Job 33:1-18

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 33:1-7

Several arguments Elihu here uses to persuade Job not only to give him a patient hearing, but to believe that he designed him a good office, and to take it kindly, and be willing to receive the instructions he was now about to give him. Let Job consider, 1. That Elihu does not join with his three friends against him. He has, in the foregoing chapter, declared his dislike of their proceedings, disclaimed their hypothesis, and quite set aside the method they took of healing Job. ?Wherefore, Job,... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 33:8-13

In these verses, I. Elihu particularly charges Job with some indecent expressions that had dropped from him, reflecting upon the justice and goodness of God in his dealings with him. He does not ground the charge upon report, but was himself an ear-witness of what he here reproves him for (Job 33:8): ?Thou hast spoken it in my hearing, and in the hearing of all this company.? He had it not at second hand; if so, he would have hoped it was not so bad as it was represented. He did not hear it... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 33:14-18

Job had complained that God kept him wholly in the dark concerning the meaning of his dealings with him, and therefore concluded he dealt with him as his enemy. ?No,? says Elihu, ?he speaks to you, but you do not perceive him; so that the fault is yours, not his; and he is designing your real good even in those dispensations which you put this harsh construction upon.? Observe in general, 1. What a friend God is to our welfare: He speaketh to us once, yea, twice, Job 33:14. It is a token of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:1

Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches ,.... In the preceding chapter, Elihu directed his discourse to the three friends of Job chiefly, here to Job himself, and that by name; which none of his friends in all their discourses ever used; and in an humble suppliant manner entreats his attention to what he was about to deliver, and that for reasons which his address to his friends could furnish him with; and hence begins his speech with "wherefore", seeing he took not the part of his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:2

Behold, now I have opened my mouth ,.... Begun to speak in order to give vent to the fulness of matter within him, which made him, like bottles of new wine, ready to burst; and since he had opened his lips, that he might speak and be refreshed, he desires Job to listen to him, and offers same things to his consideration to induce him to it: my tongue hath spoken in my mouth : but does not every man's tongue speak in his mouth when he speaks? is there anything singular and peculiar in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 33:3

My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart ,.... Not that the uprightness of his heart, or his own personal integrity, should be the subject of his discourse; but what he should say would be in or out of the uprightness of his heart, with all sincerity and faithfulness; what would be the real sentiments of his mind, and not proceed from a double or insincere heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly ; what knowledge he had of God, and of the perfections of his nature, and... read more

John Gill

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

Group of Brands