Job 36:26

_BEHOLD, GOD IS GREAT, AND WE KNOW HIM NOT, NEITHER CAN THE NUMBER OF HIS YEARS BE SEARCHED OUT._ God's greatness in heaven and earth: a reason why Job should bow under His afflicting hand. KNOW HIM NOT - only in part, and afar off (Job 36:25; 1 Corinthians 13:12). HIS YEARS - (Psalms 90:2; Psalms 102:24; Psalms 102:27); applied to Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:12). His infinitude as to duration is the first characterist

24-33 Elihu endeavours to fill Job with high thought of God, and so to persuade him into cheerful submission to his providence. Man may see God's works, and is capable of discerning his hand in them, which the beasts are not, therefore they ought to give him the glory. But while the worker of iniquity ought to tremble, the true believer should rejoice. Children should hear with pleasure their Father's voice, even when he speaks in terror to his enemies. There is no light but there may be a cloud to intercept it. The light of the favour of God, the light of his countenance, the most blessed light of all, even that light has many a cloud. The clouds of our sins cause the Lord to his face, and hinder the light of his loving-kindness from shining on our souls....

Verse Job 36:26. _GOD_ IS _GREAT_] He is _omnipotent_. _WE KNOW_ HIM _NOT_] He is _unsearchable_. _NEITHER CAN THE NUMBER OF HIS YEARS BE SEARCHED OUT._] He is _eternal_. These three propositions are an ample foundation for endless disquisition. As to paraphrase and comment, they need none in this place; they are too profound, comprehensive, and sublime....

BEHOLD, GOD IS GREAT, AND WE KNOW HIM NOT - That is, we cannot fully comprehend him; see the notes at Job 11:7. NEITHER CAN THE NUMBER OF HIS YEARS BE SEARCHED OUT - That is, he is eternal. The object of what is said here is to impress the mind with a sense of the greatness of God, and with the folly of attempting fully to comprehend the reason of what he does. Man is of a few days, and it is presumption in him to sit in judgment on the doings of one who is from eternity. We may here remark that the doctrine that there is an Eternal Being presiding over the universe, was a doctrine fully held by the speakers in this book - a doctrine far in advance of all that philosophy ever taught, and which was unknown for ages in the lands on which the light of revelation never shone....

EXPOSITION JOB 36:1 The two chapters, Job 36:1; Job 37:1, form a single discourse, and ought not to have been separated; or, at any rate, not so unskilfully as they are, in the middle of a description of a thunderstorm. They constitute a final appeal to Job, who is exhorted to submission, resignation, and patience, in consideration of God's inscrutability, and of his perfect justice, wisdom, and strength. Job 36:1 begins with a short preface (Job 36:1), in which Elihu seeks to prove his right to offer counsel to Job, after which God's justice is

BEHOLD, GOD [IS] GREAT,.... In his power and might, in his wisdom and knowledge, in his truth and faithfulness, in his love, grace, and mercy, and that to admiration; and it is worthy of notice and attention, which the word "behold", prefixed hereunto, is expressive of: or is "much" or "many" f; as he is in his persons: for though his essence is one, his persons are more, they are three, Father, Son, and Spirit; in his perfections, of which there is a fulness; in his thoughts, counsels, purposes? and decrees, which respect other persons and things; in his works of creation, providence, and grace, and in the blessings of his goodness, which are so many as not to be reckoned up; AND WE KNOW [HIM] NOT; God is to be known by the works of creation, and even by the very Heathen; though such is their inattention to them, that they are said not to know God; yea, even the wisest among them, by a...

CHAPTER S 36:22--37:24 _ 1. God's power and presence in nature (Job 36:22)_ 2. The thunderstorm (Job 37:1) 3. The snow and the rain (Job 37:6) 4. Elihu's concluding remarks (Job 37:17) Job 36:22. The chapter division in the Authorized Version is at fault. These concluding verses of the thirty-sixth chapter begin the final section of Elihu's testimony. Unspeakably great in every way, in diction and reverence, is this man's witness to the ways of God in creation's work. They show that he speaks not of himself, but the One who is perfect in

God is great who can teach like Him? Can man command or criticise Him? Man's part is to magnify his work in psalms, though only beholding it from afar, and unable to comprehend it....

IS GREAT. See note on Job 36:5. HIS YEARS. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._ App-6....

_we know him not_ He is so great as to transcend all knowledge of man. The Eternity of God is referred to in the second clause in order to fill the mind more completely with the sense of His greatness....