Job 37:10

_BY THE BREATH OF GOD FROST IS GIVEN: AND THE BREADTH OF THE WATERS IS STRAITENED._ Frost - rather, ice. THE BREATH OF GOD - poetically for the ice-producing north wind. STRAITENED - physically accurate: frost compresses or contracts the expanded liquid into a congealed mass (Job 38:29; Psalms 147:17)....

1-13 The changes of the weather are the subject of a great deal of our thoughts and common talk; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu, with a regard to God, the director of them! We must notice the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common and less awful changes of the weather; as the snow and rain. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man only be unprovided with a refuge? Oh that men would listen to the voice of God, who in many ways warns them to flee from the wrath to come; and invites them to accept his salvation, and to be happy. The ill opinion which men entertain of the Divine direction, peculiarly appears in their murmurs about the weather, though the whole result of the year proves the folly of their complaints. Believers should avoid this; no days are bad as God makes them, though...

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 _great things which God doeth_, and which _we_ _cannot comprehend_, Job 37:5. Water, when frozen, becomes _solid_, and increases considerably in _bulk_. The expansive power in freezing is so great, that, if water be confined in a _gun-barrel_, it will split the solid metal throughout its whole length. Bombshells have been filled with water, and plugged tight, and exposed to cold air, when they have been rent, though the shell has been nearly two inches thick! Attempts have been made to a...

BY THE BREATH OF GOD FROST IS GIVEN - Not by the violent north wind, or by the whirlwind of the south, but God seems to “breathe” in a gentle manner, and the earth is covered with hoary frost. It appears in a still night, when there is no storm or tempest, and descends upon the earth as silently as if it were produced by mere breathing. Frost is congealed or frozen dew. On the formation and cause of dew, see the notes at Job 38:28. The figure is poetical and beautiful. The slight motion of the air, even when the frost appears, seems to be caused by the breathing of God. AND THE BREADTH OF THE WATERS IS STRAITENED - That is, is contracted by the cold; or is frozen over. The waters are “compressed” into a solid mass (במוצק _b__e__mûtsaq_), or are in a state of “pressure”

EXPOSITION JOB 37:1 It has been already remarked that there is no natural division between Job 36:1 and Job 37:1.—the description of the thunderstorm and its effects runs on. From its effect on cattle, Elihu passes to its effect on man (Job 37:1); and thence goes on to speak of other natural manifestations of God's power and marvellousness—snow, violent rain, whirlwind, frost, and the like (Job 37:6). He then makes a final appeal to Job to acknowledge his own weakness and God's perfection and unsearchableness, and to bow down in wonder and adora

BY THE BREATH OF GOD FROST IS GIVEN,.... By the word of God, as the Targum; at his command it is, at his word it comes, and at his word it goes, Psalms 147:15; or by his will, as Ben Gersom interprets it, when it is his pleasure it should be, it appears; it may be understood of a freezing wind from the Lord, for a wind is sometimes expressed by the breath of his nostrils, Psalms 18:15; and as the word "God" added to things increases the signification of them, as mountains of God are strong mountains; so the breath of God may signify a strong wind, as Sephorno notes, the north wind q; AND THE BREADTH OF THE WATERS IS STRAITENED; by the frost they are reduced and brought into a narrower compass; or made hard, as Mr. Broughton renders it; so hard as to walk upon, to draw carriages on, an

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

Elihu trembles at this. Listen to the thunder. First the lightning flashes (Job 37:3) then the thunder follows (Job 37:4 f.). Job 37:2 suggests that a thunderstorm was actually taking place while Elihu was speaking, and many see in this a preparation for the manifestation of Yahweh in ch. 38. It is not clear, however, that the author intended this, as he passes on from the thunderstorm to snow and rain. These God sends on the earth (Job 37:6). They stop the work of man (Job 37:7) and drive the beasts to the covert of their dens ...

BREATH. Hebrew. _neshamah._ App-16....

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