Job Chapter 33
Please read: Job 33 –
The speech of Elihu continues in this chapter and still he is speaking about the desire to speak but not really saying anything. And while he perceives himself to be more spiritually wise than all of them, we find that he doesn’t really say anything new. He claims to have listened to Job and to understand what he has said. However, Job never claimed to be sinless or perfect. Job never said that he was without transgressions. Instead, he said several times that he had transgressed but he had confessed those sins to God.
Elihu goes on to accuse Job of saying that God is not speaking to him. He then proceeded to explain that God speaks to mankind in many ways, but that Job was not paying attention to Him. God can speak through dreams or visions or by sending pain and suffering. He also said that God can send a mediator to speak on His behalf. He suggested a hypothetical situation in which God might send an angel to speak for Him. His point is that no matter how God speaks, man must pay attention to Him and confess his iniquity so that he can be ransomed from the pit of hell.
Elihu believes that he had more spiritual understanding about God than the others and yet he does not. He does say several things that are right and true but, in the end, he really did not understand the reason for Job’s suffering any more than his three friends did.
Let's Reflect
1. According to verses 4 and 6 what does Elihu believe about his own existence that is correct?
2. Elihu thinks he understands why Job feels that God is thinking of him as an enemy and it is as if God has put his feet in stocks. According to verse 9 why did Elihu think that Job felt this way?
3. We find in verses 12 and 13 that Elihu clearly thinks Job is in the wrong. In verse 14 he accused Job of not doing what?
4. What is one of the ways Elihu says that God speaks to men that will terrify him with warnings?
5. What did you notice about the way Elihu described God speaking to men through sickness and suffering?
6. In verses 23-25 this hypothetical suggestion of God sending an angel to act as a mediator to a sinful man is interesting. His idea that the angel would say that he has found a ransom would indicate that all that Job had lost (his children and his livestock) might be a ransom for his iniquities is odd. Where did he get such an idea? It is hard to say. What did Elihu say would be the end result of a mediator working on his behalf? Now that sounds a lot like our mediator Jesus who redeems and restores us to life! But I don’t think that Elihu was prophetically speaking of Jesus here.
7. What truth did Elihu speak about our God who hears the confessions of sin from mankind repeatedly?
8. Elihu really thinks a lot of himself and claims he will teach Job what if he will just listen to him?
