โยบ 37:18 วิจารณ์

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.

Hast thou with him spread out the sky?.... Wast thou concerned with him at the first spreading out of the sky? wast thou an assistant to him in it? did he not spread it as a curtain or canopy about himself, without the help of another? verily he did; see Job 9:8, Isa 44:24; which is strong: for though it seems a fluid and thin, is very firm and strong, as appears by what it bears, and are contained in it; and therefore is called "the firmament of his power", Psa 150:1; and as a molten looking glass; clear and transparent, like the looking glasses of the women, made of molten brass, Exo 38:8; and firm and permanent (u); and a glass this is in which the glory of God, and his divine perfections, is to be seen; and is one of the wondrous works of God, made for the display of his own glory, and the benefit of men, Psa 19:1. Or this may respect the spreading out a clear serene sky, and smoothing it after it has been covered and ruffled with storms and tempests; which is such a wonderful work of God, that man has no hand in. (u) . Pindar. Nem. Ode 6.

Here he may mean, You are now in the midst of afflictions, but later you will have rest—and there is also the proof given by divine wisdom, which has foreseen death as a solution and end to human tribulations. Or perhaps [he means], even in the midst of your trials, you remain out of the fight of the war and the troubles, and he punishes you in this manner.

Thou perchance madest with Him the heavens, which are most solid, as if cast in brass. By 'heavens,' those who are created in the heavens, the angelic spirits, can be designated. Whence also we are instructed by the voice of Truth to say in our Prayer, Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth. [Matt. 6, 10] That the will of God may be doubtless observed in all things even by human infirmity, as it is done by the higher creation. Of whom it is well said, They are most solid, as if cast in brass. For it is of the nature of brass, that it is difficult to be consumed by rust. And the angelic powers, which stood fixed in Divine love, when the proud angels fell, received this, as their reward of retribution, that they are no longer consumed by any rust of sin stealing upon them, that they continue in the contemplation of their Creator, without end to their felicity, and exist with eternal stability, in that which they were created. Which the very words of the history in Moses concerning the origin of the world will attest, when both the heaven is said to have been first made, and this is after wards called the firmament. [Gen. l, 17] Because, namely, the nature of Angels was both first fashioned more subtilly, in the regions above, and was afterwards still more wonderfully strengthened, that it might never fall. But, as we have often said, by the 'heavens' can be expressed the minds of the Elect, raised up by inward love from all earthly pollutions. For though, in the body, they dwell below, yet, because they cleave in their heart, even now, to the highest objects, they truly say, Our conversation is in heaven. [Phil. 3, 20] Who are most solid, as if cast in brass, because they are not wasted away from the integrity of their original strength, by any rust of changeableness. To whom, boldly bearing up against adversities, it is said by the voice of their Maker, Ye are My friends, which have continued with Me in My temptations. [John 15, 14; Luke 22, 28] But though this learned and haughty one, when endeavouring to make a jest of this holy man, blends noble sayings with his derision, yet he ever falls back, from those noble sayings, into empty words.

Since the power of the heavenly bodies operates in all these kinds of effects, he therefore proceeds next to the heavenly bodies, and so he says, "Have you perhaps made the heavens with him?" In this metaphor he expresses the causality of God over the heavenly bodies. For just as an artisan is the cause of his work, so God is the cause of the heavenly bodies, yet in two different ways. For an artisan produces an artifact from a preexisting matter; but the celestial bodies cannot be produced from preexisting matter, but in their production the matter came to be at the same time as their form. To distinguish the higher heavens from the heavens which are called the atmosphere he adds, "which are most solid like bronze after fusion." Remember that there are certain bodies among us which yield under pressure and can be penetrated like air and water and things of this sort. Some, however, do not yield to pressure nor can they be pierced, like stones and metals. So to show that the higher heavens are not divisible or permeable like air and water, he compares them especially to bronze, among other metals, because men used it most frequently in technology.

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.

Hast thou with him spread out the sky - Wert thou with him when he made the expanse; fitted the weight to the winds; proportioned the aqueous to the terrene surface of the globe; the solar attraction to the quantum of vapours necessary; to be stored up in the clouds, in order to be occasionally deposited in fertilizing showers upon the earth? and then dost thou know how gravity and elasticity should be such essential properties of atmospheric air, that without them and their due proportions, we should neither have animal nor vegetable life? Strong - as a molten looking-glass? - Like a molten mirror. The whole concave of heaven, in a clear day or brilliant night, being like a mass of polished metal, reflecting or transmitting innumerable images.

(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).

with him--like as He does (Job 40:15). spread out--given expanse to. strong pieces--firm; whence the term "firmament" ("expansion," Gen 1:6, Margin; Isa 44:24). molten looking glass--image of the bright smiling sky. Mirrors were then formed of molten polished metal, not glass.