Job 37:13

He causeth it to come,.... The cloud, and rain by it; whether for correction; for the reproof and chastisement of men for their sins, by suffering such quantities to fall as wash away, or corrupt and

Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: How the thunder-clouds are dispersed, or else employed by God either for correction or mercy. By watering - by loading it with water.

He causeth it to come, Heb. he maketh it (to wit, the cloud, or clouds, and the rain which is in it) to find, to wit, a path, or to find out the persons or place to which God intends either good or hurt by it. For correction, Heb. for a rod, to scourge or correct men by immoderate showers. Or, for a tribe, or certain portion of land, which God intends particularly to punish in that kind. For his land, i.e. for God’ s land, whereby he understands either, 1. The land which he favoureth, and where his servants live, such as Canaan was, which for that reason God blessed with rain, as is noted, ,10. But in Job’ s time God’ s people were not in Canaan, but in Egypt, where little or no rain fell. Or, 2. The uninhabited or desert parts of the world, which may be called God’ s land peculiarly, because it is immediately and only under God’ s care, as being not regarded nor possessed by any man. For it is noted as a special act of God’ s providence, that he causeth rain to fall upon such places, ,27. Or, 3. His earth, as it may be rendered, to wit, the whole earth, which is said to be the Lord’ s, :12, and which may be here opposed to a tribe, or little part of the earth. And so this may note a general judgment by excessive rains inflicted upon the whole earth, and all its inhabitants, even the universal deluge, which then was in a manner of fresh memory, which came in a great measure out of the clouds. And thus these two first members speak of correction, and the last of mercy. For mercy; for the comfort and benefit of mankind, by cooling and cleansing the air, and refreshing and improving all the fruits of the earth, and other ways.

Job 37:13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.Ver. 13. He causeth it to come, whether for correction] Heb. For a rod, ειςπαιδειαν (Sept.). God hath his rods sticking up in every corner of his house for chastisement of his children, and they shall take it for a favour too, Hebrews 12:7 1 Corinthians 11:32. Sinite virgam corripientem, ne sentiatis malleum conterentem, saith Bernard. Be content with the rod of correction, that ye feel not the maul of confusion. Better suffer immoderate rains and lightnings, than that terrible tempest, Job 27:21, and the black flashes of hell fire, that πυριφλεγεθων, as Plato calleth it; the fiery lake, as the Scripture. Or of his land] i.e. His Church, Hosea 9:3. A land that he watereth and watcheth over from one end of the year to the other, Deuteronomy 28:12. His vineyard cared for, and kept to himself night and day, Isaiah 27:3. Or, the earth at large, which is God’ s great field, Psalms 24:1 (as the Church is his fold, Psalms 100:3), and especially that part of it which is desert and uninhabited. There also God causeth his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, Matthew 5:45 Job 38:26-27, that the wild beasts also may have food. Or for mercy] Some singular and extraordinary mercy, as 2 Samuel 21:10 1 Kings 18:45. Sive ad faciendum beneflcentiam; or to bestow his bounty, and to bestow a largess; as princes sometimes make a scatter of monies among the multitude. Clouds are God’ s storehouses, which he soon opens to our profit, Deuteronomy 28:12; by them he maketh them a scatter of riches upon the earth, which good men gather, and bad men scramble for.

Verse 13. He causeth it to come] The Vulgate translates the text thus: Sive in una tribu, sine in terra sua, sive in quocunque loco misericordiae suae eas jusserit inveniri. "Whether in one tribe, or whether in his own land, or in whatsoever place of his mercy he has commanded them to come." In the preceding verse it is said that God conducts the clouds according to the orders of his counsels, whithersoever he pleases: and here it is added that, when he designs to heap favours upon any land, he commands the clouds to go thither, and pour out on it their fertilizing showers. See Calmet. The Vulgate certainly gives a good sense, and our common version is also clear and intelligble; but there are doubts whether the Hebrew will bear this meaning. Here it is stated that God sends the rain either for correction, לשבט leshebet, which signifies rod, staff, tribe, and is here taken as the symbol of correction, he sends rain sometimes as a judgment, inundating certain lands, and sweeping away their produce by irresistible floods: or for his land, לארצו leartso, his own land, Palestine, the place of his favoured people: or for mercy, לחסד lechesed; when a particular district has been devoured by locusts, or cursed with drought, God, in his mercy, sends fertilizing rains to such places to restore the ears which the caterpillars have eaten, and to make the desert blossom like the garden of the Lord. Some think that Job refers to the curse brought upon the old world by the waters of the deluge. Now although God has promised that there shall no more be a flood of waters to destroy the whole earth; yet we know he can, very consistently with his promise, inundate any particular district; or, by a superabundance of rain, render the toil of the husbandman in any place vain. Therefore, still his rain may come for judgment, for mercy, or for the especial help of his people or Church.

13. This is the natural rendering of the Heb. If right the words “correction” (rod, ch. Job 21:9) and “mercy” must refer to God’s purposes in regard to men, while the words “for his earth” refer more to the inanimate world, as God “causeth it to rain on the earth, where no man is,” ch. Job 38:26. Many have felt, however, that the balance of the verse requires only two objects to be stated, namely “correction” and “mercy,” and would render the first line, whether it be for correction, when due to his earth.

He causeth it to come - That is, the rain, or the storm. It is entirely under the hand of God, like the lightning Job 36:30, and designed to accomplish his purposes of mercy and of justice.

13. Or for his land — Some, not so well, read this expression parenthetically, (when for his land.) It stands rather as a divine providence between the dearth that brings correction and sorrow and