Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
In the structure of the book the line stands in the poetic section, in the portion that contains Elihu's argument and reproof to Job. It is a call to hear attentively the noise of His voice and the sound going out of His mouth.
Elihu's burden was that Job's afflictions were disciplinary and not punishment for sin, exposing the littleness of human wisdom. That reasoning gave Job some light, yet it did not satisfy his despair, because he still desired to hear God Himself. Then God displayed from all nature His goodness and love and tender care for all His works, until Job bowed in sweet submission to the divine will, trusting what he could not understand. Thus Elihu's discourse forms the setting after which the Lord speaks to Job, where divine power and wisdom reveal divine goodness and Job's experience passes from hearing of God to seeing Him. Verses 2-5 illustrate that a divine voice could be heard as thunder, a parallel for those who interpreted the voice from heaven in that way.
In the structure of the book the line stands in the poetic section, in the portion that contains Elihu's argument and reproof to Job. It is a call to hear attentively the noise of His voice and the sound going out of His mouth.
Elihu's burden was that Job's afflictions were disciplinary and not punishment for sin, exposing the littleness of human wisdom. That reasoning gave Job some light, yet it did not satisfy his despair, because he still desired to hear God Himself. Then God displayed from all nature His goodness and love and tender care for all His works, until Job bowed in sweet submission to the divine will, trusting what he could not understand. Thus Elihu's discourse forms the setting after which the Lord speaks to Job, where divine power and wisdom reveal divine goodness and Job's experience passes from hearing of God to seeing Him. Verses 2-5 illustrate that a divine voice could be heard as thunder, a parallel for those who interpreted the voice from heaven in that way.