Job 37:3

3 He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon, lighting up the earth from pole to pole.

Job 37:3 Meaning and Commentary

Job 37:3

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 F24 atheistically calls thunder and lightning chance matters. Thus the ministers of the word, who are compared to clouds, ( Isaiah 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, ( Matthew 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 43.

Job 37:3 In-Context

1 "Whenever this happens, my heart stops - I'm stunned, I can't catch my breath.
2 Listen to it! Listen to his thunder, the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice.
3 He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon, lighting up the earth from pole to pole.
4 In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice, powerful and majestic. He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back. No one can mistake that voice -
5 His word thundering so wondrously, his mighty acts staggering our understanding.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.