Job 36:18

(Num 16:45; Psa 49:6-7; Mat 16:26). Even the "ransom" by Jesus Christ (Job 33:24) will be of no avail to wilful despisers (Heb 10:26-29).

with his stroke-- (Job 34:26). UMBREIT translates, "Beware lest the wrath of God (thy severe calamity) lead thee to scorn" (Job 34:7; Job 27:23). This accords better with the verb in the parallel clause, which ought to be translated, "Let not the great ransom (of money, which thou canst give) seduce thee (Margin, turn thee aside, as if thou couldst deliver thyself from "wrath" by it). As the "scorn" in the first clause answers to the "judgment of the wicked" (Job 36:17), so "ransom" ("seduce") to "will he esteem riches" (Job 36:19). Thus, Job 36:18 is the transition between Job 36:17 and Job 36:19.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Job 36:18 Because [there is] wrath, [beware] lest he take thee away with [his] stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

Ver. 18. Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke] Beza readeth it thus, Surely it is wrath, take heed lest with strokes it take thee away; i.e. Certainly the wrath of God doth in this thy calamity most manifestly show itself. Oh beware lest he double his strokes, and beat thee to pieces for thy disobedience and stubbornness. With the froward God will wrestle, Psa 18:26, and add to their miseries seven times more, and seven times and seven to that, Lev 26:18; Lev 26:21; Lev 26:24; Lev 26:28.

Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee] Heb. turn thee aside, or help thee to decline; that is, to escape, no, though thou shouldest offer thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil, as Mic 6:7.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job_36:18

Because there is wrath.

The wrath of God

The language of the text may be spoken to every impenitent and unbelieving sinner of the human race.

I. The actual. There is wrath.

1. This wrath is Divine. By virtue of Gods perfection He is in the possession of an emotional nature, He has the attribute of wrath. Instead of this property being inconsistent with the other attributes of God, it is absolutely necessary to constitute Him morally perfect. This wrath is undoubtedly a great reality.

2. This wrath is merited. Sin merits wrath. Sin is the wrong act of a moral substance, a substance in the possession of free-will. In this act there are rebellion, robbery, and ingratitude. Hence sin merits the Divine indignation. Hence, wherever there is sin there is also suffering.

3. This wrath is impartial. It has been revealed from heaven against angels and against men, without respect of person. It has been revealed against every sinful act of every sinful being.

II. The probable. There may be destruction. Beware lest He take thee away with His stroke.

1. He hath power to do it.

2. He has threatened to do so.

3. Some who were as near saved as you have been lost.

III. The impossible. There cannot be deliverance. Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee, literally, cannot turn thee aside. Deliverance is impossible--

1. By a great ransom of material wealth. Though we could give mines of gems, oceans of pearls, worlds of gold and silver, yet such a ransom price could not deliver us.

2. By a great ransom of animal life.

3. By the ransom of the Highest, Christ Jesus. Christ gave Himself a sacrifice for us. (Homilist.)

Divine anger

1. There is wrath in the government of God.

2. This wrath may overtake the sinner any moment.

3. When it overtakes him in this way, he has no means of deliverance. (Homilist.)

Solemn warning

Whether these words were suited to the ease of Job or not, they are certainly applicable to all impenitent sinners, and contain--

I. An important assertion. Because there is wrath. From this declaration it is evident that it has been known from the earliest ages that God is displeased with sin, and has often revealed His anger against the ungodliness of men.

1. This assertion must be explained. The anger, hatred, and wrath of God are not impure passions in Him, as they are in man. All who violate the precepts of His law become obnoxious to its awful penalties, and justly incur the punitive wrath of the Divine Lawgiver (Rom_2:3-9).

2. This assertion must be confirmed. This is evident from the Scriptures, which assure us that the Lord is angry with the wicked.

II. An affectionate admonition.

1. The exercise of caution. Beware! Deeply consider your state and character before God--remember your awful responsibility, and the intimate connection which subsists between a state of mortal probation and eternal retribution (Gal_6:7-8); be wise, and know the day of your visitation.

2. The pursuit of salvation. An apprehension of Divine wrath should induce a diligent use of the means appointed for our deliverance; this is the only way of being rescued from sin and ruin.

III. An impressive argument; Lest He take thee away, etc.

1. The sinners punishment is inevitable. Lest He take thee away with His stroke. Incorrigible impenitence leads to unavoidable ruin (Rom_6:21); sin will surely find us out, for the wicked shall not go unpunished. His stroke signifies a sudden calamity or awful judgment. Such was the deluge--the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah--the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram--the death of Herod, Ananias, and Sapphira, etc. (Gen_7:1-24; Gen_19:27; Num_16:31-33; Act_5:1-10; Act_12:20-23).

2. The sinners punishment is irremediable. Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. To ransom is to deliver, either by price or by power. The present life is the only day of salvation. There is no Redeemer for the finally lost. They have nothing to offer for their ransom, nor can any possible price purchase, or power rescue them from interminable perdition. What, then, is our present state? (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 36:18-19. Because there is wrath — Conceived by God against thee; because, by thy pleading the cause of the wicked, thou hast provoked God’s wrath against thee; beware lest he take thee away by his stroke — בשׂפק, besaphek, properly, with the stroke of his hand or foot, an allusion to men’s expressing their anger by striking with their hand or stamping with their foot. Look to thyself, and reconcile thyself to God by true repentance, while thou hast an opportunity. A great ransom cannot deliver thee — If once God’s wrath take hold on thee, and sentence be executed upon thee before thou repentest and humblest thyself before thy judge, neither riches nor friends, nor any person or thing in heaven or earth can redeem thee: no ransom or price will be accepted for thee. Will he esteem thy riches? — If thou hadst as much of them as ever; no, nor all the forces of strength — The strongest forces; not if thou hadst all the treasure and all the force which all the powers of earth could muster up.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God doth punish thee, lest thou shouldest forget God in thy wealth and so perish.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 18. Because there is wrath] This is a time in which God is punishing the wicked; take heed lest thou be cut off in a moment. Redeem the time; the days are evil.

Then a great ransom] When he determines to destroy, who can save?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Because there is wrath.—“For there is wrath: now, therefore, beware lest He take thee away with one stroke, so that great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Literally it is, let not a great ransom deliver thee, but the sense is probably like the Authorised Version.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. In this verse wrath appears to be that of Job, as “anger,” Job_36:13. Elihu warns him against allowing it to entice him into rebellion against God, comp. ch. Job_34:37. The A. V. takes “wrath” as that of God, visible in Job’s afflictions. This gives a good parallel to the “greatness of the ransom” in the next clause. Elihu’s doctrine, however, is that afflictions are not the expression of God’s wrath but of His disciplinary mercy; and his great object is to warn Job against putting this false construction on God’s dealing with him; cf. ch. 33 throughout, ch. Job_36:5.

In the second clause he warns Job against being led astray by the greatness of the ransom, by which he means Job’s severe afflictions; cf. ch. Job_33:24.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because there is wrath,.... Either wrath in Job, so some; indignation and impatience under the afflicting hand of God, expressed by cursing the day of his birth, and by his angry pleadings with God: and therefore Elihu advises him to beware of it, and check this impetuous spirit; cease from his anger and forsake wrath, and fret not himself to do evil, and provoke the Lord to take him away at once, and then his case would be irretrievable. Or rather wrath in God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. His vindictive and punitive justice, to revenge and punish wickedness, the effects of which are sometimes awful judgments on men in this life; and eternal vengeance hereafter, called wrath to come: this is laid up in store with him, and sealed up in his treasures, prepared in his purposes and decrees, is revealed in his law, and breaks forth in various instances; see Num 16:46. And there is an appearance of wrath, a little wrath, which is no other than love displeased, in the afflictions and chastisements of God's people, and might be perceived by Job: and this being the case, Elihu advises him to

beware; which, though not expressed in the original, is well supplied; and his meaning is, that he would be cautious of what he said, and not go on to multiply words against God; speak unbecomingly of him, arraign his justice, and find fault with his dealings with him; as well as beware of his actions, conduct, and behaviour, that his tongue and his doings be not against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory;

lest he take thee away with his stroke; out of the world by death, which is the stroke of his hand; and is sometimes given suddenly, and in an awful manner, in wrath and vengeance. Some render the last word, "with clapping of hands" (y); either the hands of men, Job 27:23; or of God; expressing his exultation and pleasure at the death of such a person, laughing at his calamity, and mocking when fear cometh; which is dreadful and tremendous;

then a great ransom cannot deliver thee: there is no ransom on earth equal to the life or soul of man; "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mat 16:26; see Psa 49:6. The great ransom of all is the ransom of Christ, which Elihu had made mention of before, Job 33:24; and what else could he have in his mind now? This is the ransom found by infinite wisdom, which Christ came to give, and has given; and by which he has ransomed his people from him that is stronger than they, from the bondage of sin, of Satan, of the world, of hell and death, and everlasting destruction: and this is a great one, plenteous redemption, a great salvation; the ransomer is the great God and our Saviour; the ransom price is not corruptible things, as silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ, his life, yea, he himself. How great must this ransom be! and it is given for great sinners, the chief of them; and is sufficient for all the elect of God, both Jews and Gentiles: and yet, as great as it is, it is of no avail to one that God has taken away by a stroke out of this world, and sent to everlasting destruction; not through want of sufficiency in this ransom, but by reason of the final and unalterable state of such persons; as, even in the present life, it is of no avail to the deniers and despisers of it, Heb 10:26.

(y) "complosione manuum", Tigurine version; so some in Munster.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Because there is wrath - That is, the wrath of God is to be dreaded. The meaning is, that if Job persevered in the spirit which he had manifested, he had every reason to expect that God would suddenly cut him off. He might now repent and find mercy, but he had shown the spirit of those who were rebellions in affliction, and if he persevered in that, he had nothing to expect but the wrath of God.

With his stroke - With his smiting or chastisement; compare Job 34:26.

Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee - Margin, “turn thee aside.” The meaning is, that a great ransom could not prevent him from being cut off. On the meaning of the word ransom, see the notes at Job 33:24. The idea here is, not that a great ransom could not deliver him “after” he was cut off and consigned to hell - which would be true; but that when he had manifested a spirit of insubmission a little longer, nothing could save him from being cut off from the land of the living. God would not spare him on account; of wealth, or rank, or age, or wisdom. None of these things would be a “ransom” in virtue of which his forfeited life would be preserved.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Because there is wrath, to wit, conceived by God against thee. Because by thy pleading the cause of the wicked, thou hast deserved that God should give sentence against thee, as was now said, and hast provoked God’s wrath against thee; therefore look to thyself, and reconcile thyself to God by true repentance whilst thou mayst, and before sentence be executed upon thee.

Beware: this is not in the Hebrew, but is necessarily to be understood to make up the sense, and is oft understood in the like cases, and that before this Hebrew particle pen, as Gen 3:22; 11:4; 42:4 Isa 36:8. See the like also Mat 25:9; Act 5:39.

With his stroke; properly, with the stroke of his hand or foot. It is an allusion to men, who oft express their anger by clapping their hands, or stamping with their feet.

Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee; for if once God’s wrath take hold of thee, and sentence be executed upon thee before thou dost repent and humble thyself to thy judge, neither riches, nor friends, no, nor any person or thing in heaven and earth, can redeem thee; no ransom or price will be accepted for thee.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Because there is wrath… his stroke — This passage has given much trouble to critics, of whose readings some are unspeakably absurd. The real difficulty lies in the word stroke, (שׂפק, sephek,) which is translated by some, “abundance;” thus, (Furst,) “He may not seduce thee with abundance.” making God indirectly an agent of evil. On the other hand, Gesenius renders it “punishment;” while Furst gives the first meaning of its root, as in Job_34:26, “to strike.” Rosenmuller, A. Clarke, and Noyes, virtually adopt the reading of the text. Carey thinks that the expression “take away” is intended to correspond with the same word, “remove,” in Job_36:16, with the meaning, God has not, as yet, by his mercy urged you out (הסיתךְ) of your distress, (Job_36:16;) take care that in his provoked wrath he does not altogether urge you away (יסיתךְ) with a stroke. The preposition ב, with, (a stroke,) may be rendered against; which leads some (Conant) to ascribe the anger to Job, and to read the clause. “For beware lest anger stir thee up against chastisement.” But the use of the same word (חמה, “wrath”) in Job_19:29, where it is spoken of God, would rather point to a rebuke on the part of Elihu. The very wrath Job threatened against “the friends” is that which he himself has reason to apprehend unless he, too, exercise proper caution. The muttering of the approaching storm may have given special point to the exhortation, and Elihu may have been emboldened to greater severity of address than would otherwise have seemed justifiable. “See,” he seems to say, “the lightnings, God’s messengers, already endorse the message of God’s servant.”

Ransom — Kopher; same word as in Job_33:24, but used here in a modified sense. No consideration either of wealth, honour, wisdom, or piety, (Eze_33:12-13,) — no price that man can bring — will avail to deliver man when once under the retributive hand of God. Comp. Job_30:24.

Cannot deliver thee — The meaning of נשׂה in the niphil form is unquestionably, as in the margin, “to turn aside.” Gesenius renders the phrase, (Thes. 877,) “A great ransom cannot turn thee aside from the divine punishment; a form of speech,” he says, “used of those who turn aside from the way to avoid peril.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke. The original is exceedingly obscure, and three or four quite distinct renderings have been proposed; but one of the latest critics (Professor Stanley Loathes) prefers to all the other translations that of the Authorized Version. Job is threatened by Elihu with a coming judgment which shall remove him from the earth altogether. Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. Once let destruction fall, and there is no longer any place for ransom. Nothing can then deliver thee from thy just punishment.

The uselessness of a great ransom.

Job had sinned, says Elihu, though not in the black and hypocritical way that his three friends attributed to him. His sin had been in judging God, and charging the Holy One with injustice; and this sin brought its own punishment; indeed, it was its own punishment, because to think that God, our Maker and our Judge, is unjust is to be in torment. Now Job is told that if he holds to this sin the greatness of a ransom will be of no avail; he cannot be saved.

I MAN LOOKS FOR DELIVERANCE THROUGH A. RANSOM. This is not only a Christian idea. It is found in the Old Testament, and it is to be traced through heathen systems of religion, though among these systems it appears in a degraded and corrupted state.

1. Man has a sense of bondage. This he feels. When conscience is aroused, he has the most intense consciousness of its galling fetters. "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?". (Rom_7:24)

2. Man cannot escape from his bondage. The old brigand, Satan, that great robber of souls, has too tight a hand on his victims to let them go free whenever they choose to escape from his clutches. Habit is a stronger bandage than the cords with which Samson was bound. The deliverance must come from without.

3. This deliverance must be at a great cost. We do not know what the cost must be, nor how it should be settled. It cannot be true, as some of the Fathers held, that a price must be paid to Satan that he may consent to liberate man. He never consents. He can have no compensation. The liberation is by the overthrow of Satan and the conquest of his domain. The Bastille must be stormed and hurled down if its prisoners are to escape. But this can only be done at great cost.

II CHRIST IS THE RANSOM FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF MAN. This is his own statement. (Mat_20:28) His advent with humiliation in a state of servitude was a Divine payment a sacrifice on the part of God. His death was his own surrender of his life for the liberation of man from sin. We need not understand why the ransom had to be paid in order to see that it has been paid. A clear idea of the reason and necessity of the payment might help our faith. Still, the fact is the great thing to know. Christ has given himself fur us, and through him we have liberty.

III THE GREATEST RANSOM MAY BE UNAVAILING.

1. If it is not rightly paid. Men make great sacrifices in asceticism; yet there is no reason to think that they are of any adequate value, because they are not required by God, and they serve no good end.

2. If there is no repentance. The work of Christ is for the benefit of all who will avail themselves of it. But a first condition of profiting by it is repentance. While a man holds to his sin he cannot enjoy the benefits of Christ"s sacrifice. For him Christ has died in vain.

3. If it is not accompanied try faith. This is the connecting link that joins the soul to Christ. All that he has done for us remains outside us, not touching our life and need, till we learn to confide in him.

CONCLUSION. It is worse for the ransom to be paid in vain than for it not to be paid at all. They who reject Christ are doubly without hope, for they are without excuse. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wrath - Conceived by God against thee. Then - If once God's wrath take hold of thee, no ransom will be accepted for thee.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For wrath [There] shall be great [wrath].

lest it entice you [Lest] your evil inclination [entice you to speak] words.

to multiply Heb. בשפק, lit. with multiplicity; [i.e., with] which you multiply and increase your words toward God; and after you have raised His wrath, much ransom, [i.e.,] much money will not turn you away [rescue you] from it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.