Albert Barnes Commentary Job 37:21

"And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies; But the wind passeth, and cleareth them." — Job 37:21 (ASV)

And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds—Either the lightning that plays on the clouds in an approaching tempest, or a glorious light spread over the sky on the approach of God. There is reason to believe that as Elihu delivered the sentiments recorded at the end of this chapter, he meant to describe God as if He were seen to be approaching, and that the symbols of his presence were discovered in the gathering tempest and storm. He is introduced in the following chapter with amazing sublimity and grandeur to speak to Job and his friends, and to close the argument.

He comes in a whirlwind and speaks in tones of vast sublimity. The tokens of his coming were now seen, and as Elihu discerned them, he was agitated, and his language became abrupt and confused.

His language is just like one would use when the mind was overawed with the approach of God—solemn and full of reverence, but not connected, and much less calm than in his ordinary discourse. The end of this chapter, it seems to me, therefore, is to be regarded as spoken when the tempest was seen to be gathering, and when in awful majesty God was approaching, the lightning playing around him, the clouds piled on clouds attending him, the thunder reverberating along the sky, and an unusual brightness revealing his approach; Notes, Job 37:22.

The idea here is that people could not steadfastly gaze upon that bright light. It was so dazzling and so overpowering that they could not gaze on it intently. The coming of such a Being, arrayed in so much grandeur and clothed in such a light, was suited to overcome human powers.

But the wind passeth, and cleanseth them—The wind passes along and makes them clear. The idea seems to be that the wind appeared to sweep along over the clouds as the tempest was rising, and they seemed to open or disperse in one part of the heavens, revealing in the opening a glory so bright and dazzling that the eye could not rest upon it.

That light or splendor revealed in the opening cloud was the symbol of God, approaching to conclude this great controversy and to address Job and his friends in the sublime language found in the closing chapters of the book. The word rendered “cleanseth” (טהר ṭâhêr) properly means to shine, to be bright, and then to be pure or clean.

Here the notion of shining or brightness is to be retained. The idea is that a wind appeared to pass along, removing the cloud which seemed to be a veil on the throne of God, and allowing the visible symbol of his majesty to be seen through the opening; see the notes at Job 26:9, “He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.”