Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 37:1-13

"Yea, at this my heart trembleth, And is moved out of its place. Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, And the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, And his lightening unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of his majesty; And he restraineth not [the lightnings] when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice; Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Fall thou on the earth; Likewise to the shower of rain, And to the showers of his mighty rain. He sealeth up the hand of every man, That all men whom he hath made may know [it]. Then the beasts go into coverts, And remain in their dens. Out of the chamber [of the south] cometh the storm, And cold out of the north. By the breath of God ice is given; And the breadth of the waters is straitened. Yea, he ladeth the thick cloud with moisture; He spreadeth abroad the cloud of his lightning: And it is turned round about by his guidance, That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them Upon the face of the habitable world, Whether it be for correction, or for his land, Or for lovingkindness, that he cause it to come." — Job 37:1-13 (ASV)

Elihu had spoken previously (Job 36:27–30) about the changes in the atmosphere—drought and rain—that result from the covering of the clouds, from which God produces lightning with His light. Now he discusses at length the light itself, which is sometimes hidden by the clouds and sometimes seen, and the thunder that arises from the clouds. He begins with the light, saying, “He hides the light in his hands,” for as an effect of His power, He sometimes hides the light of the sun and the stars with clouds. But since this obscuring is not permanent, but only temporary, he adds, “and he orders the light to return again,” when the clouds go away. Alternatively, these words can refer to the darkening and illumination of the air by the rising and setting of the sun.

We must remember that things perceived by the senses are signs of intelligible realities; thus, we come to the knowledge of intelligible things through physical effects. Among all physical effects, the most spiritual is light. Therefore, light leads most efficiently to the knowledge of intelligible things, since sight—whose experience of knowing is perfected by light—most aids intellectual knowledge. Since this physical light is hidden from and revealed to humanity by God's power, Job leads us to understand that in God there is a more excellent kind of light—that is, a spiritual light—which God reserves as a reward for human virtue.

So he says, “He announces it”—the light metaphorically represented by physical light—“to his friend,” the virtuous person whom God loves, “that it is his possession.” This means that this spiritual light is a treasure which God reserves for His friends as a reward, “and he can ascend to it,” when he merits it by the works of virtue and prepares himself to possess it.

However, one can also explain this in terms of physical light. For the Platonists proposed that the souls of men were derived from the souls of the stars. Therefore, when human souls guard their dignity by living according to reason, they return to the clarity of the stars from which they descended. Thus, one reads in the Dream of Scipio that “rectors and guardians” of cities “set out from here”—that is, from heaven—“and return here.” In this, the author shows us that he does not place the ultimate reward of virtue in temporal goods, but in spiritual goods after this life. Now, this is the most wonderful thing: that an earthly and corruptible person is advanced to the possession of spiritual and heavenly things. And so he says, “About this”—that a person can ascend to possess the light—“my heart trembled” from the fear of wonder and astonishment, “and leapt out of its place,” so that it not only desires and eagerly strives after those things that seem natural to it in the physical life, but is also carried away to spiritual and heavenly things.

After sight, which is the knowledge of physical light, comes hearing, which especially serves the intellect because by it one perceives words that express intellectual concepts. Moreover, just as a person is led by the vision of physical light to the knowledge and expectation of some higher light, so also by hearing physical sounds formed by divine power, a person is led by the hand to hear the spiritual doctrine of God. And so he says, “He (man) will hear” from God “the report” of spiritual doctrine “in the terrible sound of his voice,” in the image of thunder, which is like the terrible voice of God. He explains this report, saying, “and the sound which proceeds from his mouth.” For the sound of physical thunder seems formed by His hand, that is, His power; but the sound proceeding from His mouth is the teaching of His wisdom, according to Sirach 24:5, “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High.”

To prevent the error that God does not have another light higher than the physical light of heaven, he says, “Above all the heavens he examines,” as if to say: His vision is not below heaven but above it. Moreover, one can only see something in some light, because, “everything which is clear is light” (Ephesians 5:13). Therefore, the light of God must necessarily be more excellent than the physical light which is first found in the heavens. And so he says, “and his light”—the intelligible light—“surpasses the limits of the earth,” for it is superior to every physical creature.

Just as the material light of heaven is below Him, so also the sound of material thunder is beneath Him, and so he says, “After him”—that is, under Him—“the sound will roar” of material thunder. Moreover, He has another spiritual voice, the teaching of wisdom, which is incomprehensible to man. He speaks about this when he says, “he will roar in the voice of his greatness”—the voice which teaches His greatness. Not all hear this voice as they hear the sound of physical thunder. Those who in some way do hear His voice cannot comprehend it, and so he says, “and one will not investigate” it perfectly “when he has heard”—that is, known spiritually by some person—“his voice,” the teaching of wisdom.

But the voice is not only directed toward the teaching of the people who hear it, but also to the perfection of natural works which happen according to the command of divine wisdom. Therefore, he repeats a second time, “God will thunder in his voice”—in the command of His wisdom—“wonderfully,” by producing wonderful effects. To express this, he then says, “and he does great,” according to their nature, “and unsearchable things” by human reason. He begins to list them and says, “he who commands the snow,” by the voice of His wisdom, “to fall on the earth.” For the snows are formed by His command, as are the rains and showers, and so he says, “and to winter rains,” which are abundant in winter, “and the showers of his strength,” which are formed by some more violent cause and with the impulse of the wind.

Since everything that happens in lower things is somehow ordered for humanity, he says, “he has put signs on the hand of every man that they might each know his works.” For different conditions of the air correspond to the different works of humanity. One is the work of the night, another the work of the day; and a person does one work in a time of good weather and another in rainy weather. A person discerns what work corresponds to each time, according to the divine gift of reason. This is the sign that God has placed in his hand—in the operative power of all people to do works—so that they may know how to distribute their tasks fittingly according to the diversity of times. That providence extends even to animals, who do different things according to different times by natural instinct, and so he says, “The beast will enter its lair” in rainy weather, “and will remain in its cave” for a fitting time.

Then he shows the effects of the different winds. On this subject, one must consider that the south winds produce rains and storms, while north winds cause cold air. Southern winds come to us from the direction of the South Pole, which is unknown to us because it is sunk down beneath our horizon by the same distance as the North Pole is elevated above our horizon. And so he says, “From the lower part, storms will arise,” as if to say: A storm comes to us by a wind which proceeds from the part of heaven that is always extended down under our horizon, and this wind is called the South Wind. As to the North Wind he says, “and the cold wind comes from the Arctic.” For “Arktos” in Greek means the Northern Hemisphere, from which the name “Arcturus” comes for the constellation of Ursa, which is always elevated above the horizon. The northern wind comes from this direction and causes cold because the sun is farther from that part of heaven. He attributes this to divine wisdom, saying, “By the breath of God, ice increases,” as if to say: When He causes the wind by blowing, the north wind, which causes the icy chill, arises. “And again,” from the breath of God which causes the south wind, “very broad,” that is, very abundant, “waters flow.” These are the rains that are caused by the south wind.

He relates these effects to their usefulness for humanity, saying, “The clouds desire grain,” as if to say: The clouds are ordered for grain as an end for which they are useful. Each thing desires its own proper end, and accordingly he says the clouds desire grain, because clouds are certainly useful for grain. The reason the rains descend from a cloud and water the earth is to make it fertile for the production of grain. It is also useful for clouds to cover grain and shade it sometimes so that the grain does not dry out from the relentless heat of the sun. He adds another useful feature of the clouds when he says, “and the clouds pour out their light.” This can refer either to the light of lightning, according to what he already said in the preceding chapter: “If he wills to extend the clouds or to make flash with his light” (Job 36:29). Or this can refer more to the light which shines in the air from the sun’s rays reflected off the clouds and mixed with them in some way. Thus, the brightness of the sun appears in the air before sunrise and also after sunset because of the reflection of the sun’s rays from the clouds which are in a higher place, which the solar rays reach more quickly and leave more slowly.

After he has discussed the usefulness of the clouds, he describes their movement, saying, “The clouds circle over everything.” For the clouds do not stop above only one part of the earth from which the vapor has risen, but by the force of the winds they are carried to different parts of the earth. The winds generally follow the motion of the sun in a great circle, and so east winds blow in the morning, then the southern winds come, and finally toward the evening, western winds. So the clouds move in a circle as a consequence of this. To show that this proceeds from divine providence, he says, “Wherever the will of the governor (God) leads them,” since the clouds do not always reach every part of the heavens, but sometimes this one and sometimes that one, as God disposes them.

The clouds cause a variety of effects, for example, rain, snow, hail, thunder, and the like. Just as the movement of the clouds over the earth depends on divine disposition, so also the effects caused by the clouds depend on this disposition. And so he says they act “to any place where he commands them on the face of the land,” as if he said: The effect the clouds produce on the earth depends on divine precept. Since he had said above, “wherever the will of the governor leads them” (Job 37:12), he explains this by saying, “on one tribe,” because clouds sometimes appear in one region and not in another, as Amos says, “I have rained on one city and do not on another” (Amos 4:7). This happens in two ways. Sometimes clouds appear in the same region where the vapors are generated; this happens when the vapors are not moved to remote places by the power of the wind. Regarding this he says, “or in their own land,” that is, the land of the clouds where they were formed. Sometimes they are moved to another region, and regarding this he says, “or in whatever place of his mercy he orders them to be found.” For God provides clouds and rain to a region at the right time—and especially to hot climates where rain is rare—from His great mercy.