Job 37

Notes

Just now my heart trembles, and is like to start out of its place, at the thought or hearing of the terrible thunder. 2. Hear attentively the roaring noise of Jehovah's voice, and the breathing murmur that proceeds from his lips. 3. By his providence he guides the forcible and straight darting of the thunderbolts along the whole extent of the sky, and makes the blaze of lightning to fly over the confines of the earth. 4. After the blazing flash of lightning the noise roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty: nor will he restrain the storm and rain when the roaring of his thunder is heard. 5. By thundering the mighty God produces many marvellous effects: he does many things in nature which we cannot comprehend. 6. At his command the snow falls, as also the gentle showers and the deluging rains, the impetuous showers and tempestuous storms. By the winter storm he restrains men from labour, and keeps them within doors, that they may have opportunity to consider his works. 8. The very wild beasts are obliged to shut up themselves in their thickets and dens. 9. The whirlwind is generated in the moist clouds of the south as in a chamber; and cold proceeds from the scattering north wind. 10. By God's will and appointment the frost is produced, and the rivers are congealed that they cannot flow. 11. As by pouring down continual showers he wearieth the thick cloud, so his clear brightness dispels it; and by his light he disperses the transparent duskiness of the sky. 12. While the clouds are carried hither and thither at his pleasure, he himself, on every side, holds the reins of their motions, that he may accomplish his own purposes by them all over the world; 13. Whether it be for punishing the guilty by pestilential vapours and storms, or for rendering the earth fruitful, or for graciously rewarding his people with remarkable plenty. 14. Stop therefore thy censures of, and murmurings at, the dispensations of God's providence; seriously consider his wondrous works; and think how little thou understandest of the most obvious of them. 15. Knowest thou how God lays his orders or impresses his powerful influence upon them? or how he makes the rainbow-light of the transparent cloud to shine? 16. Canst thou tell how, in his marvellous wisdom, he hangs the clouds in the air, as if balanced by one another? 17. Dost thou know how thy garments wax warm when the earth is calmed by the southern sun and the pleasant gale? 18. Hast thou assisted him in clearing the sky after rain; and in making it to stand fast by its own strength, as a mirror, in which we may behold his admirable wisdom, power, goodness, and glory? 19. Teach us, if thou canst, how to speak to or of God: for by reason of his incomprehensible excellencies, and our great ignorance, we cannot speak of him to any purpose. 20. Nothing which I have said is worthy of his notice or answerable to the subject. If any attempt to describe his excellencies he will be quite confounded by their dazzling glory. 21. And just now men cannot look upon the bright shining of the sun in the sky when the wind has dispelled every cloud. 22. The godlike glancing sun shines clearly by the purifying north winds: and upon God is a robe of terrible majesty. 23. We cannot comprehend his essence, perfections, purposes, or works. His power indeed is infinite: but he will not afflict his people in strict judgment or severity of justice. 24. Men should therefore stand in awe of him and beware of quarrelling with his conduct; for he regards none who are wise in their own conceit, or who dare to contend with their Maker, or presume to censure his proceedings.

Ver. 2. [Man may speak by the mouth, by the trumpet, or other such instrument, and, in either case, the utterance is called his voice, because his will is the moving cause, and the sound is the interpreter of his spirit. So whatever organ the will of God may select is called his voice and mouth, because it speaks to the ear of reason, and interprets the secrets of his Spirit. C.]

Ver. 6. [Great rain. The rains of the tropical and bordering climates, such as that of Edom, are often such torrents, that they are justly characterized as the 'great rain of his strength.' C.]

Ver. 7. [The meaning of this verse is:—He sendeth cold so intense that man cannot perform his ordinary work in the field; and this he does that all men may be taught to see and acknowledge him and his work in everything. P.]

Ver. 9. [Out of the inmost recesses of the south—out of the depths of the great Arabian desert, come the burning sirocco, and the sweeping and destructive whirlwind which often prove fatal to travellers. P.]

Ver. 11. ['Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud'—or, 'He loadeth the dense clouds with water,' maketh them carry it through the air, and scatter it wherever he willeth. P.]

Ver. 15. [It is to the clouds, or vapours, more or less densely commingling with the atmosphere, and not to direct light itself, that we are indebted for the chief beauties of the earth and sky. See Somerville's Physical Sciences, Herschel's Astron., Tomlinson's Nat. Phil. C.]

Ver. 16. [Balancings. So that they ascend and descend in the exact proportion required. C.]

Ver. 17. [Delitzsch translates:—'Those whose garments become hot when the land is sultry from the south (that is, by the influence of the south wind); dost thou with him spread out the sky?' P.]

Ver. 21. [Even now we cannot look at the light when it is resplendent in the heavens, and a wind from the north hath swept along and cleared them. M. Good.]

Ver. 23. ['The Almighty—we cannot discover him; the excellent in power, judgment, and justice, he perverteth not.' This is one of the most sublime passages in the Bible. With equal clearness and beauty the speaker sets forth the majesty, the power, and the perfection of God in government. P.]

Ver. 24. ['In this last speech Elihu's chief aim 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' (Delitzsch). P.]

Reflections.—O how much of God is to be seen in the works of nature, in the forms of clouds, and in the changes and forms of weather! If all creatures thus fulfil his pleasure, why should men be rebels and refuse his direction and government! Why do we not improve his corrections and mercies! It is absurd for us to quarrel with him when we understand so little of his nature, or even of his most obvious works. And it is highly necessary to maintain the most awful, kind, and honourable thoughts of him, and the most cordial submission to everything which he does. But by what terrible harbingers doth he sometimes introduce himself to his people? If clouds thicken, if thunders roar, if lightnings flash, if rains descend, and winds blow, let me hope that my God is near, my God that saveth me.