Commentary on the Book of Job part ninety four

                                    Job 33:1-33

In Job 33:18-24, Elihu described Job's terrible condition in detail and concluded that Job was close to death. The messenger of verse 23 was Elihu himself who had come to comfort Job by showing him how he could become upright with God. In verse 24, Elihu expected Job to be grateful to him because Elihu thought he had found a way to keep Job from going to the grave. But the "ransom" that Elihu spoke about was not a Redeemer, but it was merely a method by which Job could keep himself alive in the flesh.

In verses 25-33, Elihu explained to Job the method that he thought he had discovered which would return Job to the good health of a child and keep him from the grave. Elihu informed Job that if he would adhere to the righteousness that God had put into his living image and admit that he had also sinned at times, then God would keep Job from the grave and provide him with a long and healthy life on the earth. Unlike Job, Elihu would not open his heart to receive new revelations from God. Elihu could not believe that a man could never make himself right with God through his own efforts. Elihu could not believe that every human needs a Redeemer to cleanse him of sin and evil and bring him alive into the presence of God forever. Romans 6:23.

Apparently, Elihu did not believe in life after physical death. Elihu did not know that God's Redeemer would eventually save His living image in all humans, some by His grace through the shed blood and water of Christ from the cross and all others from the regions of the dead by the use of His consuming fire. John 5:24; I Corinthians 3:11-15.