what is the significance of the wind in the stories of Job and Elijah. why did God use wind?

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    https://ref.ly/logos4/StudyAssistant?ShareToken=X3Dc4bR9ZpY5VwxP Wind functions differently in the Job and Elijah narratives, yet both reveal God’s power and transcendence—though in contrasting ways. In the Elijah account, a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind (1 Kings 19:11–13). This sequence is striking: Elijah expects to encounter God through dramatic natural phenomena, yet after the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire (1 Kings 19:11–13). Instead, after the fire came a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11–13)—God’s actual presence. The wind here serves as a foil, demonstrating that divine power exceeds human expectations about how God manifests himself. Job’s experience differs fundamentally. The LORD spoke to Job out of the storm (Job 40:6), and the breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love (Job 37:9–13). Here, wind and storm are the vehicle of God’s presence and speech, not obstacles to it. Why wind specifically? Wind is a mighty force which only God could command. The wind did God’s bidding1. More profoundly, OT thought can observe the wind in its real physical manifestations, but on the other hand it can relate it, to a greater or lesser degree, to Yahweh. The mysterious power at work in the wind and its unknown origin are particularly suggestive of God’s activity in it and its effects2. Wind’s invisibility and power made it an ideal symbol—it demonstrates divine authority while remaining inscrutable, much like God himself. 1 Trent C. Butler, “Wind,” in Holman Bible Dictionary (B&H, n.d.). [See here.] 2 Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 1205.