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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 33:4 - 33:4
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
4 The Spirit of God hath made me,
And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
5 If thou canst, answer me,
Prepare in my presence, take thy stand!
6 Behold, I am like thyself, of God,
Formed out of clay am I also.
7 Behold, my terror shall not affright thee,
And my pressure shall not be heavy upon thee.
He has both in common with Job: the spirituality as well as the earthliness of man's nature; but by virtue of the former he does not, indeed, feel himself exalted above Job's person, but above the present standpoint taken up by Job; and in consideration of this, Job need not fear any unequal contest, nor as before God, Job 9:34; Job 13:21, in order that he may be able to defend himself against Him, make it a stipulation that His majesty may not terrify him. It is man's twofold origin which Elihu, Job 33:4, Job 33:6, gives utterance to in harmony with Gen 2:7 : the mode of man's origin, which is exalted above that of all other earthly beings that have life; for the life of the animal is only the individualizing of the breath of the Divine Spirit already existing in matter. The spirit of man, on the contrary (for which the language has reserved the name נְשָׁמָה), is an inspiration directly coming forth from God the personal being, transferred into the bodily frame, and therefore forming a person.
(Note: God took a small piece of His own life - says the tradition among the Karens, a scattered tribe of Eastern India - blew into the nostrils of His son and daughter, and they became living beings, and were really human.)
In the exalted consciousness of having been originated by the Spirit of God, and being endowed with life from the inbreathed breath of the Almighty, Elihu stands invincible before Job: if thou canst, refute me (הֵשִׁיב with acc. of the person, as Job 33:32); array thyself (עֶרְכָה for עִרְכָה, according to Ges. 63, rem. 1) before me (here with the additional thought of מִלְחָמָה, as Job 23:4, in a forensic sense with מִשְׁפָּט), place thyself in position, or take thy post (imper. Hithpa. with the ah less frequent by longer forms, Ew. §228, a).
On the other side, he also, like Job, belongs to God, i.e., is dependent and conditioned. הֶן־אֲנִי is to be written with Segol (not Ssere); לָאֵל is intended like לֹו, Job 12:16; and כְּפִיךָ signifies properly, according to thine utterance, i.e., standard, in accordance with, i.e., like thee, and is used even in the Pentateuch (e.g., Exo 16:21) in this sense pro ratione; כפי, Job 30:18, we took differently. He, Elihu, is also nipped from the clay, i.e., taken from the earth, as when the potter nips off a piece of his clay (comp. Aram. קְרַץ, a piece, Arab. qurs, a bread-cake, or a dung-cake, vid., supra, p. 449, from qarasa, to pinch off, take off, cogn. qarada, to gnaw off, cut off, p. 512). Thus, therefore, no terribleness in his appearing will disconcert Job, and his pressure will not be a burden upon him. By a comparison of Job 13:21, it might seem that אַכְפִּי is equivalent to כַּפִּי (lxx ἡ χείρ μου), but כָּבֵד is everywhere connected only with יָד, never with כַּף; and the ἁπ. γεγρ. is explained according to Pro 16:26, where אָכַף signifies to oppress, drive (Jer. compulit), and from the dialects differently, for in Syr. ecaf signifies to be anxious about anything (ecaf li, it causes me anxiety, curae mihi est), and in Arab. accafa, to saddle, ucâf, Talmud. אוּכָּף, a saddle, so that consequently the Targ. translation of אַכְפִּי by טוּנִי, my burden, and the Syr. by אוכפני, my pressing forward (Arabic version iqbâli, my touch), are supported, since אֶכֶף signifies pressure, heavy weight, load, and burden; according to which it is also translated by Saad. (my constraint), Gecat. (my might). It is therefore not an opponent who is not on an equality with him by nature, with whom Job has to do. If he is not able to answer him, he will have to be considered as beaten.