Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Job has just answered Bildad by sweeping through God's power — the deep places, the empty north, the hanging earth, the bound-up clouds. Then he stops short. Everything he has just described, he says, is only the outer edge of God, and the sound we catch is only a whisper.
Job Outdoes His Accuser
Bildad had lectured Job on God's greatness and man's smallness. Job's reply shows he can speak of that greatness far better than his friend. Then he calls his own words nothing more than edges.
Leslie M. GrantJob has far outdone Bildad in declaring God's glory. Yet he adds, "indeed, these are mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him." Against that small whisper, Job asks, "but the thunder of His power who can understand?" (v.14). Does it not put us all in our place?
What "Parts of His Ways" Means
Job calls all these works the edges of God's ways. They are the outer border of a dominion far larger than anything we see.
Samuel RidoutAfter all has been said, the half has not been told; these are "parts of His ways," the "edges," outskirts of His vast dominion. "But how little a portion we hear of Him," or, "We hear only a whisper of it." How little do we know of His greatness! We catch little whispers of His power in every passing breeze. We see some of His wisdom in every tiny blade of grass or drop of dew. Yet if we could understand, we would find all nature alive with its testimony. What a day that will be when we will look on knowledge face to face! Then the majestic harmony of nature will blend with the sweeter notes of grace, and everything will tell the glories of their Creator, the Lamb who was slain.
An Accurate Voice in an Age of Myths
Job had just described God stretching the north over empty space and hanging the earth on nothing. His account of the world outstrips the stories told by the nations around him.
William KellyHow far nobler and more accurate is this description of the world than anything in the myths of the nations, or in their philosophy! Job speaks of God spreading the north over empty space. God Himself holds up the vault of heaven, hangs the earth on nothing, and ties up the waters in thick clouds, so that what they hold cannot escape until He chooses.
Two Sounds: Whisper and Thunder
The verse sets two sounds against each other: a whisper now, a thunder no one can take in. Commentators differ over when that thunder sounds. One places it in the future.
William Kelly"He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing" — a very remarkable anticipation of modern discovery… It is only the whisper that we hear now. "But the thunder of His power" — ah, that waits for the day of judgment — "who can understand?"
Another reading hears the thunder already, not in the sky but in God's answer when His people cry to Him in trouble.
The Bible TreasuryAs the sound of a whisper, so is the witness to God in the works of nature, wonderful as they are. … As the voice of thunder, so is His answer to believing prayer. Anyone who asks is sure to hear it and rejoice — "God is, and He rewards those who seek Him."
From a Whisper to Full Light
Job had only a whisper of God. Set beside what God has since made known, his cry measures how much more we hold.
F. B. HoleHe knew that God had worked by His Spirit in adorning the heavens. Learned unbelievers today would hardly admit that. At the same time he knew that what people knew in his day was only a part of His ways. His comment was, "What a whisper of a word do we hear of Him!" Let this moving cry of Job sink into all our hearts. He had only a "whisper of a word" about God. Israel knew something of "the thunder of His power" when God gave the law at Sinai through Moses. We have the high privilege of knowing and enjoying the "grace and truth" that came by Jesus Christ. We also have the privilege of walking in "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).
Summary
- Whisper. All Job said about the deep, the sky and the clouds is only a faint sound of God. Nature is loud with testimony; we catch a trace of it.
- Edges. "Parts of His ways" means the edges, the outskirts of His vast dominion. What we see is a border, not the whole.
- Accuracy. Job's picture of the world — earth hung on nothing, north stretched over empty space — stands far above the myths of his age. Even that is only the fringe.
- Thunder. Commentators differ on when the full sound comes. One takes it as the day of judgment. Another hears it in God's answer to His people's cry in trouble.
- Light. Job had a whisper. Israel at Sinai heard something of the thunder. We have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So the verse humbles us; it does not discourage us.