Job 36:29

Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds,.... Or "of a cloud" (l), a thick cloud, a single one; which sometimes at the beginning is very small, about the size of a man's hand, 1 Kings

Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle? Spreadings ... - the canopy of thick clouds which covers the heavens in a storm (Psalms 105:39).

Of the clouds; or rather, of a cloud, as it is in the Hebrew; whence it comes to pass that a small cloud, no bigger than a man’ s hand, doth suddenly spread over the whole heavens: how the clouds come to be suddenly gathered together, and so condensed as to bring forth thunder and lightning, which here follows. The noise of his tabernacle, i.e. the thunder produced in the clouds, which are oft called God’ s tent or tabernacle, as 104:3, because there he ofttimes seems to dwell, and gives forth tokens of his powerful and glorious presence in those mighty works of thundering and lightning, wherewith men are frequently astonished and affrighted.

Job 36:29 Also can [any] understand the spreadings of the clouds, [or] the noise of his tabernacle?Ver. 29. Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds] That is, the skill that God showeth in spreading forth the clouds to that large extent, and muffling the whole heavens with them, so that nature finds herself buried in darkness? Some render it, the divisions or differences of the clouds; illic enim fiunt miracula magna (Vatab.); for some clouds are empty, and answer not expectation (worthless and vain boasters are compared to such, Proverbs 25:14; Judges 1:12), some yield rain and drop fatness. Some, again, send forth hail, snow, frost, storm, thunder, lightnings, &c. (R. Levi). These are wonders in nature, far beyond human apprehension. The clouds God maketh one while as some airy seas, to hold water; another while as some airy furnaces, whence he scattereth the sudden fires into all parts of the earth, astonishing the world with the fearful noise of that eruption. Out of the midst of water he fetcheth fire, and hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours. Haec sunt sane admiranda et tremenda, saith Mercer. These are wonderful things, and no less dreadful. Is it not strange that of one and the same equal matter, viz. the vapours exhaled from the earth or water, various and different meteors should he engendered? Or the noise of his tabernacle?] i.e. The swinging showers, or rustling winds, or rattling thunder claps, one in the neck of another, out of the clouds, called here God’ s tabernacle; in quo velut abditus, tot rerum miracula creat, wherein he sits in secret and unseen, creating many strange meteors to send down upon the earth; whereof the profoundest philosopher of them all can give no certain and undoubted reason.

(29) The spreading of the clouds—i.e., how the clouds are spread over the heavens, and heaped up one upon the other like mountains in the skies when the storm gathers. Or the noise of His tabernacle?—Or the thunderings of His pavilion (Psalms 18:12).

Verse 29. Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds] Though the vapour appear to be fortuitously raised, and subject, when suspended in the atmosphere, to innumerable accidents, to different winds and currents which might drive it all to the sandy deserts, or direct its course so that it should fall again into the great deep from which it has been exhaled, without watering and refreshing the earth; yet so does the good and wise providence of God manage this matter, that every part of the arable terrene surface receives an ample supply; and in every place, where requisite, it may be truly said that "The rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and water the earth, and cause it to bring forth and bud, that it may minister seed to the sower, and bread to the eater." In Egypt, where there is little or no rain, the earth is watered by the annual inundation of the Nile; there, because this system of evaporation is not necessary, it does not exist. Who can account for this economy? How are these clouds so judiciously and effectually spread through the atmosphere, so as to supply the wants of the earth, of men, and of cattle? I ask, with Elihu, "Who can understand the spreadings of these clouds?" And I should like to see that volunteer in the solution of paradoxes who would step forward and say, I am the man. The noise of his tabernacle?] By the tabernacle we may understand the whole firmament or atmospheric expansion; the place where the Almighty seems more particularly to dwell; whence he sends forth the rain of his strength, and the thunder of his power. The noise must refer to the blowing of winds and tempests. or to the claps, peals, and rattling of thunder, by means of the electric fluid.

Chap. Job 36:26-33. The greatness and unsearchableness of God, seen in His marvellous operations in the skies; and exhortation to Job to allow these wonders duly to impress him, and to bow beneath the greatness of God, who surpasses all comprehension The passage has two sections: First, ch. Job 36:26 to Job 37:13, the incomprehensible greatness of God, seen in the phenomena of the atmosphere: in the formation of the rain-drops (ch. Job 36:26-28); in the thunder-storm (ch. Job 36:29 to Job 37:5); in snow and ice, which seals up the hand of man and makes him powerless before the mighty power of God (Job 36:6-10); in His lading the cloud with moisture, and guiding it to the fulfilment of His varied behests upon the whole earth (Job 36:11-13). Second, ch. Job 37:14-21, Elihu exhorts Job to consider these marvels of Him which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, and to let them duly impress him; bidding him behold the wonderful balancing of the summer cloud in the heavens, when the earth is still with the south wind (Job 36:14-17), and the burnished sky is stretched out like a molten mirror (Job 36:18). With what words shall man come before the Omnipotent to contend with Him! Man, who is dazzled by the light of the sky, how should he behold the terrible glory around God! Therefore all men do fear Him; and He hath not respect to those that are wise in their own understanding (Job 36:19-21). Ch. Job 36:26 to Job 37:13, The greatness of God and the wonderfulness of His operations in the phenomena of the atmosphere.

Also, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds? - The out spreading - the manner in which they expand themselves over us.

29. The spreadings of the cloud — The unfolding of the cloud (thundercloud) along the sky, as in 1 Kings 18:44-45, where the swiftness with which the cloud spreads itself is, according to Maurer,