Job 33:28

He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) He will deliver his soul.—There are two readings in the Hebrew here, of which one is represented by the Authorised Version; but the better one is, “He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall see the light”—this is part of the restored man’s confession, which appears to be continued till the speaker resumes in Job 33:29.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:19-28 Job complained of his diseases, and judged by them that God was angry with him; his friends did so too: but Elihu shows that God often afflicts the body for good to the soul. This thought will be of great use for our getting good from sickness, in and by which God speaks to men. Pain is the fruit of sin; yet, by the grace of God, the pain of the body is often made a means of good to the soul. When afflictions have done their work, they shall be removed. A ransom or propitiation is found. Jesus Christ is the Messenger and the Ransom, so Elihu calls him, as Job had called him his Redeemer, for he is both the Purchaser and the Price, the Priest and the sacrifice. So high was the value of souls, that nothing less would redeem them; and so great the hurt done by sin, that nothing less would atone for it, than the blood of the Son of God, who gave his life a ransom for many. A blessed change follows. Recovery from sickness is a mercy indeed, when it proceeds from the remission of sin. All that truly repent of their sins, shall find mercy with God. The works of darkness are unfruitful works; all the gains of sin will come far short of the damage. We must, with a broken and contrite heart, confess our sins to God, 1Jo 1:9. We must confess the fact of sin; and not try to justify or excuse ourselves. We must confess the fault of sin; I have perverted that which was right. We must confess the folly of sin; So foolish have I been and ignorant. Is there not good reason why we should make such a confession?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He will deliver his soul - Margin, "He hath delivered my soul." There are various readings here in the text, which give rise to this diversity of interpretation. The present reading in the text is נפשׁי nepheshay - "my soul"; and according to this, it is to be regarded as the language of the sufferer celebrating the mercy of God, and is language which is connected with the confession in the previous verse, "I have sinned; I found it no advantage; and he hath rescued me from death." Many manuscripts, however, read נפשׁו nepheshô - "his soul"; and according to this, the language would be that of Elihu, saying, that in those circumstances God would deliver him when he made suitable confession of his sin. The sense is essentially the same. The Vulgate has, "He will deliver his soul;" the Septuagint, "Save my soul."

From going into the pit - Notes Job 33:18.

And his life shall see the light - Here there is the same variety of reading which occurs in regard to the word soul. The present Hebrew text is (חיתי chayātay) "my life"; many manuscripts read (חיתו chayātô), "his life." The phrase "to see the light" is equivalent to live. Death was represented as going down into regions where there was no ray of light. See Job 3:5; Job 10:21-22.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. (See on [535]Job 33:24); rather, as Hebrew text (English Version reads as the Margin, Hebrew, Keri, "his soul, his life"), "He hath delivered my soul … my life." Continuation of the penitent's testimony to the people.

light—(Job 33:30; Job 3:16, 20; Ps 56:13; Ec 11:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He, i.e. God, whose work alone this is.

His soul; himself; or, as it follows,

his life. His life: See Poole "Job 33:18".

Shall see the light, i.e. shall enjoy, either,

1. Prosperity, which is oft called light, as darkness is put for affliction; or,

2. The light of the living, as it follows, Job 33:30; the light of this world, i.e. his life, which was endangered, shall be restored and continued. This is opposed to his going down into the pit, in the former branch.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He will deliver his soul from going into the pit,.... Into the pit of the grave; and then the soul is put for the man or for the body; or into the pit of hell or perdition:

and his life shall see the light; or he shall live and enjoy outward prosperity here, and the light of eternal happiness hereafter; and so the Targum interprets it of superior light, or the light above, even the inheritance of the saints in light. These words have a double reading; the "Keri", or marginal reading, is what we follow; but the "Cetib", or textual reading, is, "he hath delivered my soul from going into the pit, and my life sees the light"; and which seems to be the better reading; and so the words are a continuation of the address of the man recovered from illness to his friends; setting forth and acknowledging, with joy and thankfulness, the great goodness of God unto him, that he had delivered him from the grave, and spared his life, and given him to enjoy great prosperity, both temporal and spiritual.

Geneva Study Bible

{u} He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

(u) God will forgive the penitent sinner.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. The light which the sinner sees is the light of life (Job 33:30), for he is redeemed from the darkness of the pit. The A. V. has followed the Heb. margin and read his soul, his life. If this reading were adopted the words would be a general statement by Elihu, but this unnaturally anticipates Job 33:29-30.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light; rather, as in the margin, he hath delivered my soul from going into the pit (comp. ver. 24), and my life shall see the light. The restored penitent is still speaking. Job 33:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

25 His flesh swelleth with the freshness of youth,

He returneth to the days of his youth.

26 If he prayeth to Eloah, He showeth him favour,

So that he seeth His face with joy,

And thus He recompenseth to man his uprightness.

27 He singeth to men and saith:

"I had sinned and perverted what was straight,

"And it was not recompensed to me.

28 "He hath delivered my soul from going down into the pit,

"And my life rejoiceth in the light."

Misled by the change of the perf. and fut. in Job 33:25, Jer. translates Job 33:25 : consumta est caro ejus a suppliciis; Targ.: His flesh had been weakened (אתחלישׁ), or made thin (אתקלישׁ), more than the flesh of a child; Raschi: it had become burst (French אשקושא, in connection with which only פשׁ appears to have been in his mind, in the sense of springing up, prendre son escousse) from the shaking (of disease). All these interpretations are worthless; נער, peculiar to the Elihu section in the book of Job (here and Job 36:14), does not signify shaking, but is equivalent to נערים (Job 13:26; Job 31:18); and רטפשׁ is in the perf. only because the passive quadriliteral would not so easily accommodate itself to inflexion (by which all those asserted significations, which suit only the perf. sense, fall to the ground). The Chateph instead of the simple Sehev is only in order to give greater importance to the passive u. But as to the origin of the quadriliteral (on the four modes of the origin of roots of more than three radicals, vid., Jesurun, pp. 160-166), there is no reason for regarding it as a mixed form derived from two different verbs: it is formed just like פּרשׁז (from פּרשׁ, by Arabizing equals פּרשׂ) with a sibilant termination from רטף equals רטב, and therefore signifies to be (to have been made) over moist or juicy. However, there is yet another almost more commendable explanation possible. In Arab. ṭrfš signifies to recover, prop. to grow green, become fresh (perhaps from tarufa, as in the signification to blink, from tarafa). From this Arab. tarfasha, or even from a Hebr. טרפּשׁ,

(Note: The Talmud. טרפשׁא דליבא (Chullin, 49b) signifies, according to the customary rendering, the pericardium, and טרפשׁא דכבדא (ib. 46a) the diaphragm, or rather the little net (omentum minus). Originally, however, the former signified the cushion of fat under the pericardium on which the heart rests, especially in the crossing of the furrows; the latter the accumulation of fat on the porta (πύλη) and between the laminae of the little net. For טרפשׁ is correctly explained by שׁומן, fat. It has nothing to do with τράπεζα (an old name for a part of the liver), with which Ges. after Buxtorf connects it.)

pinguefacere (which may with Frst be regarded as springing from טפשׁ, to be fleshy, like כּרבּל, כּרסם), רטפשׁ might have sprung by transposition. In a remarkable manner one and the same idea is attained by all these ways: whether we regard וטפשׁ as a mixed form from רטב and טפשׁ, or as an extended root-form from one or other of these verbs, it is always according to the idea: a superabundance of fresh healthfulness. The מן or מנּער is chiefly regarded as comparative: more than youth, i.e., leaving this behind, or exceeding it, Ew. 221, a; but Job 33:25, according to which he who was hitherto sick unto death actually renews his youth, makes it more natural to take the מן as causal: it swells from youth or youthfulness. In this description of the renovation which the man experiences, it is everywhere assumed that he has taken the right way announced to him by the mediating angel. Accordingly, Job 33:26 is not intended of prayer that is heard, which resulted in pardon, but of prayer that may be heard continually, which results from the pardon: if he prays to Eloah (fut. hypotheticum as Job 22:27, vid., on Job 29:24), He receives him favourably (רצה, Arab. raḍiya, with ב, Arab. b, to have pleasure in any one, with the acc. eum gratum vel acceptum habere), and he (whose state of favour is now established anew) sees God's countenance (which has been hitherto veiled from him, Job 34:29) with rejoicing (as Psalm 33:3 and freq.), and He (God) recompenses to the man his uprightness (in his prolonged course of life), or prop., since it is not ויּשׁלּם, but ויּשׁב, He restores on His part his relation in accordance with the order of redemption, for that is the idea of צדקה; the word has either a legal or a so-to-speak evangelical meaning, in which latter, used of God (as so frequently in Isaiah II), it describes His rule in accordance with His counsel and order of redemption; the primary notion is strict observance of a given rule.

In Job 33:27 the favoured one is again the subj. This change of person, without any indication of the same, belongs to the peculiarities of the Hebrew, and, in general, of the Oriental style, described in the Geschichte der jd. Poesie, S. 189 [History of Jewish Poetry;] the reference of ויּרא, as Hiph., to God, which is preferred by most expositors, is consequently unnecessary. Moreover, the interpretation: He causes his (the favoured one's) countenance to behold joy (Umbr., Ew.), is improbable as regards the phrase (נראה) ראה פני ה, and also syntactically lame; and the interpretation: He causes (him, the favoured one) to behold His (the divine) countenance with joy (Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., and others), halts in like manner, since this would be expressed by ויּראהוּ (ויּראנּוּ). By the reference to psalmody which follows in Job 33:27 (comp. Job 36:24), it becomes natural that we should understand Job 33:26 according to such passages in the Psalms as Psalm 90:2; Psalm 67:2; Psalm 17:15. ישׂר is a poetically contracted fut. after the manner of a jussive, for ישׁוּר; and perhaps it is a dialectic form, for the Kal שׁוּר equals שׁיר occurs only besides in 1 Samuel 18:6 as Chethb. With על (comp. Proverbs 25:20) it signifies to address a song to any one, to sing to him. Now follows the psalm of the favoured one in outline; Job 33:28 also belongs to it, where the Keri (Targ. Jer.), without any evident reason whatever, gets rid of the 1 pers. (lxx, Syr.). I had sinned - he says, as he looks back ashamed and thankful - and perverted what was straight (comp. the confession of the penitent, Psalm 106:6), ולא שׁוה לי, et non aequale factum s. non aequatum est mihi,

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