Job 37:19

Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Teach us what we shall say unto (or, concerning) him—i.e., the sun. “He is altogether hidden by the clouds; but is he gone? is he not still there behind them?”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:14-20 Due thoughts of the works of God will help to reconcile us to all his providences. As God has a powerful, freezing north wind, so he has a thawing, composing south wind: the Spirit is compared to both, because he both convinces and comforts, So 4:16. The best of men are much in the dark concerning the glorious perfections of the Divine nature and the Divine government. Those who, through grace, know much of God, know nothing, in comparison with what is to be known, and of what will be known, when that which is perfect is come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Teach us what we shall say unto him - This seems to be addressed to Job. It is the language of Elihu, implying that he was overawed with a sense of the majesty and glory of such a God. He knew not in what manner, or with what words to approach such a Being, and he asks Job to inform him, if he knew.

We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness - Job had repeatedly professed a desire to bring his cause directly before God, and to argue it in his presence. He felt assured that if he could do that, he should be able so to present it as to obtain a decision in his favor; see Job 13:3, note; Job 13:18-22, notes. Elihu now designs, indirectly, to censure that confidence. He says that he and his friends were so overawed by the majesty of God, and felt themselves so ignorant and so ill qualified to judge of him and his works, that they would not know what to say. They were in darkness. They could not understand even the works of his hands which were directly before them, and the most common operations of nature were inscrutable to them. How then could they presume to arraign God? How could they manage a cause before him with any hope of success? It is scarcely necessary to say, that the state of mind referred to here by Elihu is that which should be cultivated, and that the feelings which he expresses are those with which we should approach the Creator. We need someone to teach us. We are surrounded by mysteries which we cannot comprehend, and we should, therefore, approach our Maker with profound reverence and submission

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Men cannot explain God's wonders; we ought, therefore, to be dumb and not contend with God. If Job thinks we ought, "let him teach us, what we shall say."

order—frame.

darkness—of mind; ignorance. "The eyes are bewilderingly blinded, when turned in bold controversy with God towards the sunny heavens" (Job 37:18) [Umbreit].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Unto him, i.e. unto God, either by way of apology for thee; or rather, by way of debate and disputation with him about his counsels and ways: about which we know not what to say, and therefore are willing to be taught by thee, who pretendest to such exquisite knowledge of these matters. So it is a reproof of his presumption and arrogance.

We cannot order our speech; we know neither with what words or matter, nor in what method and manner, to maintain discourse with him, or plead against him. The words our speech are easily understood out of the former clause of the verse.

By reason of darkness; both because of the darkness of the matter, God’s counsels and ways being a great depth, and far out of our reach; and because of the darkness or blindness of our minds.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Teach us what we shall say unto him,.... To this wonder working God, of whose common works of nature we know so little; how we should reason with him about his works of Providence, when we know so little of these:

for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness; by reason of darkness in themselves, which is in all men naturally, and even in the saints in this state of imperfection; and by reason of the clouds and darkness which are about the Lord himself, who is incomprehensible in his nature and perfections; and by reason of the darkness cast about his providential dealings with men, so that they are unsearchable and past finding out; and the best of men are at a loss how to order their speech, or discourse with God concerning these things.

Geneva Study Bible

Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of {p} darkness.

(p) That is, our ignorance: signifying that Job was so presumptuous, that he would control the works of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. This thought of the strong expanse of heaven stretched out by God suggests to Elihu His unspeakable greatness and unsearchableness, and he demands of Job with what words of man such a Being is to be addressed, if one sought to contend with Him.

by reason of darkness] That is, of understanding—in presence of the unsearchableness of God.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - Teach us what we shall say unto him. Elihu indulges in irony. If thou art so wise as thou pretendest to be, then he pleased to "teach us." We acknowledge our ignorance - we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Enlighten us, if thou canst. Job 37:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

17 Thou whose garments became hot,

When the land is sultry from the south:

18 Dost thou with Him spread out the sky,

The strong, as it were molten, mirror?

19 Let us know what we shall say to Him! -

We can arrange nothing by reason of darkness.

20 Shall it be told Him that Ispeak,

Or shall one wish to be destroyed?

Most expositors connect Job 37:17 with Job 37:16 : (Dost thou know) how it comes to pass that ... ; but אשׁר after ידע signifies quod, Exodus 11:7, not quomodo, as it sometimes occurs in a comparing antecedent clause, instead of כאשׁר, Exodus 14:13; Jeremiah 33:22. We therefore translate: thou whose ... , - connecting this, however, not with Job 37:16 (vid., e.g., Carey), but as Bolduc. and Ew., with Job 37:18 (where ה before תרקיע is then the less missed): thou who, when the land (the part of the earth where thou art) keeps rest, i.e., in sultriness, when oppressive heat comes (on this Hiph. vid., Ges. 53, 2) from the south (i.e., by means of the currents of air which come thence, without דּרום signifying directly the south wind), - thou who, when this happens, canst endure so little, that on the contrary the heat from without becomes perceptible to thee through thy clothes: dost thou now and then with Him keep the sky spread out, which for firmness is like a molten mirror? Elsewhere the hemispheric firmament, which spans the earth with its sub-celestial waters, is likened to a clear sapphire Exodus 24:10, a covering Psalm 104:2, a gauze Isaiah 40:22; the comparison with a metallic mirror (מוּצק here not from צוּק, Job 37:10; Job 36:16, but from יצק) is therefore to be understood according to Petavius: Coelum areum στερέωμα dicitur non a naturae propria conditione, sed ab effectu, quod perinde aquas separet, ac si murus esset solidissimus. Also in תרקיע lies the notion both of firmness and thinness; the primary notion (root רק) is to beat, make thick, stipare (Arab. rq‛, to stop up in the sense of resarcire, e.g., to mend stockings), to make thick by pressure. The ל joined with תרקיע is nota acc.; we must not comp. Job 8:8; Job 21:22, as well as Job 5:2; Job 19:3.

Therefore: As God is the only Creator (Job 9:8), so He is the all-provident Preserver of the world - make us know (הודיענוּ, according to the text of the Babylonians, Keri of הודיעני) what we shall say to Him, viz., in order to show that we can cope with Him! We cannot arrange, viz., anything whatever (to be explained according to ערך מלּין, Job 32:14, comp. "to place," Job 36:19), by reason of darkness, viz., the darkness of our understanding, σκότος τῆς διανοίας; מפּני is much the same as Job 23:17, but different from Job 17:12, and חשׁך different from both passages, viz., as it is often used in the New Testament, of intellectual darkness (comp. Ecclesiastes 2:14; Isaiah 60:2). The meaning of Job 37:20 cannot now be mistaken, if, with Hirz., Hahn, and Schlottm., we call to mind Job 36:10 in connection with אמר כּי: can I, a short-sighted man, enshrouded in darkness, wish that what I have arrogantly said concerning and against Him may be told to God, or should one earnestly desire (אמר, a modal perf., as Job 35:15) that (an jusserit s. dixerit quis ut) he may be swallowed up, i.e., destroyed (comp. לבלעו, Job 2:3)? He would, by challenging a recognition of his unbecoming arguing about God, desire a tribunal that would be destructive to himself.