Job 33:23

ELIHU'S PROMISE OF RESTORATION TO JOB IF HE REPENTS

"If there be with him an angel,

An interpreter, one among a thousand,

To show unto man what is right for him;

Then God is gracious unto him, and saith,

Deliver him from going down to the pit,

I have found a ransom.

His flesh shall be fresher than a child's;

He returneth to the days of his youth.

He prayeth unto God, and he is favorable unto him,

So that he seeth his face with joy:

And he restoreth unto man his righteousness.

He singeth before men, and saith,

I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,

And it profited me not:

He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit,

And my life shall behold the light."

All the wonderful things which Elihu here promised to Job were, of course, contingent upon Job's confession of his wickedness (Job 33:27).

"If there be with him an angel, an interpreter, etc." (Job 33:23). Van Selms' paraphrase of what Elihu is saying here catches the unqualified egotism in it. "Happy is the man to whom a messenger from God appears, as I have come to you, to make God's intentions for you clear and intelligible. There are not many who can do that, at best one in a thousand."[7]

"I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). Elihu appears in this affirmation to mean that his prayers on Job's behalf, along with Job's confession of sins, will constitute an acceptable ransom in God's sight. When all this happens, namely, Job's confession and Elihu's prayers on his behalf, then humility and submissiveness on Job's part shall have been achieved. "This submissiveness is the ransom to be paid, and the ransom has been found; Job can then return to health and be strong again."[8] In the extent that Job might have been tempted to believe this, we may find the high-water mark of Satan's campaign to force Job to renounce his integrity.

"So that he seeth his face with joy" (Job 33:26). The metaphor here was that of `ministers of the face,' who were privileged to look the king in the face, the same being the highest ranking members of the king's court. Jesus used this same metaphor when he said of little children that, "Their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10). Elihu is here promising Job the most extravagant blessings if he repents and submits.