Job 36:30

_BEHOLD, HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT, AND COVERETH THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA._ Light - lightning. IT - His tabernacle. The light, in an instant spread over the vast mass of dark clouds, forms a striking picture. "Spread" is repeated from Job 36:29, to form an antithesis, 'He spreads not only clouds but light.' COVERETH THE BOTTOM (ROOTS) OF THE SEA - namely, with the light. In the storm the depths of ocean are laid bare; and the light "covers" them at the same moment that it "spreads" across the dark sky. So in Psalms 18:14, the discovering of "the channels of waters" follows the "lightnings." Umbreit translates, 'He spreadeth His light upon Himself, and covereth Himself with the roots of the sea' ...

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 36:30. _HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT_] Or, as Mr. _Good_ translates, "He throweth forth from it his flash." These two verses may both have an allusion to the sudden rarefaction of that part of the atmosphere whence the thunder proceeds, by the agency of the electric fluid; the _rushing in of the air_ on each side to restore the equilibrium, which the passage of the fire had before destroyed. The noise produced by this sudden rushing in of the air, as well as that occasioned by the _ignition_ of the _hydrogen_ _gas_, which is one of the constituents of water, is _the thunder of_ _his tabernacle_, viz., the _atmosphere_, where God appears, in such cases, to be manifesting his presence and his power. Elihu says that _God spreadeth his light upon it_. This is spoken in reference to the _flashes_ and coruscations

BEHOLD, HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT - That is, upon his tabernacle or dwelling-place - the clouds. The allusion is to lightning, which flashes in a moment over the whole heavens. The image is exceedingly beautiful and graphic. The idea of “spreading out” the light in an instant over the whole of the darkened heavens, is that which Elihu had in his mind, and which impressed him so forcibly. On the difficulty in regard to the translation of the Septuagint here, see Schleusner on the word ἡδὼ _hēdō_. AND COVERETH THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA - Margin, “roots.” The word roots is used to denote the bottom, as being the lowest part of a thing - as the roots of a tree. The meaning is that he covers the lowest part of the sea with floods of waters; and the object of Elihu is to give an exalted conception of the greatness of God, from the fact that his

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, HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT,.... Upon his tabernacle; that is, upon the clouds, which are his tabernacle; either the light of the sun, whereby the clouds are dispersed and blotted out; an emblem of the blotting out of sin, or the forgiveness of it, Isaiah 44:22, which is like a clear shining after rain, 2 Samuel 23:4, or on a thin cloud, whereby the rainbow is formed, an emblem of peace and reconciliation by Christ; or lightning, which bursting out of the dark cloud is spread over it, when it seems to be all in flames. Cocceius renders it, "he spreads the light about himself"; God spreads it about himself, clothing himself with light as with a garment, and dwelling in light inaccessible to men: or he "spreads [it] upon him", upon man; causing his sun to shine on the just and unjust;

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 draws up the water-drops and lets them fall in rain. Who can understand the distribution of the clouds, the thunders which fill the cloud where He dwells? (_cf._ Psalms 18:11). He is surrounded with light (Job 36:30). By the thunderstorm He judges the peoples and supplies humanity with food (by the fertilising rain). He fills His hands with the lightning and sends it home to its mark. JOB 36:30 B is unintelligible. Budde reads, and the roots of the sea He lays bare. Duhm corrects the whole verse, Behold He spreadeth His cloud about him, and He covereth the tops of the mountains. In Job 36:33 read His war-cry announceth Him, kindling His wra

BOTTOM. roots or offspring, i.e. clouds....

Job 36:26-33. The greatness and unsearchableness of God, seen in His marvellous operations in the skies; and exhortation to Job to allow these wonders duly to impress him, and to bow beneath the greatness of God, who surpasses all comprehension The passage has two sections: First, ch. Job 36:26 to Job 37:13, the incomprehensible greatness of God, seen in the phenomena of the atmosphere: in the formation of the rain-drops (ch. Job 36:26-28); in the thunder-storm (ch. Job 36:29 to Job 37:5