Elihu’s discourses are coming to an end, as we find him describing the approaching storm, out of which the Lord would thunder out his response to Job and the friends. However, Elihu used the phenomenon for the purpose of getting Job to understand his discourse. Nevertheless, regardless of the reason behind the approaching storm, Elihu does do a good job of describing the greatness and majesty of God, by describing the atmospheric conditions required to create the storm. Indeed, the same process occurs to bring the gentle rain, the snow and the great storms, like the hurricane, which probably was the type of storm that had been approaching the small group of debaters. Elihu’s point is that, just as the same process brings the gentle rain, and the snow, and the great storm, so the same Lord and God of the universe blesses and judges mankind, according to the purposes he has in mind, which may or may not be understood by those affected by his blessings and judgments (Job 37:7, 15-16).
So, Elihu asks Job to pay attention and consider what he had just conveyed about the storm and God. He tells him to stand still, meaning take a posture of reverence toward God, as you consider his majesty and almighty power. Elihu had previously accused Job of standing with the wicked and irreverently strengthening their cause (Job 37:8-9), but now he asks him to assume a different posture, while he sincerely considers how great God truly is (Job 37:14).
Keeping in mind that what we read in Elihu’s discourses is poetical, not necessarily scientific, he asks Job if he understands how God commands the winds and the rain, the good weather and the bad etc. We may understand that it is the laws that are set in place that cause certain atmospheric conditions to take place, but Elihu sees the Lord doing it all. This isn’t really a wrong assumption, if one considers that it is God who created the laws that govern all these things. So, Elihu asks Job, if he understands how these atmospheric conditions take place, and how lightning flashes are formed. Then he asks, if Job knows how God puts the clouds in the air in the first place, suspended there upon nothing, and keeps them from falling to the earth, until rain or snow begins to fall (Job 37:15-16).
Next, Elihu asks if Job understands the reason behind the fact that clothing keeps him warm in the cold, but doesn’t keep him cool, when the weather turns uncomfortably warm (Job 37:17). These are very simple, everyday matters, which Elihu implies Job cannot explain, so one wonders, if he isn’t being sarcastic. It would seem that Elihu believes Job was being disrespectful by asking God why he had treated him so badly. For Elihu, questioning the Lord’s behavior was tantamount to blasphemy. He waxes ironical by asking Job if he would work with God, spreading the clouds across the heavens and supporting it all without any apparent foundation to hold it all up, that would keep it from falling to the earth (Job 37:18).
Continuing in his irony, Elihu concludes this portion of his final discourse by asking Job to teach him and the friends how to approach God, since they have no idea how it should be done. Obviously, Elihu was put off by Job’s desire to come into the Lord’s Presence and have God answer his questions (Job 31:35). Such a thing was considered blasphemy, at least according to Elihu, because surely, if the Lord took Job seriously, God would simply swallow him up (Job 37:19-20).
It seems that the prevailing understanding of God at the time was that the Lord must be appeased, but not approached. He was a far-away-god, but not someone to whom one could draw near. This was something that Job toyed with in his dialogues with the friends. Remember, he, too, once believed as the friends did. Why else would they encourage him to repent and embrace their theology once more. Admit your sin, repent and be restored, because as a man sows, so shall he reap. If you are experiencing trouble, you have sinned, so admit it, because the fact you are judged exposes your error. God will restore you, which is somewhat, but not entirely, like our modern prosperity gospel of today. Indeed, Job had erred, but not in the manner in which Elihu and the friends suppose. But we won’t get into that, until Elihu finishes his discourse.
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