Elihu calls upon Job to attend, and if possible reply (33:1-5). Job had, at different times earnestly desired to present

his case before God:

`Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before Him,

and fill my mouth with arguments' (Job 23:3,4).

Sometimes he cried: `Who is He that will plead with me? ... withdraw Thine hand far from me: and let not Thy

dread make me afraid. Then call Thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer Thou me' (13:19-22). He felt

keenly the need for a Mediator:

`O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!' (Job 16:21).

`For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is

there any Daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both' (Job 9:32,33).

All this reveals a longing for Christ, the One Mediator between God and man. He alone by virtue of His Godhead

and His manhood could `lay His hand upon both', but Elihu fills the office by anticipation:

`Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not

make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee' (Job 33:6,7).

Here is the `Daysman' that Job longed for, or one who at least filled that office as far as mortal man could fill it.

The `Daysman' is an old English term borrowed from the legal procedure of the day, the original word means `an

arbitrator' or `an umpire'. Elihu now reminds Job of his words:

`I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me' (Job 33:9),

and also that he complained that God sought `occasions' against him, counting him as an enemy. This word

`enemy' oyeb is the same as the name of the patriarch Job, which in his case means `attacked', and unconsciously

reveals the inner meaning of the whole book - but this we must see later. Although it may be true that to the

querulous and to the rebellious, God `giveth not account of any of His matters', Elihu proceeds to show that God

does speak to man and does care for his spiritual welfare `For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it

not'. There are three ways in which God speaks to men, according to the testimony of Elihu:

(1) In a dream, in a vision of the night. He then opens the ear and withdraws man from his purpose, keeping his

soul back from the pit.

(2) By chastening and bodily affliction, reducing, if needs be the man almost to a skeleton.

(3) By the instrumentality of the preached word, which sets forth the blessed fact that a ransom had been found.

This last way in which God `worketh oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit', contains such a

wealth of anticipatory gospel truth that it demands a fuller exposition:

`If there be a messenger with Him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man His uprightness: then

He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a Ransom. His flesh

shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: he shall pray unto God, and He will be

favourable unto him: and he shall see His face with joy: for He will render unto man His righteousness' (Job

The Messenger (Heb. malak).- This word is translated `ambassador', `angel' and `messenger' in the A.V. In the

book of Job itself malak occurs three times. Once it is translated `angel' (4:18) and twice `messenger' (1:14; 33:23).

There seems no reason to think that Elihu is speaking particularly of angelic ministry - but rather of the ministry of a

`messenger' like Elihu himself, made `of the same clay'. God uses means, and has actually raised the question,

`How shall they hear without a preacher?' which indicates the usual method of dealing with men by the Most High.

This messenger is further called `an interpreter' (Heb. luts). This word luts, in the Arabic means `to turn, twist; also

to speak in obscure sentences'. In the Hebrew it means `to scorn, to mock, to hold in derision', as an exclusive

Hebrew would hold all `foreign speech'. Accordingly it meant an ambassador from a foreign country, 2 Chronicles

32:31; and hence a `teacher', Isaiah 43:27, as well as an `interpreter'. `They knew not that Joseph understood them,

for he spake unto them by an interpreter' (Gen. 42:23).