Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
1 God is to be feared because of his great works. 15 His wisdom is unsearchable in them.
Job 37:1 “At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place.
There is no natural division between chs. 36 and 37. Elihu continues the figure of a thunderstorm as a means of describing God’s power. He says that his heart trembles as he hears the thunder and sees the lightning flash across the sky.
Job 37:2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
Elihu is using a figure of speech. He does not mean that the thunder is God’s voice (see Ps. 77:18; 104:7).
Job 37:3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth.
Job 37:4 After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back.
Job 37:5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
This verse ends the parable of the thunderstorm. In this piece of vivid description Elihu is trying to overwhelm Job with a sense of the majesty and the might of God.
Job 37:6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
Job 37:7 So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor.
This pause in man’s activity gives occasion for reflection and thus encourages a clearer knowledge of God.
Job 37:8 The animals take cover; they remain in their dens.
This verse tends to substantiate the interpretation of v. 7. It is in the wintertime that the beasts hibernate. This, likewise, is to Elihu a proof of the wisdom of God. He provided that the animals might be protected from the cold and be able to subsist on small quantities of food during the season when food would be scarce. Job 37:9 The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds.
Chamber. That is, the storehouse where God is pictured as keeping His tempests (see Job 38:22; Ps. 135:7).
These seem to be the violent winds that drive away the clouds and bring a clear, frosty atmosphere. Elihu is emphasizing that all these things are under the control of God, and that these natural phenomena prove His greatness.
Job 37:10 The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen.
Job 37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.
Rain is one of the chief concerns in these dry countries. It is God who gives the moisture-laden clouds that provide water for the thirsty land.
Job 37:12 At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.
God guides the clouds and the lightnings, turning them round and round, directing them according to His will.
Job 37:13 He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love.
Job 37:14 “Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.
Job 37:15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
Elihu asks Job if he knows how God gives His orders and arranges for the course and sequence of natural events.
Job 37:16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
The phenomenon of the clouds poised in the sky, heavy with rain yet without support, provoked Elihu’s wonder (see ch. 26:8).
Perfect knowledge. Natural phenomena indicate the limitless knowledge of God. The inference is that Job should not be critical of a God who reveals His omniscience by such wonderful works.
Job 37:17 You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
Job 37:18 can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
Job 37:19 “Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
This sounds like irony. Elihu is saying to Job, if you are so wise, teach us how to approach such a great God, for we are in darkness.
Job 37:20 Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
Job had expressed the wish that God would hear him and answer him. Elihu, intending to rebuke this presumption, yet shrinking from doing so directly, puts himself in Job’s place and asks, Would it be fitting that I should demand to speak with God? If not, it cannot be fitting that Job should do so.
Job 37:21 Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean.
Men cannot look at the dazzling sun. How much less would they be able to face God.
Job 37:22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty.
Job 37:23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
Job 37:24 Therefore, people revere him, nor does have regard for all the wise in heart?”
Elihu ends his speech with a parting thrust at Job to the effect that God does not respect conceited men. To be sure, what Elihu states as a principle is true. It is folly for a man to think of matching his puny wisdom with that of God. Elihu’s error is in attempting to apply the principle to Job. The trouble with Elihu and the other protagonists was that they presumed to pass judgment on Job.