Job 37:7

_HE SEALETH UP THE HAND OF EVERY MAN; THAT ALL MEN MAY KNOW HIS WORK._ In winter God stops man's out-of-doors activity. SEALETH - closeth up (Job 9:7). Man's "hands" are then tied up. HIS WORK - in antithesis to man's own work ("hand"), which at other times engages men so as to be liable to forget their dependence on Cod. Umbreit, more literally, translates, That all men whom He has made (literally, of His making) may be brought to acknowledgment; namely, may know and acknowledge themselves to have been made by Him, and, therefore, to be subject to His will and power....

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 37:7. _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 can do no more labour in the field, till the _south wind_ blow, by which a _thaw_ takes place. While the earth is in this state of rigidity, _the beasts go into their dens,_ _and remain in their places_, Job 37:8, some of them sleeping out the winter in a state of torpor, and others of them feeding on the stores which they had collected in _autumn_. However, the passage may mean no more than by the severity of the rains beasts are drawn to their covers; and man is obliged to intermit...

HE SEALETH UP THE HAND OF EVERY MAN - That is, in the winter, when the snow is on the ground, when the streams are frozen, and when the labors of the husbandman cease. The idea of “sealing up the hand” is derived from the common purpose of a seal, to make fast, to close up, to secure (compare Job 9:7, note; Job 33:16, note), and the sense is, that the hands can no more be used in ordinary toil. Every man in the snow and rain of winter is prevented from going abroad to his accustomed toil, and is, as it were, sealed up in his dwelling. The idea is exquisitely beautiful. God confines human beings and beasts in their houses or caves, until the winter has passed by. THAT ALL MEN MAY KNOW HIS WORK - The Septuagint renders this,” That every man may know his

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

HE SEALETH UP THE HAND OF EVERY MAN,.... That is, by deep snows and heavy rains being on the earth; where, as travellers are stopped in their journeys, and cannot proceed, so various artificers are hindered from their work, and husbandmen especially from their employment in the fields; so that their hands are as it were shut up and sealed, that they cannot work with them. Sephorno interprets this of the fruits and increase of the earth being produced and brought to perfection by means of the snow and rain, and so gathered by and into the hands of men; whereby they are led to observe the work of God and his goodness herein, and so to love and fear him; which he takes to be the sense of the following clause, THAT ALL MEN MAY KNOW HIS WORK; either their own work; what they have to do at home when they cannot work abroad; or that they may have leisure to reflect upon their moral ways and wo...

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 ...

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

F. THE CREATOR AND THE CREATION (Job 37:1-24) 1. The marvelous activity of God in nature (Job 37:1-13) TEXT 37:1-13 37 Yea, at this my heart trembleth, And is moved oat of its place. 2 Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, And the sound that goeth out of his mouth. 3 He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, And his lightning unto the ends of the earth. 4 After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of his majesty; And he restraineth not _the lightnings_ when his voice is heard. 5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. 6 For he saith to the snow, Fall thou on the earth; Likewise to the shower of rain, And to the showers of his mighty rain....