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"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" (Job 33: 23, 24).
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?"
(Rom. 10: 14), which indicates the usual method of dealing with men by the Most High.
This messenger is further called "an interpreter" (Heb. luts). The 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
(II Chron. 32: 31); and hence a "teacher" (Isa. 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).
Luts becomes in the Hebrew melitsah where it can mean "a mocking song" or a
"taunting proverb", retaining its original meaning of treating a foreigner as a barbarian
(Hab. 2: 6), or it can mean "interpretation" in the second sense, as in Prov. 1: 6. Such a
messenger, such an interpreter, mediator or daysman, Elihu describes as "one among a
thousand". Job was acquainted with this figure, having used it himself, for he had
complained:
"If He will contend with him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand" (9: 3).
Dr. Samuel Lee cites an Arabic proverb which reads:
"But as for me, a thousand of them are as one, and one as a thousand, if matter distresses."
Such a faithful messenger and mediator is looked upon as rare and all the more to be
prized and heeded. Now what will be the "message" of this messenger?
"To show unto man his uprightness" (33: 23).
How are we to understand this passage? Shall we say "His" uprightness, meaning
God's, or "his" meaning man's? When first we considered this phrase in the light of the
epistle to the Romans we wrote "The pronoun `his' refers not to Job, but to `Him' of
Whom the message speaks". Ultimately this is true, but there is something more to be
learned, which will be profitable to include. Supposing we leave the passage to teach that
the Gospel preacher shows unto man "his own uprightness", surely, if this is seen in the
searchlight of the throne of God, all self boasting must vanish.
Now this is exactly what happens, as recorded in this book of Job. The book opens
with the description of Job "perfect and upright", and one would at first think that such