He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
He keeps back the mortal person himself, his whole life, from going down into destruction and the grave and dying by violent death. The pit is destruction itself, not a place of conscious torment. He does this by instruction and warning through dreams and visions of the night, His Word and His Spirit, to turn a man from his harmful course and hide pride from him. He speaks once, yea twice, and many times, first opening the ear and sealing instruction, then, when hearing does not change the mind and transform the character, speaking more impressively by chastening with pain upon the bed and disease in the bones to mold him after the divine similitude. Such affliction comes not by accident or chance but under His reigning control for correction, to bring man back to the right path, preserve life from destruction, heal and make whole, and enlighten with the light of the living, which assures that He can preserve from death and from perishing by the sword though not every righteous person is spared suffering or immediate death.
Context and Language
The saying belongs to Elihu's address to Job after the dispute between Job and his friends closes in chapter 31, where Elihu enters as a younger man thinking superior wisdom will correct Job, follows about the same line as the other friends, and is given no answer. The pit from which the soul is kept back is destruction, not a place of conscious torment. The word rendered soul is the Hebrew nephesh, which can mean the whole person, life, or the emotions and mental capacities. It is mortal, in danger of the pit and the grave and needing to be kept back from it, and its use here teaches nothing of an immortal soul that can exist consciously apart from the person.
To be kept from the pit and kept from perishing by the sword, while in the surrounding description the soul draws near to the grave and the life to the destroyer, shows the soul is subject to death and not inherently immortal or exempt from death. It is destructible and goes into the grave. It can die and can be delivered from death. When a gravely ill man is kept from dying his soul is kept from the pit, and as his condition worsens his soul draws near to the grave and would have gone there had he died. The word therefore denotes the person's mortal life threatened by death and in danger of the grave, not an undying or independent conscious part.
Putting thinking principle, reasoning principle, or intellectual principle in place of soul would turn the keeping back of the soul from the pit into nonsense, showing that defining the soul as an intellectual principle does not fit its use here.
Saving Discipline and Care
God uses instruction and warning through dreams and visions and through His Word and His Spirit to turn a person from a harmful course and from pride and to keep the soul back from the pit and life from perishing by the sword, and those warnings must be heeded rather than dismissed. God speaks once, yea twice, and many times, yet man often does not perceive it. He first shows the error of the way and then the folly of the course in a dream and vision of the night that opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, and when these speakings do not change the mind and transform the character He gives yet another and last opportunity by chastening with pain upon the bed and strong pain in the bones, in disease and affliction.
Every trial is sent to teach some truth God tried to teach in prosperity but man failed to learn, to mold and fashion him after the divine similitude and to withdraw him from his own purpose to God's purpose and hide pride from him, transforming character from pride to humility. When he will not bend, God passes him through the fire of affliction. If man does not perceive danger when addressed through the nerve of hearing, God speaks through other nerves in a more impressive way, correcting fullness of bread and indulgence that dulled hearing until wasting pain makes life abhor bread and soul dainty meat and bones stick out and life draws very near death, only to open dull ears.
Affliction does not come by accident or chance but under God's reigning control for correction to bring man back to the right path. Angels watch and deliver from every assault of Satan except where harm can be overruled for good, never laying on man more than is right, while He Himself suffers with the sufferer, only to open dull ears, withdraw man from proud purposes, keep his soul back from the pit, preserve his life from destruction, heal the wound and make whole, and enlighten him with the light of the living. God works these things oftentimes with man and may allow physical affliction to instruct a person in truth, for pain is His means to bring man back from ruin and enlighten him, not an enemy to be hushed and stifled with coal-tar products such as phenacetin and acetanilid.
The keeping back of the soul from the pit stands among the assurances of God's ultimate care that He can preserve a person from death and from perishing by the sword. These promises show His ultimate care, though they do not mean that every righteous person will be spared suffering or immediate death.
He keeps back the mortal person himself, his whole life, from going down into destruction and the grave and dying by violent death. The pit is destruction itself, not a place of conscious torment. He does this by instruction and warning through dreams and visions of the night, His Word and His Spirit, to turn a man from his harmful course and hide pride from him. He speaks once, yea twice, and many times, first opening the ear and sealing instruction, then, when hearing does not change the mind and transform the character, speaking more impressively by chastening with pain upon the bed and disease in the bones to mold him after the divine similitude. Such affliction comes not by accident or chance but under His reigning control for correction, to bring man back to the right path, preserve life from destruction, heal and make whole, and enlighten with the light of the living, which assures that He can preserve from death and from perishing by the sword though not every righteous person is spared suffering or immediate death.
Context and Language
The saying belongs to Elihu's address to Job after the dispute between Job and his friends closes in chapter 31, where Elihu enters as a younger man thinking superior wisdom will correct Job, follows about the same line as the other friends, and is given no answer. The pit from which the soul is kept back is destruction, not a place of conscious torment. The word rendered soul is the Hebrew nephesh, which can mean the whole person, life, or the emotions and mental capacities. It is mortal, in danger of the pit and the grave and needing to be kept back from it, and its use here teaches nothing of an immortal soul that can exist consciously apart from the person.
To be kept from the pit and kept from perishing by the sword, while in the surrounding description the soul draws near to the grave and the life to the destroyer, shows the soul is subject to death and not inherently immortal or exempt from death. It is destructible and goes into the grave. It can die and can be delivered from death. When a gravely ill man is kept from dying his soul is kept from the pit, and as his condition worsens his soul draws near to the grave and would have gone there had he died. The word therefore denotes the person's mortal life threatened by death and in danger of the grave, not an undying or independent conscious part.
Putting thinking principle, reasoning principle, or intellectual principle in place of soul would turn the keeping back of the soul from the pit into nonsense, showing that defining the soul as an intellectual principle does not fit its use here.
Saving Discipline and Care
God uses instruction and warning through dreams and visions and through His Word and His Spirit to turn a person from a harmful course and from pride and to keep the soul back from the pit and life from perishing by the sword, and those warnings must be heeded rather than dismissed. God speaks once, yea twice, and many times, yet man often does not perceive it. He first shows the error of the way and then the folly of the course in a dream and vision of the night that opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, and when these speakings do not change the mind and transform the character He gives yet another and last opportunity by chastening with pain upon the bed and strong pain in the bones, in disease and affliction.
Every trial is sent to teach some truth God tried to teach in prosperity but man failed to learn, to mold and fashion him after the divine similitude and to withdraw him from his own purpose to God's purpose and hide pride from him, transforming character from pride to humility. When he will not bend, God passes him through the fire of affliction. If man does not perceive danger when addressed through the nerve of hearing, God speaks through other nerves in a more impressive way, correcting fullness of bread and indulgence that dulled hearing until wasting pain makes life abhor bread and soul dainty meat and bones stick out and life draws very near death, only to open dull ears.
Affliction does not come by accident or chance but under God's reigning control for correction to bring man back to the right path. Angels watch and deliver from every assault of Satan except where harm can be overruled for good, never laying on man more than is right, while He Himself suffers with the sufferer, only to open dull ears, withdraw man from proud purposes, keep his soul back from the pit, preserve his life from destruction, heal the wound and make whole, and enlighten him with the light of the living. God works these things oftentimes with man and may allow physical affliction to instruct a person in truth, for pain is His means to bring man back from ruin and enlighten him, not an enemy to be hushed and stifled with coal-tar products such as phenacetin and acetanilid.
The keeping back of the soul from the pit stands among the assurances of God's ultimate care that He can preserve a person from death and from perishing by the sword. These promises show His ultimate care, though they do not mean that every righteous person will be spared suffering or immediate death.