Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
When the morning-stars – There can be little doubt that angelic beings are intended here, though some have thought that the stars literally are referred to, and that they seemed to unite in a chorus of praise when another world was added to their number. The Vulgate renders it, astra matutina, morning-stars; the Septuagint, hote egenethenai astra – when the stars were made: the Chaldee, the stars of the zephyr, or morning – . The comparison of a prince, a monarch, or an angel, with a star, is not uncommon; compare the notes at Isa. 14. The expression the morning-stars is used on account of the beauty of the principal star which, at certain seasons of the year, leads on the morning. It is applied naturally to those angelic beings that are of distinguished glory and rank in heaven. That it refers to the angels, seems to be evident from the connection; and this interpretation is demanded in order to correspond with the phrase sons of God in the other member of the verse.
Sang together – United in a grand chorus or concert of praise. It was usual to celebrate the laying of a cornerstone, or the completion of an edifice, by rejoicing; see Zec 4:7; Ezr 3:10.
And all the sons of God – Angels – called the sons of God from their resemblance to him, or their being created by him.
Shouted for joy – That is, they joined in praise for so glorious a work as the creation of a new world. They saw that it was an event which was fitted to honor God. It was a new manifestation of his goodness and power; it was an enlargement of his empire; it was an exhibition of benevolence that claimed their gratitude. The expression in this verse is one of uncommon, perhaps of unequalled beauty. The time referred to is at the close of the creation of the earth, for the whole account relates to the formation of this world, and not of the stars. At that period, it is clear that other worlds had been made, and that there were holy beings then in existence who were of such a rank as appropriately to be called morning-stars and sons of God. It is a fair inference therefore, that the whole of the universe was not made at once, and that the earth is one of the last of the worlds which have been called into being.
No one can demonstrate that the work of creation may not now be going on in some remote part of the universe, nor that God may not yet form many more worlds to be the monuments of his wisdom and goodness, and to give occasion for augmented praise. Who can tell but that this process may be carried on forever, and that new worlds and systems may continue to start into being, and there be continually new displays of this inexhaustible goodness and wisdom of the Creator? When this world was made, there was occasion for songs of praise among the angels. It was a beautiful world. All was pure, and lovely, and holy. Man was made like his God, and everything was full of love. Surveying the beautiful scene, as the world arose under the plastic hand of the Almighty – its hills, and vales, and trees, and flowers, and animals, there was occasion for songs and rejoicings in heaven. Could the angels have foreseen, as perhaps they did, what was to occur here, there was also occasion for songs of praise such as would exist in the creation of no other world. This was to be the world of redeeming love; this the world where the Son of God was to become incarnate and die for sinners; this the world where an immense host was to be redeemed to praise God in a song unknown to the angels – the song of redemption, in the sweet notes which shall ascend from the lips of those who shall have been ransomed from death by the great work of the atonement.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for Joy?
The song eternal
The mere creation of matter would be wonderful; but, to think that God put in that matter all that might be necessary for all that intelligent beings could desire, or think about, or need, for millions of years! God prepared the earth for millions of people upon it, and He prepared everything to meet their wants. These worlds have been long in being, but they have kept in motion all the time. And they keep time with each other; they have not come into collision. God marked out their pathway. I do not wonder the morning stars sang together, when they saw all this machinery set in motion. It is more wonderful as the ages roll on, for through all these years it keeps time, and the song is still sounding in the heaven. Shall we be less interested? The angels know God as their Creator, the wonderful God. They see His majesty, His power. But He comes near to us, and calls us children. Here our eyes see, our ears hear, and out hearts glow with admiration at what our Father has made–made for us. Sometimes, when I think of the heaven that He has given, just beyond all these worlds, I look through the worlds with joy, and I see something more glorious beyond; This song still goes on. The music is still rolling on over our heads. We do not hear it, but occasionally we get glimpses of the world that re-echoes with it . . . Christ was coming to suffer sorrow and death upon the earth. Why should the angels (at Bethlehem) be glad? If He came to suffer death, it was but to enter into His glory. The angels opened the doors, and welcomed Him up the pathway to the throne. The joy is perpetual. John had a vision of it in the Isle of Patmos. The angels sang at creation, and angels sang of dominion and glory; but there is a new song,–Unto Him that loved us, and washed Us in His own blood, etc. What a song! It is a song ever new, because there are new strains in it, new voices in it. (Bishop Simpson.)
The angels rejoicing at the creation of the world
Here is something that took place when our world was created, but not in our world. Heaven was the scene of it; and it is told us in order to carry up our thoughts to heaven, and make us better acquainted with it. In the text find–
I. Those spoken of in it. Morning stars, Sons of God. With a star we connect the ideas of brightness and beauty, but with a morning star, peculiar brightness and beauty. My angels, God says to us, are morning stars. Angels are not sons as the Everlasting Son is. They are called sons by mere grace and favour. The name shows the abundance of Gods love to them.
II. What these angels are said to have done. They sang. Singing is the language of happy feeling. They sang together. Here comes in the idea of union, harmony, oneness of feeling and joy, among these morning stars. God loves this oneness of feeling. They shouted for joy. This invests the figure with a sublimity and majesty.
III. The occasion for all this rejoicing. It was called forth by the creation of the world.
1. The joy of these angels was a joy of admiration. They sang together, because they were struck together with the beauty of the world.
2. It was a song of praise. Because the world discovered to them in every part of it the perfections of God. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The joy of angels at the creation of the world
I. The persons, or beings, here spoken of. They must be the angels, those glorious spirits who were formed before the earth. For sons of God the Greek has, all my angels; and an ancient Jewish paraphrase has all the armies of heaven. The angels are called morning stars on account of their lustre, and the purity of their natures. In Scripture, persons of eminent stations are described as stars. They are called sons of God, because produced by Him, who is the Father of spirits, the Father of the whole family in heaven and earth. They may be so styled, because they resemble Him in their natures, partake of His Divine and glorious image; or they may be called His sons as men are.
II. What occasioned their joyful songs and shouts of praise?
1. The magnificence and beauty of the creation.
2. The glories of the Divine architect displayed in it.
3. They rejoiced on account of the uses for which the earth was designed. The angels are benevolent beings, and bear the image of God in love. Application–
(1) The creation was a glorious work, and claims our admiration and our praise.
(2) The works of God are worthy our serious and diligent study.
(3) Did the angels rejoice in the creation of God, then, they must be grieved at everything that defaces and dishonours the creation.
(4) They would more rejoice in the new creation. The new creation by Jesus Christ is chiefly a display of Gods moral perfections, His justice and patience, his faithfulness and goodness, His holiness and mercy. It is a scheme which at once secures the honour of the Divine government, and the recovery and happiness of fallen creatures.
(5) What joy and shouting will there be among the angels at the last day. When the mystery of God shaft be accomplished, and the redemption of all His people shall be completed. (Job Orton, S. T. P.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. When the morning stars sang together] This must refer to some intelligent beings who existed before the creation of the visible heavens and earth: and it is supposed that this and the following clause refer to the same beings; that by the sons of God, and the morning stars, the angelic host is meant; as they are supposed to be first, though perhaps not chief, in the order of creation.
For the latter clause the Chaldee has, “All the troops of angels.” Perhaps their creation may be included in the term heavens, Ge 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” These witnessed the progress of the creation; and, when God had finished his work, celebrated his wisdom and power in the highest strains.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The morning stars; either,
1. The stars properly so called, who are said to sing and praise God, objectively, because they give men ample occasion to do it in regard of their glorious light and stupendous motions, &c. Compare Psa 19:1; 148:1, &c. But,
1. These stars are not here the objects or matter, but the authors or instruments, of Gods praises for the founding of the earth.
2. The stars were not created when the earth was founded, but upon the fourth day.
3. There is no satisfactory reason given why all the stars should be called
morning stars, especially when there is but one star known by that name. Or rather,
2. The sons of God, as it here follows, the latter clause of the verse being explicatory of the former, as is most frequent in this and some other books of Scripture, to wit, the angels, who may well be called stars, as even men of eminent note, and particularly ministers of Gods word, are called, Dan 8:10; 12:3; Rev 1:16,20; and morning stars, because of their excellent lustre and glory, for which they are called angels of light, 2Co 11:14, and Christ for the same reason is called the Morning Star, Rev 22:16. The sons of God; the blessed angels; for man not being yet made, God had then no other sons; and these are called the sons of God, partly because they had their whole being from him, and partly because they were made partakers of his Divine and glorious image. And all these are said to join in this work of praising God, probably because none of the angels were as yet fallen from their first estate, though they did fall within a very little time after.
Shouted for joy; rejoiced in and blessed God for his works; whereby he intimates that they neither did advise or any way assist him in his works, nor dislike or censure any of his works, as Job had presumed to do with the works of his providence, which are not inferior to those of creation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. So at the founding ofZerubbabel’s temple (Ezr3:10-13). So hereafter at the completion of the Church, thetemple of the Holy Ghost (Zec 4:7);as at its foundation (Luk 2:13;Luk 2:14).
morning starsespeciallybeautiful. The creation morn is appropriately associated withthese, it being the commencement of this world’s day.The stars are figuratively said to sing God’s praises, as in Psa 19:1;Psa 148:3. They are symbols ofthe angels, bearing the same relation to our earth, as angels do tous. Therefore they answer to “sons of God,” or angels, inthe parallel. See on Job 25:5.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When the morning stars sang together,…. Either all the stars in a literal sense; for though, strictly speaking, there is but one morning star, yet all may be called so, because early created in the morning of the world; and are all stars of light, shine till the morning; and it is observed by some, that the nearer the morning the brighter they shine: and these in their way sing the praises of God, and set forth the glory of his perfections, and occasion songs of praise in men; see Ps 148:3. Or figuratively, either angels, as most interpret them, comparable to stars for their glory, purity, and light, for their constancy, permanency, and numbers: or good men, particularly ministers of the word, and angels of the churches; who are stars in Christ’s right hand, Re 1:20; but the principal morning star is Christ himself, Re 22:16;
and all the sons of God shouted for joy; which are usually understood of angels also, so the Targum; who are the sons of God, not by birth, as Christ, nor by adoption, as saints; but by creation, as Adam, Lu 3:38. And because they bear some likeness to God, as holy spirits, and honour and obey him in doing his will; though the character of sons of God, as distinct from the children of men, given to professors of religion, obtained before the times of Job; see Ge 6:2; and who might be said to sing together, and shout for joy, when they met for social worship; see Job 1:6; and especially when any fresh discoveries were made to them of the Messiah, and salvation by him. Thus Abraham, one of these sons of God, saw Christ’s day and was glad, and shouted for joy, Joh 8:56. For these words are not necessarily to be restrained to the laying of the foundation and cornerstone of the earth, as our version directs; though indeed the angels then might be present, being created as soon as the heavens were, and with the stars, as Capellus on this place observes; and rejoiced, when the foundations of the earth were laid, on beholding such a display of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God therein; and which may be said of them, in allusion to what is done at the laying of the foundation of any building of note; see Ezr 3:10; for it may be repeated from
Job 38:4; “where wast thou when the morning stars”, &c. and so may refer to any rejoicing, whether of angels or men, before the times of Job, at which he was not present.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) The morning stars.The context seems to suggest that by the stars are meant the angels entrusted with their guardianship, from whence Milton has borrowed his conceptions. The magnificent sublimity of the expression and the thought needs no comment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Morning stars According to some, literal stars, whose song is one of metaphor. They are called morning stars because of their association with the dawn of the world. A beautiful figure it would be, that of the rejoicing of the brightest worlds over the birth of a sister star: (see note Job 3:6) but the less fanciful view, is that which regards the morning stars as a higher order of angels “creatures of such glory that they surpass all other creatures of God, in the same way that the brightness of the morning star ( Lucifer, Isa 14:12) eclipses all the other stars.” Zockler. Stars, in the Scriptures, are the standing figure for angels. Christ calls himself “the bright and morning star,” since he ushers in the everlasting day. Rev 22:16. The promise of Christ to give “the morning star” to “him that overcometh,” (Rev 2:28.) leads Dr. Candlish to the speculation that “it may seem probable that some joint-fellowship of angels and men in Christ’s sonship is what, by thus connecting together, in so close a verbal relation, the widely-separated books of Job and the Revelation, the Spirit intends to teach. For thus we find the title ‘ morning star,’ which is associated with that of ‘ son of God’ in the case of the angels, applied to the Son of God himself, and in him, also, to the overcoming Christian. In particular, as used in these texts, taken together, it surely points to the identification of unfallen angels and redeemed men with the second person in the Godhead.” See his Cunningham Lectures, pp. 125, 155, 156. Sang together The ancients laid a cornerstone with music and songs. Ezr 3:10; Zec 4:7. Bishop Wordsworth alludes to the songs of the angels “at the laying of the foundation-stone of the temple of the new creation, in the nativity of Christ.”
Sons of God Sons of Elohim. See note on Job 1:6. Kurtz ( Bible and Astronomy, see. 18) enlarges upon the term Elohim: “Let it be borne in mind that angels are always called the sons of God, but not of Jehovah. The term Elohim designates the Divine Being as the fulness and source of life, of power, of blessedness, of holiness, of glory and majesty. The term Jehovah describes him as merciful and gracious.” “The sons of Elohim are, therefore, they in whom shine forth his power and glory. The sons of Jehovah are those who receive, and are the vehicles of his redeeming mercy. In this sense Israel is called the firstborn son of Jehovah. Exo 4:22. ” See note, Job 1:21.
Whether the interpretation given to “the morning stars,” spoken of above, be that they belong to the inanimate or animate creation, we are justified in the remark that their creation preceded that of this world. The present allusion to “sons of God” makes it clear that there were conscious and joyous beings of a high grade in existence before the founding of our world; that is, before the creative work described in Genesis 1. This fact leads to the wider inference, that the whole of the universe was not created at once.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 38:7. When the morning stars sing together It is observable from many passages in the prophets, that the angels are compared to, or spoken of, under the metaphor of stars: See particularly Isa 14:12. The beauty and propriety of these allusions of the prophets will appear with greater lustre, when it is considered that the hosts of heaven were the objects of heathen idolatry; both the visible and invisible host, as well the angels as the light of heaven; for the superstition seems to have been originally the same, as the worship of the heavenly bodies terminated in the worship of those angels or intelligences who were believed to animate or conduct them; and hence we see a reason why the angels are called stars, and morning stars in Scripture. Peters.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Ver. 7. When the morning stars sang together ] There is but one morning star properly so called, viz. Phosphorus, Lucifer, or Venus, the sun’s forerunner. But for their brightness, they are all called here stars of the morning, and said to sing together, as birds use to do at break of day; so did these in the morning of the creation, when first those heavenly torches began to shine, and joyfully to dance, as it were, in number and measure. This they do still in their kind, Psa 19:1 , beckoning also, as it were, to us to do the like, Psa 145:3 .
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
stars sang. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6. See App-12.
sons of God = angels. See note on Gen 6:2, and the eight occurrences of the expression in O.T. See also App-23and App-25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sons of God
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the morning: Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16
the sons: Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Psa 104:4, Rev 5:11
shouted: Ezr 3:11, Ezr 3:12, Zec 4:7
Reciprocal: Gen 1:16 – to rule Gen 1:31 – very good Exo 31:17 – and was refreshed Lev 23:24 – a memorial Jdg 5:1 – Sang Deborah Psa 5:11 – shout Psa 148:2 – all his angels Dan 3:25 – the Son of God Luk 2:13 – a multitude Rev 1:16 – he had
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
38:7 When the morning stars {e} sang together, and all the {f} sons of God shouted for joy?
(e) The stars and dumb creatures are said to praise God, because his power, wisdom and goodness is manifest and known in it.
(f) Meaning the angels.