(26) He will be favourable unto him.--Very beautiful is this description of the restoration of the penitent sinner and his recovery from sickness. He shall thankfully resort unto the house of God with joy, for that He has rewarded him according to his righteousness, which was the fruit of faith (Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:1-2).

Verse 26. - He shall pray unto God, and he (i.e. God) will be favourable unto him, Being restored to God's favour, he will once more be able to address him in "effectual fervent prayer," and obtain whatever he desires of him. And he shall see his face with joy. God's face shall no longer be a terror to him, but he shall look upon it with joy and gladness. For he (i.e. God, will render unto man his righteousness. That is, will both account and make him righteous - both justify and sanctify him.

33:19-28 Job complained of his diseases, and judged by them that God was angry with him; his friends did so too: but Elihu shows that God often afflicts the body for good to the soul. This thought will be of great use for our getting good from sickness, in and by which God speaks to men. Pain is the fruit of sin; yet, by the grace of God, the pain of the body is often made a means of good to the soul. When afflictions have done their work, they shall be removed. A ransom or propitiation is found. Jesus Christ is the Messenger and the Ransom, so Elihu calls him, as Job had called him his Redeemer, for he is both the Purchaser and the Price, the Priest and the sacrifice. So high was the value of souls, that nothing less would redeem them; and so great the hurt done by sin, that nothing less would atone for it, than the blood of the Son of God, who gave his life a ransom for many. A blessed change follows. Recovery from sickness is a mercy indeed, when it proceeds from the remission of sin. All that truly repent of their sins, shall find mercy with God. The works of darkness are unfruitful works; all the gains of sin will come far short of the damage. We must, with a broken and contrite heart, confess our sins to God, 1Jo 1:9. We must confess the fact of sin; and not try to justify or excuse ourselves. We must confess the fault of sin; I have perverted that which was right. We must confess the folly of sin; So foolish have I been and ignorant. Is there not good reason why we should make such a confession?He shall pray unto God,.... As the former verse expresses the condition of the body of the man recovered from sickness, this the frame of his soul, and the spiritual blessings enjoyed by him: some understand this of his praying in the time of his affliction, and consider it as one means of his recovery; and indeed a time of affliction is a time for prayer; and which brings a good man to it, who in health and prosperity has been negligent of it; such an one will make his application to God for deliverance, and not to the creature; and it is his mercy and privilege he has a God to pray unto, who can and will help him. But according to the course and connection of the words, it seems rather to respect what the good man would do, and the frame he would be in upon his recovery; who would entreat the Lord to make him thankful the mercy received, and accept of his thanksgiving for the same; that his affliction might appear to be sanctified unto him, and that he is much the better for it, more holy and more humble; and that he would manifest his pardoning grace to him for all the sins and transgressions he had been guilty of, his murmurings and repinings, and everything else during his affliction; and that he may make use of his health and strength given him in the service of God, and for the glory of his name;

and he will be favourable to him; which, if understood of the time of affliction, it may be interpreted of his laying no more on him than he will enable him to bear, and supporting him under it; of granting his gracious presence in it, and of his taking notice of him, visiting him, knowing, owning, and choosing him in the furnace of affliction, and manifesting his care unto him; and of the deliverance of him out of it. But if it respects the man as recovered out of affliction, it denotes further discoveries of the special care and favour of God to him, which are very enlivening and refreshing, strengthening and supporting; and of his gracious acceptance of his person, and of his sacrifices of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, through Christ the Mediator and messenger of the covenant;

and he shall see his face with joy: that is, either God who is favourable to him, he looks with a smiling countenance upon the man now recovered, who before seemed to look upon him with frowns in his countenance, there being a change in the outward dispensations of his providence towards him, though none in his heart: his countenance beholds the upright with pleasure, whether they see it or not; he looks upon his people in Christ with the utmost complacency and delight, and particularly when they come to him in the exercise of grace, with their prayers, praises, and thanksgivings. Or the man recovered from illness, God being favourable to him, he beholds the face of God with joy, who perhaps had hid it from him in his affliction, which caused trouble; but now showing his face and favour, it causes joy and exultation, even a jubilee in his soul. He beholds him in Christ as the God of grace and peace; and through him can come to him, and look him in the face with comfort and pleasure, as nothing is more delightful to him than the light of his countenance;

for he will render unto man his righteousness: not the sick man recovered render to another man what is his right and due, or what he may have wronged him of; for which being reproved by the affliction, and convicted of, is desirous of making restitution: but God, who will render, return, or restore to the man recovered his righteousness, which is the foundation of his joy; not render to him according to his own righteousness, as the Targum, which would be but a poor recompense if strictly given; nor restore to him the righteousness he lost in Adam, which is but a creature righteousness; but the righteousness of Christ, as Mr. Broughton, which is the good man's or the believer's in Christ, because wrought out for him, imputed to him, and bestowed as a free gift on him. Now though this righteousness can never be lost, being an everlasting one, yet a sense of interest in it may, which is returned, restored, and rendered to a man, when that righteousness is afresh revealed to him from faith to faith; the consequence of which is peace and comfort, joy and triumph.