The Book of Job

Word Study

"thundereth," Hebrew yar'em (יַרְעֵם) from ra'am, to thunder. As the storm rises, Elihu hears in the thunder the very voice of God: "God thundereth... with his voice." The thunder rolling across the sky becomes a parable of God's incomprehensible power and speech.

"marvellously," niphla'oth (נִפְלָאוֹת), wondrously. The word belongs to the family Scripture uses for God's wonders, the deeds that stop a man in his tracks. Elihu is preparing Job, and us, for a crucial posture: humble acknowledgment that God's works and ways are beyond our full comprehension.

"great things," gedoloth (גְּדֹלוֹת). Beyond the thunder itself, God does great things across the whole range of His works. Job had demanded to understand why he suffered; Elihu points to the sky and says, in effect, if you cannot even comprehend the works of God you can see and hear overhead, how will you comprehend the deep purposes of His providence?

"we cannot comprehend," velo neda (וְלֹא נֵדָע), we do not know, cannot grasp. This is the honest limit Elihu presses on Job. It is not anti-intellectualism; it is the proper humility of the creature before the Creator. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm 139:6). The God who thunders marvellously is not obligated to explain Himself to us, and we are not able to fully understand Him if He did. The right response to the marvellous, incomprehensible works of God is not demand but wonder, not complaint but worship.

Explanation

As the storm rises, Elihu hears in the thunder the voice of God: "God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend." He is preparing Job for a crucial posture: humble acknowledgment that God's works exceed our understanding. If we cannot comprehend the works of God we can see and hear in the sky, how will we grasp the deep purposes of His providence? This is not anti-intellectualism but the proper humility of the creature (Psalm 139:6). The right response to God's incomprehensible works is wonder, not demand; worship, not complaint.

Gospel Focus

"Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend", the God whose works exceed our understanding has done the greatest and most incomprehensible thing of all in the Gospel: He became man and died to save us. The mystery of the incarnation and the cross is beyond all comprehension, "great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16); "which things the angels desire to look into" (1 Peter 1:12). We cannot fully comprehend how the eternal God took flesh, how the sinless One bore our sin, how death was conquered by dying, and yet these are the great things God has done for our salvation. The Gospel does not remove all mystery; it gives us a Saviour to trust in the midst of it. And this teaches us how to face the incomprehensible in our own lives. When God's providence thunders in ways we cannot understand, when suffering makes no sense to us, we do not demand explanations we could not grasp; we look to the cross, where the greatest incomprehensible work of God is also the clearest proof of His love. If God has done the great, unfathomable thing of giving His Son for us, we can trust Him with the lesser mysteries of our trials. "He that spared not his own Son... how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). The God who thunders marvellously has spoken most marvellously of all in Christ crucified and risen; there we find not full comprehension, but full assurance.

Word Study

"stand still," Hebrew amod (עֲמֹד), stop, stand. Elihu's summons to Job is the climax of all the human speeches, and it is a word every troubled heart needs. In the whirl of his suffering and the storm of his questions, Job is called first simply to stop. The call to stand still is a call to cease striving, to quiet the restless demands and complaints. So much of our anxiety and confusion comes from a frantic spirit that will not be still before God. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

"consider," hithbonen (הִתְבּוֹנֵן), contemplate deeply, ponder carefully. Standing still is only half of it; the stillness is for the sake of looking. To stand still and consider is not passivity but the active discipline of contemplating God until the heart is quieted and lifted. Elihu is doing for Job what the psalmists so often do for themselves: turning the gaze from the problem to the God who is greater than the problem.

"wondrous works," niphla'oth (נִפְלְאוֹת), marvels, wonders. And this is what Job is to look at. When we stop and truly consider the wondrous works of God, in creation, in providence, and supremely in redemption, our troubles are set in a larger frame, and the God who does such wonders is seen to be trustworthy. It is the posture that prepares Job to hear God's own voice, which comes in the very next chapter.

Explanation

Elihu's summons is the climax of the human speeches: "Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God." In the storm of his questions, Job is called to stop, be still, and contemplate the wonders of God. So much anxiety comes from a restless spirit that will not be still before God (Psalm 46:10). When we stop and truly consider God's wondrous works, in creation, providence, and redemption, our troubles are set in a larger frame, and the God who does such wonders is seen to be trustworthy. This posture prepares Job to hear God's own voice in the next chapter.

Gospel Focus

"Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God", the greatest wondrous work for us to consider is the work of God in Jesus Christ, and considering Him is the cure for our troubled hearts. When Israel was trapped at the Red Sea, Moses said, "Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14:13), and God parted the waters. The Gospel calls us to a greater stillness before a greater salvation: to cease our striving to save ourselves and behold the finished work of Christ. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2) is the way to run our race without fainting. When we are overwhelmed by trials, the remedy is not frantic activity but to "stand still" and consider Him, "for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:3). To contemplate the wondrous work of the cross, the love that gave, the blood that cleansed, the grave that could not hold Him, is to have our anxieties stilled and our faith strengthened. The believer's rest is found in ceasing from his own works and resting in Christ's: "he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his" (Hebrews 4:10). So in every storm, do what Elihu urged: stand still, be quiet before God, and consider the wondrous work He has done for you in His Son. There the troubled heart finds peace, and the restless soul finds rest.

Word Study

"find him out," Hebrew metzanuhu (מְצָאנֻהוּ), attain, comprehend Him. Elihu closes his speeches with a confession that gathers up all he has said, and it starts with a limit: "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out." God is beyond our finding out, unsearchable, transcendent; we cannot fully attain to Him.

"excellent," saggi (שַׂגִּיא), great, exalted. But the same God who cannot be found out is not therefore unknown in character. Elihu piles up what he is, and each quality is held in this superlative degree.

"power," koach (כֹּחַ). First, sheer might. He is not a weak God whose good intentions might fail; whatever He purposes He is able to do.

"judgment," mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט). Second, right decision. He is excellent in the very thing Job's case turned on, the just handling of a man's cause.

"plenty of justice," rov-tzedaqah (רֹב־צְדָקָה), abundance of righteousness. Third, not a bare minimum of righteousness but an abundance of it. This is the vital combination: God is beyond our understanding, yet He is perfectly good, powerful, and just. The reason we can rest in a God we cannot comprehend is that His character is trustworthy.

"he will not afflict," lo ye'anneh (לֹא יְעַנֶּה), He will not oppress, not wrong. And crucially, He will not afflict wrongly, that is, He will not oppress or do injustice. He is not an arbitrary or cruel power and will never wrong His creatures, so even when His dealings baffle us, we may be sure they are not unjust. Elihu ends where faith must always land: bowing before a God too great to be fully understood, yet good enough to be fully trusted. "Men do therefore fear him" (v24), the proper response to such a God is reverent fear. And with this, the human voices fall silent, and the whirlwind Elihu has been describing is about to break open with the voice of God Himself.

Explanation

Elihu closes with a confession gathering up all he has said: "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict" wrongly. Two things stand together: God is beyond our finding out, yet perfectly good, powerful, and just. This is the vital combination, we can rest in a God we cannot comprehend because His character is trustworthy. Even when His dealings baffle us, they are never unjust. Faith lands here: bowing before a God too great to understand, yet good enough to fully trust.

Gospel Focus

"Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out", we cannot climb up to comprehend the infinite God, but the Gospel is that He has come down to be known and trusted in Jesus Christ. The unsearchable God, "excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice," has revealed His heart at the cross, where His power, justice, and mercy shine together. We still cannot find Him out, "how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33), yet in Christ we know Him truly, and know that He is good. Elihu said "he will not afflict" wrongly, and the cross proves it forever: God never does injustice, but bore injustice in His Son to save the unjust, "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). So the believer can trust the God he cannot fully understand, because he has seen God's heart in Jesus. When providence is dark and God's ways are past finding out, we rest not on our comprehension but on His proven character: excellent in power to save, perfect in justice, abundant in righteousness, and revealed as love at Calvary. Elihu's speeches end by pointing to a God too great to grasp yet wholly trustworthy, and the very next voice is God's own, out of the whirlwind. For us, that voice has spoken fully and finally in His Son. Fear Him, trust Him, and rest in the God who cannot be found out by searching, but who has found us in Christ.