Job 33:27

He looketh upon men,.... According to our version, and other interpreters, the sense is, God looks upon men as he does on all men in general, their ways and their works; and particularly he takes

His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: Effects of restoration to God's favour; literally, to Job a temporal revival; spiritually, an eternal regeneration.

He looketh upon men; either, 1. The sick man shall look upon and converse with mankind, his friends, or others, as he did before, and shall say, (as the following word is and may be rendered,) I have sinned, & c., i.e. he shall confess to them that God was not to be blamed, but that he, by his own sin and folly, did bring that evil upon himself. And then he shall acknowledge God’ s great goodness to him, and shall add what follows in the next verse, He hath delivered my soul, &c., and my life, &c., as they render it. Or rather, 2. God diligently observes all mankind, and their several carriages, especially in sickness and distress. If any say, I have sinned; if there be any man that sincerely saith thus, God hears it, and will pardon and heal him, as it follows. Perverted that which was right; either, 1. I have judged perversely of the just and right ways of God, censuring his proceedings against me as too severe and rigorous, whereas in truth I only was to be blamed. Or, 2. I have perverted God’ s righteous law by bending it, and making it comply with my crooked ways; or, I have swerved from the right and good way of God’ s commands; or, I have made crooked paths. So he repeats in other words what he said in the former branch of the verse, I have sinned. It profited me not; I got no good by so doing, as I vainly promised myself; but I got much hurt by it, even diseases, and griefs, and extreme dangers. This was the just fruit of my sins. It is a meiosis, whereby less is said, and more is understood, of which we have seen many examples before.

Job 33:27 He looketh upon men, and [if any] say, I have sinned, and perverted [that which was] right, and it profited me not;Ver. 27. He looketh upon men] He looketh to see when any will repent and return unto him. Now Christ’ s looks are often operative, and cause that which he looks after. A stroke from guilt broke Judas’ s heart into despair; but a look from Christ broke Peter’ s heart into tears. And if any say, I have sinned] So he say it penitently, as David and the prodigal; and not feignedly, as Saul; or forcedly, as Pharaoh; or desperately, as Judas. In men’ s courts, saith Quintilian, it is best to say Non feci, to plead not guilty; but in God’ s court it is better to say Ego feci, Guilty, Lord; mercy, Lord; and not to put God to his proofs, as they did, Jeremiah 2:35; since he that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy, Proverbs 28:13. And perverted that which was right] Thus the true penitentiary layeth load upon himself, and aggravates his sins, whereof (saith Merlin) we have here a definition answerable to that of St John, 1 John 3:4, "Sin is the transgression of the law." I have writhed from the right, saith he in the text. I have turned aside to crooked ways, and so have deserved to he led forth with the workers of iniquity, Psalms 125:5; as cattle are to the slaughter, or malefactors to execution. And it profited me not] Sin is an ill pay master, and sends home all her servants by weeping cross. The best that can come of it is shame, Romans 6:21, and godly sorrow, working repentance, 2 Corinthians 7:10, but usually the end of those things is death; this is the just hire of the least sin, Romans 6:23. It not only profiteth not (whatever it promiseth), but prejudiceth and proves pernicious. This penitent man thanks his sin for his late sickness, and yet thinks he hath escaped fair too; for so some render the text, Nec poenas condignas dedi, My punishment hath been less than my offence, Non aequale fuit. See Ezra 9:13,

(27) He looketh upon men, and if any say.—Rather, He looketh upon men, and saith, I have sinned, &c.: that is the confession of the restored sinner. Some render it, He shall sing before men, but hardly so probably or appropriately.

Verse 27. He looketh upon men] אנשים anashim, wretched, fallen men. He shines into them, to convince them of sin; and if any, under this convincing light of God, say, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and perverted the right - abused the powers, faculties, mercies, and advantages, which thou didst give me, by seeking rest and happiness in the creature, and it profited me not - it was all vanity and vexation of spirit; ולא שוה לי velo shavah li, "and it was not equal to me," did not come up to my expectation, nor supply my wants: -

13–28. When Elihu gives the general answer to Job’s charges against God that “God is greater than man” he means that the moral loftiness of God’s nature made it impossible that He should act in the arbitrary, hostile manner charged against Him by Job (comp. ch. Job 36:5). It was but another form of the same charge of arbitrary hostility to man when Job affirmed that God was deaf to all appeal and refused to speak to man; comp. ch. Job 19:7, Job 30:20, and often. To this general form of the charge Elihu directs his attention and replies that God speaks to man in many ways, though He may not answer when challenged as Job had challenged Him; comp. ch. Job 35:14. He speaks to man in ways becoming His greatness, ways that shew that His goodness is over all His works. Job 33:13 probably reads Why dost thou contend against him That he giveth not account of any of his matters? that is, Job’s contention or plea against God is that He deals arbitrarily and refuses all account of His dealing.

He looketh upon men - Margin, “or, he shall look upon men, and say, I have sinned.” Umbreit renders this, Nun singt er jubelnd zu den Menschen - “now he sings joyfully among men.” So Noyes, “He shall

27. And say — And sing. The verb is of the same meaning as in the inscription of Psalms 7; Proverbs 25:20, etc. It profited me not — It was not requited to me.