Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.
Elihu ends his long speech by pointing Job away from argument and up at the sky — the cloud, the lightning in God's hands, and the crash that follows. The verse asks who speaks in that noise, and why even the cattle hear Him before people do.
Where the verse sits
Elihu's speech falls into two halves, and this verse sits in the second one:
Samuel RidoutThe address may therefore be divided into two parts, each divided further as the thought moves on. God's dealings among men (Job 36:1-21). His ways in nature (Job 36:22-37:24).
Elihu reasons from the small to the great. One writer follows him, quoting an older wording of verse 27:
William Kelly"For He makes small the drops of water." Elihu illustrates it by God's power over outward things. And if that is the case with something as small as the rain, how much more with something as great as the soul of man? That soul comes from the inbreathing of God Himself.
What the crash announces
The thunder carries a message. Commentators differ on how the second half of the verse should read. One rendering makes the noise a warning of stored-up judgment:
William KellyOn both hands He covers lightning, and gives it a charge in striking. The noise of it announces concerning Him, store of wrath against perversity.
Another reads it as an arrival: God drawing near, with the herds as witnesses:
Samuel RidoutThat blaze of lightning is only the garment with which He covers Himself (Ps. 104:2); the rolling thunder is only the voice of Him who sits as King over the flood (Ps. 29:3-10). From His hand comes food for the needy and judgment for the proud. The light from His presence strikes down to the very depths of the sea. Both His hands of power wield the bolt like a dart that is sure of its aim. That, rather than the reading in the common English version, seems to be the meaning of verse 32. His thunder is the mighty voice announcing His presence. The trembling cattle declare that He is near!
Why the cattle matter
Elihu brings animals into the argument on purpose. If a person will not look, God will make him listen:
Leslie M. Grant"His thunder declares it" (v. 33). If man ignores what one of his senses (his sight) witnesses, God appeals to another sense, his hearing. He sends His thunder, which is sometimes so tremendous that it shakes the very ground. Even animals, cattle and many others, feel it deeply. Only a cold-hearted, ignorant rebel against God dares to reject such a sign that the Creator is stepping into the affairs of His creatures.
That comparison is not flattering to us. The herd reacts; the human heart can sit through the same storm unmoved:
William KellyCattle are very sensitive to a thunderstorm. They show that they treat it as a serious matter. But there are men who only harden themselves.
Explaining the storm without hearing it
A person can describe the weather and still miss the One who speaks in it:
Samuel RidoutBut both science and poetry leave God out, and when men do not see Him, what is all the rest worth? What good is talk of "gravity, expansion, condensation"? It is worth nothing if we do not see the spreading of His clouds, the majestic crash of the thunder in His tabernacle.
One writer finds the age of the book in this very habit of seeing God in His works:
Arno C. GaebeleinHow beautiful! It also proves how ancient the book is. In early days man knew the Creator by His works and was fully taken up with them (Romans 1:20-21).
The storm over Job's own life
The gathering thunderstorm is also a picture. Elihu wants Job to hear a voice in his own losses, not just in the sky:
Samuel RidoutThe storm is upon them now, and Elihu trembles. He calls on Job to hear God's voice in it all. Surely we may believe that he also calls him to hear that voice in the storm of sorrow that has fallen on him. It has come blow after blow — the sharp lightning stroke of affliction, the awful thunder of God's chastening. God has been doing marvellous things, things beyond our understanding, but it is God.
Summary
- Voice. The thunder is God announcing Himself. His hand aims the lightning, and the crash carries His message, not random noise.
- Warning. One reading makes that message a warning of stored-up wrath against wrongdoing. Another makes it the news that He is drawing near. Either way, the storm is God speaking.
- Witness. When a man will not look, God makes him listen. Even cattle sense the storm, so rejecting the sign takes a hard and ignorant heart.
- Hardness. Animals respond; men harden themselves. They measure the storm and leave out the God whose clouds these are.
- Hearing. Job's own losses were his thunderstorm. Elihu wants him to hear God's voice in the chastening, not only feel the blow.