Thomas Aquinas Commentary Job 37:14-24

"Hearken unto this, O Job: Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know how God layeth [his charge] upon them, And causeth the lightning of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, The wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? How thy garments are warm, When the earth is still by reason of the south [wind]? Canst thou with him spread out the sky, Which is strong as a molten mirror? Teach us what we shall say unto him; [For] we cannot set [our speech] in order by reason of darkness. Shall it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies; But the wind passeth, and cleareth them. Out of the north cometh golden splendor: God hath upon him terrible majesty. [Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out He is excellent in power; And in justice and plenteous righteousness he will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him: He regardeth not any that are wise of heart." — Job 37:14-24 (ASV)

After Elihu told of the many marvels of God's works, he now attacks Job, who seemed to accuse God of injustice because he could not yet understand His works. And so he says, "Listen, Job," to what I am saying about the grandeur of God's works. "Stand" in uprightness of mind, "and consider," by yourself, "the wonderful things of God," which are shown in His works.

Among those wonderful things, he begins with the rains. People perceive them with their senses, but science still cannot understand their ultimate origin, by which God brought them into being. And so he says, "Do you know when God commanded the rains," which fall upon the earth by divine decree? After the rain has fallen, the air, which was first dark from the dense clouds, becomes bright as they thin out. So he says, "and they"—that is, the falling rains—"show the light of His clouds?" This means the light of the sun shines through the vanishing clouds that the dense clouds had hidden.

He speaks about their motion, saying, "Do you know the paths of the clouds?"—namely, how and from what cause they are propelled to various regions by the breath of the winds. The knowledge of clouds is the source of understanding all atmospheric changes—for example, winds, rain, snow, hail, thunder, and other similar things. And so he says, "great and perfect science?" They are great because these phenomena are formed in the upper atmosphere, and perfect because the knowledge of clouds includes all knowledge of the phenomena previously mentioned and their effects on these lower bodies. Since the clouds are driven by the winds, he then adds the effect produced by the wind, saying, "Are not your garments hot when the South wind blows on the earth?" For the South wind makes the air warm because it comes from warm regions. From this heat, a person's garments can make them feel hotter. Thus, he clearly mentions the action of the South wind because when it comes from below the equator and gathers water vapors, it condenses them into clouds and moves them. The North wind, however, which comes from the north, tends to disperse the clouds.

Since the power of the heavenly bodies operates in all these effects, he therefore proceeds to the heavenly bodies, saying, "Have you perhaps made the heavens with Him?" In this metaphor, he expresses God's causality 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. An artisan produces an artifact from pre-existing matter, but the celestial bodies could not be produced from pre-existing matter. Instead, in their production, the matter came into being at the same time as their form. To distinguish the higher heavens from the heavens we call the atmosphere, he adds, "which are most solid like bronze after fusion." Remember that there are certain bodies among us that yield under pressure and can be penetrated, like air, water, and similar things. 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 people used it most frequently in technology.

Lest Job should presumptuously claim to know God's works perfectly, Elihu continues mockingly, "Show us what we should say to Him." It is as if to say: If you are so wise that you know all the works of God and can argue with Him on this subject, then teach us so that we can answer Him. He shows they need this when he says, "We who to be sure are enveloped in darkness." This is as if to say: We desperately need you to show us what you said before, because we are completely ignorant of these things.

Since he had spoken many times about God's works, lest this be attributed to his own presumption—as though he thought he knew these things perfectly—he disclaims this, saying, "Who will tell Him what I am saying?" It is as if he says: No one can sufficiently explain the things I have told you about His works. This befits God alone because of the excellence of His power. If anyone presumes to think he can speak sufficiently about God, danger would threaten him for that very reason. And so he says, "Even if a man speak," as though wanting to understand God's works, "he will be devoured"—as if swallowed up by the greatness of the subject. As Proverbs says, He who investigates majesty will be crushed by glory (Proverbs 25:27). This can also be interpreted in another way. Not only is a person unable to properly list God's works, but "even if He (God Himself) speaks" to them by revealing these things, "man would be devoured," unable to understand such a great thing. And so we read in John, I have many things to say to you which you are not able to bear now (John 16:12), and in Deuteronomy, What is flesh that it should hear the voice of the living God? (Deuteronomy 5:26).

But to prevent anyone from believing that the knowledge of divine truth must be withdrawn from humanity forever, he says, "But now," in the present time, "they (men) do not see the light," which is the clarity of divine knowledge. Yet he proclaims to the friend of God that "he can ascend to this light" at some time, as he already said (Job 36:33). He introduces a comparison for this: "The air will be suddenly compressed into clouds" because of the gathering of water vapors from the south, and because of this, the air is darkened. But this kind of darkness passes away after a little while when the clouds have been broken up. And so he says, "and the wind, when it passes"—that is, the north wind—"will chase the clouds away." By this he means: In the same way, although a person is now enveloped in darkness, when death comes, it will put this darkness to flight like the changing of the wind.

Sometimes shiny objects are discovered in dark places. The northern region is called dark because of its distance from the sun, and yet much gold—one of the most glittering metals—is discovered there. This is caused by heat withdrawing deep into the inner bowels of the earth; because of the chill of the surrounding air, it works more effectively there to produce gold. And so he says, "Gold will be produced by the wind," as if to say: Gold is more plentiful in the part of the earth blown on by the north wind.

Just as one finds the brilliance of gold in the darkness of the northern region, so also in the darkness of this life's ignorance one finds some of the brightness of divine knowledge, though dimly. And so he says, "and fearful praise from God." For if nothing of divine clarity shone in us, we could in no way praise Him. Furthermore, if the divine truth shone to us as clearly as the noonday sun, we would praise Him carelessly. But since something of the divine light shines in our knowledge mixed with some darkness, we praise Him with dread, as a person does something with dread which he knows he cannot do perfectly.

So he says, "We cannot find Him worthily," so as to come to know Him as He is through our own investigation. This is because of His excellence, and so he says, "He is great in might." For His power infinitely exceeds all His works, and so He cannot be properly found through them. He answers the objection that God uses only violence in governing humanity because of His great power, saying, "and with right judgment." For He is great, because His judgments are incomprehensible (Romans 11:33). This is not due to a lack of justice, but to the excellence of His justice, and so he says He is great in "justice." Because of His greatness, we can neither sufficiently conceive of Him with our minds nor sufficiently praise Him with our mouths. And so he says, "and He cannot be explained" properly by humanity.

This is the reason His praise is dreadful. He then says, "Therefore men," no matter how powerful they are, "will fear Him" because of the greatness of His power, "and they will not dare to contemplate Him"—that is, presume to know Him fully—"all those who seem to themselves to be wise." He says this clearly because a person's wisdom, however great it may seem to oneself or to others, is as nothing compared to divine wisdom.

We should consider from the arguments put forth by Elihu that he agreed partly with Job and partly with his friends. He agreed with Job (see Job 7 and 14:11) that the reward for good people and the punishment for evil people will be in the future afterlife . But he agreed with Job's friends that all the adversities of the present life happen in return for sins, and that if one repents of his sins, he will return to prosperity. He also agreed with Job's friends regarding Job himself , because he thought that Job had been punished for his sin and that the justice which first appeared in him was a pretense. He interpreted Job's words wrongly , as did the others. As for the prosperity of evildoers in this world, he alone touches on this cause: that they prosper because of the sins of others . In the same way, he alone also seems to clearly touch on angels as mediators between God and humanity .

Job did not answer his arguments. First, because he agreed with Elihu on the principal doctrines where the friends—whom he had called "cultivators of false dogmas" ()—were in error. What Elihu said about him personally was not of such great concern to Job that he wanted to argue about it, especially since he could not prove the purity of his conscience with any better arguments than he had already used—namely, by divine witness. Second, Job did not answer because Elihu, out of youthful presumption and in the manner of quarrelsome people, twisted words that Job had not said or had meant in a different way. Therefore, to avoid quarreling, Job decided it was better to be silent and commit the matter to divine judgment.