^36:32 In his hands he hides the light, and commands it to come again.
^36:33 He announces concerning it to his friend that it is his possession and that he can ascend to it.
^37:1 At this my heart was terrified and moved from its place.
^37:2 Hear the hearing in the terror of his voice, and the sound proceeding from his mouth.
^37:3 He himself considers above all the heavens, and his light is upon the ends of the earth.
^37:4 After him a sound will roar; he will thunder with the voice of his greatness, and it will not be searched out when his voice has been heard.
^37:5 God will thunder marvelously in his voice, he who does great and inscrutable things,
^37:6 who commands the snow to descend upon the earth, and the winter rains and the showers of his strength,
^37:7 who signs in the hand of all men, so that each may know his works.
^37:8 The beast will enter its hiding place and remain in its den.
^37:9 From the inner parts the tempest goes forth, and from Arcturus the cold.
^37:10 At the breath of God frost congeals, and again the broadest waters flow.
^37:11 Grain desires the clouds, and the clouds scatter their light.
^37:12 These survey all things round about, wherever the will of the one governing has led them, to everything that he has commanded them upon the face of the world of the earth,
^37:13 whether in one tribe, or in his own land, or in whatever place of his mercy he has commanded them to be found.

477. In his hands he hides the light, etc. Elihu had treated above of the change of the air that takes place according to dryness and rain, and according to the drawing over of clouds, from which God flashes with his light; but now he treats more broadly of the light itself, which is sometimes hidden by clouds and sometimes revealed, and of the thunder that arises from the clouds. And he begins from the light, saying: In his hands he hides the light, that is, through the works of his power he causes the light of the sun and stars sometimes to be hidden by clouds; but because this hiding is not perpetual but for a time, he adds: and commands it to come again, namely, when the clouds depart. Or these words can be referred to the darkening and illumination of the air through the setting and return of the sun. But it should be considered that sensible things are certain signs of intelligible things, whence through sensible effects we come to the knowledge of intelligible things; but among all sensible effects, light is more spiritual, and hence it is more effective for leading to the knowledge of intelligible things, inasmuch as sight, whose knowledge is perfected through light, greatly assists intellectual knowledge. Therefore, because this sensible light is hidden from men and communicated to them by the power of God, through this it is given to be understood that with him there is a certain more excellent light, namely, spiritual light, which God reserves for men as the reward of virtue; whence he adds: He announces concerning it, namely, concerning the light signified by the bodily light, to his friend, namely, to the virtuous man, whom God loves, that it is his possession, that is, that that spiritual light is the treasure that God reserves for his friends as a reward, and that he can ascend to it, namely, by meriting it through the works of the virtues and by preparing himself to possess it;

although this could also be explained of bodily light: for the Platonists held that the souls of men were derived from the souls of the stars, whence, when human souls preserve their dignity by living according to reason, they return to the brightness of the stars from which they flowed; hence in the Dream of Scipio it is read that the rulers and preservers of cities, having set out from here, namely, from heaven, return here. In this he also gives it to be understood that he did not place the ultimate reward of virtue in temporal goods but in spiritual goods after this life. But this is most to be wondered at among all things: that earthly and corruptible man should be advanced to the possession of spiritual or heavenly things; and therefore he adds: At this, namely, that man can ascend to possess the light, my heart was terrified, namely, with the fear of wonder and astonishment, and moved from its place, so that, namely, it not only desires and longs for the things that seem connatural to it according to sensible life, but is also transferred to spiritual and heavenly things.

478. But after sight, which is cognitive of bodily light, hearing especially serves the intellect, insofar as it is perceptive of voices by which intellectual conceptions are expressed. Now just as through the sight of bodily light man is led back to the knowledge and expectation of a certain higher light, so also through the hearing of bodily sounds formed by divine power, man is led by the hand to hearing the spiritual doctrine of God; whence he adds: he will hear, namely, man from God, the hearing, namely, of spiritual doctrine, in the terror of his voice, that is, in the sign of thunder, which is like a certain terrible voice of God. But he explains the aforesaid hearing, adding: and the sound proceeding from his mouth: for the sound of bodily thunder is, as it were, formed by his hand, that is, by his power; but the sound proceeding from his mouth is the teaching of his wisdom, according to Sirach 24:5: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High.

479. And lest someone believe that God has no other higher light than the bodily light of heaven, he excludes this, adding: He himself considers above all the heavens, as though saying: his vision is not below heaven but above heaven. But nothing is seen except in some light, because all that is made manifest is light, as is said in Ephesians 5:13; hence it is necessary that the light of God be more excellent than this bodily light, which is first found in the heavens, whence he adds: and his light, namely, intelligible light, is upon the ends of the earth, that is, above every corporeal creature. And just as the bodily light of heaven is below him, so also the sound of bodily thunder is lower than he, whence he adds: After him, that is, below him, a sound will roar, namely, of bodily thunder. But he has another spiritual voice, namely, the teaching of wisdom, which is incomprehensible to man; concerning this he adds: he will thunder with the voice of his greatness, that is, with the voice that teaches his greatness, and not all hear this voice as they hear bodily thunder. And those who hear it in some way cannot comprehend it, whence he adds: and it will not be searched out, namely, perfectly, when it has been heard, that is, spiritually perceived by some man, his voice, that is, the teaching of wisdom.

480. But this kind of voice is ordered not only to the teaching of men who hear it, but also to the perfection of natural works, which are made by the command of divine wisdom; whence, for a second time, he repeats: God will thunder in his voice, that is, in the command of his wisdom, marvelously, that is, by producing marvelous effects. And this is what he adds: he who does great things, namely, according to their nature, and inscrutable, namely, to human reason. Beginning the enumeration, he adds: who commands the snow, namely, by the voice of his wisdom, to descend upon the earth, because, namely, snows are generated by his command, and also rains and showers; whence he adds: and the winter rains, which, namely, abound in winter, and the showers of his strength, which, namely, are generated from some more vehement cause and with the force of wind. And because all things that happen in lower realities are ordered in some way to men, he therefore adds: who signs in the hand of all men, so that each may know his works; for different dispositions of the air are suited to different works of men: one kind of work belongs to night and another to day, and again one work is carried out by man in fair weather and another in rainy weather. But man discerns, according to reason given to him by God, what work is suited to each time, and this is the sign that God has placed in the hand, that is, in the operative power, of all men, so that they may know how to distribute their works suitably among different times. And this providence extends even to brute animals, which by a certain natural instinct do different things at different times; whence he adds: The beast will enter its hiding place, namely, in rainy weather, and remain in its den, namely, at a suitable time.

481. Then he shows the effects of different winds; concerning this it should be considered that southern winds produce rains and storms, while northern winds cause cold in the air. But the southern winds arise for us from the part that is toward the Antarctic pole, which is hidden from us, since it is lowered beneath our horizon by the amount by which the Arctic pole is raised above the horizon; and therefore he says: From the inner parts the tempest goes forth, as though saying: among us a storm is caused by a wind proceeding from the part of heaven that is always lowered beneath our horizon, and this wind is called Auster, the south wind. And with respect to the North wind he adds: and from Arcturus the cold; for in Greek Arctos means the northern part, whence Arcturus is called the constellation of the Bear, which is always raised above the horizon, and from that part proceeds Aquilo, the north wind, which causes cold because of the sun’s remoteness from that region of heaven. And so that this may be attributed to divine wisdom, he adds: At the breath of God frost congeals, as though saying: the north wind that causes frost arises when God breathes, that is, when he causes the very breath; and again, namely, when God breathes, that is, produces the south wind, the broadest, that is, most abundant, waters flow, namely, the rains that are caused by the south wind.

482. And so that he may show that effects of this kind are also referred to the usefulness of men, he adds: The clouds desire grain, as though saying: the clouds are ordered to grain as to a certain end for which they are useful. Now each thing desires its own end, and to this extent he says that the clouds desire grain, because, namely, usefulness comes to grain from the clouds, either by reason of the rain descending from the cloud, which by watering the earth makes it fruitful for the production of grain, or even with respect to the fact that it is useful for grain to be shaded at times by clouds, lest it be dried up by the continual heat of the sun. He adds another usefulness of the clouds when he says: and the clouds scatter their light, which can be referred either to the light of flashes of lightning, according to what he had said before in the preceding chapter: If he should will to extend the clouds and to flash with his light; or it can be referred, rather, to the light that shines forth in the air from the rays of the sun reflected back to the clouds and in some way tempered by them. Hence the brightness of the sun appears in the air before the rising of the sun and also after its setting because of the reflection of the sun’s rays upon the clouds, which are in a higher place, to which the solar rays come sooner and which they leave later.

483. But having set forth the usefulness of the clouds, he describes their movement, saying: These survey all things round about: for the clouds do not rest over only one part of the earth from which the vapors have been lifted up, but by the impulse of the winds they are transferred to different parts. Now winds are accustomed for the most part to make a certain circuit, following the motion of the sun; hence in the morning eastern winds blow, and afterwards southern winds, and finally, toward evening, western winds. Hence, as a consequence, the clouds too are moved in a certain circuit. And to show that this proceeds from divine providence, he adds: wherever the will of the one governing, namely, God, has led them, because, namely, clouds do not always come to all parts of the earth, but sometimes to this part, sometimes to that, according to God’s ordering.

Now different effects proceed from clouds, for example rains, snows, hailstorms, thunder, and the like; and just as it depends on the divine ordering to which part of the earth the clouds come, so also it depends on it what effect follows from the clouds, whence he adds: to everything that he has commanded them upon the face of the world of the earth, as though saying: it depends on the divine command what effect follows from the clouds upon the earth. And because he had said: wherever the will of the one governing has led them, he explains this, adding: whether in one tribe, because, namely, it sometimes happens that clouds appear in one territory and do not appear in another, according to Amos 4:7: I rained upon one city and upon another city I did not rain. And this happens in two ways: because sometimes clouds appear in the same region from which the vapors are generated, which happens when the vapors are not transferred to distant places by the impulse of the wind, and with respect to this he says: or in his own land, namely, that of the clouds, from which they have arisen; but sometimes they are transferred to another region, and with respect to this he adds: or in whatever place of his mercy he has commanded them to be found. For it proceeds from the great mercy of God that he provides clouds and rains for some region at opportune times, and especially in hot lands, where rains are more rare.