CHAPTER XXXVII _Elihu continues to set forth the wisdom and omnipotence of God,_ _as manifested in the thunder and lightning_, 1-5; _in the snows and frosts_, 6-8; _in various meteors; and shows the end for which they are sent_, 9-13. _Job is exhorted to consider the wondrous works of God in t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:2. _HEAR ATTENTIVELY_] "Hear with hearing." The words seem to intimate that there was _actually at that time_ a violent storm of thunder and lightning, and that the successive peals were now breaking over the house, and the lightning flashing before their eyes. The storm _continued_ til... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:3. _HE DIRECTETH IT UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN_] He directeth it (_the lightning_) under the whole heaven, in the twinkling of an eye from east to west; _and its light_-the reflection of the flash, not the _lightning, unto the ends of the earth_, so that a whole hemisphere seems to see it a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:4. _AFTER IT A VOICE ROARETH_] After the flash has been seen, the peal is heard; and this will be more or fewer seconds after the peal, in proportion to the distance of the thunder cloud from the ear. Lightning traverses any space without any perceivable succession of time; nothing see... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:5. _GOD THUNDERETH MARVELLOUSLY WITH HIS VOICE_] This is the conclusion of Elihu's description of the lightning and thunder: and here only should Job 36 have ended. He began, Job 36:29, with the _noise of God's tabernacle_; and he ends here with the _marvellous_ _thundering_ of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:6. _FOR HE SAITH TO THE SNOW, BE THOU ON THE EARTH_] SNOW is generally defined, "A well-known meteor, formed by the freezing of the vapours in the atmosphere." We may consider the formation of snow thus: - A cloud of vapours being condensed into drops, these drops, becoming too heavy to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:7. _HE SEALETH UP THE HAND OF EVERY MAN_] After all that has been said, and much of it most learnedly, on this verse, I think that the act of _freezing_ is probably intended; that when the earth is bound up by intense frost, _the hand_, _yad, labour_, of _every man is sealed up_; he ca... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:9. _OUT OF THE SOUTH COMETH THE WHIRLWIND_] Job 9:9. What is rendered _south_ here, is there rendered _chambers_. Mr. _Good_ translates here, _the utmost zone_. The _Chaldee_: - "From the supreme chamber the commotion shall come; and from the cataracts of Arcturus the cold." What the _w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:10. _BY THE BREATH OF GOD FROST IS GIVEN_] The _freezing_ of water, though it is generally allowed to be the effect of _cold_, and has been carefully examined by the most eminent philosophers, is still involved in much mystery; and is a very proper subject to be produced among the _gre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:11. _BY WATERING HE WEARIETH THE THICK CLOUD_] Perhaps it would be better to say, _The brightness_ _beri, dissipates the_ _cloud_; or, if we follow our version, _By watering_ the earth _he_ _wearieth_, wearieth out or emptieth, _the thick cloud _- causes it to pour down all its contents... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:12. _AND IT IS TURNED ROUND ABOUT BY HIS COUNSELS_] The original is difficult: והוא מסבות מתהפך בתחבולתו _vehu mesibboth_ _mithhappech bethachbulothav_; which has been thus paraphrased: _And_ _he_-the sun, _makes revolutions _- causes the heavenly bodies to revolve round him, _turning r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:13. _HE CAUSETH IT TO COME_] The _Vulgate_ translates the text thus: _Sive in una tribu, sine in terra sua, sive in quocunque loco_ _misericordiae suae eas jusserit inveniri_. "Whether in one tribe, or whether in his own land, or in whatsoever place of his mercy he has commanded them to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:14. _HEARKEN UNTO THIS_] Hear what I say on the part of God. _STAND STILL_] Enter into deep contemplation on the subject. _AND CONSIDER_] Weigh every thing; examine separately and collectively; and draw right conclusions from the whole. _THE WONDROUS WORKS OF GOD._] _Endless_ in thei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:15. _DOST THOU KNOW WHEN GOD DISPOSED THEM_] Dost thou know the laws by which they are governed; and the causes which produce such and such phenomena? _AND CAUSED THE LIGHT OF HIS CLOUD TO SHINE?_] Almost every critic of note understands this of the _rainbow_, which God gave as a sign... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:16. _DOST THOU KNOW THE BALANCINGS OF THE CLOUDS_] How are the clouds suspended in the atmosphere? Art thou so well acquainted with the nature of _evaporation_, and the _gravity_ of the _air_ at different heights, to support different _weights_ of aqueous vapour, so as to keep them floa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:17. _HOW THY GARMENTS_ ARE _WARM_] What are _warmth_ and _cold?_ How difficult this question! Is _heat_ incontestably a _substance_, and is _cold_ none? I am afraid we are in the dark on both these subjects. The existence of _caloric_, as a substance, is supposed to be demonstrated. Mu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:18. _HAST THOU WITH HIM SPREAD OUT THE SKY_] Wert thou with him when he made the expanse; fitted the weight to the winds; proportioned the aqueous to the terrene surface of the globe; the solar attraction to the quantum of vapours necessary; to be stored up in the clouds, in order to be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:19. _TEACH US WHAT WE SHALL SAY UNTO HIM?_] Thou pretendest to be so very wise, and to know every thing about God, pray make us as wise as thyself, that we may be able to approach with thy boldness the Sovereign of the world; and maintain our cause with thy confidence before him. As for... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:20. _SHALL IT BE TOLD HIM THAT I SPEAK?_] Shall I dare to whisper even before God? And suppose any one were to _accuse_ me before him for what I have spoken of him, though that has been well intended, how should I be able to stand in his presence? I should be swallowed up in consternati... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:21. _AND NOW_ MEN _SEE NOT THE BRIGHT LIGHT_] Mr. _Good_ gives the sense clearer: - "Even now we cannot look at the light When it is resplendent in the heavens. And a wind from the north hath passed along and cleared them." Elihu seems to refer to the insufferable brightness of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:22. _FAIR WEATHER COMETH OUT OF THE NORTH_] Is this any version of the original מצפון זהב יאתה _mitstsaphon zahab yeetheh_? which is rendered by almost every version, ancient and modern, thus, or to this effect: "From the north cometh gold." Calmet justly remarks, that in the time of M... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:23. TOUCHING _THE ALMIGHTY, WE CANNOT FIND HIM OUT_] This is a very abrupt exclamation, and highly descriptive of the state of mind in which Elihu was at this time; full of solemnity, wonder, and astonishment, at his own contemplation of this "great First Cause, least understood." The A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 37:24. _MEN DO THEREFORE_] Therefore men, אנשים _anashim_, wretched, miserable, ignorant, sinful men, _should fear him_. _HE RESPECTETH NOT ANY_] No man is valuable in his sight on account of his wisdom; for what is his wisdom when compared with that of the _Omniscient_? Whatever good is... [ Continue Reading ]