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God thundereth marvellously with his voice - This is the conclusion of Elihu's description of the lightning and thunder: and here only should chapter 36 have ended. He began, Job 36:29, with the noise of God's tabernacle; and he ends here with the marvellous thundering of Jehovah. Probably the writer of the book of Job had seen the description of a similar thunder storm as given by the psalmist, Psalm 77:16-19; : -
Psalm 77:16; The waters saw thee, O God! The waters saw thee, and were afraid. Yea, the deeps were affrighted!
Psalm 77:17; The clouds poured out water; The ethers sent forth a sound; Yea, thine arrows went abroad.
Psalm 77:18; The voice of thy thunder was through the expanse: The lightnings illumined the globe; The earth trembled and shook!
Psalm 77:19; Thy way is in the sea, And thy paths on many waters; But thy footsteps are not known.
Great things doeth he - This is the beginning of a new paragraph; and relates particularly to the phenomena which are afterwards mentioned. All of them wondrous things; and, in many respects, to us incomprehensible.
God thundereth marvelously - He thunders in a wonderful manner. The idea is, that the voice of his thunder is an amazing exhibition of his majesty and power.
Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend - That is, not only in regard to the thunder and the tempest, but in other things. The description of the storm properly ends here, and in the subsequent verses Elihu proceeds to specify various other phenomena, which were wholly incomprehensible by man. The reference here to the storm, and to the other grand and incomprehensible phenomena of nature, is a most appropriate introduction to the manifestation of God himself as described in the next chapter, and could not but have done much to prepare Job and his friends for that sublime close of the controversy.
The passage before us Job 36:29-33; Job 37:1-5, is probably the earliest description of a thunderstorm on record. A tempest is a phenomenon which must early have attracted attention, and which we may expect to find described or alluded to in all early poetry. It may be interesting, therefore, to compare this description of a storm, in probably the oldest poem in the world, with what has been furnished by the masters of song in ancient and modern times, and we shall find that in sublimity and beauty the Hebrew poet will suffer nothing in comparison. In one respect, which constitutes the chief sublimity of the description. he surpasses them all: I mean in the recognition of God. In the Hebrew description. God is every where in the storm He excites it; he holds the lightnings in both hands; he directs it where he pleases; he makes it the instrument of his pleasure and of executing his purposes. Sublime, therefore, as is the description of the storm itself, furious as is the tempest; bright as is the lightning: and heavy and awful as is the roar of the thunder, yet the description derives its chief sublimity from the fact that “God” presides over all, riding on the tempest and directing the storm as he pleases. Other poets have rarely attempted to give this direction to the thoughts in their description of a tempest, if we may except Klopstock, and they fall, therefore, far below the sacred poet. The following is the description of a storm by Elihu, according to the exposition which I have given:
Who can understand the outspreading of the clouds,
And the fearful thunderings in his pavilion?
Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it;
He also covereth the depths of the sea.
By these he executeth judgment upon the people,
By these he giveth food in abundance.
With his hands he covereth the lightning,
And commandeth it where to strike.
He pointeth out to his friends -
The collecting of his wrath is upon the wicked.
At this also my heart palpitates,
And is moved out of its place.
Hear, O hear, the thunder of his voice!
The muttering thunder that goes from his mouth!
He directeth it under the whole heaven.
And his lightning to the end of the earth.
After it, the thunder roareth;
He thundereth with the voice of his majesty,
And he will not restrain the tempest when his voice is heard.
God thundereth marvelously with his voice;
He doeth wonders, which we cannot comprehend.
The following is the description of a Tempest by Aeschylus, in the Prometh. Desm., beginning,
- Χθὼν αεσάλευται;
Βρυχία δ ̓ ἠχὼ παραμυκᾶται
Βροντῆς, κ.τ.λ.
- Chthōn sesaleutai Bruchia d' ēchō paramukatai
Brontēs etc - “I feel in very deed
The firm earth rock: the thunder‘s deepening roar
Rolls with redoubled rage; the bickering flames
Flash thick; the eddying sands are whirled on high;
In dreadful opposition, the wild winds
Rend the vex‘d air; the boisterous billows rise
Confounding earth and sky: the impetuous storm
Rolls all its terrible fury.”
Potter
Ovid‘s description is the following:
Aethera conscendit, vultumque sequentia traxit
Nubila; queis nimbos, immistaque fulgura ventis
Addidit, et tonitrus, et inevitabile fulmen.
Meta. ii.
The description of a storm by Lucretius, is the following:
Praeterea persaepe niger quoque per mare nimbus
Ut picis e coelo demissum flumen, in undas
Sic cadit, et fertur tenebris, procul et trahit atram
Fulminibus gravidam tempestatem, atque procellis.
Ignibus ac ventis cum primus ipse repletus:
In terris quoque ut horrescant ae tecta requirant.
S c igitur sutpranostrum caput esso putandum est
Tempestatem altam. Neque enim caligine tanta
Obruerat terras, nisi inaedificata superne
Multa forent multis exempto nubila sole.
Lib. vi.
The well-known description of the storm by Virgil is as follows:
Nimborum in patriam, loca foeta furentibus austris,
Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto Rex Aeolus antro
Luctantis ventos tempestatesque sonoras
Imperio premit, ac vinelis et carcere frenat.
Illi indignantes, magno cum murmure, montis
Circum claustra fremunt. Celsa sedet Aeolus arce,
Sceptra tenens: molliitque animos, et temperat iras.
- Venti, velut agmine facto.
Qua data petra, ruunt, et terras turbine perflant.
Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis,
Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, creberque procelis
Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus.
Aeneid i. 51-57,82-86.
One of the most sublime descriptions of a storm to be found any where, is furnished by Klopstock. It contains a beautiful recognition of the presence and majesty of God, and a most tender and affecting description of the protection which his friends experience when the storm rushes by. It is in the Fruhlingsfeier - a poem which is regarded by many as his masterpiece. A small portion of it I will transcribe:
Wolken stromen herauf!
Sichtbar ist; der komant, der Ewige!
Nun schweben sie, rauschen sie, wirbeln die Winde!
Wie beugt sich der Wald! Wie hebet sich det Strom!
Sichtbar, wie du es Sterblichen seyn kannst,
Ja, das bist du, sichtbar, Unendlicher!
Zurnest du, Herr,
Weil Nacht dein Gewand ist?
Diese Nacht ist Segen der Erde.
Vater, du Zurnest nicht!
Seht ihr den Zeugendes Nahen, den zucken den Strahi?
Hort ihr Jehovah‘s Donner?
Hort ihr ihn? hort ihr ihn.
Der erschtternden Donner des Herrn?
Herr! Herr! Gott!
Barmhertzig, und gnadig!
Angebetet, gepriesen,
Sey dein herrlicher Name!
Und die Gowitterwinde! Sie tragen den Donner!
Wie sie rauschen! Wie sie mit lawter Woge den Wald du: chstromen!
Und nun schwiegen sie. Langsam wandelt
Die schwartze Wolke.
Seht ihr den neurn Zeugen des Nahen, den fliegenden Strahl!
Horet ihr hoch in Wolke den Donner dex Herrn?
Er ruft: Jehova! Jehova!
Und der geschmetterte Wald dampft!
Abet nicht unsre Hutte
Unser Vater gebot
Seinem Verderber,
Vor unsrer Hutte voruberzugehn!
I have been shown that without Bible history, geology can prove nothing. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present. But the time of their existence, and how long a period these things have been in the earth, are only to be understood by Bible history. It may be innocent to conjecture beyond Bible history, if our suppositions do not contradict the facts found in the sacred Scriptures. But when men leave the word of God in regard to the history of creation, and seek to account for God's creative works upon natural principles, they are upon a boundless ocean of uncertainty. Just how God accomplished the work of creation in six literal days he has never revealed to mortals. His creative works are just as incomprehensible as his existence. 3SG 93.1
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” 3SG 93.2
“Which doeth great things, past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.” 3SG 93.3
Read in context »“Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,” “who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.” 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16. MH 434.1
“Shall not His excellency make you afraid?
And His dread fall upon you?”
“Is not God in the height of heaven?
And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!”
“Is there any number of His armies?
And upon whom doth not His light arise?”
“Great things doeth He, which we cannot comprehend.
For He saith to the snow,
Fall thou on the earth;
Likewise to the shower of rain,
And to the showers of His mighty rain.
He sealeth up the hand of every man,
That all men whom He hath made may know it....
He spreadeth abroad the cloud of His lightning:
And it is turned round about by His guidance,
That they may do whatsoever He commandeth them
Upon the face of the habitable world;
Whether it be for correction, or for His land,
Or for loving-kindness, that He cause it to come.
“Hearken unto this:...
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?...
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....
And now men cannot look on the light when it is bright
in the skies, “When the wind hath passed, and cleared 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....
Men do therefore fear Him.”
MH 434.2
“Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high,
Who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in
heaven, and in the earth!”
MH 435.1