Job37chapter 37

Job 37:1-5

Elihu describes the storm arriving even as he speaks, at this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place, hear attentively the noise of his voice. Delitzsch reads this as the thunder Elihu names becoming audible in the scene itself, the speech no longer merely about the weather but standing inside it. Henry notes verse 5, great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend, as Elihu's summary confession ahead of the catalogue that follows, thunder heard before it is explained.

Job 37:6-13

The catalogue runs snow, rain, frost and wind under one command, he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth, and by the breath of God frost is given. Gill reads he sealeth up the hand of every man at verse 7 as winter halting labor by God's own decree, work stopped so that all men may know his work. Verse 13 states the catalogue's one governing sentence, he causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy, weather read as government with three possible purposes and no rule for telling which from the sky alone.

Job 37:14-18

Elihu turns the catalogue into a direct challenge, hearken unto this, O Job, stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God, then presses him with questions he cannot answer. Clarke reads spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass at verse 18 as an image drawn from a cast metal mirror, the sky's fixed brightness credited to God's own hand rather than any natural process Job could name. Barnes notes the pattern anticipates the whirlwind's own method in the next two chapters, unanswerable questions rather than argument.

Job 37:19-22

Elihu confesses his own speech has failed, teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness, before the sky itself begins to clear. Fair weather cometh out of the north at verse 22 carries readings that divide: some of the bench read golden brightness in the northern sky as the storm breaks, and others read it as the approach of God's own glory, with God is terrible majesty following either way. Delitzsch and JFB both note the verse sits just before the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind, brightness gathering as the speaker changes.

Job 37:23-24

Elihu's last sentence stands as his summary confession, touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out, he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice, he will not afflict. Henry reads this closing line as sound doctrine even where Elihu's application to Job has been harsh, God's justice never denies him the right to afflict without giving account to a creature. The Lord out of the whirlwind takes up the sentence in the next verse of the book, so that Elihu's word about the God who cannot be found out is the last human word before God himself speaks.