1 Kings 18:12

18:12 But when I leave you, the Lord’s spirit will carry you away so I can’t find you. ¹  If I go tell Ahab I’ve seen you, he won’t be able to find you and he will kill me. ²  That would not be fair, ³  because your servant has been a loyal follower of ⁴  the Lord from my youth.

1 Kings 19:11

19:11 The Lord ⁵  said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by.”

A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, ⁶  but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

Job 38:1

VI. The Divine Speeches (38:1-42:6)

The Lord’s First Speech ⁷ 

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ⁸ 

[18:12]  ¹ tn Heb “to [a place] which I do not know.”

[18:12]  ² tn Heb “and I will go to inform Ahab and he will not find you and he will kill me.”

[18:12]  ³ tn The words “that would not be fair” are added to clarify the logic of Obadiah’s argument.

[18:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “has feared the Lord” (also see the note at 1 Kgs 18:3).

[19:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “tearing away the mountains and breaking the cliffs” (or perhaps, “breaking the stones”).

[38:1]  ⁷ sn This is the culmination of it all, the revelation of the Lord to Job. Most interpreters see here the style and content of the author of the book, a return to the beginning of the book. Here the Lord speaks to Job and displays his sovereign power and glory. Job has lived through the suffering – without cursing God. He has held to his integrity, and nowhere regretted it. But he was unaware of the real reason for the suffering, and will remain unaware throughout these speeches. God intervenes to resolve the spiritual issues that surfaced. Job was not punished for sin. And Job’s suffering had not cut him off from God. In the end the point is that Job cannot have the knowledge to make the assessments he made. It is wiser to bow in submission and adoration of God than to try to judge him. The first speech of God has these sections: the challenge (38:1-3), the surpassing mysteries of earth and sky beyond Job’s understanding (4-38), and the mysteries of animal and bird life that surpassed his understanding (38:39–39:30).

[38:1]  ⁸ sn This is not the storm described by Elihu – in fact, the Lord ignores Elihu. The storm is a common accompaniment for a theophany (see Ezek 1:4; Nah 1:3; Zech 9:14).