Job 33:23-24
“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.”
King James Version
Job's vision of a heavenly messenger-interpreter who pays a ransom to deliver the sinner from death, a portrait of Christ's intercession.
Fulfillment References
1 Timothy 2:5 Mark 10:45 Hebrews 7:25
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalElihu describes how a dying man may be spared: if there is 'a messenger, an interpreter, one among a thousand' to plead his case and declare to him what is right, then God says, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.' This rare mediator, who turns away death by providing a ransom, points to the Lord Jesus — the one Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5), who is Himself the ransom that delivers us from the pit (Mark 10:45). In Christ, God in flesh is both the Mediator and the price He found.
JewishWithin Elihu's speech, an angelic mediator/interpreter who intercedes to restore the afflicted; read of an angelic advocate or God's gracious deliverance, not a messiah.
CatholicA foreshadowing of Christ the Mediator and ransom; the gracious deliverance from the pit.
ProtestantAn anticipation of the one Mediator, Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), and the ransom He provides (Mark 10:45); read typologically.
AcademicPart of Elihu's discourse; the 'mediator/angel' (melitz) who ransoms is variously understood as an angelic intercessor or a poetic figure of divine grace.
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Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.