Job 37--Elihu Proclaims God's Majesty

Elihu Proclaims God's Majesty
37 “At this also my heart trembles
    and leaps out of its place.
2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice
    and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
    and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
4 After it his voice roars;
    he thunders with his majestic voice,
    and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
    he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
    likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
7 He seals up the hand of every man,
    that all men whom he made may know it.
8 Then the beasts go into their lairs,
    and remain in their dens.
9 From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
    and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of God ice is given,
    and the broad waters are frozen fast.
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
    the clouds scatter his lightning.
12 They turn around and around by his guidance,
    to accomplish all that he commands them
    on the face of the habitable world.
13 Whether for correction or for his land
    or for love, he causes it to happen.

14 “Hear this, O Job;
    stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them
    and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
    the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
17 you whose garments are hot
    when the earth is still because of the south wind?
18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
    hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we shall say to him;
    we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
20 Shall it be told him that I would speak?
    Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

​21 “And now no one looks on the light
    when it is bright in the skies,
    when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22 Out of the north comes golden splendor;
    God is clothed with awesome majesty.
23 The Almighty—we cannot find him;
    he is great in power;
    justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
24 Therefore men fear him;
    he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

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Elihu has yet a few more praises to sing to the Lord before he is done, and a few more rhetorical questions to ask Job about how to goodness, greatness, and majesty of God changes Job's view of himself and his circumstances.

Elihu described God's voice as "thunderous" which fits with what we see other places, where it is described as "the rushing of many waters" and where some who hear God speak, but don't understand what He says think they heard thunder.  Elihu says that while the thunderous voice of God may be terrifying (at least at first) to keep listening to it to gain understanding, yes, but also to simply appreciate the beauty, glory, and majesty of the Lord our God.

We've already discussed how He commands the dew and the rain and controls the sea, but now Elihu says that God also controls all the weather--He makes it snow, causes it to be cold so that the beasts go into hibernation, and causes the whirlwinds.  Elihu says that the breath of God is like a cold wind that can freeze even large bodies of water and make them solid ice (it has transforming power) and once again God controls the rain and the thunderstorm.

Why does God do all these things?  Elihu speaks to the reason.  The primary reason that Elihu gives for God sending these things that seem "bad" to us (natural disasters, snow storms, ice--which would make it hard to fish, and so on) is that it drives men to correction and repentance.  Elihu clearly thinks this is a message that Job needs to hear again, but he doesn't assume this is the only reason that God does these things.  Elihu also says that God will do these things to care for His land.  Now that's an interesting concept given that we are somewhere in the patriarchal period.  How does Elihu know about God having a special land that He has sworn to protect?  It seems like Elihu is thinking of a specific land here and not the whole world.  Again, we don't know exactly where we are in the timeline of history or how much these Gentile people knew of God's covenant with Abraham and his family, but ti seems like they understand something about God using some things that would seem like disasters to us to protect and bring restoration to the land that He calls His own.

Last, but not least, Elihu makes the argument that God does these things out of His great love.  That is certainly doesn't sound right to us, because we associate many of these things with God's judgment and wrath and we think of those things as mutually exclusive, but Elihu says that's not the case.  It is for God's good and loving purposes that He causes (not just allows) these things to happen.  Yes, God causes and directs natural disasters--they are not a loss of God's control, but an expression of His power and majesty and a loving call for all to come to repentance and salvation before the time of the final judgment.  Elihu makes that very clear when he finishes this statement by saying, "He causes it to happen."  What does He cause to happen? I think the answer is both the event and the results--God causes the event to bring about the desired results that He has already ordained and established.  God uses all things to work together for His glory, but also for the good of all those who belong to Him and are called by His name and are called according to His purposes to be the people that He has called them to be.

Elihu once more turns back to Job and now urges Job to consider the greatness and majesty of God.  Elihu's questions are going to sound awfully familiar in the next few chapters when God speaks as God is going to ask almost the exact same questions to Job Himself--only He is going to show up as a fiery whirlwind and speak out of the thunder, so Elihu is spot-on when He speaks of God this way.  God works in ways that are mysterious to us, working in ways we can not see or comprehend, both in the natural and supernatural realms.  Elihu focuses on nature first to ask Job if he understands how lightening works and why it strikes where it does or how the clouds are formed?  Elihu knows the answer and reminds Job that he can't control the weather and that's obvious because we get hot when the wind comes out of the south (this was a place in the Northern Hemisphere with deserts to the south and east, so we've seen the heat of the south wind and the dry, arid east wind described here in Job).

Now the questions get harder.  Can we spread out the skies like a mirror (interesting language since the sky actually does reflect the color of the oceans back to us--that's why it appears blue)?  We have nothing that we can say to a God with this kind of power and majesty and authority.  We can bring no case against Him, and Elihu says that it as if we live in darkness and do not see clearly, but He does.  God could simply swallow us up if He wanted, and there is no court (at that time) that would allow us to demand an audience with God.  Aren't you glad though that we now know God as our Heavenly Father and that He commands us to boldly approach the throne of grace and cast all of our cares upon Him, because He cares for us?  He does not stand far off from us (even though that would be His right to do so), but He has drawn near to us because we could not come near to Him.

I believe in Elihu's final words, he will focus on one of God's most important attributes--His holiness.  No one can approach God or even look upon the holiness of God because of the sin in our lives.  The glory and majesty of God shine brighter than the sun and would be blinding to anyone that would dare try to look directly at it--in fact we know that God says that anyone that would try to do that would die because sin and His holiness cannot co-exist.  Elihu continues that God will always win if we try and play hide-and-seek with Him.  He knows everywhere where you try to hide and will always find you, but He could hide and you would never know where to look for Him or how to find Him.  It is only by His revelation that we know anything about Him, how to approach Him, and the Way to Him for those of us that belong to Him.

He is great in power and righteousness, and He will never violation that righteousness--He will always do the right thing.  Specifically to Job this means that any charge that Job wants to bring against God of any wrongdoing is a false charge because God can do no wrong and it has to be a mistake on Job's part, not on God's part.  Elihu concludes to say that because of all this, men fear God and rightfully so, because God does not regard those who are wise in their won eyes or are conceited, haughty or proud.  "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." )James 4:6).