Job 37:4

(4) After it a voice roareth — i.e., the thunderclap which follows the lightning-flash. And he stayeth them not (or will not stay them) when his voice is heard.—What does this mean? We understand it, “Yet none can track them (i.e., the thunder and the lightning) when His voice is heard. They travel in paths which none can explore. Vivid as the lightning is, who shall pursue its course?”Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary37:1-13 The changes of the weather are the subject of a great deal of our thoughts and common talk; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu, with a regard to God, the director of them! We must notice the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common and less awful changes of the weather; as the snow and rain. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man only be unprovided with a refuge? Oh that men would listen to the voice of God, who in many ways warns them to flee from the wrath to come; and invites them to accept his salvation, and to be happy. The ill opinion which men entertain of the Divine direction, peculiarly appears in their murmurs about the weather, though the whole result of the year proves the folly of their complaints. Believers should avoid this; no days are bad as God makes them, though we make many bad by our sins.Barnes' Notes on the BibleAfter it a voice roareth - After the lightning; that is, the flash is seen before the thunder is heard.

This is apparent to all, the interval between the lightning and the hearing of the thunder depending on the distance. Lucretius, who has referred to the same fact, compares this with what occurs when a woodman is seen at a distance to wield an axe. The glance of the axe is seen long before the sound of the blow is heard:Sed tonitrum fit uti post antibus accipiamus,Fulgere quam cernunt ocuil, quia semper ad auresTardius adveniunt, quam visum, guam moveant res.Nunc etiam licet id cognoscere, caedere si quemAncipiti videas ferro procul arboris actum.Ante fit, ut cernas ictum, quam plaga per auresDet sonitum: Sic fulgorem quoque cernimus ante.Lib. vi.He thundereth with the voice of his excellency - That is, with a voice of majesty and grandeur.And he will not stay them - That is, he will not hold back the rain, hail, and other things which accompany the storm, when he begins to thunder. "Rosenmuller." Or, according to others, he will not hold back and restrain the lightnings when the thunder commences. But the connection seems rather to demand that we should understand it of the usual accompaniments of a storm - the wind, hail, rain, etc. Herder renders it, "We cannot explore his thunderings." Prof.

4 . with the voice of his excellency ] Rather, with his voice of majesty . he will not stay them ] Rather, he stayeth them not; He restrains not His lightnings. The words describe the play of the lightning, rapidly succeeding the thunder. When God’s presence is announced by His terrible voice, there also are His awful ministers, the lightnings, swift to do His commandments against His adversaries (ch. Job 36:32 ).

Verse 4. - After it a voice roareth . After the lightning-flash has been seen, the thunderclap comes. In their origin they are simultaneous; but, as light travels faster than sound, unless we are close to the flash, then is an interval, the thunder following on the lightning . He thundereth with the voice of his excellency (see the comment on ver. 2). And he will not stay them when his voice is heard . The words are plain, but the meaning is obscure. What will not God stay? His lightnings? His thunderings? His rain? His hail? There is no obvious antecedent. And in what sense will he not "stay" them? Some explain, "He will not slacken their speed; "others, "He will not cause them to Cease." Job 37:4

After it a voice, i.e. after the lightning. For though the thunder be in order of nature before the lightning, yet the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard. With the voice of his excellency, or, with his excellent , or high , or lofted voice, both loud and full of majesty and awfulness. He will not stay; or, delay . Heb. take them by the heel , as Jacob did Esau in the womb, to delay or stop him from entering into the world before him. Them ; either, 1. The lightnings spoken of in the beginning of the verse. But these do not stay till his voice be heard, but come before it. Or rather, 2. The rains and storms, of which he spoke before, and will speak again, Job 37:6 .