The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Elihu speaks last, after Job and his three friends. He does not open with an argument but with who made him — which raises the question of what the Almighty's breath gave to man.
Elihu sounds nothing like Job's three friends, and what he rests his words on is different too.
Elihu did not take the proud, unfeeling attitude that Job's three friends took. He speaks with simple humility, asking Job to hear and consider what he says (v.1). He claims that his words come from his heart and speak pure knowledge (vv.2-3). He says this because he knows that the Spirit of God has made him, and the breath (or Spirit) of the Almighty gives him life... This should be true of anyone who speaks for God.
He speaks for God, yet he is made of the same clay as the man he speaks to.
So in the opening verses of Job 33, we find him making two claims. First, he claims that his words will show uprightness and purity, as fits a man who has his being and life from God. Second, that though he would speak on God's behalf, he himself was a man, "formed of the clay," just as Job was.
The verse says the Spirit of God made him. That one word says something about the Spirit Himself.
"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4). God the Creator is almighty, omnipotent. None but Him can call into being. So crediting creation to the Holy Spirit teaches in the strongest way both His personality and His Deity.
Elihu rests his claim to speak knowledge on how man was made.
Here is an essential difference between man and the beast below him. By God's in-breathing, man has what the beast does not. So Elihu's claim stands. His promise that his lips will speak knowledge clearly points back to the original creation: "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." Elsewhere Scripture shows plainly what the breath of the Almighty gave to man that sets him apart from the beast. It is the "spirit of man which is in him," and by which alone he knows the things of a man (1 Cor. 2:11).
That difference is why a human being answers to God as no animal does.
Man, and man alone, received the breath of the LORD God... This is why man alone stands in direct moral responsibility to God. He must give account for the things done in the body to that God who gave him his soul and spirit.
The words are Elihu's, but commentators trace them back to the first man in Genesis and find them true of everyone since.
This great act stands good not only for Adam, the first man, but also for all his race. So in the book of Job we find Elihu saying, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4). We all can say the same today. What marks man out is the spirit the Almighty breathed into him. This act also defined man's relation with his Creator. God is a Spirit. So man, who has spirit by God's in-breathing, was suited to represent Him, made in His image, after His likeness.
From who made him, Elihu moves to what he came to say.
Elihu then came forward: he is a type of Christ as mediator, and spoke on God's behalf. He said, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:4)... He spoke of God's dealings with mankind. He told how God speaks to man, even in dreams, to teach him. And if there is an interpreter, one among a thousand, who can show a man how his soul can stand in truth before God, that man may escape going down to the pit, for God has found a ransom.
- Breathed — the verse points back to the first man, given life by God's own in-breathing; every person alive can say the same words.
- Spirit — that breath gave man spirit, which the animal does not have, and by it alone he knows the things of a man.
- Deity — only God can create, so crediting it here to the Spirit of God shows His personality and Deity.
- Responsibility — man alone received that breath, so man alone must answer to the God who gave him soul and spirit.
- Ministry — Elihu rests his right to speak on it, yet he is clay like Job, and he points to the ransom God has found.
If thou canst, answer me; array [thy words] before me take thy stand.
Job and his three friends have argued themselves to a standstill, and none of them is convinced. Elihu now speaks, and verse 5 is his opening move: not a verdict, but an invitation to reply.
Elihu asks Job to listen, and says where his words come from:
Elihu did not take the proud, unfeeling attitude of Job's three friends. He speaks with simple humility, asking Job to hear and consider what he says (v.1). He claims that his words come from his heart, speaking pure knowledge (vv.2-3). He says this because he knows that the Spirit of God has made him, and that the breath (or Spirit) of the Almighty gives him life. "Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand" (v.5). This should be true of anyone who speaks for God.
The three friends had argued at Job and got nowhere. Elihu's method is different from the start:
Elihu has cleared the way with his opening words to the friends and to Job. Now he goes straight to the heart of the matter. His handling of the subject is markedly different from the method of the three friends, and he clearly expects results. He does not propose to leave such weighty questions in the confused state they were now in, when all the contestants had fought to a standstill and none were convinced. His addresses are not a showy statement of his own principles. They are an appeal to Job's conscience and reason. He has none of the abusive and insulting manner of the friends. Yet he uncovers Job's faults faithfully and without sparing, and he does not stir up opposition.
"Answer me" sounds like a challenge. But Elihu puts it very differently from the friends:
Here it is that Elihu stands out in vivid contrast. He tells Job the truth; but he lays no heavy hand upon him. Elihu has learned the mighty, mysterious force of "the still small voice" — the soul-subduing, heart-melting power of grace. Job had voiced a quantity of false notions about himself. Those notions had sprouted from a root, and the sharp axe of "truth" had to be laid to it.
Job longed to find God and feared Him at the same time. Elihu can say "answer me" because he is not God, but a man speaking for Him:
"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. Behold, I am what you wished for, in God's place." Job's heart went out towards God, but he was afraid it would be too overwhelming. He wanted to find Him, and yet he was still afraid. He wanted someone who could speak to him in a human voice, and who could speak fully for God. Well, Elihu does that in his measure. Elihu is an interpreter, one of a thousand, so he does speak for God. That is just what Job had wanted, though he falls very far short of the Great Interpreter.
The words "I am what you wished for, in God's place" follow an older reading of Job 33:6. The ESV has "Behold, I am toward God as you are."
Commentators differ on how far to press this. Some call Elihu a type of Christ the Daysman; others stress the distance, noting that he speaks of giving his "opinion," which the Lord Jesus never did. A further writer sets the picture out plainly:
He reminds Job of his own desire for such a person: "Neither is there any daysman between us, who might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:33); "Oh that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbour" (Job 16:21). To this desire Elihu now replies: "Behold, I am what you wished for, in God's place; I also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid, nor shall my hand be heavy upon you" (Job 33:6-7).
If Job is to set his words in order, he must answer for what he has already said:
There were two great faults in what Job had said. He thought too well of himself, and he found fault with God... 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.
The invitation is genuine. Elihu stops his argument and turns back to Job:
And now, Job, what have you to say to all this? Elihu wants to bring out Job's true condition — he would not excuse his wrong, but treat him with all fairness. He pauses for a reply. He will not force Job, but does Job not agree with what he has said? May we not take his silence as an acknowledgment of the truth we have been dwelling upon?
- Invited, not crushed. Elihu opens by asking for a hearing and offering Job the right of reply — the pattern for anyone who speaks for God.
- Reason, not ridicule. Unlike the friends, he appeals to Job's conscience and reason. He uncovers Job's faults without stirring up opposition.
- Truth with grace. He tells Job the truth, but lays no heavy hand on him; the axe goes to the root of Job's false notions about himself.
- Answerable, because human. Job feared God would overwhelm him. Elihu speaks for God in a human voice — the man Job wished for, though far short of the Great Interpreter.
- Two faults to answer. Job thought too well of himself and found fault with God. Elihu waits for his answer, and takes his silence as agreement with the truth.
Behold, before God I am as thou; I also am formed out of the clay.
Elihu breaks his silence. His claim answers what Job had cried out for earlier: someone who could stand between him and God without crushing him. The verse holds two halves together: Elihu speaks for God, yet he is clay like Job.
Job had asked for a "daysman" — an arbiter who could lay a hand on both God and himself. Elihu's opening words answer him point for point.
We have now reached a most important and interesting part of the entire book — Elihu's address as mediator... He reminds Job of his own desire for such a person: "There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both" (Job 9:33). To this desire Elihu now replies: "Behold, I am according to your wish, in God's stead; I also am formed out of the clay. Behold my terror shall not make you afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon you" (Job 33:6-7).
God does speak later in the book. Elihu comes first, and the timing matters.
The friends had fallen silent, but they seemed unconvinced. Job is left master of the situation, as far as defending himself could give him such a place. And yet the dark riddle was still unsolved, and God's character had been clouded... On the other hand, suppose God had spoken directly, revealing Himself in majesty and power, as He does in the part that follows. The change would have been too sudden, and Job's fear of being terrified by His glory might have been justified.
"In God's stead" is an older translation; the ESV reads, "I am toward God as you are." Either way, Elihu does not take Job's side against God. His anger runs two ways, and the order of his work is fixed.
He is angry with the three friends because they had condemned Job without being able to enlighten him. And he is angry with Job because instead of justifying God he had justified himself... He rises up to speak on behalf of God, who had been dishonoured by their speeches. He waited until all the others had said all they had to say, and then he lifts up his voice on behalf of God. He would have Job justified, but he must first of all justify God.
The second half of the verse leaves no room for superiority. Elihu too was "pinched off from a piece of clay." That is where the three friends had gone wrong.
In verse 6 he speaks of himself as Job's spokesman, or daysman — one taking up Job's case before God. He is not defending Job's claims. He is concerned for the greatest good of Job's welfare before God. So he wants no place of superiority. He speaks of himself as being also "formed out of clay." Job's friends did not think of this when they accused him. They considered their wisdom greater than his.
Clay does not soften what Elihu has to say. It changes how it lands.
Here it is that Elihu stands out in vivid contrast. He tells Job the truth; but he lays no heavy hand upon him. Elihu has learned the great and mysterious power of "the still small voice" — the quiet strength of grace that subdues the soul and melts the heart.
Commentators read Elihu as a picture of Christ. One writer builds the point on the meaning of Elihu's name.
Now Elihu is a name with a meaning, and we are given it as "God Himself." Keep that in mind, then read verse 6 of Job 33. We shall see that he stepped in to play the part of a mediator. So he becomes a picture — though a faint one — of the true Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Elihu was truly a man, formed out of the clay and he stood before Job on God's behalf.
The word "faint" matters. Elihu could say the human half. He could not say the other.
One side of this was true of Job's daysman, Elihu. But he could not say, "Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And whoever sees Me sees Him who sent Me" (John 12:44-45). He was but a faint foreshadowing of the true Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus.
- The wish — Job had asked for an arbiter who could lay a hand on both God and himself. Elihu opens by answering that wish.
- The clay — He claims no superiority over the sufferer, unlike the friends, who considered their wisdom greater than Job's.
- The stead — Standing in God's place means speaking for God's honour first. Elihu wanted Job justified, but he had to justify God first.
- The touch — Truth still comes, but with no heavy hand. Elihu knows the power of the still small voice, the heart-melting strength of grace.
- The shadow — Elihu is a faint picture of Christ, the true Mediator; he could say "I am formed out of clay," but never "he that sees Me sees Him that sent Me."