Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 37:1 onwards. Indeed, “Who teaches like him?” asks Elihu (v. 22). God has His school. Unlike those of men, it lasts a lifetime. If we agree to attend classes, it will make us wiser and more educated than any university in the world could do (Psalm 94:9-13; Esa 48.16-19). After hearing the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds had to recognize that Jesus taught them “as authoritative, not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). Authority and also wisdom, tireless patience, gentleness even in reprehension, these were the characteristics of the Doctor who came from God to teach men (John 3:1-3). He is no longer on earth, but He has left us His Word, the source of all instruction for our souls.
Elihu glorifies God’s power (v. 22), His work (v. 24), His greatness (v. 26), His righteousness, and His goodness (v. 31). Let us rejoice in being able to proclaim with him: “Behold, God is mighty – behold, God shows himself exalted – behold, God is great”. Making the Father known and glorifying His name was for Jesus while He was here on earth the purpose of His entire ministry and the summary of His teaching (John 17:4-26). To depict the patriarch’s state of mind and God’s ways toward him, Elihu takes his examples from heaven on a stormy day (John 36:26-33; Jb 37.2-6). The dark clouds illustrate the mourning and trials that for a moment had hidden from Job the light of God’s face. It is difficult for the natural heart to comprehend its mysterious swaying (v. 16). But Job must know one thing: these clouds are charged by God with water of blessing for him (vv. 11 and John26:5-9).
For rain can fall in many ways: in goodness, for the earth (Psalm 65:10-12), or as a judgment, as a plague (v. 13; Psalm 148:7-8). It descends in abundant and beneficial drops (J b 36:26-33), in the form of fertilizing showers (v. 6) or, on the contrary, in torrential waves – the rains of its strength – which ravage the soil without penetrating it. In the latter case, it is a judgment, without effect on the soul. But this is not God’s thought of His servant Job. He wants to bless him, he corrects him with measure (J 10:23-24) and will make him say with the hymn: If sometimes a cloud, Come and steal your beauty from me, Divine friend, after the storm, As before, shine your clarity (v. 21).
Following the thirty-seventh chapter, the description seems to come from what is really happening, a huge storm shaking the earth. The sound comes out, so to speak, from the mouth of God, reverberating from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven, and rolls under all heaven. Again, there are flashes, and “He doesn’t stop them when his voice is heard.” Swift ministers of judgment and death, they are thrown upon the world. We are asked to consider a new wonder, that of snow that replaces at times the gentle or heavy rain. The cold and fierce showers of winter stop the work of man, and even wild beasts seek their dens and remain in their hiding places. “The Angel of the Sea, also has another message, – in the “great rain of his strength”, rain of trials, sweeping away the ill-established foundations.
Then his robe does not extend gently over all the sky like a veil, but descends from his shoulders, heavy, oblique, terrible, leaving his sword arm free.” God is always directly at work. “From his room comes the storm and cold north.” Its breath gives frost and narrows the width of the waters. Towards Armenia, perhaps, the poet saw frozen rivers and lakes from one bank to the other. He who was more poet than reasoner could indeed stop and stumble as the speaker has done so far and find freedom when he arrived at a theme suited to his mind. But there are times when we seem to hear Elihu’s voice interrupting the flow of the ode because no poet would stop his muse. In Job 37:14 the sentence is interrupted, as an aside of the writer drawing attention to the words he quotes: – “Listen to this, O Job; and consider the wonderful works of God. »
“Again (Job 37:19), between the description of the burnished mirror of heaven and that of the brightness after the sweeping wind, without any reference to the train of thought, the ejection is introduced, – “Teach us what we shall say to him, for we cannot order our speech because of darkness. Will he be told that I am speaking? If a man speaks surely, he will be swallowed up. The last verses also seem to be in Elihu’s manner. But the ode as a whole, although it has the flaw of trying to prevent what is put in the mouth of the Almighty speaking of the storm, is one of the beautiful passages of the book. We move from dogmatic discussions “cold, heavy and pretentious” to free and striking pictures of nature, with the feeling that we are being guided and that can present in eloquent language the fruits of his study of the works of God.
The descriptions were noted for their praise and power by observers. While the view is one invariably adopted by Hebrew writers, the originality of the ode lies in the fresh observation and recording of atmospheric phenomena, especially rain and snow, rolling clouds, thunderstorms and winds. The images do not seem to belong to the Arabian desert but to a fertile populated region such as Aram or the Chaldean plain. On the fields and dwellings of men, not on vast expanses of barren sand, rain and snow fall, and they seal the hand of man. Lightning clouds cover the face of the “habitable world”; through them, God judges the peoples. The theme of the ode is exposed: the greatness of God, the vast duration of his being, transcending human knowledge. “Behold, God is great and we do not know Him, The number of His years is unfathomable.”
To estimate His majesty or to probe the depths of His eternal will is far beyond us who are creatures for a day. Yet we can have some insight into its power. Look up when the rain falls, notice how the clouds floating above distill the drops of water and dump great floods on the earth. Notice also how the black cloud stretching from the horizon obscures the blue expanse of the sky. We cannot understand; but we may appreciate to some extent the majesty of Him whose light and darkness are, who is heard in the clap of thunder and seen in the forked lightning.
“Can anyone understand the spread of clouds? The crashes of its flag? Behold, he pours out his light around him; And covers it from the depths of the sea. For it is by them that he judges the peoples; It gives meat in abundance.” “He hid the light in her hands and ordered her to come back. He tells his friend about it; that it is his possession, and that he can go up there.” These rain clouds are the love robes of the Angel of the Sea. It is to them that this name is mainly given, the “expanses of the clouds”, by their extent, their softness, their fullness of rain. And this is “the meaning of those strange golden lights and purple redness before the morning rain. Rain is sent to judge and feed us; but the light is the possession of the friends of God, that they may ascend into it, where the veil of the tabernacle shall no longer pass through and shall no longer separate its rays.”
The true scope does not reach this spiritual height. It is simply that the terrible thunder brings to the transgressors the terror of judgment, and the abundant showers that follow water the parched earth for the good of man. We are aware of God’s justice and grace when His angel spreads his wings over the world. In the darkened sky, there is a crash as if the vast canopy of the firmament was torn.
And now a bright flash illuminates the darkness for a moment; Soon he swallowed himself as if the upside-down sea, poured in cataracts on the flame, extinguished him. Formen recognize divine indignation, and even the inferior animals seem to be aware of it.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
The greatness of God’s work:
- God’s divine way
-Engenders terror in the hearts of sinners Gen. 3:8 Then they heard the voice of Jehovah God, who roamed the garden towards evening, and the man and his wife hid far from the face of Jehovah God, among the trees of the garden.
-A soft and subtle voice 1 Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake, a fire: the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a soft and light whisper.
-Majestic Ez 43:2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel advanced from the east. His voice was like the sound of the great waters, and the earth shone with his glory.
-Witness of the divinity of Christ Matthew 17:5 As he was still speaking, a luminous cloud covered them. And behold, a voice heard from the cloud these words: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have put all my affection: listen to him!
-Misunderstood by men John 12:28-29 Father, glorify your name! And a voice came from heaven: I have glorified him, and I will glorify him again. 29 The crowd that was there, and had heard, said it was thunder. Others said: An angel spoke to him.
- Lightning
Ex 19:16 On the third day in the morning there were thunders, lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain; the sound of the trumpet sounded loudly; and all the people who were in the camp were seized with terror. John 37:3 He causes him to roll through all the expanse of heaven, and his lightning shines to the ends of the earth. John 38:35 Do you throw lightning? Are they leaving? Do they say to you: Here we are? Psalm 18:15 He threw his arrows and scattered my enemies, He multiplied the blows of lightning and routed them.
- Thunder, sent as a sign
1 Sam. 12:18 Samuel called upon the Lord, and Jehovah sent thunder and rain that same day. All the people had a great fear of the Lord and Samuel. Rev. 4:5 From the throne came lightning, voices, and thunder. Before the throne burn seven burning lamps, which are the seven spirits of God. Rev. 16:18 And there was lightning, voices, thunder, and a great earthquake, such as there had never been since man has been on earth, such a great tremor.
- Controlled elements, general references to
Gen. 7:4 For another seven days, and I will rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will exterminate from the face of the earth all the beings that I have made. Job 37:6 He said to the snow, Fall to the earth! He says it to the rain, even to the heaviest rains. Psalm 148:8 Fire and hail, snow and fog, Impetuous winds, which carry out his orders, Jer 10:3 For the customs of peoples are vanity. Wood is cut in the forest; The hand of the workman works him with the axe;
From all the above, we note thatour science explains the result of the decrease in temperature; we know under what conditions frost settles and how hail is formed. Yet all we can say is that this and so the forces act. Beyond that, we remain like this writer, amazed in the presence of a celestial will that determines the course and names the wonders of nature. “By the breath of God ice is given, And the breadth of the waters is constricted. He also charges the thick cloud with moisture, He has spread his cloud of lightning abroad; And he has returned by his direction, that he may do all that he commands on the face of all the earth.” Here again, the moral goal is found: thepoet attributes to others his own susceptibility, mensee, learn and tremble. It is for correction, so that the carefree may be led to think of God’s greatness, and the wicked of His power, that frightened sinners may turn away from their rebellion. Or, it is for his land, that rain can beautify him and fill the rivers and springs where the animals of the valley drink. Or, again, the goal is mercy. Even the terrible storm can be heavy with mercy towards men: from the burning, oppressive, intolerable heat, the rains that follow bring deliverance. Men faint from thirst, fields languish. In compassion, God sends his great cloud on his mission of life. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and for ever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Jehovah’s answer to Job.” (Jb 38)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.