Job 36 · The Lantern

Elihu Describes God’s Power

And Elihu continued and said:

The author of the book, while distributing the chapters of the different speeches to us, connects the words that follow to the beginning.

Eliu also added, and spake thus; Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee. He had already said much, and hopes that he will be borne with yet a little longer; because, namely, haughty men consider that they suffer a heavy loss, if they confine their skill by speaking within brief limits.

Eliud presented two things in the words of Job again which he wanted to argue: first, the fact that he said he was just and the fact that he accused God of injustice in his judgment, according to the interpretation Eliud had given the words of Job. Eliud had disputed against these two ideas above. (cc.

Bear with me a little, and I will show you; for there are still words for God.

I will carry my knowledge from far off, and I will give righteousness to my Maker.

For truly my words are not falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.

Look, God is mighty, and does not reject; he is mighty in strength of heart.

He does not keep the wicked alive, and he gives judgment to the afflicted.

He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous; and with kings on the throne he seats them forever, and they are exalted.

And if they are bound in fetters, caught in cords of affliction,

then he declares to them their work, and their transgressions, that they have made themselves mighty.

And he uncovers their ear to discipline, and says that they should turn back from iniquity.

If they listen and serve, they will finish their days in good, and their years in pleasant things.

And if they do not listen, they will pass over by the spear, and expire without knowledge.

And the godless of heart lay up anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

Their soul dies in youth, and their life among the temple-prostitutes.

"They will die in the tempest of their soul, and their life among the effeminate." Since he had said above, "God will not be humble before the powerful," here he has rightly said that the one who through his scorn inflames the wrath of the avenger will die among the effeminate, that is, he deserves to be deprived of all his strength by the misfortunes that will happen to him.

Their soul shall die in a tempest. For they were seeming to live as if in calm, when they were taking care to rejoice in the credit of holiness. But their soul, which used to rejoice in the fatal tranquillity of human praise, dies by a sudden tempest.

Because such men do not do penance in their punishments, they are not freed from adversity, and so he says, "Their soul will die in torment," since they suffer diverse agonies even to death, "and their life" will fail, "among effeminate men," who do not have the power to free themselves from the hand of their oppressors.

He rescues the afflicted in his affliction, and uncovers their ear in oppression.

And he would also have drawn you from the mouth of distress, to a broad place with no confinement beneath it; and what was set on your table would be full of fatness.

But you are full of the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice take hold.

Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

[MORAL INTERPRETATION] Having given rapidly a figurative exposition of these words, we must now gather their moral meaning; that, having learned the figure of the Church, which we believe to be generally described, we may learn what we may specially gather from these words in each single case. He says therefore, Let not, therefore, anger overcome thee, to oppress any one.

As though this had already happened, he warns him now to bear himself in this situation. Judges sometimes deviate from justice because of anger, and as to this he says, "Do not let anger master you so that you oppress someone," unjustly, when then "you will receive the cause and judgment." Judges also sometimes deviate from justice because they are greedy for graft, and he expr…

Will your cry set you out of distress — or all the exertions of strength?

Do not pant for the night, when peoples are cut off in their place.

Take heed; do not turn to iniquity; for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

Look, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

And you certainly, he says, were tested so far in the furnace of correction. But God will indeed restore you and will bring you back to your former wealth and dignity.

Behold, God is lofty in His strength, and none is like Him among lawgivers. As if he said plainly, He, Who will appear humble in weakness, remains lofty in strength, Paul also witnessing this, who says, For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. [2 Cor. 13, 4] Of Whom it is rightly subjoined, None is like Him among lawgivers.

After Eliud rejected the words of Job in which he had said he was just, he here rejects his words because he believed he had spoken against the justice of divine judgment. So he first proposes the sublimity of divine power when he says, "Behold God preeminent in his power," for he has a higher power than everything else.

Who has laid out his way for him? And who has said, “You have done injustice”?

Remember to magnify his work, which men have sung.

All humankind has looked on it; a mortal beholds it from afar.

Look, God is great, beyond our knowing; the number of his years is beyond searching out.

For he draws up the drops of water; they distill as rain to his mist,

which the clouds pour down; they drip upon many people.

Can anyone understand the spreadings of a cloud, the crashings of his booth?

Look, he spreads his light around him, and covers the roots of the sea.

For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.

He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it against the mark.

He hideth the light from the mighty. And ordereth it to return again. For those in truth are 'mighty,' who exalt themselves with lofty thoughts. Against whom it is said by Isaiah; Woe unto you, who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight. [Is. 5, 21] Against whom also Paul says, Be not wise in your own conceit. [Rom.

The words, "He will cover the light with his hands" [mean] that when he wants to make the rain fall for the sake of earth, he condenses the air as if with his hands and covers the sun with clouds.

Eliud had spoken above (36:27-30) about the changes in the atmosphere: drought and rain, as a result of the covering of the clouds from which God produces lightning from his light. Now he treats in an extended manner about the light itself, which is sometimes hidden by the clouds and is sometimes seen, and the thunder which arises from the clouds.

Its thunder tells of him; the cattle too, of what is rising.

Job36

Elihu Describes God’s Power