Job 37: A Storm Is Coming

A shift in Elihu's speech appears in Job 36:24.  Suddenly we find a lot of dramatic imagery related to weather events: "the skies pour down," "he scatters his lightning around him," "the thunder of his voice," etc.  It seems that a literary as well as a literal storm is bearing down on Job and his gathering!

The picture Elihu draws of God in this section is almost Zeus-like in its descriptions of hurling lightning-bolts (vs. 3) and roaring voice (vs. 4).  Again and again, Elihu stresses how God is in sovereign control over His creation.  He wants to drive home to Job that this is God's world - we're just living in it!

In verse 9, the storm imagery picks up as Elihu says, "From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds."  A very interesting choice of words, considering that the next chapter depicts God answering Job from the whirlwind!

Elihu ends his speech by saying that God is above being questioned because His wisdom and power are so vast.  Job's hope of presenting his case before God is hopeless because God is so far above him.  Fortunately for Job and for us, God takes up Job's questions and will appear very soon!  A storm is coming!

P.S. This is what I think of when I read Elihu's section of Job!