Job 33

The breath of the Almighty gives us life

1 Therefore, Job, please hear my speeches, and listen to all my words. 2 Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue has spoken in my mouth. 3 My words will be from the uprightness of my heart: and my lips will utter knowledge clearly. 4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.

• Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

5 If you can answer me, set your words in order before me, stand up. 6 Behold, I am according to your wish in God's place: I also am cut out of the clay. 7 Behold, my terror will not make you afraid, neither will my hand be heavy upon you. 8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of your words saying, 9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. 10 Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me for his enemy, 11 He puts my feet in the stocks, he marks all my paths.

God is greater than man

12 Behold, in this you are not right: I will answer you, that God is greater than man. 13 Why do you strive against him? For he does not give an accounting of any of his words.

• At the end of the book of Job, God does not tell any of these men what really happened.
• He is not accountable to any being.
• We are accountable to Him.

• Romans 14:12 So then every one of us will give account of himself to God.

14 For God speaks once, yes twice, yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumberings on the bed; 16 Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 18 He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. 19 He is also chastened with pain on his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: 20 So that his life loathes bread, and his soul desirable food. 21 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. 22 Yes, his soul draws near the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

• What an amazing revelation.
• With these things God is trying to keep man back from judgments of death and destruction.
• These destroyers are perfectly illustrated in Job 1 and 2.
• They are the ones who brought the wind to collapse the house and stirred up the raiders to steal his flocks.
• They are the ones who gave Job sores from head to foot.
• Often in the New Testament Jesus cast out a demon to heal a persons physical illness.

• Hebrews 12:6 whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.

23 If there is a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man his uprightness: 24 Then he is gracious to him and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. 25 His flesh will be fresher than a child's: he will return to the days of his youth:

• 1 Timothy 2:5-6 there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

• Psalm 103:5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

26 He will pray to God, and he will be favorable to him: and he will see his face with joy: for he will render to man his righteousness. 27 He will sing to men and say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it leveled me; 28 He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life will see the light.

• Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

29 Look, God works all these things often with man 30 to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. 31 Pay attention, Job, listen to me: hold your peace, and I will speak. 32 If you have any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify you. 33 If not, listen to me: hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.

• Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

                                               Job 34

1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said, 2 Hear my words, O you wise men; and listen to me, you that have knowledge. 3 For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food. 4 Let us choose what is right for ourselves: let us know among ourselves what is good. 5 For Job has said, I am righteous: and God has taken away my right. 6 Should I lie against my right? My wound is incurable without transgression. 7 What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water? 8 Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men. 9 For he has said, It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.

• Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your heart.

10 Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wrong; and from the Almighty, to commit iniquity.

• God is holy. He is not able to do anything that is wrong.

• Habakkuk 1:13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity:

• Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

11 For he will repay a man’s work to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. 12 Yes, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.

God is in charge and most Just

13 Who has given him charge over the earth? Or who has disposed the whole world? 14 If he set his heart on man, if he gather to himself his spirit and his breath; 15 All flesh will perish together, and man will turn again to dust. 16 If you have understanding, hear this: listen to the voice of my words. 17 Shall he that hates right govern? Will you condemn him that is most just? 18 Is it fit to say to a king, you are wicked? And to princes, you are ungodly?19 Much less to him that does not accept the persons of princes, or regard the rich more than the poor? For they all are the work of his hands. 20 In a moment they will die, and the people will be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty will be taken away without hand. 21 For his eyes are on the ways of man, and he sees all his goings. 22 There is no darkness, or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves. 23 For he does not need to consider man further; that he should go before God in judgment. 24 He will shatter mighty men without inquiry, and set others in their place.

• Daniel 2:21 And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

• 2Peter 3:9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

25 Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns them in the night so that they are crushed. 26 He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others; 27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways: 28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come to him, and he hears the cry of the afflicted. 29 When he gives quietness, who can make trouble? And when he hides his face, who can behold him? Whether it is done against a nation, or against a man only:

• Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: because he trusts in You.

30 That the ungodly not reign, lest the people be ensnared. 31 Surely it is fit to be said to God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend anymore: 32 Besides what I see you teach me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more. 33 Must he repay according to you because you have rejected it; for you must choose, and not I: therefore speak what you know. 34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man listen to me. 35.Job has spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. 36 My desire is that Job be tried to the end because he answers like wicked men. 37 For he adds rebellion to his sin, he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.

• Elihu also was wrong. He intended to be gentle to Job but this wasn’t gentle.
• He came closest to answering the question of why Job was suffering in verse 17 when He asked, “Will you condemn Him that is most just?” God says the same thing when He comes to speak with Job.

• Job 40:8 Will you also disannul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be righteous?

                                              Job 35

1 Then Elihu continued and said, 2 Do you think this is right? That you said, My righteousness is more than God's? 3 For you say, What advantage will it be to you? What will I profit if I am cleansed from my sin? 4 I will answer you, and your companions with you. 5 Look to the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds that are higher than you. 6 If you sin, what do you do against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are; and your righteousness may profit the son of man.

• God’s righteousness is infinite.
• Every sin is an affront to God because in Him we live and move and have our being.

• Psalm 36:6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep: O LORD, you preserve man and beast.

• Romans 4:7-8 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

• Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight: that you might be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge.

• Acts 17:24-28 in him we live, and move, and have our being;

God is our Maker who gives us songs in the night

9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. 10 But none says, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night; 11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the fowls of heaven? 12 There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men.

• Pride is a distortion of the created order. Pride puts man over God rather than God over man.
• Did we make the universe we live in, or ourselves? Can we sustain either?

13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. 14 How much less when you say you do not see him, yet the case is before him; therefore trust in him. But now, because he has not visited in his anger; nor has he acknowledged transgression well: Therefore Job opens his mouth emptily; he multiplies words without knowledge.

• God agreed with this last statement in Job 38: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job agrees with this in Job 42:3 …I uttered things I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me.

                                              Job 36

1 Elihu went on and said, 2 Wait for me a little, and I will show you that I have more to speak on God's behalf. 3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 4 For truly my words will not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with you. 5 Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise anyone: he is mighty in strength and wisdom. 6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked: but gives justice to the afflicted.

• Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

• 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous: but with kings on the throne he has seated them forever, and they are exalted. 8 And if they are bound in chains, and held in cords of affliction; 9 Then he declares to them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. 10 He also opens their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity. 11 If they hear and serve him, they will spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 12 But if they do not obey, they will perish by the sword, and they will die without knowledge.

• Revelation 1:6 And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

• Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept your word.

13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they do not cry when he binds them. 14 They die in youth, and their life is among the Sodomites. _

• Romans 1:18-21 explains this.

15 He delivers the afflicted in his affliction, and opens their ears in oppression. 16 Even so he would have moved you out of the place of dire distress into a broad place, where there is no restraint; and that which should be set on your table would be full of fatness. 17 But you have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on you. 18 Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing: then a great ransom cannot deliver you. 19 Will he esteem your riches? No, not gold, nor all the forces of strength. 20 Do not desire the night, when people are cut off in their place. 21 Listen well, do not regard iniquity: for this you have chosen rather than affliction. 22 Behold, God exalts by his power: who teaches like him? 23 Who has appointed him his way? Or who can say, You have done wrong? 24 Remember that you should magnify his work, of which men have sung. 25 All men have seen it; man looks on it from afar.

God is great; He is eternal

26 Behold, God is great, and we do not know him, neither can the number of his years be searched out. 27 He makes small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to its vapor: 28 Which the clouds drop and distil on man abundantly. 29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, or the thundering of his tabernacle? 30 Behold, he spreads his lightning on it, and covers the bottom of the sea. 31 For by them he judges the people; he gives food in abundance. 32 He covers his hand with the lightning; and commands it to strike the mark. Its noise declares his presence, the cattle also concerning what is coming.

• God judges people by withholding rain for crops.

• Zechariah 14:17 And it will be, that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them will be no rain.

• Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

• Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

                                               Job 37

1 At this also my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place. 2 Listen carefully to the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth. 3 He lets it loose under the whole heaven, and his lightning to the wings of the earth. 4 After it a voice roars: he thunders with His majestic voice; and he will not hold them back when his voice is heard.

• Elihu thinks that God is distant from man.
• In Genesis 5 Enoch walked with God, In Genesis 5 Noah walked with God. In Genesis 18 God confided in Abraham and Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23).

• Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; all their host by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

• Lamentations 3:33 he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

• John 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

5 God thunders wondrously; He does great things we do not know. 6 For he says to the snow, Be on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. 7 He seals up the hand of every man; so that all men may know his work.

• He stops man’s work that man might know His work.
• He directs the thunder and the lightning.

8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. 9 Out of the south comes the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. 10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. 11 Also by watering he wearies the thick cloud: he scatters his bright cloud: 12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatever he commands them on the face of the world in the earth. 13 He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for love.

• Zechariah 14:17 And it shall be, that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them will be no rain.

God’s works are wondrous

14 Hear this, Job: stand still, and consider God’s wonders. 15 Do you know when God placed them, and makes the light of his cloud to shine? 16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge? 17 How your garments are warm, when he quiets the earth by the south wind? 18 Have you with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass? 19 Teach us what we shall say to him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. 20 Shall it be told him that I would speak? If a man speaks, surely he will be swallowed up.

• One of the wonders of God is that He is always with us.
• He is exalted above all but lowly in heart.
• He is more accessible than anyone else.

• Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and low in heart: and you will find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

• Luke 11:9 And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you.

21 And now men cannot look on the bright light that is in the clouds: but the wind passes, and cleanses them. 22 Golden splendor comes out of the north: with God is awesome majesty. 23 The Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. 24 Therefore men fear him: he does not respect any that are wise of heart.

SUMMARY: Job 33-37

• The breath of the Almighty gives us life
• God is greater than man
• He is in charge and most just
• He is our Maker who gives us songs in the night
• He is great; He is eternal
• His works are wondrous