Job 37 - Summary

Historical setting

The book of Job is set in an ancient Near Eastern land east of Israel, probably during the second millennium before Christ, though the date is uncertain. Job is a wealthy man who has suffered catastrophic loss of property, children, and health. Three friends have come to console him, but their arguments have turned into debate about whether Job's suffering proves he has sinned. A fourth speaker, Elihu, younger than the others, has now spoken at length to argue that God is just and that Job's complaints are presumptuous. This chapter is Elihu's final speech before God himself addresses Job.

The reader would know that thunder and lightning, snow and rain, frost and wind are direct expressions of divine power, not merely natural phenomena. A thunderstorm is an encounter with the divine, and its majesty speaks to God's character and control. Job's world had no scientific explanation for weather; all such events were acts of God.

Life and customs

In the world of Job, a man's righteousness or guilt was thought to be reflected in his outward fortune. Health, wealth, and living children were signs of divine favor; disease, poverty, and bereavement were signs of divine displeasure. This made Job's suffering a theological problem: if he was righteous, why was he afflicted? Elihu represents a tradition that holds God's justice is beyond human judgment and understanding, and that to question God's ways is itself a form of pride.

Silence before the divine was a sign of reverence. To speak casually of God, or to demand explanations from him, was considered presumptuous. The wise person submitted rather than questioned.

What the text says

Elihu begins by saying his heart trembles at the thought of God's power (verse 1). He calls Job to listen to "the noise of his voice" and "the sound that goeth out of his mouth" (verse 2), words that are ambiguous: they may mean thunder or God's direct speech. God directs his lightning across the whole earth (verse 3), and thunder follows, roaring with "the voice of his excellency" (verse 4). God thunders "marvellously" and does "great things" that humans "cannot comprehend" (verse 5).

God commands the snow and rain with his word (verse 6). His action "sealeth up the hand of every man" so that all may "know his work" (verse 7), meaning humans cannot work outdoors and are forced to witness what God is doing. Beasts retreat to their dens (verse 8). Whirlwind comes from the south, cold from the north (verse 9). God's breath creates frost, and "the breadth of the waters is straitened" (verse 10). God waters the clouds and scatters them according to "his counsels" so they "do whatsoever he commandeth" (verses 11 and 12). He sends rain "whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy" (verse 13).

Elihu then addresses Job directly: "Hearken unto this" and "consider the wondrous works of God" (verse 14). He poses a series of rhetorical questions: Does Job know when God arranges the clouds or makes the cloud's light shine (verse 15)? Does Job know "the balancings of the clouds" (verse 16)? How do Job's garments stay warm (verse 17)? Can Job spread out the sky "as a molten looking glass" (verse 18)?

Elihu confesses that humans cannot speak to God; the text says "we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness" (verse 19). If someone speaks to God, he will be "swallowed up" (verse 20). When fair weather comes from the north, gold appears in the clouds, but humans cannot see "the bright light" clearly; the wind passes and cleanses them (verses 21 and 22). Elihu concludes that God is "terrible majesty" and beyond human comprehension; he is "excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice" and "will not afflict" (verses 22 and 23). Therefore "men do therefore fear him" and he "respecteth not any that are wise of heart" (verse 24).

Takeaways

• Elihu presents divine power made visible in nature as evidence that God acts justly in ways beyond human understanding.
• God's control of weather forces humans to cease their own work and witness his works, making powerlessness itself a form of knowledge.
• To question God's justice from a position of ignorance is itself a form of arrogance that God does not honor.