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When the light of nature is withdrawn, when all is silent, He speaks in "a still small voice" and makes known His mind.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.
Then he openeth men's ears, and sealeth their instruction,
Elihu has told Job that God is greater than man, yet God is not silent — He speaks again and again, and man does not notice. Verse 16 is the turning point: God Himself opens the ear, and He does it for a reason.
God is not the one who is silent. Man's own will carries him along, and grace has to break in. One writer sees this verse as the first work of God in a person who does not yet know Him:
Here Elihu rightly begins at the beginning. He starts with the first work of God in the man who does not know Him. It is grace working to wake up a soul that is not yet converted... This is exactly what marks out God's mercy when He appeals to the man who is not converted. His own will carries him away. But God knows how to bend it or break it.
The verse says "men," not "believers." The same writer presses that word, and adds that believers are not left out either:
"Then he opens the ears of men" (verse 16). That is what this chapter shows. It does not say "believing" men; it is any man, so that he may believe. Yet we do not always behave as believers. When that happens, we may get a little word that simply shows us where we are — that we are "walking as men," as the apostle said.
The ESV ends verse 16 with a warning; older translations, which these writers quote, read "and seals their instruction." To seal something is to fix it in place so it cannot be lost. When the light of day is gone, God presses the lesson home, and it reaches deeper than behaviour:
Elihu makes it plain that God does speak to man in this way. When the light of nature is gone, when all is silent, He speaks in "a still small voice" and makes His mind known. In this way He seals the instruction on the heart of man. His aim is to correct wrong thoughts and actions, to draw man back from "mischief," or from his own purpose, and to hide pride from man. The word for man here is geber, the hero or mighty man. This goes deeper than what a man does, for pride hides in the heart, and God would hide that pride from him — He keeps it from ruling him.
Commentators differ here. Some say God spoke this way before the Bible was finished, and does not now:
When there was no Bible, no written revelation of God, God spoke to individuals by dreams and visions. He does not do so any longer, for we have His finished Word, which makes His will known to us.
Others allow that God still does so, while ranking it far below the written Word:
He may speak in a dream or a vision. Scripture records that He has often done so, and He clearly still does. It happens most with simple believers who know little of the Bible, and who may not even have much of it in their own language. Where believers have the Bible to teach them — a better kind of guidance — dreams in which God speaks are rare by comparison. And if God does speak to a man in a dream, what is it for? To change his course, and to humble his pride into the dust.
The next verse says what the opened ear is for. That gives a test for anything that comes in the night:
When God sends people dreams, He "opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction" (v.16). This is not to flatter man's pride, but the very opposite: "to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man" (v.17). In other words, 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.
Sleep is not the only silence God uses. Illness empties the calendar, and the same opening of the ear follows:
Then, too, "sickness" comes and strikes many. It stops all activity. The whirl of busy life gives way to the quiet of a bed of pain. This has done good to thousands. Then, "He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction" (Job 33:16). In the quiet they learn how worthless their own efforts are, and where they can find true peace.
- Deaf, not unaddressed. God speaks once and twice. The failure is in man's hearing. His first work is in the person who does not yet know Him.
- He opens. The ear does not open itself — and the "men" here are any men, so that they may believe, not only those who already do.
- He seals. He fastens the lesson on the heart. He aims past conduct at the pride hidden underneath.
- He quiets. Sleep and a bed of pain stop the whirl of activity. In the quiet, a man sees what his own efforts are worth.
- He humbles. Commentators differ on whether God still uses dreams. They agree on the purpose: what turns you from your course and humbles your pride is worth taking to heart.
That he may withdraw man [from his] work, and hide pride from man.
Elihu has just described how God speaks to people who are not listening. He speaks in a dream, in a vision of the night, while they sleep. Verse 17 gives the reason for all that quiet effort: God is aiming at a man's plans and at his pride.
A dream like this is God's opening move on a person who does not yet know Him, and it aims at the will:
In this chapter Elihu shows Job one common way God deals with people, though God does not always work this way. He is not limited in how He reaches men, and can act on the soul in many ways. Elihu rightly begins at the beginning, with the first work of God in the man who does not know Him. It is grace working to awaken a soul that does not know God… This is just what marks out divine mercy when it appeals to such a man. His own will carries him away. But God knows how to bend or break it.
"His deed" — older translations say "his purpose" — is the course a person has set his heart on. God's love does not leave that course alone:
We all forget too easily the weighty fact that "God tries the righteous." "He does not withdraw His eyes from them." We are in His hands and always under His eye. We are the objects of His deep, tender, unchanging love; but we are also the subjects of His wise moral government. His dealings with us are varied. They are sometimes preventive, sometimes corrective, always instructive. We may be bent on some course of our own, the end of which would be moral ruin. He steps in and withdraws us from our purpose. He dashes our castles in the air to pieces. He scatters our golden dreams. He breaks in on many a favourite plan our hearts clung to — a plan that would have ended in certain destruction.
The second half of the verse goes below behaviour. The Hebrew word behind "a man" here is not the ordinary word for a human being:
His object is to correct wrong thoughts and actions. He withdraws man from "mischief," or his purpose, and hides 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). So man is kept back from destruction. He bows to the correction of God's truth, and so is spared the smiting of the rod, or of the sword.
Since pride is the target, God does not act only after a man has done wrong. Job 33 and Job 36 are not describing the same thing:
Chastenings are not always for actual faults. Job 33:18-19 says, "he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones." Verse 17 tells us the purpose: to hide pride from man. Then in chapter 36 the chastening is for positive faults (v. 9).
Commentators differ on whether the night-time method of verses 15-17 continues. One holds that it belonged to an age without Scripture:
When there was no Bible, the revelation of God, God spoke to man individually by dreams and visions. He does not do so any longer, for we have His completed Word in which His will is made known to us.
Another gives a test for a dream, taken straight from verse 17. He quotes an older translation:
When God sends dreams to people, He "opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction" (v.16). This is not to flatter man's pride. It does the very opposite: it is "to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man" (v.17). In other words, 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.
The pride this verse targets is the pride that defends its own righteousness before God. Losing it can cost a great deal:
Every effort to justify myself before God is striving against God… God "opens the ears of men, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man." Then the man must pass through this sore pain and affliction. It may be through some fall that all self-trust is blighted.
- Grace speaks first. Before pain comes, God whispers — a dream, a vision, an opened ear — to reach a will that has carried the man away.
- Grace turns. God's first aim is the plan our hearts cling to. He scatters schemes that would have ended in ruin.
- Grace hides. The second aim is deeper than conduct: pride hidden in the heart, stripped of its control over the strong man.
- Grace prevents. God's dealings are not always payment for faults. Sometimes they stop the ruin before it starts.
- Grace can be tested. A voice that flatters your pride fails the test of verse 17. What humbles you, or warns you off your own deed, is worth taking to heart.
He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing away by the sword.
Elihu is describing the ways God works on a man who will not listen — a dream, a warning, a sickbed. This verse gives the reason behind them all, and it raises a question: is hardship God punishing a man, or God rescuing him before he falls further?
Elihu is showing Job how God deals with a man who does not know Him. This verse names what those dealings are for.
In this very chapter Elihu points out to Job a fairly common way of God's dealings, though by no means a fixed rule. God is not at all limited in His methods of reaching men, but can act on the soul in many ways. He begins with the first work of God in a man who does not know Him. It is grace working to awaken a soul that has not yet turned to God... "He keeps back his soul from the pit" — such is the merciful purpose of God's intervention — "and his life from perishing by the sword."
The word "pit" carries more than one weight.
In these remarkable words Elihu was acting the part of the interpreter with Job. He showed the good purpose of God in His dealings with men, however hostile those dealings appear. He aims at delivering them from the "pit" of self-esteem and self-satisfaction in this life, and the "pit" of judgment and condemnation in the life to come.
Read with the verse before it, this is not God settling a score.
Chastenings are not always for actual faults. In Job it is said (chapter 33:18-19), "He keeps back his soul from the pit... He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and with strong pain in many of his bones"; and we find from verse 17 that this is for the purpose of hiding pride from man. Then in chapter 36 the chastening is for actual faults.
Another writer follows this deeper than action, into the heart.
His aim is to correct wrong thoughts and actions, to withdraw man from "mischief," or his own purpose, and to hide pride from man — the word means the hero, the mighty man. This goes deeper than action, for pride hides in the heart, and God would hide it from man — stop it controlling him. "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins" (Psalm 19:13). So man is kept back from destruction. He bows to the correction of God's truth, and is spared the striking of the rod, or of the sword.
Elihu is not narrowing this to the godly. He is describing a man moving in one direction who gets stopped.
"Then he opens the ears of men" (v. 16). That is what is shown in this chapter. It is not "believing" men; it is any man, so that he might believe... "That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man." You see, it is one who had never yet been broken. "He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." He was on the straight road to it.
Commentators differ on how this works. One reads the verse plainly: God stepping in to save a life from real danger.
There is another way God has of pursuing a soul: He preserves from sudden danger. I well remember when I was a boy of sixteen, a brother of mine shot a partridge. The bird fell into the water. "Fetch it," he said, and I plunged into the sea. The bird was not worth sixpence, but I risked my life, risked my soul, to get it. Only the mercy of God brought me to shore... But He spared me, that He might save me.
Being held back from the pit is not the end of the story. Later in the chapter Elihu gives the ground on which God can do it.
"Then he is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." This is a vivid way of presenting what God was about to do in due time. It is not given here only as a picture and a promise. The language is plain — perhaps as clear as any words in the Old Testament, looking forward to that infinite work which we now know was finished at the cross of Christ.
- Kept back. God's action here is a hand on the shoulder. He holds a life away from the edge it was already moving toward.
- Kept back from pride. The real danger is not the sword but the self-esteem behind it. God works deeper than behaviour, hiding pride from the man before it destroys him.
- Kept back before the fault. The pain is not always payment for a fault. Verse 17 shows it can come first, to hide pride. Chapter 36 is where the discipline answers actual faults.
- Kept back by many means. A dream, a narrow escape, a sickbed — He is not limited in His methods of reaching a soul. And it is not only believing men; it is any man, so that he might believe.
- Kept back at a cost. The reason God can order a man's release from the pit comes a few verses later: a ransom has been found.