John Gill Commentary Job 37

At this also my heart trembleth
At the greatness and majesty of God, not only as displayed in those works of his before observed, but as displayed in those he was about to speak of: such terrible majesty is there with God, that all rational creatures tremble at it; the nations of the world, the kings and great men of the earth, and even the devils themselves, (Isaiah 64:2) (Jeremiah 33:9) (James 2:19) . Good men tremble in the worship of God, and at the word of God; and even at the judgments of God on wicked men, and at the things that are coming on the churches of Christ.

But Elihu has a particular respect to thunder and lightning, which are very terrible to many persons ^F19 , both good and bad ^F20 . At the giving of the law, there were such blazes of lightning and claps of thunder, that not only all the people of Israel in the camp trembled, but Moses himself also exceedingly feared and quaked, (Exodus 19:16) (Hebrews 12:21) . It is very probable, that at this time Elihu saw a storm gathering, and a tempest rising; some flashes of lightning were seen, and some murmurs ^F21 of thunders heard, which began to affect him; since quickly after we read that God spoke out of the whirlwind or tempest, (Job 38:1) ;

and is moved out of his place ;
was ready to leap out of his body. Such an effect had this phenomenon of nature on him; as is sometimes the case with men at a sudden fright or unusual sound, and particularly thunder ^F23 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: (----kradih de moi exw) Homer. Il. 10. v. 94, 95.
• F20: As it was to Augustus Caesar, who always carried about with him the skin of a sea calf, as a preservative; and, on suspicion of a storm rising, would betake himself to some secret and covered place: and to Tiberius, who wore his laurel to secure him from it: and to Caligula, who, on hearing it, would get out of bed and hide himself under it. Sueton. Vit. August. c. 90. Tiber. c. 69. & Caligul. c. 51. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 15. c. 30. Vid. Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. v. 330, 331.
• F21: "Tonitruorum unum genus grave murmur----aliud genus est acre quod crepitum magis dixerint". Senecae Quaest. Nat. c. 2. c. 27.
• F23: "Attonitos, quorum mentes sonus ille coelestis loco pepulit". Ibid.

Hear attentively the noise of his voice
Of the voice of God in the clouds; and of thunder, which is his voice, (Job 40:9) . Elihu being affected with it himself, exhorts the company about him to hearken and listen to it, and learn something from it;

and the sound [that] goeth out of his mouth :
as the former clause may have respect to loud thunder, a more violent crack or clap of it; so this may intend some lesser whispers and murmurs of it at a distance; or a rumbling noise in the clouds before they burst; since the word is sometimes used for private meditation. Now the voice of God, whether in his works of nature, or in the dispensations of his providence, or in his word; whether in the thunder of the law, or in the still sound of the Gospel, is to be attentively hearkened to; because it is the voice of God, the voice of the God of glory, majestic and powerful, and is attended with various effects; of which see (Psalms 29:3–9) .

He directeth it under the whole heaven
His voice of thunder, which rolls from one end of the heaven to the other: he charges the clouds with it, and directs both it and them where they shall go and discharge; what tree, house, or man, it shall strike; and where the rain shall fall when the clouds burst: yet Pliny ^F24 atheistically calls thunder and lightning chance matters.

Thus the ministers of the word, who are compared to clouds, (Isaiah 5:6) , are charged with it by the Lord: they are directed by him what they shall say, where they shall go and declare it, and he directs where it shall fall with power and weight; yea, he directs it into the very hearts of men, where it pierces and penetrates, and is a discerner and discoverer of their thoughts and intents;

and his lightning unto the ends of the earth :
it comes out of the east, and shines to the west, (Matthew 24:27) ; and swiftly moves to the further parts of the earth:

And such a direction, motion, and extent, has the Gospel had; the glorious light of it, comparable to lightning, it first broke forth in the east, where Christ, his forerunner and his disciples, first preached it, and Christian churches were formed; and from thence it spread into the western parts of the world, and before the destruction of Jerusalem it was preached unto all nations; it had a free course, ran, and was glorified; the sound of the voice of it went into all the earth, and the words and doctrines of the apostles unto the ends of the world.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 43.

After it a voice roareth
After the lightning comes a violent crack or clap of thunder, which is like the roaring of a lion. Such is the order of thunder and lightning, according to our sense and apprehension of them; otherwise in nature they are together: but the reasons given why the lightning is seen before, and so the same in the flash and report of a gun, are, because the sense of seeing is quicker than the sense of hearing ^F25 ; and the motion of light is quicker than that of sound; which latter is the truest reason ^F26 .

The roaring voice of thunder may be an emblem of the thunder of the law; its dreadful volleys of curses, vengeance, and wrath on the breakers of it, as delivered out by Boanergeses, sons of thunder, (Mark 3:17) : or the loud proclamation of the Gospel, made by the ministers of it; and the alarming awakening sound of the word, when attended with the Spirit and power of God, to sinners asleep and dead in trespasses and sins; upon which they awake, hear, and live;

he thundereth with the voice of his excellency :
that is, God thunders with such a voice, an excellent and majestic one; for his voice of thunder is full of majesty, (Psalms 29:4) . So is the voice of Christ in the Gospel; he spoke when on earth as one having authority, and he comes forth and appears in it now with majesty and glory; and speaks in it of the excellent things which he has done, of the excellent righteousness he has wrought out, of the excellent sacrifice he has offered up, and of the excellent salvation he is the author of;

and he will not stay them when his voice is heard ;
either the thunder and the lightning, as some; which he does not long defer after he has given out the decree concerning them, the order and disposition for them: or rather the rain and hail; these are not stayed, but quickly follow the flash of lightning and clap of thunder: "for when he utters his voice [of thunder], there is a multitude of waters in the heavens"; and these quickly come down and are not stopped, (Jeremiah 10:13) . The word for "stay" signifies "to supplant", or "act deceitfully"; the name of Jacob is derived from this root, because he supplant his brother, (Genesis 25:26) ; and so it may be rendered here, "he will not supplant", or "deceive them ^F1 , when his voice is heard":

that is, either he does not subvert them, the heavens and earth, but preserves them; though he makes them to tremble with his voice of thunder ^F2 : or he does not act the part of a secret, subtle, and deceitful enemy, when he thunders; but shows himself openly as a King, executing his decrees with authority ^F3 : or rather he deceives none with his voice; none can mistake it; all know it to be the voice of thunder when it is heard: so Christ's sheep know his voice in the Gospel, and cannot be deceived; the voice of a stranger they will not follow, (John 10:4John 10:5John 10:27) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Senec. Nat. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. so Aristot. Meteorolog. l. 2. c. 9.
• F26: The noise is commonly about seven or eight seconds after the flash, that is, about half a quarter of a minute; but sometimes much sooner, in a second or two, or less than so, and almost immediately upon the flash: this is when the explosion is very near us. Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 183. see vol. 4. p. 398.
• F1: (Mbqey alw) "non supplantabit ea", Munster; so Schmidt, Michaelis, Gussetius, p. 633.
• F2: So Schmidt.
• F3: So Gussetius.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice
Or "marvels" {c}, or marvellous things, which may respect the marvellous effects of thunder and lightning: such as rending rocks and mountains; throwing down high and strong towers; shattering to pieces high and mighty oaks and cedars, and other such like effects, mentioned in (Psalms 29:5–9) ; and there are some things reported which seem almost incredible, were they not well attested facts; as that an egg should be consumed thereby, and the shell unhurt; a cask of liquor, the liquor in it spoiled, and the cask not touched; money melted in the purse, and the purse whole; the fetus in the womb killed, and the woman preserved; with other things of the like kind mentioned by various writers ^F4 ; and which are to be accounted for only by the swift motion and piercing and penetrating nature of lightning.

So the voice of God in the Gospel thunders out and declares many wonderful things; as the doctrines of the trinity of Persons in one God; of the everlasting love of the three Persons; of the Person of Christ, and the union of the two natures in him; of his incarnation, of redemption and salvation by him; of regeneration by the spirit of God; of union to Christ, and communion with him; and of the resurrection of the dead: and it produces marvellous effects, attended with a divine power; as quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins; enlightening those who are darkness itself; bearing down all opposition before it; casting down the strong holds of sin and Satan, and reducing the most stubborn and obstinate to the obedience of Christ;

great things he does, which we cannot comprehend ;
or "know" ^F5 : great things in creation, the nature and causes of which lie greatly out of the reach of man; and which he rather guesses at than knows, and still less comprehends. Great things in providence; in sustaining all creatures and providing for them; and in the government of the world, and in his dispensations in it; his judgments being unsearchable, and his ways past finding out: and great things in grace; as the salvation of sinners by Christ, and the conversion of their souls by his Spirit; and even what is known of them is known but in part and very imperfectly. This is a transition to other great things done by the Lord, besides those before mentioned, and particular instances follow.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 51. Senec. Nat. Quaest. l. 2. c. 31.
• F5: (ern alw) "et nesciemus", Pagninus, Montanus; so Schultens.