Job 38:23

38:12-24 The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2Co 4:6. God's way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea; this means, that it is hid from us. Let us make sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side of death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death. It is presumptuous for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God's counsels. We should neither in the brightest noon count upon perpetual day, nor in the darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning; and this applies to our inward as well as to our outward condition. What folly it is to strive against God! How much is it our interest to seek peace with him, and to keep in his love!

Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,.... For the punishment or affliction of men; and is explained as follows, against the day of battle and war? as his artillery and ammunition to light his enemies with. Of hail we have instances in Scripture, as employed against the Egyptians and Canaanites, Exodus 9:25; and of a reserve of it in the purposes of God, and in prophecy against the day of battle with antichrist, Revelation 16:21; and so Jarchi interprets it here of the war of Gog and Magog. And though there are no instances of snow being used in this way in Scripture, yet there is in history. Strabo (s) reports, that at Corzena and Cambysena, which join to Mount Caucasus, such snows have fallen, that whole companies of men have been swallowed up in them; and even armies have been overwhelmed with them, as the army of the Gauls (t); and such quantities have been thrown down from mountains, on which they have been lodged, that towns, towers, and villages, have been laid prostrate by them (u); and in the year 443, a vast snow destroyed many (w). Frequently do we hear in our parts of the disasters occasioned by them. The Targum particularly makes mention of snow; and renders it, "which snow I have reserved", &c. though absurdly applies it to punishment in hell. (s) Geograph. l. 11. p. 363. (t) Cicero de Divinatione, l. 1.((u) Olaus Magu. de Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 2. c. 13. (w) Whiston's Chronolog. Tables, cent. 20.

Verse 23. - Which I have reserved against the time of trouble . Hail is reckoned throughout Scripture as one of the ministers of the Divine vengeance (see Exodus 9:18-29 ; Exodus 10:5-15 ; Joshua 10:11 ; Psalm 18:12, 13 ; Psalm 78:47, 48 ; Psalm 105:32 ; Isaiah 30:30 ; Isaiah 32:19 ; Ezekiel 13:11, 13 ; Ezekiel 36:22 ; Haggai 2:17 ; Revelation 8:7 ; Revelation 11:19 ; Revelation 16:21 ). Its destructive effect upon crops, even in temperate latitudes, is indicated by the insurances against damage from hail, which, even in our own country, so many farmers think it worth their while to pay. In tropical and semi-tropical regions the injury caused by hailstorms is far greater. Against the day of battle and war . Compare especially Joshua 10:11 , which, however, we need not suppose to have been in the mind of the writer. In ancient times, when the bow held the place in war which is now occupied by the rifle or the musket, a heavy hailstorm, striking full in the face of the combatants on one side, while it only fell on the backs of their adversaries, must of tea have decided a battle. Job 38:23

Which, i.e. which snow, and especially hail. Against the time of trouble, i.e. when I intend to bring trouble or calamity upon any country or people for their sins, or for their trial. Or, against the time of the enemy , i.e. when I intend to punish mine or my people’s enemies, and to fight against them with these weapons; of which see instances Exodus 9:14 Joshua 10:11 . Compare 1 Samuel 7:10 Job 36:31 Isaiah 30:30 .

Which I have reserved - As if they were carefully treasured up to be brought forth as they shall be needed. The idea is, that they were entirely under the direction of God. The time of trouble - Herder "the time of need." The meaning probably is, that he had kept them in reserve for the time when he wished to bring calamity on his enemies, or that he made use of them to punish his foes; compare the notes at Job 36:31-33. Against the day of battle and war - Hailstones were employed by God sometimes to overwhelm his foes, and were sent against them in time of battle; see Joshua 10:11; Exodus 9:22-26; Psalm 18:12-13; compare the notes at Isaiah 29:6.

22 Hast thou reached the treasures of the snow, And didst thou see the treasures of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved for a time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? 24 Which is the way where the light is divided, Where the east wind is scattered over the earth? 25 Who divideth a course for the rain-flood And the way of the lightning of thunder, 26 That it raineth on the land where no one dwelleth, On the tenantless steppe, 27 To satisfy the desolate and the waste, And to cause the tender shoot of the grass to spring forth? The idea in Job 38:22 is not that - as for instance the peasants of Menn, four hours' journey from Damascus, garner up the winter snow in a cleft of the rock, in order to convey it to Damascus and the towns of the coast in the hot months - God treasures up the snow and hail above to cause it to descend according to opportunity. אצרות (comp. Psalm 135:7) are the final causes of these phenomena which God has created - the form of the question, the design of which (which must not be forgotten) is ethical, not scientific, is regulated according to the infancy of the perception of natural phenomena among the ancients; but at the same time in accordance with the poet's task, and even, as here, in the choice of the agents of destruction, not merely hail, but also snow, according to the scene of the incident.

Wetzstein has in his possession a writing of Muhammed el-Chatb el-Bosrwi, in which he describes a fearful fall of snow in Hauran, by which, in February 1860, innumerable herds of sheep, goats, and camels, and also many human beings perished. (Note: Since the Hauranites say of snow as of fire: jahrik, it burns (brlant in French is also used of extreme cold), Job 1:16 might also be understood of a fall of snow; but the tenor of the words there requires it to be understood of actual fire.) continued...

[Bible] 38:9. When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands? 38:10. I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors: 38:11. And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves. 38:12. Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place? 38:13. And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it? 38:14. The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment. 38:15. From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken. 38:16. Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep? 38:17. Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors? 38:18. Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things? 38:19. Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness? 38:20. That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof. 38:21. Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days? 38:22. Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail: 38:23. Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? 38:24. By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth? 38:25. Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder: 38:26. That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth: 38:27. That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass? 38:28. Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew? 38:29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it? 38:30. The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.