Job 33:13-18

3. God has answered Job in two waysto discipline him. (Job 33:13-22)

a. In dreams, to draw him from the fate of an evil course (Job 33:13-18)

TEXT 33:13-18

13

Why dost thou strive against him,

For that he giveth not account of any of his matters?

14 For God speaketh once,

Yea, twice, though man regardeth it not.

15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,

When deep sleep falleth upon men,
In slumberings upon the bed;

16 Then he openeth the ears of men,

And sealeth their instruction,

17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose,

And hide pride from man;

18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit,

And his life from perishing by the sword.

COMMENT 33:13-18

Job 33:13Elihu asks Job, Why are you contentious against Him because He does not answer? The A. V. includes saying which is not in the text and would better be rendered in English as that. There is a possible reading variation between my words and his words of the Hebrew text. The reading variation is of no consequence, since Job's complaint that God gives no answer is appropriate for any and all men who ask and receive no answer. All contests with God are futile.

Job 33:14Perhaps the verse implies that God reveals himself in more than one way, and if man does not hear God speak in one place, perhaps he will in another. The sense of this verse is elliptical, though not impossible.[333]

[333] See discussion L. Dennefeld, Revue Biblique, 1939, p. 175.

Job 33:15Elihu expresses the classical Near Eastern view of dreams, viz., that they may be a vehicle of divine revelationGenesis 41:11-12; Numbers 12:6; Judges 7:13; Judges 7:15; Daniel 2:4, Daniel 2:7. His specific reference here is to dreams that are warnings about and deterrents from ungodly behavior. Dreams of warnings are found in Genesis 20:3; Genesis 31:24; Daniel 4; Matthew 2:13; Matthew 27:19; Job 4:12 ff; Job 7:14. The prophets warn us about any uncritical approach to dream interpretation, either before or after FreudDeuteronomy 13:1-5 and Jeremiah 23:28.

Job 33:16The Hebrew text has mosaram or their bond, which makes little sense.[334] The dreams may need interpretation. The phrase open the ears sometimes informRuth 4:4; 1 Samuel 20:2; 1 Samuel 20:12-13. When God is the subject, the phrase often means revelationJob 36:10; Job 36:15; 1 Samuel 9:15; 2 Samuel 7:27. By certain types of dreams, God awakens men to repentance from the error of their ways. The LXX reads appearances of terrors (en eidesin phobou), which conveys the essence of the meaning.

[334] For this difficult verse see M. Dahood, Biblica, 1968, p. 360; see also Dhorme and Pope.

Job 33:17The Hebrew literally says to remove man deed, and probably means to remove man from his evil purpose; i.e., warning dreams often cause man to abandon his plans for evil. The second line literally reads pride from man he covers, which our A. V. interprets to mean hide pride from man. The sense seems to be that God's warning dreams are also to humble man.

Job 33:18God's purpose is beneficent, i.e., to save man from a worse fate. The parallelism makes it evident that selah should not be rendered sword as in the A. V. The reference is to the realm of Sheol and to perishing by the sword. The verb perhaps should be rendered to pass through, though the noun often means weapon or sword; but the relevancy of this here is suspect.[335]

[335] For the critical considerations, see M. Tsevat, Vetus Testamentum, 1954, p. 43; and Svi Rin, Biblische Zeitschrift, 1963, p. 25, where selah is identified with the underworld.

b. Through affliction God has spoken (Job 33:19-22) to bring repentance (Job 33:30).