And if, bound in fetters, they be held in cords of affliction,
Elihu has just said that God never takes His eyes off the righteous and lifts them as high as kings. Then, in the same breath, he says these same people are sometimes bound in chains. The verse holds two opposites together: God's constant care, and God's willingness to bind.
The "if" of this verse is not about criminals getting what they deserve. It follows the promise of God's watchful eye. It describes the very people He is watching. These writers quote a translation that says "fetters" where the ESV says "chains."
He went on to praise the way God, who is perfect in knowledge, deals both with the wicked and the righteous. From the righteous He does not withdraw His eyes. That is, He keeps watch over them always, and in the end He exalts them as kings. Yet He may first allow them to be "bound in fetters" and "held in cords of affliction." Poor Job was in that very state at that moment. And if He does allow this, it is for a purpose, as verses 9-11 show. Notice, it is the righteous who are dealt with this way. Even an Abraham and a Job, though righteous, were not sinless. God aims His discipline at such people, rather than at those who shut God out of their lives.
The binding is not the end of the matter. It has an aim.
Why then affliction? These "righteous," whom God cares for, are at times "bound in fetters, held in cords of affliction." Is it a contradiction of what Elihu had just said? To Job it had been a contradiction, because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. His pride was as real a transgression as the flagrant evils the friends falsely charged against him. God's object was to lay bare the hidden evil of man's heart, to open his ear to His warnings, and to turn him from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later their sufferings will pass — even in this life. If not, they must be disciplined to the very end, and struck as if by a swift arrow from His hand.
Chains normally mean anger. These mean something else.
Here Elihu, speaking on God's behalf, lifts the veil. He allows them to be bound in fetters and in sorrow's bonds. He, the righteous God, does this to show them their deeds and to uncover their transgressions. Those transgressions have their source in the thing God hates — pride. The afflictions of the righteous reveal His love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them by suffering.
Chains might make a believer fear that his place with God has slipped. One distinction rules that out.
It is most important not to confuse two things. One is the believer's standing and salvation in Christ. The other is his walk and the discipline he receives from his Father. As to his standing in Christ, as we have seen, it is established for ever. To make that depend in the least on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God! Not earthly prosperity — not worldly pleasures. The nearer we walk with God, the less we shall have of these.
Job's record was not the problem. What he had been doing since the trouble started was.
Job 36 presses another point on Job — if he looks at things from God's side, he must see His righteousness. Job ought to understand that "He withdraws not His eyes from the righteous." "He opens also their ear to discipline." "He delivers the poor in his affliction." Here is where Job had failed. He had been busy justifying himself instead of having his ear opened to discipline.
Writers differ on where Job's fault lay. Some point to a pride he could not see; others to what he said once the trial began.
Job's previous life had not been a life of iniquity. But his bold criticism of God was certainly iniquity, little as he realised it.
The pain the fetters cause is not wasted. God works with it.
You have sinned, and the fetters and cords made you cry out. And remember, the believer cannot touch sin without great bitterness of soul. Well, God uses that very bitterness in restoring the soul of the failing saint... This word shows you that if you were not a real child of God, but a hypocrite in heart, you would not have all this bitterness.
- Watched, then bound. The fetters come to the people God never takes His eyes off; being in chains is no proof that His care has lapsed.
- Bound to be shown. The binding exists to uncover hidden evil — pride above all.
- Shown in love. A righteous person's affliction shows God's kindness teaching him, not His anger punishing him.
- Discipline touches walk, not standing. Salvation in Christ is settled for ever; what these cords address is the daily walk.
- Crying out is the good sign. Job's failure was self-justification instead of listening. The bitterness that makes a believer cry out is what God uses to restore him. Bow to it, and sooner or later the suffering passes.
Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions, because they have increased.
Elihu, one of the speakers in the book of Job, has been speaking on God's behalf. Here he explains why God sometimes binds righteous people in fetters and cords of affliction, and what God shows them once they are bound.
This chapter is about the righteous man, not the wicked one. One writer marks the shift:
"He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous." That is the great point of this chapter. In chapter 33 it was "man," but here it is "the righteous" man that He looks at most closely. God disciplines man to win him to Himself. He disciplines the righteous man far more strictly, to keep him right — so that justifying him does not end in dishonour to Himself. It is a terrible thing when one of God's own people goes wrong.
Being righteous is no protection from the fetters:
Notice that it is the righteous who are dealt with this way. Even an Abraham and a Job, though righteous, were not sinless. God aims His disciplinary dealings at people like these, rather than at those who shut God out of their lives.
God declares two things: the man's work, and his transgressions. A close rendering of the Hebrew shows how it describes them:
Then He shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have grown mighty; and He opens their ear to the instruction, and tells them to turn back from what is worthless.
Another writer names the root of those transgressions:
He allows them to be bound in fetters and in the bonds of sorrow. He does this so that He, the righteous God, may show them their deeds and uncover their transgressions. Those transgressions spring from the thing God hates: pride. The afflictions of the righteous reveal His love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to teach them through suffering.
God speaks to a person while he is bound, because that is when he will listen.
When God allows people to be bound in cords of affliction, His object is to get their ear. He then tells them where they have transgressed and acted defiantly. That gives people the chance to listen and to turn from iniquity. Job's earlier life had not been a life of iniquity. But his bold criticism of God was certainly iniquity, little as he realised it.
One writer sees the same principle in Manasseh, a king of Judah:
They refused to hear the word, so they had to feel the rod. Manasseh, as suited such a monster of evil, was brought in chains to Babylon.
Job's friends had accused him of open crimes, and they were wrong. Elihu points to something Job could not see in himself.
In Job's case it had been pride, because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. That pride was as real a transgression as the glaring evils his friends wrongly charged against him. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn him from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later their sufferings will pass — even in this life. If they do not, they must be chastened right to the end.
This passage is easy to misread, as if a believer's acceptance with God hung on his behaviour. One writer draws the line:
It is most important not to confuse the believer's standing and salvation in Christ with his walk and the discipline he receives from his Father. His standing in Christ, as we have seen, is established for ever. To make that depend, in the least, on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God.
Elihu's teaching is true, but it reaches only as far as he could see.
Of course, Elihu cannot go beyond the present life. No one had yet lifted the veil that hung between the present and the future. With the added light we now have, we can speak of "this light momentary affliction," even if it lasts a lifetime. Suffering for righteousness' sake, for Christ, is not a cloud and darkness. It is "the Spirit of glory and of God." Elihu could not speak of this.
- Bound — the fetters and cords in this chapter fall on the righteous, not the wicked. God disciplines the man He has justified, so that justifying him brings Him no dishonour.
- Shown — in the affliction God first shows the man his own work and his swollen transgressions. The root He uncovers is pride.
- Heard — the showing aims at the ear. Those who refuse to hear the word must feel the rod, and the trouble becomes God's instruction.
- Uncovered — Job's sin was not the crime his friends imagined. It was a pride he could not see, and God used affliction to bring that hidden evil into the light.
- Unshaken — this discipline touches a believer's walk, never his standing. His standing in Christ is settled for ever.
And he openeth their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
Elihu is still speaking "on God's behalf." He has just described people bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction. This verse shows what God is doing inside that trouble. He is not just punishing. He is opening an ear and giving a command.
Why does God allow the affliction at all? One writer explains what God is after:
God delights in blessing the righteous. But the righteous, like the unrighteous, will meet trials. That was true of Job. What does the trial do? It brings out what is actually in the heart. When God allows people to be bound in cords of affliction, His aim is to get their ear. He then tells them where they have transgressed and acted in defiance. That gives them the chance to listen and to turn from iniquity. Job's earlier life had not been a life of iniquity. But his bold criticism of God was certainly iniquity, though he barely realised it.
Who is this discipline for? One commentator draws a clear line:
As I understand it, this is not a question of God bringing the unconverted into His favour. It is the discipline of the converted under His good hand. It is the ways of God, and the righteous government that He maintains with His own. But even such might slip aside. Alas! who does not know it? As God from the beginning dealt with souls to convert them, so He dealt with His own to lead them on and to correct them. The discipline of His saints, then, is the chief subject of this chapter.
Why are the righteous bound at all? One writer points to something the sufferer cannot see in himself:
These "righteous" people are the objects of God's care. Yet at times they are "bound in chains, caught in the cords of affliction." Does that contradict what Elihu had just said? To Job it did seem so. He failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. His pride was as real a transgression as the terrible evils his friends falsely charged against him. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings, and to turn him from pride.
The fetters look like displeasure. Elihu says they are the opposite, and he ties the outcome to whether the person listens:
He allows them to be bound in chains and in the bonds of sorrow. He is the righteous God, and He does this to show them their deeds and to uncover their transgressions. Those transgressions spring from what God hates — pride. The afflictions of the righteous show His love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them through suffering. If they listen and learn the lesson, they will spend their days in prosperity. They will end their life on earth in peace and pleasantness.
An open ear and a busy self-defence cannot live in the same person. One writer names this as Job's failure. He follows an older wording, which reads "discipline" where the ESV has "instruction":
In Job 36 another point is pressed on Job: if he looks at things from God's side, he must see His righteousness. Job ought to understand what God does. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous. He opens their ear to discipline. He delivers the poor in his affliction. Here Job had failed. He had been busy justifying himself instead of letting God open his ear to discipline.
Does this discipline put the believer's salvation at risk? One writer answers:
We must be careful not to confuse two things. One is the believer's standing and salvation in Christ. The other is his walk, and the discipline he receives from his Father. As to his standing in Christ, as we have seen, it is established for ever. To make that depend, in the least, on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God.
- Bound — the cords of affliction are not random. God allows them so that what is in the heart comes into the open.
- Shown — before He commands anything, God shows the person their work and their transgression. That includes a pride they never counted as sin.
- Opened — the ear is His target. Affliction is the tool He uses to get a hearing.
- Commanded — the call is to turn back from iniquity. Job's mistake was to keep defending himself instead of listening.
- Restored — those who listen end their days in prosperity and peace. What is at stake is the believer's walk, never the security of his standing.
If they hearken and serve [him], they shall accomplish their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Elihu speaks for God about the righteous when trouble binds them. Here he names the outcome once the lesson lands: a promise with a condition, and a prosperity worth defining.
The verse turns on two verbs. One writer renders them as hearing and serving, and sets the promise beside its opposite:
If they hear and serve, they end their days in good, and their years in pleasantness. But if they do not hear, their soul passes by the dart, and dies for lack of knowledge.
The whole statement is a fork in the road:
Obedience is the path of good and joy; not listening is the path of ruin in every way.
This promise is not an offer to strangers. It describes how God deals with those who already belong to Him:
Here, I think, this is not about bringing the unconverted into God's favour. It is the discipline of the converted under His good hand. It is the ways of God, and the righteous government that He maintains with His own. But even such people might slip aside. Sadly, who does not know it? And here we see that from the very beginning the ways of God were essentially what they are now.
The condition here answers what the affliction came to expose — an evil the sufferer never saw in himself:
These "righteous" people are the objects of God's care. Yet at times they are "bound in fetters, held in cords of affliction." Is this a contradiction of what Elihu has just said? To Job it was, because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. His pride was as real a transgression as the outright evils the friends falsely charged him with. God's purpose was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn him from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later their sufferings will pass — even in this life. If not, they must be chastened to the end, and struck as by a speeding arrow from His hand.
Elihu is not speaking in the abstract. This door stood open for Job himself:
Was there not, even at this time, an opportunity for Job to prove such blessing true? Yes indeed, and Elihu wanted it for Job. And Job did eventually experience such prosperity, for he did listen when God spoke to him.
The affliction itself has a motive:
The afflictions of the righteous reveal love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them by suffering. And if they listen and learn the lesson, they will spend their days in prosperity. They will end their life on earth in peace and pleasantness. It was a call to Job to acknowledge this. It is also a prophecy that he would soon find it out. When God has accomplished His purpose with him, his end would be peace and prosperity.
A believer reading this today may hear a promise of comfortable circumstances. Commentators warn against taking it that way, and against letting a verse about walk unsettle a settled standing:
It is most important not to confuse two things: the believer's standing and salvation in Christ, and his walk under his Father's discipline. As to his standing in Christ, as we have seen, it is established forever. To make that depend, in the least, on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God. Not earthly prosperity — not worldly pleasures. The nearer we walk with God, the less we shall have of these. Look at the Apostle Paul, and all who will live godly lives in this present evil world.
The same words then describe a different kind of wealth:
Would you have days of spiritual prosperity, and years of heavenly pleasures? Then let go of everything that does not fit a Christ rejected by the world and glorified in heaven. Seek whole-hearted, obedient service to Him. Depend simply on the Holy Spirit, and put no confidence in the flesh.
- Fetters — The affliction just before this verse targets hidden evil: the pride the sufferer cannot see in himself.
- Ear — God's goal in binding is to open the ear; the verse begins where listening begins.
- Serve — Hearing must become obedience and service. The other road Elihu names is ruin, not a smaller blessing.
- Own — This is God's government of His own people. It is how He deals with a soul that is already His, not how He brings anyone into His favour.
- End — Job proves it: he listened when God spoke, and his end was peace and prosperity. Commentators differ on how earthly that prosperity is.
But if they hearken not, they shall pass away by the sword, and expire without knowledge.
Elihu has been describing a God who binds the righteous in affliction to open their ear. Verse 12 is the dark half of that picture: who perishes here, and how can death be the end for someone God is teaching?
The chapter is not about bringing outsiders into God's favour. Its subject is what God does with those who already belong to Him.
Here, as I see it, this is not a question of bringing the unconverted into God's favour. It is rather the discipline of the converted under His good hand. It is the ways of God, and the righteous government that He maintains with His own. But even such might slip aside. Alas! who does not know it? … The discipline of His saints, then, is the chief subject we find in this chapter. … It is not, of course, that every word of the chapter applies only to His saints. But just as in the New Testament we find warning words about those who deceive in the middle of a record of privileges belonging to His own, so it is found in the Old.
Another writer states it without hedging.
In chapter 36 it is expressly the righteous man who is dealt with.
Both halves of the verse describe where a settled refusal ends. The sword need not be literal, and the ignorance is self-chosen.
On the other hand, those who failed the test by refusing to obey the Lord would "perish by the sword." If not by a literal sword, then certainly by "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Since they refuse knowledge, they "die without knowledge."
Affliction here has an aim. It is God's way of exposing what a person cannot see in himself.
God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings, and to turn him from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later their sufferings will pass — even in this life. If not, they must be chastened right to the end, and be struck as by a swift arrow from His hand.
If the verse is about the righteous, a question follows: does obedience keep a person saved? Commentators answer by keeping two things apart.
It is most important not to confuse the believer's standing and salvation in Christ with his walk and discipline at the hands of his Father. As to his standing in Christ, as we have seen, it is established for ever. To make that depend, in the least, on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God. Not earthly prosperity — not worldly pleasures. The closer we walk with God, the less we will have of these. Think of the Apostle Paul, and of all who are determined to live a godly life in this present evil world.
The warning is still serious. What is at stake is life in this world, and Job hears where his course leads.
Job is warned that persisting in proudly accusing God can only end one way — death. It is a question of the present life. Job is warned against the "sin that leads to death" (1 John 5:16), though of course without the full light of the New Testament. There is clearly a chastening of the people of God that goes on to death, because of their failure to judge themselves.
Yet that outcome is not fixed while the discipline is still running. Others can step in.
There are cases where discipline is in progress and might end in death (Job 36:7-12). But the intercession of the saints may be the means of blessing. In the administration of God's government in the church on earth, it may turn aside the threatened evil. Under this government, the sins would be forgiven, the life of the failing person spared, and the soul set right.
- Ear. Affliction is God opening a person's ear. Verse 12 is the ear that stays shut.
- Righteous. The chapter's main subject is God's own people under His government, not outsiders.
- Refusal. Those who die "without knowledge" die that way because they refused the knowledge God offered.
- Standing. A believer's place in Christ stands for ever. What hangs on obedience is his walk and his days on earth.
- Reprieve. Discipline heading toward death can still be halted. Prayer may spare the life and set the soul right.
But the godless in heart heap up anger; they cry not when he bindeth them
Elihu, the speaker in this chapter, describes how God deals with people through suffering. God binds them in trouble, and the test is whether they will cry out to Him. Some do. This verse is about those who stay silent, and what that silence says about a heart.
Most of this chapter is about how God trains people who belong to Him. Verses 11 and 12 promise good days to those who listen, and ruin to those who do not. So why does a verse about the godless follow?
Not every word of the chapter applies only to His saints. In the New Testament, warnings about people who deceive can stand right in the middle of a record of the privileges that belong to those who are His. The same happens in the Old Testament.
The phrase is not about people who fail; it is about people who pose. And the verse traces what that pose costs them, right through to how their life ends.
More serious still is the case of the "hypocrites in heart" (v.13), for "they store up wrath." These are people who pretend to be believers while their hearts are against God. They "do not cry for help when He binds them." When the Lord puts them in a bind, they fail the test completely. How can a hypocrite honestly cry to the Lord for help? Their own hypocrisy defeats them. They die in their youth, in the company of perverted people (v.14). Their foolish choice in life decides their end in death. In contrast, God delivers the poor who know how to cry to Him honestly. The affliction and oppression they suffer are the test by which God "opens their ears" to listen to Him.
Verse 12 already described people who would not listen and perished. This verse goes somewhere darker still.
Those who did not bow were cut off — "shall perish by the sword" — "Hypocrites in heart," "cry not when he binds them," goes further still.
Being bound by God is an invitation to ask Him for mercy. Refusing that invitation is not neutral — it is an active choice, and it accumulates.
Elihu points out the great principles of present affliction. The refusal of the hypocrite only emphasizes them. He nurses his wrath instead of humbly crying to God for mercy. The man who despises God will meet his doom with all the unclean. But God will save the humble sufferer, "in" and indeed "by" his affliction. It works out blessing for him.
It is tempting to assume that suffering makes people humble. This verse says otherwise, and the same pattern shows up on a national scale.
Hardship rarely softens or improves the heart of a proud rebel against God. Even more rarely do we find a nation, or any large part of a community, truly humbled by defeat. Of such people it can be said, "They do not cry for help when He binds them." Later it was written of Israel, when they suffered defeat, that the people did not turn to Him who struck them, and did not seek the LORD of hosts.
For anyone frightened by this verse, one writer turns it around. The very pain that makes you doubt whether you belong to God is evidence that you do.
"The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when He binds them." You say, "If I were a child of God, surely I should not have all this trouble and bitterness." This verse shows you the answer. If you were not a real child of God, but a hypocrite in heart, you would not have all this bitterness. Instead you would go on in sin until you perished for ever.
- Bound — God binds people in affliction on purpose. The affliction is the test that opens their ears to listen to Him. The binding is an invitation to cry out.
- Silent — The mark of the hypocrite in heart is not a loud sin but a missing prayer: they do not cry for help when He binds them.
- Storing — The cry that is never made turns into stored wrath. Nursing anger instead of asking God for mercy is how it piles up.
- Hardened — Hardship humbles no one by itself. A proud rebel, and even a whole nation, can pass through it unchanged.
- Crying — God saves the humble sufferer in and by the affliction. So the bitterness you feel now marks you as His child, rather than shutting you out.
Their soul dieth in youth, and their life is among the unclean.
Elihu has just described two kinds of people under God's hand: those who cry to Him under affliction, and those who stay silent. Verse 14 shows how the silent ones end — and asks why the same suffering restores one man but ruins another.
This end starts in the heart. The man is not an open rebel but a pretender, and that shapes what he does when God binds him.
More serious still is the case of "the hypocrites in heart" (v.13), for "they store up wrath." These are those who pretend to be believers while their hearts are against God. "They do not cry for help when He binds them." When the Lord puts them in a bind, they totally fail the test, for how can a hypocrite honestly cry to the Lord for help? Their own hypocrisy defeats them, and they die in their youth in company with perverted people (v.14). Their foolish choice in life decides their end in death.
The word behind "the unclean" is not vague. It is a technical term, and its masculine form appears here in Job as well as in the law and the histories.
The more likely view is the usual one. The word means someone "consecrated" to the corrupt goddess Astarte, or Venus, worshipped in idolatry early and late… The view that the word means a holy woman cannot explain its masculine form, which occurs in Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14. Can anyone argue that holy men, or seers, are meant in those places? If the masculine form clearly means a class of extreme moral corruption, then the argument for a "holy woman" falls to the ground… Terrible to say, prostitution was almost everywhere a part of what the nations counted as holy!
So this life ends inside the impure religion of the nations around Job — religion without God.
Most of this chapter is about how God trains His own people. Verse 14 is the warning set inside it.
Here, I take it, the subject is not unbelievers being brought into God's favour. It is the discipline of believers under His good hand… So the discipline of His people is the main subject of this chapter… Of course, not every word of the chapter applies only to His people. In the New Testament, a record of the privileges of those who are His can still hold warning words about those who deceive. It is the same here in the Old.
Elihu's larger subject is a God who does not look away from those He has set right, even when He has to bind them.
He speaks of the righteous, as under His eye, in the highest honour, but presently as bound with fetters of humiliating sorrow, which God nevertheless uses for good in showing them their ways of pride, opening their ears to discipline, and turning them back from the evil which they had failed to judge. Obedience is the path of good and joy; heedlessness, of ruin in every way.
The next verse turns the picture around. The difference is not how much trouble comes, but what the sufferer does with it.
He points out the great principles of affliction in this present life. The hypocrite refuses them. He nurses his wrath instead of humbly crying to God for mercy, and his refusal only underlines them. The one who despises God will meet his doom with all the unclean. But God will save the humble sufferer, "in" and indeed "by" his affliction. It "works out" blessing for him.
Ridout adds one limit. Elihu can speak only of this present life, because the light on what lies beyond had not yet come.
This verse holds a strange comfort for a worried believer. If God's dealings with you hurt, that pain is not proof you are outside His family.
You have sinned, and the chains and cords made you cry out. And remember, the believer cannot touch sin without great bitterness of soul. God uses that very bitterness to restore the soul of the failing believer… You say, "If I were a child of God, I would surely not have all this trouble and bitterness." But this word shows you something. If you were not a real child of God, but a hypocrite in heart, you would not have all this bitterness. You would go on in sin until you perished for ever.
- Pretence. The person here is not an open rebel. He pretends to believe while his heart is set against God, and that pretence is the root of all that follows.
- Silence. God binds him, and still he will not cry for help. His hypocrisy disables the one thing that could save him.
- Company. "The unclean" are a class of gross moral corruption, tied to the impure worship of the nations. He spends his life inside religion without God.
- End. He dies young. As one writer puts it, the foolish choice in life decides the end in death.
- The cry. The same affliction that hardens the silent man delivers the humble one. God saves the sufferer in and by his trouble. So bitterness under God's hand can be a mark of sonship, not a disproof of it.
But he delivereth the afflicted in his affliction, and openeth their ear in [their] oppression.
God is great. Yet this verse puts Him next to people in pain — and the pain itself is the tool in His hand. Elihu is speaking about how God deals with the righteous. The question pressing on Job is simple. Does suffering prove God has turned away, or prove He is watching closely?
Elihu first clears away a suspicion: that a God this vast has no care for one broken man.
In one word he sweeps away the unholy suspicions Job had held — "God is mighty, and does not despise any." He is infinite in power, yet He looks with compassion on the feeblest of His creatures. He shows Himself just as clearly in both extremes — the infinitely great, and the infinitely small. How comforting is the truth, "He does not despise any!" His greatness is never the occasion for scorn.
Kelly notes that people assume the opposite — that a majestic God has no time for small things:
It is all the other way. God shows His might by being able to grasp everything, and by taking notice of the smallest insect and caring about it... God disciplines man to win him to Himself. That discipline is far stricter over the righteous man, to keep him right.
These chains are not punishment for God's enemies. They fall on the people He watches over.
God does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; He keeps them always under observation, and in the end He exalts them as kings. Yet before that happy end is reached, He may allow them to be "bound in fetters" and "held in cords of affliction," just as poor Job was at that moment. And if He does allow this, it is for a purpose... Notice, it is the righteous who are dealt with in this way. Even an Abraham and a Job, though righteous, were not sinless. God aims His discipline at people like these, rather than at those who shut God out of their lives.
The phrase "opens their ear" names the goal. Trouble is not the message. It is what makes people hear it.
When God allows people to be bound in cords of affliction (v.8), His object is to get their ear. He then tells them where they have transgressed and acted defiantly. That gives people the opportunity to listen and to turn from iniquity (vv.9-10). Job's earlier life had not been a life of iniquity. But his bold criticism of God certainly was iniquity, little as he realised it.
We expect rescue from affliction. Ridout weighs the small words "in" and "by", and adds what we can now say that Elihu could not.
Naturally Elihu cannot go beyond the present life... With the added light we now have, we can speak of "this light momentary affliction," though it lasts a lifetime... The despiser will meet his doom with all the unclean, but God will save the humble sufferer, "in" and indeed "by" his affliction. It "works out" blessing for him.
Older translations read "in his affliction" here, while this one reads "by their affliction." Ridout keeps both.
The same trouble tests everyone, and not everyone passes. Elihu describes people who stay silent when God binds them.
"They do not cry for help when He binds them." When the Lord puts them in a bind, they fail the test completely. How can a hypocrite honestly cry to the Lord for help? Their own hypocrisy defeats them... In contrast, God delivers the poor who know how to cry to Him honestly. The affliction and oppression they suffer are the test by which God "opens their ears" to listen to Him.
Elihu applies all of this to the man in front of him.
Job ought to understand this: "He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous." "He opens also their ear to discipline." "He delivers the afflicted by their affliction." Here Job had failed. He had been busy justifying himself, instead of letting his ear be opened to discipline... When I have a true sense of what He is, the effect must be to humble myself under His mighty hand, and to wait on Him.
Darby separates two kinds of dealing in the book, and says what discipline taught him:
In Job 33 it is inward things that have to be corrected; it is correcting a disposition, to withdraw man from his purpose. In Job 36 it is actual failure, discipline for positive faults... There are many things to correct in me, which hinder me feeling the love. I know it better, the more I am disciplined and exercised.
- Greatness. God "does not despise any" — His size is never a reason for scorn, and He sees the feeblest creature with compassion.
- Attention. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous. The chains fall on people He is watching, not people He has left.
- Purpose. The affliction has an object: getting the ear, so He can name what has gone wrong and give the chance to turn.
- Method. He saves the humble sufferer not just out of the trouble but by it — the trouble itself works out the blessing.
- Response. The test divides. Some will not cry when He binds them. Job's failure was justifying himself instead of listening. The cure is to bow under God's mighty hand and wait.
Even so would he have allured thee out of the jaws of distress into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and the supply of thy table [would be] full of fatness.
Elihu has been explaining God's ways with people, and here he turns to Job himself. The verse paints relief — space, freedom, a full table — and raises a hard question: why was Job still sitting in ashes?
Elihu has set out how God deals with people. Now he says God was doing this with Job — and names what a different response would have brought.
This is just what the book of Job teaches. Elihu explains God's ways in chapter 33:17-30. In chapter 36:7 he speaks directly of a righteous man: "He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous." Yet He chastens them for their sins, and Elihu warns Job not to fight against God. If he had bowed in heart, God would have delivered him from his affliction (v. 16). Since God was dealing with him this way, Elihu warns him to take care that he is not cut off from the earth (v. 12). Yet Job was the godliest man on all the earth, but he needed correction as he was beginning to think well of himself.
The verse works by contrast: jaws that close in, then a place with no walls. One writer's rendering of verses 15-16 keeps both halves in view.
He delivers the afflicted by His affliction, and He uncovers their ear by trouble. You too He lures out of the jaws of distress. He brings you into a wide place with no narrowness in it, and your table set with rich abundance.
The fetters do not contradict God's care for the righteous. Job could not see that, because he could not see what was in his own heart.
Why then affliction? These "righteous" are the objects of God's care, yet at times they are "bound in fetters, held in cords of affliction." Is that a contradiction of what Elihu had just said? To Job it had been. He failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart — a pride as real a transgression as the shocking evils the friends falsely charged against him. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn him from pride.
The verse reads as an offer Job had not yet taken up. Commentators differ on how far he had failed.
Suppose Job had not been crushed and resentful about this test. Then, Elihu assures him, God would have brought him out of his distresses "into a broad place where there is no restraint" (v.16). Job had not completely failed the test, as hypocrites and others had, for God was still testing him. But his own idea (or wrong idea) of judgment and justice held his blessing back (v.17).
A righteous man's suffering can look like anger from God. One writer reads it as the opposite, and ties the wide place to how Job answers.
In the afflictions of the righteous He shows love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them by suffering. If they listen and learn the lesson, they will spend their days in prosperity, and end their life on earth in peace and pleasantness... He would have led Job out into a broad place. But if Job keeps up the argument of the wicked — reasoning and pleading as they do, charging God falsely — then let him beware.
One writer applies the same principle to believers today.
Tribulation works patience, because it breaks my will. I kick against the tribulation if I do not see the key to it. A naughty child, put in the corner, knows very well that his father would not put him there if he did not need it. So with us, the Lord puts us in the corner, and there we must stay till He lets us out. I get the experience of God's faithful love, for I am sure He would not put me there if I did not need it. "He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous." He is always watching for their good. In Job 33 it is inward things that have to be corrected; it is correcting a disposition, to turn a man away from his own purpose. In Job 36 it is actual failure, discipline for definite faults.
- Narrow — God lets the jaws of distress close on a righteous man. They lay bare the hidden pride he cannot see in himself.
- Watched — He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; the corner He puts you in is love and kindness, not wrath.
- Wooed — God does not shove. He lures the sufferer out, opening his ear through the trouble itself.
- Wide — The offer is a place with no walls and a table full of abundance. God held it out to Job before he ever saw it.
- Withheld — God is not the one holding the wide place back. A heart that argues with Him is. A bowed heart would have ended the affliction sooner.
But thou art full of the judgments of the wicked judgment and justice take hold [on thee].
Elihu, who speaks after Job's three friends, has just described the broad place God was ready to bring Job into. Now he names the thing blocking it: Job is full of the wicked man's way of talking about God, and that talk has come back on his own head.
Does this mean the sentence God passes on wicked men? One writer reads it instead as the way wicked men themselves speak of God. He also gives a second rendering of the line:
This principle is applied to Job's case. God would have dealt with him this way, restoring him to prosperity, as He soon will. But Job had blocked this by his unholy charges against God. This was "the judgment of the wicked" (v. 17) — their way of charging God. He need not be surprised that judgment had laid hold of him. This has been rendered, "Judging and judgment lay hold on one another," but the thought is similar. If one judges God, it is closely linked with judgment on himself.
Elihu is not telling Job he has failed. He names what stands in the way of a deliverance God still holds out:
If Job had not been crushed and resentful about this test, God would have brought him out of his distresses "into a broad place where there was no cramping" (v. 16). That is what Elihu assures him. Not that Job had completely failed the test, as hypocrites and others had, for God was still testing him. But Job's blessing was hindered by his idea — or misconception — of judgment and justice (v. 17).
The obstacle was not Job's suffering. It was what Job thought about God's justice while he suffered.
Job was a righteous man, yet he had taken up the reasoning of the wicked. Elihu sets out where each road ends:
Love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure, are what the afflictions of the righteous reveal. He wants to teach them through suffering... It was a call to Job to acknowledge this. It is a prophecy that before long he would find it out. When God has accomplished His purpose with him, his end would be peace and prosperity. The wicked do not heed this and therefore perish... He would have led Job out into a broad place. But if Job continues in the argument of the wicked — reasoning and pleading as they do, charging God falsely — then let him beware.
Another writer shows where Elihu found his material. He quotes Job back to himself:
Elihu does not consider at all what the three friends had charged Job with. They had no basis for their accusations. Rather, Elihu refers to what Job himself had said, "I am in the right, and God has taken away my right"... However righteous Job was, it was unrighteous of him to dare to speak of God in this way.
Why would God press a righteous man this hard? One writer finds the reason not in Job's actions but in his heart:
Elihu seems instead to admit that Job was righteous. Because he was righteous, God had permitted this severe discipline to come on him. In verse 16 Elihu does apply what he is saying to Job. After all, the deep-seated pride and vanity of the human heart is the greatest offence of all.
Job could not see this in himself. That blindness is what the affliction came to cure:
To Job it had been [a contradiction], because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. He had a pride that was as real a transgression as the terrible evils the friends falsely charged him with. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn him from pride.
- Filled. Job had taken in the wicked man's way of speaking about God, and Elihu tells him he is now full of it.
- Seized. Judging God and being judged are bound together; the man who puts God in the dock finds the case turned around on himself.
- Hindered. God was ready to lead Job into a broad place. Job's own mistaken view of justice held that blessing back.
- Exposed. The affliction aimed at pride — a real transgression, hidden from Job himself, and the greatest offence of the human heart.
- Warned. Elihu argues from Job's own words, not the friends' false charges. So the way out is plain: stop charging God, and the broad place is still ahead.
Because there is wrath, [beware] lest it take thee away through chastisement then a great ransom could not avail thee.
Elihu has just told Job that God teaches through suffering, and that He was ready to lead Job out into open ground. Now the lesson becomes a warning. God's anger is real, one blow can end a life, and no price Job could pay would buy it back.
Elihu's warning rests on a question people still ask: can God be angry? One commentator answers it plainly, then says which ransom Elihu means:
Is there such a thing as God's wrath? Absolutely! Because this is true, Elihu tells Job to beware. God might take him away with one blow, and a large ransom would not help him avoid it. He is speaking of a ransom that Job might bring, not of the great ransom God has now provided in the gift of His beloved Son. When someone receives Him as his substitute, His ransom accomplished at Calvary is enough to redeem the most guilty.
The warning is not random. Elihu has just charged Job with taking up the manner of the wicked — their way of charging God:
If a person judges God, judgment on that person is closely tied to it… Job is warned that if he keeps on proudly charging God, it can only end one way — death.
The same writer notes what Job was losing. God was ready to restore him to prosperity, and Job's own charges against God blocked it.
The warning is the sharp edge of something gentler. Elihu has just spoken of chains and cords of sorrow, and one writer reads them as instruction, not payback:
He lets them be bound in chains and in the cords of sorrow. He does this so that He, the righteous God, may show them their deeds, and uncover their wrongdoing, which has its source in the thing God hates — pride… The afflictions of the righteous reveal love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them by suffering.
Readers comparing Bibles will find two quite different verses. The ESV makes the anger Job's own: wrath entices him into scoffing, and the greatness of the ransom turns him aside. Older versions make the wrath God's: "Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver you." Commentators differ over which to follow. One weighs the options and explains his choice:
Verse 18 has been explained in several ways… Another rendering refers the "wrath" to Job — "Do not let anger entice you to scorning, and do not let the greatness of the ransom mislead you." Here the "ransom" is taken as humility, the price of his deliverance. But this seems forced… On the whole, the solemn warning of the older version fits the connection best.
One writer refuses to soften the older reading:
We dare not meddle with this verse as others have done. Let it stand as it is, this solemn truth!
One writer records a preacher's outline of this verse that is hard to improve on:
"We have three things in our text I want to notice: the actual, the probable, and the impossible. The actual, 'There is wrath.' The probable, 'lest He take you away with His stroke.' The impossible, 'then a great ransom cannot deliver you.'" He showed first from Scripture that God, being holy in His nature, must hate sin.
No ransom helps after the stroke falls. That leaves the ransom offered before it. The same writer explains what a ransom is with a picture:
"Some bandits once took a woman missionary captive and then demanded a great sum of money for her ransom — I think it was $50,000. Her friends paid the money and she went free. And," he added, "we were held captive by stern justice. We were completely in the power of Satan, but the Lord Jesus paid the ransom by His death at Calvary. He gave Himself and now all who believe are free, 'justified from all things.'"
For a believer like Job, the threatened blow is not damnation. It is God's discipline running its full course:
This is not a question of the second death. It is a believer cut off in this world for a sin of such a kind, or in such circumstances, that God disciplines it by death… "But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."
- The actual. "There is wrath." God's anger against sin is a present fact, and Elihu starts there.
- The probable. The stroke can fall at any moment. The warning comes to Job while he can still hear it.
- The impossible. Once the blow lands, no price, no wealth, no self-made ransom reverses it.
- The provision. The ransom Job could not bring, God has given in His Son — paid at the cross, and free to all who believe.
- The purpose. Behind the warning stands kindness. The chains were meant to teach, and for God's own people even the hardest dealing is discipline, never condemnation.