the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · noun, common feminine dual absolute
covereth
כִּסָּהki.sah-
H3680
properly · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
light
א֑וֹר'or
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular absolute
commandeth
וַיְצַ֖וvay.Tzav
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
betwixt
בְמַפְגִּֽיעַve.maf.Gi.a'
H6293
to impinge · preposition + verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
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
Job 37:15 Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?
Psalms 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Psalms 135:7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.
Psalms 147:8-9 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
Psalms 148:8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Exodus 10:21-23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which m…
Job 26:9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
Job 37:12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 36:24–end
Elihu is here endeavouring to possess Job with great and high thoughts of God, and so to persuade him into a cheerful submission to his providence.
I. He represents the work of God, in general, as illustrious and conspicuous, Job 36:24. His whole work is so. God does nothing mean. This is a good reason why we should acquiesce in all the operations of his providence concerning us in particular. His visible works, those of nature, and which concern the world in general, are such as we admire and commend, and in which we observe the Creator's wisdom, power, and goodness; shall we then find fault with his dispensations concerning us, and the counsels of his will concerning our affairs? We are he…
Rather, "He covereth (both) His hands with light (lightning, Job 37:3, Margin), and giveth it a command against his adversary" (literally, the one "assailing" Him, Psa 8:2; Psa 139:20; Job 21:19). Thus, as in Job 36:31, the twofold effects of His waters are set forth, so here, of His light; in the one hand, destructive lightning against the wicked; in the other, the genial light for good to His friends, &c. (Job 36:33) [UMBREIT].
Adam Clarke on Job 36:32
With clouds he covereth the light - This is all extraordinary saying, על כפים כמה אור al cappayim kissah or, which Mr. Good translates, "He brandisheth the blaze athwart the concave." The Vulgate, with which all the other versions less or more agree, has, In manibus abscondit lucem, "In his hands he hideth the light;" or, more literally, "By the hollow of his hands (כפים cappayim) he concealeth the light, (אור or,") the fountain of light, i.e., the Sun.
And commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt - I am afraid this is no translation of the original. Old Coverdale is better: - And at his commandement it commeth agayne; which is a near copy of the Vulgate. Here again Mr. Go…
The words, "He will cover the light with his hands" [mean] that when he wants to make the rain fall for the sake of earth, he condenses the air as if with his hands and covers the sun with clouds. And the words "he will go toward them so that they may come to meet him" [mean] that in the same instant in which his command goes to his works, they promptly come to meet him, that is, the performance instantly follows the command.
"He has in his hands, in manibus (1), hidden the light. If one wants to read immanibus, immanes, the cruel ones, that means those who do not forgive men, while they claim from God their pardon. If one wants to read in manibus, of manus, the hands, that means those who pride themselves in their hands, that is to say in their works, and want to find their justification. "He stole the light from them; To say that they will not see him, because their foolish heart has been hardened. "He commands her to reappear at the opposite point. Those who act according to the truth, either by forgiving to be forgiven, or by confessing their miseries, to be rescued by divine grace, they will come to the light, so that their coverings will be brought to light, because they have fulfilled them in God, 3 and not for themselves. For the opposite of heaven is the merciful man, the opposite of the proud is the humble heart.
He hideth the light from the mighty. And ordereth it to return again. For those in truth are 'mighty,' who exalt themselves with lofty thoughts. Against whom it is said by Isaiah; Woe unto you, who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight. [Is. 5, 21] Against whom also Paul says, Be not wise in your own conceit. [Rom. 12, 16] But the light is hidden from these mighty ones, because, doubtless, the knowledge of the truth is denied to haughty men. Whence the Truth says by Its own self, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. [Matt. 11, 25] Calling, namely, the haughty, wise and prudent. For He, Who did not subjoin, 'Thou hast revealed them to fools,' but, 'to little ones,' made it plain that he condemned their pride, and not their wisdom. Whence it is said in another place, The Lord guarding the little ones. [Ps. 116, 6] And in order to shew what is meant by this littleness ['parvitas'], it is added, I was brought low, and He set me free. Because then there are many in the Church, who scorn to be little ones, they cease not to be great in their own sight, even in the place of humility. You may frequently see them raised high in honours, enjoying pleasures, and spreading abroad with the multiplicity of their goods. These often specially desire nothing, except to rule over others, are pleased at being feared by many; neglect to live uprightly, and wish to have the credit of an upright life; court flattery, and are puffed up by applause. And since they are abundantly supplied with goods ready at hand, they do not seek for the joys which are to come. And, because manifold employments engage them, they prove them to be strangers even to themselves. And yet if any trial of their faith arise, because they are contained therein though but in appearance, they defend it by words, they defend it by their exertions, and claim their heavenly country, and yet love it not. And these do the sons of Reuben, and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, well represent in Moses; who possessing many flocks and herds, whilst they desire that plain country which they had seen beyond Jordan, refused to receive an inheritance in the land of promise, saying, The country which the Lord smote before the sight of the children of Israel, is of a region most fertile for…
Dictionary and topics
Clouds · Often obscure the sun, &c — Often obscure the sun, &c
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).
With clouds he covereth the light,.... Either the lightning, which is hid and covered in the black dark cloud until it bursts out of it; or the light of the sun, which is wonderful, that waters naturally clear and transparent, when formed into clouds, should obstruct the rays of the sun and darken it; see Ezekiel 32:7; and thus it was in the storm and tempest the Apostle Paul was in many days, which was so thick and dark, that the sun and stars did not appear of a long time, Acts 27:20;
and commandeth it not to shine, by the cloud that cometh betwixt; that is, commands the sun that it shines not, or hinders it from shining, by reason of the intervening clouds; this is an emblem of sin inter…
30 Behold, He spreadeth His light over Himself,
And the roots of the sea He covereth.
31 For thereby He judgeth peoples,
He giveth food in abundance.
32 Both hands He covereth over with light,
And directeth it as one who hitteth the mark.
33 His noise announceth Him,
The cattle even that He is approaching.
A few expositors (Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm.) understand the celestial ocean, or the sea of the upper waters, by ים, Job 36:30; but it is more than questionable (vid., on Job 9:8) whether ים is used anywhere in this sense. Others as (Umbr., Ew.) the masses of water drawn up to the sky out of the depths of the sea, on which a Persian passage cited by Stick. (who, however, regards the Waw of ושׁ…
The Hebrew yadin can mean he governs or he nourishes, which parallels food in abundance (38:26; Pss 65:9-13; 104:13-15, 27-28). The more common meaning for yadin is “judge,” which would mean that God does all things to bless his people and judge his enemies (Job 37:11-13; 38:22-23; see Gen 6:17; 19:24; Exod 9:23-25; Josh 10:11-14; 1 Sam 12:18).
Rashi on Job 36:32
Over the clouds Heb. כפים, over the clouds. Similarly (Lam. 3:41), “Let us lift our heart to the clouds (כפים),” based on (I Kings 18:44), “...a cloud as small as a man’s palm (ככף).” But our Rabbis said (Taanith 7b): Because of the sin of (the robbery of) the hands He covers the rain The rain is withheld.
and He commands it to come through one who entreats with prayer. (The beloved one of the generation, and the great man and sage thereof will relate to Him—before the Holy One, blessed be He—the straits of the generation and their necessities].
