Reflections on Job 33

 Job 33 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Job, listen to me! Pay close attention.
   
2. Everything I will say
   
3. is true and sincere,
   
4. just as surely as the Spirit of God All-Powerful gave me the breath of life.
   
5. Now line up your arguments and prepare to face me.
   
6. We each were made from clay, and God has no favorites,
   
7. so don't be afraid of me or what I might do.
   
8. I have heard you argue
   
9. that you are innocent, guilty of nothing.
   
10. You claim that God has made you his enemy,
    
11. that he has bound your feet and blocked your path.
    
12. But, Job, you're wrong-- God is greater than any human.
    
13. So why do you challenge God to answer you?
    
14. God speaks in different ways, and we don't always recognize his voice.
    
15. Sometimes in the night, he uses terrifying dreams
    
16. to give us warnings.
    
17. God does this to make us turn from sin and pride
    
18. and to protect us from being swept away to the world of the dead.
    
19. Sometimes we are punished with a serious illness and aching joints.
    
20. Merely the thought of our favorite food makes our stomachs sick,
    
21. and we become so skinny that our bones stick out.
    
22. We feel death and the grave taking us in their grip.
    
23. One of a thousand angels then comes to our rescue by saying we are innocent.
    
24. The angel shows kindness, commanding death to release us, because the price was paid.
    
25. Our health is restored, we feel young again,
    
26. and we ask God to accept us. Then we joyfully worship God, and we are rewarded because we are innocent.
    
27. When that happens, we tell everyone, "I sinned and did wrong, but God forgave me
    
28. and rescued me from death! Now I will see the light."
    
29. God gives each of us chance after chance
    
30. to be saved from death and brought into the light that gives life.
    
31. So, Job, pay attention and don't interrupt,
    
32. though I would gladly listen to anything you say that proves you are right.
    
33. Otherwise, listen in silence to my wisdom.

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Having introduced himself to the discussion, Elihu set out to now address Job's concerns, asking Job to pay attention. His intentions were good and his words sincere, he says. He was made by God as was Job, which he presumably summits as his right to speak on equal standing with Job. Job should not fear his words, though, for he would not exert pressure on Job.

Elihu began by addressing Job's claim of innocence before God and his insistence that God was not dealing justly with him. God is greater than man, he says, and such charges cannot be made. Besides, God does answer us, contrary to Job's claims, but we do not always notice. He answers through dreams, for instance, giving warnings intended to "turn a person from his actions and suppress his pride." (33:17) God also speaks through pain and suffering which are also intended to keep a person from the grave. A further means of God speaking to people is through an angel whose intent, also, is to turn a person from the grave.

Elihu sees a different purpose for suffering than do the three friends. Whereas they see it as punishment for sin, Elihu sees it as a means of teaching. But like the friends, he sees the cause as being sin. Therefore, Job could not claim innocence from sin for obviously he had or he wouldn't be suffering. But through the suffering he could learn and be turned away from the grave. Having learned the intended lesson, the person would escape the grave and be restored to health and to his relationship with God. God uses these various means to speak to man repeatedly so he may be spared from the grave.