Job 37:22 Komentář

Elihu here goes on to extol the wonderful power of God in the meteors and all the changes of the weather: if, in those changes, we submit to the will of God, take the weather as it is and make the best of it, why should we not do so in other changes of our condition? Here he observes the hand of God, I. In the thunder and lightning (Job 37:1-5). II. In the frost and snow, the rains and wind (Job 37:6-13). III. He applies it to Job, and challenges him to solve the phenomena of these works of nature, that confessing his ignorance in them, he might own himself an incompetent judge in the proceedings of divine Providence, (Job 37:14-22). And then, IV. Concludes with his principle, which he undertook to make out, That God is great and greatly to be feared (Job 37:23, Job 37:24).

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 37 Elihu in this chapter proceeds to show the greatness of God as it appears in other of his works of nature, which greatly affected him, and to an attention to which he exhorts others, Job 37:1; particularly thunder and lightning, the direction, extent, and order of which he observes, Job 37:3; and then suggests that besides these there are other great things done by him, incomprehensible and unknown in various respects; as the snow, and rain, lesser and greater, which come on the earth at his command, and have such effect on men as to seal up their hands, and on the beasts of the field as to cause them to retire to their dens, and there remain, Job 37:5; and then he goes on to take notice of wind, and frost, and the clouds, and dispersion of them; their use and ends, whether in judgment or mercy, Job 37:9; and then calls on Job to consider these wondrous works of God, and remark how ignorant men are of the disposition of clouds for the rainbow; of the balancing of them; of the heat and quietness that come by the south wind, and of the firmness of the sky, Job 37:14; and from all this he concludes the terrible majesty, unsearchable nature of God, the excellency of his power and justice; and that men therefore should and do fear him, who is no respecter of persons, Job 37:21.

Fair weather cometh out of the north,.... Or "gold" (x), which some understand literally; this being found in northern climates as well as southern, as Pliny relates (y); particularly in Colchis and Scythia, which lay to the north of Palestine and Arabia; and is thought by a learned man (z) to be here intended: though to understand it figuratively of the serenity of the air, bright and pure as gold, or of fair weather, which is golden weather, as Mr. Broughton renders it, "through the north the golden cometh,'' seems best to agree with the subject Elihu is upon; and such weather comes from the north, through the north winds, which drive away rain, Pro 25:23; with God is terrible majesty; majesty belongs to him as he is King of kings, whose the kingdom of nature and providence is; and he is the Governor among and over the nations of the world. His throne is prepared in the heavens; that is his throne, and his kingdom ruleth over all: and this majesty of his is "terrible", commanding awe and reverence among all men, who are his subjects; and especially among his saints and peculiar people; and strikes a terror to others, even to great personages, the kings and princes of the earth; to whom the Lord is sometimes terrible now, and will be hereafter; see Psa 76:12, Rev 6:15; and to all Christless sinners, especially when he comes to judgment; see Isa 2:19. Or "terrible praise" (a); for God is "fearful in praises", Exo 15:11; which may respect the subject of praise, terrible things, and the manner of praising him with fear and reverence, Psa 106:22. (x) "aurum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 11. & l. 33. c. 3, 4. (z) Reland. de Paradiso, s. 9, 10. p. 22, 23, 24. And, in the countries farthest north were mines of gold formerly, as Olaus Magnus relates, though now destroyed. De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 6, 11. Vid. l. 3, 5. (a) , Symmachus, "formidolosa laudatio", V. L. "terribilem laude", Vatablus.

“From Aquilon comes gold.” “From Aquilon the golden-colored clouds [come], the great glory and honor of God is in them.” “From Aquilon gold comes.” He said “Aquilon” for the east and “gold” for dawn, which imitates the appearance of the shining metal with its glowing color. “And the timorous praise of God”; certainly the service of praising him is not taken without fear because of the immensity of his fame.

Gold will come from the north. And from God fearful praise. What is designated by the 'north,' but the Gentile world, fast bound in the cold of sin? Which he held under the yoke of his tyranny, who proudly said, I will sit in the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. [Is. 14, 13. 14.] And what is expressed by 'gold,' but faithful souls? Of which it is said by Jeremiah, How is the gold become dim? the finest colour is changed? [Lam. 4, 1] For he lamented that the gold was dimmed, because he beheld in some persons the brightness of innocence changed into the blackness of sin. Gold, therefore, is said to come from the north; because through the favour of the grace of the Redeemer, the life of the faithful, which is precious before God, is increased within Holy Church, from the Gentile world, which had been long frozen in the torpor of unbelief. For gold comes from the north, when the true faith in God shines forth from the very worshippers of idols. But when the Gentiles were converted to the faith, the Jewish people gainsays them; and scorns to admit to the recompense of eternal rewards, those who had been so long worshippers of idols. Whence it is said to Peter, after the conversion of the Gentiles, Wherefore wentest thou in, to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them? [Acts 11, 3] In contradiction to which, the Lord rightly says by Isaiah, I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back. [Is. 43, 6] For as the Gentile world is signified by the 'north,' so is the Jewish People signified by the 'south,' which was warmed, as it were, by the mid-day sun, because when our Redeemer appeared in the flesh, it first received the warmth of faith. Give up, then, is said to the north, when the Gentile world is ordered to offer to God the gifts of its faith. But the south is commanded not to keep back, because the Hebrews who stood firm in the faith were ordered not to condemn and reject the life of the Gentiles. Whence here also, because it was said, Gold cometh from the north; it is fitly subjoined; And from God fearful praise. For fearful praise is said to come from God, as if it were said to come from those who are on the side of God, that is, the faithful. When gold then comes from the north, fearful praise proceeds from God; because, while the Gentiles offered the brightness of their faith, the multitude of the faithful Hebrews praised with fear the Divine judgments. But how gold comes from the north, and how fearful praise bursts forth from those who are under God, the sacred history itself informs us. For it is written, Cornelius, a centurion of the band, which is called Italian, a religious man, and fearing God with all his house, giving much alms to the people, and praying to God always, saw in a vision manifestly, about the ninth hour of the day, an Angel of God coming in to him, saying unto him, Cornelius. But he looking on him, being seized with fear, said, Who art thou, Lord? But he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms have come up as a memorial in the sight of God. [Acts 10, 1-4] Gold therefore came from the north, when prayer with alms went up from the Gentiles in the sight of God. But when Peter had related to the brethren, either how Cornelius had seen an Angel, or he himself had seen a linen cloth let down from heaven to him with beasts, and creeping things and birds, or how the Holy Spirit had bedewed the hearts of the Gentiles, even before Baptism, [Acts 11, 5-17] Who had never come into the minds of the Jews, excepting after the water of Baptism, it is immediately written, When they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, God hath therefore granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life. [ib. 18.] The multitude therefore of the faithful, which, on the salvation of the Gentiles, restrained itself from its murmurs, by admiring the gifts of heavenly grace offered fearful praise to God. Whence Peter himself also wonders, saying, I have found in truth, that God is no acceptor of persons. [Acts 10, 34] But when the Gentiles receive the faith, why is fearful praise said to come from those who are already believers, when it ought to come from them, joyful rather than fearful? But fearful praise came from the Hebrews who already believed, on the conversion of the Gentiles, doubtless, because Judaea was justly rejected, while the Gentiles were called in mercy; and feared the loss of its own rejection, while it beheld the gain of the others' calling. Whence we also, when we suddenly behold the wicked raised up to an unexpected eminence of life, daily rejoice with fear under the secret judgments of God, lest God should desert by His secret judgments some who are counted worthy, Who calls thereby those to Himself who are considered unworthy.

Sometimes shiny objects are discovered in dark places. The Northern region is called dark because of its distance from the sun, and yet much gold is discovered in Northern regions which is one of the most glittering metals. This is caused by heat withdrawing deep into the inner bowels of the earth, because of the chill of the all-encompassing air, it works more efficaciously there to produce gold, and so he says, "Gold will be produced by the wind," as if to say: Gold is more plentiful in the part of the earth blown by the North wind. Just as in the darkness of the Northern region one finds the brilliance of gold, so also in the darkness of the ignorance of this life one finds some of the brightness of divine knowledge, though darkly, and so he says, "and fearful praise from God." For if nothing of divine clarity shone in us, we could in no way praise him. Even more, if the divine truth shone clearly to us as the noon day sun, we would praise him carelessly. But since something of the divine light shines in our knowledge with some darkness, we praise him with dread, as a man does something with dread which he knows he cannot do perfectly.

Elihu continues to set forth the wisdom and omnipotence of God, as manifested in the thunder and lightning, Job 37:1-5; in the snows and frosts, Job 37:6-8; in various meteors; and shows the end for which they are sent, Job 37:9-13. Job is exhorted to consider the wondrous works of God in the light, in the clouds, in the winds, in heat and cold, in the formation of the heavens, and in the changes of the atmosphere, Job 37:14-22. The perfections of God, and how he should be reverenced by his creatures, Job 37:23, Job 37:24.

Fair weather cometh out of the north - Is this any version of the original מצפון זהב יאתה mitstsaphon zahab yeetheh? which is rendered by almost every version, ancient and modern, thus, or to this effect: "From the north cometh gold." Calmet justly remarks, that in the time of Moses, Job, and Solomon, and for a long time after, gold was obtained from Colchis, Armenia, Phasis, and the land of Ophir, which were all north of Judea and Idumea; and are in the Scriptures ordinarily termed the north country. "But what relation can there be between, Gold cometh out of the north, and, With God is terrible majesty?" Answer: Each thing has its properties, and proper characteristics, which distinguish it; and each country has its advantages. Gold, for instance, comes from the northern countries; so praises offered to the Supreme God should be accompanied with fear and trembling: and as this metal is from the north, and northern countries are the places whence it must be procured; so terrible majesty belongs to God, and in him alone such majesty is eternally resident. As זהב zahob, which we translate gold, (see Job 28:16), comes from a root that signifies to be clear, bright, resplendent, etc.; Mr. Good avails himself of the radical idea, and translates it splendor: - "Splendor itself is with God; Insufferable majesty." But he alters the text a little to get this meaning, particularly in the word יאתה yeetheh, which we translate cometh, and which he contends is the pronoun אתה itself; the י yod, as a performative, here being, as he thinks, an interpolation. This makes a very good sense; but none of the ancient versions understood the place thus, and none of the MSS. countenance this very learned critic's emendation.

(Job 37:1-24) At this--when I hear the thundering of the Divine Majesty. Perhaps the storm already had begun, out of which God was to address Job (Job 38:1).

Rather, "golden splendor." MAURER translates "gold." It is found in northern regions. But God cannot be "found out," because of His "Majesty" (Job 37:23). Thus the twenty-eighth chapter corresponds; English Version is simpler. the north--Brightness is chiefly associated with it (see on Job 23:9). Here, perhaps, because the north wind clears the air (Pro 25:23). Thus this clause answers to the last of Job 37:21; as the second of this verse to the first of Job 37:21. Inverted parallelism. (See Isa 14:13; Psa 48:2). with God--rather, "upon God," as a garment (Psa 104:1-2). majesty--splendor.