Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 33:14
For God speaketh once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not.
14. yet man perceiveth it not ] Or, when man regardeth it not.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 18. To Job’s charge Elihu replies that God speaks to man in many ways, as in dreams and visions of the night, by which He instructs men and seeks to turn them away from doing evil that would destroy them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For God speaketh once – The object of what is here said is, to show the reason why God brings affliction upon people, or to explain the principles of his government which Elihu supposed had been sadly misunder stood by Job and his friends. The reason why he brings affliction, Elihu says, is because all other means of reclaiming and restraining people fail. He communicates his will to them; he speaks to them again and again in dreams and visions; he warns them of the error of their course Job 33:14-17, and when this is all ineffectual he brings upon them affliction. He lays them upon their bed where they must reflect, and where there is hope that they may be reclaimed and reformed, Job 33:18-28.
Yea, twice – He does not merely admonish him once. He repeats the admonition when man refuses to hear him the first time, and takes all the methods which he can by admonition and warning to withdraw him from his wicked purpose, and to keep him from ruin.
Yet man perceiveth it not – Or, rather, Although he does not perceive it or attend to it. Though the sinner is regardless of the admonition, yet still God repeats it, and endeavors to save him from the commission of the crimes which would lead him to ruin. This is designed to show the patience and forbearance of God, and how many means he takes to save the sinner from ruin. Of the truth of what Elihu here says, there can be no difference of opinion. It is one of the great principles of the divine administration that the sinner is often warned, though he heeds it not; and that God sends repeated admonitions even when people will not regard them, but are bent on their own ruin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 33:14
For God speaketh once.
Elihus first discourse
Elihu says, God does speak to men in various ways. It is not true that He gives no account of Himself, and of His dealings with men. Two or three of Gods ways Elihu specifies.
1. God quickens men to thought and moral emotion in the silence and slumber of the night; deep religious intuitions and yearnings take form in visions. One method of Divine approach is through the Gate of Dreams. By such solemn visitations God has in all ages uncovered the ear of men otherwise deaf to their instructions, and sealed or stamped on their minds the special admonition of which they stood in need; or–for this may be the force of the image–conveyed to them, in this sealed and private way, the confidential hint or warning He wished them to receive.
2. God speaks to men by pain, when he corrects and chastens them through suffering. In expounding this, Elihu certainly has Job in his eye. Is there no hope even for such a sufferer as this? There is no school in which men learn so much, or so fast, as in the school of suffering; there is no experience by which the soul is so purged and chastened as by the experience of pain and loss. The Divine rebuke is as the ploughing up of the hardened and weed-stained soil, that it may bring forth more and better fruit.
3. If even these fail God sends a messenger–man or spirit–to interpret their thoughts and emotions to them. As he describes this third way, it may be that Elihu, who has already generalised the experience of Job and Eliphaz, turns his eye upon himself. For he himself had been moved and taught by God. The deep conviction to which he was now giving utterance, was, as he more than once insists, an inspiration from above. And this inspiration, this new interpretation of the facts of human life, probably came to him through one of the thousand messengers whom God employs to show man what is right. But while he claims a Divine teaching and inspiration for himself, Elihu does not claim to be favoured above his fellows. Gods messengers come to all, and come with the same end in view–to show us what is right, and to pour the light and peace of heaven on our darkened and distracted hearts. Even grave and sober commentators, however, have found in these verses the whole mystery of redemption. In the angel of verse 23, they see the Angel of the presence, the Angel Jehovah; and in the ransom of verse 24, the Sacrifice of the Cross; and hence they attribute to Elihu at least some provision of the great mystery of godliness. Such a method of interpretation is, in my judgment, forced and unnatural. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)
Divine communications
Here it is said that God sometimes addresses men without their perceiving it,–not certainly from any want of clearness in the communication, but because they are wanting in reverence. Three ways in which we may believe the Deity to hold communications with His children. One is through the visible world around us; another, by direct communion with the human Spirit; and yet another, by commissioned interpreters of His mind and will.
I. In the works of nature. There can be no direct intercourse of mind with mind. The only way that I can intimate to another what is passing in my mind, is by pointing to some other visible object, which shall represent to him the unseen thought. Language consists of images either naturally suggestive of certain thoughts and emotions, or appropriated to that purpose, which are brought up before us by letters or sounds differing according to the dialect of the country. Since this is the language of nature, we might suppose that God would communicate with His children in this way; and most certainly He does, to a far greater extent than is generally understood. There must be very few who, in looking on the natural world, have not been conscious of strong impressions made upon them at times. We ought then to regard the natural world as a medium of communication.
II. By direct action on the spirit of man. This is reasonable; but it cannot be proved to the satisfaction of anyone who doubts it, for the same reason that we cannot demonstrate any of our sentiments and emotions. Still, this unseen communication of the Spirit of God with our spirits is believed by every religious mind. It is true the measure of such communications cannot be ascertained, nor can they be distinguished, as a rule, from the operation of our own minds. We should extend our faith, and believe this to be common, and in the usual order of providence, and not a mysterious and unusual thing. To those who can see God in all things where His agency is present, the moral world becomes more deeply interesting, more sublime and beautiful, than the visible.. We can look through human nature up to the God of nature.
III. Through the scriptures, written by commissioned interpreters of His mind and will,–particularly those who have recorded the life and character of Jesus Christ. In Him the Divine was blended with the human, so as to present at once the perfection of Divine and human character, giving us a living image of that union which we could not otherwise understand. It may be asked, Why should God address men again? Is not the voice of nature clear enough? It was not the defect of Gods previous communications, but the faithlessness of men to their destiny, their worldliness and corruption, which darkened their spiritual vision, and made it necessary to give new light from on high. It was, as the Bible teaches, in concession to human sin, not on account of the want of other original means of light, that the Christian revelation was made. It is not everyone who understands how God communicates with us through the Scriptures. It is not by the letter alone. To this must be added the suggestions which they give, the trains of thought which they awaken. The direct information which the words convey to us, seems to be of little worth compared with the life-giving power of the Spirit which works through the Word. (W. B. O. Peabody.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. For God speaketh once] Though he will not be summoned to the bar of his creatures, nor condescend to detail the reasons of his conduct, which they could not comprehend, yet he so acts, in the main, that the operation of his hand and the designs of his counsel may sufficiently appear, provided men had their eyes open upon his ways, and their hearts open to receive his influence.
Elihu, having made the general statement that God would not come to the bar of his creatures to give account of his conduct, shows the general means which he uses to bring men to an acquaintance with themselves and with him: he states these in the six following particulars, which may be collected from Job 33:15-24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For; or, nevertheless, as this particle is sometimes used. Although God doth not give men an account of his matters, yet he doth that for them which is much better, and which is sufficient for them.
God speaketh, to wit, unto men by way of instruction or admonition, as appears from the following verses.
Once, yea twice, again and again, or ofttimes, this number being sometimes put indefinitely, as below, Job 33:29; 2Ki 6:10; Psa 62:11. When one speaking doth not awaken men, God is graciously pleased to give them another admonition. So God, though he will not gratify mens curiosity in inquiring into his hidden judgments, yet he will supply their necessity, and acquaint them with their duty and interest so far as is fit, and they are concerned to know.
Yet man; which is easily and fitly understood here from the former branch of this verse, as being the person to whom God speaketh, as appears from the next verse. And such supplements are not unusual in the Hebrew language, and especially in these poetical books, where the style is very concise and short, and many things to be understood.
Perceiveth it not; through his inadvertency, or negligence, or dulness. Man therefore hath no reason to charge God as if he were deficient in his notices and manifestations of his will, but to accuse himself for not improving revealed things to his own advantage, but desiring rather to pry into Gods secret counsels, which was Jobs error.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. Translate, “Yet, manregardeth it not”; or rather, as UMBREIT,”Yea, twice (He repeats the warning)if man gives no heed”to the first warning. Elihu implies that God’s reason for sendingaffliction is because, when God has communicated His will in variousways, man in prosperity has not heeded it; God therefore must trywhat affliction will effect (Joh 15:2;Psa 62:11; Isa 28:10;Isa 28:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For God speaketh once, yea, twice,…. Or, “but God speaketh” i; though he is not bound to give an account of his matters, and the reasons of his proceedings in a way of providence or grace; yet such is his condescension and goodness, that he makes use of various ways and means to make known his mind and will in his dispensations, if men were but attentive to them; he speaks once, in dreams and visions, as in
Job 33:15; and twice, or a second time, by chastisements, as in
Job 33:18; or he speaks frequently, again and again, see
Ps 62:11; gives line upon line, and precept upon precept; if one way is without effect, he will take another; and if one warning and admonition is not sufficient, he will give another; so that though he is a sovereign Being, and not accountable to any, yet he does not act the unkind and unfriendly part Job had suggested:
[yet man] perceiveth it not: the voice of God speaking in one way or another; hearkens not to the admonition given in a dream or vision, nor hears the chastising rod, and him that has appointed it; he is deaf to all instructions; he understands not the mind and meaning of God in his dispensations; which is not owing to want of means of knowledge, but to the blindness and ignorance of his mind, to dulness of hearing, to negligence and inattention, and to the prevalence of sin and corruption: the words, “yet man”, are a supplement to the text, and not in it, and some versions are without it, and understand the whole of God, rendering the words thus, “God speaketh once, and a second time he does not repeat it”; so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions: or “does not revise it”, or “will not see it” k; to which agrees the Targum,
“and a second time he needs not to look upon it;”
and which rendering, as it suits with the context, so is more agreeable to the accents; but is differently applied, by some to the sufficiency of the word of God, that God has at once made known all truth, and there is no need to do it a second time; but certain it is, that God did at sundry times, and in divers manners, speak unto the fathers by the prophets; though indeed in these last days he hath spoken at once all his mind and will by his Son, so that no future revelation is to be expected; but though this is true now, it was not in the times of Elihu: by others it is referred to God’s dealings with a proud man, that calls him to an account for his actions, to whom he speaks once, and reproves him for his boldness; but a second time he will not look at him, nor bear his pride and insolence: and by others to the unalterable decrees and purposes of God; what he has said or determined in his eternal mind is done at once, and remains invariably fixed; he has no need to look over a second time, or revise his first thoughts and designs, or reconsider them, whether it is proper to make any alteration in them or not, they are at once so wisely formed; and he has all things before him in one view in his all comprehending mind, so that there cannot possibly anything turn up unforeseen by him, to hinder the execution of his purposes, or cause him to make any change in them; no new thoughts, resolutions, or purposes, can arise in his mind, with whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. This agrees well with his sovereignty, expressed in Job 33:13, and carries in it a strong reason enforcing what is there said. Though some take the meaning to be this, that God speaks once to a man, and admonishes and reproves him as he used to do, in the way expressed in the following verse; and if he regards it not, he do not speak to him a second time in that way, or no more by words, but now by blows or chastisements.
i “sed”, Beza, Piscator. k “secundo non revidet”, Schmidt Maius apud Michaelis “et secunda vice non videbit illud”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; 16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
Job had complained that God kept him wholly in the dark concerning the meaning of his dealings with him, and therefore concluded he dealt with him as his enemy. “No,” says Elihu, “he speaks to you, but you do not perceive him; so that the fault is yours, not his; and he is designing your real good even in those dispensations which you put this harsh construction upon.” Observe in general, 1. What a friend God is to our welfare: He speaketh to us once, yea, twice, v. 14. It is a token of his favour that, notwithstanding the distance and quarrel between us and him, yet he is pleased to speak to us. It is an evidence of his gracious design that he is pleased to speak to us of our own concerns, to show us what is our duty and what our interest, what he requires of us and what we may expect from him, to tell us of our faults and warn us of our danger, to show us the way and to lead us in it. This he does once, yea, twice, that is, again and again; when one warning is neglected he gives another, not willing that any should perish. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line; it is so, that sinners may be left inexcusable. 2. What enemies we are to our own welfare: Man perceives it not, that is, he does not heed it or regard it, does not discern or understand it, is not aware that it is the voice of God, nor does he receive the things revealed, for they are foolishness to him; he stops his ear, stands in his own light, rejects the counsel of God against himself, and so is never the wiser, no not for the dictates of wisdom itself. God speaks to us by conscience, by providences, and by ministers, of all which Elihu here discourses at large, to show Job that God was both telling him his mind and doing him a kindness, even now that he seemed to keep him in the dark and so treat him as a stranger, and to keep him in distress and so treat him as an enemy. There was not then, that we know of, any divine revelation in writing, and therefore that is not here mentioned among the ways by which God speaks to men, though now it is the principal way.
In these verses he shows how God teaches and admonishes the children of men by their own consciences. Observe,
I. The proper season and opportunity for these admonitions (v. 15): In a dream, in slumberings upon the bed, when men are retired from the world and the business and conversation of it. It is a good time for them to retire into their own hearts, and commune with them, when they are upon their beds, solitary and still, Ps. iv. 4. It is the time God takes for dealing personally with men. 1. When he sent angels, extraordinary messengers, on his errands, he commonly chose that time for the delivery of their messages, when by deep sleep falling on men the bodily senses were all locked up and the mind more free to receive the immediate communications of divine light. Thus he made his mind known to the prophets by visions and dreams (Num. xii. 6); thus he warned Abimelech (Gen. xx. 3), Laban (Gen. xxxi. 24), Joseph (Matt. i. 20); thus he made known to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar things that should come to pass hereafter. 2. When he stirred up conscience, that ordinary deputy of his, in the soul, to do its office, he took that opportunity, either when deep sleep fell on men (for, though dreams mostly come from fancy, some may come from conscience) or in slumberings, when men are between sleeping and waking, reflecting at night upon the business of the foregoing day or projecting in the morning the business of the ensuing day; then is a proper time for their hearts to reproach them for what they have done ill and to admonish them what they should do. See Isa. xxx. 21.
II. The power and force with which those admonitions come, v. 16. When God designs men’s good by the convictions and dictates of their own consciences, 1. He gives them admission, and makes them to be heeded: Then he opens the ears of men, which were before shut against the voice of this charmer, Ps. lviii. 5. He opens the heart, as he opened Lydia’s, and so opens the ears. He takes away that which stopped the ear, so that the conviction finds or forces its way; nay, he works in the soul a submission to the regimen of conscience and a compliance with its rules, for that follows upon God’s opening the ear, Isa. l. 5. God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. 2. He gives them a lodgment in the heart and makes them to abide: He sealeth their instruction, that is, the instruction that is designed for them and is suited to them; this he makes their souls to receive the deep and lasting impression of, as the wax of the seal. When the heart is delivered into divine instructions, as into a mould, then the work is done.
III. The end and design of these admonitions that are sent. 1. To keep men from sin, and particularly the sin of pride (v. 17). That he may withdraw man from his purpose, that is, from his evil purposes, may change the temper of his mind and the course of his life, his disposition and inclination, or prevent some particular sin he is in danger of falling into, that he may withdraw man from his work, may make him leave off man’s work, which is working for the world and the flesh, and may set him to work the work of God. Many a man has been stopped in the full career of a sinful pursuit by the seasonable checks of his own conscience, saying, Do not this abominable thing which the Lord hates. Particularly, God does, by this means, hide pride from man, that is, hide those things from him which are the matter of his pride, and take his mind off from dwelling upon them, by setting before him what reason he has to be humble. That he may take away pride from man (so some read it), that he may pluck up that root of bitterness which is the cause of so much sin. All those whom God has mercy in store for he will humble and hide pride from. Pride makes people eager and resolute in the prosecution of their purposes; they will have their way, therefore God withdraws them from their purposes, by mortifying their pride. 2. To keep men from ruin, v. 18. While sinners are pursuing their evil purposes, and indulging their pride, their souls are hastening apace to the pit, to the sword, to destruction, both in this world and that to come; but when God, by the admonitions of conscience, withdraws them from sin, he thereby keeps back their souls from the pit, from the bottomless pit, and saves them from perishing by the sword of divine vengeance, so iniquity shall not be their ruin. That which turns men from sin saves them from hell, saves a soul from death, James v. 20. See what a mercy it is to be under the restraints of an awakened conscience. Faithful are the wounds, and kind are the bonds, of that friend, for by them the soul is kept from perishing eternally.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(14) For God speaketh once, yea twice.The two ways are dilated upon (Job. 33:15-26). Abimelech (Gen. 20:3) and Daniel (Dan. 4:5) were instances of this first method. (Comp. also Gen. 15:12. &c., Gen. 28:12, &c.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. God speaketh The reproof is a delicate one. Job’s complaints of the divine indifference are groundless: for God admonishes men, speaketh once, twice, and renews his admonitions when man is inattentive. Let the reader recount the number and various modes of the divine appeals to himself. Each day, like the changes in a kaleidoscope, presents a new combination of goodness, mercy, and love. On the other hand, “Sorrow dogging sin, afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes,” are no less tender voices of God to the children of men.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 33:14-18. For God speaketh once, &c. When God hath spoken once, verily he will not repeat it. Houb. Elihu, blaming Job for some intemperate expressions that he had used, and for the manner of his offence, which he thought liable to great exception, Job 33:9-11 observes, that while he pleaded his innocence so much, and called so earnestly upon God to bring him to his trial, he did not well consider the infinite distance betwixt God and man; that his own unerring wisdom was the sole guide of his actions, and that he was not obliged to give account of them to any of his creatures: Job 33:12-13. He then proceeds to observe in this verse, that though God be thus high, yet he condescends to instruct men by the secret whispers of his grace, sometimes by extraordinary dreams and visions, and sometimes by afflictions that he may withdraw them from such courses as are mischievous and sinful, and bring them to an humble dependance on himself, Job 33:17. That he may withdraw man, &c. which should rather be rendered, Let man put away his sins, and let pride be hidden from him: Job 33:18. So shall he preserve his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the dart. For Schultens has well observed, that from the 17th verse onwards is that divine instruction mentioned in the 16th verse. See Peters and Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 33:14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not.
Ver. 14. For God speaketh once, yea twice ] He loveth to foresignify; and although not bound to it, yet he usually gives warning; as “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” 2Pe 3:9 . For which purpose God saith Elihu here useth two ways to nurture his children; the one more mild, to keep them from falling into sin, Job 33:15-18 , the other more rigorous, when they have committed wickedness, to bring them to ammendment of life, Job 33:19-21 , &c.
Yet man perceiveth it not
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God: Job 40:5, Psa 62:11
perceiveth: 2Ch 33:10, Pro 1:24, Pro 1:29, Isa 6:9, Mat 13:14, Mar 8:17, Mar 8:18, Luk 24:25, Joh 3:19
Reciprocal: Gen 28:16 – and I Gen 41:32 – doubled Gen 46:2 – in the visions 1Sa 3:8 – the third 1Sa 28:6 – by dreams 1Ki 3:5 – in a dream Job 4:13 – thoughts Job 33:29 – all Dan 7:1 – Daniel Mat 27:19 – his 1Th 2:18 – once
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 33:14. For Or, as , chi, should be rather rendered, nevertheless God speaketh Namely, unto men, by way of instruction or admonition, as appears from the following verses. Although he doth not give men an account of his matters, yet he doth that for them which is much better, and more necessary and important: though he be so high, yet he condescends to teach and admonish them in various ways, that he may withdraw them from such courses as are mischievous and sinful, and bring them to an humble dependance on himself. Once yea twice Again and again, or ofttimes. When his speaking once does not awaken men, God is pleased to give them another admonition: though he will not gratify their curiosity, by laying open to their view his secret judgments, yet he will acquaint them with their duty and interest, as far as is proper; what he requires of them, and what they may expect from him. Yet man perceiveth it not He doth not regard it, he doth not discern or understand it; he is not aware that it is the voice of God, nor doth he receive the things revealed, for they are foolishness to him: he stops his ears, stands in his own light, rejects the counsel of God against himself, and is not the wiser, no, not for the dictates of wisdom itself. God speaks to us by conscience, by providence, and by ministers, of all which Elihu here treats at large, to show Job that God was now telling him his mind, and endeavouring to do him good. He shows first, how God admonishes men by their own consciences.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 33:14-18. God answers man in two ways. One is by visions of the night, to withhold him from destruction.
In Job 33:14 read God speaketh in one way, yea in two if man regardeth it not. With the vision of the night, cf. Job 4:12 f. Sealeth their instruction (Job 33:16) means that God, after opening the ear, closes it and seals the instruction communicated, or else that God impresses the instruction on the hearer as a seal is stamped upon wax. In Job 33:18 read as in mg. That he may keep back.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
33:14 For God speaketh {f} once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not.
(f) Though God by various examples of his judgments speak to man, yet the reason for it is not known, yea and though God should speak yet is he not understood.