Job 37:3

Job 37:3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.

Ver. 3. He directeth it under the whole heaven] Heb. He maketh it to go right forward, meaning the thunder, the vehement noise or sound whereof (not altogether unlike that of cloth violently torn, or of air thrust out of bellows, or of a chestnut burst in the fire, but far louder) is brought through the air to our ears with such a mighty force, that it drowns all noises, clappings, clatterings, roarings even of many waters; making the earth to shake again, and all things tremble, non secus quam siquis currum onustum per plateam lapidibus stratum ducat (Lavat.). And this dreadful noise is by God directed to this or that place under the heavens, at his pleasure. The word rendered directeth signifieth also beholdeth; whence some interpret this text of God’s seeing all things under heaven. But the former sense is better.

And his lightning unto the ends of the earth] God commands the lightning to cleave the clouds, and to scatter its flames through the world. Lightning is the brightness of a shining flame, running through the whole air in a moment, rising of a small and thin exhalation kindled in a cloud. See Psa 18:13. The natural end and effect of thunder and lightning is to clear the air, by wasting poisonous vapours. The supernatural is, to show God’s excellent majesty and might, which the mightiest must acknowledge, Psa 29:1-2; to be his officers about him to make room for him, Psa 97:1; Psa 97:4, to execute his wrath upon his enemies, Exo 9:23; Exo 9:27 Psa 77:18-19 1Sa 2:10 Isa 29:6, and his mercy toward his people for the humbling of them, 1Sa 12:18-20, &c., raising them again to an assured confidence, Psa 29:11, &c. But that God can shoot these arrows of his so far, Mat 24:27 Psa 77:18; Psa 97:3-4, and here; yea, and that at the same time when it rains, when one would think that the one should quench the other, Psa 135:7; this is a just wonder, and Jeremiah urgeth it twice as such, Jer 10:13; Jer 51:16.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 37:3-5. He directeth it — Namely, his voice, his thunder; under the whole heaven — It is heard far and near, for he darts it through the whole region of the air: and his lightning, &c. — Preceded by terrible, and often most destructive flashes of lightning, which shoot from one end of heaven to the other. After it a voice roareth — After the lightning follow awful claps of thunder, more tremendous than the roarings of a lion; and he will not stay them — They grow louder and louder, till they conclude in a violent tempest of rain or hail. God thundereth marvellously — With a wonderful and terrible noise, and so as to produce, by the accompanying lightning, many wonderful effects, as the breaking down of great and strong trees, or buildings, and the killing of men and beasts in an instantaneous and awful manner. Great things doeth he — Even in the course of nature, and in the visible parts of the creation. Which we cannot comprehend — Which all men see, but of which few or none can give the true and satisfactory reasons. And therefore it is not strange if the secret and deep counsels of divine providence be out of our reach. And it would argue great pride and arrogancy in us if we should take upon us to censure them, because we do not understand them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

directeth it--however zigzag the lightning's course; or, rather, it applies to the pealing roll of the thunder. God's all-embracing power.

ends--literally, "wings," "skirts," the habitable earth being often compared to an extended garment (Job 38:13; Isa 11:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. He directeth it under the whole heaven] He directeth it (the lightning) under the whole heaven, in the twinkling of an eye from east to west; and its light-the reflection of the flash, not the lightning, unto the ends of the earth, so that a whole hemisphere seems to see it at the same instant.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) He directeth it.—Or, sendeth it forth: i.e., the noise and rumbling which fills all heaven.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. he directeth] Rather, assuming another derivation of the word, he sendeth it forth, lets it loose.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He directeth it under the whole heaven,.... His voice of thunder, which rolls from one end of the heaven to the other: he charges the clouds with it, and directs both it and them where they shall go and discharge; what tree, house, or man, it shall strike; and where the rain shall fall when the clouds burst: yet Pliny (x) atheistically calls thunder and lightning chance matters. Thus the ministers of the word, who are compared to clouds, Isa 5:6, are charged with it by the Lord: they are directed by him what they shall say, where they shall go and declare it, and he directs where it shall fall with power and weight; yea, he directs it into the very hearts of men, where it pierces and penetrates, and is a discerner and discoverer of their thoughts and intents;

and his lightning unto the ends of the earth: it cometh out of the east, and shineth to the west, Mat 24:27; and swiftly move to the further parts of the earth: and such a direction, motion, and extent, has the Gospel had; the glorious light of it, comparable to lightning, it first broke forth in the east, where Christ, his forerunner and his disciples, first preached it, and Christian churches were formed; and from thence it spread into the western parts of the world, and before the destruction of Jerusalem it was preached unto all nations; it had a free course, ran, and was glorified; the sound of the voice of it went into all the earth, and the words and doctrines of the apostles unto the ends of the world.

(x) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 43.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He directeth it under the whole heaven - It is under the control of God, and he directs it where he pleases. It is not confined to one spot, but seems to be complaining from every part of the heavens.

And his lightning - Margin, as in Hebrew “light.” There can be no doubt that the lightning is intended.

Unto the ends of the earth - Margin, as in Hebrew “wings.” The word wings is given to the earth from the idea of its being spread out or expanded like the wings of a bird; compare Job 38:13; Eze 7:2. The earth was spoken of as an expanse or plain that had corners or boundaries (see Isa 11:12, note; Isa 24:16, note; Isa 42:5, note), and the meaning here is, that God spread the lightning at pleasure over the whole of that vast expanse.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Earth. Lightning appears from the east to the west, Matthew xxiv. 27.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He directeth it, to wit, his voice; which he shooteth or guideth like an arrow to the mark, so disposing it that it may do that work for which he sends it.

Under the whole heaven; far and wide through all the parts of this lower world.

Unto the ends of the earth; from one end of the heaven to the opposite end or part of the earth, as from east to west, Mat 24:27.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. He directeth — He letteth it (the thunder) loose; or, better yet, sendeth it forth.

Unto the ends of the earth — “Wings” or “fringes” of the earth; same as in Job_38:13. The word might be rendered “boundaries,” the same word in the Arabic (kanafa) being employed to express bounding. In Isa_11:12, and in Eze_7:2, the word is associated with the numeral four, and is evidently used for the cardinal points. Comp. Rev_7:1; Rev_20:8. In the view of Renan, the earth is here compared “to a carpet spread out; its extremities being in some sort the border of the carpet.” The Greeks in the time of Eratosthenes, so Rosenmuller states, (Bib. Geog., Job_1:3,) compared the shape of the earth to that of an outspread chlamys, or cloak. At one time Gesenius supposed that the Hebrews had, in like manner, erred in taking the earth to be of a quadrangular form. This opinion he afterward retracted by advancing the more correct view, that the Hebrews regarded the four “ends of the earth” as equivalent to the four quarters of heaven. (See his Com. on Isa_11:12.) Winer, however, (Rwb., 1:340,) thinks it to be exceedingly doubtful that the Hebrews ever formed a fixed opinion as to the shape of the earth.

His lightning unto the ends of the earth — We have been assured by a celebrated Abyssinian traveller, that he has seen flashes in that country extending from horizon to horizon, and which he could not estimate as under fifty or one hundred miles in length. — SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, in Encyc. Brit., 8th ed., 14:662.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He directeth it under the whole heaven. The reverberations of the thunderclap roll along the entire cloud-canopy, from one end of the heavens to the other, beginning often faint in the distance, then growing loud over our heads, finally sinking into low muttered rumblings on the far horizon. And his lightning unto the ends of the earth. Similarly, the lightning, though originating in a flash at some definite spot, sets the whole sky aglow, shining from side to side of the heavens, and, as it were, to the very "ends of the earth." Both have a character of universality which is marvellous, and which makes them fitting emblems of him of whom they are the messengers and ministers. (see Mat_24:27)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Directeth - His voice: which he guideth like an arrow to the mark, that it may do that work for which he sends it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Beneath the entire heaven I have seen it Heb. ישרהו, I have seen it, like (Num. 24:17), “I behold it (אשורנו).” They are the lights illuminated by the lightnings.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.