23 There is no searching out of the Ruler of all: his strength and his judging are great; he is full of righteousness, doing no wrong.
Who only has life for ever, living in light to which no man may come near; whom no man has seen or is able to see: to whom be honour and power for ever. So be it.
The king's power is used for righteousness; you give true decisions, judging rightly in the land of Jacob.
He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?
O how deep is the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! no one is able to make discovery of his decisions, and his ways may not be searched out.
He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.
For they truly gave us punishment for a short time, as it seemed good to them; but he does it for our profit, so that we may become holy as he is.
And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.
For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love. For he has no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men.
It was no sent one or angel, but he himself who was their saviour: in his love and in his pity he took up their cause, and he took them in his arms, caring for them all through the years.
Does God give wrong decisions? or is the Ruler of all not upright in his judging?
I have not got wisdom by teaching, so that I might have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? who has taken the winds in his hands, prisoning the waters in his robe? by whom have all the ends of the earth been fixed? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if you are able to say?
The Lord is King; he is clothed with glory; the Lord is clothed with strength; power is the cord of his robe; the world is fixed, so that it may not be moved.
Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.
Once has God said, twice has it come to my ears, that power is God's:
Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and your strong purpose is as high as the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judging is like the great deep; O Lord, you give life to man and beast. How good is your loving mercy, O God! the children of men take cover under the shade of your wings.
Make clear to me what we are to say to him; we are unable to put our cause before him, because of the dark.
Truly, God is great, greater than all our knowledge; the number of his years may not be searched out.
But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble. It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face. I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes; Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me. God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers. I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows. His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth. I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war. I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and my eyes are becoming dark; Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.
With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 37
Commentary on Job 37 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 37
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,
Job 37:1-5
Thunder and lightning, which usually go together, are sensible indications of the glory and majesty, the power and terror, of Almighty God, one to the ear and the other to the eye; in these God leaves not himself without witness of his greatness, as, in the rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, he leaves not himself without witness of his goodness (Acts 14:17), even to the most stupid and unthinking. Though there are natural causes and useful effects of them, which the philosophers undertake to account for, yet they seem chiefly designed by the Creator to startle and awaken the slumbering world of mankind to the consideration of a God above them. The eye and the ear are the two learning senses; and therefore, though such a circumstance is possible, they say it was never known in fact that any one was born both blind and deaf. By the word of God divine instructions are conveyed to the mind through the ear, by his works through the eye; but, because those ordinary sights and sounds do not duly affect men, God is pleased sometimes to astonish men by the eye with his lightnings and by the ear with his thunder. It is very probable that at this time, when Elihu was speaking, it thundered and lightened, for he speaks of the phenomena as present; and, God being about to speak (ch. 38:1), these were, as afterwards on Mount Sinai, the proper prefaces to command attention and awe. Observe here,
Job 37:6-13
The changes and extremities of the weather, wet or dry, hot or cold, are the subject of a great deal of our common talk and observation; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu does here, with an awful regard to God the director of them, who shows his power and serves the purposes of his providence by them! We must take notice of the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common revolutions of the weather, which are not so terrible and which make less noise. As,
Job 37:14-20
Elihu here addresses himself closely to Job, desiring him to apply what he had hitherto said to himself. He begs that he would hearken to this discourse (v. 14), that he would pause awhile: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. What we hear is not likely to profit us unless we consider it, and we are not likely to consider things fully unless we stand still and compose ourselves to the consideration of them. The works of God, being wondrous, both deserve and need our consideration, and the due consideration of them will help to reconcile us to all his providences. Elihu, for the humbling of Job, shows him,
Job 37:21-24
Elihu here concludes his discourse with some short but great sayings concerning the glory of God, as that which he was himself impressed, and desired to impress others, with a holy awe of. He speaks concisely, and in haste, because, it should seem, he perceived that God was about to take the work into his own hands.