Job 36:25

36:24-33 Elihu endeavours to fill Job with high thought of God, and so to persuade him into cheerful submission to his providence. Man may see God's works, and is capable of discerning his hand in them, which the beasts are not, therefore they ought to give him the glory. But while the worker of iniquity ought to tremble, the true believer should rejoice. Children should hear with pleasure their Father's voice, even when he speaks in terror to his enemies. There is no light but there may be a cloud to intercept it. The light of the favour of God, the light of his countenance, the most blessed light of all, even that light has many a cloud. The clouds of our sins cause the Lord to his face, and hinder the light of his loving-kindness from shining on our souls.

Every man may see it,.... Not only was to be seen by the wise and learned, the just and good, but by the common people; whether it is to be understood of the works of creation, or of the afflictive providences of God in general, or of Job's afflictions in particular; man may behold it afar off; as to time, from the creation of the world to the present time, as Jarchi; or as to place, from the heaven, so distant, where are the sun, moon, and stars; and which, though so far off, are easily beheld; or as to the manner of seeing them, not darkly, imperfectly, and in a confused manner, as things at a distance are seen, so some understand it; but rather clearly and plainly, as things easy to be seen are clearly discerned at a distance; and it signifies that the work of God here meant is so visible, that he must be quite blind and stupid that cannot see it; it may be seen, as it were, with half an eye, and a great way off; he that runs may see and read.

May see it, to wit, his work, last mentioned. The power, and wisdom, and greatness of God is so manifest in all his works, that all who are not blind or stupid must needs see and acknowledge it. Man may behold it afar off; the works of God are so great and conspicuous, that they may be seen at a great distance; whereas little things cannot be seen, unless we be near them. This translation and interpretation seems better to agree with the context than that which is more common, man doth behold it (i.e. God’s work or works) afar off, i.e. they see them darkly and imperfectly, as things at a great distance, but not clearly and plainly, as things near at hand; and therefore they are so apt to mistake them, and misjudge of them.

Every man may see it - That is, every man may look on the visible creation, and see proofs there of the wisdom and greatness of God. All may look on the sun, the moon, the stars; all may behold the tempest and the storm; all may see the lightning and the rain, and may form some conception of the majesty of the Most High. The idea of Elihu here is, that every man might trace the evidences that God is great in his works. Man may behold it afar off - His works are so great and glorious that they make an impression even at a vast distance. Though we are separated from them by a space which surpasses the power of computation, yet they are so great that they fill the mind with vast conceptions of the majesty and glory of their Maker. This is true of the heavenly bodies; and the more we learn of their immense distances from us, the more is the mind impressed with the greatness and glory of the visible creation.

22 Behold, God acteth loftily in His strength; Who is a teacher like unto Him? 23 Who hath appointed Him His way, And who dare say: Thou doest iniquity!? 24 Remember that thou magnify His doing, Which men have sung. 25 All men delight in it, Mortal man looketh upon it from afar. Most modern expositors, after the lxx δυνάστης, give אמת the signification lord, by comparing the Arab. mar-un (imru-un), Syr. mor (with the art. moro) or more (with the art. morjo), Chald. מרא, Talmud. מר (comp. Philo, ii. 522, ed. Mangey: οὃτως, viz., μάριν φασὶ τὸν κύριον ὀνομάζεστηαι παρὰ Σύροις), with it; but Rosenm., Arnh., Lwenthal, Wolfson, and Schlottm., after the Targ., Syr., and Jer., rightly abide by the signification: teacher. For (1) אמת (from הורה, Psalm 25:8, Psalm 25:12; Psalm 32:8) has no etymological connection with mr (of מרא, Arab. maru'a, opimum, robustum esse); (2) it is, moreover, peculiar to Elihu to represent God as a teacher both by dreams and dispensations of affliction, Job 33:14, Job 34:32, and by His creatures, Job 35:11; and (3) the designation of God as an incomparable teacher is also not inappropriate here, after His rule is described in Job 36:22 as transcendently exalted, which on that very account commands to human research a reverence which esteems itself lightly. Job 36:23 is not to be translated: who overlooketh Him in His way?

(פּקד with על of the personal and acc. of the neutral obj.), which is without support in the language; but: who has prescribed to Him (פקד על as Job 34:13) His way? i.e., as Rosenm. correctly interprets: quis ei praescripsit quae agere deberet, He is no mandatory, is responsible to no one, and under obligation to no one, and who should dare to say (quis dixerit; on the perf. comp. on Job 35:15): Thou doest evil? - man shall be a docile learner, not a self-satisfied, conceited censurer of the absolute One, whose rule is not to be judged according to the laws of another, but according to His own laws. Thus, then, shall Job remember (memento equals cura ut) to extol (תשׂגּיא, Job 12:23) God's doings, which have been sung (comp. e.g., Psalm 104:22) by אנשׁים, men of the right order (Job 37:24); Jer. de quo cecinerunt viri. שׁרר nowhere has the signification intueri (Rosenm., Umbr.); on the other hand, Elihu is fond of direct (Job 33:27; Job 35:10) and indirect allusions to the Psalms. All men - he continues, with reference to God's פּעל, working - behold it, viz., as בו implies, with pleasure and astonishment; mortals gaze upon it (reverentially) from afar, - the same thought as that which has already (Job 26:14) found the grandest expression in Job's mouth.

So the transition to ## Job 36:23 is natural. U MBREIT with the Septuagint translates, "Who is Lord, " wrongly, as this meaning belongs to later Hebrew. 23. Job dared to prescribe to God what He should do (Job 34:10, 13). 24. Instead of arraigning, let it be thy fixed principle to magnify God in His works (Psalms 111:2-8; Revelation 15:3); these, which all may "see," may convince us that what we do not see is altogether wise and good (Romans 1:20). behold —As "see" (Job 36:25), shows; not, as M AURER , "sing," laud (see on Job 33:27). 25. See —namely, with wondering admiration [M AURER ]. man may behold —rather, "(yet) mortals (a different Hebrew word from 'man') behold it (only) from afar off," see but a small "part" (Job 26:14). 26. (Job 37:13). God's greatness in heaven and earth: a reason why Job should bow under His afflicting hand. know him not —only in part (Job 36:25; 1 Corinthians 13:12). his years —(Psalms 90:2; 102:24, 27); applied to Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:12). 27, 28. The marvellous formation of rain (so Job 5:9, 10). maketh small —Rather, "He draweth (up) to Him, He attracts (from the earth below) the drops of water; they (the drops of water) pour down rain, ( which is ) His vapor." "Vapor" is in apposition with "rain," marking the way in which rain is formed; namely, from the vapor drawn up by God into the air and then condensed into drops, which fall (Psalms 147:8).

hypocrites —or, the ungodly [M AURER ]; but "hypocrites" is perhaps a distinct class from the openly wicked (Job 36:12). heap up wrath —of God against themselves (Romans 2:5). U MBREIT translates, "nourish their wrath against God, " instead of "crying" unto Him. This suits well the parallelism and the Hebrew. But the English Version gives a good parallelism, "hypocrites" answering to "cry not" (Job 27:8, 10); "heap up wrath" against themselves, to "He bindeth them" with fetters of affliction (Job 36:8). 14. Rather (Deuteronomy 23:17), Their life is (ended) as that of (literally, "among") the unclean, prematurely and dishonorably. So the second clause answers to the first. A warning that Job make not common cause with the wicked (Job 34:36). 15. poor — the afflicted pious. openeth … ears —(Job 36:10); so as to be admonished in their straits ("oppression") to seek God penitently, and so be "delivered" (Job 33:16, 17, 23-27). 16. Rather, "He will lead forth thee also out of the jaws of a strait" (Psalms 18:19; 118:5). broad place —expresses the liberty, and the well-supplied "table" the abundance of the prosperous (Psalms 23:5; Isaiah 25:6). ## 17.