Job 36:33 Study Bible: Its noise tells about him, and the livestock also concerning the storm that comes up.

◄ Job 36:33 ►

The thunder declares His presence; even the cattle regard the rising storm.

The thunder declares His presence;
In the ancient Near Eastern context, thunder was often associated with the voice of God. This imagery is consistent with other biblical passages, such as Psalm 29, where the voice of the Lord is described as powerful and majestic, breaking cedars and shaking the wilderness. Thunder serves as a metaphor for God's power and majesty, reminding the listener of His sovereignty over creation. In Job, Elihu is emphasizing that God's presence and power are evident in the natural world, and thunder is a manifestation of His divine authority. This aligns with the broader biblical theme that nature itself testifies to the glory of God, as seen in Romans 1:20.

even the cattle regard the rising storm.
In the agrarian society of the ancient Near East, people were closely attuned to the behavior of animals, which often served as indicators of impending weather changes. Cattle, with their heightened senses, would react to the approach of a storm, seeking shelter or becoming restless. This observation underscores the idea that all of creation is aware of and responds to God's movements. The mention of cattle also highlights the interconnectedness of creation and humanity's reliance on God's provision and protection. This phrase can be seen as a reminder of God's care for all His creatures, as reflected in passages like Psalm 104, which speaks of God's provision for animals. Additionally, it points to the broader biblical theme of God's control over nature, as seen in Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:39, demonstrating His authority over creation.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Elihu
A young man who speaks to Job and his friends, offering a perspective on God's justice and power. He is the speaker in this passage.

2. Job
A righteous man who suffers greatly and seeks understanding of his suffering.

3. God
The Almighty, whose power and presence are declared through natural phenomena like thunder.

4. Thunder
A natural event used metaphorically to signify God's presence and power.

5. Cattle
Animals that instinctively respond to the natural signs of an approaching storm, symbolizing awareness and recognition of God's power.

Teaching Points

God's Sovereignty in Nature
The natural world, including thunder, is a testament to God's sovereign power and presence. We should recognize and revere God's authority as displayed in creation.

Awareness and Response
Just as cattle respond to the signs of an approaching storm, we should be attentive and responsive to God's presence and guidance in our lives.

Reverence for God's Majesty
Thunder serves as a reminder of God's majesty and the reverence due to Him. We should cultivate a heart of worship and awe for our Creator.

Understanding Through Creation
Observing the natural world can deepen our understanding of God's character and His workings. We should seek to learn from creation about God's power and faithfulness.

Preparation for God's Revelation
Just as the storm signals a change, we should prepare our hearts for God's revelation and be ready to act according to His will.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Elihu's description of thunder in Job 36:33 help us understand God's presence and power?

2. In what ways can we be more like the cattle, instinctively recognizing and responding to God's signs in our lives?

3. How do other scriptures, such as Psalm 29 and Exodus 19, enhance our understanding of God's voice in nature?

4. What practical steps can we take to cultivate a deeper reverence for God's majesty as revealed in creation?

5. How can observing the natural world help us prepare for and respond to God's revelation in our personal lives?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Psalm 29
This psalm also speaks of the voice of the Lord in the thunder, emphasizing God's majesty and power in creation.

Exodus 19
The presence of God on Mount Sinai is accompanied by thunder and lightning, illustrating His awe-inspiring power.

Romans 1:20
Paul speaks of God's invisible qualities being understood from what has been made, including natural phenomena like storms.

Isaiah 40:26
This verse calls attention to God's creation and His power over the natural world, similar to the themes in Job 36:33.

Revelation 4:5
Describes thunder and lightning proceeding from God's throne, symbolizing His majesty and authority.

People

Places

Topics

Anger, Announces, Approach, Cattle, Clear, Crashing, Declares, Declareth, Friend, Gives, Iniquity, Jealous, Livestock, Makes, News, Noise, Passion, Perversity, Presence, Sheweth, Showeth, Storm, Substance, Telleth, Tells, Thereof, Thunder, Thundering, Vapor, Vapour, Wrath

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Job 36:33

4851 storm
4852 thunder

Job 36:26-33

4854 weather, God's sovereignty

Job 36:30-33

4838 lightning

Library

Whether by his Passion Christ Merited to be Exalted?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not merit to be exalted on account of His Passion. For eminence of rank belongs to God alone, just as knowledge of truth, according to Ps. 112:4: "The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens." But Christ as man had the knowledge of all truth, not on account of any preceding merit, but from the very union of God and man, according to Jn. 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of the only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Christ Acquired his Judiciary Power by his Merits?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not acquire His judiciary power by His merits. For judiciary power flows from the royal dignity: according to Prov. 20:8: "The king that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look." But it was without merits that Christ acquired royal power, for it is His due as God's Only-begotten Son: thus it is written (Lk. 1:32): "The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Christ Will Judge under the Form of his Humanity?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ will not judge under the form of His humanity. For judgment requires authority in the judge. Now Christ has authority over the quick and the dead as God, for thus is He the Lord and Creator of all. Therefore He will judge under the form of His Godhead. Objection 2: Further, invincible power is requisite in a judge; wherefore it is written (Eccles. 7:6): "Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities." Now invincible power …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Old Law was from God?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law was not from God. For it is written (Dt. 32:4): "The works of God are perfect." But the Law was imperfect, as stated above [2060](A[1]). Therefore the Old Law was not from God. Objection 2: Further, it is written (Eccles. 3:14): "I have learned that all the works which God hath made continue for ever." But the Old Law does not continue for ever: since the Apostle says (Heb. 7:18): "There is indeed a setting aside of the former commandment, because of the …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Man Can Know that He Has Grace?
Objection 1: It would seem that man can know that he has grace. For grace by its physical reality is in the soul. Now the soul has most certain knowledge of those things that are in it by their physical reality, as appears from Augustine (Gen. ad lit. xii, 31). Hence grace may be known most certainly by one who has grace. Objection 2: Further, as knowledge is a gift of God, so is grace. But whoever receives knowledge from God, knows that he has knowledge, according to Wis. 7:17: The Lord "hath given …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Judicial Power Corresponds to Voluntary Poverty?
Objection 1: It would seem that the judicial power does not correspond to voluntary poverty. For it was promised to none but the twelve apostles (Mat. 19:28): "You shall sit on twelve seats, judging," etc. Since then those who are voluntarily poor are not all apostles, it would seem that the judicial power is not competent to all. Objection 2: Further, to offer sacrifice to God of one's own body is more than to do so of outward things. Now martyrs and also virgins offer sacrifice to God of their …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Hypocrisy is the Same as Dissimulation?
Objection 1: It seems that hypocrisy is not the same as dissimulation. For dissimulation consists in lying by deeds. But there may be hypocrisy in showing outwardly what one does inwardly, according to Mat. 6:2, "When thou dost an alms-deed sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do." Therefore hypocrisy is not the same as dissimulation. Objection 2: Further, Gregory says (Moral. xxxi, 7): "Some there are who wear the habit of holiness, yet are unable to attain the merit of perfection. …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Great Teacher
Teaching was the great business of the life of Christ during the days of his public ministry. He was sent to teach and to preach. The speaker in the book of Job was thinking of this Great Teacher when he asked--"Who teacheth like him?" Job xxxvi: 22. And it was he who was in the Psalmist's mind when he spoke of the "good, and upright Lord" who would teach sinners, if they were meek, how to walk in his ways. Ps. xxv: 8-9. And he is the Redeemer, of whom the prophet Isaiah was telling when he said--He …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

"That which was from the Beginning,"
1 John i. 1.--"That which was from the beginning," &c. Things are commended sometimes, because they are ancient, especially doctrines in religion, because truth is before error, and falsehood is but an aberration from truth and therefore there is so much plea and contention among men, about antiquity, as if it were the sufficient rule of verity. But the abuse is, that men go not far enough backward in the steps of antiquity, that is, to the most ancient rule, and profession, and practice of truth …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Whether Hypocrisy is Always a Mortal Sin?
Objection 1: It seems that hypocrisy is always a mortal sin. For Jerome says on Is. 16:14: "Of the two evils it is less to sin openly than to simulate holiness": and a gloss on Job 1:21 [*St. Augustine on Ps. 63:7], "As it hath pleased the Lord," etc., says that "pretended justice is no justice, but a twofold sin": and again a gloss on Lam. 4:6, "The iniquity . . . of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom," says: "He deplores the sins of the soul that falls into hypocrisy, which is a greater …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether those to whom Christ's Birth was Made Known were Suitably Chosen?
Objection 1: It would seem that those to whom Christ's birth was made known were not suitably chosen. For our Lord (Mat. 10:5) commanded His disciples, "Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles," so that He might be made known to the Jews before the Gentiles. Therefore it seems that much less should Christ's birth have been at once revealed to the Gentiles who "came from the east," as stated Mat. 2:1. Objection 2: Further, the revelation of Divine truth should be made especially to the friends of God, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Divine Grace.
GRACE, LOYE, AND MERCY. I FIND that the goodness of God to his people is diversely expressed in his word, sometimes by the word grace, sometimes by the word love, and sometimes by the word mercy. When it is expressed by that word grace, then it is to show that what he doeth is of his princely will, his royal bounty, and sovereign pleasure. When it is expressed by that word love, then it is to show us that his affection was and is in what he doeth, and that he doeth what he doeth for us with complacency …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

Messiah's Easy Yoke
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. T hough the influence of education and example, may dispose us to acknowledge the Gospel to be a revelation from God; it can only be rightly understood, or duly prized, by those persons who feel themselves in the circumstances of distress, which it is designed to relieve. No Israelite would think of fleeing to a city of refuge (Joshua 20:2. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Greatness of the Soul,
AND UNSPEAKABLENESS 0F THE LOSS THEREOF; WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT. FIRST PREACHED AT PINNER'S HALL and now ENLARGED AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. By JOHN BUNYAN, London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682 Faithfully reprinted from the Author's First Edition. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Our curiosity is naturally excited to discover what a poor, unlettered mechanic, whose book-learning had been limited to the contents of one volume, could by possibility know …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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