Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Also by watering - Very various interpretations have been given of this phrase. Herder renders it, "His brightness rendeth the clouds." Umbreit, Und Heiterkeit vertreibt die Wolke - "and serenity or clearness drives away the clouds." Prof. Lee, "For irrigation is the thick cloud stretched out." Rosenmuller, "Splendor dispels the clouds." Luther, "The thick clouds divide themselves that it may be clear." Coverdale, "The clouds do their labor in giving moistness." The Vulgate, "The grain desires the clouds," and the Septuagint, "The cloud forms the chosen" - ̓ eklekton . This variety of interpretation arises from the uncertainty of the meaning of the original word - be rı̂y . According to the Chaldee and the rabbis, this word means "clearness, serenity" of the heavens, and then the whole clause is to be rendered, "serenity dispelleth the cloud." Or the word may be formed of the preposition ( be ), and rı̂y , meaning "watering" or "rain," the same as reviy . The word does not occur elsewhere in Hebrew, and hence, it is not easy to determine its meaning. The weight of authority is in favor of serenity, or clearness - meaning that the thick, dark cloud is driven away by the serenity or clearness of the atmosphere - as where the clear sky seems to light up the heavens and to drive away the clouds. This idea seems, also, to be demanded by the parallelism, and is also more poetical than that in the common version.
Wearieth - Or removes, or scatters. The verb used here ( ṭârach ) occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures, though nouns derived from the verb are found in Isaiah 1:14, rendered "trouble," and Deuteronomy 1:12, rendered "cumbrance." In Arabic it means "to cast down, to project," and hence, to lay upon as a burden. But the word may mean to impel, drive forward, and hence, the idea that the dark thick cloud is propelled or driven forward by the serenity of the sky. This "appears" to be so, and hence, the poetic idea as it occurred to Elihu.
He scattereth his bright cloud - Margin, "the cloud of his light." The idea seems to be, that "his light," that is, the light which God causes to shine as the tempest passes off, seems to scatter or disperse the cloud. The image before the mind of Elihu probably was, that of a departing shower, when the light seems to rise behind it, and as it were to expel the cloud or to drive it away. We are not to suppose that this is philosophically correct, but Elihu represents it as it appeared, and the image is wholly poetical.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Job 37:11:
Job 37:17
Psalms 147:18
Isaiah 18:4
Habakkuk 3:14
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