strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
exalteth
יַשְׂגִּ֣יבyas.Giv
H7682
to be (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
power
בְּכֹח֑וֹbe.kho.Cho
H3581
vigor · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
teacheth
יָרָהyârâh
H3384
properly
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 2:7-8 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
Luke 1:52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Isaiah 48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the wa…
Jeremiah 27:5-8 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto…
Job 35:11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
Psalms 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Psalms 94:10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 36:15-23
Elihu here comes more closely to Job; and,
I. He tells him what God would have done for him before this if he had been duly humbled under his affliction. "We all know how ready God is to deliver the poor in his affliction (Job 36:15); he always was so. The poor in spirit, those that are of a broken and contrite heart, he looks upon with tenderness, and, when they are in affliction, is ready to help them. He opens their ears, and makes them to hear joy and gladness, even in their oppressions; while he does not yet deliver them he speaks to them good words and comfortable words, for the encouragement of their faith and patience, the silencing of their fears, and the balancing of their griefs;…
God is not to be impiously arraigned, but to be praised for His might, shown in His works.
exalteth--rather, doeth lofty things, shows His exalted power [UMBREIT] (Psa 21:13).
teacheth-- (Psa 94:12, &c.). The connection is, returning to Job 36:5, God's "might" is shown in His "wisdom"; He alone can teach; yet, because He, as a sovereign, explains not all His dealings, forsooth Job must presume to teach Him (Isa 40:13-14; Rom 11:34; Co1 2:16). So the transition to Job 36:23 is natural. UMBREIT with the Septuagint translates, "Who is Lord," wrongly, as this meaning belongs to later Hebrew.
Adam Clarke on Job 36:22
God exalteth by his power - He has brought thee low, but he can raise thee up. Thou art not yet out of the reach of his mercy. Thy affliction is a proof that he acts towards thee as a merciful Parent. He knows what is best to be done; he teaches thee how thou shouldst suffer and improve. Why sin against his kindness? Who can teach like him?
John Gill on Job 36:22
Behold, God exalteth by his power,.... He exalts himself, or causes himself to be exalted, and even above all the blessing and praise of his creatures; by his power, in the works of creation and providence, he makes such a display of his glorious perfections, as to set him on high, and out of the reach of the highest praises of men. He exalts his Son as Mediator, and has made him higher than the kings of the earth, 1 Timothy 2:5; he exalts him as a Prince and a Saviour, Acts 5:31, to give repentance and remission of sins to his people, and to be the Judge of quick and dead, Acts 10:42. He has exalted the human nature of Christ to the grace of union to the Son of God: and exalted him in this…
The Church Fathers
"And God in his power will comfort himself, or strengthen himself. For if he has been crucified in his weakness, he is alive by the power of God (8).
And you certainly, he says, were tested so far in the furnace of correction. But God will indeed restore you and will bring you back to your former wealth and dignity.
Behold, God is lofty in His strength, and none is like Him among lawgivers. As if he said plainly, He, Who will appear humble in weakness, remains lofty in strength, Paul also witnessing this, who says, For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. [2 Cor. 13, 4] Of Whom it is rightly subjoined, None is like Him among lawgivers. Moses was a lawgiver, Joshua a lawgiver, the Prophets lawgivers also. We can term all lawgivers, who, we know, admonish the people rightly from the Law. But there is no one like to this Mediator among lawgivers. For they, having been called by grace from their sins, return to innocence, and, from what they have experienced in themselves, bring back others by their preaching. But our Redeemer is Man without sin, a Son without adoption, and has never committed any thing which He has disapproved. And He so speaks to the world by His Manhood, as yet to be still the Lord of the same world before all ages by His Godhead. Hence certain persons believed that the Mediator between God and men was like the lawgivers. For when He asked, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is, the disciples answered and said, Some say that He is John the Baptist, others Elias, others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. [Matt.16, 13. 14.] But He doubtless disclosed to Peter how lofty He was in strength; for looking on Him truly, he separated Him from an equality with lawgivers, saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. [ib. 16] Whence the Bride rightly says of Him in the Song of Songs, By night on my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loveth, I sought Him, and I found Him not. [Cant. 3, 1] And a little after, The watchmen who guard the city found me. [ib. 3] Of Whom she says again, They wounded me, they took my cloak. [ib. 5, 7] And she asks them again, saying, Saw ye Him Whom my soul loveth? When I had passed by them but a little, I found Him Whom my soul loveth. [ib. 3, 4] For the Beloved is sought for by night on the bed; because He is longed for in tribulation of spirit, in the secret chambers of the heart. Whom yet the Bride, though seeking, finds not; because every Elect soul is already kindled with the torches of His love, but the sight of Him, which is sought for, is still denied, that the longing of the lover may increase; and water is, as it were, withdrawn in thirst, that the heat of the thirst may be augmented,…
Dictionary and topics
Power Of God, The · Saints: Exalted by — Saints: Exalted by
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
22 Behold, God acteth loftily in His strength;
Who is a teacher like unto Him?
23 Who hath appointed Him His way,
And who dare say: Thou doest iniquity!?
24 Remember that thou magnify His doing,
Which men have sung.
25 All men delight in it,
Mortal man looketh upon it from afar.
Most modern expositors, after the lxx δυνάστης, give אמת the signification lord, by comparing the Arab. mar-un (imru-un), Syr. mor (with the art. moro) or more (with the art. morjo), Chald. מרא, Talmud. מר (comp. Philo, ii. 522, ed. Mangey: οὃτως, viz., μάριν φασὶ τὸν κύριον ὀνομάζεστηαι παρὰ Σύροις), with it; but Rosenm., Arnh., Lwenthal, Wolfson, and Schlottm., after the Targ., Syr., and Jer., rightly ab…
dying from lack of understanding: See also 4:21; Prov 5:23; 10:21.
Rashi on Job 36:22
Behold God deals loftily in His power Because His power is great, and one cannot be saved from before Him. Therefore...who is a teacher like Him? When He teaches a sinner to return to Him, He warns Him before the plague because He knows that he cannot beware of His plague, as He would warn Pharaoh concerning each plague (Ex. 8:17), “I shall let loose the beasts of the wilderness upon you etc.”; (ibid. 10:4), “I will bring locusts...tomorrow,” and so all of them. [In contrast,] when a mortal king wishes to wreak vengeance upon his enemies, he comes upon him suddenly, for, if he warns him, he will repent and be saved from him.