^37:14 Listen, Job, stand and consider the wonders of God.
^37:15 Do you know when God commanded the rains, so that they might show the light of his clouds?
^37:16 Do you know the paths of the clouds, the great and perfect sciences?
^37:17 Are not your garments warm when the earth has been breathed through by the south wind?
^37:18 Did you perhaps fashion the heavens with him, which are most solid, as though founded from bronze?
^37:19 Show us what we should say to him, for we are wrapped in darkness.
^37:20 Who will recount to him the things that I speak? Even if a man has spoken, he will be devoured.
^37:21 But now they do not see the light. Suddenly the air is forced into clouds, and a passing wind will drive them away.
^37:22 From the north gold comes, and toward God there is fearful praise.
^37:23 We cannot find him worthily; he is great in strength and in judgment and in justice, and he cannot be recounted.
^37:24 Therefore men will fear him, and all who seem to themselves to be wise will not dare to contemplate him.

484. Listen, Job, etc. After Elihu had recounted many wonderful things of the divine works, here he inveighs against Job, who seemed to accuse God of injustice, although he could not comprehend his works; and therefore he says: Listen, Job, namely, to the things that are said by me concerning the greatness of the divine works, stand, namely, by rectitude of mind, and consider, namely, by yourself, the wonders of God, which, namely, are manifested in his works. Among these wonders he begins from the rains, which men indeed perceive sensibly, yet he cannot comprehend by knowledge their first origin according as they were instituted by God, whence he adds: Do you know when God commanded the rains, namely, those that fall upon the earth by divine ordering? And after their fall, the air, which before was dark because of the density of the clouds, becomes clear when they have been rarefied, whence he adds: so that they might show, namely, the falling rains, the light of his clouds? That is, the light of the sun shining through the rarefied clouds, which was hidden by the condensed clouds. Concerning their movement he adds: Do you know the paths of the clouds, namely, how and from what cause they are driven to different parts by the blowing of the winds? Now knowledge of the clouds is the principle of knowing all the changes of the air, for example, winds, rains, snows, hailstorms, thunder, and other things of this kind; and therefore he adds: the great and perfect sciences? Great indeed, because impressions of this kind are made in a higher body, but perfect because the science of the clouds comprehends the whole knowledge of the aforesaid impressions and of the effects that follow from them in these lower things.

And because clouds are driven by winds, he consequently adds concerning the effect of the wind, saying: Are not your garments warm when the earth has been breathed through by the south wind? For the south wind, because it proceeds from warm regions, heats the air, and by the heat of this air a man’s garments can warm him more; and he expressly makes mention of the effect of the south wind because it, as coming from below, gathers vapors and condenses them into clouds and moves them, while the north wind, as coming from above, rather disperses them.

485. And because the power of the heavenly bodies works toward all effects of this kind, he therefore proceeds further, even to the heavenly bodies, whence he adds: Did you perhaps fashion the heavens with him? In this he metaphorically expresses the causality of God over the heavenly bodies; for just as an artisan is the cause of a structure, so God is the cause of the heavenly bodies, yet in different ways: for an artisan establishes a structure from preexisting matter, but the heavenly bodies could not be made from preceding matter; rather, in their very production, matter was produced together with form. And to distinguish the higher heavens from the heavens that are called aerial, he adds: which are most solid, as though founded from bronze. Now it should be known that among us there are certain bodies that yield to the touch and can be divided by things passing through them, such as air and water and the like; but certain bodies do not yield to the touch and cannot be passed through, such as the bodies of stones and metals. And therefore, to show that the higher heavens are not divisible or passable in the manner of air and water, he compares them to bronze, especially among the other metals, because men generally used it for works of this kind.

486. And lest perhaps Job should presumptuously say that he knows God’s works perfectly, he mockingly adds, saying: Show us what we should say to him, as though saying: if you are so wise that you know all the works of God and can even dispute with him about them, teach us so that we may be able to answer him. And he shows the necessity, adding: for we are wrapped in darkness, as though saying: we would greatly need you to show us the aforesaid things, because we are entirely ignorant of them. And because he himself had spoken many things about the divine effects, lest this be imputed to him as presumption, as though he thought that he knew the aforesaid things perfectly, to exclude this he adds: Who will recount to him the things that I speak? As though saying: no one can sufficiently recount the things that I have spoken concerning his effects, as befits him, namely, according to the excellence of his power. And if someone were raised up to such presumption that he thought he could speak sufficiently about God, from this very thing danger would threaten him, whence he adds: Even if a man has spoken, namely, as though wishing to comprehend the divine effects, he will be devoured, as though swallowed up by the greatness of the subject matter about which he speaks, according to Proverbs 25:27: he who is a searcher of majesty will be overwhelmed by glory. Or it can be understood otherwise, so that the sense is: not only can man not fittingly recount the divine effects, but even if God himself has spoken them, namely, by revealing them to man, man will be devoured, as though unable to grasp so great a thing; whence it is said in John 16:12: I have many things to say to you which you cannot bear now, and in Deuteronomy 5:26 it is said: What is all flesh, that it should hear the voice of the living God?

487. But lest someone believe that knowledge of divine truth is to be withdrawn from man forever, to exclude this he adds: But now, that is, in the present time, they do not see, namely, men, the light, that is, the brightness of divine knowledge; nevertheless it is announced to the friend of God that at some time he can ascend to it, as was said above. And for this he introduces a likeness, saying: Suddenly the air is forced into clouds, because of the gathering of vapors by the south wind, and from this the air is made dark; but darkness of this kind afterwards passes away when the clouds have been driven off, whence he adds: and a passing wind, namely, the north wind, will drive them away, as though saying: in this way, although he is now wrapped in darkness, nevertheless when death comes upon him, which is like a certain passing of the wind, the aforesaid darknesses will be driven away.

488. Now it sometimes happens that in some dark place something shining is found, just as the northern part is said to be dark because of its distance from the sun, and yet in northern regions much gold is found, which is more brilliant than the other metals; and this is because heat, on account of the surrounding coldness of the air, returns to the inner bowels of the earth and works there more effectively for the generation of gold. And this is what he adds: From the north gold comes, as though saying: in the northern region gold is more abundant. And just as in the darkness of the North the brightness of gold is found, so also amid the darkness of the ignorance of this life there is found some, although obscure, radiance of divine knowledge, whence he adds: and from God fearful praise: for if no divine light shone in us, we would in no way be able to praise him; again, if divine truth shone for us manifestly as at midday, we would praise him securely; but because, together with a certain obscurity, something of the divine light shines for us, we praise him with fear, just as a man does with fear what he knows he cannot do perfectly. Whence he adds: We cannot find him worthily, so that, namely, by our inquiry we may arrive at knowing him as he is; and this indeed happens from his excellence, whence he adds: he is great in strength, because, namely, his power infinitely exceeds all his effects, and therefore he cannot be worthily found from them.

And lest it be believed, because of the greatness of his power, that he uses only violence in the governance of men, he adds: and in judgment, namely, he is great, because, namely, his judgments are incomprehensible; nor is this because of a defect of justice, but because of excellent justice, whence he adds: and in justice, namely, he is great. And because of his greatness we can neither think of him in the mind nor speak of him sufficiently with the mouth, whence he adds: and he cannot be recounted, namely, worthily by man. And this is the reason why his praise is fearful, whence he adds: Therefore men will fear him, namely, however strong they may be, because of the greatness of his strength, and they will not dare to contemplate him, as though presuming to know him fully, all who seem to themselves to be wise. And he says this expressly because the wisdom of man, however great it may seem to them or to others, is as nothing compared to divine wisdom.

489. But it should be considered from the preceding words of Elihu that he agreed partly with Job and partly with his friends: for he agreed with Job in this, that he believed the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked to be future after this life; but he agreed with Job’s friends in this, that he believed all adversities of the present life to come because of sins, and that if anyone repents of them, he will return to prosperity. He also agreed with Job’s friends concerning the person of Job himself, because he thought that Job was punished for sin and that the justice that at first appeared in him had been feigned. He also understood Job’s words wrongly, as the others did. Concerning the prosperity of the wicked in this world, he alone touches upon this cause: that they prosper because of the sins of others; likewise, he alone seems clearly to touch upon the fact that angels are mediators between God and men.

490. But Job does not answer his words,

first indeed because in the principal doctrines he agreed with him, in which his friends erred, whom above in 13:4 he had called cultivators of perverse doctrines. But what Elihu thought concerning his own person was not of such concern to him that on account of this he wished to contend with Elihu, especially because he could not prove the purity of his conscience otherwise than as above, namely, by divine testimony;

second, because from a certain youthful presumption, in the manner of the contentious, Elihu imputed to Job words that he had not said, or that he had said otherwise than Elihu took them. And therefore, in order to separate himself from contentions, he decided rather to be silent and to entrust the matter to divine judgment.