Thunder and lightning, which usually go together, are sensible
indications of the glory and majesty, the power and terror, of Almighty
God, one to the ear and the other to the eye; in these God leaves not
himself without witness of his greatness, as, in the rain from heaven
and fruitful seasons, he leaves not himself without witness of his
goodness (Acts xiv. 17), even to the most stupid and unthinking. Though
there are natural causes and useful effects of them, which the
philosophers undertake to account for, yet they seem chiefly designed
by the Creator to startle and awaken the slumbering world of mankind to
the consideration of a God above them. The eye and the ear are the two
learning senses; and therefore, though such a circumstance is possible,
they say it was never known in fact that any one was born both blind
and deaf. By the word of God divine instructions are conveyed to the
mind through the ear, by his works through the eye; but, because those
ordinary sights and sounds do not duly affect men, God is pleased
sometimes to astonish men by the eye with his lightnings and by the ear
with his thunder. It is very probable that at this time, when Elihu was
speaking, it thundered and lightened, for he speaks of the phenomena as
present; and, God being about to speak (ch. xxxviii. 1), these were, as
afterwards on Mount Sinai, the proper prefaces to command attention and
awe. Observe here, 1. How Elihu was himself affected, and desired to
affect Job, with the appearance of God's glory in the thunder and
lightning (v. 1, 2): "For my part," says Elihu, "my heart trembles at
it; though I have often heard it, often seen it, yet it is still
terrible to me, and makes every joint of me tremble, and my heart beat
as if it would move out of its place." Thunder and lightning have been
dreadful to the wicked: the emperor Caligula would run into a corner,
or under a bed, for fear of them. Those who are very much astonished,
we say, are thunder-struck. Even good people think thunder and
lightning very awful; and that which makes them the more terrible is
the hurt often done by lightning, many having been killed by it. Sodom
and Gomorrah were laid in ruins by it. It is a sensible indication of
what God could do to this sinful world, and what he will do, at last,
by the fire to which it is reserved. Our hearts, like Elihu's should
tremble at it for fear of God's judgments, Ps. cxix. 120. He also calls
upon Job to attend to it (v. 2): Hear attentively the noise of his
voice. Perhaps as yet it thundered at a distance, and could not be
heard without listening: or rather, Though the thunder will be heard,
and whatever we are doing we cannot help attending to it, yet, to
apprehend and understand the instructions God thereby gives us, we have
need to hear with great attention and application of mind. Thunder is
called the voice of the Lord (Ps. xxix. 3, &c.), because by it God
speaks to the children of men to fear before him, and it should put us
in mind of that mighty word by which the world was at first made, which
is called thunder. Ps. civ. 7, At the voice of thy thunder they hasted
away, namely, the waters, when God said, Let them be gathered into one
place. Those that are themselves affected with God's greatness should
labour to affect others. 2. How he describes them. (1.) Their original,
not their second causes, but the first. God directs the thunder, and
the lightning is his, v. 3. Their production and motion are not from
chance, but from the counsel of God and under the direction and
dominion of his providence, though to us they seem accidental and
ungovernable. (2.) Their extent. The claps of thunder roll under the
whole heaven, and are heard far and near; so are the lightnings darted
to the ends of the earth; they come out of the one part under heaven
and shine to the other, Luke xvii. 24. Though the same lightning and
thunder do not reach to all places, yet they reach to very distant
places in a moment, and there is no place but, some time or other, has
these alarms from heaven. (3.) Their order. The lightning is first
directed, and after it a voice roars, v. 4. The flash of fire, and the
noise it makes in a watery cloud, are really at the same time; but,
because the motion of light is much quicker than that of sound, we see
the lightning some time before we hear the thunder, as we see the
firing of a great gun at a distance before we hear the report of it.
The thunder is here called the voice of God's excellency, because by it
he proclaims his transcendent power and greatness. He sends forth his
voice and that a mighty voice, Ps. lxviii. 33. (4.) Their violence. He
will not stay them, that is, he does not need to check them, or hold
them back, lest they should grow unruly and out of his power to
restrain them, but lets them take their course, says to them, Go, and
they go--Come, and they come--Do this, and they do it. He will not stay
the rains and showers that usually follow upon the thunder (which he
had spoken of, ch. xxxvi. 27, 29), so some, but will pour them out upon
the earth when his voice is heard. Thunder-showers are sweeping rains,
and for them he makes the lightnings, Ps. cxxxv. 7. (5.) The inference
he draws from all this, v. 5. Does God thunder thus marvellously with
his voice? We must then conclude that his other works are great, and
such as we cannot comprehend. From this one instance we may argue to
all, that, in the dispensations of his providence, there is that which
is too great, too strong, for us to oppose or strive against, and too
high, too deep, for us to arraign or quarrel with.