Today’s passage: Job 37
Helpful thoughts:
- In his conclusion, Elihu simply points to God’s awesome power.
- With all the weather based themes, the call to “keep listening” to the thunder, and with the way God is going to arrive on the scene in the beginning of the next chapter, I have to wonder if a storm rose up while Elihu was speaking.
- The phrase, “He seals up the hand of every man” probably refers to man having to refrain from work and take shelter, just as the animals have to go into their dens.
- Verses 14-24 contain some of the greatest things Elihu says in his whole oration. It would have been great counsel for all of them.
Questions to consider:
- What is the irony of verse 16 compared to chapter 36, verse 4? Who is perfect in knowledge and who is not?
- How would the counsel given in this chapter have shaped the rest of the book (The rest of the friends and Elihu’s counsel) should they have heeded it?
- What reasons does Elihu give in verse 13 for these wonderful storms? How could this have opened up the possibilities as to why Job was enduring this suffering? How could this help us to be more patient when we are coming alongside a friend who is enduring suffering?