He will sing before men, and say, I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it hath not been requited to me;
Elihu describes a broken man's first honest words. Everything turns on whether he owns the truth about himself, and commentators call that the turn toward deliverance.
Admitting "I sinned" looks like weakness. One writer treats it as the opposite:
"I have sinned" — this is uprightness. A sinner's uprightness consists in owning his condition. God says he is a sinner, and his uprightness is to own it. This is the way God is going to save souls at this time. The truth must be out, and owned, as to what you are. God will not, as it were, electroplate you over and make you look like silver when you are nothing but dross. The very first step in the conversion of a soul is owning his sins before God. Not to your fellow man, not to a priest, but to God. Sin confessed is sin forgiven.
The man admits three things: sin, a twisting of what was right, and a loss. One writer ties the "perverting" to Job's own wrong view of God. He also takes the last clause to mean that the sin was never paid back to the man:
"I had sinned and perverted what was right." Job will soon admit his sin. He had perverted, that is, misunderstood, the righteous character of God. In the same way the sinner can look back to the time when he was "a blasphemer and injurious." But God has not repaid that iniquity to the one who was once guilty. "It was not recompensed to me" — for so should the last clause of verse 27 read.
Commentators differ over the opening line. One keeps the older reading, "He looks upon men," and hears in it a man who knows God is watching him:
The wording of verse 27 may be a little uncertain. But the original King James Version seems the most likely to be correct... A real work in the heart of men must begin with God. The person is moved when he realises that God is watching him. He confesses his own sin and perversion, and admits that he has gained nothing by it. So there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Older translations word the verse as a condition: "if any say, I have sinned." One writer points out what that condition does not ask for:
Mark those words, "If any say, I have sinned." Is this the language of your heart now? Can you cast yourself at the feet of Christ a confessed sinner? You may take that place without any fear of being a hypocrite. In owning what you are, as a sinner, before God, there is no fear of deceiving yourself, much less of deceiving God... It is not, If any have served me, or If any have not sinned. It is, If any have sinned.
Why can God answer such words? Earlier in the chapter He says He has found a ransom. One writer looks at what that word means:
The word translated "ransom" here simply means a "covering," related to the word translated "atonement" in the Old Testament. Before Christ came, God covered the sin of the repentant sinner before His holy eye. He waited for the time when Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice would make full propitiation. This is why Scripture speaks of the passing over of sins done beforehand, through the forbearance of God (Romans 3:25). Those past sins were the sins of believers who lived before Christ — Job's among them.
That ransom was not the sinner's discovery, which is why past failure cannot cancel it:
It is not you who found the ransom; God found it. Satan may tell Him of all your sins. He may point above all to your deep ingratitude and failure since you were a child of God. God's reply is, "I have found a ransom."
The verse is not only for a first conversion. It sets a pattern for how a believer handles his own failures:
Take sides fully with your true Master against the sin which is both His enemy and yours. This means you must not excuse yourself in the least degree for giving way to sin, nor blame it on anything or anyone else, but blame yourself fully for it. Let it be stressed that this is a vitally important matter, for far too many defeat themselves by not honestly taking the full blame for their failures.
- Owned — a sinner's uprightness is to agree with God about himself. God will not plate over dross to make it look like silver.
- Worded — the confession names the sin, the twisting of what was right, and the loss. Writers differ over the last clause: "it profited me not" or "it was not repaid to me."
- Unqualified — the condition is not "if any have served me" but "if any say, I have sinned," so no one can be too guilty to use it.
- Ransomed — God can answer such words because He Himself found the covering. It pointed on to the sacrifice of Christ.
- Sung — the forgiven man does not stay silent. He has a new song, and many will hear it and turn to the Lord.
He hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light.
Elihu has been describing how God turns a man back from destruction. Here the rescued man speaks for himself. He names three things: his soul redeemed, the pit escaped, and a life that now looks on light. What is that pit, and on what ground does God lift a man out of it?
The word translated "pit" comes from the world of hunting:
shachath, "a pit, a pitfall to entrap animals," place of doom and corruption. Job 33:18, 24, 28, 30
One writer finds two pits here: one a man falls into now, one waiting beyond death:
In these remarkable words Elihu was certainly acting as the interpreter with Job. He showed the good purpose of God in His dealings, which seem so much against men. God aims to deliver them from the "pit" of self-esteem and self-satisfaction in this life, and from the "pit" of judgment and condemnation in the life to come.
The rescue follows a confession. One writer explains why God counts that confession as the sinner's uprightness:
"I have sinned:" this is uprightness. A sinner's uprightness consists in owning his condition. God says he is a sinner, and his uprightness is to own it. This is the way God is going to save souls at this time. The truth must be out, and owned, as to what you are. God will not, so to speak, electroplate you over and make you look like silver, when you are nothing but dross.
God answers that confession at once. His answer rests on something He has already found:
A real work in the heart of men must begin with God. The individual is moved when he realises that God is watching him. He confesses his own sin and perversion, and admits that he has gained nothing by it. So there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. There is an immediate answer from God, "He will deliver his soul from going into the Pit, and his life shall see the light" (v.28). This is certainly because of the ransom that God has found. In fact it is the ransom that God has provided — the sacrifice of His own beloved Son.
Another writer links the ransom Elihu speaks of with a phrase from Hebrews:
In Elihu's words we find a beautiful expression of the gospel of God: "Then He is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." The New Testament says the same thing in its own language — "having obtained (Greek, found) eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12).
What is the light the verse promises? One writer ties it to what a person can know today:
Then comes the precious word: "He will deliver his soul from going down into the pit; and his life shall see the light." That means the knowledge of a present and full salvation. If you are looking only to Christ, and resting only on Christ, this is what His death has secured for you: you should know the forgiveness of your sins.
Older versions read "his soul" here, but in this wording the man speaks for himself — "my soul," "my life." One writer says he now sings his own story to others:
Now he can speak to God in prayer and look on His face with joy. In the same way, the ransomed soul can speak to other people. "He looks upon men" should rather read, "He sings to men." It is part of the new song he has learned, and many will hear it and be turned to the Lord… But this sin has not been repaid to the once guilty man.
One writer carries that song into heaven:
Not one person in heaven will sing, "I have never sinned, so I got here by myself." The song up there tells of our hopeless ruin — and of the grace of God.
- Pit — the word means a trap dug to catch animals, and a place of doom. Writers apply it to self-satisfaction now and to judgment later.
- Confession — "I have sinned" is the sinner's only uprightness. God will not plate over dross to make it look like silver.
- Ransom — God's answer is immediate. Its ground lies outside the man: a ransom God found, which Hebrews 9:12 calls "eternal redemption."
- Light — the rescue is more than escape from the pit. It is a salvation known now, with sins forgiven.
- Song — the rescued man then sings to others about his ruin and God's grace. No one in heaven sings of arriving sinless.