Job 37 Commentary
Chapter 37 looks like a praise song but Elihu is making his point here. God speaks through creation. The lightning and thunder are a message. They are a directive to either snow or shower; the results are marvelous! The results are either a blessing to the people or a punishment. All of it is intentional!
But how can we understand all of this? Elihu wants Job to see the perfect knowledge of God. Against such perfection, what hope do we have? Can any argument be good enough?
Of course, all of this is true about God. But importantly for the saint, it is also true that this perfection was reduced into a man that we could talk to. He spoke our language and understood our slang. The LORD Jesus Christ was born under slave conditions to a poor couple in order to perfectly simulate the sad condition of humanity. It was for our sake. Humanity could join this God in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze.
The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Verse 23. Our pick from here could be that the righteous saint’s suffering isn’t at all injustice or oppression. The saint’s suffering, therefore, doesn’t deserve the same treatment as punishment. And in the question, “can you join Him in spreading the skies,” Elihu is revealing another very important fact. The answer is yes. Job’s suffering is actually a participation in a divine strategy being hatched way beyond human hearing. The LORD is fixing satan and confining him to failure. Job is the main tool in this operation.
Won’t the saint see their own as a tool in the LORD’s hands? If the saint can see correctly, their suffering could be strategy and not suffering; it could be the means to a glorious end, not the end itself. But there is also the ‘otherness’ and Elihu has superbly balanced his thoughts on suffering. This chapter ends Elihu’s argument. Up next is the long-awaited response from the LORD.
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