Today’s passage: Job 33
Helpful thoughts:
- After his introduction in the previous chapter, Elihu begins his message to Job and his friends.
- Elihu details what Job has said and uses the same imagery to argue his position. He has been listening and seems to have a desire to reason with Job on his behalf.
- However, even with a different approach, the end result is the same. Elihu believes God is allowing all this suffering to bring Job to repentance.
Questions to consider:
- What does Elihu say are the two ways God speaks to man (Verses 15, 19)? What is the purpose for God’s speaking according to him? How does this understanding fall short of what we know of God from Scripture?
- Under this scenario (If God allowed Job to endure this suffering to cause him to turn in repentance), what would then be the “ransom” which God found in verse 24? Could the loss of Job’s possessions and the death of his children pay the penalty of his sin?
- What is the only ransom God receives for our sin (Matthew 20:28)? How does Elihu’s view of sin, judgment, repentance and reward differ from what we know and enjoy through Christ and the gospel?