Winter Wonderland

Job 37:6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth.
In the original it is, be thou earth: hence one of the Rabbis formed a notion, that the earth was created from snow under the throne of glory. This is one of the great and incomprehensible things of G-d. What is the cause of it, how it is generated, what gives it its exceeding whiteness and its form?There are some things relative to snow not easy to be accounted for: as that it should be generated in the lower region of the air, so near us, and yet be so cold. And be so cold in its own nature, yet be like a blanket warming to the earth; and that being so cold, it should fall in hot countries, and though so easily melted, yet lies continually upon the top of a burning mountain.G-d has His treasures of it, and He brings it forth from thence; it is at His command, it goes at a word speaking; it is one of the things that fulfill His word, (Psalms 148:8).Snow never falls upon the high seas or Main Ocean, the expression here is, with great exactness and politeness, be thou on the earth. However, this is certain, that to the earth only it is useful, warming, refreshing, and fructifying; it has a wonderful virtue in it to fatten the earth. In the northern countries, where it falls in great plenty, the fields are more fruitful than any others are, and sooner put forth their fruits and increase than other fields prepared and cultivated with the greatest labor and industry. They are often obliged to drive off the cattle from them, lest they should eat too much and burst, the fields and meadows becoming so luxurious by it; and frequently they mow off the tops of herbs and grass with their sweep, to prevent their growing too thick. The word of G-d, as for its purity, so for its warming, refreshing, and fructifying nature, is compared unto it, (Isaiah 55:10, 11).
Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
Snow water - thought to be more cleansing than common water, owing to the whiteness of snow (Ps. 51:7; Isa 1:18). If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with them. If we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world. Yet G-d, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocence, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy G-d. Never so clean - Better, to answer to the parallelism of the first clause which expresses the cleansing material, "lye:" the Arabs used alkali mixed with oil, as soap (Ps. 73:13; Jer 2:22).
Job 38:22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?
The vapors rose, and clouds formed in the atmosphere, which is the storehouse of those meteors; and may be called treasures, because hidden in the clouds, and not seen by man until the fall of them. They are in the keeping and command and direction of the Father, the administrator of them. Rich and enriching, especially snow, and because of the abundance thereof which it sometimes falls.Sometimes they come so opportunely, to serve the purposes of Providence, in G-d’s fighting for His people and against His and their enemies, that one would think they were laid up as stores of arms, ammunition, and provisions, against the time of trouble. The day of battle and war, when G-d will either contend with the world in general when the windows of heaven were opened, and the waters fetched out of these treasures to drown a wicked world that waged war with Heaven. G-d can fight as effectually with snow and hail, if He pleases, as with thunder and lightning or the sword of an angel!
Ps. 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
He prays that G-d would cleanse him from his sins and the defilement he had contracted by them (Psalms 51:7). Hyssop did not procure remission of sins, but has a mystical signification, and refers to what was meant by the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover; and then he says, thoroughly clean; for the blood sprinkled on the heart by the spirit clears it from an evil conscience, purges the conscience from dead works, and cleanses from all sin. One who was black with original corruption, and actual transgressions needs a washing not only the conversation garments white that are washed in it; but even crimson and scarlet sins as white as snow, and the persons of the saints without spot or blemish, (Rev. 7:14; Isa. 1:18; Eph 5:25-27.If this blood of the Messiah, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed, Hebrews 10:2. If we be washed in this fountain opened, we shall be whiter than snow, not only acquitted but also accepted; so those are that are justified. Isaiah 1:18, though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
Ps. 147:16 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
Like wool for the softness and warmth of it falls silently. See how G-d can work by contraries, and bring meat out of the eater, can warm the earth with cold snow. He scatters the hoar-frost, which is dew congealed, as the snow and hail are rain congealed. This looks like ashes scattered upon the grass. He casts forth his ice like morsels, which may be understood either of large hail-stones, which are as ice in the air, or of the ice which covers the face of the waters, and when it is broken, though naturally it was as drops of drink, it is as morsels of meat, or crusts of bread. When we see the frost, and snow, and ice, we feel it in the air: Who can stand before His cold? Therefore we must bear it patiently, and be thankful for warm houses, and clothes, and beds, to relieve us against the rigor of the season, and must give Him the glory of His wisdom and sovereignty, His power and faithfulness, which shall not cease any more than summer, Genesis 8:22. And let us also infer from it, if we cannot stand before the cold of His frosts, how can we stand before the heat of His wrath? Hard weather does not always continue; it would be sad if it should. He does not contend for ever, but renews the face of the earth. Converting grace, like the thaw, softens the heart that was hard, moistens it, and melts it into tears of repentance; it warms good affections, and makes them to flow, which, before, were chilled and stopped up. The change which the thaw makes is universal and yet gradual; it is very evident, and yet how it is done is unaccountable: such is the change wrought in the conversion of a soul, when G-d's word and Spirit are sent to melt it and restore it to itself as in Prov. 25:13.
Conclusion:G-d commissions’ snow, He commands it, He appoints it, where it shall light and how long it shall lie. It is sin and folly to contend with G-d's providence in the weather; if He send the snow or rain, can we hinder them? Or shall we be angry at them? It is as absurd to quarrel with any other disposal of Providence concerning ourselves or ours. The effect of the extremity of the winter-weather is that it obliges both men and beasts to retire, making it uncomfortable and unsafe for them to go abroad.
1. Men retire to their houses from their labors in the field, and keep within doors (Job 37:7): He seals up the hand of every man. In frost and snow, husbandmen cannot follow their business, or some tradesmen, or travelers, when the weather is extreme.The plough is laid by, the shipping laid up; nothing is to be done, nothing to be got, that man, being taken off from his own work. Now they may know His work, and contemplate that, and give Him the glory of that, and, by the consideration of that work of His in the weather which seals up their hands, be led to celebrate His other great and marvellous works.Note, When we are, upon any account, disabled from following our worldly business, and taken off from it, we should spend our time rather in the exercises of piety and devotion (in acquainting ourselves with the works of G-d and praising Him in them) than in foolish idle sports and recreations. When our hands are sealed up our hearts should be thus opened, and the less we have at any time to do in the world the more we should thereby be driven to our Bibles and our knees.
2. The beasts also retire to their dens and remain in their close places, Job 37:8. It is meant of the wild beasts, which, being wild, must seek a shelter for themselves, to which by instinct they are directed, while the tame beasts, which are serviceable to man, are housed and protected by his care, as Exodus 9:20. The ass has no den but his master's crib, and thither he goes, not only to be safe and warm, but to be fed. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm; and shall man alone be un-provided with an ark?