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An Interpreting Angel
An interpreting angel
After looking at a dozen or so translations, Job 33.23 is a bit of a challenge. Based on my study, I think the best translation is the one found in Keil and Delitzsch’s commentary.
If there is an angel as mediator for him, one of
a thousand, to declare to man what is for his profit.
To try to understand this, let’s begin with the context. Job 33.23 is in the long speech of Elihu. Elihu was a young man who had patiently listened to the discussion between Job and his three friends, but the longer he listened, the madder he got. He was mad with Job for accusing God, and he was mad with Job’s friends for their failure to convince Job he was a sinner (Elihu believed Job was a sinner, but he didn’t like the arguments the three friends had made.) Like many young people, Elihu was a self-righteous know-it-all. When he finally gets a chance to speak, he takes it upon himself to justify the ways of God to man and to explain to Job why he had to endure his unspeakable suffering. In all he said, Elihu said nothing especially helpful about God’s providence; God certainly didn’t commend him for anything he said. But I do think Elihu, in spite of himself, veered onto some truths worth considering, such as the one in Job 33.23.
First, note something McGuiggan wrote about suffering:
If God came to each of us every morning and briefed us on what was going to happen that day, I suspect that would make it easier for us to take. If he told us we were going to suffer and explained how that could be fitted into his overall plan, we’d feel better about our suffering.” (The Power to See It Through, 58)
God doesn’t visit us personally, does He. But I do believe He sends help in indirect ways.
The KJV translates the verse this way: “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness.” Note that angel becomes
messenger and mediator becomes interpreter. Here’s what I think Elihu is saying: sometimes, when men are suffering, an “angel”—a someone or a something—might appear who, by what it says or does, flashes light on the meaning and purpose of our suffering, helping us interpret our pain and sorrow in a way that gives us the wherewithal to endure.
Time served as an angel in the case of Joseph. Sold into the the trauma of slavery by his brothers, it was long years before he could tell his conscience-stricken brothers that what you meant for evil, God meant for good. As angelic as time can be, it does not explain all sufferings and sorrow; for the interpretation of some, we may have to patiently wait until in God’s light we can see the “why” of our ordeal.
When pain is being borne, bad explanations for our suffering only add pain to pain. I am grateful beyond words for the angels who touched me during troubled times, whose words kept me on my feet (Job 4.4), and whose counsel and kindness interpreted my situation to me in such a way that I could see the “profit” in my problems.
In Jesus Christ we learn that the presence of pain doesn’t mean the absence of God. Thank God for all who’ve helped me see Him when He’s been hard to see.
kenny
