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.