In Job 33:19-22, someone is “chastened” (lovingly disciplined) on a sick-bed. They feel “constant distress,” they begin to hate food due to the sickness in their body, their flesh wastes away, and their bones begin to stick out. They are approaching death’s door and are headed down to the pit of destruction.
This portion of Scripture is not teaching that every person who becomes sick and is approaching death is under the discipline of God for sin, and needs repentance. Instead, it is giving an isolated instance of a person’s disobedience to God, causing physical sickness and pain, and where God is chastening that person out of love.
This was the problem that David faced after he committed adultery and murder. He said, “let the bones You have crushed rejoice” (Psalm 51:8). Sometimes our physical bodies are greatly affected by our spiritual life, and vice versa. Sometimes, not always, God disciplines us through sickness (1 Corinthians 11:29-31).
And so we see a story (whether real or simply being used as an example) in the book of Job of someone who is undergoing chastening by God, is being disciplined on a painful sick-bed and is drawing near to death. He knows this chastening is because of his sin (verse 19), and he understands that after death he will be taken to the “pit”; that is, he will sink into the depths where Satan dwells (Revelation 20:3).
Question 3. What is the solution provided in Job 33:23-24?
What people need in a time like this is a “mediator” who can be “gracious” to them, and who can intercede for them.
This Mediator goes to God on behalf of the sick person and says, “Spare them, I have found a Ransom for them!” A ransom is someone who can pay the price of their healing, who can rescue them from the pit and bring them back to health and wholeness.
Here again, we see the excellent and powerful work of Jesus Christ, who, in this situation, is both the Mediator and the Ransom. The apostle Paul may have had this passage in Job in mind when God inspired him to write 1 Timothy 2:5-6:
1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Question 5. How does 1 Timothy 2:5-6 show Jesus fulfilling the passage in Job 33:23-24?
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