Job 33

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:4

The Spirit of God hath made me ,.... As a man; so every man is made by God, and not by himself; Father, Son, and Spirit, are his Makers or Creators, as we read of them in the plural number, Psalm 149:2 ; and this is a proof of the deity of the Spirit, who was not only concerned in the creation of all things, garnishing the heavens, and moving upon the face of the waters on the earth; but in the formation of man: and the breath of the mighty hath given me life ; the same with the Spirit... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:5

If thou canst answer me ,.... That is, when he had done speaking, after he had heard him out; if he thought he could make a reply to him, he gave him full liberty so to do, and tacitly suggests that he should give him an attentive and candid hearing, as he had requested of him: set thy words in order before me ; put them into the best form and order thou canst for thy self-defence, and level them at me; set them, as it were, in battle array against me; give them all the poignancy,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:6

Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead ,.... So some persons are, as civil magistrates, the ministers of the word, the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New; see 2 Corinthians 5:20 ; and so in some sense was Elihu; he undertakes to be an advocate for God, to vindicate his justice in his dealings with the children of men, and clear him from the charge of severity towards them, and hard usage of them, and particularly Job; and whom he besought, as in God's... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:7

Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid ,.... To come near, join issue in a debate, and speak freely; this Job had wished for, and desired of God that his fear might not terrify him, and his dread not make him afraid, and then he could talk and reason freely with him, Job 9:34 ; now Job had nothing to fear from Elihu, he was a man and not God, with whom there was no terrible majesty, as with God; he was but a clod of clay, and had nothing in him or about him to strike terror into him;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:8

Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing ,.... After the above preface, Elihu proceeds to the point in hand, and enters a charge against Job; which he took up, not upon suspicion and surmisings, nor upon report, nor upon accusations received from others, but what he had heard with his own ears, unless he was greatly mistaken indeed, which he thought he was not: and I have heard the voice of thy words ; the sound of them, clearly and distinctly, and took in the sense of them, as he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:9

I am clean without transgression ,.... This with what follows is supposed to be gathered from Job 10:6 ; for this is nowhere said by Job in express words; though I rather think, since Elihu so peremptorily affirms that they were spoken in his hearing, that these words and the following did drop from Job's lips, in the controversy with his friends, though not recorded; for we are not to suppose that everything that was said on both sides is preserved, only so much as the Holy Ghost thought... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:10

Behold, he findeth occasions against me ,.... That is, sought in order to find them; so Job in some places suggests, that God inquired after his sins, and sought diligently after them, that he might have something to bring against him; and because he could not find great sins, gross enormities, he sought after lesser sins; so some render the word, "staggerings", "totterings" F8 תנואות "vacillationes", Cocceius; "aut mutationes", Michaelis. ; frailties, failings, and infirmities; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:11

He putteth my feet in the stocks ,.... This also he had said, Job 13:27 ; by which he would suggest not only that his afflictions were painful and disgraceful, and from which he could not extricate himself, being close fettered by them; but that they were inflicted on him as punishments, and he was treated as a criminal, as a malefactor, who had been guilty of some notorious breach of the law: he marketh all my paths ; looked narrowly at them, numbered and counted them; this also he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:12

Behold, in this thou art not just ,.... Here begins Elihu's answer, who does not deny that Job was a just man, both before God in an evangelic sense, and before men in a moral sense; he did not go about to detract from Job's general character, as a man that lived soberly, righteously, and godly in the world; but in this he was not just, nor is it to be justified, with respect to this thing, he could not acquit him of doing what was wrong; namely, insisting so much on his own innocence, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:13

Why dost thou strive against him ?.... A creature against the Creator, a man against his Maker, the clay against the potter; how absurd and stupid is this! and a piece of weakness and folly it was in him to desire to litigate the point with God, and dispute with him, as he often did, when men cannot answer him one of a thousand, as he himself owned, Job 9:3 ; and very sinful and criminal it is to chide with God, or complain of him, on account of any of his dealings with the sons of men, as... read more

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