For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
A storm is gathering as Elihu speaks to Job, turning him from arguments about suffering to the weather overhead. Snow falls only because God tells it to — so what does that speaking mean, and what should it do to the man standing under it?
A Command, Not a Mechanism
The Hebrew behind this verse gives God a direct order to the weather, and it distinguishes two kinds of rainfall. One rendering of the passage brings out both the speaking and the two measures — a light shower and a downpour — along with the effect on people who are working outdoors:
William KellyFor to the snow He says, Fall to the earth, and to the small rain, and to the rains of strength. The hand of every man He seals up, that all mortals may come to know His work.
Many people explain weather by the laws of nature. One writer shows that this does not push God out of His own world:
Samuel RidoutAll the forces of nature act according to divine laws. "Laws of nature" are but laws of God, the manner in which all things are upheld by the word of His power. He has not given up His rights as the God of providence any more than His place as Creator.
The Measure Is Chosen
The verse names a gentle rain and a strong one, and both arrive on command. That is exactly the point Job needed, and it exposes something about us:
Leslie M. GrantHe tells the snow or the rain when to fall on the earth, sometimes a gentle rain, sometimes a fierce rainstorm. Men have tried in many ways to control the weather. It is a foolish, useless effort, because they do not want to let God have His way. All this was meant to speak to Job about the hard circumstances he was going through. Would Job not allow God to have His way?
Snow Stops the Worker
Snow does more than fall. It stops human work, and that is part of its lesson:
Samuel RidoutAnd if snow covers the earth like a burial cloth, and winter's icy hand stops all man's work — it is His snow, His hand, to teach man His supreme power. The beast goes into its shelter; let us too enter into the "cleft of the rock" until these troubles have passed. How good then to humble ourselves under His mighty hand!
Snow and Hail Come From the Same Store
Later in the book God asks Job whether he has entered the storehouses of the snow. Writers note that the same frozen water arrives as kindness in one place and as judgment in another, and that even a snowflake's shape is designed:
Samuel RidoutThose storehouses of mercy and of judgment are in the hand of God. His word produces them — the snow, to protect the grass in winter and to cool and refresh in summer; the hail, in striking plagues and sweeping judgments. Cold acting on vapour makes snow, we are told, turning its molecules into crystals of lovely and varied form. Who planned those forms?
Why God Preaches Through Weather
Why does God point Job to weather instead of doctrine? Job lived before Scripture and before Christ, so God taught him from the only book he had:
William KellyHere we can understand that we are in the infant days even of God's saints. They spelled out the vast letters of heaven and earth, seen before anyone read the Scriptures. We are in these early seasons. God chose to teach by the speech that day after day utters. He did not teach by the gospel preached to every creature, or by the Son who had come down from heaven to show us the Father in Himself.
The Storm Overhead and the Storm Within
Elihu describes the storm overhead. Job is living through a storm of his own:
Samuel RidoutThe storm is upon them now, and Elihu trembles. He calls on Job to hear God's voice in it all. We may well believe he was to hear that voice in his own storm of sorrow too. It has come blow upon 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. "Be still, and know that I am God."
Summary
- He speaks. Snow and rain fall at His order. What we call laws of nature are His laws — He upholds all things by the word of His power.
- He measures. He sends the light shower and He sends the downpour. Efforts to master the weather are futile.
- He stops us. Winter seals the working hand so that all may know His work. Humble yourself under His mighty hand.
- He aims it. One store holds both — snow to protect, hail to judge. Mercy and judgment rest in His hand.
- He teaches. Before Scripture, God spelled out His majesty in the letters of earth and sky. Job was to hear His voice in his own sorrow, not just in the storm overhead.