He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.
Elihu ends his last speech not with argument but with weather — cloud, rain, thunder and lightning, all of it handled by God. Verse 11 sits at the centre: the cloud does not fill itself, and the lightning does not scatter itself.
A storm while he speaks
Many readers have felt that Elihu is not remembering a storm but watching one. One writer gives his own rendering of the passage and points out how vivid it is:
William KellyWhat can be finer than the description of thunder and lightning that follows? It is so vivid that quite a few think Elihu is watching a storm as it happens, with its roar and rumble, followed by snow or rain falling in varying amounts. What can man do in the presence of God's awful voice but try to learn? … But God's breath also works a marvellous change. Out of it comes ice, and the broad waters are pressed together; and He loads the cloud with moisture, and scatters the clouds of His light. Turn about as it may, it still carries out what He commands it on the face of the world.
Notice his rendering of the second half: God "scatters the clouds of His light," where the ESV has the clouds scattering His lightning. Either way, the cloud may turn and drift, but its errand is fixed.
Loaded and steered
One commentator ties the moisture and the movement together, and traces both to one hand:
Leslie M. GrantThick clouds are full of moisture, and the clouds whirl as the wind drives them. But all this is by the guidance of God, directed as He commands (v.12).
Another writer names the three purposes rain can serve, and why Elihu raises them with Job:
F. B. HoleElihu recognised that God ordered the weather with wise purpose. What He sends may be "for correction," that is, discipline for wrongdoing. It may be "for His land," that is, to keep the earth producing as usual. Or it may be "for mercy," that is, to bring about some merciful deliverance. This too had a bearing on Job's case.
Weight held back
God not only fills the cloud. He also controls how it empties. One writer draws out the kindness hidden in the restraint:
Samuel RidoutAnd how good He is! If He opened the windows of heaven all at once, a flood would sweep all life away. Instead, He makes the drops of rain small, and they fall as refreshment on the place beneath. So it is with His afflictions; the suffering and the grief are, after all, only blessings in disguise for faith: "The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy, and will break In blessings on your head."
Knowing how, without knowing Who
A modern reader can explain saturation and static discharge and think that settles the verse. The same writer meets that head on:
Samuel RidoutBut both science and poetry leave God out, and when men do not see Him, what is the value of all the rest? What use is it to speak of "gravity, expansion, condensation," if we do not see the spreading of His clouds, the majestic crash of the thunder in His tabernacle?
Elsewhere he grants that the second causes are real, and says where they lead: they are "the outer court of His tabernacle, the display of His attributes, leading us on into the holiest of His revealed Person, as seen in Christ Jesus."
The clouds over one man
Elihu is not giving a weather lesson. He is asking a suffering man to look up and draw a conclusion:
Samuel RidoutLet Job forget himself, his troubles, his "friends." Let him "stand still and consider the wonderful works of God." … Does he realise the light that shines behind the clouds? Does he understand the balancing of these clouds? How amazingly simple such a statement is. All nature is balanced this way, one force against another; and so too there is divine equilibrium in the clouds of life. He will "with the temptation provide the way of escape." All things work — but they work together for good to those who love God. There are the balancings of the clouds.
Summary
- Loaded. The thick cloud does not gather its own water; God weighs the load before it ever darkens the sky.
- Steered. The clouds turn and whirl, yet they still carry out what God commands on the face of the earth.
- Aimed. What falls comes for one of three purposes: correction, the land's fruitfulness, or mercy. Elihu means Job to apply that to himself.
- Measured. God never throws heaven's windows open at once. He makes the drops small, so the load falls as refreshment, not ruin.
- Balanced. As one force offsets another in nature, so God holds the clouds of a life in balance. A storm then calls for thought, not only endurance.