NOTES for Job 33:1-33
Elihu begins his speech with a statement that places him under a serious obligation. He says to Job: I am a human being, just like you, but I will speak with you on God's behalf. God has given me knowledge, and I will be able to tell you what you want to hear from Him. But I am not God, and you have nothing to fear: you wanted God to speak with you as one person speaks with another; consider that He is doing this through me (vv. 1-7). What, then, does Elihu say to Job? He says: you are wrong in asserting your innocence, because God is above the human person, and He is not obligated to answer to anyone for anything (vv. 8-13). In essence, Elihu here repeats an argument Job has already heard many times from his friends. What new thing does Elihu want to tell Job, speaking, according to his own assertion, on God's behalf? He says: God is severe. He can warn a person through a dream (vv. 14-18), and if the person does not understand or does not accept such a revelation, then the next warning may be a grave, perhaps fatal, illness (vv. 19-22). And according to Elihu, one can then be saved from death only by a miracle; only intervention from above can help a person in such a situation (vv. 23-28).
Such a situation can be repeated in a person's life more than once, so Job has no reason to be surprised at what has happened to him (vv. 29-30). As one can see, Elihu essentially added nothing to what Job's friends had said to him. The main argument offered by Elihu in his speech had already been heard more than once: no one is clean before God, and He knows better when, whom, and how to punish or show mercy. Only the image of God changes, becoming severe and merciless. Elihu's God clearly appears as a fearsome accuser and judge. He punishes everyone without exception, which is not surprising, because no one is clean before Him. And if someone does manage to be saved from death, if this fearsome God does have mercy on someone, such mercy must be considered a true miracle. Ezekiel spoke on God's behalf, saying that God does not desire the death of the sinner; He wants the sinner to turn and live. Elihu, as one can see, asserts the exact opposite on God's behalf: God wants every sinner to suffer, and He delivers only a few chosen ones from suffering. Speaking this way, Elihu, perhaps without noticing it himself, showed Job God in exactly the way Job could not accept Him.