For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Job 33:1-7

1 ‘But now, Job, listen to my words;
    pay attention to everything I say.
2 I am about to open my mouth;
    my words are on the tip of my tongue.
3 My words come from an upright heart;
    my lips sincerely speak what I know.
4 The Spirit of God has made me;
    the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Answer me then, if you can;
    stand up and argue your case before me.
6 I am the same as you; in God’s sight;
    I too am a piece of clay.
7 No fear of me should alarm you,
    nor should my hand be heavy on you.

A. Find Out

1. To whom does Elihu appeal to do what? v.1,5
2. How is he going to speak? v.2,3
3. Who is the source of his life? v.4
4. How does he put himself as Job’s equal? v.6
5. So what shouldn’t Job do? v.7

B. Think:

1. What is Elihu about to do?
2. How is he about to do it?
3. What does he seem to try to convey here?

C. Comment:

Elihu turns away from the three friends who he has been addressing and now turns to Job (v.1). It may all appear somewhat straight forward, but we would do well to note the stages Elihu goes through in the rather long preamble before he really gets down to making his answers.

In these verses Elihu addresses Job and seeks to put him at ease. He is really just preparing to speak here (v.2) and he wants Job to know that he is careful in what he is about to say (possibly in contrast to the three friends) and that he seeks to speak with an upright heart (v.3), i.e. straight forwardly and without guile. He is not going to try to deceive, and he is going to try to speak with sincerity, i.e. from what he truly believes. Possibly again this is in contrast to the friends who seem to have come on a theological crusade. He comes with an awareness (at the very least) of the Lord (v.4), believing that he is energized by the Lord.

So, he says, please hear what I say and feel free to answer me if you can (v.5). I am not coming to you with any advantage. I am just like you, and I am aware that I stand before the Lord (v.6), part of his creation and, by implication, answerable to Him. So when I speak, you have no reason to be fearful (v.7) for I do not come heavy handed to put you down.  In all these ways Elihu seeks to approach Job in a spirit of gentleness and humility. A good start!

D. Application:

1. When we ‘argue’ are we aware we stand before the Lord?
2. Do we use the tools of truth and righteousness?

Passage: Job 33:8-18

8 ‘But you have said in my hearing –
    I heard the very words –
9 “I am pure, I have done no wrong;
    I am clean and free from sin.
10 Yet God has found fault with me;
    he considers me his enemy.
11 He fastens my feet in shackles;
    he keeps close watch on all my paths.”

12 ‘But I tell you, in this you are not right,
    for God is greater than any mortal.
13 Why do you complain to him
    that he responds to no one’s words?
14 For God does speak – now one way, now another –
    though no one perceives it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
16 he may speak in their ears
    and terrify them with warnings,
17 to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,
18 to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.

A. Find Out

1. What has Elihu done? v.8
2. What two things has he heard Job saying? v.9-11
3. What does he feel about that? v.12
4. What complaint does he pick up and what answer comes? v.13,14
5. In what ways may God speak? v.15,16
6. What is God seeking to do? v.17,18

B. Think:

1. What was Job’s initial problem? (v.8-11)
2. What was his second problem? (v.13)
3. What is Elihu’s answer to that?

C. Comment:

Elihu has listened to Job and heard him complain that he is righteous but nevertheless seems to have been attacked by God who has caused his present suffering (v.9-11). Job is right in that God has caused this but wrong in that God does not consider him an enemy –  quite the opposite in fact! From this basic complaint Job had gone on to complain that God had not answered him when he cried out to Him (v.13). It is this latter cry that Elihu addresses.

He points out that God does speak but often we don’t realise that what is happening or what we are hearing is His answer (v.14). In fact, he goes on, He speaks in a variety of ways. For instance, he continues, it may be in a dream or vision at night (v.15), or He may speak directly (v.16).

Whenever God does speak (even if we don’t realise it) He is seeking to save us, to keep us from wrongdoing, to keep us from pride (v.17) and to keep us from hell and destruction by violence (v.18). In other words, God is always speaking to help us.

Now in all this Elihu is quite right. God does speak but often our unbelief hinders us hearing it as God’s word. God is always speaking for our good but the effect of sin in our earlier lives has hurt us and we struggle to believe in His good intentions towards us.

D. Application:

1. God speaks but does our unbelief hinder us hearing?
2. Has the pain of life dulled our ability to believe God’s love for us?

Passage: Job 33:18-33

18 to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.

19 ‘Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain
    with constant distress in their bones,
20 so that their body finds food repulsive
    and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
21 Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
    and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
22 They draw near to the pit,
    and their life to the messengers of death.
23 Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger, one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,
24 and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    “Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them –
25 let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;
    let them be restored as in the days of their youth”–
26 then that person can pray to God and find favour with him,
    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
    he will restore them to full well-being.
27 And they will go to others and say,
    “I have sinned, and I have perverted what is right,
    but I did not get what I deserved.
28 God has delivered me from going down to the pit,
    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.”

29 ‘God does all these things to a person –
    twice, even three times –
30 to turn them back from the pit,
    that the light of life may shine on them.

31 ‘Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me;
    speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
33 But if not, then listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.’

A. Find Out

1. How may a man suffer? v.19-22
2. Yet how is he restored? v.23-25
3. What part did he play? v.26
4. What is he able to testify? v.27,28
5. How and why does God do these things? v.29,30
6. What does he then call Job to do? v.31-33

B. Think:

1. How do you think this follows on from the previous verses?
2. What point is Elihu making here?

C. Comment:

Elihu has just said that God speaks (even though we don’t hear him v.14b) to keep us from sin and to save us (v.16,17). Now he goes on to consider how the Lord uses suffering to discipline and turn men back from sin (29,30).  He’s spoken about how God speaks through dreams and visions or even directly (v.15,16) and now he shows how God ‘speaks’ through a person suffering through physical pain (v.19). When such suffering comes that person doesn’t even want to eat (v.20) and he starts losing weight until he is a bag of skin and bones (v.21) and he is confronted with death (v.22).

But then he speaks in a remarkable way about the possibility of redemption. He speaks about guardian and guiding angels (v.23) coming to the man who calls to God, to show him what is right, and to spare him (v.24) because a ransom has been paid for him. Then can come restoration (v.25). Within this he surely has a prophetic sense of the presence of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for men (1 Tim 2:5,6, Heb 9:15, Rev 5:9). The man prays (v.26) and is restored and is able to testify to God’s healing when he repented (v.28,29). The Lord does this to save men (v.29,30) so Job should think about these things (v.31-33).  In all of this Elihu is right is describing ways that God moves and His reasons for so moving, yet again this is not what is happening to Job. This is a test not a discipline.

D. Application:

1. God does discipline those He loves (Heb 12:6).
2. The Lord does use suffering to discipline and save people.