Job 37:12

And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:1-13 The changes of the weather are the subject of a great deal of our thoughts and common talk; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu, with a regard to God, the director of them! We must notice the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common and less awful changes of the weather; as the snow and rain. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man only be unprovided with a refuge? Oh that men would listen to the voice of God, who in many ways warns them to flee from the wrath to come; and invites them to accept his salvation, and to be happy. The ill opinion which men entertain of the Divine direction, peculiarly appears in their murmurs about the weather, though the whole result of the year proves the folly of their complaints. Believers should avoid this; no days are bad as God makes them, though we make many bad by our sins.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And it is turned round about - The word here rendered "it" (הוא hû') may refer either to the "cloud," and then it will mean that it is driven about at the pleasure of God; or it may refer to God, and then it will mean that "he" drives it about at pleasure. The sense is not materially varied. The use of the Hebrew participle rendered "turned about" (in Hithpael), would rather imply that it refers to the cloud. The sense then is, that it turns itself round about - referring to the appearance of a cloud in the sky that rolls itself about from one place to another.

By his counsels - By the counsels or purposes of God. It is not by any agency or power of its own, but it is by laws such as he has appointed, and so as to accomplish his will. The object is to keep up the idea that God presides over, and directs all these things. The word which is rendered "counsels" (תחבולה tachebûlâh) means properly a "steering, guidance, management," Proverbs 11:14. It is usually applied to the act of steering, as a vessel, and then to prudent management, wise counsel, skillful measures. It is rendered "wise counsels," and "counsels," Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 12:5; Proverbs 24:6, and "good advice," Proverbs 20:18. It does not elsewhere occur in the Scriptures. The word is derived from חבל chebel, "a rope," or חבל chôbêl, "a sailor, pilot," and hence, the idea of "steering," or "directing." The meaning is, that the movements of the clouds are entirely under the "direction" of God, as the vessel is of the pilot or helmsman. The Septuagint appears not to have understood the meaning of the word, and have not attempted to translate it. They retain it in their version, writing it, θεεβουλαθὼq theeboulathōth, showing, among other instances, how the Hebrew was "pronounced" by them.

That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them - See Psalm 147:17-18. The idea is, that even the clouds, which appear so capricious in their movements, are really under the direction of God, and are accomplishing his purposes. They do not move at haphazard, but they are under the control of one who intends to accomplish important purposes by them. Elihu had made this observation respecting the lightning Job 36:30-33, and he now says that the same thing was true of the clouds. The investigations of science have only served to confirm this, and to show that even the movements of the clouds are regulated by laws which have been ordained by a Being of infinite intelligence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. it—the cloud of lightning.

counsels—guidance (Ps 148:8); literally, "steering"; the clouds obey God's guidance, as the ship does the helmsman. So the lightning (see on [543]Job 36:31, 32); neither is haphazard in its movements.

they—the clouds, implied in the collective singular "it."

face of the world, &c.—in the face of the earth's circle.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It is turned round about; the clouds (now mentioned) are carried about to this or that place.

By his counsels; not by chance, (though nothing seems to be more casual and uncertain than the motions of the clouds,) but by his order and governance.

That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them; either be dispersed and pass away without effect, to the disappointment of the husbandmen’s hopes, or be dissolved in sweet and fruitful showers.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it is turned round about by his counsels,.... The cloud is, and that by the wind, which is turned about to all points of the compass, according to the will of God; by the counsels of him who sits at the helm, as the word signifies, and orders all things according to the counsel of his own will: to which owing every shifting of the wind, and the various motions of the clouds;

that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth; as all his creatures do; the several meteors in the air, clouds, stormy wind, fire, hail, snow, and vapour, all fulfilling his word; and which they do everywhere in the several parts of the world whither they are sent, Psalm 107:25. So ministers of the word drop down or withhold the rain of Gospel doctrine, and carry it into the several places of the world, as the Lord directs them; see Isaiah 5:6.

Geneva Study Bible

And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. In the second clause the words are lit. “that they may do,” the plur. referring to “cloud” (Job 37:11) collectively. Others make the pronoun they refer to men, which is very unnatural. The expression “the whole earth” is lit. the world of the earth, Proverbs 8:31.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - And it is turned round about by his counsels, "It" (i.e. the cloud) is "turned round" (or directed in its course) "by his counsels," or under the guidance of his wisdom, and so conveys his rain whither he pleases. That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. There is no expressed antecedent to "they." Perhaps the showers are intended, or the atmospheric influences generally. Job 37:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

11 Also He loadeth the clouds with water,

He spreadeth far and wide the cloud of His light,

12 And these turn themselves round about,

Directed by Him, that they execute

All that He hath commanded them

Over the wide earth.

13 Whether for a scourge, or for the good of His earth,

Or for mercy, He causeth it to discharge itself.

With אף extending the description, Elihu, in the presence of the storm that is in the sky, continually returns to this one marvel of nature. The old versions connect בּרי partly with בּר, electus (lxx, Syr., Theod.) or frumentum (Symm., Jer.), partly with בּרה equals בּרר in the signification puritas, serenitas (Targ.); but בּרי is, as Schultens has already perceived, the Hebr.-Arabic רי, Arab. rı̂yun, rı̂j-un (from רוה equals riwj), abundant irrigation, with בּ; and יטריח does not signify, according to the Arab. atraha, "to hurl down," so that what is spoken of would be the bursting of the clouds (Stick.),

(Note: This "atraha" is, moreover, a pure invention of our ordinary Arabic lexicons instead of ittaraha (VIII form): (1) to throw one's self, (2) to throw anything from one's self, with an acc. of the thing. - Fl.)

but, according to טרח, a burden (comp. Arab. taraha ala, to load), "to burden;" with fluidity (Ew., Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm.), better: fulness of water, He burdens the clouds (comp. rawij-un as a designation of cloud as the place of rain). ענן אורו, His cloud of light, is that that is charged with lightning, and הפיץ has here its Hebr.-Arab. radical signification effundere, diffundere, with a preponderance of the idea not of scattering, but of spreading out wide (Arab. faid, abundance). והוּא, Job 37:12, refers to the cloud pregnant with lightning; this turns round about (מסבּות, adv. as מסב, round about, 1 Kings 6:29) seeking a place, where it shall unburden itself by virtue of His (God's) direction or disposing (תחבּוּלת, a word belonging to the book of Proverbs; lxx, Cod. Vat. and Alex., untranslated: εν θεεβουλαθωθ, Cod. Sinait. still more monstrous), in order that they (the clouds full of lightning) may accomplish everything that He commands them over the surface of the earth; ארצה as Job 34:13, and the combination תּבל ארצה as Proverbs 8:31, comp. ארץ ותבל, Psalm 90:2. The reference of the pronominal suff. to men is as inadmissible here as in Job 37:4. In Job 37:13 two אם have certainly, as Job 34:29, two ו, the correlative signification sive ... sive (Arab. in ... wa-in), in a third, as appears, a conditional, but which? According to Ew., Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., and others, the middle one: if it (the rod) belongs to His land, i.e., if it has deserved it. But even the possessive suff. of לארצו shows that the ל is to be taken as dat. commodi: be it for a rod, be it for the good of His land; which is then followed by a conditional verbal clause: in case He mercifully causes it (the storm) to come, i.e., causes this His land to be overtaken by it (המציא here with the acc., the thing coming, whereas in Job 34:11 of the thing to be overtaken). The accentuation, indeed, appears to assume a threefold sive: whether He causeth it to discharge itself upon man for punishment, man for mercy, or His earth for good with reference to man. Then Elihu would think of the uninhabited steppe in connection with אם לארצו. Since a conditional אם by the side of two correlatives is hazardous, we decide finally with the lxx, Targ., and all the old versions, in favour of the same rendering of the threefold אם, especially since it corresponds to the circumstances of the case.