Ver. 1. At this also my heart trembleth] At this? At what? at the thunder, whereof he had spoken before, and more meant to speak; and which he heard at that instant (as it may seem by the next verse), and therefore no wonder that his heart trembled, and was moved out of its place by an extraordinary palpitation, or, as the Tigurines have it, luxation. Thunder is so terrible, that it hath forced from the greatest atheist an acknowledgment of a deity. Suetonius telleth us of Caligula (that monster, who dared his Jove to a duel), that if it thundered and lightened but a little, he would hoodwink himself; but if much, he would creep under a bed, and be ready to run into a mouse hole, as we say. Augustus Caesar also was so afraid of thunder and lightning, that always and everywhere he carried about him the skin of a sea calf, which those heathens fondly held to be a preservative in such cases, and if at any time there arose a great storm he ran into a dark vault. The Romans held it unlawful to keep court, Iove tonante, fulgurante, in a time of thunder and lightning, as Cicero telleth us (De Divin. l. 2). And Isidore deriveth tonitru a terrendo, thunder from its terror; and others from its tone, or rushing, crashing noise, frightening all creatures. At the voice of thy thunder they are afraid, Psalms 104:7, which one, not unfitly, calls David’s medicine.
Ver. 2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice] Coniunctam commotione vocem eius, the great thunder crack that now is; that angry noise, as the word signifieth. Hear in hearing; you cannot but hear it with the ears of your bodies, hear it also with the ears of your minds; tremble and sin not; contrary to the course of most men, who sin and tremble not, drowning the noise of their consciences, as the old Italians did the thunder, by ringing their greatest bells, discharging their Roaring Megs, [a huge piece of ordnance.] &c. But what saith Elihu here to his hearers? Audite, audite, audite etiam atque etiam, contremiscetis et vos, vos testes adhibeo, as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye again and again, and then ye also will tremble. I take you to witness; whether ye consider his greater thunder claps ringing and roaring in your ears, see Psalms 29:4 87:7, or the lesser rumblings, called here Murmur vel mussitationem, vel habitum, citra quem sermo non profertur; the sound, or breath, that goeth out of his mouth. All is ascribed to God; though naturalists tell us, and truly, that there are second causes of thunder and lightning (Aristot. Pliny); wherein, nevertheless, we must not stick, but give God the glory of his majesty, as David teacheth, Psalms 29:1-3, and as blind heathens did, when they called their Iove Altitonantem, the high thunderer. The best philosophy in this point is to hear God Almighty by his thunder speaking to us from heaven as if he were present; and to see him in his lightnings, as if he cast his eyes upon us to see what we had been doing. His eyes are as a flaming fire, Revelation 1:14, and the school of nature teacheth, that the fiery eye seeth extra mittendo, by sending out a ray.
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 Psalms 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, Psalms 29:1,2; to be his officers about him to make room for him, Psalms 97:1,4, to execute his wrath upon his enemies, Exodus 9:23,27 Ps 77:18,19 1Sa 2:10 Isa 29:6, and his mercy toward his people for the humbling of them, 1 Samuel 12:18-20, &c., raising them again to an assured confidence, Psalms 29:11, &c. But that God can shoot these arrows of his so far, Matthew 24:27 Ps 77:18 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, Psalms 135:7; this is a just wonder, and Jeremiah urgeth it twice as such, Jeremiah 10:13 51:16.