At this also of which I have already spoken, and am now to speak further, to wit, the thunder, which hath ofttimes made even atheists and other wicked men to tremble with a fear of horror, and good men to tremble with a fear of reverence, and a due dread of God’ s judgments.

Is moved out of his place leaps and beats excessively, as if it would leap out of my body.

It seems not improbable, that whilst Elihu was speaking it thundered greatly, and that tempest was begun wherewith God ushered in his speech, as it here follows, Job 38:1 , and that this occasioned his return to that subject of which he had discoursed before, and his exhortation to them to mind it with deeper attention.

The noise of his voice or, his voice (to wit, the thunder, which is called a voice , Exo 20:18 , and God’ s voice, Psa 29:4 ) with trembling ; because the thunder is an effect or evidence of God’ s mighty power, and ofttimes of his anger also. The sound that goeth out of his mouth ; as the voice (and thunder is God’ s voice) goeth out of man’ s mouth. Or, that is produced by God’ s word or command, which is oft signified by his mouth.

He directeth it to wit, his voice; which he shooteth or guideth like an arrow to the mark, so disposing it that it may do that work for which he sends it.

Under the whole heaven far and wide through all the parts of this lower world.

Unto the ends of the earth from one end of the heaven to the opposite end or part of the earth, as from east to west, Mat 24:27 .

After it a voice i.e. after the lightning. For though the thunder be in order of nature before the lightning, yet the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard.

With the voice of his excellency or, with his excellent , or high , or lofted voice, both loud and full of majesty and awfulness.

He will not stay or, delay . Heb. take them by the heel , as Jacob did Esau in the womb, to delay or stop him from entering into the world before him. Them ; either,

1. The lightnings spoken of in the beginning of the verse. But these do not stay till his voice be heard, but come before it. Or rather,

2. The rains and storms, of which he spoke before, and will speak again, Job 37:6 .

Marvellously with a wonderful and terrible noise, and so as to produce many wonderful effects, as the breaking down of great and strong trees or buildings, the killing of men in a stupendous manner, &c.

Great things doeth he even in the course of nature, and in visible things; which all men see, but scarce any can give the true and satisfactory reasons of them; for the greatest philosophers speak only by guess, and are greatly divided among themselves about them. And therefore it is not strange if the secret and deep counsels of Divine Providence be out of our reach; and it is great arrogancy in thee, O Job, to censure them, because thou dost not fully understand them.

By his powerful word and will the snow is made in the air, and falls upon the earth where and when he seeth fit.

The great rain of his strength i.e. those great storms or showers of rain which come with great force and irresistible violence.

By these great snows and rains he drives men out of the fields, and seals or binds tap their hands from all that work, and drives them home to their houses, and in a manner shuts them up there. See Gen 7:16 Exo 9:19 . Or, by his hand or power (i.e. by those powerful works of his hand here mentioned) he sealeth , or shutteth up , or keepeth close every man , to wit, in his house, as the beasts in their dens, Job 37:8 . That all men may know his work ; that men being hindered from action and their own work, and so being idle and at perfect leisure, may fall to a serious contemplation of these and other great and glorious works of God. Or, that he (i.e. every man , as was now expressed)

may know (or inquire into , or take an account of ) all his workmen; for which the proper season is when they are all hindered from their work, and brought together into the house.

Then in great rains or deep snows, the beasts go into dens for shelter and comfort.

Out of the south Heb. out of the inner chamber ; as the southern part of the world is called, because in a great part it was and is hid and unknown to those who live in the northern hemisphere, in which Job’ s habitation lay. Or, out of the chambers of the south , as it is more largely expressed, Job 9:9 ; for this is opposed to the north in the following clause.

The whirlwind violent and stormy winds which in those parts most frequently came-out of the south, whence they are called whirlwinds of the south , Zec 9:14 . So also Isa 21:1 .

Cold i.e. cold and freezing winds, which generally come from that quarter.

By the breath of God i.e. by the word of God, as this very phrase is explained, Psa 33:6 ; by his will or appointment, to which as the principal cause all these works are ascribed.

The breadth of the waters is straitened the frost dries up the waters in great measure, and bringeth the remainder into a narrower compass, as we see.

By watering to wit, the earth; by causing them first to receive and return, and then to pour forth abundance of water.

He wearieth the thick cloud by filling and burdening them with much water, and making them to go long journeys to water remote parts, and at last to spend and empty themselves there; all which things make men weary; and therefore are here said to make the clouds weary by a common figure called prosopopoeia .

He scattereth his bright cloud: as for the white and lightsome clouds, (which are opposed to the thick and black clouds in the former clause,) he scattereth and dissolveth them by the wind or sun. Or, he scattereth other clouds by his light , i.e. by the beams of the sun. So he gathereth some, and scattereth others, as he pleaseth, causing either clear, or dark and rainy weather.

It is turned round about the clouds (now mentioned) are carried about to this or that place.

By his counsels not by chance, (though nothing seems to be more casual and uncertain than the motions of the clouds,) but by his order and governance.

That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them either be dispersed and pass away without effect, to the disappointment of the husbandmen’ s hopes, or be dissolved in sweet and fruitful showers.

He causeth it to come Heb. he maketh it (to wit, the cloud, or clouds, and the rain which is in it) to find , to wit, a path, or to find out the persons or place to which God intends either good or hurt by it.

For correction Heb. for a rod , to scourge or correct men by immoderate showers. Or, for a tribe, or certain portion of land, which God intends particularly to punish in that kind.

For his land i.e. for God’ s land, whereby he understands either,

1. The land which he favoureth, and where his servants live, such as Canaan was, which for that reason God blessed with rain, as is noted, Deu 11:12 Psa 68:9,10 . But in Job’ s time God’ s people were not in Canaan, but in Egypt, where little or no rain fell. Or,

2. The uninhabited or desert parts of the world, which may be called God’ s land peculiarly, because it is immediately and only under God’ s care, as being not regarded nor possessed by any man. For it is noted as a special act of God’ s providence, that he causeth rain to fall upon such places, Job 38:26,27 . Or,

3. His earth , as it may be rendered, to wit, the whole earth, which is said to be the Lord’ s , Psa 24:50:12 , and which may be here opposed to a tribe , or little part of the earth. And so this may note a general judgment by excessive rains inflicted upon the whole earth, and all its inhabitants, even the universal deluge, which then was in a manner of fresh memory, which came in a great measure out of the clouds. And thus these two first members speak of correction, and the last of mercy.

For mercy for the comfort and benefit of mankind, by cooling and cleansing the air, and refreshing and improving all the fruits of the earth, and other ways.

If there be so much matter of wonder and adoration in the most obvious and sensible works of God, how wonderful must his deep and secret counsels and judgments be! And therefore it would better become thee humbly to admire, and quietly to submit to them, than to murmur or quarrel with them.

When God disposed them to wit, the things before mentioned, the clouds, rain, snow, thunder and lightning, and other meteors. Did God ask counsel from thee to acquaint thee with his counsels in the producing and ordering of them, when, and where, and in what manner he should dispose them? God ordereth all these things not as it pleaseth thee, but as he thinks meet; and in like manner he disposeth of all human affairs, and of thine among the rest.

Caused the light of his cloud to shine which may be understood either,

1. Of the light of the sun breaking through the clouds, when it is most glorious and comfortable. But though this light break through the clouds, yet it is very improper to call it the light of the clouds . Or,

2. The lightning, which is properly so called, as being produced by and in a cloud. Or,

3. The rainbow, which is a lightsome and glorious work of God, and therefore not likely to be omitted in this place, and which is seated in a cloud, which also may well be called God’ s cloud, because therein God puts his bow , as the rainbow is called, Gen 9:13 .

The balancings how God doth as it were weigh and suspend the clouds in balances; so that although they are ponderous and flail of water, yet they are by his power kept up in the thin air from falling down upon us in spouts and floods, as sometimes they have done, and generally would do, if not overruled by a higher Providence.

Which is perfect in knowledge who exactly knows the weight. These are effects and evidences of his infinite power and knowledge.

How and why thy garments keep thee warm; of which as there are some natural causes, so it is certain that they are not sufficient to do it without God’ s blessing, as experience shows, Hag 1:6 .

The earth i.e. the air about the earth.

By the south wind which though sometimes it brings tempests, Job 37:9 , yet commonly it ushereth in hot weather, Luk 12:55 , as the north wind brings cold, Job 37:9 . Or, from the south wind , i.e. from the tempest, which was noted to come out of the south, Job 37:9 . Heb. from or

by the south i.e. by the sun’ s coming into the southern parts, which makes the air quiet and warm.

Wast thou his co-worker or assistant in spreading out the sky like a tent or canopy over the earth? or canst thou spread out such another sky? Then indeed thou mayst with some colour pretend to be privy to his counsels, and to judge of his works.

Which is strong which though it be very thin and transparent, yet is also firm, and compact, and stedfast, and of great force when it is pent up.

As a molten looking-glass made of brass or steel, as the manner then was.

Unto him i.e. unto God, either by way of apology for thee; or rather, by way of debate and disputation with him about his counsels and ways: about which we know not what to say, and therefore are willing to be taught by thee, who pretendest to such exquisite knowledge of these matters. So it is a reproof of his presumption and arrogance.

We cannot order our speech we know neither with what words or matter, nor in what method and manner, to maintain discourse with him, or plead against him. The words our speech are easily understood out of the former clause of the verse.

By reason of darkness both because of the darkness of the matter, God’ s counsels and ways being a great depth, and far out of our reach; and because of the darkness or blindness of our minds.

That I speak Heb. that I will speak . Shall I send, or who dare carry, a challenge from me to God, or a message that I am ready and desirous to debate with him concerning his proceedings? This indeed thou hast done in effect, but far be such presumption from me.

If a man speak if a man should be so bold and venturous to enter the lists with God.

He shall be swallowed up with the sense of God’ s infinite majesty and spotless purity.

And or, for , as this particle is oft rendered; the following words containing a reason of those which go before.

Now: this particle is either,

1. A note of time, and so it intimates a sudden change which then was in the weather, which having been very dark, began now to clear up; or rather,

2. A note of inference to usher in the argument. Men see not ; either,

1. Do not observe (as seeing is oft used) nor consider these glorious works of God; or,

2. Cannot behold, or at least not gaze upon it.

In the clouds or, in the skies ; for the Hebrew word signifies both clouds and skies. This is to be understood, either,

1. Of bright and lightsome clouds; or rather,

2. Of the sun, which is oft and emphatically called light, as was noted before, and here the bright light; which men ofttimes cannot behold, either when it is covered with a black and thick cloud; or when, as it follows, the sky is very clear, and consequently the sunshine is very bright. And therefore it is not strange if we cannot see God, who dwelleth in darkness, 1Ki 8:12 , nor discern his counsels and ways, which are covered with great obscurity; and if we dare not approach to him, with whom is, as it here follows, terrible majesty; and if we presume to do so, we must needs be swallowed up, as was said, Job 37:20 .

But the wind passeth or rather, when (as this particle is used) the wind passeth. Cleanseth them; earlier the clouds, i.e. cleanseth the air from them; or the skies, by driving away those clouds which darkened it.

Fair weather or, when (which particle may well be understood out of, the foregoing verse; and so this may be a further description of the time when men cannot see or gaze upon the sun, namely, when) fair weather , &c. Heb. gold ; either,

1. Properly. And so this may be noted as another wonderful work of God, that the choicest of metals, to wit, gold, should be found in and fetched out of the bowels of cold northern countries. Or,

2. Metaphorically, as this word is oft used of bright and shining things; as we read of golden oil , Zec 4:12 , and we call happy times golden days . And so bright and fair weather may well be called golden, because then the sun gilds the air and earth with its beams, which also are called by poets golden beams.

Out of the north i.e. from the northern winds, which scatter the clouds, and clear the sky, Pro 25:23 .

With God is terrible majesty and therefore we neither can nor may approach too near to him, nor speak presumptuously or irreverently to him, or of him. And so this is the application of what he had now said, that we could not see the sun, &c, much less God; and withal it is an epiphonema or conclusion of the whole foregoing discourse. Those glorious works of his which I have described, are testimonies of that great and terrible majesty which is in him; which should cause us to fear and reverence him, and not to behave ourselves so insolently towards him, as Job hath done.

We cannot find him out to wit, to perfection, as it is expressed, Job 11:7 . We cannot comprehend him; his being, power, wisdom, justice, and his counsels proceeding from them, are past our finding out; and therefore it is most absurd and intolerable that thou, O Job, presumest to censure what thou dost not understand.

He is excellent in power and therefore as he doth not need any unrighteous action to advance himself, so he cannot do it, because all such things are acts and evidences of impotency or weakness.

In judgment i.e. in the just and righteous administration of judgment, as this word is oft used, and as the thing itself and the following words plainly evince. And this he adds, to intimate that although God had indeed a power to crush Job, or any other man, yet he never did nor can exercise that power unjustly or tyrannically, as Job seemed to insinuate.

In plenty of justice in great and perfect justice, such as no man can justly reproach.

He will not afflict to wit, without just cause, and above measure; as it may and must be limited, both from the foregoing words, and from Job’ s complaint, which was of that very thing; and from the nature of the thing, because otherwise this proposition, that God

will not afflict is not simply and universally true. Or these last words may be joined with the former; and so some render the place,

he is excellent in power and, or but , or

yet, he will not afflict any man with judgment and much (i.e. too much)

justice i.e. with extremity or rigour of justice.

Men do therefore fear him for this cause, to wit, because of God’ s infinite and excellent perfections, and especially those mentioned in the foregoing verse, men do or should (for the future tense is oft used potentially, as Hebricians know) fear or reverence him , and humbly submit to him, and not presume to quarrel or dispute with him, as thou, O Job, hast done.

He respecteth not Heb. he doth not , or will not behold , to wit, with respect or approbation; he beholdeth them afar off with scorn and contempt.

Any that are wise of heart i. e. such as are wise in their own eyes, that lean to their own understandings, and despise all other men in comparison of themselves, and scorn all their counsels; that are so puffed up with the opinion of their own wisdom, that they dare contend with their Maker, and presume to censure his counsels and actions; which he hereby intimates to be Job’ s fault, and to be the true reason why God did not respect nor regard him, nor his prayers and tears, as Job complained. And so this is also a tacit advice and exhortation to Job to be humble and little ill his own eyes, if ever he expected or desired any favour from God.

This thunder, the effects of which are so terrible, that it is often styled the voice of God. (Calmet) (Psalm xxviii.) (Menochius) ---

The consideration of rewards (chap. xxxvi. 33.) stimulates the good, while thunder strikes the heart with terror. (Worthington)

Earth. Lightning appears from the east to the west, Matthew xxiv. 27.

After. Light travels faster than sound, (Haydock) though thunder and lightning are produced at the same instant. (Calmet) ---

Found out. Philosophers can only propose their conjectures on the cause of thunder. This sense is confirmed by the Greek, Chaldean, &c. Hebrew may be, "he delays not;" (Calmet) ---

Protestants, "he will not stay them;" (Haydock) rain commonly falling soon after thunder. As the latter is occasioned by the collision of clouds, when they come to a certain distance from the earth, the heat causes them to dissolve into showers, which augments at each crack. (Calmet) ---

Septuagint, "For he has done great things, which we have not understood." This is connected with chap. xxxvi. 24. Then we read, (ver. 7.) "that man may know his own weakness." All the intermediate verses have been supplied by Origen from Theodotion, or others. (Haydock)

He sealed up, &c. When he sends those showers of his strength; that is, those storms of rain, he seals up; that is, he shuts up the hands of men from their usual work abroad, and confines them within doors, to consider his works; or to forecast their works; that is, what they themselves are to do. (Challoner) ---

We are all the servants of God. He marks us in the hand, as such, Isaias xliv. 5., and Ezechiel ix. 6., and Apocalypse xiii. 6. The Romans marked soldiers with a hot iron in the hands. (Veget. i. 8.) ---

The abettors of chiromancy have hence vainly pretended that they can discover each person's future in the lineaments of his hands. (Calmet)

Den. Foreseeing the tempest and retreating for shelter.

Parts. The south, (chap. ix. 9.) whence storms commonly came in that country, (Calmet) from the sea or desert of Idumea. (Haydock) (Psalm lxxvii. 26., and Zacharias ix. 14., and Isaias xxi. 1.) ---

North wind or pole. (Worthington) ---

Yet the south seems to be designated; (ver. 17., and chap. xxxviii. 32.) though cold comes from the north, in Idumea as well as here. (Calmet) ---

Mezarim, is rendered by Protestants "north." Marginal note, "scattering winds. " Septuagint Greek: akroterion, "summits" of mountains.

Abundantly. He cause it to freeze or rain at pleasure. (Haydock) (Psalm cxlvii. 17.) (Menochius)

Corn requires rain. (Haydock) ---

Light. As they are transparent, they do not hinder the sun from appearing. Hebrew, "the brightness of the sky disperses the clouds, and the clouds shed their light" in the rainbow, (ver. 15.; Grotius) or lightning. (Junius; Calmet; Menochius) ---

Protestants, "Also by watering, he wearieth the thick cloud, he scattereth his bright cloud, ( 12 ) and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever," &c. God prohibits or gives rain. (Haydock) ---

Nothing is left to chance. (Calmet) ---

He directeth the clouds as a master does his ship. (Worthington)

Tribe. Hebrew also, "for correction." (Haydock) (Amos iv. 7.) ---

Land of promise, Psalm lxvii. 10.

Light: the rain-bow, according to the best interpreters; or the lightning. (Calmet)

Paths. Hebrew, "the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him whose knowledge is perfect?" chap. xxxvi. 4. Dost thou know what suspends the heavy clouds in the air? (Calmet)

Are. Hebrew, "How thy," &c. It is also beyond thy comprehension, why thou shouldst be too hot when the south winds blows (Haydock) moderately, though tempests generally proceed from the same quarter, ver. 9. If thou art in the dark, respecting these things, which thou feelest, how canst thou pretend to fathom and condemn the counsels of God? (Calmet) ---

Job was far from doing either. His friends rather undertook to explain God's reasons for punishing thus his servants, which Job acknowledged was to him a mystery, (Haydock) till God had enlightened him, chap. xxii. 3. (Houbigant)

Brass. Hebrew, "Hast thou with him stretched out (or beaten, as brass, tarkiang; which word Moses uses for the firmament) the heavens, which are as solid (Chaldean, and like) a molten looking-glass?" which was formerly made of metal, Exodus xxxviii. 8. The Hebrews looked upon the sky as a sheet of brass; and the poets speak of the brazen heaven. (Pindar. Nem. vi.; Homer, Iliad A.)

Darkness. Thou who art so learned, give us some information, what we may blame in the works of God. Cutting irony! (Calmet)

He shall be swallowed up. All that man can say, when he speaks of God, is so little and inconsiderable in comparison with the subject, that man is lost, an das it were swallowed up in so immense an ocean. (Challoner) ---

The man who should are to mention what I could reprehend in God's works, would soon be overwhelmed with majesty. (Calmet) ---

Alphonsus IX, king of Leon, (the year of our Lord 1252) surnamed "the wise and the astronomer," said "he could have given some good advice respecting the motions of the stars, if he had been consulted by God;" meaning to ridicule some vain systems of philosophers, then in vogue. (Dict. 1774.) (Haydock)

Light; being hindered by the clouds, and dazzled when they are removed. Yet we presume to judge of the secrets of Providence! (Calmet) ---

Away. As there is a constant vicissitude of these things, so there is of happiness and misery. (Menochius) ---

Septuagint, "For the light is not seen by all. It is refulgent in beauties, as that which comes thence upon the clouds." If, therefore, this light does not pervade all places, why should we wonder that all do not understand the ways of God? (Haydock)

Gold. Septuagint, "from the north, gold-coloured clouds. Above these, great is the praise and honour of the Almighty." (Haydock) ---

When the wind blows, the clouds are dispersed, and the sky appears serene. Each country has its peculiar advantages. In the north, Ophir, &c., may boast of gold: but what ought to be most conspicuous in the praises given to God, is an humble fear. Pindar begin his Olympic Odes somewhat in the same style. (Calmet) ---

"Water is excellent, and gold....But if, dear heart, thou wilt sing of games, regard no other star....as brighter than the sun....nor shall we celebrate any game more excellent than that of Olympia." (Haydock) ---

God disposes of all things as he pleases. He makes the golden day succeed a tempest. But it is our duty to praise him with awe, whatever he may ordain. This is the epilogue. (Pineda) ---

Man must praise God with fear, as he cannot do it sufficiently. (Worthington)

Worthily. Hebrew, "the Almighty, we cannot find him out," (Haydock) or comprehend his nature or mysteries. (Calmet)

Fear him, and receive with respect whatever he shall appoint. (Haydock) ---

And all. Hebrew, "he fears not any that are wise of heart." He knows that the most intelligent (Calmet) must confess their ignorance, when they attempt to examine his divine nature. Simonides being desired by Hiero to express his sentiments on this subject, always requested more time to consider of it. Quia, inquit, res videtur mihi tanto obscurior, quanto diutius eam considero. (Cicero, Nat. i. 60. Selectæ e Prof. i. 3.) ---

"With thee (says St. Augustine, Confessions i. 6.) stand the causes of all instable things," &c. (Haydock) ---

Those who are really wise, will therefore adore God's judgments in silence, while the presumptuous will be forced to yield. This is the excellent conclusion of all that had been said. (Pineda) ---

The sentence is beautiful, but ill-applied (Haydock) to Job. (Philip) See Proverbs iii. 7. (Haydock) ---

He convinced the other three with sound arguments, "and this last and most arrogant disputant with silence." (Worthington)

At this also my heart trembleth,.... At the greatness and majesty of God, not only as displayed in those works of his before observed, but as displayed in those he was about to speak of: such terrible majesty is there with God, that all rational creatures tremble at it; the nations of the world, the kings and great men of the earth, and even the devils themselves, Isa 64:2. Good men tremble in the worship of God, and at the word of God; and even at the judgments of God on wicked men, and at the things that are coming on the churches of Christ. But Elihu has a particular respect to thunder and lightning, which are very terrible to many persons ^s, both good and bad ^t. At the giving of the law, there were such blazes of lightning and claps of thunder, that not only all the people of Israel in the camp trembled, but Moses himself also exceedingly feared and quaked, Exo 19:16. It is very probable, that at this time Elihu saw a storm gathering, and a tempest rising; some flashes of lightning were seen, and some murmurs ^u of thunders heard, which began to affect him; since quickly after we read that God spoke out of the whirlwind or tempest, Job 38:1;

and is moved out of his place; was ready to leap out of his body. Such an effect had this phenomenon of nature on him; as is sometimes the case with men at a sudden fright or unusual sound, and particularly thunder ^w.

Hear attentively the noise of his voice,.... Of the voice of God in the clouds; and of thunder, which is his voice, Job 40:9. Elihu being affected with it himself, exhorts the company about him to hearken and listen to it, and learn something from it;

and the sound that goeth out of his mouth: as the former clause may have respect to loud thunder, a more violent crack or clap of it; so this may intend some lesser whispers and murmurs of it at a distance; or a rumbling noise in the clouds before they burst; since the word is sometimes used for private meditation. Now the voice of God, whether in his works of nature, or in the dispensations of his providence, or in his word; whether in the thunder of the law, or in the still sound of the Gospel, is to be attentively hearkened to; because it is the voice of God, the voice of the God of glory, majestic and powerful, and is attended with various effects; of which see Psa 29:3.

He directeth it under the whole heaven,.... His voice of thunder, which rolls from one end of the heaven to the other: he charges the clouds with it, and directs both it and them where they shall go and discharge; what tree, house, or man, it shall strike; and where the rain shall fall when the clouds burst: yet Pliny ^x atheistically calls thunder and lightning chance matters. Thus the ministers of the word, who are compared to clouds, Isa 5:6, are charged with it by the Lord: they are directed by him what they shall say, where they shall go and declare it, and he directs where it shall fall with power and weight; yea, he directs it into the very hearts of men, where it pierces and penetrates, and is a discerner and discoverer of their thoughts and intents;

and his lightning unto the ends of the earth: it cometh out of the east, and shineth to the west, Mat 24:27; and swiftly move to the further parts of the earth: and such a direction, motion, and extent, has the Gospel had; the glorious light of it, comparable to lightning, it first broke forth in the east, where Christ, his forerunner and his disciples, first preached it, and Christian churches were formed; and from thence it spread into the western parts of the world, and before the destruction of Jerusalem it was preached unto all nations; it had a free course, ran, and was glorified; the sound of the voice of it went into all the earth, and the words and doctrines of the apostles unto the ends of the world.

After it a voice roareth,.... After the lightning comes a violent crack or clap of thunder, which is like the roaring of a lion. Such is the order of thunder and lightning, according to our sense and apprehension of them; otherwise in nature they are together: but the reasons given why the lightning is seen before, and so the same in the flash and report of a gun, are, because the sense of seeing is quicker than the sense of hearing ^y; and the motion of light is quicker than that of sound; which latter is the truest reason ^z. The roaring voice of thunder may be an emblem of the thunder of the law; its dreadful volleys of curses, vengeance, and wrath on the breakers of it, as delivered out by Boanergeses, sons of thunder, Mar 3:17, or the loud proclamation of the Gospel, made by the ministers of it; and the alarming awakening sound of the word, when attended with the Spirit and power of God, to sinners asleep and dead in trespasses and sins; upon which they awake, hear, and live;

he thundereth with the voice of his excellency: that is, God thunders with such a voice, an excellent and majestic one; for his voice of thunder is full of majesty, Psa 29:4. So is the voice of Christ in the Gospel; he spake when on earth as one having authority, and he comes forth and appears in it now with majesty and glory; and speaks in it of the excellent things which he has done, of the excellent righteousness he has wrought out, of the excellent sacrifice he has offered up, and of the excellent salvation he is the author of;

and he will not stay them when his voice is heard; either the thunder and the lightning, as some; which he does not long defer after he has given out the decree concerning them, the order and disposition for them: or rather the rain and hail; these are not stayed, but quickly follow the flash of lightning and clap of thunder: "for when he utters his voice of thunder, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens"; and these quickly come down and are not stopped, Jer 10:13. The word for "stay" signifies "to supplant", or "act deceitfully"; the name of Jacob is derived from this root, because he supplanted his brother, Gen 25:26; and so it may be rendered here, "he will not supplant", or "deceive them ^a, when his voice is heard": that is, either he does not subvert them, the heavens and earth, but preserves them; though he makes them to tremble with his voice of thunder ^b: or he does not act the part of a secret, subtle, and deceitful enemy, when he thunders; but shows himself openly as a King, executing his decrees with authority ^c: or rather he deceives none with his voice; none can mistake it; all know it to be the voice of thunder when it is heard: so Christ's sheep know his voice in the Gospel, and cannot be deceived; the voice of a stranger they will not follow, Joh 10:4.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice,.... Or "marvels" ^c, or marvellous things, which may respect the marvellous effects of thunder and lightning: such as rending rocks and mountains; throwing down high and strong towers; shattering to pieces high and mighty oaks and cedars, and other such like effects, mentioned in Psa 29:5; and there are some things reported which seem almost incredible, were they not well attested facts; as that an egg should be consumed thereby, and the shell unhurt; a cask of liquor, the liquor in it spoiled, and the cask not touched; money melted in the purse, and the purse whole; the fetus in the womb killed, and the woman preserved; with other things of the like kind mentioned by various writers ^d; and which are to be accounted for only by the swift motion and piercing and penetrating nature of lightning. So the voice of God in the Gospel thunders out and declares many wonderful things; as the doctrines of the trinity of Persons in one God; of the everlasting love of the three Persons; of the Person of Christ, and the union of the two natures in him; of his incarnation, of redemption and salvation by him; of regeneration by the spirit of God; of union to Christ, and communion with him; and of the resurrection of the dead: and it produces marvellous effects, attended with a divine power; as quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins; enlightening those who are darkness itself; bearing down all opposition before it; casting down the strong holds of sin and Satan, and reducing the most stubborn and obstinate to the obedience of Christ;

great things doth he, which we cannot comprehend; or "know" ^e: great things in creation, the nature and causes of which lie greatly out of the reach of man; and which he rather guesses at than knows, and still less comprehends. Great things in providence; in sustaining all creatures and providing for them; and in the government of the world, and in his dispensations in it; his judgments being unsearchable, and his ways past finding out: and great things in grace; as the salvation of sinners by Christ, and the conversion of their souls by his Spirit; and even what is known of them is known but in part and very imperfectly. This is a transition to other great things done by the Lord, besides those before mentioned, and particular instances follow.

For he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth,.... In the original it is, be thou earth: hence one of the Rabbins formed a notion, that the earth was created from snow under the throne of glory, which is justly censured by Maimonides ^f; for there is a defect of the letter ב, as in 2Ch 34:30; as Aben Ezra observes; and therefore rightly supplied by us, on the earth. This is one of the great and incomprehensible things of God. What is the cause of it, how it is generated, what gives it its exceeding whiteness and its form, we rather guess at than certainly know; and there are some things relative to it not easy to be accounted for: as that it should be generated in the lower region of the air, so near us, and yet be so cold; and be so cold in its own nature, yet be like a blanket warming to the earth; and that being so cold, it should fall in hot countries, as in many parts of Africa, as Leo Africanus asserts ^g; and though so easily melted, yet lies continually upon the top of a burning mountain, Mount Etna, as observed by Pineda and others. God has his treasures of it, and he brings it forth from thence; it is at his command, it goes at a word speaking; it is one of the things that fulfil his word, Psa 148:8. And if what Pliny ^h says is true, that snow never falls upon the high seas or main ocean, the expression here is, with great exactness and propriety, be thou on the earth. However, this is certain, that to the earth only it is useful, warming, refreshing, and fructifying; it has a wonderful virtue in it to fatten the earth. Olaus Magnus ⁱ reports, that in the northern countries, where it falls in great plenty, the fields are more fruitful than any others, and sooner put forth their fruits and increase than other fields prepared and cultivated with the greatest labour and diligence: and that they are often obliged to drive off the cattle from them, lest they should eat too much and burst, the fields and meadows becoming so luxurious by it; and frequently they mow off the tops of herbs and grass with their scythes, to prevent their growing too thick. The word of God, as for its purity, so for its warming, refreshing, and fructifying nature, is compared unto it, Isa 55:10;

likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength: that is, God says to these as to the snow, be upon the earth; and they presently are, whether lesser or larger showers: the lesser or more gentle, according to Seneca ^k, fall in, the winter, and the larger in spring; the former when the north wind blows, the latter when the south; but whenever they come, they fall by the direction of God, and at his command. He and he only gives rain, the vanities of the Gentiles cannot; and these are sent to water and refresh the earth, and make it fruitful; for which reason also the word of God is compared thereunto, Deu 32:12. The Targum is,

"to the rain after rain in summer, to ripen the fruits; and to the rain after the rain, to cause the grass to bud in winter in his strength.''

So a shower of rain in the singular number signifies rain that falls in summer; and a shower of rain in the plural what falls in winter.

He sealeth up the hand of every man,.... That is, by deep snows and heavy rains being on the earth; where, as travellers are stopped in their journeys, and cannot proceed, so various artificers are hindered from their work, and husbandmen especially from their employment in the fields; so that their hands are as it were shut up and sealed, that they cannot work with them. Sephorno interprets this of the fruits and increase of the earth being produced and brought to perfection by means of the snow and rain, and so gathered by and into the hands of men; whereby they are led to observe the work of God and his goodness herein, and so to love and fear him; which he takes to be the sense of the following clause,

that all men may know his work; either their own work; what they have to do at home when they cannot work abroad; or that they may have leisure to reflect upon their moral ways and works, and consider how deficient they are: or rather the work of God; that they may know and own the snow and rain are his work, and depend upon his will; or that they may have time and opportunity of considering and meditating on the works of God, in nature, providence, and grace. Some choose to read the words, "that all men of his work may know" ^l; may know him the author of their beings, and the God of their mercies. For all men are the work of his hands; he has made them, and not they themselves; and the end of all God's dealings with them is, that they may know him, fear, serve, and glorify him.

Then the beasts go into dens,.... When snow and rains are on the earth in great abundance, then the wild beasts of the field, not being able to prowl about, betake themselves to dens; where they lie in wait, lurking for any prey that may pass by, from whence they spring and seize it;

and remain in their places; until the snow and rains are finished. As for other beasts, Olaus Magnus ^m observes, that when such large snows fall, that trees are covered with them, and the tender branches bend under the weight of them, they will come and abide under them, as in shady places, in great security, sheltered from the cold wind. The former may put us in mind of great personages, comparable to beasts of prey for their savageness and cruelty, who, when the day of God's wrath and vengeance is come, will flee to rocks and mountains, dens and caverns, there to hide themselves from it; Rev 6:15.

Out of the south cometh the whirlwind,.... Or "from the chamber" ⁿ; from the chamber of the cloud, as Ben Gersom, from the inside of it; or from the treasury of God, who bringeth the wind out of his treasures; alluding to chambers where treasures are kept; or from the heavens, shut up and veiled around with clouds like a pavilion: but because we read of the chambers of the south, Job 9:9; and the southern pole was like a secret chamber, shut up, unseen, and unknown very much to the ancients; hence we render it, and others interpret it, of the south; from whence in these countries came whirlwinds. Hence we read of the whirlwinds of the south, Isa 21:1;

and cold out of the north; cold freezing winds from thence; or "from the scatterers" ^o: Aben Ezra interprets them of stars, the same with the "Mazzaroth", Job 38:32; stars scattered about the Arctic or northern pole, as some: or rather the northern winds are designed which scatter the clouds, drive away rain, Pro 25:23; and bring fair weather, Job 37:22. Wherefore Mr. Broughton renders the word,

"fair weather winds;''

and, in a marginal note,

"the scatterers of clouds ^p.''

By the breath of God frost is given,.... By the word of God, as the Targum; at his command it is, at his word it comes, and at his word it goes, Psa 147:15; or by his will, as Ben Gersom interprets it, when it is his pleasure it should be, it appears; it may be understood of a freezing wind from the Lord, for a wind is sometimes expressed by the breath of his nostrils, Psa 18:15; and as the word "God" added to things increases the signification of them, as mountains of God are strong mountains; so the breath of God may signify a strong wind, as Sephorno notes, the north wind ^q;

and the breadth of the waters is straitened; by the frost they are reduced and brought into a narrower compass; or made hard, as Mr. Broughton renders it; so hard as to walk upon, to draw carriages on, and lay weights and burdens very great upon; or become compact or bound together, like metal melted, poured out, and consolidated; though some think it refers to the thawing of ice by the south winds ^r, when the waters return to their former breadth; which is done by the breath or commandment of God, as appears from the place before quoted from the psalmist, Psa 18:15; for it may be rendered, "and the breadth of the waters is pouring out", so the Targum, when thawed; or through the pouring down of rain, so the Syriac and Arabic versions, "he sends forth plenty of water".

Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud,.... By filling it with a multitude of water, it is as it were loaded and made weary with it; and especially by sending it about thus loaded from place to place before discharged, when it becomes as a weary traveller; and then by letting down the water in it, whereby it spends itself like one that is weary; an emblem of ministers that spend and are spent for the good of men: some render it by serenity or fair weather, and so Mr. Broughton,

"by clearness he wearieth the thick vapours;''

by causing a clear sky he dispels them;

he scattereth his bright cloud; thin light clouds that have nothing in them, and are soon dispersed and come to nothing, and are seen no more; all emblem of such as are clouds without water, Jud 1:12; see Zec 11:17; or "he scatters the cloud by his light" ^s; by the sun, which dispels clouds and makes a clear sky; an emblem of the blotting out and forgiveness of sins, and of restoring the manifestations of divine love, and the joys of salvation; see Isa 44:22.

And it is turned round about by his counsels,.... The cloud is, and that by the wind, which is turned about to all points of the compass, according to the will of God; by the counsels of him who sits at the helm, as the word signifies, and orders all things according to the counsel of his own will: to which owing every shifting of the wind, and the various motions of the clouds;

that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth; as all his creatures do; the several meteors in the air, clouds, stormy wind, fire, hail, snow, and vapour, all fulfilling his word; and which they do everywhere in the several parts of the world whither they are sent, Psa 107:25. So ministers of the word drop down or withhold the rain of Gospel doctrine, and carry it into the several places of the world, as the Lord directs them; see Isa 5:6.

He causeth it to come,.... The cloud, and rain by it;

whether for correction; for the reproof and chastisement of men for their sins, by suffering such quantities to fall as wash away, or corrupt and destroy, the fruits of the earth: or "for a tribe" ^t, as the word sometimes signifies; the rain is sent, and comes only to a particular part or spot of ground, to one city and not to another, Amo 4:7;

or for his land; some particular land he has a favour for, as the land of Canaan he cared for from one end of the year to another, and therefore sent on it rain in due season, though as yet it did not appear to be the object of his peculiar regard; or for the whole earth, which is his; and wherever rain comes seasonably and in proper quantity, it is for the benefit of it; though some think the land which no man has a property in but the Lord is meant, even the wilderness where no man is, Job 38:26;

or for mercy; to some particular spot, and to some particular persons; and indeed it is a kindness and benefit both to good and bad men; hereby the earth is watered and made fertile and fruitful, to bring forth seed to the sower and bread to the eater, see Mat 5:45; the word of God is for the correction of some, and for the comfort of others, 2Ti 3:16; yea, the savour of death unto death to some, and the savour of life unto life to others, 2Co 2:16. The Targum paraphrases the words,

"either a rain of vengeance on the seas and deserts, or an impetuous rain on the trees of the mountains and hills, or a still rain of mercy on the fruitful fields and vineyards.''

Hearken unto this, O Job,.... Either to the present clap of thunder then heard; or rather to what Elihu had last said concerning clouds of rain coming for correction or mercy; and improve it and apply it to his own case, and consider whether the afflictions he was under were for the reproof and correction of him for sin, or in mercy and love to his soul and for his good, as both might be the case; or to what he had further to say to him, which was but little more, and he should conclude;

stand still; stand up, in order to hear better, and in reverence of what might be said; and with silence, that it might be the better received and understood:

and consider the wondrous works of God; not prodigies and extraordinary things, which are out of the common course of nature, such as the wonders in Egypt, at the Red sea, in the wilderness, and in the land of Canaan, but common things; such as come more or less under daily observation, for of such only he had been speaking, and continued to speak; such as winds, clouds, thunder, lightning, hail, rain, and snow; these he would have him consider and reflect upon, that though they were so common and obvious to view, yet there were some things in them marvellous and beyond the full comprehension of men; and therefore much more must be the works of Providence, and the hidden causes and reasons of them.

Dost thou know when God disposed them?.... The clouds, that part of the wondrous works of God he was speaking of; when he decreed concerning them that they should be, when he put into them and stored them with rain, hail, snow, &c. disposed of them here and there in the heavens, and gave them orders to fall on this and the other spot of ground; wast thou present at all this, and knew what God was doing secretly in the clouds, and before heard what would break out of them, or fall from them? and if thou art ignorant of these things, canst thou imagine that thou shouldest be made acquainted with the secret springs of God's providential dealings with the children of men?

and caused the light of his cloud to shine; either the lightning to break through the cloud, or rather the light of the sun to shine upon his cloud, prepared to receive the light reflected on it, and form the rainbow; which, as it is called his bow, the cloud in which it is may be called his cloud; which is one of the wondrous works of God, and is called by the Heathens the daughter of wonder ^u; formed in a semicircle, with various colours, and as a token that God will drown the earth no more; an emblem of the covenant of peace, and of Jesus Christ, said to be clothed with a cloud, and with a rainbow about his head, Rev 10:1.

Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?.... How those ponderous bodies, as some of them are very weighty, full of water, are poised, and hang in the air, without turning this way or the other, or falling on the earth;

the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge; of God, who is a God of knowledge, of knowledges, 1Sa 2:3; who knows himself and all his works, all creatures and things whatever, see Job 36:4; and this is another of his wondrous works, which none but he, whose knowledge is perfect, and is the author and giver of knowledge, can know, even the poising and balancing of the clouds in the air; we see they are balanced, but we know not how it is done.

How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? One should think there is no great difficulty in accounting for this, that a man's clothes should be warm, and he so hot as not to be able to bear them, but obliged to put them off in the summer season, when only the south wind blows, which brings heat, a serene sky, and fine weather, Luk 12:55; and yet there is something in the concourse of divine Providence attending these natural causes, and his blessing with them, without which the garment of a man will not be warm, or at least not warming to him, Hag 1:6; or

"how thy garments are warm when the land is still from the south,''

as Mr. Broughton renders the words; that is, how it is when the earth is still from the whirlwinds of the south; or when that wind does not blow which brings heat, but northerly winds in the winter time; that then a man's garments should be warm, and keep him warm.

Hast thou with him spread out the sky?.... Wast thou concerned with him at the first spreading out of the sky? wast thou an assistant to him in it? did he not spread it as a curtain or canopy about himself, without the help of another? verily he did; see Job 9:8, Isa 44:24;

which is strong: for though it seems a fluid and thin, is very firm and strong, as appears by what it bears, and are contained in it; and therefore is called "the firmament of his power", Psa 150:1;

and as a molten looking glass; clear and transparent, like the looking glasses of the women, made of molten brass, Exo 38:8; and firm and permanent ^u; and a glass this is in which the glory of God, and his divine perfections, is to be seen; and is one of the wondrous works of God, made for the display of his own glory, and the benefit of men, Psa 19:1. Or this may respect the spreading out a clear serene sky, and smoothing it after it has been covered and ruffled with storms and tempests; which is such a wonderful work of God, that man has no hand in.

Teach us what we shall say unto him,.... To this wonder working God, of whose common works of nature we know so little; how we should reason with him about his works of Providence, when we know so little of these:

for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness; by reason of darkness in themselves, which is in all men naturally, and even in the saints in this state of imperfection; and by reason of the clouds and darkness which are about the Lord himself, who is incomprehensible in his nature and perfections; and by reason of the darkness cast about his providential dealings with men, so that they are unsearchable and past finding out; and the best of men are at a loss how to order their speech, or discourse with God concerning these things.

Shall it be told him that I speak?.... And what I speak? there is no need of it, since he is omniscient, and knows every word that is spoken by men; or is anything I have said concerning him, his ways, and his works, worthy relating, or worthy of his hearing, being so very imperfect? nor can the things I have spoken of, though common things, be fully explained to any; or should it be told him, the Lord, that he, Elihu, had spoke as Job had done, and arraigned his justice, and complained of his dealings? God forbid; he would not have it said they were spoken by him for all the world: or "shall it be recorded unto him what I speak?" as Mr. Broughton, or that I speak; shall it be recorded in a book, and that sent to God; that I will speak in thy cause, and be an advocate for thee, and endeavour to justify thee in all thou hast said? no, by no means;

if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up; if he speaks of the being and perfections of God, he is soon lost; his essence, and many of his attributes, are beyond his comprehension; if he speaks of his works of nature and providence, he is presently out of his depth; there is a bathos, a depth in them he cannot fathom: if he speaks of his love, and grace, and mercy, in the salvation of man, he is swallowed up with admiration; he is obliged to say, what manner of love is this? it has heights he cannot reach, depths he cannot get to the bottom of, lengths and breadths immeasurable: or should he undertake to dispute with God, to litigate a point with him concerning his works, he could not answer him in one thing of a thousand; and particularly Elihu suggests, was he to undertake Job's cause, it would soon be lost and all over with him; so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "would any plead, when he should be undone?" who would engage in a cause he is sure would be lost, and prove his utter undoing?

And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds,.... Here Elihu returns to his subject, it may be, occasioned by black clouds gathering in the heavens, as a preparation for the whirlwind, storm, and tempest, out of which the Lord is said to speak in the next chapter. And this is to be understood, not of the lightning in the cloud, which is not to be seen until it breaks out of it; nor the rainbow in the cloud, formed by the rays of light from the sun, which disappears when the wind passes and clears the sky of the cloud in which it is; nor of the Galaxy, or Milky Way, as Sephorno, which is not to be seen in a cloudy night; but of the sun, which is the great light and a bright one, and shines brightly; yet sometimes not to be seen by men, because of interposing clouds, until they are cleared away by winds. Though rather this respects the sun shining in its brightness, and in its full strength, in the skies or ethereal regions, in a clear day, when men are not able to look full at it: and how much less then are they able to behold him who is light itself, and in whom is no darkness at all, nor shadow of turning; who dwells in light, which no mortal can approach unto; into whose nature and perfections none can fully look, or behold the secret springs of his actions, and the reasons of his dispensations towards men?

but the wind passeth and cleanseth them; the clouds, and clears the air of them, which obstruct the light of the sun: or "when a wind passeth and cleareth it"; the air, as Mr. Broughton, then the sun shines so brightly that it dazzles the eye to look at it.

Fair weather cometh out of the north,.... Or "gold" ^x, which some understand literally; this being found in northern climates as well as southern, as Pliny relates ^y; particularly in Colchis and Scythia, which lay to the north of Palestine and Arabia; and is thought by a learned man ^z to be here intended: though to understand it figuratively of the serenity of the air, bright and pure as gold, or of fair weather, which is golden weather, as Mr. Broughton renders it,

"through the north the golden cometh,''

seems best to agree with the subject Elihu is upon; and such weather comes from the north, through the north winds, which drive away rain, Pro 25:23;

with God is terrible majesty; majesty belongs to him as he is King of kings, whose the kingdom of nature and providence is; and he is the Governor among and over the nations of the world. His throne is prepared in the heavens; that is his throne, and his kingdom ruleth over all: and this majesty of his is "terrible", commanding awe and reverence among all men, who are his subjects; and especially among his saints and peculiar people; and strikes a terror to others, even to great personages, the kings and princes of the earth; to whom the Lord is sometimes terrible now, and will be hereafter; see Psa 76:12, Rev 6:15; and to all Christless sinners, especially when he comes to judgment; see Isa 2:19. Or "terrible praise" ^a; for God is "fearful in praises", Exo 15:11; which may respect the subject of praise, terrible things, and the manner of praising him with fear and reverence, Psa 106:22.

Touching the Almighty,.... Or with respect to God, who is almighty; with whom nothing is impossible; who can do and does do all things he pleases, and more than we can ask or think; and who is all sufficient, as this word is by some rendered; has enough of every thing in himself and of himself to make him happy; and needs not any of his creatures, nor anything they can do or give him, but has a sufficiency for himself and them;

we cannot find him out; found he may be in his works, and especially in his Son, the express image of his person; in whom he makes himself known as the God of grace: but he is not to be found out to perfection; neither by the light of nature, which is very dim, and by which men grope after him, if haply they may find him; nor even by the light of grace in the present state: and there are many things in God quite out of the reach of man, and ever will be, fully to comprehend; as the modes of the subsistence of the three Persons in the Godhead; the eternity and immensity of God; with all secret things, which belong not to us to inquire curiously into;

he is excellent in power; or great and much in it; which is displayed in the works of creation and sustentation of the world; in the redemption and conversion of his people; in the support, protection, and preservation of them; and in the destruction of his and their enemies;

and in judgment; in the government of the world in so righteous a manner; in the judgments he executes on wicked men; and as he will appear to be in the general judgment of the world, at the great day, which will be a righteous one;

and in plenty of justice; being most just, righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works; distributing justice to all, acting according to the rules of it, in all things and towards all persons; so that though he is great in power, he does not abuse that power, to do things that are not just;

he will not afflict; without a just cause and reason for it; nor willingly, but with reluctance; nor never beyond deserts, nor more than he gives strength to bear; and only for the good of his people, and in love to them. Some render it, "he will not answer" ^b; or give an account of his matters, or the reason of his dealings with men.

Men do therefore fear him,.... Or should, because of his greatness in power, judgment, and justice; and because of his goodness, in not afflicting for his pleasure's sake, but for the profit of men; and therefore they should reverence and adore him, submit to his will, patiently bear afflictions, serve him internally and externally, with reverence and godly fear;

he respecteth not any that are wise of heart; that are wise in a natural sense: these are not always regarded by God, or are his favourites; neither temporal blessings, nor special grace, or the knowledge of spiritual things, are always given to the wise and prudent, Ecc 9:11. Or that are wise in their own conceit; there is a woe to such; and there is more hope of a fool than of him, Isa 5:21. Or he is not "afraid" of them ^c, as some choose to render the word; he fears not to reprove them and correct them for their faults, or the schemes they form to counterwork him; for he can take them in their craftiness, and carry their counsel headlong. Or "every wise in heart shall not see him" ^d: the world by wisdom knows him not; nor can any look into his heart, his thoughts, purposes, and designs, and into the causes and reasons of his actions; nor have those that are truly wise perfect vision and knowledge of him now, 1Co 13:9.

¹ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

² tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

¹ tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.

¹ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

¹ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

² tn Heb “and we do not know.”

¹ tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”

² tn Heb “and [to the] shower of rain and shower of rains, be strong.” Many think the repetition grew up by variant readings; several Hebrew mss delete the second pair, and so many editors do. But the repetition may have served to stress the idea that the rains were heavy.

³ tn Heb “Be strong.”

¹ tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.

² tc This reading involves a change in the text, for in MT “men” is in the construct. It would be translated, “all men whom he made” (i.e., all men of his making”). This is the translation followed by the NIV and NRSV. Olshausen suggested that the word should have been אֲנָשִׁים (’anashim) with the final ם (mem) being lost to haplography.

³ tn D. W. Thomas suggested a meaning of “rest” for the verb, based on Arabic. He then reads אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) for man, and supplies a ם (mem) to “his work” to get “that every man might rest from his work [in the fields].”

¹ tn The “driving winds” reflects the Hebrew “from the scatterers.” This refers to the north winds that bring the cold air and the ice and snow and hard rains.

¹ tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (rÿvi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.

¹ tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

² tn Heb “that it may do.”

¹ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

² tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

¹ tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (bÿsum, from שִׂים [sim, “set”]), so the idea is how God lays [or sets] [a command] for them. The suffix is proleptic, to be clarified in the second colon.

² tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”

¹ tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).

¹ tn The verb means “to beat out; to flatten,” and the analogy in the next line will use molten metal. From this verb is derived the word for the “firmament” in Gen 1:6-8, that canopy-like pressure area separating water above and water below.

¹ tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”

² tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.

¹ tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.

¹ tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.

² tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.

³ tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.

¹ tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.

¹ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

² tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”

¹ sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.

At this also my heart ^{( a )} trembleth, and is moved out of his place.

^{( a )} At the marvelling of the thunder and lightnings: by which he declares that the faithful are lively touched with the majesty of God, when they behold his works.

Hear attentively the ^{( b )} noise of his voice, and the sound [that] goeth out of his mouth.

^{( b )} That is the thunder, by which he speaks to men to waken their dullness, and to bring them to the consideration of his works.

After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay ^{( c )} them when his voice is heard.

^{( c )} Meaning, the rains and thunders.

For he saith to the snow, Be thou [on] the earth; ^{( d )} likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.

^{( d )} So that neither small rain nor great, snow nor anything else comes without God's appointment.

He ^{( e )} sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

^{( e )} By rains and thunders God causes men to keep themselves within their houses.

Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the ^{( f )} north.

^{( f )} In Hebrew it is called the scattering wind, because it drives away the clouds and purges the air.

By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters ^{( g )} is straitened.

^{( g )} That is, frozen up and dried.

Also by watering he ^{( h )} wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his ^{( i )} bright cloud:

^{( h )} Gather the vapours and move to and fro to water the earth.

^{( i )} That is, the cloud that has lightning in it.

He causeth it to come, whether for ^{( k )} correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

^{( k )} Rain, cold, heat, tempests and such like are sent from God, either to punish man, or to profit the earth, or to declare his favour toward man, as in (Job 36:31).

Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the ^{( l )} light of his cloud to shine?

^{( l )} That is, the lightning to break forth in the clouds?

Dost thou know the ^{( m )} balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

^{( m )} Which is sometimes changed into rain, or snow, hail or such like.

How thy garments [are] ^{( n )} warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south [wind]?

^{( n )} Why your clothes should keep you warm when the south wind blows rather than when any other wind blows?

Hast thou with him spread out the sky, [which is] strong, [and] as a molten looking ^{( o )} glass?

^{( o )} For the clearness.

Teach us what we shall say unto him; [for] we cannot order [our speech] by reason of ^{( p )} darkness.

^{( p )} That is, our ignorance: signifying that Job was so presumptuous, that he would control the works of God.

Shall it be ^{( q )} told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

^{( q )} Has God need that any should tell him when man murmurs against him?

And now [men] see not the bright light ^{( s )} which [is] in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

^{( s )} The cloud stops the shining of the sun, that man cannot see it till the wind has chased away the cloud: and if man is not able to attain to the knowledge of these things, how much less God's judgments?

^{( t )} Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God [is] terrible majesty.

^{( t )} In Hebrew, gold, meaning fair weather and clear as gold.

[Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out: [he is] excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not ^{( u )} afflict.

^{( u )} Meaning, without cause.

The changes of the weather are the subject of a great deal of our thoughts and common talk; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu, with a regard to God, the director of them! We must notice the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common and less awful changes of the weather; as the snow and rain. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man only be unprovided with a refuge? Oh that men would listen to the voice of God, who in many ways warns them to flee from the wrath to come; and invites them to accept his salvation, and to be happy. The ill opinion which men entertain of the Divine direction, peculiarly appears in their murmurs about the weather, though the whole result of the year proves the folly of their complaints. Believers should avoid this; no days are bad as God makes them, though we make many bad by our sins.

Due thoughts of the works of God will help to reconcile us to all his providences. As God has a powerful, freezing north wind, so he has a thawing, composing south wind: the Spirit is compared to both, because he both convinces and comforts, Son 4:16. The best of men are much in the dark concerning the glorious perfections of the Divine nature and the Divine government. Those who, through grace, know much of God, know nothing, in comparison with what is to be known, and of what will be known, when that which is perfect is come.

Elihu concludes his discourse with some great sayings concerning the glory of God. Light always is, but is not always to be seen. When clouds come between, the sun is darkened in the clear day. The light of God's favour shines ever towards his faithful servants, though it be not always seen. Sins are clouds, and often hinder us from seeing that bright light which is in the face of God. Also, as to those thick clouds of sorrow which often darken our minds, the Lord hath a wind which passes and clears them away. What is that wind? It is his Holy Spirit. As the wind dispels and sweeps away the clouds which are gathered in the air, so the Spirit of God clears our souls from the clouds and fogs of ignorance and unbelief, of sin and lust. From all these clouds the Holy Spirit of God frees us in the work of regeneration. And from all the clouds which trouble our consciences, the Holy Spirit sets us free in the work of consolation. Now that God is about to speak, Elihu delivers a few words, as the sum of all his discourse. With God is terrible majesty. Sooner or later all men shall fear him.

Thunder and lightning, which usually go together, are sensible indications of the glory and majesty, the power and terror, of Almighty God, one to the ear and the other to the eye; in these God leaves not himself without witness of his greatness, as, in the rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, he leaves not himself without witness of his goodness (Act 14:17), even to the most stupid and unthinking. Though there are natural causes and useful effects of them, which the philosophers undertake to account for, yet they seem chiefly designed by the Creator to startle and awaken the slumbering world of mankind to the consideration of a God above them. The eye and the ear are the two learning senses; and therefore, though such a circumstance is possible, they say it was never known in fact that any one was born both blind and deaf. By the word of God divine instructions are conveyed to the mind through the ear, by his works through the eye; but, because those ordinary sights and sounds do not duly affect men, God is pleased sometimes to astonish men by the eye with his lightnings and by the ear with his thunder. It is very probable that at this time, when Elihu was speaking, it thundered and lightened, for he speaks of the phenomena as present; and, God being about to speak (Job 38:1), these were, as afterwards on Mount Sinai, the proper prefaces to command attention and awe. Observe here, 1. How Elihu was himself affected, and desired to affect Job, with the appearance of God's glory in the thunder and lightning (Job 37:1, Job 37:2): "For my part,"says Elihu, " my heart trembles at it; though I have often heard it, often seen it, yet it is still terrible to me, and makes every joint of me tremble, and my heart beat as if it would move out of its place. "Thunder and lightning have been dreadful to the wicked: the emperor Caligula would run into a corner, or under a bed, for fear of them. Those who are very much astonished, we say, are thunder-struck. Even good people think thunder and lightning very awful; and that which makes them the more terrible is the hurt often done by lightning, many having been killed by it. Sodom and Gomorrah were laid in ruins by it. It is a sensible indication of what God could do to this sinful world, and what he will do, at last, by the fire to which it is reserved. Our hearts, like Elihu's should tremble at it for fear of God's judgments, Psa 119:120. He also calls upon Job to attend to it (Job 37:2): Hear attentively the noise of his voice. Perhaps as yet it thundered at a distance, and could not be heard without listening: or rather, Though the thunder will be heard, and whatever we are doing we cannot help attending to it, yet, to apprehend and understand the instructions God thereby gives us, we have need to hear with great attention and application of mind. Thunder is called the voice of the Lord (Psa 29:3, etc.), because by it God speaks to the children of men to fear before him, and it should put us in mind of that mighty word by which the world was at first made, which is called thunder. Psa 104:7, At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away, namely, the waters, when God said, Let them be gathered into one place. Those that are themselves affected with God's greatness should labour to affect others. 2. How he describes them. (1.) Their original, not their second causes, but the first. God directs the thunder, and the lightning is his, Job 37:3. Their production and motion are not from chance, but from the counsel of God and under the direction and dominion of his providence, though to us they seem accidental and ungovernable. (2.) Their extent. The claps of thunder roll under the whole heaven, and are heard far and near; so are the lightnings darted to the ends of the earth; they come out of the one part under heaven and shine to the other, Luk 17:24. Though the same lightning and thunder do not reach to all places, yet they reach to very distant places in a moment, and there is no place but, some time or other, has these alarms from heaven. (3.) Their order. The lightning is first directed, and after it a voice roars, Job 37:4. The flash of fire, and the noise it makes in a watery cloud, are really at the same time; but, because the motion of light is much quicker than that of sound, we see the lightning some time before we hear the thunder, as we see the firing of a great gun at a distance before we hear the report of it. The thunder is here called the voice of God's excellency, because by it he proclaims his transcendent power and greatness. He sends forth his voice and that a mighty voice, Psa 68:33. (4.) Their violence. He will not stay them, that is, he does not need to check them, or hold them back, lest they should grow unruly and out of his power to restrain them, but lets them take their course, says to them, Go, and they go - Come, and they come - Do this, and they do it. He will not stay the rains and showers that usually follow upon the thunder (which he had spoken of, Job 36:27, Job 36:29), so some, but will pour them out upon the earth when his voice is heard. Thunder-showers are sweeping rains, and for them he makes the lightnings, Psa 135:7. (5.) The inference he draws from all this, Job 37:5. Does God thunder thus marvellously with his voice? We must then conclude that his other works are great, and such as we cannot comprehend. From this one instance we may argue to all, that, in the dispensations of his providence, there is that which is too great, too strong, for us to oppose or strive against, and too high, too deep, for us to arraign or quarrel with.

The changes and extremities of the weather, wet or dry, hot or cold, are the subject of a great deal of our common talk and observation; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu does here, with an awful regard to God the director of them, who shows his power and serves the purposes of his providence by them! We must take notice of the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common revolutions of the weather, which are not so terrible and which make less noise. As,

I. In the snow and rain, Job 37:6. Thunder and lightning happen usually in the summer, but here he takes notice of the winter-weather. Then he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; he commissions it, he commands it, he appoints it, where it shall light and how long it shall lie. He speaks, and it is done: as in the creation of the world, Let there be light, so in the works of common providence, Snow, be thou on the earth. Saying and doing are not two things with God, though they are with us. When he speaks the word the small rain distils and the great rain pours down as he pleases - the winter-rain (so the Septuagint), for in those countries, when the winter was past, the rain was over and gone, Son 2:11. The distinction in the Hebrew between the small rain and the great rain is this, that the former is called a shower of rain, the latter of rains, many showers in one; but all are the showers of his strength: the power of God is to be observed as much in the small rain that soaks into the earth as in the great rain that batters on the house-top and washes away all before it. Note, The providence of God is to be acknowledged, both by husbandmen in the fields and travellers upon the road, in every shower of rain, whether it does them a kindness of a diskindness. It is sin and folly to contend with God's providence in the weather; if he send the snow or rain, can we hinder them? Or shall we be angry at them? It is as absurd to quarrel with any other disposal of Providence concerning ourselves or ours. The effect of the extremity of the winter-weather is that it obliges both men and beasts to retire, making it uncomfortable and unsafe for them to go abroad. 1. Men retire to their houses from their labours in the field, and keep within doors (Job 37:7): He seals up the hand of every man. In frost and snow, husbandmen cannot follow their business, nor some tradesmen, nor travellers, when the weather is extreme. The plough is laid by, the shipping laid up, nothing is to be done, nothing to be got, that men, being taken off from their own work, may know his work, and contemplate that, and give him the glory of that, and, by the consideration of that work of his in the weather which seals up their hands, be led to celebrate his other great and marvellous works. Note, When we are, upon any account, disabled from following our worldly business, and taken off from it, we should spend our time rather in the exercises of piety and devotion (in acquainting ourselves with the works of God and praising him in them) than in foolish idle sports and recreations. When our hands are sealed up our hearts should be thus opened, and the less we have at any time to do in the world the more we should thereby be driven to our Bibles and our knees. 2. The beasts also retire to their dens and remain in their close places, Job 37:8. It is meant of the wild beasts, which, being wild, must seek a shelter for themselves, to which by instinct they are directed, while the tame beasts, which are serviceable to man, are housed and protected by his care, as Exo 9:20. The ass has no den but his master's crib, and thither he goes, not only to be safe and warm, but to be fed. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man alone be unprovided with an ark?

II. In the winds, which blow from different quarters and produce different effects (Job 37:9): Out of the hidden place (so it may be read) comes the whirlwind; it turns round, and so it is hard to say from which point it comes but it comes from the secret chamber, as the word signifies, which I am not so willing to understand of the south, because he says here (Job 37:17) that the wind out of the south is so far from being a whirlwind that it is a warming, quieting, wind. But at this time, perhaps, Elihu saw a whirlwind-cloud coming out of the south and making towards them, out of which the Lord spoke soon after, Job 38:1. Or, if turbulent winds which bring showers come out of the south, cold and drying blasts come out of the north to scatter the vapours and clear the air of them.

III. In the frost, Job 37:10. See the cause of it: It is given by the breath of God, that is, by the word of his power and the command of his will; or, as some understand it, by the wind, which is the breath of God, as the thunder is his voice; it is caused by the cold freezing wind out of the north. See the effect of it: The breadth of the waters is straitened, that is, the waters that had spread themselves, and flowed with liberty, are congealed, benumbed, arrested, bound up in crystal fetters. This is such an instance of the power of God as, if it were not common, would be next to a miracle.

IV. In the clouds, the womb where all these watery meteors are conceived, of which he had spoken, Job 36:28. Three sorts of clouds he here speaks of: - 1. Close, black, thick clouds, pregnant with showers; and these with watering he wearies (Job 37:11), that is, they spend themselves, and are exhausted by the rain into which they melt and are dissolved, pouring out water till they are weary and can pour out no more. See what pains, as I may say, the creatures, even those above us, take to serve man: the clouds water the earth till they are weary; they spend and are spent for our benefit, which shames and condemns us for the little good we do in our places, though it would be to our own advantage, for he that watereth shall be watered also himself. 2. Bright thin clouds, clouds without water; and these he scattereth; they are dispersed of themselves, and not dissolved into rain, but what becomes of them we know not. The bright cloud, in the evening, when the sky is red, is scattered, and proves an earnest of a fair day, Mat 16:2. 3. Flying clouds, which do not dissolve, as the thick cloud, into a close rain, but are carried upon the wings of the wind from place to place, dropping showers as they go; and these are said to be turned round about by his counsels, Job 37:12. The common people say that the rain is determined by the planets, which is as bad divinity as it is philosophy, for it is guided and governed by the counsel of God, which extends even to those things that seem most casual and minute, that they may do whatsoever he commands them; for the stormy winds, and the clouds that are driven by them, fulfil his word; and by this means he causes it to rain upon one city and not upon another, Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8. Thus his will is done upon the face of the world in the earth, that is, among the children of men, to whom God has an eye in all these things, of whom it is said that he made them to dwell on the face of the earth, Act 17:26. The inferior creatures, being incapable of doing moral actions, are incapable of receiving rewards and punishments: but, among the children of men, God causes the rain to come, either for the correction of his land or for a mercy to it, Job 37:13. (1.) Rain sometimes turns into a judgment. It is a scourge to a sinful land; as once it was for the destruction of the whole world, so it is now often for the correction or discipline of some parts of it, by hindering seedness and harvest, raising the waters, and damaging the fruits. Some have said that our nation has received much more prejudice by the excess of rain than by the want of it. (2.) At other times it is a blessing. It is for his land, that this may be made fruitful; and, besides that which is just necessary, he gives for mercy, to fatten it and make it more fruitful. See what a necessary dependence we have upon God, when the very same thing, according to the proportion in which it is given, may be either a great judgment or a great mercy, and without God we cannot have either a shower or a fair gleam.

Elihu here addresses himself closely to Job, desiring him to apply what he had hitherto said to himself. He begs that he would hearken to this discourse (Job 37:14), that he would pause awhile: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. What we hear is not likely to profit us unless we consider it, and we are not likely to consider things fully unless we stand still and compose ourselves to the consideration of them. The works of God, being wondrous, both deserve and need our consideration, and the due consideration of them will help to reconcile us to all his providences. Elihu, for the humbling of Job, shows him,

I. That he had no insight into natural causes, could neither see the springs of them nor foresee the effects of them (Job 37:15-17): Dost thou know this and know that which are the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? We are here taught, 1. The perfection of God's knowledge. It is one of the most glorious perfections of God that he is perfect in knowledge; he is omniscient. His knowledge is intuitive: he sees, and does not know by report. It is intimate and entire: he knows things truly, and not by their colours - thoroughly, and not by piecemeal. To his knowledge there is nothing distant, but all near - nothing future, but all present - nothing hid, but all open. We ought to acknowledge this in all his wondrous works, and it is sufficient to satisfy us in those wondrous works which we know not the meaning of that they are the works of one that knows what he does. 2. The imperfection of our knowledge. The greatest philosophers are much in the dark concerning the powers and works of nature. We are a paradox to ourselves, and every thing about us is a mystery. The gravitation of bodies, and the cohesion of the parts of matter, are most certain, and yet unaccountable. It is good for us to be made sensible of our own ignorance. Some have confessed their ignorance, and those that would not do this have betrayed it. But we must all infer from it what incompetent judges we are of the divine politics, when we understand so little even of the divine mechanics. (1.) We know not what orders God has given concerning the clouds, nor what orders he will give, Job 37:15. That all is done by determination and with design we are sure; but what is determined, and what designed, and when the plan was laid, we know not. God often causes the light of his cloud to shine, in the rainbow (so some), in the lightning (so others); but did we foresee, or could we foretell, when he would to it? If we foresee the change of weather a few hours before, by vulgar observation, or when second causes have begun to work by the weather-glass, yet how little do these show us of the purposes of God by these changes! (2.) We know not how the clouds are poised in the air, the balancing of them, which is one of the wondrous works of God. They are so balanced, so spread, that they never rob us of the benefit of the sun (even the cloudy day is day), so balanced that they do not fall at once, nor burst into cataracts or water-spouts. The rainbow is an intimation of God's favour in balancing the clouds so as to keep them from drowning the world. Nay, so are they balanced that they impartially distribute their showers on the earth, so that, one time or other, every place has its share. (3.) We know not how the comfortable change comes when the winter is past, Job 37:17. [1.] How the weather becomes warm after it has been cold. We know how our garment came to be warm upon us, that is, how we come to be warm in our clothes, by reason of the warmth of the air we breathe in. Without God's blessing we should clothe ourselves, yet not be warm, Hag 1:6. But, when he so orders it, the clothes are warm upon us, which, in the extremity of cold weather, would not serve to keep us warm. [2.] How it becomes calm after it has been stormy: He quiets the earth by the south wind, when the spring comes. As he has a blustering freezing north wind, so he has a thawing, composing, south wind; the Spirit is compared to both, because he both convinces and comforts, Son 4:16.

II. That he had no share at all in the first making of the world (Job 37:18): " Hast thou with him spread out the sky? Thou canst not pretend to have stretched it out without him, no, nor to have stretched it out in conjunction with him; for he was far from needing any help either in contriving or in working."The creation of the vast expanse of the visible heavens (Gen 1:6-8), which we see in being to this day, is a glorious instance of the divine power, considering, 1. That, though it is fluid, yet it is firm. It is strong, and has its name from its stability. It still is what it was, and suffers no decay, nor shall the ordinances of heaven be altered till the lease expires with time. 2. That, though it is large, it is bright and most curiously fine: It is a molten looking-glass, smooth and polished, and without the least flaw or crack. In this, as in a looking-glass, we may behold the glory of God and the wisdom of his handy work, Psa 19:1. When we look up to heaven above we should remember it is a mirror or looking-glass, not to show us our own faces, but to be a faint representation of the purity, dignity, and brightness of the upper world and its glorious inhabitants.

III. That neither he nor they were able to speak of the glory of God in any proportion to the merit of the subject, Job 37:19, Job 37:20. 1. He challenges Job to be their director, if he durst undertake the task. He speaks it ironically: " Teach us, if thou canst, what we shall say unto him, Job 37:19. Thou hast a mind to reason with God, and wouldst have us to contend with him on thy behalf; teach us then what we shall say. Canst thou see further into this abyss than we can? If thou canst, favour us with thy discoveries, furnish us with instructions."2. He owns his own insufficiency both in speaking to God and in speaking of him: We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Note, The best of men are much in the dark concerning the glorious perfections of the divine nature and the administrations of the divine government. Those that through grace know much of God, yet know little, yea, nothing, in comparison with what is to be known, and what will be known, when that which is perfect shall come and the veil shall be rent. When we would speak of God we speak confusedly and with great uncertainly, and are soon at a loss and run aground, not for want of matter, but for want of words. As we must always begin with fear and trembling, lest we speak amiss ( De Deo etiam vera dicere periculosum est - Even while affirming what is true concerning God we incur risk ), so we must conclude with shame and blushing, for having spoken no better. Elihu himself had, for his part, spoken well on God's behalf, and yet is so far from expecting a fee, or thinking that God was beholden to him for it, or that he was fit to be standing counsel for him, that (1.) He is even ashamed of what he has said, not of the cause, but of his own management of it: " Shall it be told him that I speak? Job 37:20. Shall it be reported to him as a meritorious piece of service, worthy his notice? By no means; let it never be spoken of,"for he fears that the subject has suffered by his undertaking it, as a fine face is wronged by a bad painter, and his performance is so far from meriting thanks that it needs pardon. When we have done all we can for God we must acknowledge that we are unprofitable servants and have nothing at all to boast of. He is afraid of saying any more: If a man speak, if he undertake to plead for God, much more if he offer to plead against him, surely he shall be swallowed up. If he speak presumptuously, God's wrath shall soon consume him; but, if ever so well, he will soon lose himself in the mystery and be over powered by the divine lustre. Astonishment will strike him blind and dumb.

Elihu here concludes his discourse with some short but great sayings concerning the glory of God, as that which he was himself impressed, and desired to impress others, with a holy awe of. He speaks concisely, and in haste, because, it should seem, he perceived that God was about to take the work into his own hands. 1. He observes that God who has said that he will dwell in the thick darkness and make that his pavilion (2Ch 6:1, Psa 18:11) is in that awful chariot advancing towards them, as if he were preparing his throne for judgment, surrounded with clouds and darkness, Psa 97:2, Psa 97:9. He saw the cloud, with a whirlwind in the bosom of it, coming out of the south; but now it hung so thick, so black, over their heads, that they could none of them see the bright light which just before was in the clouds. The light of the sun was now eclipsed. This reminded him of the darkness by reason of which he could not speak (Job 37:19), and made him afraid to go on, Job 37:20. Thus the disciples feared when they entered into a cloud, Luk 9:34. Yet he looks to the north, and sees it clear that way, which gives him hope that the clouds are not gathering for a deluge; they are covered, but not surrounded, with them. He expects that the wind will pass (so it may be read) and cleanse them, such a wind as passed over the earth to clear it from the waters of Noah's flood (Gen 8:1), in token of the return of God's favour; and then fair weather will come out of the north (Job 37:22) and all will be well. God will not always frown, nor contend for ever. 2. He hastens to conclude, now that God is about to speak; and therefore delivers much in a few words, as the sum of all that he had been discoursing of, which, if duly considered, would not only clench the nail he had been driving, but make way for what God would say. He observes, (1.) That with God is terrible majesty. He is a God of glory and such transcendent perfection as cannot but strike an awe upon all his attendants and a terror upon all his adversaries. With God is terrible praise (so some), for he is fearful in praises, Ex. 15. 11. (2.) That when we speak touching the Almighty we must own that we cannot find him out; our finite understandings cannot comprehend his infinite perfections, Job 37:23. Can we put the sea into an egg-shell? We cannot trace the steps he takes in his providence. His way is in the sea. (3.) That he is excellent in power. It is the excellency of his power that he can do whatever he pleases in heaven and earth. The universal extent and irresistible force of his power are the excellency of it; no creature has an arm like him, so long, so strong. (4.) That he is not less excellent in wisdom and righteousness, in judgment and plenty of justice, else there would be little excellency in his power. We may be sure that he who can do every thing will do every thing for the best, for he is infinitely wise, and will not in any thing do wrong, for he is infinitely just. When he executes judgment upon sinners, yet there is plenty of justice in the execution, and he inflicts not more than they deserve. (5.) That he will not afflict, that is, that he will not afflict willingly; it is no pleasure to him to grieve the children of men, much less his own children. He never afflicts but when there is cause and when there is need, and he does not overburden us with affliction, but considers our frame. Some read it thus: " The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is great in power, but he will not afflict in judgment, and with him is plenty of justice, nor is he extreme to mark what we do amiss."(6.) He values not the censures of those who are wise in their own conceit: He respecteth them not, Job 37:24. He will not alter his counsels to oblige them, nor can those that prescribe to him prevail with him to do as they would have him do. He regards the prayer of the humble, but not the policies of the crafty. No, the foolishness of God is wiser than men, 1Co 1:15. (7.) From all this it is easy to infer that, since God is great, he is greatly to be feared; nay, because he is gracious and will not afflict, men do therefore fear him, for there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, Psa 130:1-8. 4. It is the duty and interest of all men to fear God. Men shall fear him (so some); sooner or later they shall fear him. Those that will not fear the Lord and his goodness shall for ever tremble under the pourings out of the vials of his wrath.

1 Yea, at this my heart trembleth

And tottereth from its place.

2 Hear, O hear the roar of His voice,

And the murmur that goeth out of His mouth.

3 He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven,

And His lightning unto the ends of the earth.

4 After it roareth the voice of the thunder,

He thundereth with the voice of His majesty,

And spareth not the lightnings, when His voice is heard.

5 God thundereth with His voice marvellously,

Doing great things, incomprehensible to us.

Louis Bridel is perhaps right when he inserts after Job 36 the observation: L'éclair brille, la tonnerre gronde . לזאת does not refer to the phenomenon of the storm which is represented in the mind, but to that which is now to be perceived by the senses. The combination שׁמעוּ שׁמוע can signify both hear constantly, Isa 6:9, and hear attentively, Job 13:17; here it is the latter. רגז of thunder corresponds to the verbs Arab. rḥz and rjs , which can be similarly used. The repetition of קול fo noititeper eh five times calls to mind the seven קולות ( ἑπτὰ βρονταί ) in Psa 29:1-11. The parallel is הגה , Job 37:2 , a murmuring, as elsewhere of the roar of the lion and the cooing of the dove. The suff . of ישׁרהוּ refers to the thunder which rolls through the immeasurable breadth under heaven; it is not perf . Piel of ישׁר (Schlottm.), for "to give definite direction"(2Ch 32:30) is not appropriate to thunder, but fut. Kal of שׁרה , to free, to unbind (Ew., Hirz. and most others). What Job 37:3 says of thunder, Job 37:3 says of light, i.e., the lightning: God sends it forth to the edges, πτέρυγες , i.e., ends, of the earth. אחריו , Job 37:4 , naturally refers to the lightning, which is followed by the roar of the thunder; and יעקּבם to the flashes, which, when once its rumble is heard, God does not restrain ( עקּב = עכּב of the Targ., and Arab. ‛aqqaba , to leave behind, postpone), but causes to flash forth in quick succession. Ewald's translation: should He not find (prop. non investigaverit ) them (the men that are to be punished), gives a thought that has no support in this connection. In Job 37:5 נפלאות , mirabilia , is equivalent to mirabiliter , as Dan 8:24, comp. Psa 65:6; Psa 139:14. ולא נדע is intended to say that God's mighty acts, with respect to the connection between cause and effect and the employment of means, transcend our comprehension.

6 For He saith to the snow: Fall towards the earth,

And to the rain-shower

And the showers of His mighty rain.

7 He putteth a seal on the hand of every man,

That all men may come to a knowledge of His creative work.

8 The wild beast creepeth into a hiding-place,

And in its resting-place it remaineth.

9 Out of the remote part cometh the whirlwind,

And cold from the cloud-sweepers.

10 From the breath of God cometh ice,

And the breadth of the waters is straitened.

Like אבי , Job 34:36, and פּשׁ , Job 35:15, הוא , Job 37:6 (is falsely translated "be earthwards"by lxx, Targ., and Syr.), also belongs to the most striking Arabisms of the Elihu section: it signifies delabere (Jer. ut descendat ), a signification which the Arab. hawâ does not gain from the radical signification placed first in Gesenius-Dietrich's Handwörterbuch , to breathe, blow, but from the radical signification, to gape, yawn, by means of the development of the meaning which also decides in favour of the primary notion of the Hebr. הוּה , according to which, what was said on Job 6:2; Job 30:13 is to be corrected.

(Note: Arab. hawâ is originally χαίνειν , to gape, yawn, hiare , e.g., hawat et -ta‛natu , the stab gapes (imperf. tahwı̂ , inf. huwı̂jun ), "when it opens its mouth"- the Turkish Kamus adds, to complete the picture: like a tulip. Thence next hâwijatun , χαίνουσα χαῖνον , i.e., χᾶσμα = hûwatun , uhwı̂jatun , huwâatun , mahwâtun , a cleft, yawning deep, chasm, abyss, βάραθρον , vorago ; hawı̂jatun and hauhâtun (a reduplicated form), especially a very deep pit or well. But these same words, hâwijatun , hûwatun , uhwı̂jatun , mahwâtun , also signify, like the usual Arab. hawa'â'un , the χάσμα between heaven and earth, i.e., the wide, empty space, the same as 'gauwun . The wider significations, or rather applications and references of hawâ : air set in motion, a current of air, wind, weather, are all secondary, and related to that primary signification as samâ , rain-clouds, rain, grass produced by the rain, to the prim. signification height, heaven, vid., Mehren, Rhetorik d. Araber, S. 107, Z. 14ff. This hawâ , however, also signifies in general: a broad, empty space, and by transferring the notion of "empty"to mind and heart, as the reduplicated forms hûhatun and hauhâtun : devoid of understanding and devoid of courage, e.g., Koran xiv. 44: wa -af'i -datuhum hawâun , where Bedhâwî first explains hawâ directly by chalâ , emptiness, empty space, i.e., as he adds, châlijetun ‛an el -fahm , as one says of one without mind and courage qalbuhu hawâun . Thence also hauwun , emptiness, a hole, i.e., in a wall or roof, a dormar-window ( kauwe , kûwe ), but also with the genit. of a person or thing: their hole, i.e., the space left empty by them, the side not taken up by them, e.g., qa‛ada fi hauwihi , he set himself beside him. From the signification to be empty then comes (1) hawat el -mar'atu , i.e., vacua fuit mulier = orba oiberis , as χήρα , vidua , properly empty, French vide ; (2) hawâ er -ragulu , i.e., vacuus , inanis factus est vir = exanimatus (comp. Arab. frg , he became empty, euphemistic for he died).

From this variously applied primary signification is developed the generally known and usual Arab. hawâ , loose and free, without being held or holding to anything one's self, to pass away, fly, swing, etc., libere ferri , labi , in general in every direction, as the wind, or what is driven hither and thither by the wind, especially however from above downwards, labi , delabi , cadere , deorsum ruere . From this point, like many similar, the word first passes into the signification of sound (as certainly also שׁאה , שא ): as anything falling has a full noise, and so on, δουπεῖν , rumorem , fragorem edere ( fragor from frangi ), hence hawat udhnuhu jawı̂jan of a singing in the ears.

Finally, the mental Arab. hawan (perf. hawija , imperf. jahwâ with the acc.), animo ad or in aliquid ferri , is attached to the notion of passing and falling through space (though by no means to hiare , or the supposed meaning "to breathe, blow"). It is used both emotionally of desire, lust, appetites, passions, and strong love, and intellectually of free opinions or assertions springing from mere self-willed preference, caprices of the understanding. - Fl.)

The ל of לשּׁלג influences Job 37:6 also. The Hebr. name for rain, גּשׁם (cogn. with Chald. גשׁם , Arab. gism , a body), denotes the rain collectively. The expression Job 37:6 is exceeded in Job 37:6 , where מטרות does not signify rain-drops (Ew.), but, like the Arab. amtâr , rain-showers. The wonders of nature during the rough season ( חרף , סתיו , Son 2:11), between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, are meant; the rains after the autumnal equinox (the early rain), which begin the season, and the rains before the vernal equinox (the late rain, Zec 10:1), which close it, with the falls of snow between, which frequently produce great desolation, especially the proper winter with its frosty winds and heavy showers, when the business of the husbandmen as of the nomads is brought to a stand-still, and every one retreats to his house or seeks a sheltering corner.

x3150 This is the meaning of Job 37:7 : He sealeth up ( חתם בּ as Job 33:16) the hand of all men that they cannot, viz., on account of the cold out of doors, be opened for work, that all people of His work (i.e., thanking Him for their origin as His handiwork, Job 34:19) may come to the perception (of Him who doeth all things). The expression is remarkable, and by the insertion of a m may be as easily cleared up as Job 33:17 : לדעת כּל־אנשׁים מעשׂהוּ , in order that each and every one may acknowledge His work; after which even Jer. translates: ut noverint singuli opera sua . The conjecture אנשׁים עשׂהוּ (Schultens junior, Reiske, Hirz.) is inferior to the former (Olsh.) by its awkward synecdoche num . The fut. consec. in Job 37:8 continues the description of what happens in consequence of the cold rainy season; the expression calls to mind Psa 104:22, as Job 34:14. does Psa 104:29. The winter is also the time of the stormy and raw winds. In Job 37:9 Elihu means the storms which come across from the great wide desert, Job 1:19, therefore the south (Isa 21:1; Zec 9:14), or rather south-east winds (Hos 13:15), increasing in violence to storms. החדר (properly the surrounded, enclosed space, never the storehouse, - so that Psa 135:7 should be compared, - but adytum , penetrale , as Arab. chidr , e.g., in Vita Timuri ii. 904: after the removal of the superincumbent earth, they drew away sitr chidrihâ , the curtain of its innermost part, i.e., uncovered its lowest depth) is here the innermost part of the south (south-east), - comp. Job 9:9 חדרי תימן , and Job 23:9 יעטף ימין (so far as יעטף there signifies si operiat se ), - especially of the great desert lying to the south (south-east), according to which ארץ חדרך , Zec 9:1, is translated by the Targ. דרומא ארעא . In opposition to the south-east wind, מזרים , Job 37:9 , seems to mean the north winds; in and of itself, however, the word signifies the scattering or driving, as also in the Koran the winds are called the scatterers, dhârijât , Sur. li. 1.

(Note: This dhârijât is also differently explained; but the first explanation in Beidhâwi (ii. 183, Fleischer's edition) is, "the winds which scatter (blow away) the dust and other things.")

In מזרים , Reiske, without any ground for it, traces the Arab. mirzam (a name of two stars, from which north wind, rain, and cold are derived); the Targ. also has one of the constellations in view: מכּוּת מזרים (from the window, i.e., the window of the vault of heaven, of the mezarim ); Aq., Theod. ἀπὸ μαζούρ (= מזרות , Job 38:32); lxx ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἀκρωτηρίων , we know not wherefore. Concerning מנּשׁמת־אל (with causal מן ) with reference to the wind, vid., on Job 4:15. יתּן , it gives, i.e., comes to light, is used as in Gen 38:28; Pro 13:10. The idea of מוּצק (not fusum from יצק , but coarctatum from צוּק ) cannot be doubtful in connection with the antithesis of רחב , comp. Job 36:16, the idea is like Job 38:30 (comp. Mutenebbi: "the flood is bound by bands of ice"); the בּ of בּמוּצק is, as Job 36:32, the Beth essentiae, used far more extensively in Hebr. than in Arab. as an exponent of the predicate: the breadth of the water is (becomes) straitened (forcibly drawn together).

11 Also He loadeth the clouds with water,

He spreadeth far and wide the cloud of His light,

12 And these turn themselves round about,

Directed by Him, that they execute

All that He hath commanded them

Over the wide earth.

13 Whether for a scourge, or for the good of His earth,

Or for mercy, He causeth it to discharge itself.

With אף extending the description, Elihu, in the presence of the storm that is in the sky, continually returns to this one marvel of nature. The old versions connect בּרי partly with בּר , electus (lxx, Syr., Theod.) or frumentum (Symm., Jer.), partly with בּרה = בּרר in the signification puritas , serenitas (Targ.); but בּרי is, as Schultens has already perceived, the Hebr.-Arabic רי , Arab. rı̂yun , rı̂ j-un (from רוה = riwj ), abundant irrigation, with בּ ; and יטריח does not signify, according to the Arab. atraha , "to hurl down,"so that what is spoken of would be the bursting of the clouds (Stick.),

(Note: This " at r aha "is, moreover, a pure invention of our ordinary Arabic lexicons instead of ittaraha (VIII form): (1) to throw one's self, (2) to throw anything from one's self, with an acc . of the thing. - Fl.)

but, according to טרח , a burden (comp. Arab. taraha ala , to load), "to burden;"with fluidity (Ew., Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm.), better: fulness of water, He burdens the clouds (comp. rawij -un as a designation of cloud as the place of rain). ענן אורו , His cloud of light, is that that is charged with lightning, and הפיץ has here its Hebr.-Arab. radical signification effundere , diffundere , with a preponderance of the idea not of scattering, but of spreading out wide (Arab. faid , abundance). והוּא , Job 37:12 , refers to the cloud pregnant with lightning; this turns round about ( מסבּות , adv. as מסב , round about, 1Ki 6:29) seeking a place, where it shall unburden itself by virtue of His (God's) direction or disposing ( תחבּוּלת , a word belonging to the book of Proverbs; lxx, Cod. Vat. and Alex., untranslated: εν θεεβουλαθωθ , Cod. Sinait. still more monstrous), in order that they (the clouds full of lightning) may accomplish everything that He commands them over the surface of the earth; ארצה as Job 34:13, and the combination תּבל ארצה as Pro 8:31, comp. ארץ ותבל , Psa 90:2. The reference of the pronominal suff . to men is as inadmissible here as in Job 37:4 . In Job 37:13 two אם have certainly, as Job 34:29, two ו , the correlative signification sive ... sive (Arab. in ... wa -in ), in a third, as appears, a conditional, but which? According to Ew., Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., and others, the middle one: if it (the rod) belongs to His land, i.e., if it has deserved it. But even the possessive suff . of לארצו shows that the ל is to be taken as dat. commodi: be it for a rod, be it for the good of His land; which is then followed by a conditional verbal clause: in case He mercifully causes it (the storm) to come, i.e., causes this His land to be overtaken by it ( המציא here with the acc., the thing coming, whereas in Job 34:11 of the thing to be overtaken). The accentuation, indeed, appears to assume a threefold sive: whether He causeth it to discharge itself upon man for punishment, man for mercy, or His earth for good with reference to man. Then Elihu would think of the uninhabited steppe in connection with אם לארצו . Since a conditional אם by the side of two correlatives is hazardous, we decide finally with the lxx, Targ., and all the old versions, in favour of the same rendering of the threefold אם , especially since it corresponds to the circumstances of the case.

14 Hearken unto this, O Job;

Stand still and consider the wonderful works of God!

15 Dost thou know when God designeth

To cause the light of His clouds to shine?

16 Dost thou understand the balancings of the clouds,

The wondrous things of Him who is perfect in knowledge?

Job is to stand still, instead of dictating to God, in order to draw from His wondrous acts in nature a conclusion with reference to his mystery of suffering. In Job 37:15 ידע בּ does not, as Job 35:15 (Ew. §217, S. 557), belong together, but בּ is the temporal Beth . שׂוּם is equivalent to שׂים לבּו (vid., on Job 34:23); עליהם does not refer to נפלאות (Hirz.) or the phenomena of the storm (Ew.), but is intended as neuter (as בּם Job 36:31, בּהם Job 22:21), and finds in Job 37:15 its distinctive development: "the light of His clouds"is their effulgent splendour. Without further support, ידע על is to have knowledge concerning anything, Job 37:16 ; מפלשׂי is also ἁπ. γεγρ. . It is unnecessary to consider it as wrongly written from מפרשׂי , Job 36:29, or as from it by change of letter (as אלמנות = ארמנות , Isa 13:22). The verb פּלּס signifies to make level, prepare (viz., a way, also weakened: to take a certain way, Pro 5:6), once: to weigh, Psa 58:3, as denom . from פּלס , a balance (and indeed a steelyard, statera ), which is thus mentioned as the means of adjustment. מפלשׂי accordingly signifies either, as synon. of משׁקלי (thus the Midrash, vid., Jalkut , §522), weights (the relations of weight), or even equipoised balancings (Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, and others), Lat. quomodo librentur nubes in aëre .

(Note: The word is therefore a metaphor taken from the balance, and it may be observed that the Syro-Arabic, on account of the most extensive application of the balance, is unusually rich in such metaphors. Moreover, the Arabic has no corresponding noun: the teflı̂s (a balance) brought forward by Ges. in his Thes . and Handwörterbuch from Schindler's Pentaglotton , is a word devoid of all evidence from original sources and from the modern usage of the language, in this signification.)

מפלאות is also a word that does not occur elsewhere; in like manner דּע belongs exclusively to Elihu. God is called תּמים דּעים (comp. Job 36:4) as the Omniscient One, whose knowledge is absolute as to its depth as well as its circumference.

17 Thou whose garments became hot,

When the land is sultry from the south:

18 Dost thou with Him spread out the sky,

The strong, as it were molten, mirror?

19 Let us know what we shall say to Him! -

We can arrange nothing by reason of darkness.

20 Shall it be told Him that I speak,

Or shall one wish to be destroyed?

Most expositors connect Job 37:17 with Job 37:16 : (Dost thou know) how it comes to pass that ... ; but אשׁר after ידע signifies quod , Exo 11:7, not quomodo , as it sometimes occurs in a comparing antecedent clause, instead of כאשׁר , Exo 14:13; Jer 33:22. We therefore translate: thou whose ... , - connecting this, however, not with Job 37:16 (vid., e.g., Carey), but as Bolduc. and Ew., with Job 37:18 (where ה before תרקיע is then the less missed): thou who, when the land (the part of the earth where thou art) keeps rest, i.e., in sultriness, when oppressive heat comes (on this Hiph . vid., Ges. §53, 2) from the south (i.e., by means of the currents of air which come thence, without דּרום signifying directly the south wind), - thou who, when this happens, canst endure so little, that on the contrary the heat from without becomes perceptible to thee through thy clothes: dost thou now and then with Him keep the sky spread out, which for firmness is like a molten mirror? Elsewhere the hemispheric firmament, which spans the earth with its sub-celestial waters, is likened to a clear sapphire Exo 24:10, a covering Psa 104:2, a gauze Isa 40:22; the comparison with a metallic mirror ( מוּצק here not from צוּק , Job 37:10; Job 36:16, but from יצק ) is therefore to be understood according to Petavius: Coelum aëreum στερέωμα dicitur non a naturae propria conditione, sed ab effectu, quod perinde aquas separet, ac si murus esset solidissimus . Also in תרקיע lies the notion both of firmness and thinness; the primary notion (root רק ) is to beat, make thick, stipare (Arab. rq‛ , to stop up in the sense of resarcire , e.g., to mend stockings), to make thick by pressure. The ל joined with תרקיע is nota acc.; we must not comp. Job 8:8; Job 21:22, as well as Job 5:2; Job 19:3.

Therefore: As God is the only Creator (Job 9:8), so He is the all-provident Preserver of the world - make us know ( הודיענוּ , according to the text of the Babylonians, Keri of הודיעני ) what we shall say to Him, viz., in order to show that we can cope with Him! We cannot arrange, viz., anything whatever (to be explained according to ערך מלּין , Job 32:14, comp. "to place,"Job 36:19), by reason of darkness, viz., the darkness of our understanding, σκότος τῆς διανοίας ; מפּני is much the same as Job 23:17, but different from Job 17:12, and חשׁך different from both passages, viz., as it is often used in the New Testament, of intellectual darkness (comp. Ecc 2:14; Isa 60:2). The meaning of Job 37:20 cannot now be mistaken, if, with Hirz., Hahn, and Schlottm., we call to mind Job 36:10 in connection with אמר כּי : can I, a short-sighted man, enshrouded in darkness, wish that what I have arrogantly said concerning and against Him may be told to God, or should one earnestly desire ( אמר , a modal perf., as Job 35:15 ) that ( an jusserit s. dixerit quis ut ) he may be swallowed up, i.e., destroyed (comp. לבלעו , Job 2:3)? He would, by challenging a recognition of his unbecoming arguing about God, desire a tribunal that would be destructive to himself.

21 Although one seeth now the sunlight

That is bright in the ethereal heights:

A wind passeth by and cleareth them up.

22 Gold is brought from the north, -

Above Eloah is terrible majesty.

23 The Almighty, whom we cannot find out,

The excellent in strength,

And right and justice He perverteth not.

24 Therefore men regard Him with reverence,

He hath no regard for all the wise of heart.

He who censures God's actions, and murmurs against God, injures himself - how, on the contrary, would a patiently submissive waiting on Him be rewarded! This is the connection of thought, by which this final strophe is attached to what precedes. If we have drawn the correct conclusion from Job 37:1, that Elihu's description of a storm is accompanied by a storm which was coming over the sky, ועתּה , with which the speech, as Job 35:15, draws towards the close, is not to be understood as purely conclusive, but temporal: And at present one does not see the light ( אור of the sun, as Job 31:26) which is bright in the ethereal heights ( בּהיר again a Hebr.-Arab. word, comp. bâhir , outshining, surpassing, especially of the moon, when it dazzles with its brightness); yet it only requires a breath of wind to pass over it, and to clear it, i.e., brings the ethereal sky with the sunlight to view. Elihu hereby means to say that the God who his hidden only for a time, respecting whom one runs the risk of being in perplexity, can suddenly unveil Himself, to our surprise and confusion, and that therefore it becomes us to bow humbly and quietly to His present mysterious visitation. With respect to the removal of the clouds from the beclouded sun, to which Job 37:21 refers, זהב , Job 37:22 , seems to signify the gold of the sun; esh -shemsu bi -tibrin , the sun is gold, says Abulola. Oriental and Classic literature furnishes a large number of instances in support of this calling the sunshine gold; and it should not perplex us here, where we have an Arabizing Hebrew poet before us, that not a single passage can be brought forward from the Old Testament literature. But מצּפון is against this figurative rendering of the זהב (lxx νέφη χρυσαυγοῦντα ). In Eze 1:4 there is good reason for the storm-clouds, which unfold from their midst the glory of the heavenly Judge, who rideth upon the cherubim, coming from the north; but wherefore should Elihu represent the sun's golden light as breaking through from the north? On the other hand, in the conception of the ancients, the north is the proper region for gold: there griffins (grupe's) guard the gold-pits of the Arimaspian mountains (Herod. iii. 116); there, from the narrow pass of the Caucasus along the Gordyaean mountains, gold is dug by barbarous races (Pliny, h. n. vi. 11), and among the Scythians it is brought to light by the ants ( ib . xxxiii. 4). Egypt could indeed provide itself with gold from Ethiopia, and the Phoenicians brought the gold of Ophir, already mentioned in the book of Job, from India; but the north was regarded as the fabulously most productive chief mine of gold; to speak more definitely: Northern Asia, with the Altai mountains.

(Note: Vid., the art. Gold , S. 91, 101, in Ersch and Gruber. The Indian traditions concerning Uttaraguru (the "High Mountain"), and concerning the northern seat of the god on wealth Kuvêra , have no connection here; on their origin comp. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 848.)

Thus therefore Job 28:1, Job 28:6 is to be compared here.

What Job describes so grandly and minutely in Job 28:1, viz., that man lays bare the hidden treasures of the earth's interior, but that the wisdom of God still transcends him, is here expressed no less grandly and compendiously: From the north cometh gold, which man wrests from the darkness of the gloomy unknown region of the north ( צפון , ζόφος , from צפן , cogn. טמן , טמר ,

(Note: The verb צּפּה , obducere , does not belong here, but to צפח , and signifies properly to flatten (as רקע , to make thin and thick by striking), comp. Arab. ṣfḥ , to strike on something flat (whence el -musâfaha , the salutation by striking the hand), and Arab. ṣf‛ , to strike with the flat hand on anything, therefore diducendo obducere . )

upon Eloah, on the contrary is terrible majesty (not genitival: terror of majesty, Ew. §293, c ), i.e., it covers Him like a garment (Psa 104:1), making Him inaccessible ( הוד , glory as resounding praise, vid., on Job 39:20, like כבוד as imposing dignity). The beclouded sun, Job 37:21 said, has lost none of the intensity of its light, although man has to wait for the removing of the clouds to behold it again. So, when God's doings are mysterious to us, we have to wait, without murmuring, for His solution of the mystery. While from the north comes gold - Job 37:22 continues - which is obtained by laying bare the interior of the northern mountains, God, on the other hand, is surrounded by inaccessibly terrible glory: the Almighty - thus Job 37:23 completes the thought towards which Job 37:22 tends - we cannot reach, the Great in power, i.e., the nature of the Absolute One remains beyond us, the counsel of the Almighty impenetrable; still we can at all times be certain of this, that what He does is right and good: "Right and the fulness of justice ( ורב־ according to the Masora, not ורב- ) He perverteth not."The expression is remarkable: ענּה משׁפּט is, like the Talmudic ענּה דּין , equivalent elsewhere to הטּה משׁפט ; and that He does not pervert רב־צדקה , affirms that justice in its whole compass is not perverted by Him; His acts are therefore perfectly and in every way consistent with it: רב־צדקה is the abstract . to צדיק כביר , Job 34:17, therefore summa justitia . One may feel tempted to draw ומשׁפט to שׂגיא כח , and to read ורב according to Pro 14:29 instead of ורב , but the expression gained by so doing is still more difficult than the combination לא יענּה ... ומשׁפט ; not merely difficult, however, but putting a false point in place of a correct one, is the reading לא יענה (lxx, Syr., Jer.), according to which Hirz. translates: He answers, not, i.e., gives no account to man. The accentuation rightly divides Job 37:23 into two halves, the second of which begins with ומשׁפט - a significant Waw , on which J. H. Michaelis observes: Placide invicem in Deo conspirant infinita ejus potentia et justitia quae in hominibus saepe disjuncta sunt .

Elihu closes with the practical inference: Therefore men, viz., of the right sort, of sound heart, uncorrupted and unaffected, fear Him ( יראוּהוּ verentur eum , not יראוּהוּ veremini eum ); He does not see (regard) the wise of heart, i.e., those who imagine themselves such and are proud of their לב , their understanding. The qui sibi videntur (Jer.) does not lie in לב (comp. Isa 5:21), but in the antithesis. Stick. and others render falsely: Whom the aggregate of the over-wise beholds not, which would be יראנּוּ . God is the subj. as in Job 28:24; Job 34:21, comp. Job 41:26. The assonance of יראוהו and יראה , which also occurs frequently elsewhere (e.g., Job 6:21), we have sought to reproduce in the translation.

In this last speech also Elihu's chief aim (Job 36:2-4) is to defend God against Job's charge of injustice. He shows how omnipotence, love, and justice are all found in God. When judging of God's omnipotence, we are to beware of censuring Him who is absolutely exalted above us and our comprehension; when judging of God's love, we are to beware of interpreting His afflictive dispensations, which are designed for our well-being, as the persecution of an enemy; when judging of His justice, we are to beware of maintaining our own righteousness at the cost of the Divine, and of thus avoiding the penitent humbling of one's self under His well-meant chastisement. The twofold peculiarity of Elihu's speeches comes out in this fourth as prominently as in the first: (1) They demand of Job penitential submission, not by accusing him of coarse common sins as the three have done, but because even the best of men suffer for hidden moral defects, which must be perceived by them in order not to perish on account of them. Elihu here does for Job just what in Bunyan ( Pilgrim's Progress ) the man in the Interpreter's house does, when he sweeps the room, so that Christian had been almost choked with the dust that flew about. Then (2) they teach that God makes use of just such sufferings, as Job's now are, in order to bring man to a knowledge of his hidden defects, and to bless him the more abundantly if he will be saved from them; that thus the sufferings of those who fear God are a wholesome medicine, disciplinary chastenings, and saving warnings; and that therefore true, not merely feigned, piety must be proved in the school of affliction by earnest self-examination, remorseful self-accusation, and humble submission.

Elihu therefore in this agrees with the rest of the book, that he frees Job's affliction from the view which accounts it the evil-doer's punishment (vid., Job 32:3). On the other hand, however, he nevertheless takes up a position apart from the rest of the book, by making Job's sin the cause of his affliction; while in the idea of the rest of the book Job's affliction has nothing whatever to do with Job's sin, except in so far as he allows himself to be drawn into sinful language concerning God by the conflict of temptation into which the affliction plunges him. For after Jehovah has brought Job over this his sin, He acknowledges His servant (Job 42:7) to be in the right, against the three friends: his affliction is really not a merited affliction, it is not a result of retributive justice; it also had not chastisement as its design, it was an enigma, under which Job should have bowed humbly without striking against it - a decree, into the purpose of which the prologue permits us an insight, which however remains unexplained to Job, or is only explained to him so far as the issue teaches him that it should be to him the way to a so much the more glorious testimony on the part of God Himself.

With that criticism of Job, which the speeches of Jehovah consummate, the criticism which lies before us in the speeches of Elihu is irreconcilable. The older poet, in contrast with the false doctrine of retribution, entirely separates sin and punishment or chastisement in the affliction of Job, and teaches that there is an affliction of the righteous, which is solely designed to prove and test them. His thema, not Elihu's (as Simson

(Note: Zur Kritik des B. Hiob , 1861, S. 34.)

with Hengstenberg thinks), is the mystery of the Cross. For the Cross according to its proper notion is suffering ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης (or what in New Testament language is the same, ἕνεκεν Χριστοῦ ). Elihu, however, leaves sin and suffering together as inseparable, and opposes the false doctrine of retribution by the distinction between disciplinary chastisement and judicial retribution. The Elihu section, as I have shown elsewhere,

(Note: Vid., Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie, art. Hiob , S. 119.)

has sprung from the endeavour to moderate the bewildering boldness with which the older poet puts forth his idea. The writer has felt in connection with the book of Job what every Christian must feel. Such a maintaining of his own righteousness in the face of friendly exhortations to penitence, as we perceive it in Job's speeches, is certainly not possible where "the dust of the room has flown about."The friends have only failed in this, that they made Job more and more an evil-doer deservedly undergoing punishment. Elihu points him to vainglorying, to carnal security, and in the main to those defects from which the most godly cannot and dare not claim exemption. It is not contrary to the spirit of the drama that Job holds his peace at these exhortations to penitence. The similarly expressed admonition to penitence with which Eliphaz, Job 4:1, begins, has not effected it. In the meanwhile, however, Job is become more softened and composed, and in remembrance of his unbecoming language concerning God, he must feel that he has forfeited the right of defending himself. Nevertheless this silent Job is not altogether the same as the Job who, in Job 40 and 42, forces himself to keep silence, whose former testimony concerning himself, and whose former refusal of a theodicy which links sin and calamity together, Jehovah finally sets His seal to.

On the other hand, however, it must be acknowledged, that what the introduction to Elihu's speeches, Job 32:1-5, sets before us, is consistent with the idea of the whole, and that such a section as the introduction leads one to expect, may be easily understood really as a member of the whole, which carries forward the dramatic development of this idea; for this very reason one feels urged to constantly new endeavours, if possible, to understand these speeches as a part of the original form. But they are without result, and, moreover, many other considerations stand in our way to the desired goal; especially, that Elihu is not mentioned in the epilogue, and that his speeches are far behind the artistic perfection of the rest of the book. It is true the writer of these speeches has, in common with the rest of the book, a like Hebraeo-Arabic, and indeed Hauranitish style, and like mutual relations to earlier and later writings; but this is explained from the consideration that he has completely blended the older book with himself (as the points of contact of the fourth speech with Job 28:1 and the speeches of Jehovah, show), and that to all appearance he is a fellow-countryman of the older poet. There are neither linguistic nor any other valid reasons in favour of assigning it to a much later period. He is the second issuer of the book, possibly the first, who brought to light the hitherto hidden treasure, enriched by his own insertion, which is inestimable in its relation to the history of the perception of the plan of redemption.

We now call to mind that in the last (according to our view) strophe of Job's last speech. Job 31:35-37, Job desires, yea challenges, the divine decision between himself and his opponents. His opponents have explained his affliction as the punishment of the just God; he, however, is himself so certain of his innocence, and of his victory over divine and human accusation, that he will bind the indictment of his opponents as a crown upon his brow, and to God, whose hand of punishment supposedly rests upon him, will he render an account of all his steps, and go forth as a prince to meet Him. That he considers himself a צדיק is in itself not censurable, for he is such: but that he is מצדק נפשׁו מאלהים , i.e., considers himself to be righteous in opposition to God, who is no angry with him and punishes him; that he maintains his own righteousness to the prejudice of the Divine; and that by maintaining his own right, places the Divine in the shade, - all this is explainable as the result of the false idea which he entertains of his affliction, and in which he is strengthened by the friends; but there is need of censure and penitence. For since by His nature God can never do wrong, all human wrangling before God is a sinful advance against the mystery of divine guidance, under which he should rather humbly bow. But we have seen that Job's false idea of God as his enemy, whose conduct he cannot acknowledge as just, does not fill his whole soul. The night of temptation in which he is enshrouded, is broken in upon by gleams of faith, in connection with which God appears to him as his Vindicator and Redeemer. Flesh and spirit, nature and grace, delusion and faith, are at war within him. These two elements are constantly more definitely separated in the course of the controversy; but it is not yet come to the victory of faith over delusion, the two lines of conception go unreconciled side by side in Job's soul. The last monologues issue on the one side in the humble confession that God's wisdom is unsearchable, and the fear of God is the share of wisdom appointed to man; on the other side, in the defiant demand that God may answer for his defence of himself, and the vaunting offer to give Him an account of all his steps, and also then to enter His presence with the high feeling of a prince. If now the issue of the drama is to be this, that God really reveals Himself as Job's Vindicator and Redeemer, Job's defiance and boldness must be previously punished in order that lowliness and submission may attain the victory over them. God cannot acknowledge job as His servant before he penitently acknowledges as such the sinful weakness under which he has proved himself to be God's servant, and so exhibits himself anew in his true character which cherishes no known sin. This takes place when Jehovah appears, and in language not of wrath but of loving condescension, and yet earnest reproof, He makes the Titan quite puny in his own eyes, in order then to exalt him who is outwardly and inwardly humbled.

F. Elihu's Speeches chs. 32-37

Many critical scholars believe that a later editor inserted chapters 32-37 in the text of Job.¹³⁵ Most conservatives believe there is ample external and internal evidence indicating that this section of chapters fits into the argument of the book.

". . . the Elihu speeches (chaps. 32-37), which seemingly interrupt the argument of the book, actually set the stage for the Yahweh speeches. Elihu appears as a type of mediator (an impartial witness) who speaks on behalf of God (36:2) by rebuking the three friends (cf. 32:3, 6-14; 34:2-15; cf. 35:4) and by suggesting that Job needed to repent of his pride which developed because of his suffering (cf. 33:17; 35:12-16). He recommended that Job should exalt God's works which are evident in nature (36:24-37:18) and fear Him who comes in golden splendor out of the north (37:22-24). These basic ideas of Elihu are either assumed or developed by the Lord in His speeches."¹³⁶

5. Elihu's fourth speech chs. 36-37

Of all Elihu's discourses this one is the most impressive because of his lofty descriptions of God.

"This concluding statement contains Elihu's best and most distinctive ideas. Up until now he has been treading on familiar and conventional ground, repeating largely the ideas which Job and his friends have already expressed. The harsh tone that Elihu had adopted in his second and third speeches is here softened. Job 36:1-21 is a more mature and engaging statement of orthodox theology than anything found elsewhere in the book."¹⁴⁷

God's dealings with nature 36:27-37:24

Elihu focused next on God's activities in nature. There may be reference to autumn conditions in 36:27-33, winter in 37:1-13, and summer in 37:17-18.¹⁵⁰

Elihu's third "Behold" (36:26) draws attention to the infinite wisdom of God. No one can understand how or why He deals with nature as He does (36:29).

The fourth "Behold" (36:30) affirms a similar point. God uses rain to bring both blessings and curses on people. Lightning and thunder declare God's presence even if people cannot fully understand when or why they come as they do.

Having introduced the idea of God's sovereign control over all things as reflected in His control of nature (36:26-33), Elihu elaborated on these thoughts in chapter 37. In verses 1-13 he cited more examples of God's working in nature that we cannot comprehend fully (37:5). We can learn that these things are His work (37:7) for several different purposes. Sometimes God does them for people's benefit or harm, but sometimes He does them simply for the sake of His world (37:13).

At this point Elihu turned again to apply these truths to Job's situation (37:14-24). He urged Job to be humble before such a great God (37:14-20). No one can find Him, but we can count on Him to be just (37:21-23). Job also needed to fear God (37:24). Verse 21 may mean that a person cannot look directly at the sun when the sky is clear of clouds. The implication is that neither can we see God in all His glory; He is partially unknowable.

Verse 22 seems to be another allusion to Ugaritic mythology. The Canaanites thought their gods lived in the North, but Elihu said the true God comes out of the North in golden majesty (lit. gold), perhaps like the sun. Since the sun does not rise in the North this cannot be a description of sunrise as symbolic of God's appearing. Rather it may contrast the appearing of the true God with Baal's supposed appearing.¹⁵¹

In his four speeches Elihu introduced a different reason for suffering: God has things to teach people that they can only learn through pain. He also described God in terms that suggest he may have had a more realistic, fuller concept of God than Job's three friends did. Notwithstanding neither Elihu nor the other three men had adequate insight into Job's situation. They could not have had unless God revealed to them what had transpired in His heavenly courts (chs. 1-2). Elihu's words are closer to the truth and prepare for God's fuller special revelation of Himself that follows in chapters 38-42. Generally Elihu emphasized the positive aspects of God's character whereas the three comforters emphasized the negative aspects. Elihu saw God more as a teacher. The other men spoke of Him as a judge.

"Worshipers of the ancient Near Eastern gods, Satan, Job, and his three antagonists--all these believed that suffering originated from a tit for tat,' measure for measure,' compensation theology, which governs the correspondence between righteous behavior and prosperity, and sinful behavior and misery. However, Elihu showed that neither he nor God supported this theory. Under God's justice, suffering comes to people for several reasons, many of which are unrelated to compensation theology."¹⁵²