'SJob 32:2. He summons Job in Job 33:1-7, and he sarcastically refers to Job's complaint against GodJob 9:17; Job 9:34. He quotes two of Job's claims: (1) that he is innocentJob 9:21; Job 10:7; Job 16:17; Job 23:10-12; Job 27:5; Job 31; and (2) that God is his enemyJob 10:17; Job 13:24; Job 13:27; and Job 19:11. Elihu deals with each of these in the structure of chapter 33. The banality of his speech is self-evident.

Job 33:2The boundlessness of Elihu's self-evaluation make him a master of banality. His speech is statedly redundant.

Job 33:3Job had asked that his friends be sincere; Elihu now declares that Job is going to get the ultimate expression of sincerity, but from him. This first line is without a verb, but the A. V. inserts shall utter. The meaning of the first line is that Elihu's righteousness is exposed by his words. In the second line Elihu is giving Job assurance of his brilliancecompare Job 6:25 a; Deuteronomy 9:5; Psalms 119:7; and 1 Chronicles 29:17.

Job 33:4He, like Job, is a human being. Both share in God's spirit, which gives life. Verbally, at least, he humbly acknowledges that he has a special endowment from God. He is inspired by God to speak; thus his words are not only sincere, they are of special value. Perhaps he claimed a charismatic gift of wisdom which was lacking in Job's illustrious friends.

Job 33:5Though there is no equivalent to words in the text, the verb means to set in order, i.e., get ready to answer my chargesJob 32:14; 1 Samuel 17:8take your stand. Prepare (A. V. in order before me) has no expressed object, but the object may be wordsJob 32:14; or caseJob 13:18; Job 23:4, or battle as is generally the case. Take your stand is used in military sense in 1 Samuel 17:16; 2 Samuel 23:12; and in legal sense in Job 1:6.

Job 33:6In relation to God (A. V. toward God) Elihu, like Job, is human. Elihu's advantage over Job is not in this respect. He is only a mortal whom Job need not fear. The second line is translated by Blommerde as from clay I too have been pinched off, even as you are (Heb. kepikalike your mouth, i.e., like you). The metaphorical use of pehmouth to express relationship is well supported in the Old Testament.[332] Elihu was formed (qrs- nipped) from clay, like Job.

[332] See E. Dhorme, L-'Emploi Metaphorique des noms de parties du corps en hebreu et en akkadien (Paris, 1923), p. 85.

Job 33:7Elihu here alludes to Job's charges that God intimidated with violenceJob 9:34; Job 13:21. With clever irony, Elihu assures Job that he need not make this same charge now, because his opponent is also a man. The word rendered pressure occurs only here, and need not be emended out of the text because of its rarity.