Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
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.
The reality of God's wrath
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:
Leslie M. GrantIs 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.
Why the warning lands on Job
The warning is not random. Elihu has just charged Job with taking up the manner of the wicked — their way of charging God:
Samuel RidoutIf 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.
Chastening as kindness
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:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe 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.
Where translations differ
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:
Samuel RidoutVerse 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:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWe dare not meddle with this verse as others have done. Let it stand as it is, this solemn truth!
Three things in one sentence
One writer records a preacher's outline of this verse that is hard to improve on:
C Knapp"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.
The ransom that does work
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:
C Knapp"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.'"
What the "stroke" means for God's own people
For a believer like Job, the threatened blow is not damnation. It is God's discipline running its full course:
William KellyThis 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."
Summary
- 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.