For God speaketh once, and twice, -- [and man] perceiveth it not --
Job had found fault with God and had not understood His ways. Elihu, answering him, says God is not silent at all — He speaks, and speaks again, but the failure lies in the listener.
The trouble started with what Job had lost sight of:
He had completely failed in the reverence due to God. He had entirely forgotten the infinite distance between God and man, and the majesty of God. So instead of finding fault with himself for falling so far short, he found fault with God. He did not understand His ways fully. Now he ought to have trusted them, though he did not understand them.
The numbers here show patience. God says it again, and the reason lies in us:
God does not speak only once to a man. He speaks "twice, in fact three times," because we are poor listeners. God cares deeply that souls should be brought back from the Pit. That means rescue from the negative horror of being without God, and instead the positive blessing of being enlightened with the light of life.
The plagues God sent on Egypt show the same pattern:
It seems to be part of God's ways to warn twice. Then, if no one listens, He strikes the third time without any warning. Later on we do get the word, "God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it" (Job 33:14). Elihu's words proved true here.
The problem is not how loudly God speaks. It is how we listen. One writer sets our dullness beside Christ:
He has learned the lesson well, that "power belongs to God." God had spoken it once, but Jesus had heard it twice. He heard it with a full witness of its truth; so wide did He open His ear to divine instruction morning by morning (Isa. 50:4). Man is a duller scholar. (See Job 33:14)
Why does God speak? Not to inform us, but to deal with something hidden:
His object is to correct wrong thoughts and actions. It is to withdraw man from "mischief," or his own purpose, and to hide pride from man (geber, the hero or mighty man). This goes deeper than action, for pride lurks in the heart, and God would hide it from man — hinder its control over him. "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins" (Ps. 19:13).
This verse is not telling you to wait for a dream:
The same truth holds with even fuller force now. We do not need a revelation by dreams and visions; we have it in the written word of God. He who spoke in many ways — dreams among the rest — has now given us the full revelation of Himself in His Son. That revelation, the entire word of God, we have in the Scriptures.
If the gentle way fails, a harder way follows. Its purpose is still mercy:
"He keeps back his soul from the pit" — such is the merciful object of God's intervention — "and his life from perishing by the sword." Here is more than a dream of the night or a passing vision. Here are corrective ways, as well as glimpses of God's light — or of His judgment, which the man was despising.
The verse is personal. Has God already spoken to you, and did you let it pass?
You have heard the voice of God. He has spoken and you have not paid attention. Perhaps twice this very day you have heard the voice of God through His Word... You have heard the Word of God but you have not perceived it. You have let it go by you unheeded. Some of us who know the Lord can look back and remember how many times He spoke to us, and we did not listen... But has He given you up, given up His pursuit of your soul? No.
- Speaks. God is never the silent one. Job blamed a God who was already speaking.
- Twice. He repeats Himself out of patience, not doubt. He speaks again because "we are poor listeners."
- Missed. The failure is on our side. Christ heard twice what God said once; "man is a duller scholar."
- Withdraws. The aim of the speaking is rescue: to pull a man back from his own purpose and to hide pride from him before it rules him.
- Then the rod. Ignore the voice, and corrective dealings follow. Even these keep the soul back from the pit.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
Elihu has just told Job that God speaks once and twice, and man does not notice. This verse names the first of those quiet channels: the night, sleep, a dream.
Elihu names Job's real problem: he argued with God instead of asking Him anything.
Not only was Job judging God, but he was also not subject to Him. There was a lack of submission in his heart. If God was dealing with him, why did he not ask Him, instead of murmuring?
God chooses the setting. Daylight lets a person stay busy; sleep does not.
Since God is invisible, He speaks to man in ways that do not show Him personally, but ways that awaken man's serious attention... Though man may not perceive that it is God speaking to him, yet often God does so "in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men." At such a time God has a captive audience, whether man wants to listen or not. God spoke to Pilate's wife this way (Matthew 27:19), though sadly Pilate did not act on her advice. He had already trapped himself by his weak indecision.
Another writer applies this to nights when sleep will not come:
When all is quiet at last, God can speak... So insomnia, or sleeplessness, can sometimes be a hidden blessing. It is always a good habit, when we cannot sleep, to praise and pray.
One writer traces the Hebrew word behind it across Scripture:
The word for deep sleep, tardemah, is never used of natural sleep. It is used of sleep that is either supernatural, sent for a special purpose (Gen. 2:21; Gen. 15:12; Job 4:13; Job 33:15), or spiritual, part of God's dealings in governing man (Prov. 19:15; Isa. 29:10).
Verse 15 runs straight on into verse 16. Elihu says what God is after when He sends a dream.
When the light of nature is withdrawn, when all is silent, He speaks in "a still small voice" and makes known His mind. So instruction is sealed on the heart of man. His purpose is to correct wrong thoughts and actions, to withdraw man from "mischief," or his purpose, and to hide pride from man (geber, the hero or mighty man). This goes deeper than action, for pride lurks in the heart, and God would hide it from man — hinder its control over him.
That gives a test for any dream:
If a dream is a warning against what I may be inclined to do, or if it humbles me, then I should take it to heart.
In the chapter as a whole, the night dream is only the opening move. The sequence runs on to the ransom of verse 24.
Verses 15-22. He shows God using the plough — of a dream, of a striking providence, of bodily pain or sickness — to break up such fallow ground. And such is the work to this day... Verses 23-24. The sower comes after the ploughman. The seed is the Gospel. God provides the ransom and brings deliverance to the sinner.
The plough first works on someone who does not yet know God:
He begins with the first work of God in the man who does not know Him. It is grace working to awaken an unconverted soul... It is exactly what marks divine mercy in appealing to the unconverted man. He is carried away by his own will. But God knows how to bend or break it.
Commentators differ. One holds that the need for dreams has passed:
The same truth is in even fuller force now, for we do not need a revelation by dreams and visions, but have it in the written word of God. He who spoke in many ways (dreams among the rest) has now given us the full revelation of Himself in His Son.
Another says such nudges still come, but rank below Scripture:
I think I have been aware of God whispering little things to me about myself. He advised me to be careful about what I was doing. He made me judge myself in a way I had not done before... The great point is that it is altogether inferior to the word. This is where we have our great advantage.
- Speaks. God is not silent, as Job charged. He speaks once and twice, and man fails to perceive it.
- Sleeps. He picks the hour when no one can escape Him. The "deep sleep" here is not ordinary rest, but sleep sent for a special purpose.
- Opens. The dream opens the ear. It pulls a man back from what he planned, and reaches the pride hidden in the heart, not just the wrong action.
- Ploughs. Dream, providence and sickness are the plough that breaks hard ground. Then the sower comes with the gospel and the ransom of verse 24.
- Speaks again. God has now spoken in His Son, so the written word is the surer voice. Some writers hold dreams are no longer needed. Others say they still come, but always rank below Scripture.