Job 33:22

_YEA, HIS SOUL DRAWETH NEAR UNTO THE GRAVE, AND HIS LIFE TO THE DESTROYERS._ Destroyers - angels of death commissioned by God to end man's life (2 Samuel 24:16; Psalms 78:49, "He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger ... by sending evil angels among them"). The death pains personified may, however, be meant: so 'gnawers' (note, Job 30:17)....

19-28 Job complained of his diseases, and judged by them that God was angry with him; his friends did so too: but Elihu shows that God often afflicts the body for good to the soul. This thought will be of great use for our getting good from sickness, in and by which God speaks to men. Pain is the fruit of sin; yet, by the grace of God, the pain of the body is often made a means of good to the soul. When afflictions have done their work, they shall be removed. A ransom or propitiation is found. Jesus Christ is the Messenger and the Ransom, so Elihu calls him, as Job had called him his Redeemer, for he is both the Purchaser and the Price, the Priest and the sacrifice. So high was the value of souls, that nothing less would redeem them; and so great the hurt done by sin, that nothing less would atone for it, than the blood of the Son of God, who gave his life a ransom for many. A blessed c...

Verse Job 33:22. _HIS SOUL DRAWETH NEAR UNTO THE GRAVE_] נפש _nephesh,_ _soul_, is here taken for the _immortal spirit_, as it is distinguished from חיה _chaiyah_, the _animal life_. The former draws near to the pit, שחת _shachath, corruption_; perhaps he meant dissipation, considering it merely as the _breath_. The latter draws near לממתים _lamemithim_, to the _dead_; i.e., to those who are _already buried_. Mr. _Good_ translates it _the Destinies_; and supposes the same is meant among the HEBREWS by the _Memithim_, as among the GREEKS by their Μοιραι; the LATINS, by their _Parcae_; the GOTHS, by their _Fatal Sisters_; the SCANDINAVIANS, by their goddess _Hela_; and the ARABIANS, by _Azrael_, or the _angel of death_. I think, however, the signification given above is more natural....

YEA, HIS SOUL DRAWETH NEAR UNTO THE GRAVE - That is, he himself does, for the word soul is often used to denote self. AND HIS LIFE TO THE DESTROYERS - - לממתים _lammitiym_. literally, “to those causing death.” The interpretation commonly given of this is, “the angels of death” who were supposed to come to close human life; compare 2 Samuel 24:16. But it probably refers to diseases and pangs as having power to terminate life, and being the cause of the close of life. The meaning is, that the afflicted man comes very near to those acute sufferings which terminate life, and which by personification are here represented as the authors of death....

EXPOSITION JOB 33:1 In this chapter Elihu, turning away from the "comforters," proceeds to address Job himself, offering to reason out the matter in dispute with him, in God's stead. After a brief exordium (verses 1-7), he takes exception (1) to Job's self-assertion (verses 8, 9); and (2) to his charges against God (verses 10-13), which (he says) are unjust. He next brings forward his theory of God-inflicted sufferings being, in the main, chastisements proceeding from a loving purpose, intended to purify, to strengthen, to purge out faults, to "save from the pit," to improve, and to enlighten (verses 14-24). He points out in what spirit chastisement should be received (verses 25-30); and concludes with a recommendation to Job to remain silent, and hear him out, while at the same time he expresses a willingn

YEA, HIS SOUL DRAWETH NEAR UNTO THE GRAVE,.... Not the soul, strictly and properly speaking, for that does not, nor is it laid in the grave at death, but returns to God that gave it; rather the body, for which it is sometimes put, and of which what is here said is true, see Psalms 16:10; or the person of the sick man, whose disease being so threatening, all hope is gone, and he is given up by his physicians and friends, and seemingly is at the grave's mouth, and that is ready for him, and he on the brink of that; which were the apprehensions Job had of himself, Job 17:1; see Psalms 88:3; AND HIS LIFE TO THE DESTROYERS; the destroying angels, as Aben Ezra, and so the Septuagint version: or destroying diseases, and s

This is a speech of young Elihu, who had sat quietly listening to the taunting words of the three «candid friends» of Job, and to the somewhat exasperated replies of the patriarch. At last, the young man breaks the silence, and with some dignity, and quite sufficient of self-content, he thus addresses himself to Job: Job 33:1. _Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words._ «I am but a young man, but I speak because I cannot be quiet. An impulse moves me; I am as a vessel wanting vent. I desire to speak impartially; therefore, hear me, but hear all that I have to say; do not listen merely here and there to a part of my speech, but hearken to all my words.» Sometimes, it is very necessary to beg our hearers not to run away with only one sentence, or even with one sentiment. «Hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words,» for there is a proportion

CHAPTER 33:8-33 _ 1. Elihu rebukes Job (Job 33:8)_ 2. How God deals with man (Job 33:14) 3. How God in grace recovers (Job 33:23) 4. Mark well, Job, hearken unto me (Job 33:31) Job 33:8. Elihu treats Job in a dignified, yet firm manner. He speaks as one who is sure of the whole matter. He has heard Job's speeches; he knows the mistake Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar made, in treating Job as a suspicious character, a hypocrite and a godless man. No such wrong accusations are made by Elihu. He knows where Job's trouble lies and already spoke of

There is a second way, when a man is brought near to death, and the destroying angels wait to take his life. Then an angel of mercy instructs man in the meaning of his suffering, intercedes for him, and provides a ransom from the destroyer, so that he is restored to health, and avows before men his own sin and God's mercy. In these and other ways God savingly deals with men. In Job 33:21 read his flesh is consumed by wasting (Duhm), instead of consumed that it cannot be seen. The developed angelology of the above passage is very notable. Duhm says that it makes it probable that the Elihu speeches are very late. The idea of spirits hostile to or protective of the soul can hardly have originated without foreign influence, though we can hardly determine whether we have before us Persian or Egyptian or other ideas. Compare the angels in Daniel and Tobit. What the ransom mentioned in...

YEA. This "Yea" was not in the Authorized Version of 1611, nor in editions of 1646 and 1648. GRAVE. Hebrew. _shachath,_ as in Job 33:18....