By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.
Elihu has been pointing Job away from his own case and up to the sky — to thunder, snow, and storm. Now he names the coldest thing he can think of, and traces ice back to the breath of God.
Nature as God's schoolroom
Elihu argues from the visible world because that was the light he had. One writer explains why creation, and not the gospel, carries the weight here.
William KellyJob 37 turns our eyes to the wonderful works of God in the outward world. We are in those early days, when God was pleased to teach through the speech that each day pours out. He did not teach by the gospel preached to every creature, nor by the Son who had come down from heaven to show us the Father in Himself. For that very reason, because Christ was not here, God takes up the outward world to show His majesty, faithfulness, and gracious power in everything that surrounded man.
The breath that freezes
Breath is warm, yet here it hardens water. The same writer sees a change God Himself works, and weather that carries out His orders.
William KellyBut God's breath also works a marvellous change. Out of it He gives ice, and He presses the broad waters together. He loads the cloud with moisture, and scatters the clouds of His light. Whichever way it turns, it still does what He commands across the face of the earth. It may come as a rod to correct, if that is what He has appointed for His earth, or it may come in kindness. Either way, God is the one who sends it.
Another commentator puts it plainly: the breath is air, and God sends it cold.
Leslie M. GrantIce comes from the breath of God — air that God sends in a cold state.
What the word "breath" means
The word used here for breath runs all through Scripture, and its force is not always gentle.
Frederick W GrantIt is the "breathing," the "inspiration," the "blast," as in Genesis 2:7; Job 4:9; Job 37:10; and Isaiah 30:33.
Where man's cleverness stops
Elihu is not describing scenery. He weighs human power against God's power. One writer applies that to our own day, quoting verse 9 in an older translation than the ESV.
F. B. HoleIn our day men have made many discoveries. They have gained a kind of control over a few of the subtle powers in God's wonderful creation. But the things Elihu mentioned they cannot master. As he put it in verse 9, "Out of the south comes the whirlwind, and cold out of the north." Faced with that, the cleverest of men can only accept the situation and seek shelter or warmth.
Winter as a lesson in humility
Cold stops work. One writer takes that halt as the lesson, and points the reader to shelter.
Samuel RidoutSnow may cover the earth like a burial cloth. Winter may lay its icy hand on man and stop all his activity. Even so, it is His snow and His hand, sent to teach man His supreme power. The beast goes into its shelter. Let us too go into the "cleft of the rock" until these troubles have passed. Whether the storm comes in the whirlwind of the south, or from the frozen north, it is only His breath. How good then to humble ourselves under His mighty hand!
From the weather to Job's own storm
The frost is an argument aimed at a suffering man. Elihu's call is simple: look away from yourself and look at what God does.
Samuel RidoutLet Job forget himself, his troubles, his "friends"; let him "stand still and consider the wonderful works of God." Can he explain these purposes? Does he realise the light that shines behind the clouds? Does he understand the balancing of these clouds? How amazingly simple that statement is! All nature is balanced in this way, one force against another. In the same way, there is a divine balance in the clouds of life.
Summary
- Breath — God's breath freezes wide waters. It is air He sends in a cold state, and elsewhere the same word means a "blast."
- Sovereign — Ice is no accident of climate. God works the change, and the weather does what He commands — as a rod to correct, or in kindness.
- Limit — Whirlwind and cold mark the edge of what man can master. With all our discoveries, we can only seek shelter or warmth.
- Humbling — Winter's icy hand stops man's work on purpose. It teaches God's supreme power and drives us into the cleft of the rock.
- Comfort — The God who balances the clouds keeps the same balance in the clouds of life. So Elihu tells Job to stop staring at his troubles and to stand still and consider God's works.