The Benevolent Purposes of Divine Justice

v. 1. Elihu also proceeded, since Job continued to hold his peace, and said,

v. 2. Suffer me a little, hearing his instructions only a little while longer, and I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf, there was still something to say on the Lord’s side of the question, something that had greater weight even than the arguments advanced up till now.

v. 3. I will fetch my knowledge from afar, not in far-fetched arguments, but from the wide expanse of history and the realm of nature, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker, his topic being so great and wonderful that it inspired Elihu with an impressive array of arguments, especially in setting forth the unchanging justice of God, Psa 51:4.

v. 4. For truly my words shall not be false, not even tinged with falsehood and deceit; he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee, Elihu, as one faultless in the knowledge of God’s attributes and works, stood before Job, in order to instruct him in the truth, defending, first of all, His justice in fixing the destinies of men.

v. 5. Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any, in spite of His greatness and exaltation He does not disdain to take the proper interest in even the lowliest of His creatures; He is mighty in strength and wisdom, in the vigor of His understanding, which enables Him to find the motives of all men’s hearts and causes Him to rule everything with the highest wisdom.

v. 6. He preserveth not the life of the wicked, this statement being made in opposition to the declaration of Job 21:7-14; but giveth right to the poor, espousing the cause of the afflicted.

v. 7. He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous, watching over them, rather, with tender solicitude; but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them forever, and they are exalted, Luk 1:52.

v. 8. And if they be bound in fetters, held so firmly in their affliction that they cannot move, and be holden in cords of affliction, in every form of distress,

v. 9. then He showeth them their work, namely, their evildoing, and their transgressions that they have exceeded, having been presumptuous and proud in opposing God.

v. 10. He openeth also their ear to discipline, in admonishing them to lay aside their pride, and commandeth that they return from iniquity, from the vanity of the various forms of transgression into which they might have fallen.

v. 11. If they obey and serve Him, yielding to His entreaties, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures, as the result of God’s blessings upon them.

v. 12. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, falling into the dart or some other sharp weapon which takes away their life, and they shall die without knowledge, breathing out their soul in ignorance of the bliss of being united with God in true fellowship.

v. 13. But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath, the ungodly cherish wrath against God, they wage continual warfare against Him; they cry not when He bindeth them, they stubbornly refuse to make an outcry or to pray when He lays them in chains.

v. 14. They die in youth, they must perish in consequence of their attitude, and their life is among the unclean, among the polluted and effeminate slaves of vice, as they were found in the heathen temples of that day, the reference being to the shamefulness of their early death.

v. 15. He delivereth the poor in his affliction, in the case of such suffering God makes the endurance itself serve as a means of deliverance, He rewards such patience in misery, and openeth their ears in oppression, by means of such trials God brings blessings to them, their very afflictions standing them in good stead, Rom 8:18-28.

v. 16. Even so would He have removed thee, Elihu here making the application to the case of Job, out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness, God would have lured and coaxed him out of the very jaws of distress into a wide place, where he would no longer have felt the cramping effect of his troubles; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness, literally, “the setting of thy table fullness of fatness,” signifying the highest form of rich prosperity,

v. 17. But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, rather, thou art filled with this judgment, Job was experiencing its misery; judgment and justice take hold on thee, not departing from his person and home,

v. 18. Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke, Job should not let the heat of his afflictions mislead him by its greatness and thus become guilty of presumptuous mocking; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee, that is, he should not let the size of the ransom which, by his sufferings, he seemed to be paying for his sins, ensnare him into a false idea of the goodness and justice of God.

v. 19. Will He esteem thy riches? No, not gold nor all the forces of strength, literally, “Shall thy outcry for assistance place thee outside of distress, likewise the exertions of thy strength?” All Job’s violent insisting upon his rights over against God was futile.

v. 20. Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place, the picture being that of chaff being carried away by a sudden gust of the tempest coming up at night. Job should not foolishly long for the night of the judgment; for then entire nations would be swept away, and he might share their lot.

v. 21. Take heed, regard not iniquity, not turning to vanity and wickedness in the manner shown; for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction, that is, in Elihu’s opinion Job was too much inclined to arrogant vanity, to rebellion against God, and objected to the affliction which had come upon him in a spirit which was anything but meek. True humility in suffering is the believer’s finest ornament.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Job 36:1-33

The two chapters, Job 36:1-33; Job 37:1-24, 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 36:1-33 begins with a short preface (Job 36:1-4), in which Elihu seeks to prove his right to offer counsel to Job, after which God’s justice is demonstrated (verses 5-16), and Job warned that his petulance may lead to his complete destruction (verses 17-25). Finally, in illustration of God’s might and unsearchableness, the description of a thunderstorm is commenced (verses 26-33), which is carried on into the next chapter.

Job 36:1, Job 36:2

Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf; literally, that there are yet words for God. The controversy, i.e; is not exhausted; there is yet much that may be urged on God’s behalf, in respect of the charges thou hast made against him.

Job 36:3

I will fetch my knowledge from afar. In neither case does the performance justify the pretentious character of the preface. Elihu’s arguments are, for the most part, trite and commonplace. And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. I will show, i.e; that God is righteous and just (comp. Job 34:10, Job 34:12).

Job 36:4

For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. The words sound arrogant; but perhaps Elihu does not mean any more than W pledge himself to speak truthfully, and to say only what he has perfect knowledge of. It is clear that he speaks of himself, net of God (Stanley Loathes). in the second clause of the verse, as in the first.

Job 36:5

Behold, God is mighty. The preface over, the argument to prove God’s justice begins. First, he “is mighty.” How unlikely that any one who is mightynay, almightyshould be unjust! Next, he despiseth not any. Job has wrongly charged him with “despising the work of his own hands.” In truth, he despises nothing that he has made. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Mat 10:29, Mat 10:30). Much less, then, is any man despised. Moreover, God is mighty in strength and wisdom; or rather, in strength of undertaking‘ and therefore above the weakness of being unjust.

Job 36:6

He preserveth not the life of the wicked. There is no special providence over the life of the wicked, as Job had supposed, or pretended to suppose (Job 21:7; comp. Job 12:6). On the contrary, God “overturneth” wicked men “in the night, so that they are destroyed; he striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others” (Job 34:25, Job 34:26). But giveth right to the poor. The poor and afflicted, the meek and humble, God vindicates. They are his special charge. So far is he from favouring the ungodly.

Job 36:7

He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous. Under no circumstances does God cease to keep an eye upon the righteous, as Job had seemed to imply when he exclaimed, “Oh that I were as in months of old, in the days when God preserved me!” or “watched me!” (Job 29:2). “The eyes of the Lord are” always “upon the righteous, as his ears are open unto their cry“ (Psa 34:15). With kings are they on the throne. In some cases, God shows his care of the righteous by “setting them with princes, even with the princes of his people” (Psa 113:8), raising them, that is, to high station, and making them companions of the great of the earth. Yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. They are permanently established in their high positions, like Joseph and Mordecai and Daniel; and they are exalted to the highest pitch of prosperity.

Job 36:8

And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction. On the other hand, there are doubtless eases where the righteous suffer adversityare even “bound in fetters,” and “holden in cords of affliction” (Gen 39:20; Jer 40:1 : Dan 3:21; Mat 14:3; Act 12:6; Act 16:24; Act 24:27, etc.). But even here God’s vigilance is not relaxed. On the contrary, he watches with the utmost care over their afflictions, apportioning them according to the needs of each, and making every possible effort, by means of them, to work their reformation (see the two following verses).

Job 36:9

Then he sheweth them their work. God, by his chastisements, makes men see what has been faulty in their life’s work, in what respects they have been negligent, where they have lapsed into actual sin. Signal afflictions are a call to men to “consider their ways,” and search out the nature of their offences. Some afflictions, as sickness and imprisonment, by depriving men of active employment, almost force them to engage in such a retrospect. And their transgressions that they have exceeded; rather, and their transgressions‘ wherein they have behaved themselves proudly (compare the Revised Version). In all sin, as it is a contempt of God’s Law, there is an element of pride. The temptation to pride especially besets those whose conduct is, in outward appearance, correct and virtuous.

Job 36:10

He openeth also their ear to discipline. It is the especial merit of Elihu’s theory of suffering that he views it as far less penal than disciplinary and restorative. Job’s sufferings especially he views in this light. Instead of looking upon Job, like his other friends, as a heinous sinner, upon whom Go, I is taking vengeance, he regards him as a person who is being chastised, in love, for some fault or faults that he has committed, to his ultimate advantage and improvement. This, though not exactly the truth, is far nearer the truth than the view taken by the other three “friends.” And commandeth that they return from iniquity. God’s chastisements are to be viewed as commands to men to “go and sin no more.”

Job 36:11

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures (comp. Job 12:13-19; Jer 7:23; Jer 26:13). Under the old covenant, prosperity was promised to the righteous, and even to the repentant, frequently, and in the most definite terms. Under the new, when any such promise is made, it is carefully guarded (Mar 10:30); while in many passages the promise is of an opposite characterthe righteous are told to expect tribulations and persecutions (Joh 16:33; Act 14:22; 2Ti 3:12 : Heb 12:1-11; 1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:13, etc.).

Job 36:12

But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword. Not, necessarily, by a material sword, but by the sword of God’s vengeance, which slays in a thousand different manners, piercing through all obstacles, and reaching to the heart and spirit. And they shall die without knowledge. Either without knowing that they are about to die, or in their wilful ignorance of God’s intentions in chastising them.

Job 36:13

But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath. In his vindication of God’s justice, Elihu here passes from the case of the righteous (Job 36:7) to that of the “hypocrites,” or rather the ungodly. They, he says, “heap up wrath,” i.e. “treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom 2:5), continually intensify God’s anger against them, and, as it were, lay in a store of it, which will one day be outpoured upon them. They cry not when he bindeth them. They do not cry to him, they do not deprecate his anger, when they first find themselves bound with the “cords of affliction” (Job 36:8), but allow his wrath to increase and accumulate.

Job 36:14

They die in youth; literally, their sold dieth in youth. The result is that, while they are still young, the vital strength of their soul is sapped; they “come to a premature end, like youths who have destroyed the spring of life by licentiousness” (Cook). And their life is among the unclean. (On the particular “uncleanness” intended, see Deu 23:17.)

Job 36:15

He delivereth the poor in his affliction; rather, he delivereth the afflicted by his affliction (see the Revised Version). Elihu recurs to what he had said in Job 36:10 with respect to the discipline of affliction. The bulk of the afflictions sent by God are, according to him, intended to act medicinally. If the afflicted man receives them aright, they are the very means of his deliverance (comp. Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71; Heb 12:11). And openeth their ears in oppression; rather, by suffering. Their sufferings lead them to God, cause them to pay more attention to his Word, lead them to open their ears to his inward voice.

Job 36:16

Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad pine, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness. Another quite different interpretation has been proposed by Ewald, and adopted by Dillmann and Canon Cook, who suppose Elihu to speak, not of what would have happened to Job under certain circumstances, but of what had actually happened to him, and render, “Thee moreover hath thy unbounded prosperity seduced from listening to the voice of affliction, and the ease of thy table which was full of fatness.” But the rendering of the Authorized Version, which is substantially that of Schultens and Rosenmuller, is still upheld by many scholars, and has been retained by our Revisers. If we adopt it, we must understand Elihu as assuring Job that he too would have been delivered and restored to his prosperity, if he had accepted his afflictions in a proper spirits and learnt the lesson they were intended to teach him (see verses 9, 10).

Job 36:17

But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked; i.e. but, as thou hast not so acted, the result has been different. Thy hardness and impenitence have brought upon thee the judgments reserved by God for the wickedjudgment and justice take hold on theethou art suffering the just penalty of thy obstinacy.

Job 36:18

Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke. The original is exceedingly obscure, and three or four quite distinct renderings have been proposed; but one of the latest critics (Professor Stanley Loathes) prefers to all the other translations that of the Authorized Version. Job is threatened by Elihu with a coming judgment which shall remove him from the earth altogether. Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. Once let destruction fall, and there is no longer any place for ransom. Nothing can then deliver thee from thy just punishment.

Job 36:19

Will he esteem thy riches! rather, Will thy riches suffice? (Revised Version); or Will they stand the shock of battle? (Schultens). Will they be a sufficient strength to thee in the time of trouble? No, not gold. This rendering is now generally given up, and the words, lo betsar ( ), are taken in connection with the preceding sentence, thus: Will thy riches suffice‘ that thou be not in distress? or, in other words, Will they keep thee out of trouble? If not, will all the forces of thy strength suffice to do so? Assuredly, nothing will avail against the “stroke” of God (Job 36:18).

Job 36:20

Desire not the night, when people (rather, peoples) are cut off in their place. This is an allusion to Job’s repeatedly expressed desire to be cut off at once, and laid in the grave (Job 6:9; Job 7:15; Job 14:13, etc.). Elihu holds that such a desire is wrongful. It certainly implies a want of complete resignation to the Divine will.

Job 36:21

Take heed, regard not iniquity; i.e. be on thy guard. Whilst thou art careful to preserve thy integrity and faith in God, do not fall into sin in other respectsas by impatient desires, or proud thoughts, or rash accusations of God. For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction. Rather than acquiesce in thy afflictions and bear them patiently, thou hast elected to murmur, to complain, to question the justice of God, and speak overboldly concerning him. There is some ground for Elihu’s condemnation; but it is excessive; it fails to make allowance for the extremity of Job’s sufferings, and the disturbing influence of extreme suffering on the mind and judgment. It is, at any rate, more severe than God’s judgment upon his servant (Job 38:2; Job 42:7).

Job 36:22

Behold, God exalteth by his power; rather, behold, God doeth loftily in his power (see the Revised Version). Who teacheth like him? This has been called “the key-note of Elihu’s whole discourse” (Cook). The entire providential government of the world by God he views as didactic, as a series of moral lessons addressed to men by their Maker (see Job 33:14, Job 33:16; Job 35:11; Job 36:9, etc.). If the lessons intended are taken to heart, then all goes well with men; if they are rejected, then very sad and terrible results follow (Job 36:12).

Job 36:23

Who hath enjoined him his way? (comp. Job 34:13). While God is thus the universal and all-perfect Teacher, there are some who would fain instruct him, dictate the course which he ought to pursue, improve and amend his universe. Something of this spirit has appeared in Job’s remonstrances, which seem to insinuate that the Divine government of the world might be carried on better than it is (see Job 9:22-24; Job 10:3; Job 13:20-26; Job 16:11-17, etc.). Elihu’s intention is to reprove Job for his presumption. Or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity? Job has not said this; but he has gone near to saying it (Job 9:24; Job 10:3; Job 21:7-26; Job 24:2-12, etc.); compare the comment on Job 34:5-12.

Job 36:24

Remember that thou magnify his work. Instead of murmuring, Job should “magnify God’s work.” He should recognize the mercy of God, even in his own afflictions, and praise him for it. Which men behold. Men are looking on, anxiously considering Job’s sufferings; he is a spectacle to them, as the apostles were to men and angels (1Co 4:9), and the more reason therefore that he should, by patient endurance, by submission and confession, cause his sufferings to redound to the glory and honour of God.

Job 36:25

Every man may see it; rather, sees it, or has seen it. Man may behold it afar off; rather, beholds it, or has beheld it, from afar. Job’s afflictions have drawn all eyes upon themnot only those of his neighbours, but of many who look on “from afar.”

Job 36:26-33

Elihu passes now to a description, which must be allowed to be eloquent, of the power and providence of God, and especially of his power in the natural world. It is suggested that the storm, which ultimately broke at the theophania (Job 38:1), was already beginning to gather, and turned the thoughts of Elihu in this direction. He begins with the consideration of how rain is generated, passes rapidly to the gathering of the clouds from all quarters, and thence to the loud crashing of the thunder, and the dazzling flashes of the lightning, which illumine even the lowest depths of the sea (Job 36:30). The effects of the storm are then spoken of, in words the exact meaning of which is very obscure (Job 36:31-33).

Job 36:26

Behold, God is great, and we know him not. This is the final lesson which Elihu seeks to impress on his hearers. God is so great their fully to comprehend him transcends the power of the human understanding. However much we know of him, there is more that we do not know. His nature is unsearchable; his depths (1Co 2:10) are inscrutable; try as we may, we can never “find him out” (Job 37:23). Neither can the number of his years be searched out. Even his duration, being eternal, is beyond us. We cannot realize the thought of pre- and post-eternity.

Job 36:27

For he maketh small the drops of water; rather, he drawth up the drops of water; i.e. by the heat of his sun he causes exhalations to arise from the sea and the moist earth, and draws them up into the higher regions of the atmosphere, where they are condensed into clouds, that hang suspended in the air. They pour down rain according to the vapour thereof; literally, they flow down as rain for his mist. The water collected in the clouds flows down in the shape of rain for the purpose of watering the earth (see Gen 2:6, where the same word () occurs).

Job 36:28

Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly. All is done for man, for his benefit and advantage.

Job 36:29

Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds? The rapid generation of clouds, their gathering together, seemingly, from all quarters, and the way they almost suddenly overspread the heavens (1Ki 18:45). are among the most remarkable phenomena of nature, and are very difficult to “understand” and account for. Or the noise of his tabernacle. The awful crash of the thunder, which echoes along the skyGod’s “tabernacle,” or pavilion (Psa 18:11)is, if not as inexplicable, even more fearful and astounding. Man shrinks and quails before the terrible sound, and feels himself in the presence of a mighty and inscrutable power.

Job 36:30

Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it. God flashes the weird brilliance of his lightning over the heavennot over himself, as some translate (Rosenmuller, Cook). He lights up the whole sky at once with the electric splendour, and even covereth with it the bottom (literally, the roots) of the sea. This is, of course, hyperbole; but it seems to be Elihu’s meaning.

Job 36:31

For by them judgeth he the people. By his clouds God works two opposite effects. On the one hand, he executes judgment upon the peoples, destroying their crops, causing widespread ruin by inundations, smiting and slaying numbers with his thunderbolts; on the other, he giveth meat in abundance, restoring to the parched earth its fertility by means of copious and refreshing showers, stimulating vegetation, and so furthering the harvest.

Job 36:32

With clouds he covereth the light; rather, he covereth both his hands with light, i.e. with the lightning. So Vul was represented in Assyrian and Zeus in Greek mythology, as filling their hands with thunderbolts, and hurling them upon their foes in their wrath. And commandeth it not to shine, etc. This rendering is wholly indefensible. Translate, And layeth command upon it that it strike the mark (compare the Revised Version).

Job 36:33

The noise thereof showeth concerning it; or, concerning him. The loud crash proclaims the fierceness of God’s anger. The cattle also concerning the vapour; rather, it sheweth the cattle also concerning him that goeth up; i.e. the very cattle also feel that God is in the storm, rides upon it, and “goeth up” (comp. Psa 47:5). The rendering of the Revised Version, “(it showeth) the cattle also concerning the storm that cometh up,” is very weak, and unworthy of such an orator as Elihu.

HOMILETICS

Job 36:1-21

Elihu to Job: 3. A sermon on the Divine administration.

I. THE PREACHER INTRODUCES HIMSELF.

1. As having something further to say. A man who has nothing to communicate should not emerge from the safe regions of obscurity which Providence designs he should adorn. But alas! of preachers, orators, lecturers, talkers, who babble on without contributing anything to elucidate their themes or enlighten their hearers, however much to gratify themselves, the number is legion. The first requirement in one who aspires to be a teacher of men, whether from the pulpit or from the platform, is that he have something to impart. When in Zechariah’s vision the angel was directed to “run,” and “speak to the young man” with the measuring-line, he was at the same time entrusted with a message (Zec 2:4). The preacher who habitually delivers sermons of the vacuous and windy order affords perfectly sufficient evidence of having mistaken his calling. Neither God nor Christ ever commissioned an ambassador without giving him a message.

2. As proposing to speak in God‘s behalf. Of the controversy which Job carried on with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, Elihu disposed by a simple expression of indignation (Job 32:3, Job 32:12). The full strength of his ability was directed to maintain the cause of God against Job, and to ascribe righteousness to One whom Job had charged with want of equity. So the mission of the Christian pulpit is not to plunge into the labyrinthine intricacies of theological discussion, in the hope of definitely pronouncing upon long-standing, world-famous controversies like those which engaged the attention of Milton’s erudite devils (‘Paradise Lost,’ bk. 2:559), but to speak with men on God’s behalf-on the one hand, to ascribe right to God, i.e. to vindicate the Divine character, the Divine administration, the Divine redemption as being in perfect accord with right and truth; and on the other hand, to bring sinful men to a right state of mind and heart towards God. It is a profanation of the sacred office of the ministry when it is employed to diffuse philosophy, to propagate science, to advance politics, to promote what is called culture as distinguished from religionin short, to do anything that does not directly contribute to either the vindication of God or the salvation of man.

3. As offering a wide and comprehensive view of his subject. The chief fault of controversialists, and one requiring to be guarded against even by the wisest and fairest, is that of one-sided presentation, commonly resulting in exaggerated statement, rash generalization, unwarranted deduction. Such a fault usually proceeds from incapacity to perceive that truth is many-sided, or inability to grasp more sides than one; from unwillingness to admit that aspects of truth may be presented to one which are denied to another, or from overweening self-conceit which supposes nothing can be accurate which self does not see. Job and the three friends are good illustrations of men who look at the same object (e.g. the Divine administration) from different standpoints, and pronounce each other wrong. Elihu undertook to present views derived from an extensive induction of particulars, from a many-sided contemplation of truth, from long and deep reflection. So should preachers aim at setting forth only such expositions of Divine truth as have been gathered by patient industry and diligent research, of the widest and minutest sort, in the volume of the Scriptures, in the books of nature and history, in the records of experience; and even these only after they have been subjected to careful inspection and personally absorbed by deep meditation.

4. As speaking with the utmost sincerity. Elihu promised that his words should not be false as to matter, disingenuous as to aim, or beguiling as to form (verse 4); and neither should the utterances of a preacher in any one of these respects deviate from the straight path of rectitude. What he offers to the acceptance of his audience should be the unmixed truth of God (1Co 2:2, 1Co 2:7; 2Co 4:2; 1Th 2:2), presented not “with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1Co 2:4, 1Co 2:13), and exhibited with no ulterior motive of personal aggrandizement, but with honest endeavour to advance God’s glory in man’s salvation (2Co 4:2). Soundness of doctrine, simplicity of speech, singleness of aim, are qualifications indispensable for an efficient ministry.

5. As possessed of an adequate acquaintance with his theme. In claiming to be “perfect in knowledge” (verse 4), Elihu may be only asserting his honesty of purpose (Umbreit, Carey, Cook), but the application of the same phrase to God (Job 37:16) makes it probable that he here alludes to the “faultlessness and clearness of perception” (Delitzsch) with which he apprehends “the theodicy which he opposes to Job,” and the intensity of that inward conviction which he holds as to its truth (Cook). So again should God’s prophets and Christ’s preachers, by prayerful study of the Divine Word, by prolonged cogitation on the themes they design to discuss, and in particular by humble dependence on that Spirit who instructed Elihu, labour to arrive at the veritable truth of God, and to have as complete an understanding thereof as possible, that so, in all their utterances, they may be able to say, like Christ, “We speak that we do know” (Joh 3:11); like David, “I believed: therefore have I spoken” (Psa 116:10); and like St Paul, “We also believe, and therefore speak” (2Co 4:13).

II. THE PREACHER ANNOUNCES HIS THEME.

1. The character of the Divine Being. Introduced by a “Behold!” to mark its worthiness of Job’s attention and admiration.

(1) Mighty. Meaning exalted in station, lofty in rank or quality of being, and resistless in powera point frequently descanted on by Job himself (e.g. Job 9:4; Job 12:13), as well as by the friends.

(2) Condescending. Despising not any, acting not scornfully, as Job insinuated God did in turning a deaf ear to his entreaties, and regarding his misery without concern (Job 10:3; Job 19:7; Job 23:13). But the Supreme Governor of the universe, according to Elihu, is too exalted a Being to act unjustly, or even unkindly, towards any, even the meanest, of his creatures. On the contrary, his very greatness is the best guarantee for his absolute impartiality and condescending kindness. That God despises nothing he has made, neither man nor beast, but watches with loving care over the least as well as the greatest of his works, was asserted by Christ (Mat 10:29), and experienced by David (Psa 40:17), and may be confirmed by a reference to nature itself, in which the smallest objects (e.g. flowers and insects) have lavished on them the largest amount of skill in their construction, decoration, and preservation. This combination of strength and beauty, of power and gentleness, of dignity and condescension, which Elihu proclaims to be characteristic of God, was eminently exemplified in Christ, and lies at the foundation of all moral greatness into an.

(3) Wise. “Mighty in strength of heart” (verse 5), the Divine Being can penetrate through all disguises, discovering right and wrong everywhere, at all times, and altogether. Besides being of infinite power and of great kindness, he is also of omniscient understanding.

2. The character of the Divine administration.

(1) Punitive, or destructive towards the ungodly: “He preserveth not the life of the wicked”the doctrine of the friends (Job 5:2; Job 8:12, Job 8:13; Job 11:20), but here advanced with greater fairness of statement (vide infra); and

(2) gracious, or preservative towards the pious: “He giveth right to the poor,” or afflicted, i.e. he allotteth to them what is just, what is in moral and spiritual harmony with their condition, viz. deliverance and salvationalso a tenet of the friends (Job 5:17-27; Job 8:5-7; Job 11:13-19), though here again set forth with more precision and moderation than by them.

III. THE PREACHER DEVELOPS HIS ARGUMENT.

1. The Divine treatment of the righteous.

(1) Watching over them while doing right. “He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous”a frequently stated doctrine of Scripture (2Ch 16:9; Psa 1:6; Psa 34:15; Pro 10:3; Isa 26:7; Isa 27:3); illustrated by the cases of Noah (Gen 7:1), the Israelites (Exo 3:7), David (Psa 139:1), and even Job himself (Job 23:10); and here declared to be of universal application, whether the objects of his observation are kings on the throne, like David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah, or prisoners in affliction, like Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, or St. Paul in Philippi.

(2) Rewarding them for their piety, “With kings are they [i.e. the righteous] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted” Sooner or later, the righteous are advanced to a state of regal prosperity; sometimes literally, as with Joseph, David, Daniel; but always spiritually, like the chosen people, who were made “a kingdom of priests” (Exo 19:6), and like Christians, who are constituted “kings and priests unto God” (Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10; 1Pe 2:9) and appointed to reign for over and ever.

(3) Instructing them when afflicted. Assuming that the cords and fetters which hold them have been imposed as an act of mercy by God (Job 5:17; Psa 94:12; Pro 3:11; Rev 3:12), Elihu directs attention to a richer benefaction than the affliction, viz. the special education they receive from God during its continuancean education in its character

(a) gracious, being imparted by God, chiefly through his Word and Spirit;

(b) convincing, unfolding to them the sin of which they have been guilty;

(c) humbling, pointing out the foolish pride and vainglory from which it has proceeded;

(d) admonitory, warning them of the danger in which they continue while impenitent;

(e) authoritative, enabling their awakened consciences to feel the urgent duty of departing from evil; and

(f) efficacious, leading m the case of every genuine child of God to a hearty return to God s ways.

(g) Restoring them when penitent. Defining that submission they accord to God as a hearing and serving (the essential ingredients of all true contrition), Elihu depicts them as finishing their days in the midst of “good,” i.e. of every sort of pure enjoyment, and their years in the midst of pleasures, or things of loveliness and true delight.

2. The Divine treatment of the unrighteous. One principal aim of affliction is to sift the unrighteous from the righteous. As the latter are distinguished by their penitential return to God, so the former are recognized by opposite characteristics, neither hearing God’s voice (verse 12; cf. Joh 18:37) nor submitting to God’s hand, but cherishing wrath and indignation against God’s justice in afflicting them (verse 13), nor praying for God’s help (verse 13) when he has bound them, but either enduring in sullen silence or howling in impatient anguish. Accordingly, God leaves them to their richly merited and naturally evolved doom, of dying

(1) suddenly: “They shall pass away by the sword,” the allusion being not so much to the violent manner of their departure, as to its being the result of a judicial visitation;

(2) hopelessly: “They shall die without knowledge””without having attained to wisdom” (Job 4:21), having missed the true end of their existence, having failed to reach that knowledge of God in which alone lies salvation (Joh 17:2), like the Gentiles of whom Paul writes, “Having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12);

(3) prematurely: “They [literally. ‘their souls’], die in youth” (verse 14), being cut down while as yet they are only standing on the threshold of life, their sun going down while it is yet noon (Amo 8:9), like Ahaziah (2Ki 8:26), Alexander the Great, and others;

(4) filthily: “Their life is among the unclean” i.e. having spent their days in sensuality and prematurely enervating incontinence, like the sodomites (margin), like the consecrated men who practised nameless lewdness in heathen temples (1Ki 14:24; 1Ki 15:12; 1Ki 22:47), like those whom St. Paul describes as “dishonouring their own bodies between themselves” (Rom 1:24-27), they were permitted to die as they had lived, and to find a grave in the moral filthiness in which they had wallowed, thus “receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”

IV. THE PREACHER APPLIES HIS DISCOURSE. Generally, to the whole body of the righteous (verse 15), but more particularly to Job, by setting forth:

1. The blessing he had missed. If instead of murmuring and repining under God’s chastisements, he had yielded penitential submission, God would ere now have interposed for his deliverance, and rescued him from the mouth of distress, inciting him forward till he had reached a broad place where, literally, whose “beneath” (ground) would have been no straitness, and where the letting down of his table, i.e. the food set thereon, should have been full of fatness (verse 16). So God engages to do for all who humbly trust his grace and power

(1) to deliver them in time of trouble (2Ki 20:6; Psa 34:19; Psa 41:1; Psa 91:14; Psa 97:10), as he snatched David from the jaws of the lion and the bear (1Sa 17:37; Psa 18:16, Psa 18:17);

(2) to establish them in ease and comfort, setting them down in large places, as he did David (Psa 18:19) and a later Hebrew bard (Psa 118:5), as he did with Israel when he brought her out of Egypt first into the wilderness and then into Canaan (Exo 3:8; Jdg 18:10), and as he does with believers when he frees them from condemnation and introduces them into the liberty of the children of God; and

(3) to provide for them a table in the wilderness, as again he did for Israel (Psa 78:19) and for David (Psa 23:5), as he has done for all the world in the gospel (Isa 25:6; Mat 22:1), and for Christ’s people in the Holy Supper (1Co 10:21; 1Co 11:20).

2. The sin he had committed. Job had “fulfilled the judgment of the wicked” (verse 17); i.e. like the wicked, he had pronounced a judicial sentence upon God and his dealings. Instead of humbly acquiescing in the Divine dispensations, he had, according to another rendering of the previous verse, suffered himself to be seduced from listening to the voice of affliction by his boundless prosperity and by the ease of his table, which was full of fatness (Ewald, Dillmann, Canon Cook), so that he had filled up the measure of his iniquity like a common evil-doer. It reveals a terrible declension on the part of a good man when he can behave no better under God’s chastisements, and think no better of God because of them than an ordinary sinner. Yet good men, if left to themselves, may come to this. Therefore let us not be high-minded, but fear.

3. The danger he had incurred. In consequence of Job’s insensate obstinacy and impenitent censoriousness towards God, “justice and judgment had taken hold on him;” he was now really undergoing such punishments as were due to wicked men from the even hand of justice. If good men by their ill behaviour place them. selves amongst the wicked, it need not surprise them if God should beat them, i.e. judge and punish them, as the wicked. Such judging as Job had been guilty of bordered close upon, and was commonly followed hard by, the judgment of God. The only judging that a good man can with safety perform is upon himself (1Co 11:31, 1Co 11:32).

4. The admonitions he required.

(1) Against declining into infidel scoffing. “Because there is anger [sc. in thy heart], let it not entice thee to scorning” (verse 18). Of this he had indeed been accused by Zophar (Job 11:3), and not entirely acquitted by Elihu (Job 34:37), who now, however, solemnly advertises him that that would be the certain issue of it if he yielded to his passionate feelings against God. The scorner’s chair is the common terminus of such as begin by walking in the way of the ungodly.

(2) Against undervaluing the Divine wrath. “Because there is wrath” (sc. with God), beware “lest he take thee away with a stroke.” “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecc 8:11). But the wicked man has no guarantee that, the Divine indignation against sin may not flame forth suddenly against him, as it did against Cain, the antediluvians, the cities of the plain, Pharaoh, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Haman, Herod, and others.

(3) Against trusting to any self-provided ransom or atonement. “Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee” (verse 18). Neither wealth (verse 19) nor suffering (verse 18) can avert the Divine wrath. Only one Ransom has sufficient merit to turn aside the sword of judgment.

(4) Against thinking that either wealth or any personal efforts can secure salvation. “Shall thy riches place thee beyond distress, and all the efforts of thy strength?” (verse 19). No; nothing will except repentance and faith.

(5) Against longing for a speedy death. “Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place” (verse 20). of this verse, of which a commentator (Schultens) gives fifteen different explanations, the sense clearly is that Job had better be careful of foolishly indulging in any such wish as that God should cut him off (Job 6:9; Job 7:15), since God might take him at his word and remove him from his place below, i.e. from the earth (Delitzsch), or to a place below (Carey). Death removed whole peoples, and would have no difficulty in removing him. And Job might find his expectation disappointed. Instead of going up to an ameliorated condition, he might rather at death descend into a worse (Umbreit). No man that knows what death is will desire it sooner than God is pleased to send it.

(6) Against preferring wickedness to misery. “Take heed, regard not iniquity; for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction” (verse 21). That is, rather than endure with meekness God’s chastening hand, Job had sinfully desired to die, independently altogether of whether or not it was God’s will. A common temptation to saints no less than to ordinary men, to choose sin rather than suffering. To elect to die rather than sin is the triumph of grace.

Learn:

1. The true dignity of a gospel minister as one who speaks for God and Christ.

2. The special business of a gospel minister, viz. to vindicate the ways of God with man.

3. The binding duty of a gospel minister, to give himself to reading and meditation.

4. The lofty aim of the gospel minister, always to speak from personal conviction.

5. The supreme glory of the Godhead, as combining infinite justice and infinite mercy, infinite greatness and infinite condescension.

6. The extreme anxiety God manifests to bring men to repentance and salvation.

7. The undoubted certainty that the impenitent and unrighteous will ultimately perish.

8. The absolute impossibility of salvation for those who despise the divinely provided ransom.

9. The great danger of indulging in wrath against either God or his dispensations.

10. The deep delusion of those who imagine death to be a blessing to any but God’s people.

Job 36:22-33

Elihu to Job: 4. A sermon on the greatness of God.

I. ABSOLUTE IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY.

1. Ruling by his own power. “Behold, God exalteth” (se. himself), i.e. showeth himself to be exalted, “acteth loftily” (Delitzsch) “in his strength” (verse 22). The universal empire of God is based on his omnipotence. With him might and right are co-ordinate and coextensive. “He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves” (Psa 66:7).

2. Holding dominion from no superior. “Who hath enjoined him his way?” (verse 23). Princes and potentates of earth derive their authority from him (Pro 8:16); the ever-blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, derives his from none. “Dominion and fear are with him” (Job 25:2). Yea, saith Jehovah, “I am the Lord, and there is none else” (Isa 45:18).

3. Admitting of no inspection. “Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?” (verse 23). As the Almighty brooks no superior or rival on his throne, so admits he of no opposition to his work. “Whatsoever his soul desireth, that he doeth” (Job 23:13). As none can interpose to say, “What doest thou?” (Dan 4:35), so none can claim a right to subject his work to critical inspection. To pass judgment on it is for a creature to be guilty of the highest arrogance. Substantially this was the sin of Job.

II. INCOMPARABLE IN HIS TEACHING. “Who teacheth like him?” (verse 22). In the judgment of Elihu, one of the principal ends contemplated by God’s providential government of the world was the education of men (Job 33:14; Job 35:11; Job 36:9). Hence by Elihu God is styled an Instructor or TeacherMoreh, translated by the LXX. “Lord.” So God represented himself to Moses (Exo 4:15), to Israel (Exo 20:1), to David (Psa 32:8). So is God to his people generally (Isa 54:13; Jer 31:33, Jer 31:34; Mic 4:2; Joh 6:45). As a Teacher of men, God surpasses all other instructors, possessing qualifications never found, unitedly or severally, to perfectly exist except in himself.

1. Ability. Many undertake to instruct others who are wholly destitute of the capacity to understand either their subjects, their pupils, or themselves. But no such deficiency can be with God, who, besides knowing himself, comprehends all things and accurately gauges all men. This qualification was possessed in an eminent degree by Christ.

2. Authority. The Divine authority to teach and the authoritative character of’ the Divine teaching are based upon God’s Lordship over man, and God’s perfect knowledge of that which he teaches. So Christ, for exactly the same reasons, spake with authority, and not as the scribes (Mat 7:29).

3. Variety. Like every intelligent instructor, God employs different methods in teachinghis works (Job 35:11), his Word (Psa 94:10), his providential dispensations (Job 33:16), his Spirit (Neh 9:20; Pro 1:23). So did Christ instruct his followers, by his works (Mat 6:26-31), by his Word (Luk 24:27), by his providences (Luk 13:1-5), by his Spirit (Luk 12:12; Joh 14:26).

4. Suitability. God’s teaching is always adapted to the occasion (Psa 32:8; Isa 48:17); and to the capacities of his scholars (Isa 28:9, Isa 28:10); and so likewise was Christ’s. The Holy Spirit also proceeds in the same gradual fashion in the work of illuminating darkened minds.

5. Simplicity. Aiming at the good of those who hear, God always teaches in the plainest and directest manner possible, speaking so clearly, distinctly, and intelligibly, that he requires, as with Adam (Gen 3:9) and with Noah (Gen 6:13), with Abimelceh (Gen 20:3) and with Laban (Gen 31:24), to speak only once; with such earnestness and eagerness that he often speaks twice, as he did with Abraham (Gen 22:11), and as Christ did with Saul (Act 9:4); yea, with a patience and gentleness so admirable that he even condescends to speak thrice, as he did with Samuel (1Sa 3:10).

6. Desirability. The teaching God gives is on subjects which it most behoves man to know, in particular on that which maketh wise unto salvationthe Being, character, and purpose of God; the original dignity, present condition, and future destiny of man; the nature, guilt, and penalty of sin; the Person, offices, and work of Christ; the source, means, and end of salvation; the law of life and the rule of duty; the way to die and the path to glory everlasting.

7. Efficiency. Desirable and complete as such a programme of instruction is, no one can learn it by his own unaided powers (1Co 2:14). But God can guide his people into the understanding of it in all its fulness (Psa 25:9).

III. IMMACULATE IN HIS HOLINESS. “Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?” (verse 23).

1. Holiness inseparble from the idea of God. A Being who can be charged with iniquity cannot possibly be Divine. Hence God can, in no sense or degree, be the author of sin.

2. Men prone to connect sin with God. The heathen do so when they worship deities like themselves”gods fierce, rapacious, cruel, and unjust.” Philosophers do so when they hold God responsible for everything that exists. Even good people do so when they charge God with inequality or injustice in his ways.

3. God’s holiness largely insisted on in scripture. The inveterate tendency of the fallen heart to forget the Divine purity demands that this be frequently held up for contemplation (Exo 15:11; Deu 32:4; 1Sa 2:2; Job 4:17; Job 34:10; Psa 92:15; Psa 111:9; Isa 57:15; Rev 4:8).

IV. UNSEARCHABLE IN HIS BEING. “Behold, God is great, and we know him not” (verse 26).

1. We know him not directly. “No man hath seen God at any time,” said Christ (Joh 1:18); with which agrees God’s word to Moses (Exo 33:20), and John’s word to Christians (1Jn 4:12). God reveals himself to man in creation (Psa 19:1; Rom 1:20), in providence (Job 9:11, sqq.), in Christ (Joh 14:9; 2Co 4:6; Col 1:15), through the Spirit (Mat 11:27).

2. We know him not completely. It is certain that the infinite God will never be entirely comprehended by a finite creature. But of even such a measure and degree of knowledge as is possible to man, it is likewise true that we have not reached the full measure. “Now we know in part” (1Co 13:12). Hereafter all that can be known of God by finite creatures will be realized.

3. We know him not clearly. Even what we do apprehend of the Divine Being is involved in much obscurity. “Now we see through a glass darkly” (1Co 13:12). Hereafter his servants shall behold his face with open vision (Rev 22:4). Yet for all that, notwithstanding these limitations:

4. We know him not imaginarily, but really. That is, our knowledge of the Divine Being, though neither direct, nor adequate, nor perfectly clear, is real, accurate, and reliable so far as it goes.

V. ETERNAL IN HIS EXISTENCE. “Neither can the number of his years be searched out” (verse 26). The language which ascribes years to God is, of course, anthropomorphic (Psa 102:24). Both Elihu and the Hebrew bard intend to represent God as “without beginning of days or end of years,” as existing “from everlasting to everlasting,” as exalted high above all the permutations and vicissitudes of created, life, and therefore as removed completely beyond the sphere of man’s judgment or criticism.

VI. WONDERFUL IN HIS WORKING. To this thought Elihu recurs in detail in the ensuing chapter (vide homiletics). In the mean time he alludes to certain natural phenomena as indicative of God’s excellent power in working.

1. Rain. “For he maketh small [literally, ‘he draweth up,’ sc. by evaporation] the small drops of water,” after which “they pour down rain [or, ‘as rain’], according to the vapour thereof,” or “for this mist” (Cook), or “in connection with its mist” (Delitzsch). It is not the understanding of how rain is formed that constitutes either the wonder or the difficulty of the phenomenon; it is the making of rain, the institution and maintenance of those material laws and forces which produce rain. It is here that Divine power is required and seen.

2. Clouds. “Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly” (verse 28). Not the least interesting among those objects which attract the student of nature are the clouds of heaven, which receive the evaporated moisture of earth, and retain it floating in the atmosphere until it is again required by the parched soil. Objects of beauty in themselves, they strikingly attest the almighty power, matchless wisdom, and essential goodness of God.

3. Thunder. “Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?” (verse 29). The appearance of the sky in a thunderstorm is what the poet aims at depicting, when the dark clouds spread across the firmament, and the first thunder-crash falls upon the ear (vide homiletics on next chapter).

4. Lightning. “Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it,” or over himself (Hab 3:4), “and covereth the bottom [literally, ‘the roots ‘] of the sea” (verse 30); i.e. he lights up the whole heaven, and even illuminates the hidden depths of the ocean by the glare of his lightning.

VII. BENEFICENT IN HIS ADMINISTRATION. “The two ideas of power and goodness are associated closely in Elihu’s mind; whereas the three friends dwell more upon the combination of power and justice, and Job upon that of power and wisdom. Goodness, righteousness, wisdom, are one in God; various aspects under which the essential principle of love is manifested” (Canon Cook). The beneficence of the Divine administration in nature is represented in a twofold form.

1. Negatively, as judgment upon the nations. “For by them judgeth he the people” (verse 31). Seemingly severe in themselves, God’s judgments upon the wicked men and nations are to righteous men and nations acts of grace and kindness. It is for the benefit of the world that sin should be chastised. Love no less than justice demands that the wicked should be overthrown.

2. Positively, as kindness to his people. “He giveth meat in abundance.” In this aspect Elihu thinks of the rain, the clouds, the thunder, the lightning. The beneficent uses of these and other ordinary phenomena of nature are patent to the slightest reflection. The rain is the great fertilizer of the soil; the cloud, besides serving as a screen to moderate the warmth of the sun, operates to prevent the too speedy radiation of the earth’s heat, while it also acts as the great rain-collector and distributor for the parched ground; the thunderstorm is the most effective of all atmospheric purifiers and rectifiers.

VIII. GLORIOUS IN HIS MANIFESTATIONS. Taking advantage, as usual, of the extreme obscurity of the last two verses (vide Exposition), and availing ourselves of the more probable of the offered interpretations, we find Elihu suggesting concerning the Divine manifestations that they are:

1. Announced by the elements. Elihu alludes, it is thought, to an approaching theophany, of which the thunderstorm was the herald. “With clouds he covereth the light,” etc.; literally, “Upon both hands he spreadeth as a covering the light” (i.e. the lightning), “and commandeth it as one who hitteth the mark” (Delitzsch) against his enemy (Gesenius, Umbreit), in striking (Carey)whom it shall reach (Canon Cook). So was God’s approach to Adam after he had fallen announced by a rush of wind through the garden (Gen 3:8); to Israel by thunders and lightnings and the noise of a trumpet (Exo 20:18); to Elijah by a wind, an earthquake, and a fire (1Ki 19:11). So was God’s advent to the world at the Incarnation proclaimed by signs and wonders both in heaven and on earth. The descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was accompanied by a rushing mighty wind. The return of God to judge the world will be attended with alarming prodigies.

2. Recognized by the irrational oration. To the herds the rumble of the thunder is pictured by Elihu as announcing the arrival of God. So when Christ the Son of God came to earth, not only did the winds and the seas obey him (Mar 4:41), but the wild beasts gathered round him and forgot their ferocity (Mar 1:13). Among the signs that shall foretell his second coming will be the lying down of the wolf with the lamb, and of the leopard with the kid (Isa 11:6-9).

3. Presented to man. Neither the inanimate creation nor the irrational animals can consciously apprehend the glory of God. Hence the Divine manifestations, though heralded and unconsciously recognized by them, are not specifically meant for them, but for man, the head and crown of the material globe. To man alone of all God’s creatures on the earth belongs the power of apprehending the Divine glory. Hence God’s self-revelations are always for the sake of man. The one now approaching was for Job’s sake. The Incarnation was for the sake of humanity. The second advent will be for the sake of the Church.

4. Directed against unrighteousness. “The sound thereof (i.e. the thunder-crash) announces concerning their fierceness of wrath against unrighteousness” (Cook). Even so the first Divine manifestation in the Incarnation and cross was a revelation of the wrath of God against all unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18); though of this character much more will the next Divine apocalypse partake.

5. Designed for the salvation of the righteous. According to another rendering (Umbreit), Elihu is understood to say that, while God fills both his hands with light, in the one hand he holds the lightning-shaft wherewith to strike the wicked, but in the other the cheering light of the sun to reveal to his friend, and even unto cattle and to plants. It may remind us again of the double purpose of all God’s manifests-tions. The pillar of cloud and fire meant destruction to Egypt, but emancipation to Israel. Even the gospel is a savour of life unto some, but of death unto others. When Christ next comes, it will be not alone to punish his foes, but also to save his friends.

Learn:

1. To magnify the work of God.

2. To celebrate the praise of God.

3. To reverence the Name of God.

4. To delight in the revelation of God.

5. To acquiesce in the purpose of God.

6. To listen to the teaching of God.

7. To accept the salvation of God.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Verse 1-37:24

Elihu’s fourth speech: God the Loving, the Just, and the Holy.

In the preceding discourses of Elihu, be has dwelt chiefly upon the moral relations of man to God, and the view presented of God has been chiefly that obtained through the medium of human feelings and analogies. His present discourse rises to a sublime view of him as the infinitely mighty One, the wise and just Father of mankind. If we suppose that during this address the storm is brewing out of which Jehovah presently speaks, then all Elihu’s references to the lightning, the thunder, the storm and rain receive, as he proceeds, their splendid illustration from the sublime scene around, and heighten the force of his appeals.

I. INTRODUCTION. (Job 37:1-4.) The speaker begins by announcing that he has something further of weight to say in justification of the ways of God to man. He has “words for God” to utter. Though God’s works are his justification, and he needs no defence at the hands of man, yet it may be said that the free exercise of reason, in setting forth the glory of his goodness and justice, is an acceptable service to him. If he delights in the unconscious testimony of babes and sucklings (Psa 8:1-9.), still more must he delight in the conscious spontaneous offerings of man’s matured thought at his shrine, The great works of Christian theologians and apologists, such as Calvin’s ‘Institutes’ or Butler’s ‘Analogy,’ are the tributes of reason to the honour of God. But they are valueless unless they have that quality which Elihu so emphatically claims, sincerity, truth. He who ventures to speak for God must speak, not with the purpose of temporary expediency, but out of the consciousness of eternity.

II. THE JUSTICE OF GOD REVEALED IN THE HISTORY OF MAN. (Job 37:5-21.) The course of life, argues the speaker, shows that a chastening, a purifying, but at the same time a loving, Power is at work in the world. This is supported:

1. By a general view of human life. (Job 37:6-15.) God is revealed in the different courses of men’s lives as Power, but not as arbitrary Power. His greatness is not associated with contempt for the lowliness of man. It is not reckless of right and wrong. It upholds the moral orderthe godless sink unsupported into the ruin their own conduct has prepared for them; while those who suffer from the injustice of others are succoured and defended. God’s watchful eye is upon all just men, from the king whose throne he establishes, whose dignity he guards, to the captive in his chains, to the beggar in his misery. This, as we have so often seen, is the firm foundation-truth which runs beneath the whole of this book, and through the whole of the Bible. And the seeming exceptions to these principles of the Divine administration are now explained as merely seeming; for they come under the principle of chastisement, which is but another illustration of love. According to this viewnever more feelingly set forth than here-suffering may be, not the brand of guilt, but the silent token of love in the form of discipline. Without positive guilt there may be moral stagnation, in which the germs of future evil are discovered by the eye of the Divine Educator. Evil is forming in tendency or thought when it has not blossomed into deeds. Then comes the visit of God in suffering to warn, to hint of danger, to “open the ear” to instructions that were thought unnecessary in the days of perfect peace and self-complacency. And if the mind yields to this gracious leading, and bends itself to docility to this new revelation of the holy will, all shall yet be well. The season of depression and disaster will be passed through, and the sheep who have heard the Shepherd’s voice will find themselves led once more into the green pastures of content (Job 37:6-11). But the God who is revealed to us in this tender and gracious aspect in the course el experience, under the condition of obedience, becomes clothed in sternness and severity to those who resist. Those who venture to war with law, to rebel against omnipotence and justice, can but meet an unhappy doom. In wondrous ways, unknown to man, God is able to bring men to their destined goal (Job 37:12-14). The great lesson, then, is to betake one’s self to self-examination (the opening of the ear) and to prayer when the visitants of God’s chastening love are knocking at the door of our heart. The lesson is expressed by pointing to the sad examples of unsubmissive, prayerless lives! These, like spots where the dew falls not, cannot thrive. Hearts, like bare rocks, that will not melt in the sun, callous, impenitent, heedless, perish for want of knowledge, of faith, of God; but those whose whole nature has been broken up and laid open by suffering are prepared to receive the seed of eternal wisdom which the Divine Husbandman seeks in such times to implant (Job 37:15).

2. By reference to Job‘s vicissitudes. (Verses 16-21.) In these verses, which are so obscure in meaning in our version, a deduction is made from the foregoing principles in reference to the case of Job. In verse 16 the verb should be taken in the present, “God’s leading,” or “is for leading” him out of his present straitened and distressed condition; but what if the conditions of submission, penitence, and docility are wanting in Job? Assuming that there is this want, solemn warnings are giventhat he cannot, if in a state of sin, escape the judgment of God; that if he allows the fire of suffering to madden him into impiety instead of purifying his spirit, he will find himself in an evil plight, for no cries nor efforts can avail to extricate him from the fangs of doom. Let not Job, then, says the speaker (verse 20), perhaps pointing to the dark warning of the sky, long after the night (of judgment); for whole peoples pass away in that terrible darkness when the wrath of God is outpoured! And to conclude the warnings, let Job beware of the turning of the heart to vanitythe natural thoughtlessness of mankind in presence of the judgments of God. The application is unfair as regards Job; still, we are reminded indirectly that it is not sufficient to hold a true theory of God’s moral government in general, without applying it to the facts of our own lives. Men may harshly apply great principles to our character and condition in the world; this cannot absolve us from the duty of applying them truly and honestly for ourselves.

III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED IN NATURE. (Verse 22- Job 37:24.)

1. The wisdom and power of God as seen in nature‘s wonders. (Verse 22- Job 37:13.) Introduction. (Verses 22-25.) The sublime power of God fills every observer of Nature with awe. Who is a Ruler as he? Who can improve upon Nature? She is the great mechanist, artist, designer, executor. Man may produce new varieties of plants and, to some extent, of animals by the exercise of intelligence, but “o’er that art which men call nature is another art which nature makes.” Art is the highest effort of human nature; and what nature can he honour who honours not the human? If, then, you have a quarrel with God, what is this but to dispute the beauty and the good of things, which all men delight to celebrate, on which no eyes are weary of looking with wonder?

2. Look, then, at the grandeur of the phenomena of naturethe rain the clouds‘ the storms. (Verse 26- Job 37:5.) Read the words of the description, compare them with your own feelings. In the very vagueness and vastness of nature there is a power to impress the imagination. This array of beauty and of grandeur is not only far beyond, but totally unlike, anything that man can conceive or accomplish. No words can better set forth these profound and unutterable impressions than the words of great poets, “thrown out” as it were at a distant, illimitable object which cannot be defined. “God thunders with his voice wondrously, doth great things that we understand not:” this is the sum of all. The indefinite grandeur of images and sounds, which is so impressive in the highest poetry, represents the inarticulate but overwhelming voice of nature which tells of the Being and the goodness of God. Again, these effects point to causes; and the regularity of effects to the regularity of causes; and the whole series of effects and causes resolves itself into the conception of law, high, unerring, unbroken. Even with a very imperfect knowledge of the structure of the cosmos, there is some dim perception of these truths: how much more should consummate science impress them upon the spirit! Every phenomenon that strikes with awe the senses, or that gently excites the wonder and curiosity of the mind, hints at an Intelligence which is ever at work. The snow, the rain-torrents, which give pause to the labours of man, and compel his gaze to the sky; the crouching of the wild beast in his lair before the fury of the storm; the rushing forth of the blasts as from some hidden repository (as the Greeks fabled, the cave of AEelus); the congelation of the waters; the clouds discharging their weight of moisture or flashing forth their lightnings;all speak of superhuman power, ell-controlling and still guiding the march of nature by a principle of right; now scourging men’s folly, and now rewarding and blessing their obedience. In the fearful and beautiful scenes of the storm and of winter we indeed no longer see signs of the personal displeasure of God. We explain them by the “laws of nature.” But none the less do these phenomena tell of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God, and hint to us the duty and the need of prayer to him who gave to Nature her laws.

3. Inferences; exhortations. (Job 37:14-24.) If this be the view Nature gives us of her God and of our Creator, instead of murmuring at him or disputing his dealings, let Job and all sufferers draw the true conclusions amidst the dark enigmas of their lives. Let the preceding impressions be laid well to heart, and in quiet contemplation let the mystery of the Divine operations be reviewed. Can man explain the secrets of nature? If not, why should he expect to explain fully that which is a part of the same system, under the same rule, controlled by the same God, namely, his own life and its mingled web of weal and woe (verse 14, sqq.)? “We have but faith; we cannot know.” “If man is not called by God to his side in other matters of his daily doing, to be as a judge and counsellor, and this can be expected by none, and none presumes to murmur against that order, it is right that man should not demand that the method of God’s government should be shown him in this world, but that he should acquiesce in it, whether he understands it or no; that he should believe his Word, and await his good in patience” (Cocceius).

CONCLUSION. find now the speakerpointing to the rising storm which has been gathering during his discourse, brings his words, in solemn iteration and summing-up, to a close (verses 21-24). The aspect of yonder heaven is a symbol of Job’s position in relation to God. The light that flashes in its wonted splendour behind the clouds is not seen just now, but a wind rises and sweeps those clouds away; and so the God who is concealed for a time, and of whom we are in danger of entertaining wrong thoughts, may suddenly, to our surprise and shame, discover himself. Let us, then, humble ourselves in presence of the destiny that just now is full of darkness. From the gloom as of midnight there bursts forth the gleam as of goldbrilliant token of the sublime power of Jehovah. And God remains inaccessible to sense, to knowledge, dwelling in the unapproachable light. But, amidst all the terror and the mystery, the voice of conscience, the moral sense in man, tells him that, though God be incomprehensible, this much concerning him may be knownhe is no Perverter of right and justice; he is the infallibly good and wise, just and holy One. This faith is the foundation of reverence, of piety; and as for the “self-wise,” the men wise in their own conceits, God holds them in no regard. (On the dazzling light, the symbol of the majesty of God, compare the hymn of Binney, “Eternal Light! Eternal Light!”)J.

HOMILIES BY R. GREEN

Job 36:5-17

The perfectness of the Divine ways.

Elihu continues to speak on God’s behalf. He defends the Divine ways from what he esteems to be Job’s reflections upon them. He will fain “ascribe righteousness ‘ to his “Maker.” The perfectness and justness of the ways of him who is “mighty in strength and wisdom” is traced by Elihu in many instances. Though greatly exalted, God does not look disdainfully upon man; nor doth he despise the work of his own hands. His perfect work is seen

I. IN HIS JUDGMENTS UPON THE UNGODLY. “He preserveth not the life of the wicked.”

II. IN HIS JUSTICE TO THE OPPRESSED. “He giveth right to the poor;” “He deliverth the poor in his affliction” (verse 15).

III. IN HIS REGARD FOR THE OBEDIENT AND PURE. “He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous.” This is especially seen

IV. IN HIS DISCIPLINE AND CORRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS. This topic Elihu expands. While the Almighty suffers the wicked to perish, he maintains the lot of the oppressed and righteous poor, keeping them ever in view, and ever working all things together for their good.

1. In leading them to an established honour. “With kings are they on the throne.” He “doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.”

2. He sanctifies their sorrows as means of spiritual discipline and correction. “If they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction, he showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.”

3. He imparts instruction, warning them away from the dangers of iniquity.

4. He crowns their obedience with ample reward. “If they obey and serve him,” he makes them to spend their days in prosperity. How does this anticipate the final condition of Job? and in the process of this Divine poem, how is the unravelling of the mystery, the knot of human suffering, gradually promoted? Again, with another motive to urge Job to repentance, Elihu points out

5. That even the righteous, if they are disobedient to the Divine instructions and correction, “shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.” He makes a direct application of the whole teaching to Job: “Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place;” but lays at Job’s door the accusation of fulfilling the judgment of the evil-doer and suffering, as he does, for the severities of “judgment and justice.” The principle of Elihu’s teaching is just, if his application of it is faulty. All may learn

(1) to acknowledge,

(2) to bow to,

(3) to harmonize their life with, the perfect work of God.R.G.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Job 36:2

Speaking on God’s behalf.

Elihu is not a little held in roundly asserting that he is speaking on God’s behalf. He may be fight, but his assertion needs testing. Not all who claim to speak for God can be accredited as his ambassadors. We must examine the credentials of those who say that they speak on behalf of God.

I. THE FALSE CLAIM TO SPEAK ON GOD‘S BEHALF. This claim is put forth repeatedly.

1. By officialism. Because certain people hold a high office, they assume that they have a fight to represent God. But they may be true in their work and in discharging the proper functions of their office, and yet quite false in pretending to speak for God. God does not confine his heavenly communications to official channels.

2. By authoritative orthodoxy. No one can read the sad records of ecclesiastical history without seeing what ungodly passions have been engaged in the battles of theology. Dare we say that the issue of these miserable conflicts has always been a triumph for truth?

3. By personal dogmatism. Young men, such as Elihu, declare that they are speaking for God. They are very positive. But are they infallible? Would it not be well to see that God is not absolutely dependent on our advocacy? Vast mischief has accrued through bungling and even unrighteous attempts to vindicate God’s truth and God’s action. Can he not take care of his own cause? Shall we, like Uzzah, interfere at every crisis to save the ark of God from destruction? Much unbelief is simply due to unwise advocacy and defence of religion. Sometimes it is best to say nothing, but to trust God’s cause to himself. “Be still, and know that I am God.”

II. THE NECESSARY DUTY OF SPEAKING ON GOD‘S BEHALF. There are times when God requires his people to speak for him, and we dare not be silent under all circumstances. Wrong must be denounced, error corrected, truth maintained, the gospel made known. How, then, can this advocacy be saved from the mischievous effects which follow from a wrong way of speaking for God?

1. By a Divine commission. They who speak for God must be called by God. Whatever be their human mission, they certainly need a Divine vocation. Let a man be well assured in his heart that God has called him before he opens his lips. The assurance may not come by any mystic voices, but by clear indications of providence, the prompting of conscience, the faculty to speak, the open door.

2. By a hold of truth. The teacher must be taught. The, advocate must have his brief; the envoy his despatch. The Christian missionary must be clear in his own grasp of Christian truth. We have the best guide to truth in the Bible. If any one would speak for God, let him follow the teachings of this book.

3. By sympathy with the Spirit of God. We cannot even speak the truth we know wisely and well, unless we are guided by the present influence of the Holy Spirit. It is not enough to study our Bibles. We must be much in prayer, we must live near to God, so that we may speak in the strength and spirit of God.W.F.A.

Job 36:3

Knowledge fetched from afar.

I. KNOWLEDGE MUST BE FETCHED FROM AFAR. True to his character, the brilliant but pretentious young Elihu makes an ostentatious claim to having gone far for the knowledge that he is now about to declare. It might be said that many precious truths lie at our feet ready for us if only we would have the humility to stoop for them. Diamonds sparkle in the dust; we need not be for ever straining after the stars. Still, there is a knowledge that can only be got by far searching.

1. Over a wide realm. Elihu is about to launch forth into the great sea of nature. The infinite variety of facts and the grand harmony of laws there displayed are not perceived at a glance. Truth covers a large area. Many of our notions are erroneous just because our inductions are too narrow. We judge of the world by the parish. We estimate man by our private circle of acquaintances. We value life by our own experience. We must learn to break down the barriers, to master our shortness of sight, to take broad views, and look down long vistas of truth.

2. By persevering thought. A mere glance at truth is not enough. We must search for wisdom as for hidden treasure.

II. KNOWLEDGE FETCHED FROM AFAR VINDICATES THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. This is the conclusion to which Elihu has come. The three friends had declared for the same result, but they had started from much narrower premisses, and their cramped ideas could not satisfy Job. Elihu professes to take a wider view of the world, and so to establish his conclusion on a broader basis. We have only to know enough of God to be assured that all he does is good. The hard thoughts of God which we are tempted to entertain spring from partial and one-sided views of his works.

III. CHRIST HAS BROUGHT US KNOWLEDGE FROM AFAR WHICH REVEALS THE GOODNESS OF GOD. We are not left entirely to our own dim groping after truth in the great wilderness of existence. What we could never have discovered for ourselves has been brought to us by Jesus Christ. He has come from afar, from the distant heavens; and he has brought the knowledge of God and of eternity to earth. Now, if we would have the highest wisdom, our first course is, like Mary, to sit at the feet of Jesus. When we do this we shall learn that all that God does is good. Then we shall see that he is our Father, and that love is the principle that pervades all his government of the world. Some of us may yet be far from a perception of these glorious truthsbecause we are far from Christ. We have to know and trust him in order to reach the truest and best thoughts of God.W.F.A.

Job 36:5

The might and mercy of God.

The remarkable thought here brought before us is the juxtaposition of God’s might and mercy. He is both powerful and pitiful, majestic and condescending, infinite and sympathetic.

I. GOD‘S MIGHT DOES NOT DESTROY HIS MERCY, It is only a very low and earthly view that could lead us to suppose that it might do so. When small men are lifted up they begin to display their littleness by despising those who are beneath them. But no such conduct can be ascribed to the great God. We must not suppose that any one of his creatures is so humble that he will not stoop to care for it. His is not the rude strength of the giant.

II. GOD‘S MERCY IS CONFIRMED BY HIS MIGHT. The truth is the opposite to what we might fear if we judged by the small experience of earthly greatness. God has no temptation to despise any of his creatures. He does not wish to make a display of his greatness.

1. He does not despise the small. Feeble strength and slight capacity lead to contempt among men; but what is the greatest strength, what the highest capacity in the sight of God, in whose eyes all men are but as dust and ashes? If he despised any, he would despise all.

2. He does not despise the wicked. He knows their sin, folly, and helplessness. He seems to treat them with contempt, as psalmists and prophets describe his actions. But all that he really does is to frustrate their foolish designs and show that he cannot be touched by their vain rebellion. If God despised the wicked, he would despise all his children, because in the light of his holiness the best men are covered with the shame of guilt.

III. GOD‘S MIGHT AND MERCY WORK TOGETHER. The might gives effect to the mercy. If God is mighty, and if also he does not despise any, we may be sure that he will use his great power for the benefit of helpless creatures who are not beneath his notice. Sympathy is not enough for salvation, without strength. God has both.

IV. THE MIGHT AND MERCY OF GOD SHOULD LEAD US TO TRUST IN HIM. We have not to deal with an aristocratic Divinity who looks with contempt on the “dim multitude.” Though high above us, God does not despise us; then we may venture to confide in him. No trouble is so foolish that he will not take account of it, if it realty vexes one of his children. Those who are despised by their fellow-men may take comfort from the thought that they are not so regarded by their God. It is well to find a refuge from the contempt of the world in the sympathy of God.

V. WE SHOULD NOT DESPISE ANY OF OUR BRETHREN. If God has not despised them, dare we do so? Whatever feelings may be provoked by the baseness and meanness of men, contempt is never justifiable. God respects the dignity of the child whom he has made in his own image; and we should learn to treat with respect the lowest of our fellow-men. Contempt not only hurts the feelings of the most humble, it degrades the most vicious. We shall not save the sinner by despising him; the only method is Christ’s methodloving him and treating him as a brother.W.F.A.

Job 36:7

The kingship of righteousness.

Elihu assures Job that the righteous are to be with kings on the throne. In the New Testament we learn that Christians are “kings and priests unto God.” Let us, then, inquire as to what the kingship of righteousness consists in.

I. ITS SOURCE. How does this kingly state come to be conferred on men?

1. By Divine favour. God favours righteousness. This is not apparent on earth, or, at all events, under circumstances of trouble and disappointment. Yet in the long run God sustains and exalts those who follow his will. No man can lift himself up to the high places of God. God, and God alone, raises up and casts down. God “withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous.”

2. On condition of righteousness. This is not an arbitrary condition.

(1) It is just. The right should prevail. Good men are best fitted to be in the exalted positions.

(2) It is natural. If “the meek shall inherit the earth” by a silent law that gives them possession of it, the righteous shall rule it by force of a similar law in the very constitution of things. Right tends to prevail, for there is “a stream of tendencies that makes for righteousness.”

3. Through faith. We must add this Christian thought to the teaching of Elihu, if we would have a complete view of the truth. Our own self-made righteousness will never exalt us to a kingly throne. There is no royalty about it. The kingly grace attaches to that righteousness of faith which is the gift of God.

II. ITS CHARACTER. In what sense is it said that righteous men are to be with kings on the throne? How can Christians be regarded as kings?

1. In true glory. Good men may not enjoy worldly glory; they may be poor, despised, obscure. Yet in the sight of God and the angels they may be sitting as kings with crowns on their heads. Royal dignity is not a matter of display. There is a glory which no eye of sense can see.

2. In spiritual power. Kings in the East, and in the olden time, were rulers who made their power felt; and in the Bible kingship involves ruling authority as well as reigning dignity. Now, there is influence in goodness. The man of character carries weight with his advice. In course of time he gains respect, and so acquires influence.

3. In future possession. These ideas of the kingship of the good point to a yet unseen future for their perfect realization. Righteousness is not yet by any means universally dominant. The future has in store for us a glorious kingdom of God, when all evil shall be suppressed, and when goodness shall take its rightful place. In that perfect Messianic age, with Christ reigning as King of kings, all his people will have the honour and power of royalty. In the mean time let us recollect that the kingdom must begin within. Until we can rule our own souls we are not fit to sit as kings. Kingly natures are those that have mastered themselves, and so are capable of ruling others. Righteousness implies self-mastery. When the self-mastery is complete it will be time to ask about the larger kingship.W.F.A.

Job 36:10

The ear that is open to discipline.

I. SUFFERING IS FOR DISCIPLINE. This is Elihu’s great thought, and he returns to it again and again. It is familiar to us, but it seems to have been a new idea in the days of Job, and a fresh revelation for him and his friends. It is not the less important to us because we are well acquainted with it. Still, we have to enter into the meaning of it, and employ it as the key for unlocking the mysteries of our experience. Discipline is very different from punishment.

1. It is for the good of the sufferer. Punishment may be so; kind parents punish their children to benefit them. But this is not the sole object of punishment, which is also instituted to deter bad men from crime by the fear of its infliction, and to warn others by the wholesome lesson of its example. Discipline, on the other hand, is wholly schooling, entirely for the benefit of those who are subjected to it.

2. It is not necessarily consequent upon sin. Punishment is only for guilt; but discipline is for education. It may be the more needed on account of sin; but it is not confined to its effect on sin. Christ the Sinless was made perfect by the things which he suffered (Heb 5:8, Heb 5:9).

II. DISCIPLINE MUST BE RIGHTLY RECEIVED IF IT IS TO PROFIT. It is quite possible for it to be entirely thrown away upon the sufferer. Gold is purified by the fire because gold is but a dead metal. But souls are living, and the effects of the fires of affliction upon them are dependent on voluntary action. They may harden, they may consume, they may purify, they may strengthen. If they are to benefit as discipline they must be received in the right spirit. Now, this spirit is indicated by the open ear. The discipline brings a message from God. It does not only affect our feelings. It aims at reaching our thoughts. Probably it will do us no good at all if it does not lead us to think. An intelligent appreciation of God’s dealings with us is valuable for discipline to work its right end. Then we need to think about our own way in life. Affliction arrests our attention and helps us to search our heart and see whether we have not been doing wrong; it encourages us to survey our whole life with a view to improving it for the future.

III. GOD HELPS HIS PEOPLE TO RECEIVE DISCIPLINE ARIGHT. We need to pray for grace to make the best use of affliction. When our hearts are right with God he will aid us to do this.

1. He will incline the heart to learn. When we are stubborn and self-willed, discipline is of little use. It may tend to break down the obstruction; but as long as that is standing it does little good. The disciple must be docile. Now, the inward influence of the Holy Spirit helps us to become docile under discipline.

2. He will assist the understanding to comprehend. We want to know what God is teaching us by his discipline. Our own wild, prejudiced ideas may lead us quite astray. Therefore it is well to fall upon our knees and pray that God will show us what he means by the special discipline he is putting us throughwhat he is teaching us, and whither he would lead us.W.F.A.

Job 36:15

Affliction as a deliverer.

Elihu says that God delivers the afflicted by his affliction. We have been accustomed to look on affliction as an evil, from which some deliverer may set us free. Elihu startles us with a very different view of it. In his opinion the affliction is itself a deliverer.

I. AFFLICTION IS NOT THE GREATEST EVIL. In our selfish cowardice we look for some escape from pain, as though that were our supreme foe. But sin is worse than sufferingmore hurtful, more objectionable in itself. Any escape from trouble that leaves wickedness untouched is no salvation; but any process, however painful, that frees us from the power of sin is salvation.

II. AFFLICTION MAY BE NO EVIL AT ALL. In itself, of course, it is undesirable. But its “peaceable fruits of righteousness” may be so wholesome and profitable that, on the whole, the affliction must be accounted a good thing. We should judge of any experience by its results, not by its passing phases. We have to learn that the pain that blesses is really itself a blessing. The black cloud that brings a refreshing shower is not a threatening storm. The spur that drives us from the desert where we would perish to the streams of living water is not a cruel instrument of torture. The heavy blow that awakens us when we are sleeping in the snow the sleep that would end in death is nothing less than an angel of mercy.

III. AFFLICTION MAY BE A REAL DELIVERER. We have now to ask how this paradox can be true.

1. By humbling pride. When all is well we are tempted to be self-sufficient and self-satisfied. But in suffering we are cast low, and then our lowliness may be our salvation.

2. By inducing thought. We let the happy hours glide by in careless ease, dreaming life away. Trouble arouses us with a trumpet-blast. It odes, “Awake! Think!”

3. By revealing sin. In our humility and our reflectiveness we are led to a consciousness of sin.

4. By driving us to God. We need most of all to be delivered from ourselves and to be brought back to God. The utter helplessness of great trouble urges us in this direction.

IV. AFFLICTION DELIVERS FROM ITSELF. It is its own deliverer when it is rightly received.

1. The right reception of it overcomes its bitterness. There is no such victory over pain as the capacity to endure it with equanimity. We are more delivered from an evil when the thing we have regarded as evil ceases to hurt us than when we only escape from its clutches.

2. The patient endurance of it brings it to an end. When God sees that his scholar has learnt the desired lesson, he can close the book. No more of the scorching lines need be spelt out with tearful eyes. The student has graduated. Henceforth he is free from the old drudgery. Therefore the true way to escape from dreaded suffering which God sends as discipline is not to murmur against it, but to make the best use of it, in order that, being purified by fire, we may become vessels fit for the King’s use.W.F.A.

Job 36:16

A broad place.

Elihu tells Job that it is the work of affliction to “lure” him out of a strait into a broad place.

I. LIFE IS IN DANGER OF BECOMING NARROW. Various influences combine to narrow it.

1. Selfishness. The disposition to think much of ourselves dwarfs the world to us. But when we are thus living chiefly for our own ends, we are shut into a small circle of personal, private interests, and, the great world being ignored, we ourselves shrink into littleness.

2. Worldliness. When we are absorbed in things of this world, the other and larger world is lost to view. The consequence is that we become short-sighted, and thought and interest are shut in to the domain of the visible and temporal.

3. Conventionality. We lose the courage of personal conviction, and fall back on the ideas and practices of our neighbours.

4. Routine. Since all goes smoothly, the mill grinds on in a dreamy atmosphere of changeless indifference. Then our lives miss the stimulus of a rousing call to arduous service.

II. GOD DELIVERS FROM NARROWNESS BY MEANS OF AFFLICTION.

1. A Divine work. Seeing how hurtful the narrowness is, and desiring us to escape from it, he puts forth his hand to draw us out of the imprisonment it involves. It is difficult for one who has fallen into a mountain gorge, and who lies among the stones bruised and battered, to lift himself up and climb the steep and treacherous crags. He who has fallen into a strait in life needs the strong arm of God to draw him out.

2. Accomplished through affliction. God comes to the rescue of his straitened servant. But the method of deliverance is strange and unexpected. Affliction is itself a strait; it seems to press on the soul, to hamper and limit its activity. Yet this is the very instrument employed in delivering the victim of narrowness, Narrowness of circumstances may deliver from narrowness of soul. The very pressure of this new strait rouses us and bids us exert ourselves. Then, as it cures our errors, it leads us out of its own constraints.

III. GOD‘S DELIVERANCE SETS US IS A BROAD PLACE. First there is a fresh strait, a hard pressure of trouble on the right hand and on the left, with no door of escape. But when the affliction has accomplished its work there is deliverance.

1. Liberty of action. “The truth shall make you free” (Joh 8:32). God desires his people to serve willingly and lovingly, not with fetters on their ankles. The freedom is of a soul “at leisure from itself.” There is a large place with great scope for work, which can only be enjoyed in unselfishness and unworldliness.

2. Breadth of view. It is wonderful how the vision is broadened by the experience of sorrow. Although at first it may be cramped and confined to the immediate present by the absorbing influence of pain, when deliverance comes, this is followed by a wonderful mental expansion. No one knows the depth and breadth of life who has not been through the waters of affliction.

3. Largeness joy. The broad place is open to the fresh air and the bright sunshine. Delivered from dank and dreary narrow regions, we can rejoice in our God-given liberty. This bliss is partly enjoyed on earth; it will be perfect in heaven, the large place of life and liberty.W.F.A.

Job 36:18

The uselessness of a great ransom.

Job had sinned, says Elihu, though not in the black and hypocritical way that his three friends attributed to him. His sin had been in judging God, and charging the Holy One with injustice; and this sin brought its own punishment; indeed, it was its own punishment, because to think that God, our Maker and our Judge, is unjust is to be in torment. Now Job is told that if he holds to this sin the greatness of a ransom will be of no avail; he cannot be saved.

I. MAN LOOKS FOR DELIVERANCE THROUGH A. RANSOM. This is not only a Christian idea. It is found in the Old Testament, and it is to be traced through heathen systems of religion, though among these systems it appears in a degraded and corrupted state.

1. Man has a sense of bondage. This he feels. When conscience is aroused, he has the most intense consciousness of its galling fetters. “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24).

2. Man cannot escape from his bondage. The old brigand, Satan, that great robber of souls, has too tight a hand on his victims to let them go free whenever they choose to escape from his clutches. Habit is a stronger bandage than the cords with which Samson was bound. The deliverance must come from without.

3. This deliverance must be at a great cost. We do not know what the cost must be, nor how it should be settled. It cannot be true, as some of the Fathers held, that a price must be paid to Satan that he may consent to liberate man. He never consents. He can have no compensation. The liberation is by the overthrow of Satan and the conquest of his domain. The Bastille must be stormed and hurled down if its prisoners are to escape. But this can only be done at great cost.

II. CHRIST IS THE RANSOM FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF MAN. This is his own statement (Mat 20:28). His advent with humiliation in a state of servitude was a Divine paymenta sacrifice on the part of God. His death was his own surrender of his life for the liberation of man from sin. We need not understand why the ransom had to be paid in order to see that it has been paid. A clear idea of the reason and necessity of the payment might help our faith. Still, the fact is the great thing to know. Christ has given himself fur us, and through him we have liberty.

III. THE GREATEST RANSOM MAY BE UNAVAILING.

1. If it is not rightly paid. Men make great sacrifices in asceticism; yet there is no reason to think that they are of any adequate value, because they are not required by God, and they serve no good end.

2. If there is no repentance. The work of Christ is for the benefit of all who will avail themselves of it. But a first condition of profiting by it is repentance. While a man holds to his sin he cannot enjoy the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice. For him Christ has died in vain.

3. If it is not accompanied try faith. This is the connecting link that joins the soul to Christ. All that he has done for us remains outside us, not touching our life and need, till we learn to confide in him.

CONCLUSION. It is worse for the ransom to be paid in vain than for it not to be paid at all. They who reject Christ are doubly without hope, for they are without excuse.W.F.A.

Job 36:22

Exaltation and instruction.

Both of these are from God, and both of them exceed any human effort. It is his power that exalts; he is the incomparable Teacher. Let us look at both of these truths and then at their mutual relations.

I. DIVINE EXALTATION.

1. The experience. God’s people are not kept in perpetual depression. Sometimes they are cast down to the dust. But this is not their continual state. Salvation is not attained by means of ceaseless humiliation. There is exaltation

(1) in gladness, rejoicing over the love of God;

(2) in strength, rising to achieve great service in the kingdom;

(3) in victory, triumphing over failure and evil.

2. Its source. God exalts. Man cannot truly exalt himself, and when he tries to do so, pride and vanity give him an ugly fall. Success in this world even is dependent on God’s providence; much more are true elevation of character and exaltation of energy dependent on his favour.

3. Its accomplishment. God exalts by his power. It is much to know that God is almighty as well as most merciful and gracious. To be favoured by one who had small resources would be pleasant, but it could not be very helpful. But God’s power goes with his love to effect his good designs.

II. INCOMPABARLE INSTRUCTION. “Who teacheth like him?”

1. How God teaches

(1) By experience. He puts us to a school of life; he makes us feel the reality of his lessons. The sorrows and joys, the humiliations and the exaltations are all parts of the Divine instruction.

(2) In revelation. This Divine instruction carries us out of ourselves and opens to us visions of heavenly truth. God teaches partly through prophets and apostles in the Scriptures, but mainly through Christ in his great life, death, and resurrection.

2. Why his teaching is incomparable.

(1) Because he knows the lesson. The Teacher is a master of his subject. God knows all truth. Who, then, can teach it as he will teach it?

(2) Because he understands the pupils. This condition is necessary if the lesson is not to miss the mark. Great scholars are not always great teachers, because they cannot always enter into the difficulties of beginners and expound to the simple and ignorant what they are themselves most familiar with.

(3) Because he spares no pains. He is in earnest in desiring to teach his children. He is not like the listless teacher who drones over his perfunctory task. God means to get his lessons into the dullest of his pupils, and, being in earnest and full of sympathy, he is unequalled.

III. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE EXALTATION AND THE INSTRUCTION. Each helps the other.

1. The exaltation a method of instruction. As we rise higher we leave the mists of the valley, and at the same time our horizon expands. Gladness and strength and victory open our eyes to the love of God and the glory of the kingdom. Adversity has its lessons, but so also has prosperity.

2. The instruction an element of the exaltation. We cannot become great in mind until we rise above the petty, narrow, ignorant conceptions that belong to our more backward state. Spiritual greatness implies enlarged knowledge as well as an increase in other graces. When Christ sets his people in places of joy and honour, they have to show appreciation of their privileges by opening their souls to receive the fuller truth that he reveals.W.F.A.

Job 36:24

God praised for his works.

I. CONSIDER HOW WORTHY OF PRAISE ARE THE WORKS OF GOD. We do not prize them so much fro’ their vast bulk and infinite number as for their character and the manner in which they are executed. A small statue is more admirable than a huge boulder, and a minute and finely cut gem more precious than a great sea crag. Wherein, then, shall we find the specially praiseworthy characteristics of the works of God?

1. In thoroughness. The infinitely little is as well wrought as the infinitely great. Thought and care are lavished on tiny insects. Exquisite workmanship is seen in humble weeds. The unseen parts of God’s works are as perfect as those which are most prominent. The hosts of flowers that bloom on uninhabited prairies are as beautiful as those that smile at us from an English hedgerow.

2. In harmony. The various parts of God’s works fit together and aid one another with mutual services. Not only is there a general peaceable arrangement of nature, but there is also a reciprocity that makes each part necessary to the whole. Plants live on the soil, animals on the plants, and these again on the perishing bodies of animals.

3. In beauty. The direct utility of nature might have been served in an ugly fashion. Clouds might all have been black, and leaves and flowers and earth of one dull hue. But God has breathed a spirit of beauty over his works.

4. In joy. God has made existence itself to be a gladness. Insects, birds, and beasts rejoice in the sunlight of a summer day. Man finds life a source of joy.

5. In progress. All nature is moving on in a grand progress to higher forms of life and more perfect types of organization. It is lull of hope, and it looks forward to God’s greater future works.

II. REMEMBER HOW WELL IT IS THAT WE SHOULD PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WORKS.

1. In gratitude. We are ourselves part of his works, and we have to thank him that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Then other works of God minister to our welfare, and as we profit by their utility or enjoy their beauty, it is becoming that we should praise him who is the Maker and Giver of them all.

2. In admiration. It is a miserable thing to sink into that cynical pessimism that can only criticize adversely and can never see and enjoy merit. It passes for cleverness, but it is really a form of dulness, for it is the result of a want of capacity to perceive the good points of that which only arrests attention on account of its real or supposed defects. This habit of mind prevents us from rising to any true greatness ourselves, because men are dawn upwards by admiration. When, however, we have learnt to admire the works of God, it is only fitting that we should go on and adore their great Artificer. The praise of the picture is the praise of the artist. Yet there are lovers of nature who seem to forget her Author.

3. In aspiration. The wings of praise carry the soul aloft. When we sing of the great and marvellous works of God with the heart and the understanding, we shall enter into the thoughts of God lovingly and with sympathy. We grow like what we adore. Following the angels in songs of praise, we shall grow like the angels in heavenly character, if we live in a spirit of worship, praising God not only by the hymns of the sanctuary, but by the grand psalm of a whole life of worship.W.F.A.

Job 36:26

God is great.

This is the Mussulman creed, and a truth of great force in Mohammedanism. Christianity also contains it, and simple as may be the conception when set forth in bare words, there are depths and wide reaches of inferences flowing from it that can never be exhausted.

I. GOD IS IRRESISTIBLE. This is the Mohammedan inference, and of course a necessary and true one, although it dues not describe all that we know of God. We know that it is simply foolish to run against the laws of nature. We cannot deflect one of them by a bait’s breadth. But the laws of nature are the ways of God. Therefore there can be but one end to our opposition to God; it must fail. The sooner we own this obvious truth and act upon it the better for ourselves. If we cease to run madly against the will of God, we may repent and turn to the better way; if we still hurl ourselves headlong against it, we can but dash ourselves to pieces.

II. GOD IS UNFATHOMABLE. If we could measure God, he would cease to be God, for he would be no longer infinite. Therefore, instead of being surprised that we meet with mysteries in him, we should expect it, and take it as a sign that we are dealing with One who is vastly greater than we are. The child cannot understand all the actions of his earthly father. How, then, can any man think to understand God? This does not mean that we can know nothing of God. For God may be known as far as he has revealed himself to us, and as far as we are able to rise to a comprehension of some things in his nature. We may know God truly; but we cannot know him adequately. Before the awful mystery of his greatness we tremble, humbled and abashed.

1. Therefore we are not in a position to judge of God‘s actions. We see but a minute fraction of them. Their roots lie in dark depths beyond the reach of our inquiry; their purposes stretch far beyond the utmost rim of our horizon.

2. Therefore we should learn to trust God. We must walk by faith, for we cannot see all.

III. GOD IS ALMIGHTY TO SAVE. The Christian God is more than the Mussulman Allah. He is not like an inexorable Oriental despot. He is full of sympathy for his children, listening to their cry and coming to save them in their need. If he is great, that is the more reassuring for us when we put our trust in him. It is vain for us to resist him; but it is safe for us to trust him. Even the mysteriousness of God invites our confidence when once we are assured of his love. His almighty power is able to save unto the uttermost, and his great and wonderful thought invites us to repose in his wisdom. Henry Vaughan, in ‘Silex Scintillans,’ says

“There is a God, some say
A deep, but dazzling darkness;

As men here

Say it is late and dusky, because they

See not all clear.

Oh for that night! where I in him
Might live invisible and dim!”

W.F.A.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

CHAP. XXXVI.

Elihu sets forth the justice of God in all his ways, and extols the greatness of his power and providence.

Before Christ 1645.

Job 36:1. Elihu also proceeded Elihu goes on to lay before Job the impropriety of his behaviour towards God, and desires him to consider how vain it will prove; that God is Almighty, and will never yield the point, that he will administer impartial justice to all men: Job 36:2-6.; that the general course of his providence is, to favour the righteous; and that, though he may sometimes correct them in love, yet, if they submit patiently to his fatherly correction, and amend their ways, they shall enjoy all manner of prosperity. But if they are stubborn, and will not submit, they only draw down greater degrees of his vengeance on themselves; Job 36:7-16. He tells him, that had he followed the former course, he had probably before now been restored to his former condition; whereas, by persisting in the latter, he was in a fair way of becoming a signal example of the divine vengeance: Job 36:17-18. He warns him, therefore, to make use of the present opportunity, lest God should cut him off while in a state of rebellion: for that, with God, neither wealth, power, nor any other argument that he could use, would be of any avail: Job 36:18-26. God was infinitely powerful; there was, therefore, no resisting him; and infinitely wise, as sufficiently appeared by his works; there was, therefore, no escaping out of his hands. His purity was so great, that the sun in his presence was more dim than the smallest ray when compared with that bright luminary; his holiness was manifest, from his aversion to iniquity; and his goodness, in supplying the wants of his creatures: Job 36:26 to chap. Job 36:23. Man was utterly unable to account for the least of his works; how then dared he to attempt to penetrate the secrets of his providence, and to call him to an account for his dealings with men? This could proceed only from an unjustifiable self-conceit: Job 36:24 a crime which the Almighty would not fail severely to punish. Heath.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

FOURTH DISCOURSE
A vivid exhibition of the activity of God, which is seen to be benevolent, as well as mighty and just, both in the destinies of men, and in the natural world outside of man

Job 36-37

Introduction: announcing that further important contributions are about to be made to the vindication of God

Job 34:1-4

1Elihu also proceeded and said:

2Suffer me a little, and I will show thee

that I have yet to speak on Gods behalf.

3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4 For truly my words shall not be false;

he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.

a. Vindication of the divine justice, manifesting itself in the destinies of men as a power benevolently chastening and purifying them: Job 34:5-21

. In general: Job 34:5-15

5 Behold God is mighty, and despiseth not any;

He is mighty in strength and wisdom.

6 He preserveth not the life of the wicked;

but giveth right to the poor.

7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous;

but with kings are they on the throne;
yea, He doth establish them forever, and they are exalted.

8 And if they be bound in fetters,

and be holden in cords of affliction;

9 then He sheweth them their work,

and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

10 He openeth also their ear to discipline,

and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

11 If they obey and serve Him,

they shall spend their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasures.

12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword,

and they shall die without knowledge.

13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath;

they cry not when He bindeth them.

14 They die in youth,

and their life is among the unclean.

15 He delivereth the poor in his affliction

and openeth their ears in oppression.

. In Jobs change of fortune in particular: Job 34:16-21

16 Even so he would have removed thee out of the strait

into a broad place, where there is no straitness;
and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

17 But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked;

judgment and justice take hold on thee.

18 Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke;

then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

19 Will He esteem thy riches? no, not gold,

nor all the forces of strength.

20 Desire not the night,

when people are cut off in their place.

21 Take heed, regard not iniquity:

for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.

b. Vindication of the divine justice, revealing itself in nature as supreme power and wisdom;

Job 36:22 to Job 37:24

. The wonders of nature, as revelations of divine wisdom and power:

Job 36:22 Job 37:13

22 Behold, God exalteth by His power;

who teacheth like Him?

23 who hath enjoined Him His way?

or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?

24 Remember that thou magnify His work,

which men behold.

25 Every man may see it;

man may behold it afar off.

(1) Rain, clouds, and thunder: Job 36:26 Job 37:5

26 Behold, God is great, and we know Him not,

neither can the number of His years be searched out.

27 For He maketh small the drops of water;

they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof;

28 which the clouds do drop,

and distil upon man abundantly.

29 Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds,

or the noise of His tabernacle?

30 Behold, He spreadeth His light upon it,

and covereth the bottom of the sea.

31 For by them judgeth He the people;

He giveth meat in abundance.

32 With clouds He covereth the light;

and commandeth it not to shine by the clouds that cometh betwixt.

33 The noise thereof showeth concerning it,

the cattle also concerning the vapour.

Job 37

1 At this also my heart trembleth,

and is moved out of his place.

2 Hear attentively the noise of His voice,

and the sound that goeth out of His mouth,

3 He directeth it 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 excellency;
and He will not stay them when His voice is heard.

5 God thundereth marvellously with His voice;

great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend.

(2) The forces of winter, such as snow, rain, the north-wind, frost, etc.: Job 37:6-13.

6 For He saith to the snow: Be thou on the earth;

likewise to the small rain,
and to the great rain of His strength.

7 He sealeth up the hand of every man;

that all men may know His work.

8 Then the beasts go into dens,

and remain in their places.

9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind;

and cold out of the north.

10 By the breath of God frost is given;

and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

11 Also by watering He wearieth the thick cloud;

He scattereth His bright cloud;

12 and it is turned round about by His counsels;

that they may do whatsoever He commandeth them
upon the face of the world in the earth.

13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction,

or for His land, or for mercy.

. Final admonitory inferences from what precedes for Job 38:14-24

14 Hearken unto this, O Job; stand still,

and consider the wondrous works of God.

15 Dost thou know when God disposed them,

and caused the light of His cloud to shine?

16 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds,

the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge?

17 How thy garments are warm,

when He quieteth the earth by the south wind?

18 Hast thou with Him spread out the sky,

which is strong, and as a molten looking-glass?

19 Teach us what we shall say unto Him;

for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.

20 Shall it be told Him that I speak?

if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

21 And now men see not the bright light

which is in the clouds:
but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

22 Fair weather cometh out of the north:

with God is terrible majesty.

23 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.

24 Men do therefore fear Him:

He respecteth not any that are wise of heart.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Instead of the predominantly anthropological and ethical doctrine of the three preceding discourses, Elihu puts forth, in this his closing discourse, reflections which are pre-eminently theological. God, the infinitely mighty and wise Being, who is at the same time just, and possessed of fatherly love, stands in the foreground of his descriptions, alike in the first and shorter division (Job 36:5-21), which describes His righteous interposition in determining the lots of mankind, and gives further expression to the favorite thought of the speaker touching the hand of God chastising men with severity indeed, and yet ever with a merciful purpose, and in the and yet ever with a merciful purpose, and in the Job 36:22 to Job 37:24), which treats of the majestic manifestation of Gods activity in the wonders of His creation, first in the way of description (Job 36:22 to Job 37:13) then in the way of application, closing with admonitory inferences from the themes of his description for the benefit of Job. It is in this last half especially that this fourth discourse of Elihu exhibits itself as the immediate preparation for the concluding act of the whole poem, providing the transition to the interposition of God. This magnificent physico-theological section is vividly introduced by the threefold at the head of each of the three strophesch. Job 36:22 seq.; 26 seq.; 30 seq.; and this threefold successive compels us to find the beginning of this section in Job 36:22, and not (with Ewald, Vaihinger, Dillm., etc.) in Job 36:26 (see below on Job 36:22). Add to this the predominance throughout the description of the references to the majestic phenomena of lightning, thunder, storm and rain, and the conjecture formerly adopted by Cocceius, J. H. Michaelis, Reimarus, Starke, Lange, and latterly by Rosenmller, Umbreit, v. Gerlach, V. Andre, Schlottmann, Bttcher [Scott, Noyes, Barnes, Bernard, Carey] becomes probable, that the poet conceived that thunder-storm out of which he represents God as speaking to Job, Job 38:1 sq. as already beginning during this last discourse of Elihu, and furnishing him in many particulars with the occasion and material for his descriptions. This is a hypothesis, which, as we shall see, serves to give essential help in understanding not a few of the details of the splendid descriptiongranting that the absence of definite historical data in the text of our book, or in the most ancient exegetical tradition makes it impossible that it should be regarded as more than a probability.

2. The Introduction: Job 36:1-4 : An announcement that further, and yet more important instruction is about to be communicated respecting the nature and operations of God (comp. 1Co 12:31).And Elihu continued and spoke.This new introductory formula, compared with Job 34:1 and Job 35:1, is intended to intimate that a long silence on the part of Job did not this time precede. [ not , as hitherto, because in Job 35. Job was not summoned to speak. Dillmann. Elihu had spoken three times, i. e., as many times as any of the other friends, but Job does not reply, and he proceeds. The silence of Job, who had replied to every speech of the three friends, is a proof that Job was conscious that Elihu had reason on his side, and is an answer to those who disparage Elihu. Wordsworth].

Job 36:2. Wait for me a little, and I will teach thee;i. e., hear my instructions only a little while longer (not: let me first collect my thoughts a little; Hirzel). = , used also in Isa 28:10; Isa 28:13. , Aramaic, equivalent to the Hebr. , expectare.For there are yet words (to be said) for Eloah:i. e., for I know of something still further, and yet better to say in justification of Eloah (, Dat. commodi) than what has been said hitherto.

Job 36:3. I will fetch my knowledge (comp. Job 37:16) from afar., as in Job 39:29, and Isa 37:26, from afar, altius repetendo (Merc.) [out of the wide realm of history and nature. Del.]. Elihu has already in mind the wonders of the Divine government in nature and in history, in view of which he will praise Gods righteousness (lit. give [= ascribe] right to his Maker) [ so used only here]. Hence these expressions, which involve no empty self-praise, but have their basis in the inspiring greatness of the object to be described.

Job 36:4. For one faultless in knowledge, [lit. knowledges] stands before thee;i. e., one who has studied and learned to know Gods greatness in His works, one who is penetrated with the sense of the Divine exaltation, and who for that reason is raised above the danger of going astray, or speaking falsehood. here cannot signify an honest thinker (Hirzel, and many of the older commentators) for in Job 37:16 it [ ] is used of the perfect knowledge of God. [As Elihu there attributes absolute perfection of knowledge in every direction to God, so here, in reference to the theodicy which he opposes to Job, he claims faultlessness and clearness of perception. Del.] The Vulg. renders correctly as to the meaning: et perfecta scientia probabitur tibi.

3. First Division: Proof of Gods righteous dealings in allotting the destinies of men: a. In general: Job 36:5-15 (three short strophes: Job 36:5-7; Job 8-12; Job 13-15).

Job 36:5. Behold God is mighty, yet He disdaineth nothing. , objectless, as in Job 42:6; comp. Job 8:20. The meaning is, although He is exalted in power ( as in Job 34:17), He nevertheless does not disdain to interest Himself even in the smallest of His creatures, and to maintain its right inviolate (comp. Job 36:6-7).Mighty is He in strength of understanding (lit. of heart, as in Job 34:34), i. e., in the possession of an all-embracing intellectual energy, by virtue of which He sees through right and wrong everywhere, and orders everything in the highest wisdom; comp. Job 12:13.

Job 36:6. He preserveth not the ungodly in life.Comp. Job 34:19 seq., as also Jobs presumptuous assertion of the contrary in Job 24:22 seq., against which Elihu here declares himself. [But He will grant the right of the afflicted].

Job 36:7 continues the affirmation of Job 36:6 b.And (even) with kings on the throne (comp. Psa 9:5 [4] He makes them (i. e., the righteous, or the afflicted of Job 36:6 b, for both conceptions here flow together into one) to sit down forever, so that they are exalted.Comp. the parallel passages as to thoughtch. Job 5:11; 1Sa 2:8; Psa 113:7, etc. Inasmuch as the particular point respecting which we should look for something to be said here is how widely Gods care for His people extends, how high He can exalt them, the rendering of the Vulg. and of Lutherwho makes kings to sit on the throneis unsuitable, as also that of Ewald, which suffers besides from too great artificiality: Kings for the throne, i. e., who merit the throne, He makes to sit down, etc.

Job 36:8-12 constitute a single period, which develops the thought, that if God subjects to suffering His righteous ones (who continue to be the logical subject here, not the ungodly, as Hahn thinks), He does this with a view to their chastisement and purificationBut if they i are bound with chains ( to be understood figuratively; comp. Job 36:13), holden in cords of distress; comp. Job 13:27; Isa 28:22; Psa 107:10 seq.

Job 36:9-10 are with Tremellius, Cocceius, Schultens, Ewald, Dillmann, etc., to be construed as still belonging to the protasis; the apodosis begins with , in Job 36:11 b, the first verb in the whole long series which stands without consecut., and is by that very fact marked as introducing the apodosis. [Most commentators, (and so E. V.), introduce the apodosis with the beginning of Job 36:9. But in addition to the argument from the use of the Vav. consec., it would seem to be more in harmony with Elihus conception, which unites the discipline with the suffering, to take the entire process described in Job 36:8-10 as one hypothesis, finding its consequent in Job 36:11 b.E.]And He declareth to them their doing., maleficium, evil-doing, like , Job 33:17.And their transgressions, that (, quod objective) they act proudly (, lit. to show themselves strong, i. e. in opposing God): exceeded, E. V. is ambiguous, the intransitive use of it being rare.E.]. In respect to the opening of the ear for instruction (Job 36:10 a), comp. Job 33:16, where the rarer form is used instead of the usual form found here. [Lit. to the instruction, that which forms the design of the chastisement.]And commandeth them to turn (lit. saith to them, that they turn) from vanity., emptiness, nothingness, referring to the manifold sins of infirmity into which man easily falls, even when the essential spirit of his heart is holy, the taints proceeding from daily contact with the vain world (comp. Joh 13:10 seq.; 1Jn 1:9 seq.; 1Jn 2:16), by reason of which the purifying discipline of God becomes necessary.

Job 36:11-12, double apodosis to the antecedent propositions contained in Job 36:8-10, expressed by means of two subordinate antecedent conditional clauses, introduced by , together with the consequents corresponding to each. This construction, which partially reminds us of Job 8:5 seq., was necessary, because, where disciplinary suffering is divinely appointed, the result in every case involves a two-fold possibilityeither that the one who is chastised should humble himself, and be made better, or that he should continue presumptuously to resist.In respect to , to humble himself, to submit, to betake himself to obedience, comp. 1Ki 12:7; Mal 3:18; Psa 2:11.In respect to , amna, pleasantness, comfort, see Psa 16:6. Respecting , to perish by the dart (or in the dart), gee Job 33:18.On , in ignorance, or through ignorance, see Job 35:16; also Job 4:21.

Job 36:13-15 continue yet further in a peculiar way the thought of the last two verses, the precedence being given here to the lot of the wicked, which in the previous verses was spoken of in the second place; so that an inverted order of thought ensues

Job 36:13-14 corresponding to the contents of Job 36:12, Job 36:15 to that of Job 36:11.And the impure in heart cherish wrath. , scil. (comp. Job 22:22; Psa 13:3 [2]; Pro 26:24), or possiblythey set up wrath, in a warlike manner, against God as their enemy. The meaning, however, can scarcely be: they lay up with God a store of wrath, as though here signified not mens own discontent, but the divine wrath, and the of Rom 2:6 were a parallel expression (Aben-Ezra, Rosenm. [E. V. appy, Con., Words., Carey], etc. [Considered by itself, the expression would seem to be most simply rendered by lay up wrath. But the second member of the verse, which speaks of the conduct of the wicked when God afflicts them, favors rather the explanation of the commentary.Instead of showing submission to God, they treasure up rebellious wrath within. This rendering of is justified by the reff. given above; and of by Job 18:4 (comp. also , Job 36:18); and the analogy of and in Job 5:4E.]They pray not (lit. cry not, , according to Job 30:20; Job 38:41) when He hath chained them (comp. Job 36:8), so that they must perish, etc. jussive, expressing the necessary consequence of the presumption of the dissolute. Respecting , in youth, in he fresh vigor of youth, comp. Job 33:25.And their life is among the polluted, i. e. like that of the polluted (comp. Job 34:36). The Vulg. correctly: inter effeminates. For the word refers to the Syrian Canaanitish temple-prostitutes of the male sex, and the verse describes the effect of their incontinence in enervating, debilitating their manhood, and causing them to decay in the flower of their age [comp. Deu 23:18; 1Ki 14:24; 1Ki 15:12; 1Ki 22:47 [46]). The reference is not to the violation of women or maidens, in a military invasion (as described in Genesis 34; Judges 19, etc.). The point of comparison lies not in the violence, but in the prematureness (and shamefulness) of the death.

Job 36:15. But He delivereth the sufferer by his affliction; i. e. He rescues at last out of his misery the man who quietly and willingly endures, just by virtue of his constant endurance; He makes his suffering serve as a means of deliverance and a ransom to him (comp. Job 36:18 b). There seems to be a play upon words intended between and in b, which may be approximately rendered [in German] by translating with Delitzsch: Doch den Duldenden entrckt Er durch sein Dulden, und ffnet durch Bedrckung ihr Ohr.

4. Proof of the divine righteousness, . specially from Jobs experiences: Job 36:16-21.And even thee he lures out of the jaws of distress.So correctly most of the moderns since chultens. with signifies, as in 2Ch 18:31, to lure away from anything, out of anything (not to draw out, as the Pesh., Targ., Rabbis explain, nor to rescue, as the Vulg. renders it). [Wordsworth: He is instigating and impelling thee by means of thy affliction into a state of greater glory and happiness.] is used, inasmuch as must occupy its usual place at the beginning of the sentence, for [ serving to connect emphatically the particular case of Job with the general proposition expressed in the preceding verse. Schlottm.], and expresses not a future, but a present sense [the pret. being used either because Elihu has in mind Gods purpose in decreeing the present suffering of Job (Del.), or because that friendly process of alluring is conceived of as having begun in the past, and being continued in the present (Schl.). The expression figuratively describes the distress as a monster, with open jaws, threatening or attempting to swallow him.E.].Into a wide place under which there is no narrowness; i. e. into a wide place ( femin. accus. of the place aimed at), the foundation of which exhibits no narrowness, hence signifying without narrowness in its foundation; or, which is better, a wide space, in place of which ( as in Job 34:26) is no narrowness, a wide place broken by no straits. As to the figure comp. Psa 4:2 [1]; Job 18:20 [19], etc. [The same figure is implied in all three terms, ,, and , the last from , to be strait.]And the setting of [=that which is set on] thy table (He makes, or becomes) fulness of fatness; the same fig. to describe a state of flourishing prosperity as in Psa 23:5 (comp. Pro 9:2; Psa 22:27 [Psa 22:26]; Psa 107:9, etc.) from , to settle down, referring to that which is set down on a table, or served for it, the food set on it. Fat food is used as a sign of feasts which are particularly expensive and abundant in Isa 25:6; Isa 55:2; Gen 27:28; Gen 27:39. Ewald, Vaih. and Dillm. take in the second member, as also in the third (the latter in the sense of peace) as subj. of the whole proposition, and thus obtain the meaning: Verily, the wide place without straits, the peace of thy table full of fat, has misled thee more than sharp distress (Dillmann: away from the mouth of distress [i. e. away from obeying the teachings of adversity]). But this thought, involving as it does a serious charge against Job, is poorly connected with what goes before, and is rendered impossible by the clause , which in connection with cannot well signify anything else than out of the mouth (jaws) of adversity.

Job 36:17. But if thou art filled with the judgment of the wicked, then (truly) will judgment and punishment take firm hold, viz., on thee, will not depart from thee (notwill take hold upon each other, follow each other by turns [as Carey, e. g., explains, the act of judgment and the delivery of the sentence are very closely connected; or according to others (e. g., Barnes) such opinions (those of the wicked) would be rapidly followed by judgment]which reciprocal meaning of would have been expressed rather by the Niph. . The first member is in any case, as respects the thought, a hypothetical antecedent; in order to be a strict grammatical antecedent the Pret. must of course have stood at the beginning. stands in a in the sense of guilt (Rosenmller, Stickel, Hahn), or of a murmuring judgment, presumptuous decision respecting God (Umbreit, Hirzel, Schlottmann, Delitzsch, etc.); only in b does it denote the divine sentence of punishment. In no case does it express in both instances precisely the same meaning, as Ewald, Arnh., Dillmann, etc., suppose. [He, whom thou dost presume to judge with words, will judge thee in deed. Schlottm. The rendering of E. V., Good, Lee, Carey, Renan, etc.Thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, implying that Job had realized in his own experience the full measure of crime or of punishment belonging to the wicked, is certainly too harsh for the connection. The tone of the passage is strongly admonitory no doubt, but such a sentiment as that just referred to would carry Elihu too far into the camp of the opposition, represented by the friends.E.].

Job 36:18 suitably introduces a warning to follow the threat just uttered. Here again Elihu has in mind the chief fault of Job,his presumptuous complaining against God, and his doubt of Gods justice.For the heat (of thy afflictions) should not mislead thee by its greatness;i. e., should not cause thee to err in respect to Gods goodness and justice, or to judge God after the manner of the wicked (comp. Job 36:17 a). [There seems to be a contrast intended between in Job 36:16, and , here. God would by His discipline lure, or urge him out of a narrow into a broad place: the of this ver. would urge him against God.E.] Hahn correctly thinks the heat () spoken of to be the heat of his sufferings. The passage, as appears clearly enough from b, is a parallel to 1Pe 4:12 (Jam 1:2 seq.). It is less natural to understand of the heat of his passion (Delitzsch) or of his anger [against God] (Stickel, Welte, Schlottm. [Conant, Wordsworth], etc.), or of the Divine anger (Rosenm., Umbreit, Dillmann) [E. V., Good, Ber., Barnes, Noyes, Rodwell, etc.],although these renderings cannot be called unsuitable. On the contrary the attempt of Ewald, Hirzel, Vaih., Heiligst., to identify with , cream (Job 29:6), and that in the sense of riches (may thy riches not betray thee), is alike insipid and destructive of the sense. It may remain doubtful whether (Pausal form for ), signifies into scorn, to mock and deride (Stickel, Umbreit, Hahn, Schlottmann, Delitzsch, etc.) or through superfluity, through abundance (Ewald, Heil., Dillmann) [Frst]. The latter rendering, which regards as a dialectic alternate form of (Job 20:22) seems to be favored both by the preposition (not ), and the parallel in the second member. [To the above should be added the signification stroke, which may fairly be vindicated for from the use of the alternate form just referred to in Commy. (comp. Job 27:23 with Job 34:26; Job 34:37). Thus defined it may be taken here (with Kimchi, Schult., etc.), in the sense of the clapping of hands, with the idea of expulsion, or in the sense of stroke, chastisement, (E. V., Merc, Rosenm., Gesenius, Carey, Ber., Good, Noyes, Barnes, Rod., Elzas, etc.). The latter would be the simpler. In that case may refer to the divine wrath, which is the view taken by most of those who thus explain , being explained as instrumental (E. V. with His stroke). It is better however to explain it of the anger or passionate discontent of man against God (comp. above in Job 36:13) for the reason that elsewhere means uniformly to excite against. Thus Conant: For beware, lest anger stir thee up against chastisement. The thought thus obtained would be moreover altogether suitable to the connection. Elihus great anxiety is that Job should through submission profit by his chastisement, and that on the other hand he should not by a rebellious spirit resist, and so frustrate the object of the Divine discipline.E.].And let the abundance of the ransom not ensnare thee; i. e., let not the fact that thou must reckon up so large a ransom for the expiation of thy guilt, that thou must make such a severe expiation of the same, lead thee into error touching the goodness of God. here accordingly in a somewhat different sense from Job 33:24. The supposition that the reference is to Jobs vast wealth in earthly possessions, with which he might erroneously imagine that he could purchase his release from God (Ewald, Hirz., Vaih. [Renan], etc.), is decidedly untenable, and would impute to Job a reliance on earthly treasures, the like of which the three friends even had not once ventured to charge upon him, much less the far more considerate and just Elihu. [Schl., with better reason, assumes that the reliance, or ransom intended here is Jobs piety. He might think in some measure that he did not need to be very exact in what he should say concerning Gods dealings, because he could put all his piety, the beneficent use which he had made of all his treasures, in the other scale of the balance. The idea of Zckler on the contrary seems to be that God requires a great ransom in the sense of expiation, before the sinner can be delivered. Let not the greatness of that ransom, says Elihu, lead thee into error, i. e., the error of doubting the goodness of God. The rendering of E. V., then a great ransom cannot deliver thee, is not an unsuitable thought in the connection. The principal objection to it lies in the verb , which cannot well be rendered deliver. Gesenius, in order to obtain this meaning explains thus: a great ransom cannot turn thee away, scil. from the Divine punishment, so as to avoid it. But this is not altogether natural, and such a form of expression occurs nowhere else. This rendering, still further, seems to hang on the view that means the Divine anger, and that means to take away with, against which see above. The negative moreover does not favor it; for although it might have been used indeed in dependence on , still such a construction would have been less natural and forcible than that with . It must be confessed that no interpretation of the verse which has been suggested is free from difficulties, and Dillmanns conjecture of a corruption of the text is not altogether without reason.E.].

Job 36:19 seq. continue the warning against impatient and discontented conduct in distress.Shall thy crying put thee out of distress?, crying, as in Job 30:24 (comp. Job 35:9, and above Job 36:13 b); , a more choice word to express the idea of or , to place, (comp. Job 37:19): the object of is easily supplied by thee, or any one. The meaning of the question accordingly can be only: will thy crying, thy lamentation, thy discontented raging, put thee in non-distress ( , equivalent to ), take thee out of distress? So correctly Stickel, Hahn, Del. All other renderings depart more or less from the meaning required by the context: as e. g. that of Hirz.: Will thy riches suffice? O, not gold (=, Job 22:24 seq.), nor all treasures, etc. [Good: Will then thy magnificence avail? Not gold, nor, etc.]; of Schlottmann: Will thy treasures suffice? O not in distress, etc.; of Ewald: Will thy riches equip theewithout distresswith all the means of power? of Rosenmller, Umbreit, Ebrard [E. V.: Gesenius, Frst, under , though differently under , Renan, Noyes, Rodwell, Conant: Will He value thy riches without stint, and all the might of wealth?]: Will He value thy riches? etc.; of Dillmann: Will He set in order thy cry (of supplication)? And all the efforts of strength (i. e., of thy strength)?To , which is made sufficiently determinate by the subject, the notion of efforts of strength is here suitably appended as an additional subject. from , to be strong, firm, in connection with , can signify only a physical application of strength, not wealth in treasures; comp. , Job 9:4; Job 9:19.

Job 36:20. Pant not after the night, when (entire) peoples go up (i. e., fly up like chaff before the tempest, Isa 5:24; Psa 1:4) in their placei. e., do not long, as thou hast foolishly done (comp. Job 13:18 sq.; Job 23:3 sq.; Job 24:1; Job 24:12), for the night of the divine judgment, with its terrors, sweeping away entire populations. In respect to , anhelare, to long urgently for any thing, comp. Job 7:2; for the representation of the divine judgment by a night of terror, see Job 34:20; Job 34:25; Job 35:10. In respect to , in their place, here as regards the meaning=from their place, see above, Job 5:16. It is impossible, with De Wette, to take as standing for , to raise up people in the place of people. The rendering of Stickel and Hahn is harsh, and much too artificial: when people come uppermost, with that which is under them. The rendering of Delitzsch, however, is unnecessary, which takes as Inf. Hiph.=: which will remove peoples from their place. [The rendering in their place does not do entire justice to the expression , which is exactly rendered by our phrase, on the spot. So again in Job 40:12; comp. Hab 3:16; 2Sa 2:23 (and he died on the spot); Job 7:10. The rendering of Conant and Carey: when [Con.: where] people are carried off below (to the world below), involves a very harsh incongruity between the verb (go up) and the preposition (below). Conant argues that Elihu is not speaking of any sudden calamity that sweeps whole races of men to the grave. This would be out of place here, for Job had desired no such thing. It was the repose of the grave for which he longed; for that night of death where successive generations sink down to the world beneath them. Such, it is true, was Jobs conception of the night of death. But Elihu here reminds him that the night of death would be at the same time the night of divine judgment, and that so terrible is that judgment that it can sweep off whole peoples on the spot; how much less then could he, single-handed and alone, hope to face it without perishing. Let him rather repent, etc., Job 36:21.E.]

Job 36:21 concludes these warnings against foolish murmuring and presumptuous complaining (which is here called , vanity, wickedness, comp. Job 5:10) in an emphatic way, by expressing the thought found in Gen 8:21, and founded on the universal experience of the race, that the heart is naturally inclined to disobedience and to rebellion against God: for to this thou hast desire more than to affliction., comparative, as in Job 7:15, not causal, as though meant on account of suffering, in view of affliction (Vulg., Luther, Stickel, etc.), nor again instrumental (Ewald: therefore thou wast proved by suffering. here (other wise than in 2Sa 19:39 [38]) essentially the same with , to extend ones choice to any thing, i. e., to be inclined towards any thing, to have a desire for it.

5. Second Division. Proof of the divine righteousness from the wonders of nature, from the power and wisdom revealed in the physical world.

a. Descriptive part: chs. Job 36:22 to Job 37:13. Introduction or transition: Job 36:22-25 (the first of three eight-lined strophes, Job 36:22 sq., 26 sq., 30 sq., each of which begins with , and which by the exact equality and similarity of their structure give evidence of being one coherent wholea structure which has been correctly recognized by Stickel and Delitzsch [also by Schlottmann, Noyes, Wordsworth, Carey, Rodwell], but ignored by Kst., Ewald, Dillmann, etc.). Behold, God worketh loftily in His strength [E. V.: Behold, God exalteth by His power; but less suitably to the connection, this strophe being, as has just been shown, introductory to the description of Gods power in the physical world, rather than in the world of humanity.E.].As the meditation on truths lying in the realm of historical or ethical theology, which constitutes the preceding section, began with a , behold (Job 36:5), vividly pointing out the theme of discourse, so also the meditation which is here introduced on truths in the realm of physical theology. The conjecture is in itself sufficiently probable, that some phenomenon of external nature, perhaps a thunder-storm, which already in Job 36:5 was approaching, but which had now burst forth, with lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, furnished the occasion to this sudden and vivid transition to the description of the natural world. This conjecture receives a strong support from the emphatic double recurrence of the , first in Job 36:26, at the beginning of the description of the rain, and then in Job 36:30, in the transition to the description of lightning and thunder. The probability is still further increased by passages like Job 36:33, and especially by Job 37:2 sq. And finally it receives the strongest support from the article before in Job 38:1, which can scarcely be explained without the supposition here referred to (comp. on the passage). Who is a ruler like to him?The usage of the language would justify, and indeed would even favor rather the rendering adopted by the Targ., Peshito, Luther, Schlottmann, Delitzsch [E. V., Lee, Noyes, Conant, Bernard, Renan, Rodwell, Barnes], etc.: Who is a teacher like Him? But the context, and especially the in a, seems rather to favor the rendering supported by the LXX., which takes = Chald. (Dan 2:47), hence to mean lord, ruler. The Vulg. attempts to give an explanation intermediate between the of the LXX. and the teacher of the other ancient versions by its use of legislator: quis ei similis in legislatoribus? [So Wordsworth combines Master and Teacher; Carey: Master, as expressing the ambiguity of the original. Some (e. g.. Good): And who, like Him, can cast down? which would be a suitable antithesis to the E. V.-s rendering of a: God exalteth by His power, but is open to the same objection; see above. In favor of the sense teacher, Delitzsch argues: (1) from , Psa 25:8; Psa 25:12; Psa 32:8) has no etymological connection with ; (2) it is, moreover, peculiar to Elihu to represent God as a teacher both by dreams and dispensations of affliction, Job 33:14 seq.; Job 34:32; and by His creatures, Job 35:11; and (3) the designation of God as an incomparable teacher is also not inappropriate here, after His rule is described in Job 36:22 a as transcendently exalted, which on that very account commands to human research a reverence which esteems itself lightly. These considerations at least show that the educational disciplinary functions of the Divine Ruler are prominently intended here; and this is in harmony with the general tone of this strophe.E.]

Job 36:23. Who hath appointed to Him His way? , to charge one with any thing, to prescribe anything to any one, as in Job 34:13. It would be possible also to render it: Who hath inspected for Him His way? (LXX., Vulg., Seb. Schmidt, Ewald, [Good], etc.). The second member permits both renderings.

Job 36:24. Remember that thou exalt (, in a different sense from Job 12:23) His doing, which men have greatly sung. an intensive form of , denoting singing often repeated, or various in its character. The exhortation to the praise and glorification of the exalted activity of God stands in significant antithesis to the previous warnings against sitting in judgment on the same. [Here again, as in Job 33:27 E. V. takes the verb in the sense of behold, which would be a useless and feeble tautology before the and of Job 36:25.E.].

Job 36:25. All people gaze thereon with delight ( referring back to , Job 36:24 a; as elsewhere ); mortals behold It from afar;i. e., notthey can behold it only from a great distance (so Dillmann, who would compare Job 26:14), butthey dare not contemplate it anear, from reverential fear before the unapproachableness of His operations.

6. Continuation. Description of the storm, together with the mighty phenomena accompanying it, such as rain, clouds, lightning, thunder, etc.: Job 36:26Job 37:5 (three strophes, the first two consisting of 4 verses each, the third of 5).

Job 36:25-29. Behold, God is exalted ( as in Job 37:23, elsewhere only in the Aramaic portions of the O. T.), we know not (i. e., how very exalted He is); the number of His years is unsearchable (lit. as for the number of his yearsso [] there is no searching; respecting the introducing the apodosis, comp. Job 4:6; Job 15:17). The eternity of God is here introduced as the explanatory ground (not as a mere co-ordinate moment, as Dillmann supposes) of the divine greatness and wisdom. As the Eternal One, God has the power to effect all the glorious wonders in the realm of His creation which are enumerated in the passage following; comp. Job 12:12 seq. [The Omnipotence and wisdom of God, which are everywhere apparent in the universe, furnish a testimony to Gods righteousness. All attributes of the Divine Nature are rays proceeding from one centre; where one is, (here also of necessity must the others be. How can the Being who everywhere shows Himself in creation to be most perfect, be defective in this one point? Every witness therefore in Nature to Gods greatness as a Creator, rises against an arraignment of Gods righteousness. Whoso will bring a charge against Gods justice, must measure himself with the Divine Omnipotence.At first sight it may seem surprising that the mind of the righteous sufferer is directed by Elihu and by Jehovah himself, to the wondrous formation of the clouds, to Thunder, Lightning and Snow, and to the War-horse, the Hawk, and the Eagle. But when we examine the matter more carefully, we see that such a course of reasoning is excellently fitted its purpose. An Almighty and All-wise God, who is not at the same time righteous, is in truth an inconceivable impossibility. For this reason, they who impeach Gods righteousness, are always on the high road to doubt His existence. Pelagianism leads not merely to the destruction of the true idea of God, but to blank Atheism (Hengstenberg). It must also be borne in mind that God rises from an appeal to the signs of His power and goodness in the visible world, and refers Job to His working in the invisible world, in the domain of spirits, and challenges Job to a comparison of human power with that of God in the defense and deliverance of mankind, even of Job himself, from his spiritual enemies. See below, Job 40:6-15. Wordsworth.].

Job 36:27. For He draweth up the water drops, to wit, from the earth. This is the only rendering of , which corresponds to the second member; not that of the LXX., Pesh., etc.; He numbers off; and just as little that of Stickel and Delitzsch: He draws off [=lets fall] the drops, i. e., out of the upper mass of waters [to which add the rendering of E. V., Mercier, etc. He maketh small the drops of water. The reference seems clear to the first step in the process of forming the rain, by which the drops are attracted (upward of necessity, although that does not lie essentially in the verb, for which reason the objection of Delitzsch that it means attrahere or detrahere, but not attrahere in sublime falls to the ground), attracted, that is, towards Him who is the Divine cause.E.]. So that they ooze (, lit. to filter, refine, comp. Job 28:1) the rain with His mist, i. e., the mist which He spreads out [i. e., since a mist produced by it (Gen 2:6) fills the expanse (), the downfall of which is just this rain. Delitzsch]. In respect to , comp. Gen 2:6; in respect to , with, (or also on account of, by means of) comp. Job 37:1 a. [E. V. they pour down rain according to the vapor thereof. Pour down for is neither sufficiently accurate nor expressive, destroying as it docs the image of filtering which lies in the verb. According to may be accepted for , which is obscure. According to Gesenius, it indicates the vapor as the origin of the rainqu orta est ex vapore ejus: and so Conant. According to others it denotes the state into which rain-drops pass in falling. According to Ewald it is a sign of the accusative, being in opposition with . Is it not natural to find in Job 36:27-28 a description of the successive steps in the formation of the rainfirst (27a) the ascent of the water-drops in evaporationthen (27b) the filtering of the mist whereby rain is produced, then (Job 36:28) the fall of the rain (a) in general, (b) in copious abundance? If this view be correct, the best explanation of would seem to be that it denotes possession, or origin. The suffix in moreover is better referred to God than to the rain, especially according to the explanation here suggested.E.]

Job 36:28. Which the high clouds drop down. here somewhat differently from Job 35:5) denoting such clouds indeed as are high, but not dry, or rainless; comp. Pro 3:20. Respecting the construction (, accus. of material to ) comp. Ewald, 281, b. In respect to b [And distil upon the multitude of men], comp. Job 37:12 seq.[ may (with E. V.) be taken adverbially=abundantly; although it seems better with most moderns to take it as an adjective describing many men. In this case as well as the other the predominant thought seems to be the copiousness of the rain.E.].

Job 36:29. Yea ( intensive, as elsewhere , comp. Job 35:14) can one understand the spreadings of the clouds? their expansion, outspreading over the vault of heaven (comp. Eze 27:7; Psa 105:39; not their burstings, which could signify only if we were at liberty to derive it (with Hirzel and Stickel [Conant, Renan] from a verb = , frangere.The loud crashing of His pavilion?The thick, deep black thunderclouds are here conceived of as the tabernacle behind which God veils Himself, precisely as in Psa 18:12. It should be noted that the tents ) of the orientals have the appearance of being predominantly black (comp. on Son 1:5; Son 4:1). ; used of the loud crashing of the thunder (referred to the thunder-clouds, pictured as a tabernacle), hence somewhat differently from below, Job 39:7. [The magnificent terseness and power of the line should be noted.E.].

Job 36:30 seq. Special description of the phenomena of thunder and lightning in the storm, as already announced in Job 36:29 b.Behold, He spreadeth His light around Himself;i. e. that eternal, heavenly veil of light, in which God dwells continually (Psa 104:2, etc.), and out of which the lightning-flashes issue, like rays, gleaming through the clouds, and dividing them; comp. Job 36:32; Job 37:3. [, as here explainedaround or over Himselfthe suffix referring to God, not the tabernacle,upon it. E. V.]And with the roots of the sea He covereth Himself ( with accus.to take anything as a covering, as in Jon 3:6). The roots of the sea are the masses of water drawn upwards out of the sea, into the heavens in the form of black clouds, and here serving God as a veil (so correctly Umbreit, Ewald, Vaihinger, Dillmann) [Conant, Noyes, who renders: And He clotheth Himself with the depths of the sea]. The expression is poetically bold, but still unmistakable (comp. in Job 13:27; Job 28:9. By we are to understand neither the waters of the heavens above (Hirzel, Schlottm.), nor the sea of clouds (Hahn) [Renan]. The expression denotes, as always, the ocean, regarded as the source of the atmospheric moistures which mount up from it. The language does not refer to a covering of the foundations of the sea with the light of the lightning (Stuhlm., Delitzsch) [Good, Wordsworth]; in order to express this thought, another or would scarcely have been omitted with . [Delitzsch explains his view as follows: The lightning in a thunder-storm, especially when occurring at night, descends into the depths of the sea, like snares that are cast down (, Psa 11:6), and the water is momentarily changed, as it were, into a sea of flame. But this explanation does not adequately account for the use of . According to another explanation, God is represented as covering the depths of the sea, either with waters (Barnes), or with darkness, contrasting with the lightning which covers the sky (Lee, Rodwell). But neither of these explanations falls in naturally with the description of the storm. Renan: Now He covers Himself with His lightnings as with a curtain; now He seems to hide Himself in the depths of the sea; his explanation being: He treats here of the alternations of light and darkness which take place in storms. The clouds are compared to a dark and deep sea. There is nothing, however, to indicate such a contrast between light and darkness. The light here is more especially that of the storm-lightning, in which God wraps Himself as a robe; the ocean-roots are the storm-clouds, conceived of as the waters lying in the depths of the sea, which God has lifted up, and gathered around Himself.E.]

Job 36:31. For therewithwith lightnings and clouds (Job 36:30)He judgeth the people, giveth food in abundance. only here,=the expression , usually found elsewhere. The whole versewhich has somewhat of a parenthetic character, as an ethical and theological reflection in the midst of a passage which otherwise is purely descriptivewhich, however, is not (with Olshausen) to be placed between Job 36:28-29reminds us of Schiller:

Aus der Wolke quillt der Segen,
Strmt der Regen;
Aus der Wolke, ohne Wahl,
Zuckt der Strahl.1

Job 36:32. Both hands He covereth over with light and sendeth it forth against the adversary.This is a more specific description of what God does in judging the people (Job 36:31 a), and the use He makes therein of the lightning. [God is represented under a military figure as a slinger of lightnings: He covers light over both hands, i. e. arms both completely with light, and directs it. Delitzsch.] Who the adversary is (, LXX., Theod.: ) against whom He sends forth the light (lit. commands it, enacts concerning it, with , as often) remains undetermined, and needs not to be inquired into. It signifies at any rate any hostile powers, against which God sends forth His lightnings; comp. Psa 18:14 seq.; Job 11:6; Wis 19:12, etc. The signification of elsewhere (= intercessor, Isa 59:16) does not suit here. The change of the word into , point of attack (Job 7:20), proposed by Olshausen, is however untenable. The same may be said of Hahns explanation of the word in this sense. Delitzsch renders it peculiarly: and commissioneth it as one who hitteth the mark ( as essenti, and after Isa 53:6). [Delitzsch connects it with God, as a sure aimer.Wordsworth a little differently with the lightning: He giveth it a command as an assailant, or an avenger.Lee: He layeth His commands upon it to destroy.Rosenmller, Stickel, Elzas: He commandeth it where to strike. Barnes, Carey: He commandeth it in striking. The rendering of E. V.: With clouds ( for clouds from their fancied resemblance to hands) He covereth the light, and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt, pre-supposes too much. The rendering of the Commentary: against the enemy, is that which is best supported by the etymology, grammatical form, and connection.E.]

Job 36:33. His thunder-cry announces Him; lit. His alarm-cry makes announcement (1Sa 27:11) concerning Him. in accordance with Exo 32:17; Mic 4:9; not= [His friend, companion], as indeed almost all the ancient versions take it [LXX.: The Lord will declare concerning this to His friend]; also among the moderns Umbreit and Schlottmann. [He makes known to it (scil. the light, or lightning) His friend. So Barnes.] Just as little does it mean: His thought, decree (Cocceius, Bttcher, Welte) [Elzas: By it He announceth His will.E. V., Rosenm., etc.: The noise thereof showeth concerning it, taking the suffix to refer to the storm, not to God; which is altogether too insipid].The cattle even (announce) that He is on the march; or: concerning Him who is coming upward. This is beyond a doubt the most satisfactory explanation of the difficult closing member an explanation which becomes still more obvious ifinstead of assuming, as is commonly done (so Rosenm., Stick., Ew., Vaih., Heil., Delitsch, etc.), merely a general reference to the uneasy movements of animals at the first approach of a thunder-storm, and comparing with it passages like Virgil, Georg. I., 373 seq.; Pliny, H. N. XVIII., 35, etc.,we suppose that the storm thus far described had occasioned under the eyes of the assembly, before which Elihu speaks, a certain bewilderment or destruction in- a particular herd of cattle;if, accordingly, we assume an actual occasion to have been given for this descriptionan occasion which is not to be more particularly defined, and so derive again out of the passage before us a confirmation of the supposition advanced above on Job 36:22. In that case we need have recourse to none of the artificial and violent make-shifts, into the adoption of which expositors have fallen here, as e. g. the rendering of in the absolutely unheard of signification of jealousy, fury of wrath (Hahn: a raging of wrath announces Him who is uprising; and comp. Schlottmann); the changing of the word into (Hitzig), or (Bttcher, Dillmann, who at the same time read instead of : causing His anger to rage against iniquity), etc. [Schlottmanns rendering, referred to aboveand the fury of wrath against iniquity (or against transgressors) is the one adopted by Frst, Good, Lee, Bernard, Carey, Elzas.The possible varieties of interpretation of the verse are endless. See the more important set forth in Schultens, Schlottmann, and Conant. The simplicity, life-likeness, and appositeness of the rendering adopted in the Commy. (and by Ewald, Delitz., Gesenius, Renan, Wordsworth, Rodwell, and Conantwho however takes as object, rather than subjectto the herds.) will commend it to most.E.].

Job 37:1-5. Further description of the terror-working power of the thunder and lightning.

Job 27:1. Yea, because of this (, comp. Job 36:27), my heart trembleth, and quaketh out of its place; lit., springs, or starts up, comp. Job 6:9. Why this should be regarded as an exaggerated, hardly an elegant expression (Dillmann), is not apparent.

Job 27:2. Hear, O hear, the roar of His voice. , a summons to hear closely and attentively, comp. Job 13:17; Job 21:2. The phenomena of the thunder and lightning seem, at this particular moment of the description, so very near to the speaker and his hearers, that some commentators, as Bttcher, Schlottmann, Delitzsch, have found here at least an indication of the probability that the poet presupposes a storm as advancing during the colloquy. It is, however, evidently not an approaching thunderstorm to which the description refers, but one which had been for some time already present, and which might be heard now loudly roaring (see a), and now lowly murmuring or rumbling (see b) [and the rumbling (, E. V.: too generalsound) that goeth forth out of His mouth]. Comp. what Delitzsch himself strikingly says: The five-fold repetition of a word of sombre sound, for which our Stimme [Voice] is a miserable substitutecalls to mind the seven in Psalms 29. Against Dillmanns assertion, that if the poet had purposed to represent the thunder-storm mentioned in Job 38:1 as here already advancing, he would not have begun his series of physico-theological reflections with the storm, but would have reserved it for the conclusion, it may be argued that at the close of his discourse, and after his digression in respect to the cold, rain season, etc. (Job 27:6-13), Elihu does in fact again repeatedly take up the phenomena of storms and atmospheric changes; comp. on Job 38:1.

Job 27:3. Under the whole heaven He leadeth it forthor: He sends it forth, looses it (, Imperf. Kal. of the Aram, ), i. e., the roaring and the rumbling. [The definition of the verb here adopted is preferred by Ewald, Frst, Del., Dillm., Hirz., Lee, Carey, Wordsw., etc., on the ground that it is more appropriate as applied to the thunder (let loose through the immeasurable vault of heaven), and particularly to the zig-zag course of the lightning, than the signification to direct (from , which rests on the fundamental idea of straightness).E.]. And His lightning (lit. His light) unto the borders of the earth.In respect to , see on Job 38:13. As to the thought, comp. Luk 17:24 and parallel passages.

Job 27:4. After it roareth the sound of the thunder: He thundereth with the voice of His majestylit. He will thunder (), voluntative, as also in c).And restraineth them not (i. e., the lightnings, the particular rays of the mentioned in Job 27:3), when His voice resounds [lit. is heard]., not to track out, to follow up (Symmachus, Vulg., Ewald [who renders interrogatively: and will He not find them out when His voice is heard? i. e., track them in their hiding-places with His thunder and lightning], but in accordance with the Targ., , to hold back, refrenare, cohibere [the idea being that the roar of the thunder and the flash of the lightning follow in quick succession].

Job 27:5. God thundereth marvellously with His voice. here used adverbially = mirabiliter, as in Dan 8:24; Psa 65:6; Psa 139:14. In respect to b, comp. Job 5:9; Job 9:10; Job 36:26. The verse ends for the time the description, so far as it relates to the storm, and by a general observation respecting Gods greatness leads the way to the following examples of the same.

7. Continuation. The phenomena of winter, such as snow, rain, the north wind, frost, etc.: Job 37:6-13.

Job 27:6. For to the snow He saithFall to the earth. erroneously rendered Be by the LXX., Targ, Pesh. [E. V.] (on the contrary, correctly by Jeromeut descendat), is Imperat. of , to fall (lit. to gape, to yawn), a root obtaining elsewhere only in Arabic as a verb; hence another of the Arabisms of this Elihu section, as in Job 34:36; Job 35:15, etc. In the two following members the of extends its influence: (also) to the rain-shower (, a heavy, pouring rain; a stronger term than ), and the rain-showers of His strengthi. e., His mighty, pouring rain-showers (the plural structure similar to in Job 30:31; comp. Ewald, 270, c). The rain, being by far the most common form in which the moisture of the atmosphere is precipitated during the Syro-Arabian winter, where it comes down particularly in the late autumn (as the early rain), and in the early spring (as the latter rain), is by the double designation more strongly emphasized than the snow. Comp. still further, as a parallel in thought, Isa 55:10.

Job 27:7-8 describe the effects of the cold of winter on men and beasts. [The wonders of nature during the rough season ( ,, Son 2:11), between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, are meant; the rains after the autumnal equinox (the early rain), which begin the season, and the rains before the vernal equinox (the late rain, Zec 10:11), which close it, with the falls of snow between, which frequently produce great desolation, especially the proper winter, with its frosty winds and heavy showers, when the business of the husbandman, as of the nomads, is brought to a stand-still, and every one retreats to his house or seeks a sheltering corner. Del.]

Job 27:7. The hand of every man He puts under a sealso that it is disabled from carrying on field-work (comp. Homer, Iliad, XVII. 549 seq.: ). Respecting , comp. Job 33:16. The object of this sealing influence of the winter frost on the hands of men is: that all men of His work may come to knowledgei. e., that all men created by God may learn how mighty He is, and how entirely dependent on Him they are. Men of His work is a somewhat singular collocation of words, which does not occur elsewhere, which, however, has its parallel in the expression, sheep of His hand, Psa 95:7, and for that reason is not of necessity to be set aside in the way of conjecture. At the same time, the rendering of the Vulg.: ut noverint singuli opera sua, furnishes a witness not altogether to be slighted in behalf of the emendation of Olshausen, favored also by Delitzsch .

In regard to Job 27:8 [Then creeps the beast into his covert, and in his lairs doth he remain] comp. Psa 104:22, where, it is true, that which is spoken of is not exactly the influence of winter in causing beasts to seek out places of shelter.

Job 27:9. Out of the secret chamber cometh the storm. chamber (penetrale claustrum) denotes the enclosure out of which the storm-wind rushes forth, as in Job 38:22 (comp. Psa 135:7) mention is made of the storehouses of the snow. Comp. Job 9:9chambers of the south, with which expression the one before us is not to be identified without further qualification. For instead of storms from the south or south-east (Rosenmller, Umbreit Vaihinger, Welte, Delitzsch) [E. V.], the language here refers rather to storms from the north or north-east, as certainly as that below in Job 27:17 the sultry and heating quality of the south wind is intended. And cold from the cloud-scatterers., probably Partic. Piel. plnr. from , to sweep away, to scatter, hence dispergentes (scil. venti), the cloud-sweepers, a designation of violent cold storms (as in Arab, darijat, they which blow away; Kor. Sur. 51, 1), which indeed are also to be regarded as coming from the north or east; comp. Job 1:19. The ancient versions seem not to have understood the word which occurs only here. Thus the LXX.: (a corruption perchance of ?); Vulg.: ab arcturo; Aq., Theod.: (similarly the Targ.) [Frst and Lee: the Northern constellations; Mercier: Septentriones; Good: the Arctic chambers; Renan: the north winds, etc.].

Job 27:10. From the breath of God there is (impersonal as also Pro 13:10) [there cometh, there is given] iceviz., when a cold blast, proceeding from God, sweeps over the face of the water, by means of which, according to b, the breadth of the waters (is brought) into a strait (comp. Job 36:16), i. e., is solidified, and so fettered as it were, is arrested in its free, flowing movement. Precisely thus the Arabic poet, Montenebbi: the flood is chained by bands of ice. In respect to the apparent contradiction between this representation and the physical fact of the expansion of freezing water, see below on Job 38:30.

Job 27:11-13 return to the description of the phenomena of clouds and rain, occasioned by a new phase of the storm just taking place, consisting in the outpouring of rain in extraordinary abundance. Schlottmann correctly: The storm in its magnificent approach drifts victoriously before all the senses of Elihu, so that from all other images brought forward as they are with a certain haste, he ever recurs to that of the storm (comp. Del.).

Job 27:11. Also he loadeth with moisture the cloudscomp. Job 26:8., from , signifies moisture, wet, and , related to , burden, is to load, to make heavy. All explanations which take as one word from the root (or ) are against the connection, e. g., serenity [brightness] dispels the clouds (Targ., Rosenm., Umbreit [Bernard, Barnes, Elzas], etc.); frumentum () desiderat nubes (Vulg., Symmach.); (LXX, and similarly Theod., Pesh.). [Gesenius, Noyes: In rain He casts down the thick cloud. Carey: By (its) watering the thick cloud falleth headlong. But the vers. which follow, and particularly Job 27:12 a, are scarcely consistent with the idea that the cloud has cast down its contents. E. V. also seems to take activelyby watering He wearieth the thick cloud; the meaning being apparently that by showering down its contents the cloud is wearied or worn away; against which the objection just noted holds.E.]. He spreadeth far and wide the clouds of His lighti. e., the thunder-clouds, pregnant with lightning, through which the lightning flashes; comp. Job 36:29; and in respect to , to scatter, to spread abroad, comp. Job 38:24.

Job 27:12. And theseround about they turn themselves. cannot refer to God (Rosenmller, Schlottmann) [Lee; also Good and Elzas, who, however, both render seasons (courses)]. It can be referred only to , or clouds, Job 27:11. [The most natural way of accounting for its use here is to understand it as descriptive, Elihu pointing out the cloud at the timeAnd there it is! turning round about, hither and thither, etc. Thus understood, it would be better to adhere to the singular rendering of cloud in Job 27:11, as being more individual and vivid.E.]. , round about, as elsewhere , or .Piloted by Him (lit. by His pilotings, the clouds being thought of as Gods ships, or coursers; comp. Psa 18:11 [10] seq.) according to their doingsi. e., according to the actions of men, God having established a strict economic relation between those actions and the agency of His clouds in heaven, now yielding a blessing and now working destruction. This reference of the suffix in to men (Ewald, Hirzel, Heil., Dillm.) is favored by Job 27:13, as also by the Masoretic accentuation, which forbids the connection of with what follows, according to the view which finds favor with the majority of modern commentatorsthat they may do whatever he commandeth them on the face, etc. [To which add the use of the strongly individualizing and descriptive at the beginning of the verse, after which it is altogether unlikely that the plural suffix would be used, especially seeing that again in Job 27:13 b the sing. suffix is used, .E.] The third member expresses the object of the verb Whatsoever He commands to them upon the globe. The pleonastic expression [lit. the habitable land (of) the earth] occurs again in Proverbs 8. Respecting the form , comp. already Job 34:13.

Job 27:13. More specific statement of the object for which God steers the clouds in accordance with the conduct of men: be it for a scourge, when it is (necessary) for His earth, or for a blessing, He causeth it to come. is not co-ordinate with the two other conditional clauses (Rosenm., Umbreit, Del. [E. V., Noyes, Words., Carey, Rod.]; now for a scourge, now for the benefit of His earth, now for mercy, etc.), but subordinate [as is proved (1) by the decided contrast between whether for a scourge and or for mercy, each at the beginning of its half-verse; a contrast and a proportion of parts which would be destroyed by introducing another co-ordinate ; (2) by the tautology which ensues from making the second clause with co-ordinate, there being really no material difference between for the benefit of His land (or earth), and for mercy.E.] The earth is called His earth, because it is Gods possession (comp. Job 34:13), and the before differs from the before the other two nouns, in that it introduces a Dat. commodi. In respect to =chastisement, comp. Job 21:9.

8. Conclusion. b. Application: Job 37:14-24. Instead of censuring God, or quarreling with Him, Job should draw from His wonderful operations in the natural world the right conclusion in regard to the mystery of his suffering. The appeals and questions addressed to Job to the end of the discourse, are seriously intended. An unprejudiced consideration of the passage will find in it no trace of a lofty irony (Schlottmann, Ewald, Dillmann).

Job 27:14. Hearken unto this, O Job, stand still, etc. Both this (), and the wonders of God in b, point not to what follows, but to the contents of the preceding descriptions.

Job 27:15. Dost thou know how God commandeth them? , as in Exo 5:8, and often, of imposing commands upon, not, as in Job 34:23, of setting ones thoughts on anything (Rosenmller, Hirzel, Delitzsch [Conant, Rodwell, Gesenius; i. e., when God planned (E. V., disposed) them]). is not (according to the authorities just mentioned) a determination of time when, but a specification of the object of , this specification being further enlarged by the Perf. consec. . [According to this explanation is used partitively after , like the Greek genit. after verbs of knowing, to have knowledge of, hence of partial knowledge. See Ewald, 217, 3, 2, ]. The suffix in refers back either to the wonders of God, Job 27:14 b, or to the clouds, Job 27:11 sq. Causing the light of the clouds to shine, in b (comp. Job 3:4; Job 10:3, etc.) is a circumlocution for the simple idea of lightning; comp. Job 27:11 b.

Job 27:16. Dost thou understand the balancings of the clouds? from =, to weigh (Psa 58:3 [2]), to poise, a similar structure to that of , Job 36:29, but not for that reason to be regarded as an interchangeable form of that word (against Ewald). Respecting in b, comp. on Job 36:4. The form instead of found only here.

Job 27:17-18 introduce a new, and at the same time the last digression from the phenomena of storms, which otherwise constitute throughout the principal theme of the description. Here it is to the phenomena which accompany the full blaze of the summer sun beaming in a perfectly serene and clear sky, that the speaker digresses. The of Job 27:17 is not a conjunction = (Rosenm, Umbreit, Hirzel) [Good, Lee, Noyes, Renan, Rodwell, Barnes, etc., and E. V.] or = (Schlottmann), but a pronoun referring to Job, the person addressed, and introducing a relative clause, precedent to the interrogative sentence in Job 27:18Thou, whose clothes (become) hot, when the earth becomes sultry (lit. becomes calm, still) from the South;i. e., not merely by the south-wind, which could not signify, but by the united influence of the solar heat and the torrid winds. So correctly Bolducius, Ewald, Stickel, Hahn, Delitz., Dillmann [Carey, and, though less decidedly, Wordsworth], except that some of these commentators (Ewald, Dillmann), inappropriately find an ironical meaning in the words [conveyed to some extent also by Careys paraphraseYou, Job, can readily enough feel the changes of the weather, but you cannot give any explanation of them. The rendering, How (i. e., dost thou know how) thy garments are warm, when, etc., is certainly insipid enough. In favor of the rendering adopted above see further on Job 27:18. The rendering of b with E. V., when He quieteth (Conant, lulls) the earth by the south-wind, is admissible, although on account of the absence of the suffix after the subject is more probably , with the verb in the intransitive senseto be tranquil, or rather in Hiph. to enjoy tranquillity, to find rest. The appropriateness of the language of this verse as descriptive of summer heat will appear from the following extract from Thomsons Land and the Book (Vol. II., p. 312): The sirocco to-day is of the quiet kind, and they are often more over-powering than the others. I encountered one a year ago on my way from Lydd to Jerusalem. Just such clouds covered the sky, collecting, as these are doing, into darker groups about the tops of the mountains, and a stranger to the country would have expected rain. Pale lightnings played through the air like forked tongues of burnished steel, but there was no thunder and no wind. The heat however became intolerable, and I escaped from the burning highway into a dark-vaulted room at the lower Bethhoron. I then fully understood what Isaiah (Job 25:5), meant when he said, Thou shalt bring down the noise of the strangers as the heat in a dry place, as the heat with the shadow of a cloudthat is, as such heat brings down the noise, and makes the earth quieta figure used by Job (Job 37:17) when he says, Thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind. We can testify that the garments are not only warm, but hot. This sensation of dry hot clothes is only experienced during the siroccos, and on such a day, too, one understands the other effects mentioned by the prophet, bringing down the noise, and quieting the earth. There is no living thing abroad to make a noise. The birds hide in thickest shades, the fowls pant under the walls with open mouth and drooping wings, the flocks and herds take shelter in caves and under great rocks, the laborers retire from the fields, and close the windows and doors of their houses, and travelers hasten, as I did, to take shelter in the first cool place they can find. No one has energy enough to make a noise, and the very air is too weak and languid to stir the pendent leaves even of the tall poplars.E.]

Job 27:18. Dost thou with him arch over the sky?i. e., dost thou with Him give its vaulting or out-spanning (Gen 1:7 sq.) to the firmament of clouds ( here essentially as in Job 35:5), which is firm as a molten mirror? mirror, the same as in Exo 38:8. , Partic. Hoph. from (Job 11:15), indicating the preparation of the mirror from molten and polished metal. With this representation of the heavenly firmament (, ), as constituting a smooth, shining, and solid mirror, may be compared, as most nearly resembling it, the representation of it as transparent sapphire (Exo 24:10), or, more remotely, as a curtain (Psa 104:2) or gauze (Isa 40:22) or a veil (Psa 102:27 [26]). [It should be observed that the description here given of the skies is especially appropriate to the dazzling brilliancy of the oriental sky in summer, whence the well-known comparison of the sky in a season of heat and drought to brass. It will thus be seen that those two verses, (17 and 18) are in logical connection. Thou who art subject to the influences of the seasons, whose garments are hot in summer, when the earth becomes still from the South, canst thou claim to be associated with Him who spread on high yon blazing canopy, solid and burnished as a molten mirror? the comparison being with the molten metal used as mirrors.E.]

Job 27:19. Teach us what we shall say to Him, the mighty Author and Preserver of this magnificent world-structure?what we shall say to Him, that is, when we would argue with Him. We can set forth nothing (lit. we cannotset forth, scil. ) by reason of darkness, i. e., because of the darkness of our understanding; comp. Ecc 2:14; Isa 60:2. In respect to , pr, propter, comp. Job 23:17.

Job 27:20. Shall it be told Him (, optative) that I would speak?[Greatly increased vividness is imparted to the discourse by this sudden transition from the first person plural to the first singular, as though Elihu would realize on the instant, in his own person, all that was fearful in that which he assumes. Schlottmann].Or did ever a man wish to be destroyed? lit., did he say, that he would be (might become) destroyed? (comp. Job 34:31). This question has for its basis something like the well-known Old Testament idea that no man could see God and, live. See Exo 19:21; Exo 33:20; comp. Gen 32:30; Jdg 6:22 seq.; Job 13:22.

Job 27:21 seq. refers again to the storm which during the whole discourse is visible in the heavens, not however with the purpose merely to point it out or describe it, but to use the spectacle which the storm at the moment presents as a symbol of Jobs condition and relation to God at the time.

Job 27:21. And now indeed one sees not the light, which is gleaming brightly ( only here) in the clouds;i. e., which notwithstanding the clouds that veil it, or, which behind the clouds shines with its customary brilliancy. But a wind passeth by and cleareth them away (dispels these clouds, so that it becomes quite clear again). The meaning of the passage can be only thisthat the God who is hidden only for a time, respecting whom one runs the risk of being in perplexity, can suddenly unveil Himself to our surprise and confusion, and that therefore it becomes us to how humbly and quietly to His present mysterious visitation (Delitzsch). To reject this thought, which is so clear, and so strikingly in harmony with the connection, and to substitute for it the other and much more artificial thoughtBut now one cannot look upon the sunlight, while it shines clearly in the bright clouds, inasmuch as the wind has passed over it, and cleansed it of all obscurity (Ros., Hirz., Ew., Dillm., [Schlottmann, Noyes, Conant, Lee, Carey, Wordsworth, Rodwell, Elzas] etc.),is not to assist but to obscure the comprehension of the passage. [The explanation of Delitzsch, adopted by our Commy. does not seem quite as clear as Zckler represents it. is used by Elihu in two senses: (1) in Job 36:28 of the rain-clouds; (2) in Job 37:18 of the sky, or firmament. Delitzsch takes it more in the latter sense here, translating: the sunlight that is bright in the etherial heights. This interpretation however is forbidden by the of c. It cannot be said that the wind clears the etherial heights. The suffix evidently shows that the skies here spoken of include the lower region of clouds. Moreover the explanation itself requires that somewhere in the verse mention should be made of the lower clouds, which for a time hide the light. But if must include these clouds, which are blown away by the wind, Del.s explanation becomes inconsistent with the preposition , which certainly cannot mean, according to Zcklers suggestion, behind the clouds, or above them. Moreover, as Dillmann justly objects, the aspect in which God is about to be presented is not that of One who, having been hidden for a time suddenly reveals Himself, but rather that of One whose majesty is too terrible for contemplation, and whose greatness is unsearchable. To which add that this is also the prominent thought in the verse just preceding (Job 27:20);God is so great that to approach Him is to risk annihilation. With this thought the other rendering stands in better connection, so that the whole train of thought from Job 27:20 on may be freely rendered as follows:Shall it be announced to Him, the Eternal King, awful in glory, that I would speak to Him? Shall I utter the desire to be ushered unto His presence, whom to see is to perish? Even now men cannot look on the lightthe symbol of His gloryas it blazes there in the skies, over which the wind has passed, clearing them up; much less can they gaze on His terrible majesty! Elihu seems to speak with a presentiment of the approaching presence of God.E.].

Job 27:22 continues the description in ver 21c of that which follows the obscuration of the sun by thunder-clouds: From the north comes forth the golden brightness;around Eloah (hovers) the sublimest splendor.These words are referred by most modern commentators (following the Vulg.: ab aquilone aurum venit) to the metal gold, which comes out of the lands lying to the north (in favor of which they appeal to Herodotus, III., 116; Pliny, Hist. Nat., VI., 11; XXXIII., 4), and which accordingly, even if hard to obtain, is nevertheless at all times accessible to men, whereas Gods majesty remains forever unapproachable to them. But whether in this view we find the tertium comparationis to be the remoteness of the northern lands (Ewald, Hirzel, Vaihinger, Welte) [Schlottmann, Lee, Conant, Dillmann], or the mysterious obscurity which veils them (Stickel, Hahn, Delitzsch), the comparison would after all have something frigid about it, would be but ill suited to the present passage, and would agree but poorly with the other intimations of the Old Testament touching commercial geography, which locate the principal mines of gold towards the south rather; comp. Job 22:24; Job 28:1; Job 28:6; Job 28:16. The correct rendering has already been indicated by the LXX., who translate by , following which Luther in a marginal gloss explained the term to mean fair weather like pure gold [and so E. V.]; and similarly Brentius, Cocceius, Starke, Rosenmller, Umbreit, Arnheim, and Bttcher (Aehrenl., p. 76), [Noyes, Bernard, Barnes, Good, Wemyss, Carey, Rodwell, Elzas, Renan], but with the subordinate variation among themselves, that some of them explain the of the clear sunlight breaking forth (Cocceius, etc., Umbreit), others of the golden-shining clouds, as the covering of Jehovah appearing in the storm. The latter modification of this meteorological application of the word, in favor of which may be cited that other figurative rendering of the word gold which we find in Zec 4:12, where gold is used for pure oil must in any case be preferred, because the sun itself could not be described as coming , and because the explanation of this as meaning by means of the north-wind, is altogether too precarious, and equally at variance with usage as Umbreits translationfrom heaven. The parallel passages produced by Schultens out of Arabic poets, in favor of the comparison of the sunlight with gold, as likewise the Latin expressions aurea lux, aureus sol, are however none the less pertinent for illustration (comp. the golden sunlight with us), for it still remains true that the sun is the source of the golden splendor, with which a portion of the thunder-clouds is wont to shine forth, when the storm breaks up, and the clouds begin to retire (comp. Brentius below in the Homiletic Remarks on the passage). Moreover according to this explanation the first member of the verse stands to the second in the relation of comparison and preparation. From the north, when the winds scatter the storm (in the direction of the south) there burst forth clouds of light shining with the brilliancy of gold, an emblem of the incomparable majesty and splendor ( comp. Psa 104:1) of the light in which God is clothed. There is no reference to the ancient mythological conception of Gods dwelling-place being in the north (such as Bttcher attributes to the passage), nor to Ezekiels description of the chariot of cherubim as coming from the north. There may possibly have been certain meteorological causes of a local character, to ascertain which with certainty is beyond our power, which determined the poet to the choice of the expression , which in any case has about it something singular, susceptible only of imperfect explanation, whether be understood in a mineralogical, or a meteorological sense.

Job 27:23, 24 conclude the entire meditation on Gods incomprehensibly great and wonderful operations.

Job 27:23. The Almightywe find Him not.He ever remains for us One who is beyond our reach, both as regards the perception of our senses and of our minds (comp. ch, Job 23:3), one ) 1Ti 6:17). [Who is great in power], but right and the fulness of justice (, as in Job 33:19) He perverts noti. e., with all His incomprehensibleness He still continues ever righteous in His dealingsa proposition which brings the discourse back to its starting-point (Job 36:5). The phrase instead of , which is usual elsewhere, belongs to the Aramaizing idioms of the discourses of Elihu (comp. the Talmudic ; its nonoccurrence elsewhere however does not necessitate that, in disregard of the Masoretic accents, we should connect with in b, in which case the objectless clause will have to be rendered eitherHe does not exercise oppression (Umbreit, Schlottmann, Kamphausen) [E. V. (He will not afflict), Noyes, Conant, Barnes, Bernard, Elzas, Wordsworth, Goodwho makes subj.], or as a relative clausewhich He doth not oppress (Stickel), or after the reading , He answereth not, giveth no account of Himself (LXX., Peshito, Rosenmller, Hirzel, Vaihinger) [Lee, Carey, Renan, Rodwell]. The explanation of Hahn would seem more naturalAs regards right and the fulness of justice He doth therein no wrong.

Job 27:24. Therefore do men fear Himi. e., men of the right sort, men as they should be, who live in accordance with the precepts of true wisdom (Job 28:28). The optative rendering of the Perf. (Umbr., Vaihinger, Stickel, Heiligstedt [Good, Lee, Noyes, Carey, Renan, Rodwell], etc.) is as unnecessary as the Imperativefear Him is inadmissible, which would have been written instead (against Arnheim, Hahn). On the contrary the Perf. is used here as in Job 36:24-25, to denote a public, universally recognized fact of experience. He doth not look on those who are wise in their own conceit. lit. all the wise of heart, i. e., those who on the ground of their own heart (instead of on the ground of the fear of God) hold themselves to be wise, omnes qui sibi videntur esse sapientes (Vulg.). The censorious element of the expression does not lie strictly in (comp. Job 9:4; Pro 11:29; Pro 16:21), but only in the contrast to the notion of the fear of God expressed in a. Not to look on any one is, according to Job 35:13 b, to deem him worthy of no notice; of no gracious well-wishing in his behalf.. The subject of this verb can be only God; if the conceited were subj., and God the object (Vulg., Rosenmller, Stickel) [Bernard, Carey] instead of the text would read rather . An. uncalled-for disparagement of Job (Dillmn), by no means lies in this closing sentence of Elihus discourses, but simply a final admonition dissuading him from those presumptuous judgments respecting God, and those presumptuous speeches against God, against which the polemic edge of these discourses had been principally turned, and that with entire justice. [This is the sum of all that Elihu had to saythat God was original and independent; that He did not ask counsel of men in His dealings; that He was great and glorious, and inscrutable in His plans; and that men therefore should bow before Him with profound submission and adoration. Having illustrated and enforced this sentiment, Elihu, overwhelmed with the awful symbols of the approaching Deity is silent, and God is introduced to close the controversy. Barnes].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

The prejudice of modern critics against the contents and significance of Elihus discourses in general has in many instances betrayed them into judgments immoderately harsh even in respect to this, the last and most glorious of the series. Dillmann, e. g., gives it as his opinion that if the first part of this long discourse groups together the principal thoughts of Elihu, the second travels a path which the friends have already attempted (e. g., in Job 5., 11., 25.); and in the remainder of it is evidently based on passages of the discourses of God in chap. 38, seq., the individual beauties of which in their contents and application are thereby in part anticipated. Forasmuch as Dillmann, as appears from his previous discussions, recognizes at the same time in these principal thoughts of Elihu grouped together in the first part, little or nothing that is original, this opinion of his is as disparaging, not to say contemptuous, as it can well be. Elihu is thereby even in respect to the contents of this his final discourse, reduced to the position of a mere compiler, destitute of independence, who borrows the ideas and beauties of others, and without remarkable skill seeks to elaborate them for his own purpose. We believe that the detailed exegesis which we have given above, and particularly of this same fourth discourse, in which the point under consideration has claimed thorough examination and treatment from us, makes it unnecessary for us now to undertake a special refutation of this and similar objections. We believe that we have shown in respect to the reflections, predominantly ethical and theological, contained in the first part (Job 36:5-21), that they repeatedly set forth indeed the fundamental thought of these discourses, to wit, the idea of a remedial purifying and chastening influence of divinely ordained suffering on the pious; that they do this however in a way more impressive and soul-thrilling than any previous portion of the whole book; and that in particular the closing verses of this division (Job 36:16-21) contain statements in respect to Gods loving treatment in alluring out of the jaws of distress, in respect to the danger of allowing oneself to be led away from God by the heat of suffering, and the greatness of the ransom to be paid by means of it, in respect to the insufficiency of our own strivings and conflicts and prayers for procuring salvation, in respect to the natural tendency of the heart to do and to utter vanity rather than to suffer patiently, such as occur in the like combination nowhere in the Old Testament, and such as belong in truth to the profoundest utterances which the revealed literature of the Old Testament has produced in the attempt to solve the mystery of affliction before the coming of Christ.

In respect to the Second Part, however, we believe that we have shown:
(1) That the reflections in the sphere of physical theology therein contained, so far from deserving the reproach of lacking originality, form on the contrary a glorification of the majesty of God revealed in nature, which is most harmoniously adjusted in all its parts from beginning to end, poetically lofty and unique of its kind.
(2) That in particular the description of the terrors and beauties of the storm, exhibiting as it does in masterly combination beauties of its own, deserves to be placed beside the most elevated passages of the sort which the Old Testament literature has produced (e. g., Psalms 18. Psalms 29. etc.), or even surpasses them.

(3) That the independence of the description, as compared with the contentssimilar in partof Jehovahs discourse in Job 38. seq., is vindicated by the fact that its character is almost exclusively meteorological, being limited to the atmospheric phenomena of heat and moisture, and that its objects accordingly coincide only to a limited extent with those of the discourses which follow.

(4) That the suppositionwhich forces itself upon us with a necessity from which there is no escapethat the magnificent description here given is continued throughout by the sight of an actual storm in the heavens, accompanied by an abundance of the phenomena of thunder and lightning, furnishes a still further and a weighty contribution to the evidence in favor of the originality of the section in relation to what follows.

(5) That, finally, the suggestive conclusion of the whole, where the natural phenomena immediately contemplated are symbolically referredand that no less naturally than impressivelyto Gods mysterious operations in respect to Job, prepares the way for the final decisive solution of the whole problem (see especially Job 37:21 seq.). The way in which this result is secured banishes the last remnant of doubt touching the genuineness of this section, while at the same time it serves to corroborate the view of this whole Elihu-episode as an essential part of the poets own artistic plan, and as having a close organic connection with Job 38. seq. In short we believe that we have shown that the descriptions of nature in the discourse before us may be ranked with the best and most original portions of Holy Scripture of that class. We believe that such a man as Alexander von Humboldt showed neither poor taste nor defective judgment in sthetic criticism, when in the Second Part of his Cosmos (Vol. II., p. 414, Bohns Scientific Library) he writes with reference to this very passage: Similar views of the Cosmos occur repeatedly in the Psalms (Psa 65:7 seq.; Psa 74:15 seq.), and most fully perhaps in the 37th chapter of the ancient, if not ante-Mosaic Book of Job. The meteorological processes which take place in the atmosphere, the formation and solution of vapor, according to the changing direction of the wind, the play of its colors, the generation of hail and of the rolling thunder are described with individualizing accuracy; and many questions are propounded which we in the present state of our physical knowledge may indeed be able to express under more scientific definitions, but scarcely to answer satisfactorily. The book of Job is generally regarded as the most perfect specimen of the poetry of the Hebrews, etc.

2. We are constrained to make an observation in opposition to Delitzsch respecting the anthropological, ethical, and soteriological representations of the First Part (and indeed of the whole discourse, for the same representations appear also in the Second Part towards the end; see Job 37:12 seq., Job 37:19 seq.). When this commentator, who is so highly esteemed on account of his exegesis of this book, maintains (II., p. 307 seq.) that Elihu, as in his discourses generally, so in this final discourse particularly, takes up a position apart from the rest of the book, in so far as he makes Jobs sin the cause of his affliction; while in the idea of the rest of the book Jobs affliction has nothing whatever to do with Jobs sin, except in so far as he allows himself to be drawn into sinful language concerning God by the conflict of temptation into which the affliction plunges himwe believe that we must reject as a one-sided representation this way of characterizing the distinction between the solution of the great mystery of suffering given by Elihu and that given by God, or taught by the whole poem. We must also charge with one-sidedness the statement which follows in immediate connection with this, that it is only the assumed older poet (i. e., the author of the poem as a whole omitting Elihus discourses), and not Elihu, who discusses as his theme the mystery of affliction, because it is the former only who exhibits Job as suffering wholly without guilt, or even , whereas Elihu leaves sin and suffering together as inseparable, and opposes the false doctrine of retribution by the distinction between disciplinary chastisement and judicial retribution. We must be permitted to doubt whether on Old Testament grounds a suffering purely on account of righteousness (which under the New Testament would be suffering purely on account of Christ, the genuine suffering of martyrdom) could have been anywhere conceived of, much less set forth with poetic elaboration. For the evil thought and imagination of mans heart from his youth, together with the secret faults without number, and the errors which cannot be understoodall this was rooted too firmly and deeply in the consciousness of every thinker within the circle of the Old Testament revelation to admit of the possibility of separating oneself in any measure from this all-embracing sinfulness and guilt which attaches to all who belong to our race. Moreover the actual issue of the action of the poem in Job 42. shows clearly enough that the idea that Jobs suffering had nothing whatever to do with Jobs sin, was not that of the poet. That for which Job is there obliged to repent in dust and ashes is not simply his sinful speaking against God, but beyond question the root, which lay still deeper, of these individual sinful outbreaksthe remainder of un-expiated sin, of inward impurity, not yet wholly removed by purification, from which he suffered, and the presence of which he had repeatedly acknowledged. The mission of Elihu, as appears with pre-eminent clearness from this last discourse of his, is none other than to prove the inseparable connection between those criminal utterances of the sorely-tried sufferer and their deeper ground in the moral nature, and at the same time to prove the unavoidable necessity of suffering for purification, even for the man who is comparatively righteous. In other words Elihu sets forth the educational and remedial value of the afflictions ordained by God for every one who is visited by them, even for him who appears to be most innocent. The course of his discussion also rests on the doctrine of affliction, only that he affirms more urgently and emphasizes more strongly the necessity of suffering for all grounded in the sinfulness of all that is done by the discourses of Jehovah. These rather lay the chief emphasis on the unfathomableness of the divine purpose in decreeing suffering, as also, in close connection with this, on the object of suffering, which is to cultivate and to confirm the obedience, humility and truth of the pious. In short, that which Elihu seeks to demonstrate is that the significance of Jobs suffering is predominantly that of chastisement and purification; that to which the conclusion of the whole poem points on the contrary is that its significance is predominantly that of probation. There is no absolute contrast, but essentially only a difference of degree between the solution of this problem which Elihu propounds, and the final decision of Jehovah. The former contemplates the affliction laid by God on the pious more with reference to its final and supreme purpose of salvation, or which is the same thingthe former undertakes the solution of the problem from a soteriological stand-point which is in part as yet that of the law, the latter from one that decisively approximates that of the New Testament. Comp. above, Introd. 10, ad 8.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

In a homiletic respect both divisions of the discourse, the anthropological-ethical and the physico-theological, present, much that is instructive and stimulating. It will be one chief aim of the practical expositor to exhibit vividly and with proper care the reciprocal influence of both elements in treating of such passages as Job 36:5; Job 36:16; Job 36:22 seq.; Job 37:5; Job 37:12 seq., Job 37:19 seq., Job 37:22 seq.

Particular Passages

Job 36:5 seq. Zeltner: Although God is the Most Mighty One, His wisdom and goodness do not permit that He should reject and condemn any one without cause, by virtue of a bare unconditional decree. His righteousness vindicates itself alike with the evil and the pious. And although in the case of the pious appearances indicate that He has forsaken them, the hour never fails to come at last when He brings forth their cause, and establishes their right, so that they behold with pleasure His grace.v. Gerlach: Whereas Elihu has previously set forth the retribution of Gods righteousness, which without fail overtakes the wicked, so now he here sets forth His gracious fatherly guidance of His servants. He does not cast them off at once on account of their missteps, for He is also mighty in strength of heart, i. e., His wisdom penetrates all things; He knows therefore how by wondrous ways to lead them to the right goal.

Job 36:8 seq. Brentius: If kings or princes, whether in liberty or in captivity and chains, will not despise the instruction of the Lord, but will rather submit to Him when He admonishes them of those things which are right, and chastises them by affliction, and repent of their wickedness, then shall they find the Lord favorable to them, and ready to forgive whatever iniquities they had before committed. Of this you have an example in Manasseh.V. Andreae: If in the present condition of things in the world the pious must at times languish in misery, this is in order that they may persistently endure in the right way, which conducts them to that blessed goal. He who rebels against these divine methods of treatment, will thereby only forfeit the blessing which is ever consequent upon such suffering.

Job 36:22. Oecolampadius: The invisible things of God indeed are known from those things which are seen, but all the knowledge which is attainable to us now is imperfect. We see afar off, and in darkness, and through a glass, having a better knowledge of what God is not than of what He is. We are not able to search out His judgments, but we know Him to be the Most High, and the Incomprehensible One. However much accordingly philosophers may dispute about the way in which snow, rain, lightning, thunderbolts are produced, they are nevertheless wholly ignorant by what decree of God they are brought into being. It is otherwise however that our theologian [Elihu] discourses concerning the secrets of nature. He does it in order that in them the righteousness of God may be observed, showing kindness to some, afflicting others. But by Gods appointment all things are ordered for good to those who are good, at the same time that all creatures work evil to those who are evil. Andreae: The same storm which on the one side is sent upon the lands for punishment and destruction is at the same time appointed on the other side to bless them abundantly, and to make them fruitful. Thus even the severest judgments of God are ever to be regarded as at the same time a source out of which divine grace distils forth.

Job 37:1 seq. Cramer: Thunder, lightning, and storms, are to be our open-air preachers, and preachers of repentance.They are Gods regalia, and emblems of His divine majesty.Starke: When God thunders, He, as it were, speaks to us in wrath (Exo 20:19). God would have us recognize Him even out of the storm, and all the more at such a time pray to Him and fear Him as the true God. In a heavy thunder-storm every one should humble himself before God, and cry to Him, beseeching Him to take us and ours into His gracious protection..Wohlfarth: Although we ho longer, like the ancients, find a sign of the personal and visible nearness of God in the fearfully beautiful natural phenomenon of a storm, but would fain explain this (completely?) by the laws of nature, it declares to us nevertheless the God of power, wisdom, and goodness, and disposes us to the worship of Him, who gave to nature her laws. If by its terrors the storm first of all declares to us Gods majesty, and with earnest warning points us to the day of judgment, when mighty princes will tremble like the least of their subjects, it at the same time declares to us the wisdom and goodness of the Most High.2

Job 37:16 seq. Weim. Bibel: Gods works and wonders, which lie in nature and which come to pass daily, are rightly perceived and learned only by believers, for it is they who by the contemplation of such works are aroused to give praise to God.Cocceius: If in other matters, which happen every day, man is not summoned by God to act as His umpire and counsellor, and if no one can demand that this should be done, nor presume to murmur against such an arrangement, it is just that man should not require of God that the reason of the divine administration in this world should in like manner be made known to him, but that he should acquiesce in it whether he understands it or not, that he should trust Gods word, and in patience await His blessing.

Job 37:21 seq. Brentius: The true light, which is God, cannot be seen, neither does it present itself to eyes of flesh. We see indeed a certain splendor of the clouds, we see the light of the sun, when the clouds are scattered by the winds, we see also gold coming from the North; i. e., we see the clouds, resplendent as with gold, and bright serenity, proceeding from the North. All these are spectacles from which the pious mind rises to the praise of the great and terrible God; and as the heavens declare the glory of God, so men from the divine works may recognize and glorify the true God.Umbreit: The comparison here given is incomplete, but may easily be understood, and may be more particularly set forth thus: As the sunlight, when it suddenly bursts forth from behind a thick veil of clouds, dazzles and blinds mens eyes, so also Would the hidden majesty of God, if once it were revealed in all its glory to mortal man, veil his vision with darkness.

Footnotes:

[1]

From the cloud the blessing springeth,
Rain it bringeth;
From the cloud unasked the beam
Doth quivering gleam.

[2]There is much on these points of practical utility accompanied indeed by much which scientifically considered is untenable, absurd, and curious, in the older works on Natural Theology, by Scheuchzer (Physica Sacra, I., c, 12), Schmidt (Bibl. Physicus, p. 112 seq.), J. A. Fabricius (Pyrotheologie, oder anweisung zur Erkuntniss Gottes aus Betrachtung des Feuers, as an Appendix to will. Derhams Astrotheologie, etc., Hamburg, 1765); P. P. Ahlwardt, (Brontotheologia; Betrachtungen ber Blitz und Donner, Gresswald, 1745), etc.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

Elihu still prosecuteth his discourse. He gives a better and a more proper reason than Job’s friends did, concerning the cause of affliction, and shows, that it is by such providences that the Lord exerciseth his people.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

(1) Elihu also proceeded, and said, (2) Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf. (3) I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

There is somewhat very striking in Elihu’s account of himself, in the cause why he speaks. He saith it is on GOD’S behalf, and this he doth by ascribing righteousness unto him. Reader, if the glory of GOD in CHRIST was made the one, and the only cause of all our speaking; this would be the standard of everything that is excellent. The LORD saith, he that honoureth me, I will honour. 1Sa 2:30 . Now, if the one sole object of all our pursuits, and all our desires, be to honour GOD, depend upon it, in honouring him we find comfort ourselves. But if my comfort be more the object of my pursuit than the divine glory, I shall want that comfort when most I stand in need of it.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Job 36:3

To gain a true view we must take into account all varied forms of contemporary experience, and all the experiences of different ages. He will best see the whole, and each part in relation to the whole most truly, who has the widest and best proportioned knowledge founded on the experience of others, and at the same time controls all by his own experience.

Dr. Hort, Hulsean Lectures, pp. 172,173.

Job 36:5

‘It struck me,’ says Carlyle, ‘that Sterling’s was not intrinsically, nor had ever been in the highest or chief degree, a devotional mind. Of course all excellence in man, and worship as the supreme excellence, was part of the inheritance of this gifted man: but if called to define him, I should say, artist not Saint was the real bent of his being. He had sudden admiration, but intrinsically rather a deficiency of reverence in comparison. Fear, with its corollaries, on the religious side, he appeared to have none, nor ever to have had any.’ Earlier in the memoir, he makes a similar criticism. ‘An eye to discern the divineness of the Heaven’s splendours and lightnings, the insatiable wish to revel in their godlike radiances and brilliances; but no heart to front the scathing terrors of them, which is the first condition of your conquering an abiding place there.’ Yet, at the close of the biography, Carlyle tells how, on his deathbed, Sterling was wont to murmur, ‘God is great, God is great’.

We may confidently trust that we have over us a Being thoroughly robust and grandly magnanimous, in distinction from the Infinite Invalid bred in the studies of sickly monomaniacs, who corresponds to a very common human type, but makes us blush for him when we contrast him with a truly noble man, such as most of us have had the privilege of knowing both in public and in private life.

O. W. Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast Table (x.). Strong Son of God, Immortal Love.

Tennyson.

Reference. XXXVI. 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No. 1379.

Job 36:8-9

‘It is a very melancholy Reflection,’ Steele observes in The Spectator (No. 312), ‘that Men are usually so weak, that it is absolutely necessary for them to know Sorrow and Pain to be in their right senses.’

Job 36:10-11

The weakness of the will begins, when the individual would be something of himself. All reform aims, in some one particular, to let the soul have its way through us; in other words, to engage us to obey.

Emerson on The Oversoul.

Job 36:24-26

In his paper on ‘Madame Sand and the New Apocalypse’ in The Paris Sketch-Booh, Thackeray bursts out with the indignant cry: ‘O awful, awful name of God! Light unbearable! Mystery unfathomable! Vastness immeasurable! Who are these who come forward to explain the mystery, and gaze unblinking into the depths of the light, and measure the immeasurable vastness to a hair? Oh name, that God’s people of old did fear to utter! Oh light, that God’s prophet would have perished had he seen! Who are these that are now so familiar with it? Women, truly; for the most part weak women weak in intellect, weak mayhap in spelling and grammar, but marvellously strong in faith: women, who step down to the people with stately step and voice of authority, and deliver their twopenny tablets as if there were some Divine authority for the wretched nonsense recorded there.’

Reference. XXXVII. 6. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii. p. 6.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Speech of Elihu. IV.

Job 35-37

Elihu says many beautiful things. There is some difficulty in tracing the uniting line of his numerous remarks, but the remarks themselves often glitter with a really beautiful light. Many of the independent sayings are like single jewels. We need not always look for the thread upon which the pearls are strung: sometimes it is enough to see the separate pearls themselves, to admire, to value, and spiritually to appropriate all their helpful suggestion. Elihu’s speech is like many a sermon: we may not be able to follow it in its continuity, and indeed in some instances, continuity may not be a feature of the discourse; yet what riches are found in separate sentences, in asides, in allusions whose meaning is not at first patent, but which grows as we peruse the words and consider the argument. We may know nothing of the discourse as a whole, and yet we may remember short sentences, brief references, and take them away as lights that will bless us in many a dark hour, or as birds that may sing to us when all human voices are silent.

Elihu says beautiful things about God, as we have already seen. He loved God. Was he sometimes too eager to defend God? Is it not possible for us to excite ourselves much too hotly in defending the eternal Name and in protecting the everlasting sanctuary? Who has called us to all this controversy, to all this angry hostility even against the foe? What if it had been more profitable to all if we had prayed with him instead of arguing; yea, even prayed for him in his absence; yea, higher miracle still prayed for him despite his sneering and bis mocking. Elihu may have been too vehement, too anxious to defend God, as if God needed him. And yet that can hardly have been his spirit, for one of the very first things to which we shall now call attention shows Elihu’s conception of God to be one of absolute independence of his creature’s. Let us see whether Elihu was right or wrong in this conception.

“If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?” ( Job 35:6-7 ).

This is true of God’s majesty, but it is not true of God’s fatherhood. God can do without any one of us, and yet his heart yearns if the very youngest of us be not at home, sitting at the table, and living on the bounty of his love. It is perfectly right to say what Elihu said: “If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him?” O thou puny transgressor, thou dost but bruise thine own hand when thou smitest against the rocks of eternity! “Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?” Can thy sin tarnish his crown, or take away one jewel from his diadem, or abate the storm of heaven’s music that hails him eternal King? Consider, poor suffering patriarch: if thou be righteous even, on the other hand, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? And yet that statement is imperfect: it creates a chasm between the Creator and the creature; it sets God away at a great distance upon an inaccessible mountain, and clothes him with glories which dazzle the vision that would look upon them. From one side of the thought, it is good, it is glorious, but from the other side of the thought it is incomplete. Elihu speaks of the dazzling sun, but does he not forget to speak of the tender light that kisses every pane even in a poor man’s window, and comes with God’s benediction upon every flower planted by a child’s hand, and watched by a child’s love? We must not make God too imperious. There is a conception of God which represents him as keeping men at the staff-end, allowing them to approach so far but not one step beyond. That conception could be vindicated up to a given point, but there is the larger conception which says: We have boldness of access now; we have not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; we have come unto mount Sion, where with reverent familiarity we may look face to face upon God, and speak to him, as a man speaketh with his friend, mouth to mouth, and return to our daily employment with the fragrance of heaven in our very breath, and with the almightiness of God as the fountain of our strength. This is the larger view. In all cases the larger view is the right view. He who has but a geographical view of the earth knows but little concerning it; as we have often had occasion to point out, the astronomical view involves the whole, and rules by infinite energy all that is apparently unequal and discrepant into serenest peace, into completest order. It is possible for us to be afraid of God: hence many minds would banish the thought of the divine love, saying, It is too high for us: no man may think of that and live: enough for us to deal with minor things: inferior concerns may well task our finite powers: we dare not lift up our eyes unto heaven: God is great, and may not be looked for. There was a time when that view might be historically correct, but Jesus Christ has come to present another aspect of God, to reveal him as Father, to declare his nearness, to preach his solicitude for the children of men, to describe him as so loving the world as to die for it. Let us repeat: that is the larger view, and until we have received it, we know nothing of what riches may be gathered in the sanctuary, and what triumphs may be won by the spirit of the Cross.

Elihu presents the same thought in another aspect; he says that man may do many things against God, and yet not injure him. That is not true. Here is opened to us a wild field of practical reflection. We cannot injure God without injuring ourselves. If we transgress against him, what does it amount to? Some may say, Who can blacken God’s whole universe by any sin he may commit? What can Iscariot himself do when he attempts to stain the infinite snow of the divine purity? There is also a sense in which that is true. God is not dependent upon us: our prayers do not make him what he is; our sacrifices do not constitute his heaven: he could do without every one of us; he could pay no heed to any action committed by any hand. But this is not the God of the Bible. Such a God is possible to the licentious imagination, but not possible to any one who has been trained in the Christian school, or who accepts Christian standards for the regulation of his thought, for the determination of his theology. We cannot omit a duty without grieving God; we cannot think an evil thought without troubling his heavens. He is concerned for us. Whilst we say we live, and move, and have our being in God, there is an obvious sense in which he may reply I live, and move, and have my being in man. He watches for us, longs for us, sends messages to us, seems to spend his eternity in thinking about us, and planning our whole life, and enriching us in all the regions and departments of our existence and nature. That is the Christian view. Never let the idea get into your mind that God cannot be interested in the individual man. Once let that conviction seize the mind, and despair quickly follows: you have not adopted a sentiment; you have given it the key of your heart; the enemy has seized it, and he says, Let that thought work a long while namely, that God does not care for the individual, that his universe is too large for him to pay any attention to details, and when that thought has well saturated the mind, I will go in and work all the mystery of damnation. We shall keep the enemy at bay, we shall affright him, in proportion as we are found standing hand in hand with God, saying loudly and sweetly, He is my God, and will not forsake me: he loves me as if I were an only child; he has been pleased to make me essential to the completeness of his joy. Words must fail when attempting to depict such a thought, but they help us, as a hint may help a man who is in difficulty. Beyond this we must not force words. If they bring us to feel that God numbers the hairs of our head, watches the falling sparrow, takes note of everything, is interested in our pulse that throbs within us, it is helpful, restful; meanwhile it is sufficient: preparation has been made for larger gifts, for fuller disclosures of divine decree and purpose.

Elihu has not been altogether poetical in his speech to Job: but we incidentally come upon an expression which proves that Elihu even could be poet as well as critic and accuser; he says

“But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night?” (Job 35:10 .)

Whatever may be the exact critical definition of the phrase, who can fail to receive it as throwing an explanatory lustre upon many a human experience? Consider the words in their relation to one another. First look at them separately “songs”; then look at the next word, “night”; now connect them, “songs in the night,” apparently songs out of place, songs out of season, songs that have gone astray, angels that have lost their foothold in heaven and have fallen down into wildernesses and valleys of darkness. Such is not the case. “Song” and “night” are words which seem to have no reciprocal relation: but human experience is larger than human definitions, and it is true to the experience of mankind that whilst there has been a night the night has been made alive with music. Who will deny this? No man who has had experience of life; only he will deny it who has seen life in one aspect, and who has seen so little of life as really to have seen none of it. Life is not a flash, a transient phase, a cloud that comes and goes without leaving any impression behind it: life is a tragedy; life is a long, complicated, changeful experience, now joyous to ecstasy, now sad to despair; now a great harvest-field rich with the gold of wheat, and now a great sandy desert in which no flower can be found. Taking life through and through, in all its relations and inter-relations, how many men can testify that in the night they have heard sweeter music than they ever heard in the day! Do not the surroundings sometimes help the music? Some music is out of place at midday; we must wait for the quiet wood, for the heart of the deep plantation, for the top of the silent hill, for the place where there is no city: some music must come to the heart in solitude a weird, mystic, tender thing, frightful sometimes as a ghost, yet familiar oftentimes as a friend. Who has not seen more of God at the graveside than he ever saw elsewhere? Who has not had Scripture interpreted to him in the house of death which was never interpreted to him by eloquent Apollos or by reasoning Paul? and who has not had occasion to go back upon his life, and say, It was good for me that I was afflicted: now that I have had time to reflect, I see that all the while God was working for me, secretly, beneficently, and the result is morning, beauty, promise, early summer, almost heaven! But here we must interpose a word of wise caution. Do not let us expect songs in the night if we had not duty and sacrifice in the daytime. God does not throw songs away. God does not expend upon us what we ourselves have not been prepared to receive by industry, by patient suffering, by all-hopeful endurance: never does God withhold the song in the night time when the day has been devoted to him. The darkness and the light are both alike to him. If we sow tares in one part of the day, we shall reap them in the other part. Sometimes the relation is reversed: one great, sweet, solemn voice has said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”: there we seem to have the words set in right sequence weeping and night; joy and morning. What a balance of expression! How exquisite in criticism and appropriateness! and yet Elihu will have it the other way: difficulty in the daytime, songs in the night; a day of long labour and sore travail, but at night every star a gospel, and the whole arch of heaven a protection and a security. This may be poetry to some, it is solemn fact to others. Poetry is the fact. Poetry is truth blossoming, fact budding into broader and more generous life.

Then Elihu presents another feature of the divine character, which is full of delightful suggestion

“Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom” ( Job 36:5 ).

Consider here the relation of terms: mighty, yet not contemptuous. This gives us the right interpretation of the very first passage which we quoted. God is mighty, yet condescending; God could crush us, yet he spares our life: because he is supremely mighty he is compassionate. Half-power is dangerous, almost mighty tempts the half-developed giant to tyrannous uses of his strength: but whole power, almightiness, omnipotence, by its very perfectness, can speak, can compassionate, can fall into the words of pity and solicitude and love. Thus justice becomes mercy; thus righteousness and peace have kissed each other; thought to be strangers, they have hailed one another as friends and brethren. Then the very omnipotence of God may be regarded as a gospel feature and as a gospel support. If he were less powerful he would be less pitiful. It is because he knows all that strength can do that he knows how little it can do Strength will never convert the world, omnipotence will never subdue creation, in the sense of exciting that creation to trust and worship, honour and love. What will overcome the universe of sin? Divine condescension, divine compassion, the cross of Christ. When are men ruled? When they are persuaded. When are men made loyal subjects? When they are fascinated by the king’s beauty, and delighted with the king’s compassion, clemency, and grace. For what king will man die? For the king who rules by righteousness and who is the subject of his own people. Thus God will not drive us into his kingdom. God spreads the feast and gives us welcome; he declares gospels, he offers hospitality: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely;” and again, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in.” So says he who by a breath could obliterate the universe. He will rule by love; he will take up his abode where he is welcomed by the broken heart and the contrite spirit.

A sweet word Elihu uses again; he speaks of “the bright light which is in the clouds” ( Job 37:21 ). This is a sentence we have to stand side by side with “songs in the night.” Astronomical meanings there may be, literal criticism may take out of expressions of this kind all that is nourishing to the soul and all that is comforting to the troubled spirit; yet there the juice of the divine grace remains, the sap of the holy virtue is found, and may be received and appropriated by hearts that are in a fit condition. Astronomy shall not have all the grandeur and all the suggestion; the heart will have some of it. The heart says, The universe was made for man, not man for the universe, and man has a right to take his sickle into every field, and reap the bread which he finds growing there, for wherever there is bread it was meant for the satisfaction of hunger. “Men see not the bright light which is in the clouds,” the silver lining, the edge of glory. We ought to reckon up our mercies as well as talk of our judgments: “My song shall be of mercy and judgment” a complete song, a psalm wanting in no feature of sublimity and tenderness Suppose we sometimes reverse the usual process, and instead of writing down the name of the cloud and its size and density, we should take our pen and with a glad swift eagerness write down the lines we have seen, the sudden gleamings, the bright visions, the angel-forms, the messages of love, the compensations, the advantages of life. That would be but grateful; that would be but just. Is there any life that has not some brightness in it? How true it is that though in some cases the light is all gone, yet, even amongst little outcast children, see what laughter there is, what sunniness, what glee! Who has not seen this on the city streets? Looking at the little wayfarers we should say, There can be no happiness in such lives; such little ones can never know what it is to laugh; and lo, whilst we are musing and moralising, how they lilt and sing and show signs of inextinguishable gladness. This is the mystery of life. It always has with it some touch of heaven, some throb of immortality, some sign of all-conquering force. Here it is that the gospel will get its hold upon men. Begin with the joys they have, carry them forward with due amplification, and purify them until they turn into a reasonable and religious gladness. Seize the facts of life, and reason from them up into pious generalisations, rational religious conclusions, and force men by the very strenuousness of your argument to see that they have had seeds enough, but have never planted them; otherwise even their lives would have been blooming, blossoming, fruitful as the garden of God.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

(See the Job Book Comments for Introductory content and general conclusions and observations).

IX

ELIHU’S SPEECH, GOD’S INTERVENTION AND THE EPILOGUE

Job 32-42

The author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech consists of the prose section (Job 32:1-5 ), the several items of which are as follows:

1. Why the three friends ceased argument, viz: “Because he was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1 ).

2. Elihu’s wrath against Job, viz: “Because he justified himself rather than God” (Job 32:2 ).

3. Elihu’s wrath against Job’s friends, viz: “Because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job” (Job 32:3 ; Job 32:5 ).

4. Why Elihu had waited to speak unto Job, viz: “Because they were older than he” (Job 32:4 ).

Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) consists of two sections as follows:

1. Elihu’s address to the three friends.

2. His soliloquy.

Now, an analysis of part one of this introduction consists of Elihu’s address to his three friends, with the following items:

1. He waited because he was young, and considered that days should speak and that years should teach wisdom (Job 32:6-7 ).

2. Yet there is individual intelligence, a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty which gives understanding (Job 32:8 ).

3. And greatness, and age are not always wise, therefore, I speak (Job 32:9-10 ).

4. He had waited patiently and had listened for their reasonings while they fumbled for words (Job 32:11 ).

5. They had failed to answer Job’s argument, and therefore had failed to convince him (Job 32:12 ).

6. Now beware; do not say that you have found wisdom, for God can attend to his case, but not man (Job 32:13 ).

7. I will not answer him with your speeches (Job 32:14 ). Now let us analyze his soliloquy which is found in Job 32:15-22 and consists of the following items:

1. They are amazed and silent; they have not a word to say (Job 32:15 ).

2. Shall I wait? No; I will speak and show my opinion (Job 32:16-17 ).

3. I am full of words, and must speak or burst, therefore I will speak and be relieved (Job 32:18-20 ).

4. His method was not to respect persons nor give flattering titles, because he did not know how to do so and was afraid of his Maker (Job 32:21-22 ).

Elihu’s address to Job in 33:1-7 is as follows:

1. Hear me for the integrity and sincerity of my speech, since I have already begun and am speaking to you right out of my heart (Job 33:1-3 ).

2. I also am a man, being made as a man and since we are on a common level, answer me or stand aside (Job 33:4-5 ).

3. I will be for God, and being a man, I will not terrify you, for I will not bring great pressure upon you (Job 33:6-7 ).

The point of issue now is a general charge that Job’s heart attitude toward God is not right in view of these afflictions (Job 33:8-12 ). It will be seen that Elihu’s charge is different from that of the three friends, viz: That Job was guilty of past sins.

Elihu charged first that Job had said that God giveth no account of any of his matters (Job 33:13 ).. In his reply Elihu shows that this is untrue.

1. In that God reveals himself many times in dreams and visions in order to turn man from his purpose and to save him from eternal destruction (Job 33:14-18 ).

2. In that in afflictions God also talks to man as he often brings him down into the very jaws of death (Job 33:19-22 ). [Cf. Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a preventive.] None of the speakers before him brought out this thought. This is very much like the New Testament teachings; in fact, this thought is nowhere stated more clearly than here. It shows that afflictions are to the children of God what the storm is to the tree of the forest, its roots run deeper by use of the storm.

3. In that he sends an angel sometimes to interpret the things of God, to show man what is right for him (Job 33:23-28 ).

4. Therefore these things ought to be received graciously, since God’s purpose in it all is benevolent (Job 33:29-33 ). Elihu charged, in the second place, that Job had said that God had taken away his right and that it did not profit to be a righteous man (Job 34:5-9 ; Job 35:1-3 ).

His reply is as follows:

1. The nature of God disproves it; -he is not wicked and therefore will not pervert justice (Job 34:10-15 ).

2. Therefore Job’s accusation is unbecoming, for he is by right possessor of all things and governs the world on the principles of justice and benevolence (Job 34:21-30 ).

3. What Job should have said is altogether different from what he did say because he spoke without knowledge and his words were not wise (Job 34:31-37 ).

4. Whether Job was righteous or sinful did not affect God (Job 35:4-8 ).

Elihu charged, in the third place, that Job had said that he could not get a hearing because he could not see him (Job 35:14 ). His reply was that this was unbecoming and vanity in Job (Job 35:15-16 ).

Elihu’s fourth charge was that Job was angry at his chastisements (Job 36:18 ). He replied that such an attitude was sin; and therefore he defended God (36:1-16).

Elihu’s fifth charge was that Job sought death (Job 36:20 ). He replied that it was iniquity to suggest to God when life should end (Job 36:21-23 ).

Elihu discusses in Job 37 the approaching storm. He introduces it in Job 36:24 and in Job 36:33 he gives Job a gentle rebuke, showing him how God even tells the cows of the coming storm. Then he describes the approaching storm in Job 37 , giving the lesson in Job 36:13 , viz: It may be for correction, or it may be for the benefit of the earth, but “stand still and see.”

Elihu makes a distinct advance over the three friends toward the true meaning of the mystery. They claim to know the cause; he, the purpose. They said that the affliction was punitive; he, beneficent. His error is that he, too, makes sin in Job the occasion at least of his sorrow. His implied counsel to Job approaches the final climax of a practical solution. God’s first arraignment of Job is found in Job 38:1-40:2 . Tanner’s summary is as follows:

It is foolish presumption for the blind, dependent creature to challenge the infinite in the realm of providence. The government of the universe, physical and moral, is one; to question any point is to assume understanding of all. Job, behold some of the lower realms of the divine government and realize the absurdity of your complaint.

Job’s reply follows in Job 40:3-5 . Tanner’s summary: “I see it; I hush.”

God’s second arraignment of Job is recorded in Job 40:6-41:34 . Tanner:

To criticize God’s government of the universe is to claim the ability to do better. Assuming the role of God, suppose Job, you try your hand on two of your fellow creatures the hippopotamus and the crocodile.

Job’s reply is found in Job 42:1-6 , Tanner’s summary of which is: This new view of the nature of God reveals my wicked and disgusting folly in complaining; I repent. Gladly do I embrace his dispensations in loving faith.

There are some strange silences in this arraignment and some people have been disappointed that God did not bring out all the questions of the book at the close, as:

1. He says nothing of the heaven scenes in the Prologue and of Satan.

2. He gives no theoretic solution of the problems of the book.

3. He says nothing directly about future revelation and the Messiah.

The explanation of this is easy, when we consider the following facts:

1. That it was necessary that Job should come to the right heart attitude toward God without any explanation.

2. That to have answered concerning future revelation and the Messiah would have violated God’s plan of making revelation.

3. That bringing Job to an acceptance of God’s providence of whatever form without explanation, furnishes a better demonstration of disinterested righteousness.

This is true of life and the master stroke of the production is that the theoretical solution is withheld from the sufferer, while he is led to the practical solution which is a religious attitude of heart rather than an understanding of the head. A vital, personal, loving faith in God that welcomes from him all things is the noblest exercise of the human soul. The moral triumph came by a more just realization of the nature of God.

Job was right in some things and he was mistaken in other things. He was right in the following points:

1. In the main point of difference between him and the three friends, viz: That his suffering was not the result of justice meted out to him for his sins.

2. That even and exact justice is not meted out here on the earth.

3. In contending for the necessity of a revelation by which he could know what to do.

4. In believing God would ultimately vindicate him in the future.

5. In detecting supernatural intelligence and malice in his affliction.

He was mistaken in the following particulars:

1. In considering his case hopeless and wishing for death.

2. In attributing the malice of these things to God instead of Satan.

3. In questioning the mercy and justice of God’s providence and demanding that the Almighty should give him an explanation.

The literary value of these chapters (Job 38:1-42:6 ) is immense and matchless. The reference in Job 38:3 to “The cluster of the Pleiades” is to the “seven stars” which influence spring and represents youth. “Orion” in the same passage, stood for winter and represents death. The picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 has stood the challenge of the ages.

The lesson of this meeting of Job with God is tremendous. Job had said, “Oh, that I could appear before him!” but his appearing here to Job reveals to him his utter unworthiness. The man that claims sinlessness advertises his guilty distance from God. Compare the cases of Isaiah, Peter, and John. The Epilogue (Job 42:7-17 ) consists of three parts, as follows:

1. The vindication of Job and the condemnation of his three friends.

2. Job as a priest makes atonement and intercession for his friends.

3. The blessed latter end of Job: “So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”

The extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends are important. In extent it applies to the issues between Job and the three friends and not to Job’s heart attitude toward God. This he had correct-ed in Job by his arraignment of him. In vindicating Job, God justifies his contention that even and exact justice is not meted out on earth and in lime, and condemned the converse which was held by his friends. Out of this contention of Job grows his much felt need of a future judgment, a redeemer, mediator, interpreter, and incarnation, and so forth. Or if this contention is true, then man needs these things just mentioned. If the necessity of these is established, then man needs a revelation explaining all these things.

Its value is seen in God’s confirming these needs as felt by Job, which gives to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come, implicit confidence in the revelation he has given us, pointing out the fact that Job’s need of a redeemer, umpire, interpreter, and so forth has been supplied to the human race with all the needed information upon the other philosophic discussions of the book.

The signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends” is seen in the fact that Job reached the point of right heart attitude toward God before the victory came. This was the supreme test of Job’s piety. One of the hardest things for a man to do is to invoke the blessings of heaven on his enemies. This demand that God made of Job is in line with New Testament teaching and light. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for them,” and while dying he himself prayed for his executioners. Paul who was conquered by the prayer of dying Stephen often prayed for his persecutors. This shows that Job was indeed in possession of God’s grace, for without it a man is not able to thus pray. The lesson to us is that we may not expect God to turn our captivity and blessings if we are unable to do as Job did.

The more thoughtful student will see that God does not ex-plain the problem to Job in his later addresses to him, nor in the Epilogue, because to give this would anticipate, out of due time, the order of the development of revelation. Job must be content with the revelation of his day and trust God, who through good and ill will conduct both Job and the world to proper conclusions.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech and what the several items of it?

2. What is Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) and what the two sections?

3. Give an analysis of part one of this introduction.

4. Give an analysis of his soliloquy?

5. Analyze Elihu’s address to Job in Job 33:1-7 .

6. What is the point al issue?

7. What did Elihu charge that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?

8. What did Elihu charge, in the second place, that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?

9. What did Elihu charge in the third place, that Job had said, and what Elihu’s answer to it?

10. What was Elihu’s fourth charge and what was Elihu’s answer?

11. What Elihu’s fifth charge and what his reply?

12. What does Elihu discuss in Job 37 ?

13. What the distinct advances made by Elihu and what his error?

14. What God’s first arraignment of Job?

15. What Job’s reply?

16. What God’s second arraignment of Job?

17. What Job’s reply?

18. What the strange silences in this arraignment and what your explanation of them?

19. What the character of the moral solution of the problem as attained by Job?

20. In what things was Job right and in what things was he mistaken?

21. What can you say of the literary value of these chapters (Job 33:1-42:6 )?

22. Explain the beauties of Job 38:31 .

23. What of the picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 ?

24. What the lesson of this meeting of Job with God?

25. Give an analysis of the epilogue.

26. What the extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends?

27. What the signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends”?

28. Does God give Job the explanation of life’s problem, and why?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Job 36:1 Elihu also proceeded, and said,

Ver. 1. Elihu also proceeded and said ] Heb. And Elihu added, viz. this his fourth oration, not unlike the former, made in behalf and for defence of God’s justice, which he here further asserteth against Job (who had seemed to cast some slur upon it) by arguments drawn from his wondrous works, the meteors especially; and all to prevail with Job to submit to God’s justice and to implore his mercy, Ex abundanti quae sequuntur adiecit.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)