Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 40:1
Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
1. answered Job ] That is, took up anew His words and directly appealed to Job.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chap. Job 40:1-5. Effect of the Divine Speech on Job
As if the purpose of the preceding survey of Creation might be lost in the brilliancy of the individual parts of it, the Divine Speaker gathers up its general effect and brings it to bear on Job directly, demanding whether he will persevere in his contention with Jehovah; will the reprover contend with the Almighty? Job 40:1-2.
Job is abased by the glory of God which He has made to pass before him, and brought to silence I am too mean, what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand upon my mouth; Job 40:3-5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Moreover, the Lord answered Job – The word answered is used here as it is often in the Scriptures, not to denote a reply to what had been immediately said, but to take up or continue an argument. What God said here was designed as a reply to the spirit which Job had so frequently manifested.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 40:1-24
Moreover, the Lord answered Job, and said.
Jehovahs answer
Its language has reached, at times, the high-water mark of poetry and beauty. Nothing can exceed its dignity, its force, its majesty, the freshness and vigour of some of its pictures of nature and of life. But what shall we say next? It is no answer, we may say, to Jobs agonised pleadings. It is no answer to the riddle and problem which the experience and history of human life suggests, even to ourselves. Quite true. There is no direct answer at all. Even those partial answers, partial yet instructive, which have been touched on from time to time by speaker after speaker, are not glanced at or included in these final words. It is as though the voice of God did not deign to repeat that He works on the side of righteousness. He only hints at it. Job is not even told the purpose of the fiery trial through which he himself has passed, of those in other worlds than his own who have watched his pangs. No! God reveals to him His glory, makes him feel where he had, gone wrong, how presumptuous he had been. That is all. He does not say, All this has been a trial of thy righteousness: thou hast been fighting a battle against Satan for Me, and hast received many sore wounds. Nothing is said of the truth, already mooted and enforced in this Book, that suffering does its perfect work when it purifies and elevates the human soul, and draws it nearer to the God who sends or permits the suffering. Nor is any light thrown on that faint and feeble glimmer of a hope not yet fully born into the world, of a life beyond the grave; of a life where there shall be no more sorrow or sighing, where Job and his lost sons and daughters shall be reunited. The thoughts that we should have looked for, perhaps longed for, are not here. Those who tell us that the one great lesson of the whole book is to hold up the patriarch Job as the pattern of mere submission, mere resignation–those who search in it for a full Thodice, a final vindication, that is, and explanation of Gods mode of governing the world–those, lastly, who find ill it a revelation of the sure and certain hope of a blessed immortality, can scarcely have studied either Jobs language or the chapters before us today. One thought, and one only, is brought into the foreground. The world is full of mysteries, strange, unapproachable mysteries, that you cannot read. Trust, trust in the power, and in the wisdom, and in the goodness of Him, the Almighty One, who rules it. Turn from the insoluble problems of your own destiny, the voice says to Job, and says to us. Good men have said their best, wise men have said their wisest. Man is still left to bear the discipline of some questions too hard for him to answer. We cannot solve them. We must rest, if we are to rest at all, in the belief that He whom we believe to be our Father in heaven, whom we believe to have been revealed in His Son, is good, and wise, and merciful; that one day, not here, the riddle will be solved; that behind the veil which you cannot pierce, lies the solution in the hand of God. (Dean Bradley.)
The Lords answer
I. A Divine reproof that was effectual.
1. Observe the reproof. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him?
(1) What is thy intellect to His? The glimmering of a glow worm to the brilliancy of a million suns.
(2) What is thy sphere of observation to Mine? Thou art a mere speck in space. I have immensity under My eye.
(3) What is thy experience to Mine? Thou art the mere creature of a day, observing and thinking for a few hours. I am from everlasting to everlasting.
2. Observe the effect. What was the effect of this appeal? Here it is. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? etc.
(1) A sense of moral unworthiness. I am vile.
(2) A resolution to retract. I will proceed no further. He regrets the past, and resolves to improve in the future. This is what every sinner should do, what every sinner must do, in order to rise into purity, freedom, and blessedness.
II. A Divine comparison that was silencing.
1. It is a comparison between himself and the Great Creator. Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto Me. What is thy power to Mine? Hast thou an arm like God? What is thy voice to Mine? Canst thou speak in a voice of thunder? What is thy greatness to Mine? Deck thyself with majesty, etc. What is thy wrath to Mine? Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath. What art thou in My presence? The only effective way of hushing the murmurings of men in relation to the Divine procedure, is an impression of the infinite disparity between man and his Maker.
2. It is a comparison between himself and the brute creation. Behold now behemoth. Study this huge creature, and thou wilt find in many respects thou art inferior to him. Therefore be humble, and cease to contend with Me. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XL
Job humbles himself before the Lord, 1-5.
And God again challenges him by a display of his power and
judgments, 6-14.
A description of behemoth, 15-24.
NOTES ON CHAP. XL
Verse 1. Moreover the Lord answered] That is, the Lord continued his discourse with Job. Answered does not refer to any thing said by Job, or any question asked.
I think it very likely that this whole piece, from the beginning of this first verse to the end of the fourteenth, was originally the ending of the poem. Mr. Heath has noticed this, and I shall lay his words before the reader: “The former part of this chapter is evidently the conclusion of the poem; the latter part whereof seems to be in great disorder; whether it has happened from the carelessness of the transcriber, or, which appears most probable, from the skins of parchment composing the roll having by some accident changed their places. It is plain from the seventh verse of the forty-second chapter Job 42:7 that Jehovah is the last speaker in the poem. If, then, immediately after the end of the thirty-ninth chapter, we subjoin the fifteenth verse of the forty-second chapter, and place the fourteen first verses of the fortieth chapter immediately after the sixth verse of the forty-second chapter, and by that means make them the conclusion of the poem, all will be right; and this seventh verse of the forty-second chapter will be in its natural order. The action will be complete by the judgment of the Almighty; and the catastrophe of the poem will be grand and solemn.” To these reasons of Mr. Heath, Dr. Kennicott has added others, which the reader may find at the end of the chapter. Job 40:24 Without taking any farther notice of the transposition in this place, I will continue the notes in the present order of the verses.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Having made a little pause to try what Job could answer to his questions, and Job being it seems astonished with Gods rebukes, or expecting what God would further say, continued silent.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the LordHebrew,“JEHOVAH.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Moreover the Lord answered Job,…. The Lord having discoursed largely of the works of nature, in order to reconcile the mind of Job to his works of providence, stopped and made a pause for a little space, that Job might answer if he thought fit; but he being entirely silent, the Lord began again:
and said; as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1 Then Jehovah answered Job, and said:
2 Will now the censurer contend with the Almighty?
Let the instructor of Eloah answer it!
3 Then Job answered Jehovah, and said:
With Job 40:1; Job 38:1 is again taken up, because the speech of Jehovah has now in some measure attained the end which was assigned to it as an answer to Job’s outburst of censure. is inf. abs., as Jdg 11:25; it is left to the hearer to give to the simple verbal notion its syntactic relation in accordance with the connection; here it stands in the sense of the fut. (comp. 2Ki 4:43): num litigabit, Ges. 131, 4, b. The inf. abs. is followed by as subj., which (after the form ) signifies a censurer and fault-finder, moomeetee’s . The question means, will Job persist in this contending with God? He who sets God right, as though he knew everything better than He, shall answer the questions put before him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Job’s Humble Submission. | B. C. 1520. |
1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, 2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. 3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Here is, I. A humbling challenge which God gave to Job. After he had heaped up many hard questions upon him, to show him, by his manifest ignorance in the works of nature, what an incompetent judge he was of the methods and designs of Providence, he clenches the nail with one demand more, which stands by itself here as the application of the whole. It should seem, God paused awhile, as Elihu had done, to give Job time to say what he had to say, or to think of what God had said; but Job was in such confusion that he remained silent, and therefore God here put him upon replying, Job 40:1; Job 40:2. This is not said to be spoken out of the whirlwind, as before; and therefore some think God said it in a still small voice, which wrought more upon Job than the whirlwind did, as upon Elijah, 1Ki 19:12; 1Ki 19:13. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, and then it does wonders. Though Job had not spoken any thing, yet God is said to answer him; for he knows men’s thoughts, and can return a suitable answer to their silence. Here, 1. God puts a convincing question to him: “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? Shall he pretend to dictate to God’s wisdom or prescribe to his will? Shall God receive instruction from every peevish complainer, and change the measures he has taken to please him?” It is a question with disdain. Shall any teach God knowledge? ch. xxi. 22. It is intimated that those who quarrel with God do, in effect, go about to teach him how to mend his work. For if we contend with men like ourselves, as not having done well, we ought to instruct them how to do better; but is it a thing to be suffered that any man should teach his Maker? He that contends with God is justly looked upon as his enemy; and shall he pretend so far to have prevailed in the contest as to prescribe to him? We are ignorant and short-sighted, but before him all things are naked and open; we are depending creatures, but he is the sovereign Creator; and shall we pretend to instruct him? Some read it, Is it any wisdom to contend with the Almighty? The answer is easy. No; it is the greatest folly in the world. Is it wisdom to contend with him whom it will certainly be our ruin to oppose and unspeakably our interest to submit to? 2. He demands a speedy reply to it: “He that reproaches God let him answer this question to his own conscience, and answer it thus, Far be it from me to contend with the Almighty or to instruct him. Let him answer all those questions which I have put, if he can. Let him answer for his presumption and insolence, answer it at God’s bar, to his confusion.” Those have high thoughts of themselves, and mean thoughts of God, who reprove any thing he says or does.
II. Job’s humble submission thereupon. Now Job came to himself, and began to melt into godly sorrow. When his friends reasoned with him he did not yield; but the voice of the Lord is powerful. When the Spirit of truth shall come, he shall convince. They had condemned him for a wicked man; Elihu himself had been very sharp upon him (Job 34:7; Job 34:8; Job 34:37); but God had not given him such hard words. We may sometimes have reason to expect better treatment from God, and a more candid construction of what we do, than we meet with from our friends. This the good man is here overcome by, and yields himself a conquered captive to the grace of God. 1. He owns himself an offender, and has nothing to say in his own justification (v. 4): “Behold, I am vile, not only mean and contemptible, but vile and abominable, in my own eyes.” He is now sensible that he has sinned, and therefore calls himself vile. Sin debases us, and penitents abase themselves, reproach themselves, are ashamed, yea, even confounded. “I have acted undutifully to my Father, ungratefully to my benefactor, unwisely for myself; and therefore I am vile.” Job now vilifies himself as much as ever he had justified and magnified himself. Repentance changes men’s opinion of themselves. Job had been too bold in demanding a conference with God, and thought he could make his part good with him: but now he is convinced of his error, and owns himself utterly unable to stand before God or to produce any thing worth his notice, the veriest dunghill-worm that ever crawled upon God’s ground. While his friends talked with him, he answered them, for he thought himself as good as they; but, when God talked with him, he had nothing to say, for, in comparison with him, he sees himself nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing, vanity and vileness itself; and therefore, What shall I answer thee? God demanded an answer, v. 2. Here he gives the reason of his silence; it was not because he was sullen, but because he was convinced he had been in the wrong. Those that are truly sensible of their own sinfulness and vileness dare not justify themselves before God, but are ashamed that ever they entertained such a thought, and, in token of their shame, lay their hand upon their mouth. 2. He promises not to offend any more as he had done; for Elihu had told him that this was meet to be said unto God. When we have spoken amiss we must repent of it and not repeat it nor stand to it. He enjoins himself silence (v. 4): “I will lay my hand upon my mouth, will keep that as with a bridle, to suppress all passionate thoughts which may arise in my mind, and keep them from breaking out in intemperate speeches.” It is bad to think amiss, but it is much worse to speak amiss, for that is an allowance of the evil thought and gives it an imprimatur–a sanction; it is publishing the seditious libel; and therefore, if thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth and let it go no further (Prov. xxx. 32) and that will be an evidence for thee that that which thou thoughtest thou allowest not. Job had suffered his evil thoughts to vent themselves: “Once have I spoken amiss, yea, twice,” that is, “divers times, in one discourse and in another; but I have done: I will not answer; I will not stand to what I have said, nor say it again; I will proceed no further.” Observe here what true repentance is. (1.) It is to rectify our errors, and the false principles we went upon in doing as we did. What we have long, and often, and vigorously maintained, once, yea, twice, we must retract as soon as we are convinced that it is a mistake, not adhere to it any longer, but take shame to ourselves for holding it so long. (2.) It is to return from every by-path and to proceed not one step further in it: “I will not add” (so the word is); “I will never indulge my passion so much again, nor give myself such a liberty of speech, will never say as I have said nor do as I have done.” Till it comes to this, we come short of repentance. Further observe, Those who dispute with God will be silenced at last. Job had been very bold and forward in demanding a conference with God, and talked very boldly, how plain he would make his case, and how sure he was that he should be justified. As a prince he would go near unto him (ch. xxxi. 37); he would come even to his seat (ch. xxiii. 3); but he has soon enough of it; he lets fall his plea and will not answer. “Lord, the wisdom and right are all on thy side, and I have done foolishly and wickedly in questioning them.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
JOB – CHAPTER 40
JEHOVAH’S SECOND ADDRESS TO JOB
Verses 1-24:
Job’s Eventual Humility and Confession
Verses 1, 2 recount the beginning of Jehovah’s final rhetoric chiding or shaming address to Job. As He asked, “He that contendeth with the Almighty shall not instruct Him, shall he?” Then Jehovah added, “He that reproveth God (Job) let him proceed to reply or respond.” The idea is, does Job still want to set God right on the issue of his suffering? Will he still rebuke, controvert, with, or reprove His majesty and wisdom, as he had formerly wished he could do? Job 9:3; Job 33:13; Job 34:37; Isa 45:9.
Verses 3, 4 begin Job’s reply to His majesty, Jehovah. First, Job confessed, “I am vile,” the first step of every sinner and backslidder to the restoration of favor with the Holy God; His confession sets the order for sinners in returning to God, their creator, Ezr 9:6; Job 42:6; Psa 51:4. In helpless despair Job asked, “What shall I answer thee?” He had become convicted of his wrong attitude and of idle words he had spoken against the judgment of God in permitting the lingering, suffering of Job for purposes of Divine glory, Joh 9:2-3; Joh 11:4; 1Pe 4:12-16; Job 2:6-10. He added, v.4 “I will lay my hand upon my mouth,” or keep my mouth shut, complain no more, for I have no just plea to make against the wisdom of God, Job 21:5; Job 29:9; Psa 39:9; Zec 2:13; Jdg 18:19.
Verse 5 adds “once have I (Job) spoken, even twice,” but he added that he would not answer, reply, or speak any more. He conceded that he realized he had already sinned, in questioning the wisdom of God, regarding his suffering, Job 33:14; Psa 62:11.
Verse 8 asserts that then Jehovah answered Job out of a whirlwind, as in Job 38:1; Psa 50:2; Psalms 2 Kg 2:1. The whirlwind signifies the glory of His power, as described at Gilgal, Deu 11:30; As related to Elijah, 1Kg 17:1; Job 37:9.
Verse 7 directs Job to gird up his loins “like a man,” like a man ready for a race, hard labor, or a battle, Job 38:3, for Job had accused God of injustice and spoken derogatory words against Him. He would have Job explain just how he could govern the world in a just and honorable way, v.1-12, if he punished the wicked and the proud, as they should be punished, Job 42:4.
Verse 8 inquires whether or not Job would annul, make void, or abrogate the judgment of Jehovah. Would he condemn Jehovah, that he might appear the more righteous, more exalted than God? Psa 51:4; Rom 3:4.
Verse 9 further inquires whether or not Job has an arm (of strength) like (to compare with) the arm of God. Or could he thunder with a voice of authority like Him? Would Job claim omnipotence in God’s presence? Job 37:4; Psa 29:3; See also Exo 6:6; Psa 89:13; Exo 9:23; Gen 3:8.
Verse 10 Invites Job to robe himself with majestic splendor, excellency, glory, and beauty, if he desired to stand face to face, on an equality with Jehovah, to contend with Him on any matter, relating to judgment or governing the earth, 1Ch 29:11; Psa 93:1; Psa 104:1; Isa 59:17.
Verse 11 calls on Job to lay aside his anger or wrathful, wrong, attitude and behold, closely observe, each one that was proud, and abase him; Judge him at a glance, as God can and does, if he is wiser than Jehovah, Psa 40:4; Isa 2:12; Dan 4:37; Dan 5:20-24; Luk 18:14; Exo 9:16-17; Exo 15:6; Isa 10:12; Isa 10:19; Eze 28:2.
Verse 12 continues to call on Job to try looking upon everyone that is proud, and bring him low, humble him, and tread down the wicked in their place, their track, right where they are, at once, as Job wanted God to do, Job 34:36; Job 36:20; Psa 1:1-5; Isa 63:3.
Verses 13, 14 recount Jehovah’s challenge to Job to hide all the unjust and the wicked in the dust, binding their faces in secret together, in a single act of judgment, of execution for their wrong. To veil their faces in darkness. Then the Lord declared to Job, when you have done all this “I will that your own right hand (power) can save you,” but not till then, Psa 20:5; Psa 108:6. Since Job could not do what God challenged him to do he could only trust in the Lord to deliver or save him, as set forth Isa 59:16; Isa 63:5.
Verses 15-24 relate Jehovah’s call upon Job to observe the behemoth (elephant or hippopotamus) which the Jehovah had made, and learn some lessons from what he beholds, as follows: If Job can’t control behemoth creatures on land or leviathan creatures that He has made in the sea, how can he govern the universe? See?
Verse 15 asks Job to observe behemoth (hippopotamus or elephant) which the Lord had with Job, to be an inhabitant of earth with him. This huge creature is also associated with the crocodile and water ox; Yet he is herbivorous, continually eating grass to survive, like an ox. God who made behemoth cares for both his well being and that of Job, Gen 1:1.
Verse 16 describes the strength as existing in his loins and his force as emanating from the naval area of his belly. Because this area of the elephant is thin and weak, easily stung by insects, while that of the hippopotamus is thick and strong, the latter is generally believed to be more likely the animal referred to as the behemoth, v.15.
Verse 17 states that this behemoth moves his tail like a cedar that is flexible, yet rigid. The sinews of his stones or great thighs are firmly wrapped or fixed together, giving him formidable strength.
Verse 18 adds that his bones are like strong pieces of brass or tubes of copper, and like bars of iron for strength.
Verse 19 declares also that he is (exists as) “chief of the ways of God,” or the works of God, in flesh of beasts, Job 26:14; Pro 8:22. he that made him can also make his sword to approach, or his sword or sickle-like teeth to come forth, with which he cuts down grain, forage, and protects himself.
Verse 20 declares that all of the mountains deliver to him food, even where “all the beasts of the field play,” Gen 1:29; Psa 104:26. The smaller beasts of the field play near him because he is an herbivorous behemoth, not carnivorous or a flesh eater. He is associated with the leviathan, also an herbivorous monster, that comes up to the mountain streams to feed, like the sea cow, with the hippopotamus.
Verse 21 adds that he lies under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and fens, hiding near plants of the water. He leads a rather docile, inactive life. The term “shady trees” seems to refer to “lotus bushes,” as in v.22. Verse 22 explains that the shady trees (lotus bushes) cover him with their shadow and the willows of the brook (that overhang the water) also compass him about or cover his hiding place; Lev 23:40; Psa 137:2.
Verse 23 relates that the behemoth (hippopotamus-like) creature drinks up a river and does not get in a hurry, is slow in movement. Because he can live on land or sea, forage in either, tho his chosen hiding place is in the water, in a shady place, he is not afraid of even the flood of the Jordan which he drew into his mouth, without fear or harm; The term Jordan is used of any great river for the, behemoth, v.15; Gen 13:18; Jos 3:17; Jer 12:5.
Verse 24 declares that he takes the “swelling of Jordan” with his eyes. His nose pierces through snares. None can capture him by open force, before his eyes. He can only be taken by guile and by a pitfall of some kind even today, Job 41:1-2. And when trapped in a pit none can take him even then by a cord or hook in his nose, a common way to take and tame other wild animals, Isa 37:29. Since man can not tame and successfully manage the eagles of the air or behemoths of the earth or sea, how then may he govern the universe without God’s guidance and strength?
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Notes
Job. 40:15. Behold turn behemoth. Various opinions as to what is meant by the term behemoth. According to GESENIUS, (behemoth) is the plural of (behemah, from the unused Root baham = in the Xth conjugation, to be dumb), a quadruped of the larger sort, living on the land; here the plural of majesty, denoting a large quadruped: the hippopotamus. So BOCHART: the river-horse or hippopotamus; like the Leviathan, an inhabitant of the Nile: the termination (oth) however, being, according to Bochart, not the sign of the plural, but of Egyptian singular, the animal being Egyptian. The SEPTUAGINT has: Beasts. TARGUM: The animal. The VULGATE, SYRIAC, and ARABIC, like the English Version, leave the word untranslated. MERCER, CASTALIO, and COCCEIUS, like Gesenius, consider the plural to be used on account of the great size of the animal. GROTIUS thinks it equivalent to the animal of animals; i.e., the most excellent animal. According to MAIMONIDES, the term includes all land animals of monstrous size. So apparently the Septuagint. DR. LEE, in like manner, renders it the beasts. The term, however, generally regarded as denoting a distinct species of animal, as
(1) distinct species are described in the former chapter;
(2) It is here compared with other species;
(3) The description is not suitable to all beasts of the field. The animal intended formerly regarded very generally as the elephant. So most of the earlier interpreters, both Catholic and Reformed, and all the Hebrew expositors. So the Geneva and Dutch versions, and the Italian of Diodati. According to MERCER: Some animal larger and more monstrous than the elephant. Modern interpreters generally consider the hippopotamus, or river-horse, as especially intended. Bishop PATRICK says: Not the elephant, which never lies among the reeds, but an animal of that regionthe hippopotamus. CONANT: The river-ox, the appropriate name of the animal commonly known as the hippopotamus, or river-horse, the word being probably its Egyptian name. ROBINSON and CALMET derive the name from the Egyptian pe (the definite article the), ehe, an ox, and mouth, water; the water or river-ox, the name being modified like other foreign words. According to KITTO, the word is the plural of excellence; denoting the chief and most powerful of herbivorous animals known to Job, and living in his neighbourhood. GOOD thinks neither the elephant nor the hippopotamus exactly intended, but an animal now extinct. So A. CLARKE. FAUSSET thinks the description agrees partly with the elephant and partly with the hippopotamus, but exactly in all the details with neither; and that it is rather intended as a practical personification of the great Pachydermata or Herbivora, the idea of the hippopotamus being predominant. According to REISKE and BYTHNER, the word indicates beasts in general; the peculiar name not being here given, as unnecessary, from the description. COCCEIUS, FRY and others, view the animal, called the beast by way of eminence, as one and the same with Leviathan. SAMUEL WESLEY queries whether it is not the animal alluded to by the Psalmist (Psa. 68:30): Rebuke the company of the spearman; Margin: The beasts of the reeds; BOOTHROYD: The wild beasts of the reeds.
JEHOVAHS ADDRESS CONTINUED
A pause in the Almightys address apparently indicated in the commencement of the present chapter. The language in which it is resumed, together with the reply of Job immediately following, implies also a suspension of the argument, which seems only to be taken up at the fifteenth versewhen the Almighty spoke a second time out of the whirlwind. This is usually explained on the ground that Jobs conviction and repentance, though expressed in Job. 40:4-5 in reply to the Almightys appeal in Job. 40:2, were not yet sufficiently deep, and that the argument and means of correction are on that account resumed. It is conjectured, however, by some that an accidental dislocation of the parts has taken place, and that the first fourteen verses of the chapter originally followed the description of Leviathan and the first six verses of the succeeding chapter. In this way the narrative is believed better to correspond with the seventh verse of the forty-second chapter, which seems to make the Almighty the last speaker; while the fourteenth verse of the present chapter forms a manifestly appropriate and impressive conclusion to the Divine address. Taking the narrative, however, as it stands in the text, we have
I. The application of the preceding address. Job. 40:1-2.Moreover the Lord answered Job and said: Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him (or, will the corrector of the Almighty still contend with Him? Or, is the disputer with the Almighty yet instructed)? He that reproveth God, let him answer if (viz., the questions just proposed). Observe
1. A sin most offensive to God, to contend with Him by disputing the equity of His government and the reasonableness of His providential dispensations. This Jobs sin. The sin to which fallen human nature, even in believers, is always liable. The sin into which Asaph felt himself falling (Psa. 73:2-15). Conspicuously the sin of Jonah.
2. The contemplation of the greatness and sovereignty of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe, fitted to silence all questionings and complainings in regard to His providential procedure. This the object of the Almightys address, and of the reference made by Him to His power, wisdom, and goodness as seen in the creation, preservation, and government of the earth, with all the tribes of its inhabitants, as well as of the worlds above and around us, and of all the various forces and phenomena of nature. Such a Being can require no instruction from any of His creatures; and for even the highest of them to think to reprove Him for any of His doings can only be the summit of presumption and folly. All ground of complaining against God on the part of His creatures removed by His infinitely glorious perfections. Those perfections sufficient foundation for our most assured confidence in the Divine procedure. A Being possessed of such perfections able only to do what is wise, and just, and good. Enough to hear in the darkest dispensations: Be still, and know that I am God (Psa. 46:10).
II. Jobs Confession. Job. 40:3-5.Then Job answered the Lord and said: Behold, I am vile (mean and contemptible): what shall I answer Thee (either as to these questions or Thy conduct and procedure)? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth (in token of silence and conviction). Once have I spoken, but I will not answer: yea twice, but I will proceed no farther. In this confession observe
1. The discovery. I am vile. Abrahams acknowledgmentAm but dust and ashes. All flesh grass. Man a worm. His days on earth as a shadow. But of yesterday, and knowing nothing. Even the nations less than nothing, and vanity. The question appropriate and becoming: What is man that thou art mindful of him? Vile in his origin, and creature-nature; much viler still in his character as a sinner. His proper place therefore in the dust, with his hand upon his mouth. Murmurings and complainings against Gods procedure monstrous in any creature, but especially so in one so vile as man. Note
(1) God made man in his own image, but sin has made him vile. The character of sin to debase; that of righteousness to exalt. Sin renders man rebellious against his Creator, injurious to his neighbour, brutish in himself. Sin, the abominable thing which God hates.
(2) Repentance changes mens views of themselves as well as of God. Jobs former language: I am not wicked. I would go as a prince before God; Now it is: Behold, I am vile. The language of Saul, the Pharisee: God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are; that of Paul, the penitent: I am the chief of sinners.
(3) Jobs discovery a blessed one. The result of Divine teaching and of Gods revealing himself to the soul. Isaiahs acknowledgment when he beheld the glory of the Lord in the temple: Woe is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. That of Peter on the discovery of Christs divinity in the fishing boat: Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. This discovery the first step to Jobs exaltation, and the exaltation of any sinner. He giveth grace to the lowly. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Pride and self-righteousness the greatest hindrances to a mans peace.
2. Jobs silence. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. No plea to offer (chap. Job. 21:5; Jud. 1:18, Jud. 1:19). A Divinely taught self-knowledge the effectual cure of a murmuring spirit. Gods government of his creatures of such a character as to stop the mouth of every objector. A day at hand when every mouth will be shut, and all the world become guilty before God. The immediate result of the Spirits work in conviction. Examples: The thief upon the Cross; Saul of Tarsus.
3. His resolution. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer, &c. The proof of repentance to resolve not to repeat the offence. If I have offended, I will not offend any more. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall obtain mercy. Go and sin no more. Complete and unconditional surrender, the aim of the Holy Ghost in the sinners conviction. NoteJobs sin that of his lips, and especially in relation to God. Sins of the lips to be repented of as well as sins of the life. Unbecoming thoughts and words in regard to God at least as punishable as injustice towards our neighbour. Uprightings of judgment towards God as much a duty as uprightness of conduct towards man.Kitto.
III. The Almightys Challenge. Job. 40:6-14.Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said: Gird up thy loins now like a man (a hero or mighty man, as thou imaginest thyself to bespoken in irony): I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment (judicial sentence, or justice in governing the world)? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayst be righteous (in order to establish thy innocencewhich Job appeared on the point of doing)? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency, and array thyself [like a God] with glory and beauty. Cast abroad (manifest on every side, or dart forth as lightnings) the rage (or overflowings) of of thy wrath [against the ungodly for their destruction]: and behold [with a withering glance] every one that is proud, and abase him. Look [with omniscient eye from the throne of the universe] on every one that is proud, and bring him low (by the infliction of condign punishment, and for the manifestation of thy power and justice); and tread down the wicked in their place (on the spot, however high in power and station). Hide them in the dust [of the grave], and bind their faces in secret (without public process, or in the darkness of a prison, like so many doomed malefactorsEst. 7:8). Then will I also [as well as others] confess unto thee [with praise], that thine own right hand can save thee.
The Almightys address from the storm-cloud renewed, not to explain and remove the mysteries in His providential dealings, for which there will be time enough hereafter, but still to further convince Job of his error in questioning the Divine justice, and more fully to humble him, by the exhibition of His own almightiness and mans littleness. From the challenge in the above section, observe
1. The spirit and tendency of all murmurings against Gods dealings with us is to disannul His decisions, and to maintain our own righteousnes as deserving better treatment.
2. Discontent and rebellion against the Divine procedure is virtually to contend with God, and enter the lists with the Almighty. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth; but woe unto the man that striveth with his Maker. A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Who can abide when once he is angry. The wrath of a king like the roaring of a lion; what then the wrath of a God? The sinner must either submit by grace or be subdued by judgment. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way.
4. Pride the object of Gods special displeasure. The sin of fallen angels.
5. Every sinner beheld by the omniscient eye of the Almighty. No darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
6. The proudest to be one day brought low. Proud sinners humbled either in mercy or judgment. Those happy who willingly humble themselves before God, before they are unwillingly humbled by Him.
7. Thorough humiliation and self-abasement required, in order to the reception of full salvation and spiritual comfort. Job for a time only partially humbled. The ploughshare of conviction to be driven deeper into his soul, before the seed of Divine consolation is cast into it. The knife to be still further applied, before the wound is finally bound up. Gods kindness seen in thoroughly humbling the saint as well as the sinner. A crowning blessing, to be divested of the last remains of pride and self-righteousness. God empties in order to fill; humbles in order to exalt.
8. The tendency of fallen humanity always to save itself. The essence of all infidelity, Pharisaism, and self-righteousness. The spirit of Cain with his offering of first fruits, in contrast with that of Abel with his bleeding lamb. The Pharisee in the temple, with hisGod, I thank thee I am not as other men; in contrast with the Publican and hisGod be merciful to me a sinner. Self-salvation the aim of most of the religion in the world, whether Pagan, Mahometan, Jewish, or Christian. Much of the religion of the cloister as well as of the synagogue. Penances, prayers, almsgivings, and so-called good works, often only so many different forms of self-salvation. Self-salvation usually the first attempt of an awakened sinner. Salvation by self the great impediment to salvation by Christ.
9. Attempts to save ourselves only cured by the discovery of our own weakness. To save ourselves implies a power nothing less than Divine. To be our own Saviour we must possess the attributes of Deity. The Saviour of humanity, when fallen, must be God as truly as the Creator of humanity itself. God our Saviourtwo ideas necessarily connected. Salvation includes
(1) Satisfaction to Divine justice for sin;
(2) Regeneration or the renewal of a sinful nature. Satisfaction for sin, which deserves endless death, only to be made by one possessing infinite dignity. Regeneration, or the creation of a new and holy nature in a fallen man, the work of a Divine power. The power required to save ourselves, that which can punish sin anywhere and banish it from the world. The sinner made to see his inability, in order to abandon his attempts at self-salvation, and to cast himself entirely on God the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Gospel, that it reveals a Divine power put forth for mans salvation; and actually put forth in the case of all who believe it. Mans inability to save himself the ground of Christs redemption. To exhibit that inability one of the objects of this book. God, and not man, the sinners Saviourthe substance of all revelation.Townsend.
IV. Description of Behemoth. Job. 40:15-24.Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee (or in thy neighbourhood); he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel (or muscles) of his belly. He moveth (Marg., setteth up) his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones (or thighs) are wrapped together (or interlaced). His bones are as strong pieces (or tubes) of brass (or copper); his bones (a different word from the precedingprobably a Syriac or Chaldaic one, and rather denoting the larger boneshis limbs) are like bars of iron. He is [in bulk and strength] the chief of the ways (or works) of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach him (or, hath given to him his swordthe weaponprobably his hooked teeth or tusks, with which he might defend himself and attack others, but which he only uses in mowing down the grass for his food). Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play (the animal harmless and herbivorous, notwithstanding his sword). He lieth under the shady trees (or lotuses), in the covert of the reed and fens (or marshes abounding on the banks of the Nile). The shady trees (or lotuses) cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river (or a river rages or overflows its banks), and [he] hasteth not (to escape from fear of the consequences): he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan with his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes (or will any take him before his eyes?instead of using stratagem): his nose pierceth through snares (or, will any pierce his nose with hooks?as 2Ki. 19:28; Eze. 38:4).
Uncertain what animal, if any one in particular, is intended by the description. The name Behemoth, as a Hebrew word, simply denotes beasts, or viewed as the plural of majesty, the beast. So rendered in some of the ancient versions. The word, however, thought by some to be rather the Hebrew form of an Egyptian name for the animal, viz., P-ehe-moth, or the water-ox. The elephant generally understood by the older commentators to be the animal intended. Modern interpreters, however, decidedly in favour of the hippopotamus, or river-horse. The description believed to agree better with the latter; while the hippopotamus, being an inhabitant of the Nile and its banks, was much more likely to be familiary known to the patriarch and the poet than the elephant.
Both the elephant and the hippopotamus belong to the class of animals termed by naturalists Pachydermata, or thick-skinned. The elephant comprehends the largest of the living terrestrial animals that suckle their young. Its food is strictly vegetable. It is of a mild disposition, and lives in herds, which are conducted by old males. Those of the present day clothed with a rough skin, nearly destitute of hair. Are only found in the torrid zone of the eastern continents; the Indian elephant being found from the Indus to the Eastern Ocean, and in the large islands of the south of India; and the African one, from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. The African elephant not now tamed, although the Carthaginians appear to have employed it in the same way that the inhabitants of India do theirs. The hippopotamus has a very massive and naked body, with very short legs, so that the belly reaches to the ground, an enormous head, and a short tail. It lives in rivers and their neighbourhood, feeding on roots and other vegetable substances, and exhibits much ferocity and stupidity. Now confined to the rivers of the middle and south of Africa.Cuvier.
The description apparently agreeing in every particular neither with the elephant nor the hippopotamus, the animal has been conjectured by some to be a now extinct genus; and by others to be rather a poetical personification of the great pachydermatathe idea of the hippopotamus being predominant. Extinct species of this class of animals found in a fossil condition. The great mastodon the type of the elephant, though of a different speciesthe principal distinction being in the shape and structure of the teeth; while the mastodon also possessed short tusks in its lower, in addition to those in its upper, jaw. This animal equalled the elephant in size, but with still heavier proportions. Its remains found in a wonderful state of preservation both in America and the Eastern Continent. The skeleton of one, almost entire, found in the valley of the Missouri, now to be seen in the British Museum. The animal supposed to have been more an aquatic, or swamp-hunting, quadruped than the elephant. A mammotha more recent animal of the same classmeasuring from the fore-part of the skull to the end of the tail sixteen feet four inches, and twelve feet in height, discovered in Siberia in 1801, imbedded in ice, with its flesh, skin, and hair as perfect as if recently dead. The remains of another found, which is supposed to have been twenty-five feet high and sixty feet in length. Gigantic elephants, of nearly twice the bulk of the largest elephant of Africa or Ceylon, believed by Professor Owen, from the abundance of their remains, to have roamed in herds over the British Islands in the period immediately before the creation of man. The fossil remains of an animal discovered in the gypsum quarries of Paris and other parts of France, to which has been given the name Paltherium, or the ancient beast, and which seems to have combined the characters of the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the horse, the pig, and the camel; while its external appearance, as restored by Cuvier, approaches more nearly to that of the tapir. The animal supposed to have lived in marshy ground, and to have fed on the roots and stems of trees.
The Almightys object in the, description of Behemoth, to present to Job, in this gigantic and powerful animal, an evidence of His Divine power; and at the same time to teach him his own littleness, and the presumption of thinking to dispute with his Maker, or of questioning the justice of His procedure. The Creator, Preserver, and Governor of such creatures must be one who possesses sufficient power, wisdom, and rectitude to govern the world.
Observe
(1) Not merely do the heavens and the firmament over our head declare the glory of God, but every creature which His hands have made. The huge mammoth points to the irresistibleness of His power, while the almost invisible animalcule tells of the universality of His Providential care.
(2) The largest, as well as the least, of His creatures dependent on, and provided for by, the Creator. He giveth the beast his food. How much more will He care and provide for His own children made after His image! He Who constantly feeds the gigantic monsters of the land and sea can be at no loss to supply the wants of His trusting people. The happiness of believers that they are able to testify with David: He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure (2Sa. 23:5).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT 40:12
40 Moreover Jehovah answered Job, and said,
2 Shall he that cavilleth contend with the Almighty?
He that argueth with God, let him answer it.
COMMENT 40:1, 2
Job. 40:1Yahweh calls on Job to respond to His speech. Job confesses that he is reduced to silence.
Job. 40:2The participial form rab is the subject and yields something like that which is suggested by PopeWill he who argues with Shaddai yield? Dhorme reads yasur with the meaning of yield. The significance is either Job must sustain his competence to criticize Yahweh by answering all the queries from the first part of the speech of God, or forfeit his right to criticize. This section of the text suffers from a defective division of the chapters which was established in the 13th century, and a confusing variation of verse separation established since the 16th century.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Job 40:1-2 God Closes His First Speech to Job In Job 40:1-2 God ends His first dialogue with Job with a rhetorical question asking who is able to contend with or instruct Him, the Creator and Overseer of the Earth. In other words, who dares to question God’s ways.
Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Job 40:2
Job 40:3-5 Job’s First Reply to God God has demanded a reply from Job in Job 38:8. This first reply is recorded in Job 40:3-5. While Job had replied to his three friends with lengthy discourses, he becomes speechless before Almighty God.
Job 40:6 to Job 41:34 God’s Second Speech to Job Job 40:6 to Job 41:34 contains God’s second speech to Job. Here is a proposed outline of this passage.
1. God’s Challenge to Job Job 40:6-14
2. Behemoth Job 40:15-24
3. Leviathan Job 41:1-34
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:7
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
God Reveals Himself to Job by His Creation Did not Job believe God heard his prayers in the midst of his prosperity? How much more should God hear him in the midst of his suffering? In a mighty display of nature’s energy, a whirlwind approaches Job, and a divine voice begins to come forth and speak to Job. God now reveals His true character to Job because his friends had misrepresented Him. He reveals Himself as the omnipotent Creator of the universe, who daily watches over each aspect of His creatures with love and concern through His omniscience and omnipresence. More specifically, God reveals that He alone is just and Job and all of mankind are in need of redemption through faith in God. In man’s fallen condition since the Garden of Eden, all of creation has been made subject to vanity and endures suffering. God will now lead Job into an act of intercession for his friends in order to receive his own deliverance as a testimony that man will have to redeem himself. Yet, what man is qualified to redeem mankind? Job will understand that it must be a man, a man who was righteous before God, a man who must suffer, a man who must be an intercessor, that will redeem mankind. The fullness of this revelation will come at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, when God Himself becomes a man to redeem His people, and with it, all of creation.
We find a similar passage of Scripture in Isa 40:12 to Isa 41:29, where God challenges backslidden Israel to produce her reasons for trusting in idols (Job 41:21). In a similar manner God reveals to Israel her frailty and weakness in the midst of His majestic creation that reveals Him as the divine creator of all things.
Here is a proposed outline:
God’s First Speech Job 38:1 to Job 40:2
Job’s Reply Job 40:3-5
God’s Second Speech Job 40:6 to Job 41:34
Job’s Reply Job 42:1-6
Job 38:1 to Job 42:6 God Reveals Himself to Job by His Creation (The Purpose of the Sciences and Art) The Lord spoke to me this morning and said that the sciences and arts are an expression of God’s divine nature. God reveals His divine nature through His creation (Job 38-41), and the sciences are the tools that mankind uses to explore His creation. The arts are an expression of man’s heart and emotions, and when the Spirit of God is allowed to inspire mankind, he speaks in poetry and song, in paintings and other works of art. (March 24, 2009)
Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 God’s First Speech to Job: The Story of His Creation In Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 God delivers His first speech to Job. The story of creation recorded in Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 serves as a testimony to Job of God’s divine attributes. In this passage of Scripture the Lord revealed to Job His omnipotence, His omniscience, His omnipresence, and His infinite wisdom and power over all of His creation. He reveals to Job the fact that He daily oversees the activities of His creation. God’s description of creating the heavens and earth in Job 38:4-38 reveals His omnipotence. His description of overseeing and sustaining His creatures reveals His omniscience and omnipresence.
In the study of the Holy Scriptures we discover a number of passages revealing the events in the Story of Creation. For example, we have the testimony of the Father’s role in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:4 as the One who has planned and foreknown all things in His creation. We also have the testimony of the Jesus Christ the Son’s role in creation recorded Joh 1:1-14, who is the Word of God through whom all things were created. In Pro 8:22-31 we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit’s role in creation as the Wisdom and Power of God. 2Pe 3:5-7 refers to the story of creation with emphasis upon God’s pending destruction of all things in order to judge the sins of mankind. Heb 11:3 tells us how it is by faith that we understand how the world was created by the Word of God. Another passage of Scripture that reveals the story of Creation is found in Job 38:1 to Job 40:2, where the wisdom and majesty of God Almighty are revealed by describing the details of how His creation came into existence. We can find other brief references to the creation of the earth throughout the Scriptures, such as Psalms 104 and many other individual verses.
Here is a proposed summary of Job 38:1 to Job 40:2:
God Asks Job for Dialogue Job 38:1-3
God As Creator of the Earth Job 38:4-38
God Created the Earth Job 38:4-7
God Created the Seas Job 38:8-11
God Created Day and Night Job 38:12-15
The Depths and Breath of the Sea & Earth Job 38:16-18
God Created Light and Darkness Job 38:19-21
God Created Snow and Ice Job 38:22-30
God Created the Stars & Constellations Job 38:31-33
God Created the Clouds Job 38:34-38
God As Sustainer of Life on the Earth Job 38:39 to Job 39:30
God Sustains the Lion Job 38:39-40
God Sustains the Raven Job 38:41
God Sustains the Wild Goats & Deer Job 39:1-4
God Sustains the Wild Donkey Job 39:5-8
God Sustains the Wild Ox Job 39:9-12
God Sustains the Ostrich Job 39:13-18
God Sustains the Horse Job 39:19-25
God Sustains the Hawk & Eagle Job 39:26-30
God Concludes His First Speech Job 40:1-2
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Job Retracts His Charges
v. 1. Moreover, v. 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him, v. 3. Then Job answered the Lord and said,
v. 4. Behold, I am vile, v. 5. Once have I spoken,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Job 40:1-5
Between the first and the second part of the Divine discourse, at the end of which Job wholly humbles himself (Job 42:1-6), is interposed a short appeal on the part of tile Almighty, and a short reply on Job’s part, which, however, is insufficient. God calls upon Job to make good his charges (verses 1, 2). Job declines, acknowledges himself to be of no account, and promises silence and submission for the future (verses 3-5). But something more is needed; and therefore the discourse is further prolonged.
Job 40:1, Job 40:2
Moreover the Lord. Jehovah‘ as in Job 38:1 and in the opening chapters (see the comment on Job 12:9). Answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? rather, Can he that reproveth contend with the Almighty? (see the Revised Version). Does Job, the reprover, think that he can really contend with the Almighty? If so, then he that reproveth God, let him answer it; or, let him answer this; let him answer, that is, what has been urged in Job 38:1-41 and Job 39:1-30.
Job 40:3, Job 40:4
Then Job answered, the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; literally, I am light; i.e. I am of small account (see the Revised Version). It would be absurd for one so weak and contemptible to attempt to argue with the Almighty. What shall I answer thee? or, What should I answer thee! What should I say, if I were to attempt a reply? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth (see the comment on Job 21:5).
Job 40:5
Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but l will proceed no further. The meaning is, “I have already spoken, not once, but more than once. Now I will be silent; I will say no more.’ There is a sort of recognition that the arguments used were futile, but not a full and complete confession, as in Job 42:3.
Job 40:6-24
Job’s confession not having been sufficiently ample, the Divine discourse is continued through the remainder of this chapter, and through the whole of the next, the object being to break down the last remnants of pride and self-trust in the soul of the patriarch, and to bring him to complete submission and dependence on the Divine will. The argument falls under three headsCan Job cope with God in his general providence (verses 6-14)? can he even cope with two of God’s creatureswith behemoth, or the hippopotamus (verses 15-24); with leviathan, or the crocodile (Job 41:1-34)?
Job 40:6
Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said (comp. Job 38:1). The storm still continued, or, after a lull, had returned.
Job 40:7
Gird up thy loins now like a man (see the comment on Job 38:3): I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Job is given every opportunity of making good his pleas before God. If he has anything to say that he really wishes to urge, God is ready, nay, anxious, to hear him.
Job 40:8
Wilt thou also (rather, even) disannul my judgment? i.e. maintain that my judgment towards thee has not been just and equitable, and therefore, so far as it lies in thy power, disannul it? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Dost thou think it necessary to accuse me of injustice, and condemn me. in order to establish thine own innocence? But there is no such necessity. The two thingsmy justice and thy innocenceare quite compatible. Only lay aside the notion that afflictions must be punitive.
Job 40:9
Hast thou an arm like God? The might of God’s arm is often dwelt upon in Scripture. He brought Israel out of Egypt ,’ with a mighty hand and stretched-out arm” (Deu 5:15; Deu 7:19, etc.). “Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand,” says one of the psalmists (Psa 89:13). “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!” says Isaiah (Isa 51:9). No human strength, not the strength of all men put together, can compare with it. Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? (comp. Job 38:34, Job 38:35; and for the idea of thunder being the actual “voice of God,” see Job 37:4, Job 37:5; Psa 68:33; Psa 77:18, etc.).
Job 40:10
Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. God is at all times “clothed with majesty and strength” (Psa 93:1), “with glory and beauty” (Psa 104:1). He “decks himself with light as with a garment” (Psa 104:2). Job is challenged to array himself similarly.
Job 40:11
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath. “Give vent,” i.e; “to thy anger against the wicked, and let it be seen what thou canst do in the way of restraining evil and punishing transgressors.” Behold every one that is proud, and abase him. If my moral government does not satisfy thee; Improve upon it. Put down those wicked ones whom thou sayest that I allow to prosper (Job 24:2-23); “abase” them in the dust; do what thou accusest me of not doing. Then wilt thou have established something of a claim to enter into controversy with me.
Job 40:12, Job 40:13
Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. The idea of Job 40:11 is still further insisted on. Lot Job manifest himself as a power among men, if he cannot rival God in nature. Let him set the world to rights. Then he may claim to be heard with respect to the moral government of God.
Job 40:14
Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand and save thee. When he has done what he has been challenged to do in Job 40:9-13, then Job may venture to contend with God. He will have established his own independence, and God will acknowledge him as an antagonist entitled to argue with him.
Job 40:15-24
This passage, together with the whole of Job 41:1-34; has been regarded by some critics as an interpolation. Its omission would certainly not affect the argument; and it is thought, in some respects, to contain traces of a later age than that which most commentators assign to the remainder of the book, or, at any rate, to the greater portion of it. The recurrence to the animal creation, when the subject seemed to have been completed (Job 39:30), is also a difficulty. But, on the other hand, as there is no variation, either in the manuscripts or in the versions, and no marked difference either of style or tone of thought between the rest of the book and this controverted passage, it is best regarded as an integral portion of the work, proceeding from the same author, although perhaps at a later period. No one denies that the style is that of the best Hebrew poetry, or that the book would be weakened by the excision of the passage. “Le style,” says M. Renan, “est celui des meilleurs endroits du poeme. Nulle part la coupe n’est pins vigoreuse, le parallelisme plus sonore.’
Job 40:15
Behold now behemoth. “Behemoth” is ordinarily the plural of behemah “a beast;” but it is scarcely possible to understand the word in this sense in the present passage, where it seems to be a noun singular, being followed by singular verbs, and represented by singular pronouns. Hence modern critics almost unanimously regard the word here as designating “some particular animal.” The mammoth, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the elephant have been suggested. Of these the mammoth is precluded by the want of any evidence that it existed in Job’s day, and the rhinoceros by the absence of any allusion to its peculiar feature. Authorities are divided almost equally between the elephant and the hippopotamus; but the best recent Hebraists and naturalists incline rather to the latter. Which I made with thee; i.e. “which I created at the same time as I created thee”. He eateth grass as an ox; i.e. he is graminivorous, not carnivorous. This is admitted to be true of the hippopotamus, which lives in the Nile during the day, and at night emerges from the river, and devastates the crops of sugar-cane, rice, and millet.
Job 40:16
Lo now, his strength is in his loins. The strength of the hippopotamus is its principal characteristic. Weighing often two thousand kilogrammes, and of a short thick make, when roused to anger it has a force which is irresistible. In the water it upsets large beats; on land it forces its way through dense thickets and fences of all kinds. The loins are especially strong, being deep, broad, and immensely muscular. And his force is in the navel of his belly; rather, in the muscles of his belly. The word used () occurs only in this place. It is a plural form, and therefore cannot designate a single object, like the navel. The root seems to be the Syriac serir, “firm,” whence Schultens proposes to translate by firmitates.
Job 40:17
He moveth his tail like a cedar. The tail of the hippopotamus is remarkably short and thick. It only bends slightly, being stiff and unyielding, like the stem of a cedar. The sinews of his stones (rather, of his thighs) are wrapped together; or, interwoven one with another (so Professor Lee and Mr. Houghton).
Job 40:18
His bones are as strong pieces of brass; rather, as tubes of bronze. The great thigh-bones of the Greeksare probably intended. These are hollow, being filled with marrow, and are so strong that they may be well compared to “tubes of bronze.” His bones (rather, his ribs) are like bars of iron. Either the ribs, or the solid bones of the lower leg, forearm, etc; are intended.
Job 40:19
He is the chief of the ways of God. This is the main argument in favour of the elephant, rather than the hippopotamus, being intended (see Schultens, ad loc.). It has, indeed, been argued that some specimens of the hippopotamus exceed the elephant in height and bulk; but no modern naturalist certainly would place the former animal above the latter in any catalogue raisone of animals arranged according to their size and importance. The elephant, however, may not have been known to the author of Job, or, at any rate, the Asiatic species, which seems not to have been imported into Assyria before the middle of the ninth century b.c. In this case, the hippopotamus might well seem to him the grandest of the works of God. He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. This is explained to mean, “Only God can attack behemoth with success and slay him; man is powerless to do so” (Canon Cook, Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). But the Egyptians, from very early times, used to attack the hippopotamus and slay him. It is better, therefore, to translate the passage, with Schultens, “He that made him hath furnished him with his sword,” and to understand by “his sword” those sharp teeth with which the hippopotamus is said to “cut the grass as neatly as if it were mown‘ and to sever, as if with shears‘ a tolerably stout and thick stem”. Compare the ‘Theriaca’ of Nicander, 11. 566, 567
Job 40:20
Surely the mountains bring him forth food. Neither the hippopotamus nor the elephant is an inhabitant of “mountains,” according to our use of the word. But the harim () of the original is used of very moderate eminences. In the highly poetical language of Job, and especially of this passage, the term may well be applied to the hills on either side of the Nile, which approach closely to the river, and to this day furnish the hippopotamus with a portion of its food. Where all the beasts of the field play. By “the beasts of the field“ seem to be meant the cattle and other do-mastic animals which are not driven from their pasture-grounds by the “river-horse”.
Job 40:21
He listh under the shady trees; or, under the lotus trees (Revised Version). The Lotus sylvestris, or Lotus Cyrenaiea, “grows abundantly an the hot banks of the Upper Nile” (Cook). and is thought to be the tree here intended (Schultens. Cook, Houghton, and others). But the identification is very doubtful. The dense shade of trees is sought alike by the hippopotamus and the elephant. In the covert of the reed, and fens. This is exactly descriptive of the hippopotamus; far less so of the elephant. Gordon Cumming says, “At every turn there occurred deep still pools, and occasional sandy islands, densely clad with lofty reeds Above and beyond these reeds stood trees of immense age. beneath which grew a rank kind of grass, on which the sea-cow (hippopotamus) delights to pasture”.
Job 40:22
The shady trees (or, the lotus trees) cover him with their shadow (see the comment on Job 40:21); the willows of the brook compass him round about. The “willow of the brook” (Lev 23:40) is probably the Saliz Aegyptiaca, or safsaf, which grows plentifully in the Nile valley, fringing the course both of the Nile itself and of the many streams derived from it. The Saliz Babylonica, or “weeping willow,” is less likely.
Job 40:23
Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not; rather, behold, let a river overflow, he trembleth not ( , ‘ LXX). As an amphibious animal, the overflowing of a river has no terrors for the hippopotamus. But it would have some terrors for an elephant. He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. It is better to translate, he is steadfast (or, confident)’ though Jordan swell even to his mouth. “Jordan” probably stands for any large and strong-flowing river. The conjecture that is a corruption of , which often stands for “the Nile,” is ingenious, but unnecessary.
Job 40:24
He taketh it with his eyes; rather, Shall one take him when he is looking on? “Can he be captured.” i.e.‘ “when his eyes are open, and when he sees what is intended? No. If captured at all, it must be by subtlety, when he is not on the watch.” His nose pierceth through snares; rather, Or can one bore his nostril with cords? i.e. can we lead him away captive, with a ring or hook passed through his nose, and a cord attached (compare the next chapter, Job 40:2)?
HOMILETICS
Job 40:1-5
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the application.
I. JEHOVAH‘S CONDESCENSION TOWARDS JOB.
1. In listening with patient silence to Job‘s censures and complaints. “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?” literally, “Shall the reprover [i.e. of God] contend in contending with the Almighty?” This is the first formal notice taken by Jehovah of the fact that Job had indulged in censorious reflections against the Divine character and administration. They had all been heard by that ever-listening ear which no sound can escape. But no sign or indication had been given that the Deity was cognizant of the reflections cast upon him by his angry servant. Patiently he had suffered Job to proceed against him as far as he thought good. And the like meek, uncomplaining attitude does he still preserve towards them, whether ungodly unbelievers or backsliding professors, who cast reproaches on his Name (Psa 50:21). The Divine patience in the face of man’s provocations to wrath is a sublime miracle of condescension.
2. In seeking rather to remove Job‘s censures by instruction than to silence them by chastisement. When at length Job had ended his long arraignment of the Divine government of the world, it would not have been surprising had God descended on him by way of punishment, calling him to account for his over-bold behaviour. Instead of that, the Almighty causes an ambassador, Elihu, to deal with him by way of education, imparting to him such views of God’s character and ways as might serve to correct his misapprehensions. Nay, himself, the supreme Jehovah, stoops to become his own Ambassador for the selfsame purpose, that he might set before the mind of his servant such an image and presentment of himself that the misconceptions which gave rise to his censures might be removed. What God gave to Job out of the whirlwind he has in the Person of Jesus Christ given to the worlda manifestation of himselfand for a like purpose, not condemnation, but salvation (Joh 3:17), through the removal of those erroneous ideas which hinder men from giving him their confidence and love (2Co 4:6).
3. In submitting to discuss the question of his own character with his creature. “He that reproveth God, let him answer it;” i.e. if Job had anything to urge in reply to the representation which God had given of himself, God was ready to attend to it. Surely here was a depth of self-abasement to which only a God of love and grace could stoop! A prefigurement, may it not be said, of the stupendous condescension of the Incarnation, when God, not arrayed in majesty, but clothed in the lowly garb of humanity, stooped to talk with sinful man, as a man talketh with his friend!
II. JOB‘S SUBMISSION TO JEHOVAH.
1. An acknowledgment of insignificance. “Behold, I am vile;” literally, “I am mean, small, of no account, a being to be despised in comparison with thee.” It is not yet a sense of moral imperfection that fills the breast of Job, as afterwards, when the second Divine remonstrance ends (Job 42:6), but simply a vivid realization of his utter feebleness and contemptibleness before a God of such incomparable majesty as Jehovah, of such far-reaching power and wide-ranging wisdom. Man never knows his real littleness until he understands the greatness of God.
2. A confession of ignorance. “What shall I answer thee?” Job meant that he felt utterly unable to reply to the arguments which God had adduced in support of his right to govern the world on principles of his own without taking Job or any other creature into his confidence. Hence the resolution, “I will lay my hand upon my mouth,” was designed to intimate both his resolution to be silent and his inability to reply. The less men attempt to answer God the better. When God brings his heavenly teachings home to the spirit, the proper attitude is silent admiration and submission. “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”
3. An admission of error. “Once have I spoken; but I will not answer [literally. and I will not answer,’ i.e. I will not reply again]; yea, twice; but [literally, ‘and’] I will proceed no further.” Whether Job intended to say that he had twice, or only once, answered God, he certainly meant that he had spoken wrongly in his previous utterances. It was much that he had now arrived at a clear perception of his error. It was a good preparation for his ultimate complete withdrawal from the false position which all throughout the controversy with God he had maintained.
4. A profession of amendment. He had done wrong in the past; he would do so no moreat least in this respect. This becoming resolution was “a fruit meet for repentance,” a promise of the final soul-surrender which was drawing nigh.
Learn:
1. That God deals with men on the principles of grace, even when they richly deserve to receive only justice.
2. That for a puny creature to find fault with God is an amazing act of presumption.
3. That the first sign of goodness in a human soul is a perception, however faint, of its own insignificance.
4. That they who have fallen into sin once should, like Job, endeavour to do so no more.
Job 40:6-14
Jehovah to Job: the second answer: 1. A sublime challenge.
I. A SUMMONS ISSUED. “Gird up thy loins like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” Here again appears a series of gracious wonders.
1. That Jehovah should propose to continue further the instruction of his servant. But so God deals with all whom he undertakes to educate, teaching them with patience, perseverance, minuteness, giving them line upon line, and desisting not until their spiritual enlightenment is complete.
2. That Jehovah should advise his servant of the searching character of the examination to which he was about to be subjected. He had done so on the first occasion. But after Job’s partial submission it might have been expected that the second ordeal would be easier than the first. In order to prevent the rise of any such misunderstanding, Job is a second time advised that the forthcoming inter. view, like the first, wilt require on his part the most strenuous resolution and endeavour. God seldom takes his people unawares except with mercy.
3. That Jehovah should a second time invite his servant to become his instructor. This is practically what he does in giving Job another opportunity to reply to his interrogations. But there is no limit to God’s grace in stooping to help his creature man.
II. A QUESTION ASKED. “Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” Jehovah means by this to say that Job’s conduct, in maintaining as he had done his own righteousness, really involved two tremendous assumptions.
1. That he (Job) could govern the world better (i.e. more justly) than God. Hence Jehovah inquires if Job proposed to disannul the Divine judgment, and take upon himself the task of administering mundane affairs. Even good men do not always understand how much is involved in the statements they rashly utter. Nor can any interpreter so clearly tell them as God.
2. That he (Job) was a more righteous being than his Maker. No doubt Job would have shrunk from any such deification of himself, had be clearly foreseen how much his utterances meant. Job’s example should teach saints to keep the door of their lips. That Jehovah still urged these interrogations on his servant was a proof that the work of reducing him to complete subjection was not yet accomplished.
III. A PROPOSAL MADE. That Job should for once take God’s place, and show what he could do in the way of governing the world. “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” On the supposition that Job is competent to exchange places with the Supreme, he is invited:
1. To array himself in the royal robes of Deity. “Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.” Whatever glory man possesses is not inherent, but derived, and is really as no glory by the reason of the glory that excelleth, viz. the glory of the supreme Creator. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” God “covereth himself with light as with a garment,” and is “clothed with honour and with majesty.” Jehovah means that Job should similarly array himself in splendours like those of the material creation, or that he should occupy the throne of which these constituted, as it were, the external trappings and visible decorations.
2. To display the righteous wrath of Deity. “Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath;” literally, “Let the overflowings of thy wrath pour themselves forth.” A characteristic attribute of Deity to manifest holy indigtation against evildoers (Isa 2:10-21), it is here suggested to Job for imitation. This, however, does not warrant good men to usurp the place and function of him who says, “Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” God’s people may pour forth their righteous indignation against iniquity; upon the evil-doer they are only warranted to pour forth pity.
3. To exercise the judicial functions of Deity. “Behold every one that is proud, and abase him;” or, “Behold all pride and abase it; behold all pride and bring it low; and tread,” or cast down, “the wicked in their place.” The language sets forth
(1) the principle of the Divine administration, which is to humble pride (Le 26:19; Psa 18:27; Pro 8:13; Isa 2:11; Mat 23:12);
(2) the certainty of its operation, indicated by the repetition of the challenge, “Behold all pride, and abase it,” i.e. as I do without failing;
(3) the ease with which it is carried into execution, “Behold pride, and abase it,” cast it down with a look, as I do;
(4) the efficiency with which it is performed, “Hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret,” the allusion being either to the shutting up of prisoners (Umbreit, Delitzsch), or perhaps to the bandaging of mummies or shrouding of corpses (Carey).
IV. A RESULT STIPULATED. “Then will I also confess unto thee [or, ‘extol thee’] that thine own hand can save thee [or, ‘bring to thee help’].” The words imply:
1. That man cannot save‘ or even effectually help, himself. The human heart is prone to think it can effect its own deliverance from misery and sin; but the utter helplessness of man to escape condemnation and free himself from the moral pollution in which he naturally lies, or even to surmount the calamities of life, is not only declared by Scripture, but confirmed by all experience. “Without me,” said Christ, “ye can do nothing.”
2. That nothing short of Divine power is required to accomplish man‘s salvation. Only on the hypothesis that Job was possessed of powers and attributes that were Divine does Jehovah admit that he might achieve his own emancipation from either the afflictions that assailed his body or the fears that disturbed his mind. This thought lays the axe to the root of the doctrine of the self-regenerative power of human nature. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”
3. That such power belongs exclusively to Jehovah. Hence he alone is a God of salvation. “I am a just God and a Saviour, and there is none beside me.” Hence also he alone is the quarter to which man should look for succour. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help.”
4. That, as a consequence‘ to God alone belongs the praise of man‘s salvation. Jehovah admits that to save a man like Job would be a creditable achievement, an extremely praiseworthy deed, and offers, moreover, to extol him if he can perform it. But to God alone pertains the power that is able to redeem. Hence also to God alone pertains the glory (1Ch 29:11; Rev 4:11; Rev 5:9, Rev 5:12).
Learn:
1. That the proper subject of man’s judgment is not God, but himself.
2. That he who thinks to rival Goat is self-deceived.
3. That the visible part of God’s glory is as nothing in comparison to what is yet to be revealed.
4. That God’s government of the world is always in the interests of meekness, truth, and righteousness.
5. That man should not stint the praise of him who hath brought salvation nigh to a fallen world.
Job 40:15-24
Jehovah to Job: the second answer: 2. Concerning behemoth.
I. THE RELATION OF BEHEMOTH TO OTHER ANIMALS. “He is the chief of the ways of God” (verse 19). This huge monster, this giant among beasts, as perhaps the above-cited phrase indicates, is commonly supposed to have been the hippopotamus, or Nile-horse. It is here described by a variety of particulars.
1. Its terrific strength. Concerning this are noted:
(1) its seat or source, the creature’s inward parts”Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel [literally, the cords,’ i.e. the sinews or muscles] of his belly;” “the sinews of his stones,” or legs, “are wrapped together,” or firmly interwoven; “his bones are as strong pieces,” tubes, “of brass; his bones are like bars of iron” (verses 16-18); and
(2) its exercise or manifestation”he moveth his tail like a cedar,” with as much ease “as the mighty tempest is able to drive hither and thither the loftiest trees” (Umbreit).
2. Its herbivorous appetite. “He eateth grass as an ox” (verse 15); “Surely the mountains bring him forth food” (verse 20). Though an animal of such gigantic proportions, the hippopotamus is not carnivorous as might have been anticipated. The quantity of food, however, which he does devour is enormous. “He makes sad havoc among the rice-fields and cultivated grounds, when be issues forth from the reedy fens” (Tristram).
3. Its peaceful disposition. Whereas one might naturally have expected to find him ferocious, “all the beasts of the field play around” (verse 20) while he grazes. If unmolested, he is harmless. How much of the ferocity of even wild animals is the natural response to the cruelty of man! The creatures would seldom rise against man if he did not first tyrannize over them.
4. Its amphibious nature. While capable of living on the land, its peculiar habitation is under the lotus-bushes, and among the reeds and fens of the river. “The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about” (verse 22).
5. Its absolute fearlessness. So much at home among the water is the brute that it matters nothing whether the river is in flood or not. “Behold, if the stream be strong, he doth not quake: he remaineth cheerful, though a Jordan burst upon his mouth” (verse 23).
II. THE RELATION OF BEHEMOTH TO MAN.
1. Created along with man. “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee” (verse 15). The language might certainly mean that behemoth was one of those primeval animals which were called into existence with man on the sixth of the creative days (Carey), but probably it implies nothing more than that behemoth had been created to be with man (Bochart, Delitzsch), or as well as man (Umbreit). Though the firstling of the ways of God, a very masterpiece of the Divine Artificer’s hand, he was still a creature like Job.
2. Subordinated at first to man. Though not stated in the passage, it is worthy of being here recalled, that man was by an original appointment of the Creator constituted lord of the creatures (Gen 1:28). What is suggested by the passage is the loss of this divinely given supremacy over the animals.
3. Untamable by man. “He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares” (verse 24). This may signify that the animal when swimming receiveth the water up to his eyes, and is able to drive right through any snares or nets that may be spread to catch him (Carey); but the rendering of the margin is commonly preferred, “Will any take him in his sight?” i.e. can one catch him while he is watching? “or bore his nose with a gin?” “Neither the open face, nor the stratagem, which one employs with effect with other animals, is sufficient to overpower this monster” (Delitzsch).
III. THE RELATION OF BEHEMOTH TO GOD.
1. Behemoth was God‘s creature. Job at the best was nothing more. Jehovah had made Job; Jehovah had also made behemoth. This was fitted to remind Job
(1) of his dependence upon God;
(2) of the humility he should cherish when reflecting on his origin;
(3) of the relation he sustained to the animals; and
(4) of the kindness he owed to the creatures.
2. Behemoth was God‘s masterpiece. “The chief of the ways of God” (verse 19), as above hinted, points to superiority of nature rather than to priority of time. The behemoth was, in its sphere or world, one of the noblest productions of God. Was man also, in his sphere or world, a masterpiece of God? Here was food for reflection to the patriarch, for self-examination, and doubtless also for self-humiliation.
3. Behemoth was God‘s subject. “He that made him can make his sword approach unto him” (verse 19). Though this verse, when properly translated, points rather to the peculiar sword which God has bestowed on behemoth, viz.” the gigantic incisors ranged opposite one another, with which it grazes upon the meadow as with a sickle” (Delitzsch), yet the sentiment, as it stands, is correct, and was probably one Jehovah intended to suggest, viz. that though Job could not master behemoth, yet he, Jehovah, could.
Learn:
1. That he who made the world of creatures is best able to describe them.
2. That God rejoices in the strength and beauty of the lower creatures.
3. That in every sphere of creation there are gradations of excellence among the works of God.
4. That from the study of zoology we may learn much concerning the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator.
5. That when man can put a saddle on behomoth he may begin to cherish the hope of being able to rule the world.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Job 40:1-5
Conclusion of Jehovah’s address: reply of Job: lowliness in the presence of Jehovah.
The words of Jehovah express this
I. THAT THE DIVINE WORKS PRESENT A TRIUMPHANT CHALLENGE TO HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. (Verse 2.) Can man surpass them? Can he even imitate them? What can he do but silently admire them, and adore the Author of them? Therefore the serious contemplation of the works of God is well fitted to silence an ignorant criticism, and quell the idle murmurs of discontent. To trace his power, wisdom, and fatherly love through the various departments of the visible universe is to deepen in our minds faith in his order. We in some way are instruments for promoting that order, and shall be blessed in proportion to our active or resigned compliance with its laws.
II. THE STUDY OF THE DIVINE ORDER, THEN, IS FITTED, NOT ONLY TO SILENCE THE CAVILS OF A SHORT–SIGHTED CRITICISM, BUT TO PRODUCE BOTH FAITH AND HUMILITY. (Verses 3-5.) This is the effect on the mind of Job. He feels his littleness in presence of the infinite Intelligence; and, laying his hand upon his mouth, makes the resolve of silence for the future from all questioning of his Maker. Thus silently, as the storms and frosts of winter give place to the genial warmth and gentle influences of spring, is this proud and passionate heart, which want of sympathy and injustice at the hands of man had stung into proud self-consciousness and presumptuous appeals to God, softened by the voice and revelation of God himself into the heart of a little child. When we see ourselves as we are, because seeing ourselves in relation to him; when we are convinced of our insignificance in ourselves, and of the greatness of that grace which alone sheds a true value and significance upon our lives, peace begins to be shed through the heart, and in the silence of a true submission we wait for that which God may further have to speak to us, instead of assailing him with the clamour of passion and ignorance.J.
Verse 6-41:34
Second discourse of Jehovah: the righteous government of’ God.
In the previous discourse we have had especially the universal power and wisdom of God impressed upon us; in the present the thought of the justice of his rule is to be more fully brought into the light: in order thus to bring Job to full conviction, and expel the last remains of anger and pride from his heart; while Divine love triumphs in his repentance (Job 42:6).
I. REBUKE OF THE PRESUMPTION WHICH DOUBTS OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD. (Verses 6-14.) Once again is Job summoned to gird up his loins and prepare for the contest with Divine reason. Let, then, these questions receive an answer from the murmurer’s and the doubter’s lips. Will man “disannul” or bring to nought the justice of God? For this he seems to aim at who would place his own notions of what is right in the place of the Divine. Or, if man would enter on this competition, has he the means to carry out the strife? has he the arm, the power of God? can he wield the thunder of Omnipotence? Let the experiment be tried. Let man clothe himself with the Divine attributes, at least in fancy; let him put on glory and pride, splendour and pomp. Let his anger break forth in fiery floods, and let him overwhelm all the pinnacles of human pride. Let him as just judge cast the wicked clown; strew them in the dust before his righteous retribution. Let man do these things, and Jehovah will praise him, and there will be no need of self-praise and boasting, because his right hand helps him; because he actually possesses the power to carry out his ideas of justice and make them prevail on the earth (comp. Psa 45:4; Isa 59:18; Isa 63:5). If man can do none of these things, how can he venture to challenge him who alone can and does execute judgment in the earth? God does ever punish and destroy the wicked, and is ever ready to help the faithful; can man excel or equal God in his ideas or practice of righteousness? “The Lord says to Job, Shall my judgment, by which I either afflict the godly or declare all men to be liars, be empty and vain in thy opinion? Doth it behove me to be unjust, that thy justice may stand? Thou art indeed just, and thou hast my testimony to this (Job 2:1-13.), but it shall not therefore be lawful for thee to slander the judgments of God in affliction.” “They who ascribe to themselves in their own strength righteousness before God, simply condemn God and make his judgment void, as if he had not the competence and power to judge and condemn them (Rom 3:4)” (Cramer).
II. REBUKE OF JOB‘S PRIDE; DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT BEASTS. (Verse 15-41:84.) These two vast monsters, behemoth and leviathan, are types of God’s creative power. Their gigantic strength fills feeble man with wonder; and yet they are but as toys in the hand of the Almighty. They are subject to the Divine will; and in them we are to see an exemplification of the manner in which God subdues the pride of the creature. The behemoth. (Verses 15-24.) This huge and terrible animal is a fellow-creature of Job, an effect of the same almighty power. Let Job consider him, and perceive how small and feeble in the presence of God are all created existences, and of how little avail is all haughty and proud confidence in external things before him. Then follows the striking description of the power of the hippopotamus, or horse of the Nile, uniting elasticity with firmness, so that he is “a firstling of the ways of God'” or a masterpiece of the Creator. Everything about this creature is noteworthy; his sword-like, gigantic teeth; his fodder, which whole mountain tracts supply. As he lies among the reeds and lotus-plants, taking his noonday repose, he is the very image of living force. Were a river, a very Jordan, to force its way into his mouth, he could make light of it. Yet this huge beast is entirely in the power of God. His size and strength avail him nought, if God has determined to destroy him. How aptly says the Roman poet, “Force devoid of judgment sinks beneath its own weight; while that which is self-controlled Heaven advances in greatness. God hates the strength that sets in motion ill with the mind” (Her; ‘Od.,’ 3. 4)! He, amidst the obscure notions of the pagan mythology, still sees clearly the truth here and in so many Scriptures set forth, that no might, bestial, human, or superhuman, can stand against that will which is of almighty power and absolute righteousness.J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Job 40:3-5
Humility.
Job, unconvicted of a lack of integrity or willing departure from the law of rectitude, is nevertheless capable of self-humiliation, and, like all sensitive spiritual persons, is quick to mark his own faults in presence of a purer model. He is now bowed to the very earth. The Lord had spoken and showed Job his littleness and insignificance, and yet Job had ventured to defend himself in presence of the dealings of Jehovah. Now he is humbled and subdued. The process of the Divine discipline of the righteous ‘is being unfolded. Job knows that though he can reply to his companions and friends, if he would contend with God “he cannot answer him one of a thousand.” The voice of the Lord has brought Job to the dust. He is convicted of his error in pretending to justify himself in presence of the Lord’s dealings. He, not Jehovah, must have been in the wrong. Then, in the attitude of conscious sinfulness before the Holy One, he confesses himself “of no account.” Henceforth he will “answer” no more, but lay his hand upon his mouth and keep silence. Job’s attitude of lowly humility before the Lord is another instructive feature in the drama. The man who could stand up before his fellow-men may welt bow down before the Lord. The attitude of humility before the Lord the true one for sinful man.
I. IT IS AN ATTITUDE BECOMING MAN IN PRESENCE OF THE HOLINESS AND MAJESTY OF THE DIVINE NAME.
II. IT IS AN ATTITUDE BECOMING TO THE SINFULNESS OF MAN. Where should the creature so full of imperfection be found but in the dust?
III. IT IS AN ATTITUDE BECOMING ONE, WHO HAS A JUST ESTIMATE OF HIS RELATION OF DEPENDENCE UPON THE WISDOM AND POWER OF JEHOVAH. One so wholly frail and dependenta poor wormmay well bow in lowly, humble prostration before the Lord of the whole earth.
IV. IT IS AN ATTITUDE BECOMING TO HIM WHO HAS RIGHTLY REFLECTED UPON THE GREATNESS, MAJESTY, AND GLORY OF GOD, AND HIS OWN LITTLENESS AND INSIGNIFICANCE IN PRESENCE THEREOF. This was precisely Job’s case. And it is the precursor of that lifting up which is granted only to them who are truly bowed down.R.G.
Verse 15-41:34
The creatures of his power.
Out of the storm and tempest, just symbols of the Divine power, the Lord answers Job in words calculated further and deeper to humble the prostrate one. The Divine hand is tempering the already yielding clay and preparing it for the impress of the Divine stamp. The Lord calls Job to compare himself with him. This Job cannot venture to do. The next process is to show how weak is man in presence of the creatures of the Divine power. In prolonged words the great might of “behemoth” and “leviathan” are set forth; but it is with a view to set forth the Divine might as illustrated in these the creatures of his hands. The process of reasoning isIf the creature of God is mighty, how much more so is the Creator himself! Thus the Divine works speak for God; and their voice every wise one will hear and heed. The greatness of nature, the marvellous works of the Divine hands; their unnumbered and innumerable hosts; their multiplied variety; their wonderful structure; their beauty; their continuous preservation; their mutual adaptation and service;all declare the wonders of the Divine hand. In later days the eyes of men were directed to the insignificant sparrow, the ,here bird on the house-top, and from the Divine care over it men were led to learn lessons of faith and trustful hope. So here, by reference to the greater creatures of the Divine power, frail man is led lower and lower into the depths of humiliation and self-abasement. The creatures display
I. THE DEPTH OF THE CREATIVE WISDOM OF GOD.
II. THE ALMIGHTINESS OF THE DIVINE POWER.
III. THE INFINITUDE OF THE DIVINE BENEFICENCE. “All thy works praise thee, O God.”
IV. THEY TEACH THE LESSON TO MAN OF HUMBLENESS AND LOWLY TRUST. He who cares for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the field will not neglect frail man. Happy is he who has learnt to trust in the Lord and do good, knowing that he shall dwell in the land, and verily he shall be fed.R.G.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Job 40:1, Job 40:2
Contending with the Almighty.
Job has been contending with the Almighty, and now God confronts him with the fact. This is the practical point to which we have come after being led through the picture-gallery of nature which has revealed to us the greatness of God in contrast with the littleness of man.
I. WE ARE TEMPTED TO CONTEND WITH GOD.
1. By our liberty. We have freedom of thought as well as freedom of will. Thus we seem to be able to turn round and take up a position of our own in opposition to God.
2. By our trouble. It was great distress that drove Job into a contention with God. We do not find him attempting or desiring anything of the kind in the opening scene of the story. When trouble comes upon us we are displeased, and not seeing why it is sent we are tempted to murmur.
3. By our sin. Even Job, innocent as regards the gross charges of his three censors, was imperfect, as he is now brought to admit. Now, sin is opposition to God, and the attempt to justify it leads to contention with God.
4. By God‘s forbearance. Because he is long-suffering we presume upon his patience. We are like Jacob wrestling with the “Traveller unknown,” who only maintained the conflict so long as his mysterious Antagonist refrained from putting forth his strength (Gen 32:24-32).
II. WE ARE WRONG IN CONTENDING WITH GOD. This contention shows faults in us.
1. Ignorance. If we knew all, we should see how foolish the whole contention was. But we stumble into it in our confusion and folly.
2. Rebellion. Oar business is to submit and obey. When we dispute we are resisting, if only mentally.
3. Distrust. God is not trusted when we venture to oppose ourselves to him; for if he were we should be silent, not perhaps understanding his action, but possessing our souls in patience, and waiting for the final disclosure that is to explain God’s treatment of his children.
III. IT IS USELESS FOR US TO CONTEND WITH GOD. Our position in relation to God does not offer us a chance of success.
1. Inequality. This is a contest of feebleness with almightiness. How can the finite hope for a victory in wrestling with the Infinite?
2. Incompetence. We do not know how to put our ease before God, and his action is not understood by us. Therefore our contention is confused and misleading. There is only one way of coming to terms with God, and that is to accept his terms.
IV. IT IS NEEDLESS FOR US TO CONTEND WITH GOD. We are not left with the doleful prospect of simply submitting to the inevitable. Although we cannot see the good in God’s action, if only we have faith in him we may rest assured that he is doing just the very best thing for us and all his creatures. This assurance depends on his nature and character. He is a just God and a Saviour, and therefore he cannot be acting unjustly and injuriously. Our indictment of God’s goodness is a huge blunder from beginning to end. Let us but trust his goodness in the dark and in the face of the most distressful events, and in the end we shall see that our safety lies in submission.W.F.A.
Job 40:4
Humbled before God.
At length Job is brought near to the state of mind that God desires to see in him. Proud and defiant before the unwise and unjust attacks of his human accusers, he is humbled in the dust in presence of the revelation of God.
I. THE VISION OF GOD IN HIS WORKS HUMBLES US. Job has seen a succession of vivid pictures of the works of God in nature. They all transcend human efforts. Then how great must the Author of nature be! How small are we in his awful presence! Pride is always a form of godlessness. We forget God when we exalt ourselves. Our self-exaltation is only possible while we shut ourselves up in a little world. When we see God we are humbled. Now, this is not only because God is supremely powerful. There is some heroism in the weak maintaining their right in the presence of the strong. But God’s greatness in nature is seen in intellectual and moral features. The wonderful thought of God impressed upon his works reveals a mind infinitely greater than the human mind; and the care with which God provides for all his creatureswild asses, heedless ostriches, and repulsive ravens, as well as those creatures that seem more deserving of his providenceshows us how good God is. Thus the wisdom and goodness of God, added to the power that makes resistance useless, crown the revealed character of God with glory, and invite our humble adoration.
II. SILENCE BEFORE GOD IS THE TRUE EXPRESSION OF HUMILITY. It cannot be said that Job is as yet deeply conscious of sin. The “vileness” of which he makes confession is rather his mean estate, his poor, feeble, human helplessness, than moral guilt. Therefore it does not need to be made much of, or regarded as anything like a full confession. It is, however, the mark of humility to admit it, and then to relapse into silence. This is the Condition to which the great argument of the drama is designed to bring its readers. We are too busy with our own performances in religion. In prayer we have too many words to speak to God. We are always telling him what he knows already, and often dictating to him what we think he should be doing, instead of patiently waiting for his voice and humbly submitting to his will. There is room for more silence in religion and in all life.
III. SILENT HUMILITY IS A PREPARATION FOR EXALTATION, At the end of the book we discover that God exalts Job and loads him with favour and prosperity. But he must be humbled first. The later honour is only possible after Job has abased himself. So long as he justified himself and arraigned the justice of God, he could not be restored and exalted. Thus the poem shows to us the way in which God disciplines his servants and prepares them to enjoy his goodness. Humility is the door to honour. This is a very Christian truth. It is taught by Christ: “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” It is gloriously illustrated in the life and death and exaltation of Christ (see Php 2:5-11).W.F.A.
Job 40:8
Impugning God’s justice.
I. MURMURING AT PROVIDENCE IS IMPUGNING GOD‘S JUSTICE. This may not be clearly seen or admitted at once. The connection between the occurrences of human history and the Divine mind that controls them is not visible to the eye of sense. Thus we may complain freely of what God does without intending to charge God with wrong. And yet this is what the complaint leads to and involves. If we do not believe that things fall out by chance, and if we do not hold that the world is administered at present by a lower providence, we must be virtually impugning the justice of God when we object to what we cannot deny to be his actions. It may be desirable that complaints should be pushed to their ultimate results, for then we shall see whether they are reasonable or not. If we are persuaded that God is just, we shall see that it is unwise and wrong to murmur at what happens to us in the course of providence.
II. WE ARE TEMPTED TO IMPUGN GOD‘S JUSTICE. God seemed to be acting unjustly to Job. The present aspect of the world is not that which we should expect from a fair and equitable ruler. Our own lives are subjected to rude shocks that strike us as perplexingly unjust.
1. There is injustice arising from unjust men. Job was unjustly treated, not by God, but by his three friends. We should not charge God with the sins of our own brethren.
2. We cannot see the whole of God‘s plan. The opening appears to be unfair. But wait for the end. God’s justice is large and far-reaching. It will be revealed when the whole sweep of his dealings with us is comprehended. The arc ends in an acute angle. Only the complete circle is without a break and smooth throughout.
III. IT IS BOTH FOOLISH AND WRONG TO IMPUGN GOD‘S JUSTICE,
1. It is foolish. We are not in a position to judge; we do not know all the facts, and our standard of judgment is perverted by our own prejudices and unjust claims. The tyro cannot wisely criticize the achievements of the master.
2. It is wrong. If we knew God we should not charge ]aim foolishly. But we should know him if we drew near to him in the right spirit. Too often our doubt of God’s justice is not so much the product of a purely intellectual difficulty as the result of a moral fault. It shows lack of faith in his goodness, and it springs from a miserable weakness that will not venture to trust God.
IV. CHRISTIAN FAITH FORBIDS US TO IMPUGN GOD‘S JUSTICE. Even Christ does not clear up the mystery, and still we have to walk by faith. We cannot yet see that God is dealing justly with us. But we have good grounds for confidence in our Lord’s revelation of the nature and character of God. Christ shows us the fatherly nature of God. He makes us see that God is good and full of love for his children. At the same time, he exalts the perfect rectitude of God. Such a knowledge of God as we have in Christ should fill our souls with faith and hope, because such a God as Christ has made known cannot act unjustly, although for a time he may appear to do so. He who knows God in Christ cannot fall into pessimism. He should be able to say with Browning
” This world’s no blot,
Nor blank: it means intensely, and means good.”
W.F.A.
Job 40:12
The humiliation of the proud.
The idea is something like this: If Job can sit as a judge over what God does, he ought to be able to take God’s judgment-seat and execute justice among men. But can he do this? Can he humiliate the proud? If he is incapable of this act of justice, how small a creature he is before the great God who raises up and casts down!
I. THE HUMILIATION OF THE PROUD IS GREATLY NEEDED, This particular act of justice is singled out as though it were pre-eminent in importance. It is important on many accounts.
1. For the sake of the proud. Pride is ruinous to the heart in which it has taken up its abode, eating up the better feelings and preparing for the incoming of other sins. The only hope for a proud man is that he should be brought low, and so emptied of self.
2. For the sake of others. The proud spirit is domineering. Pride is at the root of tyranny. If men are to have their rights, the pride of the exalted must be brought down.
3. For God‘s sake. Pride is an insult to God, a usurpation of the Divine rights and honours. Before God man is small, weak, sinful. His only titling condition is one of humility and complete self-abasement in the sight of Heaven.
II. THE HUMILIATION OF THE PROUD IS MOST DIFFICULT TO ACCOMPLISH, Can Job do this? It is not to be supposed that he can. Pride is doubly strong.
1. In its own character. It is of the nature of pride to induce self-confidence. Even while the world is pointing the finger of scorn at the proud man, he wraps himself in the mantle of his own self-importance, and despises contempt. Here is a great difference between pride and vanity, for vanity is easily cast down, because it lives on the admiration of the world, while pride is self-contained, and may be most intense when it is least honoured.
2. In its circumstances. There are poor and unfortunate proud men. But, as a rule, success and power are the temptations to pride. Thus the proud man is entrenched behind his good fortune, and he uses all the means that prosperity has given him to defend his position.
III. THE HUMILIATION OF THE PROUD IS BROUGHT ABOUT BY GOD. This is most decidedly a Divine work. It is beyond the reach of Job or of any man. God humbles pride:
1. By his power. The proud man is helpless before his Maker. His resources are as poverty itself, and all his self-importance is but childish pretence. God lifts up the lowly, and sets down the mighty with a word.
2. In his justice. Man’s pride is not attacked simply because God is jealous of it, but because it is an evil thing. An insult to God, an injury to man, it needs to be cast out in order that a right spirit of humility and obedience may take the place of it.
3. For the sake of his love. God humbles the proud man because he loves him. The abasement is not a vindictive act, but a merciful preparation for salvation. The goodness of God leads him to cast down all pretence and self-importance, so that he may raise up a new and more stable structure of solid merit in place of these empty shows. The proud but useless forest is cleared that the precious grain of wheat may be sown in its place. God cuts down man’s pride to make room for Christ’s grace.W.F.A.
Job 40:14
Self-salvation.
When Job is strong enough to humble the proud he may be able to save himself; but as he cannot do the first work he is not equal to the second. Thus we are introduced to the impossibility of self-salvation.
I. THE VAIN ATTEMPT. Men are continually trying to save themselves.
1. In danger. We feel that we need deliverance. Job desired to be saved from disease, poverty, injustice, cruelty. We all wish to escape from trouble. Some of us may be more anxious to escape from sin, our greatest enemy. There are evils, then, and the perception of them urges us to save ourselves.
2. In distrust. We ought to look to the Almighty for strength, and to the All-merciful for deliverance. But if we forget God we are tempted to rely on the arm of flesh. If we had a due appreciation of God’s ability and willingness to save, we should not dream of trying to save ourselves.
3. In self-confidence. We must think little of our sin, or much of ourselves, if we imagine that we can effect our own salvation. We have not yet discovered our own weakness, nor the depth of our fall, if we suppose that there is no greater mischief with us than what we can remedy.
II. THE CERTAIN FAILURE. No man has yet saved himself. Is it likely that the latest to try the experiment will succeed? We have not yet conquered our own hearts, although we have often determined to do so. Is it probable that our next attempt will be more successful? There are good grounds for being assured that it will not.
1. The greatness and power of sin. No one who has not tried to break its yoke knows how terrific this is. We simply cannot get away from our own sin. Not only does the sin harden into a habit and so become a second nature, but it weakens the moral fibre of the soul. The prisoner languishing in the dungeon is not only held in by stone walls and iron bars, but the unhealthy condition of his confinement weakens his body so that he has not strength to break away from even smaller constraints.
2. The justice of God. This does not hold us to our sin, but it binds us to its consequences. We cannot deny that we deserve the wrath of Heaven. We cannot atone for sin. All our subsequent service is no more than is due from us, and the old debt still remains uncancelled.
III. THE GLORIOUS ALTERNATIVE. We have to learn that we cannot save ourselves, not merely to discourage useless efforts, but to lead us to the true salvation of God. What we cannot do for ourselves God can and will do if we will let him.
1. Though Jesus Christ. He was called Jesus because he would save his people from their sins (Mat 1:21). He is the “Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh 1:29). Christ delivers from sin as well as from its resultdeath. His power to save springs from his atoning sacrifice; but he saves now as a living, present Redeemer. He is the hand of God put forth to deliver the helpless and ruined.
2. In regeneration. We need to be born again (Joh 3:3). So great a change cannot be brought about by ourselves; Christ alone can effect it. He has not come so much to bestow on us gifts as to change our whole life, so that we may become new creatures in Christ Jesus (2Co 5:17).W.F.A.
Job 40:15-24
Behemoth the great.
Two monster animals, the hippopotamus and the crocodile, are set before us in typical characteristics, to idealize the great works of God in the animal kingdom.
I. GOD IS THE CREATOR OF THE ANIMAL WORLD. “God made the beast of the earth after his kind” (Gen 1:25). We have not left the presence of God when we have come to study natural history. Here we may see indications of Divine thought. Even the coarsest wild animals are under the care of God.
1. Therefore let no one hurt them needlessly.
2. If God provides for behemoth, will he not much more provide for man?
II. MAGNITUDE AND STRENGTH HAVE A PLACE IN THE DIVINE ECONOMY. Behemoth is famous first for his size, and secondly for his physical strength. Now, these two qualities are among the lowest of good things. Still, they are good. God is glorified even by the physical greatness of his works. The chief glory of the stars is in their magnitude and in the vastness of the space which they occupy. A mere mass of flesh is the lowest excellence. Yet even this may be good if it is not abused. How much more may higher gifts?
III. EXCELLENCE IN LOWER QUALITIES IS NO GUARANTEE FOE EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER QUALITIES. Behemoth is big and strong. But he is stupid and brutal. When he opens his cavernous jaws and his dull eyes appear over them, set in a mountain of black, shapeless flesh, he is positively hideous. The gravity of his unconscious attitudes of supreme ugliness has almost a touch of humour in it. We begin to wonder how the Divine Artist who shaped the graceful gazelle and gave the perfection of motion to the swallow could have fashioned the ugly and clumsy hippopotamus. Perhaps one object was to show what a poor thing bulk of body is in comparison with brains, with thought and soul. The young man who is more proud of his biceps than of anything else belonging to him may see his ideal humiliated in behemoth. For no man can attain to the strength of a hippopotamus.
IV. THERE IS A HARMONY IN ALL GOD‘S WORKS. Behemoth is suited to his home among the coarse grasses or the Nile. There his voracious appetite can find ample sustenance. God provideps for all his creatures, and he suits all his creatures for the spheres in which he has called them to live. Behemoth is naturally of a low and stupid nature, and he has all that his nature requires. Man is of a higher nature. He must not be content to dream his existence away in the sleepy land where soul-life is stifled. The true “lotus-eaters” are not refined Sybarites, but hippopotami.
V. GOD, WHO WORKS IN THE GREAT, WORKS ALSO IN THE LITTLE. He made the monsters of the deep. He also made the microscopic cell. From behemoth to the amoeba all the living creatures of nature are” fearfully and wonderfully made.” When we think of God behind the tiny cell, quickening its mysterious life,
“The small becomes dreadful and immense.”
VI. BULK AND POWER ARE NOT THE MOST TERRIBLE THINGS. Behemoth is a vegetarian. He is not cruel, like his much smaller fellow-creature, the lion. The little asp that he tramples beneath his feet is far more deadly. Big troubles may not be so hurtful as troubles that we can scarcely see till they have bitten us.W.F.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
CHAP. XL.
Job humbleth himself before God; who further challengeth him by a display of the works of his power. A description of the Behemoth.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 40:1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said Houbigant subjoins the first five verses of this chapter to the 39th, after the Hebrew, and many of the versions. See the Polyglot.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Third Stage of the Disentanglement
Job 38:1 to Job 42:6
JEHOVAHS DISCOURSE.The aim of which is to prove that the Almighty and Only Wise God, with whom no mortal man should dispute, might also ordain suffering simply to prove and test the righteous: (Second Half of the positive solution of the problem.)
Job 38:1 to Job 40:5
First Discourse of Jehovah (together with Jobs answer): With God, the Almighty and Only Wise, no man may dispute. Job 38:1 to Job 40:5
1. Introduction: The appearance of God; His demand that Job should answer Him
Job 38:1-3
1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
22 Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge?
3Gird up now thy loins like a man;
for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me!
2. Gods questions touching His power revealed in the wonders of creation
Job 38:4 –Job 39:30
a. Questions respecting the process of creation:
Job 38:4-15.
4Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth?
declare, if thou hast understanding.
5Who hath laid the measure thereof, if thou knowest?
or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
or who laid the corner-stone thereof:
7when the morning-stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8Or who shut up the sea with doors,
when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it;
10and brake up for it my decreed place,
and set bars and doors,
11and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
and caused the day spring to know his place;
13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14It is turned as clay to the seal;
and they stand as a garment.
15And from the wicked their light is withholden,
and the high arm shall be broken.
b. Respecting the inaccessible depths and heights below and above the earth, and the forces proceeding from them
Job 38:16-27
16Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
declare if thou knowest it all.
19Where is the way where light dwelleth?
and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21Knowest thou it because thou wast then born?
or because the number of thy days is great?
22Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
against the day of battle and war?
24By what way is the light parted,
which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters,
or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is;
on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27to satisfy the desolate and waste ground;
and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
c. Respecting the phenomena of the atmosphere, and the wonders of the starry heavens
Job 38:28-38
28Hath the rain a father?
or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29Out of whose womb came the ice?
and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30The waters are hid as with a stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
or loose the bands of Orion?
32Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?
or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth.
34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go,
and say unto thee, Here we are?
36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?
or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38when the dust groweth into hardness,
and the clods cleave fast together?
d. Respecting the preservation and propagation of wild animals, especially of the lion, raven, wild goat, oryx, ostrich, war-horse, hawk, and eagle
Job 38:39 to Job 39:30
39Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion?
or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40when they couch in their dens,
and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41who provideth for the raven his food?
when his young ones cry unto God,
they wander for lack of meat.
Chap. 39
1Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?
or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2Canst thou number the months that they fulfil?
or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones,
they cast out their sorrows.
4Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn;
they go forth, and return not unto them.
5Who hath sent out the wild ass free?
or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6Whose house I have made the wilderness,
and the barren land his dwellings.
7He scorneth the multitude of the city,
neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
8The range of the mountains is his pasture,
and he searcheth after every green thing.
9Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee,
or abide by thy crib?
10Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?
or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?
or wilt thou leave thy labor to him?
12Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed,
and gather it into thy barn?
13Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?
or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
14Which leaveth her eggs in the earth,
and warmeth them in the dust,
15and forgetteth that the foot may crush them,
or that the wild beast may break them.
16She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers:
her labor is in vain without fear;
17because God hath deprived her of wisdom,
neither hath He imparted unto her understanding.
18What time she lifteth up herself on high,
she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19Hast thou given the horse strength?
hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
20Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?
the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:
he goeth on to meet the armed men.
22He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted;
neither turneth he back from the sword.
23The quiver rattleth against him,
the glittering spear and the shield.
24He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!
and he smelleth the battle afar off,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom,
and stretch her wings toward the south?
27Doth the eagle mount up at thy command,
and make her nest on high?
28She dwelleth and abideth on the rock,
upon the crag of the rock and the strong place.
29From thence she seeketh the prey,
and her eyes behold afar off.
30Her young ones also suck up blood;
and where the slain are, there is she.
3. Conclusion of the discourse, together with Jobs answer, announcing his humble submission
Job 40:1-5
Chap. 40.
1And Jehovah answered Job, and said,
2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him?
he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
4Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
5Once have I spoken, but I will not answer:
yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The appearance of God, which Job had again and again expressly wished for, a wish which recurs in Job 23:3 seq., and especially towards the end of his last discourse (Job 31:35), and for which Elihus preaching of doctrine and of repentance had prepared the waythis appearance now takes place during that storm, of fearful beauty, which had supplied the last of Elihus discourses with the material for its impressive descriptions of the greatness of God in His works. This Divine manifestation, which is not to be understood as taking place corporeally in a human form; see on Job 38:1corresponds moreover to the preparatory representations proceeding from Elihu in this respect, that like those representations it bears testimony at the same time in behalf of Job and against him. It testifies for Job in that it brings about the actual realization of the ardent longing which he had so often uttered, and in that it is not accompanied by that terrifying and crushing effect on the bold challenger which he himself had several times dreaded as possible (Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Job 23:6), and had on that account deprecated. It testifies against him by means of the deep humiliation which the majesty of the Almighty occasions to him, by means of the consciousness wrought within him of his own insignificance and limitation in contrast with this fulness of power and wisdom, and by means of the principle which in this very way is brought forth into full expression, and which is expressly acknowledged by him at the close of this first address of Jehovahthe principle, namely, that from henceforth he must lay aside entirely all condemnation of Gods ways, and be willing to submit himself in absolute humility to His decree.Again the rich illustration, elaborated in the most elevated style of poetic discourse, which in this first address God gives of His all-transcending majesty in contrast with mans insignificance (chs. Job 38:4 to Job 39:30) is also such as testifies at once for and against Job, and thus continues with increased emphasis the strain already begun by Elihu (especially in his fourth discourse). On the one side it serves to confirm the previous descriptions given by Job himself of Gods greatness, wonderful power, and plenitude of wisdom; on the other side it transcends the same in the incomparably more elevated and impressive power of its representation, under the influence of which the last remainder of insolent pride still adhering to Job must of necessity dissolve and disappear. The discourse forms one well-conceived, harmoniously constructed whole, consisting of two principal divisions of almost equal length, of which the first (Job 38:4-38) refers to the creation and to inanimate nature, the second (chs. Job 38:39; Job 39:30) to the animal kingdom, as sources of evidence proving the divine majesty. It is not necessary to resolve these two divisions into two separate discourses, as is done by Kster and Schlottmann, the former of whom even deems it necessary to resort to the violent operation of transposing the conclusion in Job 40:1-5, and putting it after Job 38:36.Each of these divisions may be subdivided into three strophegroups, or long strophes, consisting of 1112 verses each, which may again be subdivided, according to the subjects described, into subordinate strophes or paragraphs, now longer and now shorter. Of these simple, short strophes the three long strophes of the first principal division (a, b and c) contain respectively three to four, whereas the last two long strophes, at least of the second chief division, which dwell on themes derived from the animal world, consist of but two short strophes respectively.
2. The Introduction: Job 38:1-3.Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm.The answering or replying refers back to Jobs repeated challenges, and especially to the last, found in Job 31:35 : Let the Almighty answer me! (here, as also in Job 40:6 with medial ; comp. Ewald, 9, 11, c [Green, 4, a]; which the Kri in both cases sets aside) out of the storm (thunderstorm); not (as Luther translates) out of a storm. It is beyond question an unsatisfactory explanation of the definite article to say that as applied to it means that storm, which always, or as a rule, is wont to announce and to accompany the appearance of God, whenever He draws nigh to the earth in majesty and in the character of a judge (Dillmann). In view of the way in which the most ancient Old Testament sources describe the theophanies of the patriarchal age in general, this generic rendering of the article is not at all suitable (comp. also 1Ki 19:11 : the Lord was not in the wind). The only explanation of the here, as well as in Job 40:6, which is linguistically and historically satisfactory, is that which finds in it a reference to Elihus description of a violent thunder-storm in his last discourse (Job 36:37)a reference which at the same time confirms not only our interpretation of this discourse given above, but also its genuineness, and the authenticity of Elihus discourses in general. Placing ourselves (along with the commentators cited above on Job 36.) on this, the only correct point of view, we see at once the impossibility of viewing Gods speaking out of the storm as taking place through a corporeal appearance of Jehovah in human form. On the contrary, precisely in the same way that Elihus description pre-supposed only an invisible approach and manifestation of God in the storm-clouds, in their thunder and lightning, so also here a similar presence and self-manifestation of the Highest is intended, taking place under the veil of those mighty phenomena of nature; hence only a symbolical, not a corporeal appearance of God. For this reason we may with some propriety describe the solution of the whole problem of our poem which is introduced by this divine appearance as a solution in the consciousness (Delitzsch). In any case the theophany which effects it is to be conceived of as one in which God drew near to the earth veiled, perceptible indeed to the ear, and in His shining veil visible to the eye, but nevertheless veiled, and not presenting a bodily appearance (Ewald). [In accordance with the explanation given above of Job 37:21-22, the out of which Jehovah speaks is not to be limited to the storm while raging, but refers rather to the dark materials of the storm now pacified, the mountainous cloud-masses in the north, which having spent their thunder, were now looming up in terrible majesty, while their open rifts disclosed the golden irradiation of the sunlight, a scene we may suppose not unlike that described by Wordsworth near the close of the Second Book of the Excursion. Such a scene, just preceded as it had been by the awe-inspiring phenomena of the storm at its height would fitly usher in the Divine Presence, from which the words which are to end the controversy are about to proceed.E.]
Job 38:2. Who is this that darkens counsel: lit. who is this, who is here ( , comp. Gesenius, 122 [ 120], 2) darkening counsel? without the article (instead of , or instead of ) is used intentionally in order to describe that which is darkened by Job qualitatively, as something which is a counsel (or a plan), as opposed to a whim, or a cruel caprice, such as Job had represented Gods dealings with him as being. [Two things are implied in what is here said to Job: that his suffering is founded on a plan of Gods, and that he by his perverse speeches is guilty of distorting and mistaking this plan (in representing it as caprice without a plan). Dillm. Jobs ignorant words had darkened Gods plan by obscuring or keeping out of sight its intelligent benevolent features]. The participle is used rather than the Perf., because down to the very end of his speaking Job had misunderstood Gods counsel, and even during Elihus discourses he had recalled nothing of what he had said in this particular. For to the instruction and reproofs of this last speaker he had made no other response than persistent profound silence. He actually appeared accordingly at the moment when Jehovah himself began to speak as still a darkener of counsel, however true it might be that his conversion to a better frame of mind had already begun inwardly to take place under the influence of the addresses of his predecessor. This participle accordingly furnishes no argument against the genuineness of chap. 32-37. (against Ewald, Delitzsch, Dillmann, etc.): and all the less seeing that a direct interruption of Job at the moment when he had last spoken contentiously and censoriously in respect to Gods plan (Job 31:35 seq.) by the appearance of God cannot be intended even if these chapters were in fact not genuine (comp. remarks on that passage). And especially would the assumption that the interpolator of the Elihu discourses had been prompted by this expression, , purposely to avoid introducing Job within the limits of that section as making any confession whatever of his penitence, presuppose on the part of the interpolator a degree of artistic deliberation, nay more, of crafty cunning absolutely without a parallel in the entire Bible literature.
Job 38:3. Gird up now thy loins like a mani.e., in preparation for the contest with me (comp. Job 12:21). According to b this contest is to consist in a series of questions to be addressed by God to Job and to be answered by the latter; hence formally or apparently in the very thing which Job himself had in Job 13:22 wished for; in reality however God so overwhelms him by the humiliating contents of these questions that the absolute inequality of the contending parties and Jobs guilt become apparent at once.
3. The argument: a. Gods questions respecting the process of creation: Job 38:4-15. [This division consists of three minor strophes of four verses each, the fourth verse in each forming, as Schlottmann observes, a climax in the thought].
a. Questions touching the foundation of the earth: Job 38:4-7.
Job 38:4. Where wast thou when I founded the earth? (A question similar to that of Eliphaz above: Job 15:7 seq.). Declare it if thou hast understandingto wit, of the way in which this process was carried on. This same How of the process of founding the earth is also the unexpressed object of declare! In respect , to have an understanding of anything, comp. Isa 29:24; Pro 4:1; 2Ch 2:12.
Job 38:5. Who hath fixed its measure that thou shouldest know it? , not: for thou surely knowest it (Schlottmann) [Good, Lee, Barnes, Carey, Renan, Elzas], but so that thou shouldest know it ( as in Job 3:12). [Dillmann objects to the rendering, for thou knowest, that the verb should be in that case ; an objection which may also be urged against the rendering of E. V., Sept., Vulg., Umbreit, Rosenmller, Bernard, if thou knowest. Compare in Job 38:4 b.]. The inquires not after the person of the Architect, the same being sufficiently known, but rather after His character, and that of His activity:what kind of a being must He be who could fix the earths measure like that of a building? (Dillmann).
Job 38:6. Whereon were its pillars sunkeni.e., on what kind of a foundation? lit. pedestals, comp. Exo 26:19 seq.; Son 5:15. The meaning of the question is of course that already indicated in Job 9:6; Job 26:7, according to which passages the earth hangs free in space. The question in b refers to the same thing: or who laid down her corner-stone? where the laying down (, jacere) of the corner-stone points to the wonderful ease with which the entire work was accomplished.
Job 38:7. When the morning-stars sang out together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.The Infinitive is continued in b by the finite verb, as in Job 38:13, and often. The whole description determines the time of the fact of the founding of the earth ( ) spoken of in Job 38:6. The founding is here set forth as a festal celebration (comp. Ezr 3:10; Zec 4:7) attended by all the heavenly hosts, which are here mentioned by the double designation sons of God (comp. Job 1:6; Job 2:1) and morning stars, i.e., creatures of such glory, that they surpass all other creatures of God in the same way that the brightness of the morning-star (= , Isa 14:12, Lucifer) eclipses all the other stars. As another example of this generic generalized form of expression here found in the word morning-stars, compare the of Isa 13:10, i.e., the Orion-like constellations. The expression morning-stars moreover is scarcely to be understood as a tropical designation of that which is literally designated by the expression sons of God, that is to say, the angels (Hirzel, Dillmann [Carey, Wemyss, Barnes] etc.). Rather are the angels and stars mentioned together here in precisely the same way that in Job 15:15 heaven and the holy ones of God are mentioned together, this being in accordance with the mysterious connection which the Holy Scriptures generally set forth as existing between the starry and angelic worlds (comp. also on Job 25:6). Such a representation of the brightly shining and joyously jubilating stars (comp. Psa 19:2; Psa 148:3) as present when the earth was founded by God by no means contradicts the Mosaic account of creation in Genesis 1. where verse 14 (according to which the sun, moon and stars were not made until the fourth day) is assuredly to be interpreted phenomenally, not as descriptive of the literal fact.
. Questions respecting the shutting up of the sea within bounds: Job 38:8-11.
Job 38:8. And (who) shut up the sea with doors?, which is attached to in Job 38:6, is used with reference to the waters of the sea in the newly-created earth, which at first wildly swelling and raging had in consequence to be enclosed, penned up, as it were, behind the doors (comp. Job 3:23) of a prison (comp. Gen 1:2; Gen 1:9 seq.). The second member introduces a clause determining the time of the first which continues to the end of Job 38:11.When it burst forth, came out from the wombi.e., out of the interior of the earth (comp. Job 38:16). The verb , which is used in Psa 22:10 [9] of the bursting forth of the ftus out of the womb, is explained by the less bold word (which follows the Infinitive in the same way as the finite verb above in Job 38:7). The representation of the earth as the womb, out of which the waters of the sea burst forth, seems to contradict the modern geological theory, which on the contrary makes the earth to emerge out of the primitive sea, which enveloped and covered everything. But the science of geology recognizes not only elevations, but depressions by sinking of land or mountain masses (comp. Friedr. Pfaff, Das Wasser, Munich, 1870, p. 250 seq.). Especially do the recent Deep Sea Explorations, as they are called, seem to be altogether favorable to the essential correctness of the biblical view presented here and also in Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2, which regards the interior of the earth as originally occupied by water (comp. Pfaff, p. 90 seq.; Hermann Gropp, Untersuchungen und Erfahrungen ber das Verhalten des Grundwassers und der Quellen, Lippstadt, 1868).
Job 38:9. When I made the cloud its garment, etc. A striking poetic description of that which in Gen 2:6 seq. is narrated in historic prose. In respect to , wrapping, swaddling-cloth, comp. the corresponding verb in Eze 16:4. [By this expression the ocean is obviously compared to a babe. God thus in grand language expresses how manageable was the ocean to Him. Carey].
Job 38:10. And brake for it (lit. over it) my bound, etc. The verb which is not here equivalent to , to appoint, as Arnheim, Wette, Hahn [Lee, Bernard, Noyes, Conant, Wemyss, Barnes, Renan] think, [or according to Rosenmller, Umbreit, Carey, to span, after the Arabic] vividly portrays the abrupt fissures of the sea-coast, which is often so high and steep. Comp. the Homeric . On , bound, comp. Job 26:10; Pro 8:29; Jer 5:22. On b comp. Job 38:8 a.
Job 38:11. Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further ( scil. ); here let one set against the pride of thy waves, scil. a dam, a bound. The verb , let one place is used passively [and impersonally] for let there be placed (comp. Gesen. 137 [ 134]). It is not necessary, with the Vulg. and Pesh. to read , here shalt thou stay the pride of thy waves, or, with Codurcus, Ewald, and others to make the subj. (in the sense of this place). On the pride of the waves=proud waves, comp. Psa 89:10 [9].
. Questions respecting the regular advance of the light of morning upon the earth: Job 38:12-15. [The transition from the sea to the morning is not so abrupt as it appears. For the ancients supposed that the sun sets in the ocean, and at his rising comes out of it again. Noyes. Here with genuine poetry the dawn sending forth its rays upon the earth immediately after creation is represented in its regular recurrence and in its moral significance. This member accordingly forms the transition to the following strophe; it is however first of all the logical conclusion of the first. Schlottmann].
Job 38:12. Hast thou since thy birth (lit. from thy days) commanded the morning (i.e., to arise at its time), made known to the dawn its place, (lit. made the dawn to know its place). Instead of the Kthibh, it is certainly admissible to read with the Kri ; the anarthrous of the first member by no means requires us to remove the definite article from the dawn, which is always only one. [The mention of its place here seems to be an allusion to the fact that it does not always occupy the same position. At one season of the year it appears on the equator, at another north, at another south of it, and is constantly varying its position. Yet it always knows its place. It never fails to appear where by the long-observed laws it ought to appear. Barnes].
Job 38:13. That it may take hold on the borders (or fringes) of the earth. The surface of the earth is conceived of as an outspread carpet, of the ends of which the dawn as it were takes hold all together as it rises suddenly and spreads itself rapidly (comp. Job 37:3; Psa 139:9), and this with the view of shaking out of it the wicked, the evil-doers who, dreading the light, ply their business upon it by night; i.e., of removing them from it at once. The passage contains an unmistakable allusion to Jobs own previous description in Job 24:13 seq. God, anticipating herein in a certain measure the contents of His second discourse, would give Job to understand how through the original order of creation as established by Himself human wrong is ever annulled again) Ewald. Comp. also Job 5:15).
Job 38:14. That it may change like signet-clayi.e., the earth ( , Herod. II. 38), which during the night is, as it were, a shapeless mass, like unsealed wax, but which, in the bright light of the morning, reveals the entire beauty of its changing forms, of its heights and depths, etc. The subj. of is to be sought neither in the morning and day-spring of Job 38:12 (Schultens, Rosenmller), which is altogether too far removed from this clause, nor in the borders of Job 38:13 (Ewald), but in the particular things found on the earths surface. The effect of the morning on them is that they set themselves forth (or, all sets itself forth) like a garment, i.e., in all the manifold variegated forms and colors of gay apparel.
Job 38:15. From the wicked their light is withheldi.e., the darkness of the night with which they are so familiar [and which is to them what light is to others], comp. Job 24:16 seq. (Delitz.: the light to which they are partial [ihr Lieblingslicht]). And the uplifted arm (is) brokeni.e., figuratively, in the sense that the light of the day compels it to desist from the violence, to fulfil which it had raised itself (comp. Job 22:8).
4. Continuation: b. Questions respecting the heights and depths above and below the earth, and the natural forces proceeding from them: Job 38:16-27.
a. The depths under the earth: Job 38:16-18.
Job 38:16. Hast thou come to the well-springs of the sea?i.e., to those fountains of the deep of which the Mosaic account of the Flood makes mention; Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2 (comp. above on Job 38:8). The phrase , found only here, is not, with Olshausen and Hitzig, to be changed into , for the root is evidently only a harsher variation of , and so beyond a doubt expresses the notion of welling, springing. Thus correctly the LXX: . [Jarchi, followed by Bernard, Lee, (and see Ewald and Schlottmann) defines to mean entanglements, mazes (comp. ); but this meaning is less probable than the one more commonly received after the Sept.].In respect to in b, comp. above, Job 8:8; Job 11:7.
Job 38:17. Have the gates of death opened themselves to thee, etc.Comp. Job 26:6, where the mention of the realm of the dead follows that of the sea precisely as here. On death, as meaning the realm of the dead, comp. Job 28:22; and on in the same sense, see Job 10:21 seq.
Job 38:18. Hast thou made an examination unto the breadths of the earth. signifies, as also in Job 32:12, to attend to anything strictly, to take a close observation of anything, the indicating that this observation is complete, that it penetrates through to the extreme limit. The interrogative is omitted before , in order to avoid the concurrence of the two aspirates (Ewald, 324, b). On b comp. Job 38:4, refers not to the earth, but in the neuter sense, to the things spoken of in the questions just asked. [To see the force of this (question), we must remember that the early conception of the earth was that it was a vast plain, and that in the time of Job its limits were unknown. Barnes. Too much stress is commonly laid on the fact that when the poet wrote this, only a small part of the earth was known. Unquestionably the consciousness of the limitation of mans vision was in some respects strengthened by that, fact; but that which is properly the main point here, to wit, the inability of man, at one glance to compass the whole earth and all its hidden depths retains all its ancient stress in connection with the widest geographical acquaintance with the surface of the earth. Schlottmann].
. The heights of light above the earth: Job 38:19-21.
Job 38:19. What is the way (thither, where) the light dwells.On the relative clause comp. Ges. 123 [ 121], 3, c. On b, comp. Job 28:1-12. The meaning of the whole verse is as follows: Both light and darkness have a first starting point or a final outlet, which is unapproachable to man, and unattainable to his researches. [As in Genesis 1., the light is here regarded as a self-subsistent, natural force, independent of the heavenly luminaries by which it is transmitted: and herein modern investigation agrees with the direct observations of antiquity. Schlottm.]
Job 38:20. That Thou mightest bring them (light and darkness) to their bound [lit. it to its bound, the subjects just named considered separately]. as above in Job 38:5. lit. to bring, to fetch; comp. Gen 27:13; Gen 42:16; Gen 48:9.And that thou shouldest know the paths of their house, i.e. to their home, their abiding place (comp. Job 28:23). It is possible that by this knowing about the paths of their house is meant taking back [escorting home] the light and darkness, just as in the first member mention is made of fetching, bringing them away; for the repetition of seems to indicate that the meaning of the two halves of the verse is not identical (Dillmann).
Job 38:21 is evidently intended ironically: Thou knowest, for then wast thou born, i.e. at the time when light and darkness were created, and their respective boundaries were determined. The meaning is essentially the same as in Job 15:7. On the Imperf. with comp. Gesenius, 127 [ 125], 4, a; Ewald, 136, b.And the number of thy days is many.The attraction in connection with as in Job 15:20; Job 21:21. [The interrogative rendering of this verse, as in E. V.: Knowest thou it, because thou-wast then born? etc., is excessively flat. It may be undesirable, as Barnes says, to represent God as speaking in the language of irony and sarcasm, unless the rules of interpretation imperatively demand it. But humiliating irony surely accords better with the dignity and character of the speaker, as well as with the connection, than pointless insipidity.E.]
. Snow and hail, light and wind: Job 38:22-24.
Job 38:22. Hast thou come to the treasuries of the snow? Comp. on Job 37:9. The figure of the treasuries (, magazines, storehouses) vividly represents the immense quantities in which snow and hail are wont to fall on the earth; comp. Psa 135:7.
Job 38:23 gives the purpose and rule of the Divine Government of the world, which snow and hail are constrained to subserve.Which I have reserved for the time of distress.Such an (comp. Job 15:24; Job 36:16) may be caused in the east not only by a hailstorm (Exo 9:22; Hag 2:17; Sir 39:29), but even by a fall of snow. In February, 1860, innumerable herds of sheep, goats and camels, and also many men, were destroyed in Hauran by a snow-storm, in which snow fell in enormous quantities, as described by Muhammed el-Chatib el-Bosrawi in a writing still in the possession of Consul Wetzstein (Delitzsch).The second member refers to such cases as Jos 10:11 (comp. Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:13; Psa 68:15 [14]; 1Sa 7:10; 2Sa 23:20), where violent hail or thunder-storms contributed to decide the issues of war in accordance with the divine decrees.
Job 38:24. What is the way to where the light is parted [where] the east wind spreadeth over the earth.The construction as in Job 38:19 a. The light and the east wind (i.e. a violent wind, a storm in general, comp. Job 27:21) are here immediately joined together, because the course of both these agents defies calculation, and because they are incredibly swift in their movements [possibly also because they both proceed from the same point of the compass]. scarcely denotes the lightning, as in Job 37:3 seq. (Schlottmann), which is first spoken of in Job 38:25, and then again in Job 38:35, and to which the verb , divides, scatters itself, is less suitable than to the bright day-light (comp. Job 38:13 seq.) In respect to , se diffundere, comp. Exo 5:12; 1Sa 13:8. [According to the E. V. the light is the subject of both members: By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth. But this construction is less probable and suitable than that given above, which recognizes the light as the subject of the first member, and the east-wind of the second.E.]
d. The rain-storm and the lightning considered as divinely appointed phenomena which, while they inspire terror, are productive of beneficent results: Job 38:25-27.
Job 38:25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the rain-torrent, i.e., conducted the rain through the thick masses of clouds to specific portions of the thirsty earth. , which of itself means flood, torrent of waters in general, is used here of a down-pouring beneficent torrent of rain [the earthward direction assigned to the water-spouts is likened to an aqueduct coming downwards from the sky; Delitzsch], and hence in a different sense from e.g., Psa 32:6. The second member is taken verbally from Job 28:26.
Job 38:26. That it may rain on the land where no man is; lit. to cause it to rain, etc. The subject of is of course God who has been already indicated by in Job 38:25. That it should rain on a land of no-man (the construction as in Job 10:22), i.e., on a land destitute of men, not artificially irrigated and tilled by men, is here set forth as a wise and loving providential arrangement of Gods. [God lays stress on this circumstance in order to humiliate man, and to show him that the earth was made neither by him, nor for him. Renan. Man who is so prone to put his own interests above everything else, and to judge everything from his own human point of view, is here most strikingly reminded, how much wider is the range of the Divine vision, and how God in the exercise of His loving solicitude remembers even those regions, which receive no care from man, so that even there the possibility of life and growth is secured to His creatures. Dillmann].
Job 38:27 then states more definitely this beneficent purpose of God: to satisfy the wild and wilderness, ( as in Job 30:3) [the desert is thus like a thirsty pilgrim; it is parched, and thirsty, and sad, and it appeals to God, and He meets its wants and satisfies it, Barnes], and to make the green herb to sprout; lit. to make the place (the place of going forth, , comp. Job 28:1) of the green herb to sprout.
5. Continuation. c. Questions respecting the phenomena of the atmosphere and the wonders of the starry heavens: Job 38:28-38.
. Respecting rain, dew, ice, and hoar-frost: Job 38:28-30.
Job 38:28-29. Is there a father to the rain? As this member, together with the following inquires (through the formula ) after a male progenitor for the atmospheric precipitations of moisture, so does Job 38:29 inquire after the mother of ice and hoar-frost, for the formula in b also refers to the agency of a mother, as well as the question in a. This variation of gender in the representation is to be explained by the fact that rain and dew come from heaven, the abode of God, while ice and hoarfrost come out of the earth, out of the secret womb of the waters (verse 8). in Job 38:28 b are not reservoirs of dew (Gesenius), for which the verb would not be suitable, but drops (lit. balls, globules; LXX.: ) of dew, whether the root be associated with , volvere (which is the view commonly held), or with the Arab, agal, retinere, colligere (so Delitzsch).
Job 38:30 describes more specifically the wonderful process which takes place when water is frozen into ice. The water hardens like stone. , lit. they hide themselves, draw themselves together, thicken (a related form is , whence , curdled milk). The same representation of the process of freezing as producing contraction or compression (a representation which in the strict physical sense is not quite correct, seeing that water on the contrary always expands in freezingcomp. Pfaff, in the work cited above, pp. 103, 189 seq.), was given above by Elihu, chapter Job 37:10, not however without indicating in what sense he intended this compression, a sense which is by no means incorrect; see on the passage. A similar intimation is conveyed here by the second member: and the face of the deep cleaves together, and thus constitutes a firm solid mass (continuum), instead of fluctuating to and fro, as in the fluid state. as in Job 41:8 [17]; comp. the Greek .
. Respecting the control of the stars, and of their influence upon earth: Job 38:31-33.
Job 38:31. Canst thou bind the bands of the Pleiades? here not = amnitates, as in 1Sa 15:32, [E. V., sweet influences, referring to the softening and gladdening influences of spring-time, when that constellation makes its appearance] but vincula (LXX.: ; Targ. =) as appears from to bind, and the parallel in b, and not less from the testimony of all the ancient versions, of Talmudic usage, and of the Masora. It is to be derived accordingly by transposition from , to bind (comp. Job 31:36) not from . The arranging of the stars of the Pleiades ( as in Job 9:9) in a dense group is with poetic boldness described here as the binding of a fillet, or of a cluster of diamonds. (See a similar conception copied out of Persian poets in Ideler, Sternennamen, p. 147).Or loose the bands of Orion, so that this brilliant constellation would fall apart, or fall down from heaven, to which the presumptuous giant is chained (comp. on Job 9:9). The explanation preferred by Dillmann is admissible, and even perhaps, in view of the etymon of , to be preferred to the one more commonly adopted: Or canst thou loose the lines [GermanZugseile, draw-lines, traces, the cords by which he is drawn up to his place, suggested by ] of Orion (the giant suspended in heaven), and thus canst thou now raise, and now lower him in the firmament? The reference of the passage to the Star Suhl = Canopus (Saad., Gekat., Abulwalid, comp. also Delitzsch) is uncertain, and conflicts with the well-known signification of , which is also firmly established by Job 9:9.
Job 38:32. Canst thou bring forth the bright stars in their time ( as in Job 5:26; Psa 104:27; Psa 145:15). The word , to which such a variety of interpretations have been given, which already the LXX. did not understand, and accordingly rendered by [followed herein by E. V., Mazzaroth], seems to be most simply explained (with Dillmann) as a contracted form of , from , splendere, and to mean accordingly the brightly shining, brilliant stars, in which case we may assume the planets to be intended, particularly such as are pre-eminently brilliant, as Venus, Jupiter, Mars, (comp. Vulg., Luciferum) [Frst: Jupiter, the supreme god of good fortune]. The being brought forth in their time seems to suit better these wandering stars than e.g., the two crowns, the Northern and Southern (Cocceius, Eichhorn, Michaelis, Ewald, by comparison with ) [these constellations being, as Dillmann objects, too obscure and too little known], or the twelve signs of the Zodiac (so the majority of moderns, on the basis of the very precarious identification of with , 2Ki 23:5), or the twenty-eight stations (Arab. menzil) of the moon (so A. Weber, in his Abhandlung ber die vedischen Nachrichten von den naxatra, oder Mondstationen, 1860), or, finally, any prophetic stars whatever, astra, prsaga, prmonentia (Gesenius, who refers the word to in the Arabic signification).And guide the Bear (lit., the she-bear, , comp. Job 9:9) together with his [lit., her] young?i.e., the constellation of the Bear with the three stars forming its tail, which are regarded as its children (, in Arab. ); see on Job 9:9. The evening star (vesperus, Vulg.) is far from being intended, and equally so the comparatively unimportant constellation Capella (Eichhorn, Bibliothek, Vol. VII., p. 429).
Job 38:33. Knowest thou the laws of heaven?i.e., the laws which rule the course of the stars, the succession of seasons and periods, annual and diurnal, etc., (comp. Gen 1:14 seq.; Job 8:22).Or dost thou establish its dominion over the earth?i.e., dost thou ordain and confirm its influence (that of heaven, here personified as a king; comp. Ewald, 318 a) on earthly destinies. , dominion, is construed [with ] after the analogy of the verbs , .
. Respecting the Divine control of clouds and lightnings: Job 38:34; Job 38:36. On Job 38:34 b, comp. Job 22:11 b (which is here verbally repeated). On Job 38:35 comp. Psa 104:3; Psa 33:9.
. Additional questions relating to the clouds, and their agencies: Job 38:36-38.
Job 38:36. Who put wisdom in the dark clouds, who gave understanding to that which appears in the sky [Germ. Luftgebilde atmospheric phenomena]; i.e., who has given to them an intelligent arrangement and significance, , from , signifies here as in Psa 51:8, dark, hidden places, meaning here, as the connection shows, dark clouds, black cloud-layers (Eichhorn, Umbr., Hirz., Stickel, Hahn, Dillmann, etc., by comparison with the Arabic , and its derivative nouns. In that case, from the Hebr. and Aram, , to see, (comp. and ), signifies appearance, phenomenon, form, here according to the parallelism of the first member, a form, phenomenon of the atmosphere, or the clouds. It can scarcely mean (the rainbow being certainly called , Gen 9:13) an appearance of light, fiery meteor (Ewald, Hahn), or the full moon, (so Dillmann, at least tentatively, assuming at the same time that refers to the dark phases of the moon). At all events the explanation which refers both parallel expressions to phenomena of the cloud-heavens is the only one suited to the context (as was the case with the meteorological sense of gold in Job 37:22; whereas on the contrary the interpretation long ago adopted by the Vulg., the 2d Targ., and many Rabbis [and E. V.] and recently by Delitzsch [Gesenius, Noyes, Conant, Barnes, Wordsworth, Schlottmann, Renan], according to which means the reins, or entrails, (comp. Psa 51:8 [6]), and the cock [as the weather-prophet among animals, Delitzsch: while Gesenius, Schlottmann, Noyes, Conant, Wordsworth, Renan, as also E. V., render by heart, intelligence] yields a meaning that is singular enough, and which is made no better when the cock is regarded as speculator et prco auror, as ales diei nuntius (Prudentius), or as a weather-prophet (after Cicero, de divin. II., 26), and the reins are supposed to be mentioned because of their power of foretelling the weather and presaging the future. Still more singular and opposed to the context is the rendering of the LXX.: [And who has given to woman skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery]? They seem to have read in the first member , in the second , embroidering women, or to embroider.
Job 38:37. Who numbers the clouds in Wisdom. as elsewhere the Kal: to number (Job 28:27). And the bottles of the heavenswho inclines themi.e., who causes them to be emptied, to pour out their fluid contents. The comparison of the clouds, laden with rain, to bottles, or pitchers occurs frequently also in Arabic poets (see Schultens on the passage). [E. V. Who can stay the bottles of heaven? which is less suitable to , and to the context. Jerome, taking, to mean harps, renders uniquely: et concentrum clorum quis dormire faciet?]
Job 38:38. When the dust flows together into a molten mass. , fused, solid metal, a word which is to be explained in accordance with Job 37:18 (not in accordance with Job 22:16). here, as in 1Ki 22:35, to be rendered intransitively: When the dust pours itself, i.e., when it flows, runs, as it were, together. In respect to , clods, comp. Job 21:33.
6. Continuation and conclusion, d. Questions respecting the propagation and preservation of wild beasts as objects of the creative power and wise providence of God. chap. 3839:30. a. The lion, the raven, the wild goat, the stag, and the wild ass: Job 38:39 to Job 39:8.
Job 38:39. Dost thou hunt the prey for the lioness, and dost thou appease the craving of the young lions?Respecting the lions names, and , comp. on Job 4:11. To appease (lit. to fill) the craving ( ), means the same as to fill the soul ( ), Pro 6:30.
Job 38:40. When they crouch in the dens. On comp. Psa 10:10. On lustra, comp. Psa 104:22. In respect to in b, comp. , used elsewhere in the sense of thicket, Psa 10:9; Jer 25:38. On , which gives the object of the crouching and sitting [or dwelling], comp. Job 31:9 b.
Job 38:41. Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry unto God, [wander without food?The interrogation properly extends over the whole verse, not, as in E. V., over the first member only, which makes the remainder of the verse meaningless.E.]. , to prepare, to provide, as in Job 27:16 seq. when, as in Job 38:40 a. The ravens are introduced here, as in the parallel passages, Psa 147:9; Luk 12:24, as objects of Gods fatherly care, rather than any other description of birds, because they are specially noticeable among birds in search of food, by reason of their hoarse cries. Observe moreover the contrast, which is surely intentional between the mighty monarch of the beasts, which in Job 38:39 seq. is put at the head of beasts in search of food, and the contemptibly small, insignificant, and uncomely raven. [Jewish and Arabian writers tell strange stories of this bird, and its cruelty to its young; hence, say some, the Lords express care for the young ravens, after they had been driven out of the nests by the parent birds; but this belief in the ravens want of affection to its young is entirely without foundation. To the fact of the raven being a common bird in Palestine, and to its habit of flying restlessly about in constant search for food to satisfy its voracious appetite, may perhaps be traced the reason for its being selected by our Lord and the inspired writers as the especial object of Gods providing care. Smiths Bib. Dict. Art. Raven.]
Job 39:1-4 : Propagation and increase of the wild goats (rock-goats, ibices) and stags.
Job 39:1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bear? observest thou the travail of the hinds? Inf. Pilel of , to be in labor, (comp. the Pulal in Job 15:7), here the object of , to which verb the influence of the before in the first member extends.
Job 39:2. Dost thou number the months which they (must) fulfil;i.e., until they bring forth, hence their period of gestation. [The point of the question can scarcely be that Job could have no knowledge whatever of the matters here referred to, but that he could have no such knowledge as would qualify him to stand toward these creatures at such a time in the place of God; or, as Carey expresses it: Can you keep an exact register of all this, and exercise such providential care over these creatures, the mountain goats and hinds, as to preserve them from dangers during the time of gestation, and then deliver them at the proper period?E.]. In the second member , with full-toned suffix, is used for ; comp. Rth 1:19, and Gesenius, 91 [ 89], 1, Rem. 2. [Green, 104, g].
Job 39:3. They bow themselves (comp. 1Sa 4:19), they let their young ones break through (lit. cleave; comp. Job 16:13), they cast away their pains;i.e., the fruit of their pains, their ftus, for this is what here signifies, not the after-pains, as Hirzel and Schlottmann think. Comp. = edere ftum, in Euripides, Ion 45; also examples of the same phraseology from the Arabic in Schultens on the passage. It will be seen further that (instead of which Olshausen needlessly conjectures after Job 21:10) forms a paronomasia with .
Job 39:4. Their young ones become strong (, lit. to grow fat, pinguescere), grow up in the desert.=, or , as often in the Targ. [a meaning more suitable to the context than that of E. V. with corn ]. They go away, and return not to them;i.e., to the parents, however might also be explained after Job 6:19; Job 24:16 as Dat. commodi: sibi=sui juris esse volentes (Schultens, Delitzsch).
Vers 58. The wild ass, introduced as an example of many beasts, the life of which is characterized by unrestricted liberty, defying and mocking all human control and nurture.
Job 39:5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed the bands of the fugitive?The words (Arab, fer; comp. above Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5) and denote one and the same animal, the wild ass or onager (the of the LXX., the Kulan of the eastern Asiatics of to-day), which is characterized by the first name as the swift runner, by the latter (which in Aramaic, and particularly in the Targum is the common name), as the shy, fleeing one. As to the predicate accusative , free, set loose, comp. Deu 15:12; Jer 34:14. As to the second member, comp. Job 38:31.
Job 39:6. Whose home [lit. house] I have made the desert, and his abode the salt-steppe.The word salt-steppe () which is here used as parallel to waste, desert (, Job 24:5 b), stands in Psa 107:34 as the opposite of (comp. Jdg 9:45, where mention is made of sowing a destroyed city with salt). On the preference of the wild ass for saline plants, and on his disposition to take up his abode in salt marshes, comp. Oken, Allg. Naturgesch. Vol. VII., p. 1230.
Job 39:7. [He laughs at the tumult (E. V. multitude, but the parallelism favors tumult) of the city], the drivers shouts he hears not;i.e., he flees from the control of the drivers, to which the tamed ass is subjected. On , comp. Job 36:29.
Job 39:8. He ranges through the mountains as his pasture.So according to the reading (Imperf. of , investigare), which is attested by almost all the ancient versions, by the LXX, Vulg., Targum. The Masoretic reading is either (with the Pesh. Le Clerc, etc.) to be taken as a variant of , abundantia, or as a derivative of with the meaning, that which is searched out (investigatum, investigabile). But the statement that the abundance of the mountains is the pasture of the wild ass would be at variance with the fact in respect to the life of these animals, which inhabit the bare mountain-steppes (comp. Oken in the work cited above). On the other hand we should expect the normal form , following the analogy of such words as to have an active rather than a passive signification. however can scarcely mean circle, compass, [E. V. range] here (Hahn).
. The oryx and ostrich: Job 39:9-18.
Job 39:9. Will the oryx be pleased to serve thee?, contracted from (comp. the full written form , Psa 92:11), assuredly denotes not the rhinoceros (Aq., Vulgate) [Good, Barnes], because the animal intended must be one that was common in Western Asia, and especially in the regions of Syria and Palestine. Comp. the reference to it in Psa 22:22 [21]; Job 29:6; Deu 33:17; Isa 34:7. It would be more natural, with Schultens, Gesenius, De Wette, Umbreit, Hirzel [Robinson, Noyes, Carey, Wordsworth, Renan, Rodwell, Conant, Frst, SmithsBib. Dict. Art. Unicorn], etc., to understand the buffalo or wild ox [bos bubalus) to be intended, seeing that this animal is still quite common in Palestine, and that here a contrast seems to be intended between this wild ox and the tame species (see Job 39:10). But this particular buffalo of Palestine is an animal which is not particularly strong, or characterized by untamable wildness, as is shown by the fact that it is frequently used in tilling the land (Russell, Naturgesch. von Aleppo, II. 7) [ThomsonsLand and the Book, I. 386, 387]. The of the LXX. [E. V.: unicorn] (of which the Talmudic is a mutilated form, and the of Aquila and Jerome is a misunderstanding) points to an animal which is, if not always, yet often, represented as having one horn, i.e., as being armed with one horn on the forehead, consisting of two which have grown together. Such an animal seems in ancient times to have been somewhat common in Egypt and South-western Asia, the same being a species nearly related to the oryxantelope (Antil. loucoryx) of to-day. It is represented on Egyptian monuments, now with two horns, and now with one. It is described by Aristotle and Pliny as a one-horned, cloven hoof (Aristotle, Hist. Anim. II. 1; De Partib. Anim. III. 2; Pliny, Hist. Nat. XI. 106); and in all probability it has been again discovered recently in the Tschiru, or the Antil. Hodgsonii of Southern Thibet (Hue and Gabet, Journeyings through Mongolia and Thibet, Germ. Edit., p. 323; see the passage quoted in Delitzsch, II., p. 334, n. 2). The name in the passage before us is all the more suitably applied to such an animal of the oryx species, in view of the fact that the corresponding Arabic word still signifies a species of antelope among the Syro-Arabians of to-day, and that this same oryx-family embraces sub-species which are particularly wild, largely and powerfully built, and almost bovine in their characteristics. Accordingly, Luthers translation of the word by unicorn, in this passage, and probably in every other where occurs in the Old Testament, supported as it is by the LXX., might be justified without our being compelled to understand by this unicorn a fabulous animal like that of the Perso-Assyrian monuments, or of the English royal coat-of-arms. Comp. on the subject S. Bochart, Hierozoicon, II. 335 seq.; Rosenmller, Bibl. Alterth. IV. 2, 288 seq.; Lichtenstein, Die Antilopen, 1824; Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmud, 1858, 146, 174; Sundewall, Die Thierarten des Aristoteles, Stockholm, 1863, p. 64 seq.; also Koners Zeitschr. fr allgem. Erdkunde, 1862, II., H. 3, p. 227, where interesting information is given respecting the researches of the Englishman, W. B. Bailie, touching the existence of a one horned animal still to be found in the regions of Central Africa, south of the Sea of Tsad, differing both from the rhinoceros and from the unicorn of the British coat-of-arms, which is probably, therefore, an African variety of the oryxantelope, and possibly the very same variety as that represented on the old Egyptian monuments. [See Robinsons Researches in Palestine, III, 306, 563; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, II., p. 167 seq.; and the remarks of Dr. Mason, of the Assam Mission, in the Christian Review, January, 1856, quoted by Conant in this verse.] Will he lodge [lit. pass the night, at thy crib?lit. over thy crib [hence cannot be, as defined by Gesenius, stall, stable], for the crib being very low, the cattle of the ancients in the East reached over it with the head while lying beside it. Comp. Isa 1:3 and Hitzig on the passage.
Job 39:10. Dost thou bind the oryx to the furrow of his cord?i.e., to the furrow (comp. Job 31:38) which he raises by means of the ploughshare, as he is led along by the cord. Or will he harrow the valleys (Ps. 65:14) after thee (), i.e., while following thee, when thou seekest to lead him in the act of ploughing [rather, as in the text, harrowing, , to level].
Job 39:11. Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?i.e., will the great strength which he possesses awake thy confidence, and not rather thy mistrust? On , labor [wilt thou commit to him thy labor], in the sense of the fruit of labor, the product of tilling, comp. Psa 78:46; Psa 128:2. The verse following is decisive in favor of this interpretation of the verse before us; otherwise the word might, in accordance with Gen 31:42, denote the labor or the toil itself.
Job 39:12. Wilt thou trust to him that he bring home thy sowing?Respecting as exponent of the object, see Ewald, 336, b., if we adhere to it, with the Kthibh, is used in the transitive sense, as in Job 42:10; Psa 85:5. The Kri, however, substitutes for it the Hiphil, which, in this sense, is the form more commonly used. And that he gather (into) thy threshing-floor. is probably locative (=). It may possibly, however, be taken as accusative of the object per synecdochen continentis pro contento (threshing-floor=fruits of the threshing-floor, yield of the harvest), as in Rth 3:2; Mat 3:12.
Job 39:13-18. The ostrich (lit. the female ostrich) introduced as an example of untamable wildness from among the birds. The wing of the (female) ostrich waves joyously., lit. wailings, shrill cries of mourning plur. abstr.) is a poetic designation of the ostrich here, or of the female ostrich, noted for its piercing cries. So correctly the Vulg., Bochart, and almost all the moderns. The Targ. arbitrarily understands the bird designated to be the mountain-cock, Kimchi and Luther the peacock [and so E. V.: Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the pea-cocks?] As to , to move itself joyously, comp. Job 20:18; also the Homeric expression, . Is it a pious pinion and plumage?i.e., is the wing of this bird, the waving of which is so powerful and wonderfully rapid, a pious one, productive of mild and tender qualities, like that of the stork? For it is to that birdwhich in its build resembles the ostrich, but which is more mild in disposition, and is, in particular, more affectionate and careful in the treatment of its offspringthat the predicate , pia with its double meaning, refers (which Delitzsch accordingly translates storchfromm [stork-pious], pia instar circoni). This is evident from the description which follows.
Job 39:14. Nay, she abandons her eggs to the earth. here nay, rather, as in Job 22:2. The subj. of is the of Job 39:13, construed here as Fem. Sing. The same construction obtains in the following verbs (Ew. 318 a).
Job 39:15. And forgets that the foot can crush them., simply consecutive, and hence present; comp. Job 3:21. On the sing, suffix in , referring to the eggs, see Gesenius, 146 [ 143], 3. The fact here described, to wit, that the mother ostrich easily forgets her eggs, at least while she is not yet through with laying them, as well as in the beginning of the period of incubation, and that she leaves them unprotected, especially on the approach of hunters, is true of this animal only in its wild condition. In that state it shares these and similar habits, proceeding from excessive wildness and fear of man, with many other birds, as, e. g., the partridge. In its tamed condition, the ostrich watches over its young very diligently indeed,and, moreover, shows nothing of that stupidity popularly ascribed to it, and which has become proverbial (to which Job 39:17 alludes). Comp. the Essay entitled: Die Zuchtung des Straussen als europisches Hausthier, in the Ausland, 1869, No. 13, p. 30.6. The opinion moreover, partially circulated among the ancients, that the ostrich does not at all incubate its eggs, belongs to that class of scientific fables which, as in the case of those strange animals the basilisk, the dragon, the unicorn, etc., have been incorrectly imputed to the Old Testament. The verse before us furnishes no support whatever to that opinion. [See Smiths Bib. Dict., Art, Ostrich. The habit of the ostrich leaving its eggs to be matured by the suns heat is usually appealed to in order to confirm the Scriptural account, she leaveth her eggs to the earth; but this is probably the case only with the tropical birds; the ostriches with which the Jews were acquainted were, it is likely, birds of Syria,. Egypt and North Africa; but even if they were acquainted with the habits of the tropical ostriches, how can it be said that she forgetteth that the foot may crush. the eggs, when they are covered a foot deep or more in sand? We believe the true explanation of this passage is to be found in the fact that the ostrich deposits some of her eggs not in the nest, but around it; these lie about on the surface of the sand, to all appearance forsaken; they are however designed for the nourishment of the young birds, according to Levaillant and Bonjainville (Cuvier, An. King. by Griffiths and others, Job 8:432), and see below on Job 39:16].
Job 39:16. She deals hardly with her young, as though they were not hers; lit. for not to her (i.e., belonging to her) , lit. he deals hardly; which, bearing in mind [the suffix in , and] the clause , which immediately follows, gives a change of gender which is intolerably harsh, which we may perhaps obviate (with Ewald, etc.) by pointing (Inf. Absol., comp Ewald, 280, a). The correction (Hirzel, Dillmann) [Merx] is less plausible. In vain is her labor without her being distressed; lit. without fear (), i.e., her labor in laying her eggs is in vain (inasmuch as many of her eggs are abandoned by her to destruction), without her giving herself any trouble or anxiety on that account. This unconcern and carelessness of the female ostrich touching the fate of her young, which stands in glaring contrast with the tender anxiety of the stork-mother (Job 39:13 b), is carried to such a length, that she herself often stamps to pieces her eggs (the shells of which moreover are quite hard), when she observes that men or beasts have been about; and even uses the eggs which are left to lie unhatched in feeding the young ones as they creep forth. Comp. Wetzstein, in Delitzsch II., p. 339 seq.
Job 39:17. For God made her to forget wisdom, and gave her no share in understanding. Perf. Hiph. with the suffix from (comp. Job 11:6). , to give a share in understanding (comp. Job 7:13; Job 21:25). For parallel expressions as to the thought, to wit, Arabic proverbs about the stupidity of the ostrich, see Schultens and Umbreit on the passage. The only other passage in the Old Testament where the cruelty of the ostrich is set forth in proverbial form is Lam 4:3.
Job 39:18. At the time when she lashes herself aloft, she laughs at the horse and his rider., here not at this time, just now (Gesen., Schlott,), but= , and hence with an elliptical relative clause following. Respecting , which both in Kal. and Hiphil can signify to lash, to beat, and which in Hebrew is found in this signification only here, see Gesenius in the Lexicon. The whole verse describes in a way which combines simplicity and terseness with vividness, the lightning-like swiftness of an ostrich, or a herd of such birds, fleeing before hunters on horseback, the running movement of the bird being aided by the vibration of the wings. At the same time the mention of the horse and his rider prepares the transition to the description which follows, the only one in this series which refers to a tamed animal.
Job 39:19-25. The war-horsea favorite subject of description also on the part of Arabian and other oriental poets; comp. the Praise of the Horse in 5. HammerPurgstalls Duftkrner: Amrul-Keis, Moallakat, 39:50, 64, and other parallels to this passage cited by Umbreit. Of all these poetic descriptions which have come down from antiquity (to which also may be added Virgil, Georg. III, 75 seq.)., the present one is the oldest and most beautiful. [In connection with this description of the war-horse, which among many similar ones is the most splendid, it has been justly observed that to a Hebrew the horse as a theme of description must seem all the more noble in that he was known not as a beast of draught, but only as a war-horse. Schlottmann].
Job 39:19. Dost thou give strength ( used specially of warlike strength, fortitudo; comp. Jdg 8:21; 2Ki 18:20) dost thou clothe his neck with fluttering hair?i.e., with quivering, waving mane? It is thus that most moderns explain the word , not found elsewhere, from the root , to quake (Eze 27:35), by comparison with the Greek (related to ). The signification thunder, neighing (Symmach., Theodot., Jerome, Luther, Schlottmann) [E. V.] would indeed be etymologically admissible, but it would not be suited to the words neck, and clothe. Umbreit and Ewald, ( 113, d) [the latter however in his Commentary as abovequivering mane] explain it by dignity; but the identity of with is questionable, and such words as , or would have been more naturally used to express that idea.
Job 39:20. Dost thou make him leap like the locust?i.e., when he rushes along on the gallop, like a vastly enlarged bounding troop of locusts (comp. Joe 2:4). What is intended, is a spiral motion in leaps, now to the right, now to the left, which is called the caracol, a word used in horsemanship, borrowed from the Arabic har–gala–l–farasu (comp. ), through the medium of the Moorish Spanish (Delitzsch). [The rendering of E. V.: canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopperis at variance with the spirit of the description, which, in each member, sets forth some trait which commands admiration.E.]. The glory of his snorting is a terror,or, since the glory of his snorting, etc. (descriptive clause without ). On snorting, comp. the Arabic nachir, the death-rattle, snoring, Greek, , Lat., fremitus. here denoting not a splendid appearance, but a majestic peal or roar.
Job 39:21. They explore in the valley, then he rejoiceth in strength.The subject of can scarcely be the hoofs of the horse (Delitzsch [the representation of the many pawing hoofs being blended with that of the pawing horse]), and the use throughout thus far of the singular in speaking of the horse (so also again in ) makes it impossible that the plural here should refer to him. Hence the signification pawing preferred here by the ancient versions [and E. V.], and most of the moderns seems inadmissible, even admitting that is the word commonly used for the pawing of the horse (see Schultens on the passage). We must rather with Cocceius and Ewald understand the subject to be the riders, or the warriors; they take observations, or observations are taken in the valley (while it is uncertain whether the fighting should begin): then he rejoiceth in strength. The meaning to paw is to be retained only in case we adopt with Dillmann [Merx] the reading , or with Bttcher . He goes forth against an armed host, lit. the armor; here otherwise than in Job 20:24.On Job 39:22 comp. Job 39:7; Job 39:18.
Job 39:23. The quiver rattleth upon him;i.e. the quiver of the horseman who is seated upon him, not the hostile contents of the quiver, the whirring arrows of the enemy, as Schultens [Conant, Rodwell] explain. Besides this part of the armor, the second member mentions the spear and the lance [not shield, E. V.], or rather with poetic circumlocution, the lightning (lit. flame) of the spear and the lance, synonymous with , Job 20:25; comp. , Gen 3:24; also Jdg 3:22; 1Sa 17:7; Nah 3:3.
Job 39:24. With rushing and raging he swallows the ground;i.e. in sweeping over the ground at full gallop, he swallows it up as it were; a figure which is current also among Arabic poets (see Schultens and Delitzsch on the passage). The assonance of may be represented by rushing and raging.And he does not stand still when the trumpet sounds.Lit. he does not show himself fixed, does not stay fixed, does not contain himself: accordingly in its primitive sensuous meaning; not he believes not (Kimchi, Aben Ezra) [E. V. i.e. for joy; it is too good to be true]. As to comp. Ewald, 286, f [adverbial use of here=when the trumpet is loud]. As parallel in thought comp. beyond all other passages that of Virgil referred to above (Georg. III. 83 seq.):
. Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dedere,
Stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus
Collectumque fremens volvit sub naribus ignem.
Job 39:25. As often as the trumpet (sounds), he says, Aha! i. e., he neighs, full of a joyous eagerness for the battle. On quotiescunque (lit. in sufficiency), comp. Ewald, 337, c.And from afar he smells the battle, the thunder (comp. Job 36:29) of the captains, and the shouting (the battle-cries of the contestants; comp. Jdg 7:18 seq.). Similarly Pliny, N. H. VIII. Job 42 : prsagiunt pugnam: and of moderns more particularly Layard (New Discoveries, p. 330): Although docile as a lamb, and requiring no other guide than the halter, when the Arab mare hears the war-cry of the tribe, and sees the quivering spear of her rider, her eyes glitter with fire, her blood-red nostrils open wide, her neck is nobly arched, and her tail and mane are raised and spread out to the wind, etc.
Job 39:26. The hawk, as the first example of birds of prey, distinguished by their strength, lightning-like swiftness, and lofty flight.Doth the hawk fly upward by thy understanding? (the high flyer) is, according to the unanimous testimony of the ancient versions, the hawk, a significant bird, as is well known, in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which is here introduced on account of its mysteriously note-worthy characteristic of taking its flight southwards at the approach of winter (Pliny, N. H. x. 8). For it is to this that the apocop. Imperf. Hiph. (denominative from , wing) refers: assurgit, attollitur alis, not to the yearly moulting, which precedes the migration southward (Vulg.: plumescit; in like manner the Targ., Gregory the Great, Rosenm.). For this annual renewal of plumage (, see LXX., Isa 40:31) is common to all birds, and is predicated elsewhere in the Old Testament only of the eagle (Psa 103:5; Mic 1:16; Isa 40:31), not of the hawk.
Job 39:27-30. The eagle, as king of the birds, closing the series of native animals here described, in like manner as the lion, as king of the mammalia, had opened the series. is in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, like in the New Testament (comp. Mat 24:28; Luk 17:37), a. common designation of the eagle proper, and of the vulture: and the characteristic of carnivorousness which is here and often elsewhere referred to belongs in fact not only to the varieties of the vulture (such as the carrion-kite and lammergeyer), but also to the more common varieties of the eagle, such as the golden eagle and the osprey, which do not disdain to eat the carcasses of animals which have recently died. Comp. Winers Real-Wrter-Buch, under Adler.Doth the eagle soar at thy command? lit. make high (, scil. ) his flight; comp. Job 5:7.And build his nest on high? lit. is it at thy command that he builds his nest on high? Comp. Oba 1:4; Jer 49:16; Pro 30:19.
Job 39:28. With the phrase , lit. tooth of the rock, comp. the names Dent du midi, Dent-blanche, Dent de Moreles, etc.
Job 39:30. And his young ones lap up blood.[The gender throughout is masculine, not fem. as in E. V.] from , an abbreviated secondary form of , Pilp. of , to suck. Possibly, however, we should read (with Gesen. and Olsh.) , from =, deglutere. On the sucking of blood by the young eagles, comp. lian, H. anim. x. Job 14 : .
7. Conclusion of the discourse, together with Jobs answer: Job 40:1-5.
Job 40:2. Will the censurer contend with the Almighty ? to wit, after all that has here been laid before him in proof of the greatness and wonderful power of God. Observe the return to Job 38:2, which this question brings about. Inf. absol. of (as in Jdg 11:25) here in the sense of a future. The adoption of this construction in preference to the finite verb gives a meaning that is particularly forcible. Comp. the well-known sentence: mene incepto desistere victim? Also Ewald, 328, a.He who hath reproved God, let him answer it;i.e. let him reply to all the questions asked from Job 38:2 on.
Job 40:4. Behold, I am too base;i.e. to solve the problem presented, I am not equal to it.I lay my hand on my mouth; i.e. I impose on myself absolute silence; comp. Job 21:5; Job 29:9.
Job 40:5. Once have I spoken, and I will not again begin, will no more undertake to speak; see on Job 3:2. Oncetwice, as in Psa 62:12 [11], are used only because of the poetic parallelism for often; comp. Gesenius, 120 [ 118], 5. The solemn formal retractation which Job here makes of his former presumptuous challenges of God marks the first stage of his gradual return to a more becoming position toward God. It is Gods purpose, however, to lead him forward from this first stage, consisting in true self-humiliation (in contrast to his former self-exaltation) to a still more advanced stageeven the complete melting down of his heart in sincere penitence. It is the realization of this purpose which Jehovah seeks in His second and last discourse.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. As a magnificent specimen of physico-the-ological demonstration in poetic form, the present discourse of God, the first and longest which He delivers, is incomparable. With wonderful symmetry of treatment, it makes first the inanimate, and then the animate creation the theme of profound contemplation; each of these domains being treated with about the same fulness, and with a homologous arrangement of strophes (see Exegetical Remarks, No. 1), in order thus to impress Job with the highest admiration of the divine power, wisdom and goodness, as these attributes are revealed in the entire world of nature. The First Long Strophe (Job 38:4-15) which makes the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the sea, the theme of contemplation serves to illustrate principally the divine omnipotence, together with the attributes most immediately related to it, eternity, infinity and omnipresence, or the divine being as transcending space and time. Towards the close of this strophe the attribute of justice is also drawn into the circle of contemplation, it being one chief object of the whole description to represent the Almighty God as being also just in His vast activities, always and everywhere just (see Job 40:13-15). The consideration of omnipotence is next followed by that of wisdom, together with the attribute of omniscience which stands most closely connected with it, the discussion having reference to the hidden heights and depths above and below the earth, from which the phenomena of the atmosphere and of light, proceed (Second Long Strophe, Job 38:16 seq.). Already toward the end of this description the attribute of Gods goodness emerges into view, as it is shown in the beneficent effects of the rain-showers (Job 40:25-27). Afterwards in the third Long Strophe (Job 40:28-38) this attribute retires again to the background, while the power manifested in the heavens, and the wisdom revealed in the atmosphere, occupy the foreground. All the more decidedly however in the last three Long Strophes, or in the zoological and biological description constituting the section which we have marked d (Job 38:39 to Job 39:30), is the discourse again directed to the goodness of God, or to the Creators fatherly care, which is most intimately united with His power and wisdom, and which in the exercise of them takes the most particular interest in the life of His earthly animate creation. For all that is advanced in this section in the way of proof of the wonderful wisdom and all-penetrative knowledge of the Most High in the sphere of animal life, and of its ordinary as well as its extraordinary phenomena is subordinated to the teleological reference to His special providence, in view of which not one of His creatures is indifferent to Him. (Comp. Bocharts Remarks on Job 39:1-4 : The knowledge here spoken of is not passive and speculative simply, but that knowledge which belongs to God, by which He not only knows all things, but directs and governs them, etc.). That which makes this survey of the most exalted attributes of God as reflected in the wonders of His creation especially impressive is the accumulation of so many examples and illustrations from the domain of physical theology, and the wonderful art with which they are elaborated in the minutest detail, together with the striking harmony and consistency which their arrangement exhibits, notwithstanding all the flow and freedom of the poetic sweep of thought. Not one of these illustrations from the great book of creation is absolutely new. Job himself has more than once in his discourses introduced brief reflective descriptions of nature similar in kind, and scarcely inferior in beauty (Job 9:4-10; Job 12:7-10; Job 12:12-25; Job 26:5-14); even Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have at least occasionally described, not without skill and taste, the divine power and wisdom, as they are revealed in the works of His creation; and Elihu near the close of his discourses dwelt on this theme at length, and with powerful effect. The grandeur and superiority of that which Jehovah here advances, in part confirming, in part going beyond those utterances of the former speakers, consists in the way in which, alike with artless simplicity, and with harmonious and connected order, He has accumulated such an array of the most manifold and luminous evidences of His majesty as revealed in the wonders of nature. Comp. Julius Frst, Geschichte der biblischen Literatur, etc., II., p. Job 418: The poet has here artistically combined the utmost polish of diction, the greatest abundance of natural pictures, the most thrilling and winning vividness in the succinct descriptions given of the wonders of creation; and the effect on Job must have been really overpowering. The reader also finds the discourse distinguished by tone and harmony, by power, acuteness, and clearness, by method, order, and plan, so that it presents itself as the most beautiful discourse in the Old Testament Scriptures. In this discourse, cast in the form of questions, Jehovah exhibits the animate and inanimate creation, the manifold channels in which the forces of nature secretly operate, its wonderful and mysterious phenomena, as they are held together in glorious order by His creative hand, as they are ruled by His nod. The eternal creative energy, which bears witness to a wisdom that is unsearchable, to a providential love, to a wise moral order of the universe, appears to the weak human spirit as an insoluble mystery, which has for its aim to put Job to shame. In this discourse, embracing six long strophes, each consisting for the most part of twelve verse-lines, the exhibition of the transcendent wonders of nature certainly imparts indescribable power to the contemplation of the greatness of the Creator. Every one must see however that these natural wonders, after we have explained them in their immediate foundations through our knowledge of natural laws, and after we have understood them from the general laws of nature, must be understood according to the effects which they produce. The next thing to be noticed is the poetic conception of the beauty of nature, the deep mental contemplation of the Cosmos, as it shows itself among all the civilized nations of antiquity; and then the poetry of nature found among the Hebrews, considered particularly as the reflex of monotheism. The characteristic marks of the Hebrew poetry of nature, as A. Von Humboldt strikingly observes in his Cosmos, are that it always embraces the whole universe in its unity, comprising both terrestrial life and the luminous realms of space. It dwells but rarely on the individuality of phenomena, preferring the contemplation of great masses. The Hebrew poet does not depict nature as a self-dependent object, glorious in its individual beauty, but always as in relation and subjection to a higher spiritual power. The natural wonders here sung by the poet point to the invariableness, the amazing regularity of the operations of nature, i.e., to its laws, which lead us to adore supreme wisdom, power, and love, lead us in a word to religion. Finally, it is to be borne in mind that the century in which the poet lived was one of the earliest in which such questions were propounded, and sketches of nature made.Comp. the still more decided appreciation of the contents of our discourse as respects its natural theology and its sthetic features in the book of Jos. L. Saalschtz, entitled Form und Geist der biblisch-hebrischen Poesie, Knigsb., 1853, (Third Lecture: Biblisch-hebrische Naturanschau-ung und Natur-poesie); also Ad. Kohnts Alexander v. Humboldt und das Judenthum, Leipzig, 1871 (Fourth Part: Humboldts Stellung zur Bibel), also the striking observations of Reuss, in his Vortrag ber das Buch Job towards the end), which show with peculiar beauty how that, notwithstanding the vast enlargement of our knowledge of nature in modern times, the larger number of the questions here addressed by Jehovah to Job, still remain as unanswerable as at the time when the poem was composed; the fact being that it is only the old formulas in respect to particular mysterious phenomena which have disappeared before a clearer and fuller knowledge, not the mysteries themselves, and that accordingly even to the naturalist of the present, God remains a hidden God. See further on this subject in the Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks on the following discourse of God (Job 40-41).
2. Notwithstanding all the admiration which this first discourse of Jehovah evokes in view of the evidences here presented of its beauty, and in particular of the value of its contributions to natural theology, we might still continue in doubt respecting its congruity to the plan and connection of the poem as a whole. It might seem singular and incongruous: (1) That the discourse from beginning to end runs through a series of questions from God to Job, calculated to shame and humiliate the latter, when he has already (Job 9:3) declared his shrinking from such a rigid inquisition, and his inability to answer even one in a thousand of such questions as the Most High might ask of him. (2) Fault might be found moreover with the contents of these questions, as exhibiting too little that is new, that has not already been touched upon, as being in too close agreement with what has been advanced by Job himself in respect to the greatness and wisdom revealed in the Cosmos, as being therefore too exclusively physical, i.e. as being too little adapted to produce a direct impression on the inward perversity and blindness of him who is addressed (an objection which has in fact been to some extent urged by some expositors and critics, as e. g. by de Wette, Knobel, Arnheim, etc.). The first of these objections, however, is directed against what is simply a misconception; for that declaration of Job in respect to his inability to answer God is made only incidentally, and in no wise conditions the final issue of the action of the poem. On the contrary Job had in the course of his discourses wished often enough that God might enter into a controversy with him. And, most of all, the questions which God puts to him, and of which he cannot answer one, are significantly related in the way of contrast to the last of the presumptuous challenges which Job had put forth. Whereas in Job 31:35 he had exclaimed: Let the Almighty answer me! God now fulfils this wish, although in quite another way than that which he had expected. He speaks to him out of the storm, not however by way of reply or self-vindication, but throughout asking questions, and so overwhelming the presumptuous fault-finder with a series of unanswerable queries, permanently silencing him, and compelling him at last to acknowledge his submission. At the same time the tendency of these divine questions is by no means to stun, to crush, to annihilate. Here and there it is true their tone borders on irony (see especially Job 38:21; Job 38:28; Job 39:1 seq.). It never, however, becomes harsh or haughty; on the contrary it is throughout affectionately condescending, lifting up at the same time that it humbles, gently administering instruction and consolation.And as with this interrogative form of the discourse, so also is its natural theology thoroughly suited to the divine purpose in regard to Job. That self-humiliation, that silent submission to the divine will as being always and in every case wise, just and good, which was to be wrought in Job, how could it have been more suitably promoted than by pointing him to the visible creation, which already in and of itself is full, nay which overflows with facts adapted to vanquish all human pride and presumption? And especially may we ask in respect to that, presumptuous argument, on which Job had continually planted himself in opposition to God: I have not transgressed; therefore my grievous suffering is absolutely inexplicablemay more, is unreasonable and unjust,how could the error and folly of that position have been more effectually demonstrated to him than by a reference to the numberless inexplicable and incomprehensible subjects which continually present themselves to us in the realms of nature, in its life, processes and events? how could the doubt respecting the logical and ethical grounds of the apparently harsh treatment to which God had subjected him, be more effectually disposed of than by bringing forward various phenomena of physical life on earth and elsewhere, each one of which stands before us as an amazing wonder, and as an eloquent witness of the unsearchableness of Gods ways, who in what He does is ever wise, and whose purpose is ever one of love? Comp. Delitzsch (II., p. 354): From the marvellous in nature, he divines that which is marvellous in his affliction. His humiliation under the mysteries of nature is at the same time humiliation under the mystery of his affliction. And a little before (p. 352): Contrary to expectation, God begins to speak with Job about totally different matters from His justice or injustice in reference to his affliction. Therein already lies a deep humiliation for Job. But a still deeper one is Gods turning, as it were, to the abecedarium natur, and putting the censurer of His doings to the blush. That God is the almighty and all-wise Creator and Ruler of the world, that the natural world is exalted above human knowledge and power, and is full of marvellous divine creations and arrangements, full of things mysterious and incomprehensible to ignorant and feeble man, Job knows even before God speaks, and yet he must now hear it, because he does not know it rightly; for the nature with which he is acquainted as the herald of the creative and governing power of God, is also the preacher of humility; and exalted as God the Creator and Ruler of the natural world is above Jobs censure, so is He also as the author of His affliction. That which is new therefore in the speech of Jehovah is not the proof of Gods exaltation in itself, but the relation to the mystery of his affliction, and to his conduct towards God in this his affliction, in which Job is necessitated to place perceptions not in themselves strange to him. He who cannot answer a single one of those questions taken from the natural kingdom, but, on the contrary, must everywhere admire and adore the power and wisdom of Godhe must appear as an insignificant fool, if he applies them to his limited judgment concerning the Author of his affliction.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
In the homiletic treatment of this first discourse of Jehovahs, it will be necessary of course to explain its position in the structure of the poem as a whole, and the significance of its contents for the solution of the problem of the book. All that pertains to this, however, will evidently possess only a subordinate practical value. For the practical treatment, on the contrary, it is of the highest importance suitably to set forth the value of the contents of the discourse for modern doubters, or those who after Jobs fashion find fault with divine providence; to show accordingly that the questions contained in it touching natural theology are still in a certain sense unanswerable, and that the mysteries to which allusion is made ever remain real mysteries, even to the greatest intellects in the world of science. In this connection use might be made, in the way of illustration and exemplification, of the many confessions which have been made by the greatest investigators of nature touching the incompleteness and limitation of all earthly knowledge and of all the discoveries which have hitherto been achieved in the department of natural science (especially the confessions of astronomers like Newton, Herschel, A. V. Humboldt, Laplace, and recently by Proctor [Other worlds than ours, Preface], and also by chemists and biologists, such as J. V. Liebig, Darwin, Laugel, etc.) The phenomena described in the first half of the discourse (Job 38:4-38), derived from the consideration of the heavens and of atmospheric meteorology, being pre-eminently rich in convincing examples of the mystery and unsearchableness which characterize the divine procedure in the economy of nature, also admit evidently of being considered with particular thoroughness (as e.g., a point which obviously suggests itselfby calling attention in connection with such passages as Job 38:22 seq., Job 38:29 seq. to the fruitlessness, and indeed the hopelessness of the attempts hitherto made to reach the North Pole). The zoological and biological phenomena, on the other hand, which form the subject of the second half of the divine description, it will be better to present together in brief outline, in so far at least as the purpose of illustrating the incomprehensibility of the divine agency in creating and governing the universe is concerned. This second series of natural facts on the contrary are all the better suited to the basis of meditations on the fatherly love of God which remembers and cares for all His creatures, whether brutes or men.
Particular Passages
Job 38:4 seq. Brentius: The aim of this discourse is to show that no one has the right to accuse the Lord of injustice. The proof of this point is that the Lord alone is the Creator of all things, which with a certain amplification is illustrated from various classes of creatures. From the history of these creatures God proves that it is permitted to no one to accuse Divine sovereignty of injustice, or to resist it; for of all creatures not one was the Lords counsellor, or rendered Him any aid in the creation of the world. He can without any injustice therefore dispose of all creatures according to His own will, and create one vessel to honor, another to dishonor, as it may please Him.Oecolampadius: No other reason can be given than His own good pleasure why God did not make the earth ten times larger. He had the power to enlarge it, no less than to confine it within such narrow limits; He would have been able to make valleys, where there are mountains, and conversely, etc. But He is Lord, and it pleased Him to assign to things the length and depth and breadth which they now have.Cramer: That God, who has from eternity dwelt in inaccessible light, has revealed Himself through the work of creation, receives its explanation out of the depth of His great goodness and mercy. When therefore we treat of God, of His works and mysteries, we must do it with beseeming modesty and reverence. If even the book of nature transcends our ability to decipher it fully, how much more incomprehensible and mysterious will the book of Holy Scripture be for us.von Gerlach: The fundamental thought of these representations which God here puts forth is that only He who can create and govern all things, who superintends everything and adjusts all things in their relation to each other, can also comprehend the connection of human destinies. Inasmuch however as feeble short-sighted man cannot understand and fathom the created things which are daily surrounding him, how can he assume to himself any part of Gods agency in administering the universe?
Job 38:16 seq. von Gerlach: Of the particular subject here referred to [scientific discoveries in the natural world], it is true that the later researches of mankind have accomplished much, only however to reveal new depths of this immeasurable creation. In seeking to penetrate into the meaning of these words, we are not to dwell on the literal features of each separate statement. It is a poetic and splendid description of the greatness and unsearchableness of God in creation, from the point of view which men then occupied, a description which retains its lofty internal truth, although the letter of it, regarded from the stand-point of our present knowledge of nature no longer seems as striking to us as the ancients. Indeed it may be said that this more thorough investigation of natural laws has itself vastly increased the number and greatness of such wonders as are set forth in this description for him who enters into the spirit of it.
Job 38:39 seq.; Job 40:1 seq. Cramer: The volume of natural history [das Thierbuch] which God here writes out for us, should be a genuine text-book to all the virtues.Starke: If animals, whether strong or despicable, great or small, are embraced in Gods merciful providential care, we can regard their need as a silent appeal to the goodness of the Lord, and in this sense even the ravens cry to God when they cry out from hunger.
Job 39:27 seq. Vict. Andrea: From that which is here intimated (to wit, that other animals must sacrifice their life, in order to satisfy the blood-thirsty brood of an eagle) do we not see that the suffering of a simple creature might in Gods plan be designed to benefit other creatures of God?So the death of a man may, through the terrifying effect which it has on others, often be a blessing to them. And how often is severe sickness, wholly irrespective of the end which the suffering may have for the patient himself, a most effective school of sympathy, yea, of the most self-sacrificing love for all who surround the sufferer. Very often such a sufferer, if he diligently strives to exhibit in his own person a pattern of resignation and praise to God, has been a rich source of light and blessing for those who are round about him! How short-sighted it is therefore for the sick to complain that their life is wholly without use, that they are only a burden to those who are about them, etc. In short the majesty of God has only to question man, in order to bring into the dearest consciousness his narrow limitations.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Lord having, in the former chapter, thus answered Job, agreeably to his wish, in the opening of this chapter demands Job’s reply. Job most humbly gives it: after which the Lord takes up the discourse again, and continues it to the close of this, and through the whole of the next chapter.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, (2) Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
This was a very solemn pause in the discourse; and, when GOD seemed to wait for an answer, no doubt Job trembled. Reader, it is a solemn thing to draw nigh to GOD, even when we come to him in the hand of a Mediator. I have often thought, that the first view of GOD’S face, when rising from the bed of death, though coming perfectly safe, and secure of acceptance in the LORD JESUS, and under the cover of his blood and righteousness, yet it must be a most awful, solemn thing. Surely, never was a soul brought into the presence of an holy GOD, either in grace here or glory hereafter, with lightness. Even in mercies GOD is awful; and therefore in death, when we come before the LORD, finally and fully to deal with GOD as our judge, and to receive our filial sentence; to put in our humble claim for acceptance in JESUS, must not this be serious, solemn, awful? Oh! how little do they think of such an interview who are ignorant of a Redeemer, and know nothing of the vast importance of his blood and righteousness! David tells us, that he trembled when he thought of GOD’S judgments; and yet David was looking wholly for acceptance in JESUS. Oh! what horrors, must instantly invade that soul, who riseth from the bed of death without, that righteousness to justify, that Mediator to intercede, that GOD-man to redeem? Psa 119:120 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 40:4
All through the book of Job the question, how this can be, is over and over again asked, and never answered; inadequate solutions are offered and repelled, but an adequate solution is never reached. The only solution reached is that of silence before the insoluble: ‘I will lay my hand upon my mouth’.
Matthew Arnold.
Job 40:11-12
This, says Lucretius (v. 1231 f), is Nature’s prerogative and function: ‘So doth some hidden power trample ever on things human, seeming to tread under foot and mock at the fine forces and cruel axes of men.
Job 40:15
‘Humility,’ says Ruskin in the third volume of Stones of Venice, ‘is the principal lesson we are intended to be taught by the book of Job; for there God has thrown open to us the heart of a man most just and holy, and apparently perfect in all things possible to human nature except humility. For this he is tried, and we are shown that no suffering, no self-examination, however honest, however stern, no searching out of the heart by its own bitterness, is enough to convince man of his nothingness before God; but that the sight of God’s creation will do it. For, when the Deity Himself has willed to end the temptation and to accomplish in Job that for which it was sent, He does not vouchsafe to reason with him, still less does He overwhelm him with terror, or confound him by laying open before his eyes the book of his iniquities. He opens before him only the arch of the dayspring, and the fountains of the deep; and amidst the covert of the reeds, and on the heaving waves, He bids him watch the kings of the children of pride ‘Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee? And the work is done.’
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Theophany
Job 38-41
We have now come to the portion of the Book of Job which is known as the Theophany, or Appearance, that is to say, the appearance of the Divine Being. Let us set forth the sacred speech in its fulness and unity:
1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind [a voice without a form], and said,
2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3. Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth [or founded the earth]? declare if thou hast understanding.
5. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? [Intimating absolute order and law.]
6. Whereupon are the foundations [not the same word as in verse four] thereof fastened [or sunk]? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7. When the morning-stars sang together [the stars preceded the earth], and all the sons of God [angels] shouted for joy?
8. Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? [The ocean is personified as a new-born giant.]
9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days [any day in thy little life]; and caused the day-spring to know his place;
13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? [Note the material and moral effects of light].
14. It is turned as clay to the seal [it is changed as seal-clay]; and they stand as a garment [all things stand out as a garment].
15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16. Hast thou entered into the springs [weepings] of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search [vain search] of the depth?
17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18. Hast thou perceived [comprehended] the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
19. Where is the way [the land] where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?
20. That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21. Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24. By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth? [ or, doth the east wind scatter itself over the earth?]
25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters [who hath riven a channel for the torrent of waters], or a way for the lightning of thunder [of voices];
26. To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27. To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28. Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30. The waters are hid as with a stone [the waters are hardened like stone, and the surface of the deep is held fast], and the face of the deep is frozen.
31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences [fastenings] of Pleiades [a heap or group], or loose the bands of Orion [the fool or giant]?
32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth [some say the Zodiac; others, Jupiter or Venus] in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
36. Who hath put wisdom [the gift of discerning causes] in the inward parts [the kidneys are regarded in Hebrew physiology as the seat of instinctive yearnings]? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay [cause to lie down] the bottles of heaven.
38. When the dust groweth into hardness [when the dust is molten into a mass], and the clods cleave fast together?
39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion [lioness]? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40. When they couch in their dens, and abide [sit] in the covert to lie in wait?
41. Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Job 39
1. Knowest [this knowledge includes perception into causes] thou the time when the wild goats [rock-climbers] of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2. Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3. They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows. [Arab poets call infants and young children “pangs.”]
4. Their young ones are in good liking [fatten], they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.
5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free [whose speed exceeds that of the fastest horse]? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6. Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings [salt waste which wild asses lick with avidity].
7. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver [task-master].
8. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
9. Will the unicorn [ rather, a well-known species of gazelle] be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
10. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11. Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12. Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?
13. Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks [a mistranslation]? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
14. Which leaveth [not in the sense of forsaking, but in the sense of committing] her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
15. And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
16. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not her’s: her labour is in vain without fear;
17. Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
18. What time she lifteth up herself on high [lashes the air], she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? [Suggesting the idea of vehement and terrific movement.]
20. Canst thou make him afraid [spring] as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21. He paweth in the valley [he diggeth the plain], and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
22. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted: neither turneth he back from the sword.
23. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
24. He swalloweth the ground [the space which separates the armies] with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
27. Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28. She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
30. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
Job 40
1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said,
2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3. Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
4. Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
5. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
6. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
7. Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
8. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
9. Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with voice like him?
10. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
11. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
12. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
13. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
14. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
15. Behold now behemoth [the hippopotamus], which I made with thee; he eateth grass [herbage] as an ox.
16. Lo now, his strength [his special characteristic] is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. [Unlike the hippopotamus, the elephant is mostly easily wounded in the belly.]
17. He moveth his tail like a cedar [not in size but in rigidity]: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
18. His bones are as strong pieces of brass [his bones are as tubes of copper]; his bones are like bars of iron.
19. He is the chief of the ways [the masterpiece] of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
20. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. [“He searches the rising ground near the river for his substance, in company with the animals of the land.”]
21. He lieth under the shady trees [the lotus trees], in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth [he is steadfast if the Jordan boast upon his mouth].
24. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
Job 41
I. Canst thou draw out leviathan [crocodile] with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down [sinkest his tongue in a noose]?
2. Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
4. Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? [The crocodile can be partially tamed.]
5. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
6. Shall the companions [Egyptian fishermen were called Fellows or Companions] make a banquet [traffic] of him? shall they part him among the merchants [Canaanites]?
7. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8. Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9. Behold the hope of him [the hope of man that the animal may be caught] is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
11. Who hath prevented me [made me a debtor], that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13. Who can discover the face of his garment [who can lift up, as a veil, his outside covering]? or who can come to him with his double bridle [his double row of teeth]?
14. Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about [round about his teeth is terror].
15. His scales are his pride [“grand is the channeling of his shield-like scales”], shut up together as with a close seal.
16. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning [and were made a symbol of morning by the Egyptians],
19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
21. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
22. In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23. The flakes of his flesh [even the parts of most animals which are loose and flabby] are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves [lose their presence of mind].
26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28. The arrow cannot make him flee: sling stones are turned with him into stubble.
29. Darts [or clubs] are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
30. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
32. He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34. He [coldly] beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride [all beasts of prey].
The Theophany. I.
Job 38-41
Let us admit that the Theophany is poetical; that will not hinder our deriving from it lessons that are supported by reason and vividly illustrated by facts. As an incident, the Theopany is before us, come whence it may. It inquires concerning great realities, which realities are patent to our vision. It does not plunge into metaphysics only, or rise to things transcendental; it keeps within lines which are more or less visible, lines which in many cases are actually tangible. Here, then, it stands as a fact, to be perused and wisely considered.
To such questions there ought to be some answer. They are a hundred thick on the page. If we cannot answer all we may answer some. God has not spared his interrogatories. There is no attempt at concealment. He points to the door, and asks who built it, and how to get into it, and how to bring from beyond it whatever treasure may be hidden there. It is a sublime challenge in the form of interrogation.
The thing to be noted first of all, is, that it purports to be the speech of God. That is a bold suggestion. The man who wrote the first verse fixed the bound of his own task.
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said ” ( Job 38:1 ).
It was a daring line even for an author to write. He proposed his own end, and by that end he shall be judged. He himself assigned the level of his thought, and we are at liberty to watch whether he keeps upon the level, or falls to some lower line. A wonderful thing to have injected God into any book! This is what is done in the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Whether he did so or not, some man said he did. That thought must be traced to its genesis. It is easy for us now, amid the familiarity of religious education, to talk of God doing this and that, and accomplishing great purposes, and consummating stupendous miracles. We were born into an atmosphere in which such suggestions and inquiries are native and familiar. There was a time when they had to be invented or revealed. Notice that God is supposed to have taken part in the colloquy. Now Job will be satisfied. He has been crying out for God; he has been telling his friends again and again that if he could but see God everything would be rectified almost instantaneously. Job has been mourning like one forsaken, saying, Oh that I knew where I might find him! Oh that God would come to me, and prefer his accusation against me in his own person and language! Now the aspiration is answered: God is at the front. Let us see what comes of the conflict.
Still we may dwell upon the sweet and sacred thought that God is taking part in human controversies, inquiries, and studies of every depth and range. He is a friend at least who suggested that God has something to say to me when all time is night, when all sensation is pain. If we could be sure that One takes part in human conversation if only by way of cross-examination, it would be something to know; at any moment he might change his tone. It is everything to feel that he is in the conversation. Whatever point he may occupy, whatever line of reply he may adopt, to have him, who is the beginning and the ending, in the intercourse, is to have at least a possible opportunity of seeing new light, and feeling a new touch of power, and being brought into more vivid and sympathetic relations with things profound and eternal. Why do we edge the Almighty out of life by describing his supposed intervention as the suggestion of poetry? What is this poetry, supposed to be so mischievous? Is it any more mischievous than a sky? What crimes has it committed? What is the indictment against poetry? By “poetry” we are not to understand words that meet together in sound and rhyme, but the highest reason, the sublimest philosophy, the very blossom of reason. Men suppose that when they have designated a saying or a suggestion as poetical, they have put it out of court. It is not so. A fable may be the highest fact. In a romance you may find the soul of the truest history; there may not be p solitary literal incident in the whole, and yet the effect shall be atmospheric, a sense of having been in other centuries and in other lands, and learned many languages, and entered into masonry with things hither unfamiliar. Sometimes we must use wings. Poetry may be as the wings of reason. But how good the poetry is which suggests that God is a listener to human talk, and may become a party to human conversation, and may at least riddle the darkness of our confusion by the darts of his own inquiries. Here is a case in point. Does he ask little questions? Are they frivolous interrogations that he propounds? Is the inquiry worthy of his name, even though that name be poetical? Is every question here on a level with the highest thinking? Judge the Theophany as a whole, and then say how far we are at liberty to excuse ourselves from the applications of its argument on the trivial ground that it is but poetry.
Who can read all these questions without feeling that man came very late into the field of creation? No deference is paid to his venerableness. The Lord does not accost him as a thing of ancient time as compared with the creation of which he is a part. Everything was here before man came: the earth was founded, the stars shone, the seas rolled in their infinite channels; the Pleiades were sprinkled on the blue of heaven, and the band of Orion was a fact before poor Job was born. It would seem as if everything had been done that could have been done by way of preparation for him! He brought nothing with him into this creation, not even one little star, or one tiny flower, or one singing bird: the house was furnished in every chamber for the reception of this visitor. This is scientific according to the science of the passing time. Has any one invented a theory that man came first, and furnished his own house, allotted his own stars, and supplied the face of the earth with what ornamentation he required? Is there anything here inconsistent with the marvellous doctrine of evolution? Contrariwise, is not everything here indicative of germ, and progress, and unfolding, and preparation, as if at any moment the consummation might be effected and God’s purpose revealed in the entirety of its pomp and beneficence? Man is here spoken of as having just come into the sphere of things, and not having yet had time to know where he is, what is the meaning of the symbols that glitter from the sky or the suggestions that enrich the earth. A challenge like this would be quite inconsistent with a recent creation of the universe. How recent that creation would be at the time at which these inquiries were put! Now that astronomy has made us familiar with whole rows and regiments of figures, we speak of six or eight or ten thousand years as but a twinkling of the eye, but according to old reckoning how young would creation have been, if it had been created but six thousand years ago when this Theophany was written some three or four thousand years since as a matter of literary fact! Take off three or four thousand years from the supposed six, and then all the questions would be inappropriate and absurd as applied to a creation hardly finished. The speech seems to be spoken across an eternity. So that we have no fear of evolutionary figures or astronomical calculations; we have no apprehension arising from theories of growth, involvement, evolvement progress, consummation; on the contrary, the whole spirit and genius of the Bible would seem to point to age, mystery, immeasurableness, unknowableness. Everywhere there is written upon every creation of God Unfathomable. The Theophany, then, is worthy, in point of literary conception and grandeur of the opening line “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.”
Not only does man come late into the field of creation, but, viewed individually, how soon he passes away! “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” We are of yesterday, and know nothing. The bells that announce our birth would seem to be interrupted by the toll of the knell that announces our decease. Thus God has great hold upon the whole race by the hold which he has upon the individual man. When the individual man enlarges himself into humanity, and speaks of the whole race, the speech is not without nobleness; but how soon the speaker is humbled when he is reminded that he will not have time to finish his own argument that long before he can reach an appropriate peroration he will be numbered with the generations that are dead. Thus we have greatness and smallness, abjectness and majesty, marvellously associated in the person of man. God seems to have taken no counsel with man about any of his arrangements of a natural kind. Man was not there to be consulted. Poor man! he was not asked where the Pleiades should shine; he was not invited to give an opinion upon the length and breadth of the sea; he was not asked how the rain should be brought forth, and at what periods it should descend in fertilising baptism upon the thirsty ground. He finds everything appointed, fixed, settled. Man is like the sea in so far as there seems to be a boundary which he may not pass “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” and here shall thy pursuit become prayer, and thy strength assume the weakness of supplication. Be the author of the Theophany who he may, be he profound reasoner or winged and ardent poet, he keeps his level well. Let us be just to him, even if we approach him from an unbelieving or a sceptical point of view. The palm be his who wins it: honour to whom honour is due. The man who dreamed this Theophany never falls into a nightmare; his dream keeps on the wing until it alights at the very gate of heaven.
Judged in relation to all the universe which has been described, how inferior is the position which man occupies in creation! some of the questions are very mocking and most humbling: man is asked if he can fly; if he can send out lightnings, and cause the electricity to come and stand at his side and say, Here am I. He is put down, snubbed, rebuked. He is pointed to the beasts of the field, and asked what he can do with them: can he hire the unicorn? “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?” ( Job 39:9-12 ). What art thou? Gird up thy loins now like a man, and answer these questions. “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?… canst thou put an hook into his nose?… The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: sling stones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.” What art thou? what canst thou do? where is thy strength? Disclose it. And as for thy wisdom, what is the measure thereof? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? canst thou play with the stars? All these questions drive man back into his appropriate position. The argument would seem to be, Until you can understand these comparatively inferior matters, let other subjects alone: if you cannot explain the ground you tread upon, the probability is that you will not be able to explain the sky you gaze upon: if you know not yourself, how can you know God? And yet let us not be discouraged. If man has any superiority it must be in other directions. How great, then, must those directions be, how sublime in their scope and energy! Is man altogether overwhelmed by these inquiries? In a certain limited way he is; but does he not recover his breath, and return and say, After all, I am crowned above all these things? He does, but we must wait until he has had time to recover his breath or regain his composure. The questions come upon him like a cataract! they roar upon him from all points of the compass in great overwhelming voices, so that he is deafened and stunned and thrown down, and asks for time. Presently we shall see that man is greater than all the stars put together, and that although he cannot search the past to exhaustion he will live when the sun himself grows dim and nature fades away; he will abide in the secret of the Almighty, long as eternal ages roll. His greatness is not in the past but in the future. Hardly a star in the blue of heaven but mocks the recentness of his birthday: but he says that he will live when the stars shall all be extinguished. Greatness does not lie in one direction. Greatness may hardly lie at all in the past: “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” The Christian hope is that when Christ appears we shall be like him, that we shall see him as he is. We are not to be great as antiquarians but great as sons of God.
Here, then, is our opportunity: shall we arise and avail ourselves of it? the mischief is lest we should be tempted to follow out these inquiries in the Theophany as if our whole interest lay in the past. Into the past we can go but a little way. Who can tell the number of God’s works, or find out the Almighty unto perfection? The oldest man amongst us is less than an infant of days compared even with some gigantic trees that have been rooted in the earth for a thousand years; they stand whilst man perishes; yea, they throw a shadow over a man’s grave, and still grow on as if time meant them to be immortal. Our greatness, let us repeat, does not relate to the past, or to the past only; our opportunity is tomorrow the great morrow of eternity. So our song is, This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality: death shall be swallowed up in victory; saints shall mock the tomb. How do we feel now? are we rebuked? are we humbled? The answer must be Yes, and No: we are very young compared with the creation of God, but all these things shall be dissolved, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; the little eternity of the ages shall be swallowed up and forgotten, and all the eternity of God’s love and fellowship shall open as in ever-increasing brightness. How is that glory to be attained? Here the gospel preacher has his distinctive word to deliver. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The word may be disputed, but there it is; the word may occasion great mental anxiety, but it abides there a solemn and noble fact in the book. Why should it affright us? There is music in that gospel. Hear it again. “This is life eternal.” A peculiar quality of life rather than a mere duration of life: “eternal” does not only point to unendingness but to quality of life “This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The mystery is a mystery of music; the mystery is a mystery of light: there is no confusion in the thought, but unsearchable riches, and the embarrassment is that of wealth not of poverty. So new we have two standards of judgment: the one the great outside creation, stars and seas, beasts and birds, hidden secrets of nature, undiscovered laws of the intricate economy of the universe; there we can know but little: and the other standard of judgment is the Son of God, of whom it is said, he created all things, was before all things, that in him all things consist, that he is Lord of all the stars, even of hosts; he shaped every one of them, flashed its light into the eye of every planet that burns, and rules them all with majesty as sublime as it is gracious. The Christian gospel says that he, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” that he might give us eternal life. O creation! great, monotonous, hard, austere creation! we perish as to the mere matter of duration before the ages which measure the period of thine existence, but we mock thee, laugh at thee, despise thee, if thou dost challenge us with a view to the future: the past is thine, take it, and die in luxuriating upon it; the future is ours, and being in Christ we cannot die. This is our rational challenge, as well as our Christian appeal and comfort.
Note
The exact amount of censure due to Job for the excesses into which he had been betrayed, and to his three opponents for their harshness and want of candour, could only be awarded by an omniscient Judge. Hence the necessity for the Theophany from the midst of the storm Jehovah speaks. In language of incomparable grandeur He reproves and silences the murmurs of Job. God does not condescend, strictly speaking, to argue with His creatures. The speculative questions discussed in the colloquy are unnoticed, but the declaration of God’s absolute power is illustrated by a marvellously beautiful and comprehensive survey of the glory of creation, and His all-embracing Providence by reference to the phenomena of the animal kingdom. He who would argue with the Lord must understand at least the objects for which instincts so strange and manifold are given to the beings far below man in gifts and powers. This declaration suffices to bring Job to a right mind: his confesses his inability to comprehend, and therefore to answer his Maker ( Job 40:3-4 ). A second address completes the work. It proves that a charge of injustice against God involves the consequence that the accuser is more competent than he to rule the universe. He should then be able to control, to punish, to reduce all creatures to order but he cannot even subdue the monsters of the irrational creation. Baffled by leviathan and behemoth, how can he hold the reins of government, how contend with him who made and rules them all? Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
The Theophany. II.
Job 38-41
How far is it possible to read all the great questions contained in the Theophany in a sympathetic and gentle tone? May we not be wrong in supposing that all the questions were put as with the whole pomp and majesty of heaven? Has not the Lord a still small voice in which he can put heart-searching questions? Is there not a river of God, the streams whereof shall make glad his city? Is that river a great, boiling, foaming flood? Perhaps we may have been wrong in carrying the whirlwind into the questions. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,” but it is not said that the Lord answered Job like a whirlwind; even out of that tabernacle of storm God might speak to the suffering patriarch in an accommodated voice, in a whisper suited to his weakness. Let it be an exercise in sacred rhetoric to read the questions of the Theophany sympathetically, to whisper them, to address them to the heart alone. Unless we get the right tone in reading God’s Book, we shall mar all its music, and we shall miss all its gospel. The people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus Christ; and the tone was often an explanation of what was spoken; there was something in the Man’s way of stating what he had to say, which led hearers, otherwise hostile, to admit “Never man spake like this man.” It seems, indeed, as if the questions should be spoken with trumpets and thunders and whirlwinds a thousand in number; and yet by so speaking them we should not reveal the majesty of God; we might reveal that majesty still more vividly and persuasively by finding a way of asking the questions which would not overpower the listener or destroy what little strength he had.
God does not hesitate to charge upon the patriarch and all whom he represented something like absolute ignorance: “Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?… Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?” What hast thou done? What hast thou seen? We have only seen outsides what are called phenomena or appearances, aspects and phases of things; but what is below? “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” Thou hast sailed across the sea, but hast thou ever walked through its depths? Hast thou not rather been carried as by some mighty nurse from continent to continent, rather than been a spectator of the springs of the infinite flood? “Hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” The word “search” is full of meaning; it signifies a kind of quest which will not be satisfied with anything but the origin, the actual fountain and spring and beginning of things: it is not enough to see the water, we must know where the water comes from; we must search into the depth. It is not enough to see the hail that falls, we want to see the house out of which it comes, the infinite snow-house in which God has laid up his treasures of cold. May we not see the treasures of the hail? We are ever kept outside. God has always something more that we have not seen. “Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?” Thus we are reminded of our ignorance. Yet we are wise, limitedly wise; we are quite great as grubbers after phenomena; we come home every night laden with more phenomena. By some mysterious process the word “phenomena” seems to satisfy our appetite because it fills our mouth. But what are these phenomena? Have we found out everything yet? Let the most learned men answer, and they will say, We have found out nothing as it really is; we have just learned enough to correct the mistakes of yesterday, and enough to humble us in view of tomorrow; we are waiting for another revelation or discovery or acquisition; we have spent one century in obliterating the misrecorded phenomena of another. This is admitted by the men themselves. They demand justice at the hands of the Christian teacher, and they are the first to admit that they know nothing in its reality, in its interior condition, quality, and meaning. We are not now forcing an interpretation upon their words, but almost literally quoting them. What is it that you are now playing with? hand it to me: what is the name of it? A flute. Very good: I have heard it, now I want to examine it! Open it for me! Why don’t you open it? What are you playing upon? It seems to be a grand, many-voiced instrument, what is the name of it? You answer me, It is an organ. Good: I like it; it touches me at a thousand points, and makes me feel as if I had a thousand lives: now open it; show me the music: I have heard it, I want to see it. You decline; in declining you are wise. Who destroys the instrument through which the music comes? Who would cut a little bird’s throat to find out the secret of its trill? Hast thou seen the treasures searched the depths gone into the interior of things? Or art thou laden like a diligent gleaner with sheaves of phenomena, which thou art going to store in thy memory today for the purpose of casting them out tomorrow? What can we then know about God, if we can know so little about his sea, and the treasure-house of his hail, and the sanctuary of his thunder? It is the same with religious emotion and religious conviction. Take your emotion to pieces. You decline to take your flute to pieces; you smile at the suggestion that you should open every part of the organ and show me the singing angels that are closeted in the good prison: how then can I take this religious emotion to pieces? These deep religious convictions resist analysis; when we approach them analytically, they treat us as murderers. Men who exclaim against vivisection, and often justly, surely ought to be proportionately indignant with the men who would take souls, so to say, fibre from fibre, and perform upon them all the tricks and cruelties of analysis. Yet the universe is beautiful and profitable exceedingly. Even what we can see of it often fills our eyes with tears. Who has not been melted to tears by the beauty of nature, by the appealing sunshine, by the flower-gemmed fields and hills, by the purling streams and singing birds, and all the tender economy of summer? Men have sometimes been graciously forced to pray because things were so comely, beautiful, tender, suggestive; they could not be wild-voiced in the presence of such charms; even the rudest felt a new tone come into his voice as he spake about the mystic loveliness. Behind all things there is a secret, call it by what name you please: some have called it secret; others have called it persistent force; others have described it by various qualifications of energy; others again have said, It is a spirit that is behind things; others have whispered, It is a father. But that there is something behind appearances is a general belief amongst intelligent men. When one of the greatest of our teachers compares what is known to a piano of so many octaves, he only numbers the octaves which he can touch: who can tell what octaves infinite lie beyond his fingers? Who will say that any one man’s fingers can touch the extremes of things? Were he to say so, we should mock him as he extended his arms to show us what a little span he has. Throughout the Theophany, then, God is not afraid to charge men with absolute ignorance of interior realities which may be spiritual energies.
Not only is man ignorant, he is powerless “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?” ( Job 38:31 ). Hark how he speaks of Pleiades as if the white sapphires were but a handful, and a child could use them! “Or loose the bands of Orion?” Answer me! “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?” ( Job 38:32-35 ). These questions admit of some answer. Surely we should be able to give some reply to interrogatories of this kind. Then how man’s power is mocked “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?” Try him; reason with him; show thyself friendly to him: come, thou art learned in the tricks of persuasion and all the conjuring of rhetorical argument, try thy skill upon the unicorn “canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?” Make some use of him; make a domestic of him; make a slave of the unicorn: or trust him; put confidence in him; be magnanimous to the unicorn: “Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?” Surely there is a mocking laugh running through all these particular inquiries, not a laugh of bitter mockery, but of that taunt which has a gracious meaning, and by which alone God can sometimes call us to a realization of our strength which is in very deed our weakness. Then when all the questions are answered so far, God says, “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?” Thou art very able and yet very feeble: come, let us see what thou canst do. Thou canst beat a dog, conciliate a unicorn; thou canst slay an ox, and stand over him like a butcher-conqueror, call the eagle back from heaven’s gate; demand that he come; thou art a man, thunder at him: what is the result? Thou hast numerous trophies and proofs of thine ability, now put a thorn through the nostrils of leviathan, thrust a spear through the scales of the crocodile. Thou canst do something: thou canst not do everything. Do not understand, therefore, that weakness is power, or that power is all power; draw boundaries, lines, limits, and within these assert thy manhood and begin thy religion. Truly we are very powerless. Yet in some respects we are influential in a degree which warms our vanity. In the summer of 1886 there were shocks of earthquake in Charleston and in various other American cities. Why did the people not speak to the earthquake, and bid it be quiet? Surely they might have done that. Many of them were rich planters; many of them were gifted in the power of cursing and swearing and defying God. Look at them! Another shock, and the greatest buildings in the city are rent and dashed to the dust. Hear these men drunkards, swearers, blasphemers, worldly men begging black niggers on the open highway to pray! What a humiliation was theirs! Why did they not bind the earthquake, throw a bridle upon the neck of the infinite beast, put a bit in his mouth, and make him lie down and be still? See, they reel to and fro like drunken men! How powerless we are! And in these hours of powerlessness we know what a man’s faith is worth. It is in such crises that we know what your intellectual speculations and fine metaphysical flourishings come to; it is then that we put our finger upon the pack of her mysteries, and say, Why don’t you open this pack, and be quiet and comfortable whilst the heart is being shaken at its very centre? Not a metaphysician but would part with all the mysteries he ever knew if he could only be saved from the wolf that is two feet behind him. We are not sure that any metaphysician ever lived who would not be quite willing to go back to school again as an ignorant boy if the earthquake would only give over! Oh it rocks the town, it tears the mountains, it troubles the sea oh would it but be quiet! We would give money, fame, learning, and begin the world afresh: but we cannot live in this misery. When you see men boasting, and blaspheming and scorning the Church, and pouring contempt upon all the ordinances of religion, all you need desire by way of testing the reality of such ebullition and madness would be to see them under the influence of an earthquake: they would beg a dog to pray for them if they thought that the dog had any influence with Heaven. Are we to be led by these men and to take the cue of our life from them, and to say, How strong they are, how lofty in stature, how broad in chest, and how they breathe with all the vigour of superabounding life: they shall be our leaders, and not your praying men in the Church? Can the blind lead the blind? they shall both fall into the ditch. You cannot tell what a man is by any one particular hour of his experience; you must see him in every degree of the circle before you can fully estimate the quality which marks him as a man.
It is something to know that we are ignorant and that we are powerless. Much is gained by knowing the limits of our ability, and the limits of our knowledge. Let a man keep within the boundary of his strength, and he will be powerful for good: let him stretch himself one little inch beyond God’s appointment, and he will be not only impotent but contemptible. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves and strong ambition be stayed. “The Lord reigneth.” We are but men; our breath is in our nostrils. We cannot see through one little sheet of paper; the tiniest leaf that grows in the field if put upon our eye would shut out the sun. Better let us be quiet, simple, watchful, humble, patient, receiving the divine revelation as the divine Giver may see fit to disclose it.
The great argument, then, is this: as there is so much in nature which thou hast not understood, there may be also much in human life and discipline thou hast not fully comprehended. It is the argument of analogy. It is the great argument of the philosophical bishop. There is no escape from it; certainly none within the limits of the Theophany. If we do not know the interior of a piece of wood, how can we know the interior of a thought? If we cannot pluck a flower, and keep it, how could we pluck the secret of God, and retain it as our own? Again and again we have seen that to pluck a flower is to kill it. However tenderly you may treat it, however you may feed it with water, protect it from all adverse influences, you have plucked the flower, and you have killed it Thou shalt not trespass in the divine province. We may walk through the garden of God, but may not pluck the flowers that grow in that holy paradise. Things are not made valuable to us simply by holding them in the hand. The sun would be no sun if we could inclose him within our own habitation: he stands away at an inaccessible distance; he can come down to us, but we cannot go up to him. O thou great hospitable sun, terrible yet genial, distant yet quite near, thou art a bright symbol of the God who made thee. As there are mysteries in nature, so there are mysteries in life. What is your thought? Where did it come from? How did your ideas originate? What is that thing you call your soul? Show it; describe it; trace its length; name its relations; what is it? Psychology has its holy of holies as well as theology. Do not imagine that all the mysteries cluster around the name of God. We must, then, accept the mysteries of life: they are many in number; they are very pressing and urgent, and often embarrassing and difficult; but they belong to the great system of God’s government. Why should the good man have trouble? Why should the atheist have a golden harvest? Why should the blasphemer prosper and the suppliant be driven away as if by a pursuing and judicial wind from heaven? “My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.” Ah me! my soul, wait thou patiently upon God. The mysteries of nature have their counterpart in the mysteries of life. But remember, in the second place, that as all in nature is under divine control, so is all in human life. There is a wise God over all, blessed for ever more. He comes down to us as a father, compassionate, tender, watchful, regarding every one of us as an only child, numbering the hairs of our head; he besets us behind and before; he is on the right hand and on the left, and he lays his hand upon us. We know it, for we have proved it in a thousand instances: our whole life is an argument in proof of the existence, government, and goodness of God. “Oh rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” The day is very cloudy and the night is full of weary hours; the chariot-wheels of time and the soul’s trouble roll heavily; morning after morning comes like one disappointment upon another. It requires a God-wrought faith, a very miracle of trust, to wait and not complain.
Is man, then, but a part of an economy; not an individual but part of a process; one amongst ten thousand other things? Is a man at liberty to say I have renounced my individuality; I fall into the great stream and current of what is called history; I have declined individual responsibility, and identified myself with the sum-total of things? How foolish would be this talk! Let us test that for one moment. Does Society recognise the impersonal creed? We must bring these creeds to practical tests. Suppose Society should say to all its members: Individual responsibility is gone; we are part and parcel of a stupendous economy, and we must just take our lot with the general movement: it is in vain that man after man should stand up and claim individual franchise or honour or influence or responsibility. Society never said so, and yet retained its security for any length of time. Does man himself recognise it in reference to his daily wants? Does he say: I am part of a general system of things, and therefore I do not trouble about what I should eat and what I should drink and wherewithal I should be clothed: all these are petty questions, minor and frivolous inquiries and concerns? Does man ever say so? But when he mounts his philosophic steed, then he becomes “part of a general economy,” a shadowy gentleman, an impalpable nothing, a most proud humility. The doctrine will not bear practical tests. Man is always asserting his rights. Take part of his property from him, and you will destroy his creed. Occupy the seat for which he has paid, and tell him when he comes to claim it that he is part of a great system of things, belongs to a mysterious and impalpable economy, and say, “Why so hot, my little sir? Why not amalgamate yourself with the universe?” If these creeds will not bear testing in the marketplace and at the railway station, and in all the wear and tear, in all the attrition and controversy, of life, they are vanity, an empty wind. The Christian doctrine is Every one of us shall give account of himself to God: we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. We cannot abandon our individuality socially, why should we abandon it religiously? We could not live by giving ourselves away into airy nothingness, then how can we live the better and nobler life by obliterating our personality and sinking like a snowflake on a river?
Here let us rest. God has spoken. His questions have been a multitude; they may have been thundered, they may have been whispered; now and then they may have risen into pomp and majesty and augustness, and yet now and then they may have come down into whisper and breathing and gentle speech. God’s ministry is manifold. There is no monotony in the speech of God. He reveals himself to us as we are able to bear it. We cannot go to himself directly; we can go to his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath made Lord of all things. We hail thee, Son of man, Son of God, and we do our own convictions injustice unless we hail thee as God the Son, and crown thee Lord of all.
The Theophany, As a Whole
Job 38-41
We have been waiting for the answer of God to the tremble of Job and to the tumult occasioned by his friends. We became weary of the fray of words, for they seemed to have no legitimate stopping-place, and to bring with them no sufficient and satisfactory answer. At length God has appeared, and we have already said that the appearance of God upon the scene is itself the great answer. To have come into the action at all is to have revealed a condescension and a complacency amounting to an expression of profound and tender solicitude in regard to all that distressed and overwhelmed the life of the patriarch. If God had not spoken, his presence would have been an answer. To be assured that God draws nigh at any moment to troubled human life, is to be also sure that he will see the right vindicated: he will not break the bruised reed; he will not quench the smoking flax; nor will he allow others to break and to quench what he has lovingly taken within his fatherly care. But, as a matter of fact, God has used words, and therefore we are entitled to read them, and to estimate their value, and to consider their whole influence upon the marvellous situation which occasioned them. This is not the answer that we expected. If we had been challenged to provide an answer, our imagination would have taken a very different line from that which God adopted in his reply to Job and his comforters. But who are we that we should have imagined any answer at all? Better that we should have sat down in silence, saying, This is a trouble which puts away from its sacred dignity all words ever devised or used by man. Let man keep his words for mean occasions; let him not attempt to use them when God’s hand it laid heavily upon one of his creatures: then silence is the true eloquence, mute grief is the wisest sympathy.
The answer overwhelms our expectations. It is greater than we had supposed it would be. We were not aware that such a sweep of thought would have been taken by the great Speaker and the divine Healer. Our way would have been more direct, in some respects more dramatic: we would have seen the black enemy lifted in mid-air, and blasted by the lightning he had defied; we might have imagined him slain upon the altar of the universe, and cast down into outer and eternal darkness, and Job clothed with fine linen in sight of earth and heaven, and crowned conqueror, and having in his hand a palm worthy of his patience. Thus our little expectations are always turned upside down; thus our little wisdom is proved by its littleness to be but a variety of ignorance: so does God make all occasions great, and show how wise a thing it would be on our part to refer all matters to his judgment, and not to take them within the limits of our own twilight and confused counsels. At the last it will be even so; the winding-up will be so contrary to our expectations: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first; and men shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and many who had attempted to force their way into the kingdom will be ordered back into the darkness which is native to their corruption. Let us learn from this continual rebuking of expectation that things all lie within God’s power and wisdom, and that he will dispose them graciously and permanently, and vindicate his disposal by appeals to our own judgment and experience, in a larger world, where there is light enough to touch the problems of the past at every point.
In the next place, this is a terrible use to make of nature. Who could have thought that nature would be so used forced, so to say, into religious uses of the largest kind? The very stones cry out in hymns of praise to God; the whole heaven comes to vindicate the excellence of his wisdom and the completeness of his power. What can man do when Nature takes up the exposition of divine purpose and decree? Who can answer the whirlwind? Who can hold his breath in face of a tempest that leaps down from the clouds and makes the mountains shake by its tremendous energy? Who could look up when the stars put on all their light and blind the mortal vision of man? We are made afraid when we come into a realisation of this particular use of nature. We did not know that God had so many ministers who could speak tor him. We had been dreaming about the heavens, and wondering about the infinite arch, and talking about the beauty of the things that lay round about us; we had called the earth a garden of God, and thought of nature as a comforting mother and nurse: yet now when the occasion needs it all nature stands up like an army ten thousand times ten thousand strong, and takes up the cause of God and pleads it with infinite eloquence. If we have to be rebuked by nature in this way, who can stand for one moment? If a may may not utter a complaint lest the lightning blind him, who then dare, confess that he has a sorrow that gnaws his heart? If our disobedience is to be reproved by the rhythmic movement of the obedient stars, then who would care or dare to live? All things obey the Creator but man: “the heavens declare the glory of God”; night unto night uttereth speech; there is no disobedience in all the uproar of the seas; when nature is shaken she is not rebellious: but man strange, poor, weird, ghostly man can scarcely open his mouth without blasphemy, or look without insulting the heavens he gazes at, or think without planning some treason against the eternal throne. So God uses this great machine; so God hurls at us the stars that shine so placidly, and make the night so fair. Yet we must take care how we use nature: she is a dainty instrument; she resents some of the approaches we make when we intend to use her for illicit or base or unworthy purposes. We must beware how we press nature into our service. We must not appropriate nature to exclusive uses or to hint at the divisions and separations of men. Nature should be used otherwise. Better allow the great Creator to say how nature may be employed in illustrating religious thought, religious relations, and religious action.
But this is not the only use which is made of nature even by the Creator. At first we are affrighted, as we nearly always are in the Old Testament, but when the Creator speaks of nature in the New Testament he adopts quite a different tone. There is One of whom it is said, He made all things: he is before all things: by him all things consist: without him was not anything made that was made. It will be instructive to hear him speak of the uses of nature. Does he answer his hearers “out of the whirlwind?” Does he thunder upon them from the sanctuary of eternity? Hear him, and wonder at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: if God so care for or clothe the grass of the field, will he not much more care for and clothe you, O ye of little faith? Yet it would be unfair to the Old Testament if we did not point out that even there the gentler uses of nature are shown by the very Creator himself. When Jacob was cast down, when his way was supposed to be passed over, when all hope had died out of him, and every glint of light had vanished from his sky, God said to him, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,” the same God, the same nature; a weakened and discouraged man, yet nature in this case used to restore and comfort the soul that was overwhelmed. Thus God must use his armoury as he pleases. He can plead against us with great strength, he can overwhelm us, he can take away our breath by a whirlwind, he can blind us by excess of light; or he can so show the galaxy of heaven, and the whole panorama of the visible universe, as to heal us and comfort us, and lead us to say, He who keeps these lights in their places will not quench the smoking flax. Where is there a healer so gentle and compassionate, loving and sympathetic, as nature? Sometimes she seems to say to brokenhearted man, I was made for you; you never knew it until this hour: now I will heal you, and lead you to the altar, where you thought the fire had died out the altar which you thought God had abandoned. This appeal to nature is the higher and truer way of teaching. It brings a man out of himself. That is the first great conquest to be achieved. All brooding must be broken up; everything of the nature of melancholy or fixing the mind upon one point, or dwelling upon one series of events, must be invaded and dissipated. God would take a man for a mountain walk, and speak with him as they climbed the hill together, and watch him as the fresh wind blew upon his weary life, and revived him as with physical gospels; the Lord would take a man far out into the mid-sea, and there would watch the effect of healing influences which he himself has originated, and which he never fails to control: the man would be interested in new sights; he would feel himself in point of contact with great sweet nature; without knowing it, old age would be shed from his face, and he would ask youthful questions, and propose plans involving expenditure of hope and energy and confidence and faith of every degree and quality; and he who went out an old, bent-down, helpless man, would come back clothed with youth, having undergone a process almost of resurrection, being brought up from the dead, and set in new and radiant relation to all duty, responsibility, and labour. Here is the benefit of the Church. So long as men hide themselves in solitude they do not receive the advantage and helpfulness of social and Christian sympathy. The very effort of coming to the church helps a man sometimes to throw off his imprisonment and narrowness of view. There is something in the human touch, in the human face divine, in the commingling of voices, in the public reading of the divine word, which nerves and cheers all who take part in the sacred exercise. Solitude soon becomes irreligious; monasticism tends to the decay of all faculties that were meant to be social, sympathetic, reciprocal: “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”: come into the larger humanity, behold the larger creation, and thus receive healing and comfort and benediction from enlargement of relation and sympathy. Never allow yourself to prey upon yourself. That act of self-consumption means everything that is involved in the words despair and ruin. Force yourselves into public relations; so to say, compel yourselves to own your kith and kindred, to take part in family life and in that larger family life called the intercourse of the Church in public worship, in public service and also know that God has made all nature to minister unto your soul’s health, establish a large intercourse with mountain and river and sea, with forest and flower-bed, and singing birds, and all things great and lovely: some day you will need them, and they will be God’s ministers to you.
This answer is a sublime rebuke to the pride which Job had once asserted during the colloquies. In chapter Job 13:22 , Job said, in quite a round strong voice, indicative of energy and independence and self-complacency, “Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.” That tone needed to be taken out of his voice. Oftentimes the musical teacher says to the pupil, Your voice must be altogether broken up, and you must start again in the formation of a voice; you think now your voice is good and strong and useful, but you are mistaken; the first thing I have to do with you is to take your voice away, then begin at the beginning and cultivate it into an appropriate expression. Job’s voice was out of order when he said, “Call thou, and I will answer,” or, if it please thee, I will adopt another policy “let me speak, and answer thou me.” Behold how complacent is Job! how willing to adopt any form of arbitration! how anxious to throw the responsibility upon another! He feels himself to be right, and therefore the other side may make its own arrangements and its own terms, and whatever they are he will boldly accept them! Every man must be answered in his own tone: “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If your challenge is so bold and proud, God must meet you on the ground which you yourself have chosen. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said ” then comes the cataract of interrogation, the tempest of inquiry, in which Job seems to say, O spare me! for behold I am vile: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth: once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will proceed no further: O thou God of the whirlwind, give me rest; let me have time to draw my breath! But, poor Job, thou didst say to God, “Call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me:” where is now thy boast, thy pride, thy vain talking? Thus does God humble us in a thousand ways. We pull down our barns and build greater, and behold in the morning they are without roof and without foundation and none can say where the solid structure stood. We say, “Let us build a tower which shall reach even unto heaven”; and we build it very high, and in the morning when we come to finish it, lo, there is not one stone left upon another. There is a humbling ministry in creation. Nature is full of rebuke, and criticism, and judgment; or she is full of comfort and suggestion, and religiou rapsable and most tender benediction.
How apt we are to suppose that we could answer God if we only had the opportunity! Could we but see him; could we but have an interview with him; could we but speak to him face to face, how we should vindicate ourselves! There was a man who once sought to see God, and he turned and saw him, and fell down as one dead. Sudden revelation would blind us. Let us not tempt God too much to show himself. We know not what we ask. What is the great answer to our trial? The universe. What is the great commentary upon God? Providence. What is the least profitable occupation? Controversy. Thus much have we been taught by our reading in the Book of Job. Where Job had a spiritual revelation a voice answering out of the whirlwind we have had personal example. We do not hear God or see God in any direct way, but we see Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of man, who also knows all the secrets of nature, for he was before all things, and by him all things consist: the universe is his garment; behold, he is within the palpitating, the living soul. O mighty One! when thou dost come to us in our controversies and reasonings, plead not against us with thy great power, but begin at Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, and in all the Scriptures expound unto us the things concerning thyself; and we shall know who the speaker is by the warmth that glows in our thankful hearts.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
(See the Job Book Comments for Introductory content and general conclusions and observations).
IX
ELIHU’S SPEECH, GOD’S INTERVENTION AND THE EPILOGUE
Job 32-42
The author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech consists of the prose section (Job 32:1-5 ), the several items of which are as follows:
1. Why the three friends ceased argument, viz: “Because he was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1 ).
2. Elihu’s wrath against Job, viz: “Because he justified himself rather than God” (Job 32:2 ).
3. Elihu’s wrath against Job’s friends, viz: “Because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job” (Job 32:3 ; Job 32:5 ).
4. Why Elihu had waited to speak unto Job, viz: “Because they were older than he” (Job 32:4 ).
Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) consists of two sections as follows:
1. Elihu’s address to the three friends.
2. His soliloquy.
Now, an analysis of part one of this introduction consists of Elihu’s address to his three friends, with the following items:
1. He waited because he was young, and considered that days should speak and that years should teach wisdom (Job 32:6-7 ).
2. Yet there is individual intelligence, a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty which gives understanding (Job 32:8 ).
3. And greatness, and age are not always wise, therefore, I speak (Job 32:9-10 ).
4. He had waited patiently and had listened for their reasonings while they fumbled for words (Job 32:11 ).
5. They had failed to answer Job’s argument, and therefore had failed to convince him (Job 32:12 ).
6. Now beware; do not say that you have found wisdom, for God can attend to his case, but not man (Job 32:13 ).
7. I will not answer him with your speeches (Job 32:14 ). Now let us analyze his soliloquy which is found in Job 32:15-22 and consists of the following items:
1. They are amazed and silent; they have not a word to say (Job 32:15 ).
2. Shall I wait? No; I will speak and show my opinion (Job 32:16-17 ).
3. I am full of words, and must speak or burst, therefore I will speak and be relieved (Job 32:18-20 ).
4. His method was not to respect persons nor give flattering titles, because he did not know how to do so and was afraid of his Maker (Job 32:21-22 ).
Elihu’s address to Job in 33:1-7 is as follows:
1. Hear me for the integrity and sincerity of my speech, since I have already begun and am speaking to you right out of my heart (Job 33:1-3 ).
2. I also am a man, being made as a man and since we are on a common level, answer me or stand aside (Job 33:4-5 ).
3. I will be for God, and being a man, I will not terrify you, for I will not bring great pressure upon you (Job 33:6-7 ).
The point of issue now is a general charge that Job’s heart attitude toward God is not right in view of these afflictions (Job 33:8-12 ). It will be seen that Elihu’s charge is different from that of the three friends, viz: That Job was guilty of past sins.
Elihu charged first that Job had said that God giveth no account of any of his matters (Job 33:13 ).. In his reply Elihu shows that this is untrue.
1. In that God reveals himself many times in dreams and visions in order to turn man from his purpose and to save him from eternal destruction (Job 33:14-18 ).
2. In that in afflictions God also talks to man as he often brings him down into the very jaws of death (Job 33:19-22 ). [Cf. Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a preventive.] None of the speakers before him brought out this thought. This is very much like the New Testament teachings; in fact, this thought is nowhere stated more clearly than here. It shows that afflictions are to the children of God what the storm is to the tree of the forest, its roots run deeper by use of the storm.
3. In that he sends an angel sometimes to interpret the things of God, to show man what is right for him (Job 33:23-28 ).
4. Therefore these things ought to be received graciously, since God’s purpose in it all is benevolent (Job 33:29-33 ). Elihu charged, in the second place, that Job had said that God had taken away his right and that it did not profit to be a righteous man (Job 34:5-9 ; Job 35:1-3 ).
His reply is as follows:
1. The nature of God disproves it; -he is not wicked and therefore will not pervert justice (Job 34:10-15 ).
2. Therefore Job’s accusation is unbecoming, for he is by right possessor of all things and governs the world on the principles of justice and benevolence (Job 34:21-30 ).
3. What Job should have said is altogether different from what he did say because he spoke without knowledge and his words were not wise (Job 34:31-37 ).
4. Whether Job was righteous or sinful did not affect God (Job 35:4-8 ).
Elihu charged, in the third place, that Job had said that he could not get a hearing because he could not see him (Job 35:14 ). His reply was that this was unbecoming and vanity in Job (Job 35:15-16 ).
Elihu’s fourth charge was that Job was angry at his chastisements (Job 36:18 ). He replied that such an attitude was sin; and therefore he defended God (36:1-16).
Elihu’s fifth charge was that Job sought death (Job 36:20 ). He replied that it was iniquity to suggest to God when life should end (Job 36:21-23 ).
Elihu discusses in Job 37 the approaching storm. He introduces it in Job 36:24 and in Job 36:33 he gives Job a gentle rebuke, showing him how God even tells the cows of the coming storm. Then he describes the approaching storm in Job 37 , giving the lesson in Job 36:13 , viz: It may be for correction, or it may be for the benefit of the earth, but “stand still and see.”
Elihu makes a distinct advance over the three friends toward the true meaning of the mystery. They claim to know the cause; he, the purpose. They said that the affliction was punitive; he, beneficent. His error is that he, too, makes sin in Job the occasion at least of his sorrow. His implied counsel to Job approaches the final climax of a practical solution. God’s first arraignment of Job is found in Job 38:1-40:2 . Tanner’s summary is as follows:
It is foolish presumption for the blind, dependent creature to challenge the infinite in the realm of providence. The government of the universe, physical and moral, is one; to question any point is to assume understanding of all. Job, behold some of the lower realms of the divine government and realize the absurdity of your complaint.
Job’s reply follows in Job 40:3-5 . Tanner’s summary: “I see it; I hush.”
God’s second arraignment of Job is recorded in Job 40:6-41:34 . Tanner:
To criticize God’s government of the universe is to claim the ability to do better. Assuming the role of God, suppose Job, you try your hand on two of your fellow creatures the hippopotamus and the crocodile.
Job’s reply is found in Job 42:1-6 , Tanner’s summary of which is: This new view of the nature of God reveals my wicked and disgusting folly in complaining; I repent. Gladly do I embrace his dispensations in loving faith.
There are some strange silences in this arraignment and some people have been disappointed that God did not bring out all the questions of the book at the close, as:
1. He says nothing of the heaven scenes in the Prologue and of Satan.
2. He gives no theoretic solution of the problems of the book.
3. He says nothing directly about future revelation and the Messiah.
The explanation of this is easy, when we consider the following facts:
1. That it was necessary that Job should come to the right heart attitude toward God without any explanation.
2. That to have answered concerning future revelation and the Messiah would have violated God’s plan of making revelation.
3. That bringing Job to an acceptance of God’s providence of whatever form without explanation, furnishes a better demonstration of disinterested righteousness.
This is true of life and the master stroke of the production is that the theoretical solution is withheld from the sufferer, while he is led to the practical solution which is a religious attitude of heart rather than an understanding of the head. A vital, personal, loving faith in God that welcomes from him all things is the noblest exercise of the human soul. The moral triumph came by a more just realization of the nature of God.
Job was right in some things and he was mistaken in other things. He was right in the following points:
1. In the main point of difference between him and the three friends, viz: That his suffering was not the result of justice meted out to him for his sins.
2. That even and exact justice is not meted out here on the earth.
3. In contending for the necessity of a revelation by which he could know what to do.
4. In believing God would ultimately vindicate him in the future.
5. In detecting supernatural intelligence and malice in his affliction.
He was mistaken in the following particulars:
1. In considering his case hopeless and wishing for death.
2. In attributing the malice of these things to God instead of Satan.
3. In questioning the mercy and justice of God’s providence and demanding that the Almighty should give him an explanation.
The literary value of these chapters (Job 38:1-42:6 ) is immense and matchless. The reference in Job 38:3 to “The cluster of the Pleiades” is to the “seven stars” which influence spring and represents youth. “Orion” in the same passage, stood for winter and represents death. The picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 has stood the challenge of the ages.
The lesson of this meeting of Job with God is tremendous. Job had said, “Oh, that I could appear before him!” but his appearing here to Job reveals to him his utter unworthiness. The man that claims sinlessness advertises his guilty distance from God. Compare the cases of Isaiah, Peter, and John. The Epilogue (Job 42:7-17 ) consists of three parts, as follows:
1. The vindication of Job and the condemnation of his three friends.
2. Job as a priest makes atonement and intercession for his friends.
3. The blessed latter end of Job: “So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”
The extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends are important. In extent it applies to the issues between Job and the three friends and not to Job’s heart attitude toward God. This he had correct-ed in Job by his arraignment of him. In vindicating Job, God justifies his contention that even and exact justice is not meted out on earth and in lime, and condemned the converse which was held by his friends. Out of this contention of Job grows his much felt need of a future judgment, a redeemer, mediator, interpreter, and incarnation, and so forth. Or if this contention is true, then man needs these things just mentioned. If the necessity of these is established, then man needs a revelation explaining all these things.
Its value is seen in God’s confirming these needs as felt by Job, which gives to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come, implicit confidence in the revelation he has given us, pointing out the fact that Job’s need of a redeemer, umpire, interpreter, and so forth has been supplied to the human race with all the needed information upon the other philosophic discussions of the book.
The signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends” is seen in the fact that Job reached the point of right heart attitude toward God before the victory came. This was the supreme test of Job’s piety. One of the hardest things for a man to do is to invoke the blessings of heaven on his enemies. This demand that God made of Job is in line with New Testament teaching and light. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for them,” and while dying he himself prayed for his executioners. Paul who was conquered by the prayer of dying Stephen often prayed for his persecutors. This shows that Job was indeed in possession of God’s grace, for without it a man is not able to thus pray. The lesson to us is that we may not expect God to turn our captivity and blessings if we are unable to do as Job did.
The more thoughtful student will see that God does not ex-plain the problem to Job in his later addresses to him, nor in the Epilogue, because to give this would anticipate, out of due time, the order of the development of revelation. Job must be content with the revelation of his day and trust God, who through good and ill will conduct both Job and the world to proper conclusions.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech and what the several items of it?
2. What is Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) and what the two sections?
3. Give an analysis of part one of this introduction.
4. Give an analysis of his soliloquy?
5. Analyze Elihu’s address to Job in Job 33:1-7 .
6. What is the point al issue?
7. What did Elihu charge that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?
8. What did Elihu charge, in the second place, that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?
9. What did Elihu charge in the third place, that Job had said, and what Elihu’s answer to it?
10. What was Elihu’s fourth charge and what was Elihu’s answer?
11. What Elihu’s fifth charge and what his reply?
12. What does Elihu discuss in Job 37 ?
13. What the distinct advances made by Elihu and what his error?
14. What God’s first arraignment of Job?
15. What Job’s reply?
16. What God’s second arraignment of Job?
17. What Job’s reply?
18. What the strange silences in this arraignment and what your explanation of them?
19. What the character of the moral solution of the problem as attained by Job?
20. In what things was Job right and in what things was he mistaken?
21. What can you say of the literary value of these chapters (Job 33:1-42:6 )?
22. Explain the beauties of Job 38:31 .
23. What of the picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 ?
24. What the lesson of this meeting of Job with God?
25. Give an analysis of the epilogue.
26. What the extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends?
27. What the signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends”?
28. Does God give Job the explanation of life’s problem, and why?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Ver. 1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said ] Hic verisimile est aliquantisper Deum tacuisse, saith Mercer. Here it is likely that God held his peace awhile, and seeing that Job replied not, he added the following words, the more fully to convince and affect him. There is somewhat to do to reduce a sinner from the error of his way; yea, though he be in part regenerate, the flesh will play its part against the spirit. This must be considered, and all gentleness used to those that offend of infirmity, after God’s example here.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job Chapter 40
And at this point Jehovah appeals to Job again (Job 40 ). “Moreover, Jehovah answered Job and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.” Then Job does answer. “And Job answered Jehovah and said, Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.” Jehovah repeats what He said before, “Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” That is what Job had done. “Hast thou an arm like God?” Who are you to talk to God about Him as you have done? “Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?” Well, now, “Deck thyself” with the excellency of God if you can. There was Job – a poor woebegone man with all his flesh corrupt, and the very worms feeding upon him before he had died – in the greatest possible misery of his body. “Deck thyself with majesty and glory.” “Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath; and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.” Why do you not put down all the bad people in the world? “Look on every one that is proud, bring him low” (vers. 1 – 14). But he was entirely dependent upon God.
That is the reverse of the picture. God now takes up in the latter part of His discourse but two animals, and of an amphibious nature. They were neither among the beasts of the earth proper, nor were they birds of heaven. They were a mixture of animals that could enter upon the land, and could also betake themselves to the waters. And these are described under the name, first, of “behemoth,” and secondly, of “leviathan.”
“Behemoth” means what is called the hippopotamus. It ought not to be called a river- horse, at all, which is what “hippopotamus” means, It is a river-ox. It is like an ox rather than a horse; of course, with its own peculiarities; and they are very peculiar. But still it is very much more after the appearance and habits of an ox than it is of a horse. And these two creatures were well known, particularly on the Nile. Both of them were familiar in the waters of the Nile; and in Arabia in the desert, to which these speakers all belonged more or less – the edge of it or beginning of that which abutted on the desert – they were familiar by report, if not by actual visit to Egypt. They were familiar with these animals. They have been very much misunderstood by learned men. They have called them all sorts of strange things. For instance, many will have it that “behemoth” means an elephant, but when you read the account you will see it is very unlike an elephant, except that it is a big creature and with enormous strength, but beyond that, nothing.
“Behold now behemoth*, which I made with thee” [vers. 15 – 24). When I made you I made him. “He eateth grass as an ox.” I have, therefore, good reason for saying that it is a river-ox, and not at all a river-horse. “Lo, now, his strength is in his loins and his force is in the navel of his belly.” I rather think that the expression in the 19th verse means, not that he makes the sword to approach unto him to kill him, but that He that made him made him a sword – made him a scythe; it is a scythe rather than a sword, and that is pretty much what the tusk of a hippopotamus is. It has great power in cleavings of all kinds, and in cutting. “Surely the mountains bring him forth food” – he can go to the mountain if he likes, in the neighbourhood of it – “where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees” – that is where he loves to be – “in the covert of the reed, and fens.”
* Behemoth. “Behemoth is as competent men believe, an Egyptian designation (p-cho-mo, literally, water-ox) of the hippopotamus in Shemitic form”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 40
Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? ( Job 40:1-2 )
“Job, are you trying to instruct me?” Isn’t that ridiculous? Can you think of anybody trying to instruct God? How foolish! But you’re looking at one. How many times I’ve tried to instruct God. “Now, God, this is the way I see it, and I think You ought to work it out this way.” “Lord, why aren’t you doing it this way?” I have been so foolish thinking that I can instruct God, and I get upset when He doesn’t follow my instructions. That’s the dumb part. I seek to instruct God and then get upset when He doesn’t follow them. Unfortunately, there are those who are espousing some kind of a doctrine that really deals with instructing God and telling God exactly what to do and when to do it and how to do it and He’s got to do it if you instruct Him in the right ways. And they take the power out of God’s hands and put it in man’s hands of man’s destiny. “You control your destiny; it is your confession that controls the destiny.” Making the positive confession, that’s the control of your destiny. And they take the control of a man’s destiny out of God’s hands and put it into man’s hands, and they are constantly instructing God. That’s dangerous.
God said to Job,
Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproves God, let him answer it. Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? ( Job 40:2-4 )
God said, “Hey, look, you’ve been trying to instruct Me, contending with Me, trying to instruct Me. All right, answer Me, Job.” Job said, “What can I say? What can I answer, Lord? I am vile. Trying to instruct You, contending with You. God, I am vile.”
Once I have spoken; but I’m not going to answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up your loins like a man: I’m going to demand of thee, declare unto Me. Will you also disannul my judgment? will you condemn me, that you may be righteous? ( Job 40:5-8 )
Think about this for a moment, because I think quite often we are guilty of this ourselves. Condemning God in seeking to make ourselves righteous. “I don’t know how God could do that to me. After all, when I’m so good and I’m so pure and I’m so righteous. Why would God allow that to happen to me? God isn’t fair to me. God isn’t just. He’s allowed it to happen to me.” Dangerous.
Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like him? Cast abroad the rage of your wrath: and behold everyone that is proud, abase him ( Job 40:9 , Job 40:11 )
Now God says, “Here, do this now. Go ahead and,”
Deck yourself with the majesty and excellency; array yourself with glory and beauty. And cast abroad the rage of the angry person: behold everyone that is proud in the earth, abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; bind their faces in secret. And then I also will confess to you that your own right hand can save you ( Job 40:10-14 ).
God said, “If you can do these things, then I’ll confess to you your right hand can save you. If you can abase every proud person and bring them low and all.”
Now God goes and He gives the illustration of the elephant and talks of the elephant, again one of His creatures and of the description of the elephant, its size and its diet and so forth. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Job 40:1-2
Introduction
Job 40
GOD CONCLUDES HIS SPEECH TO JOB (Job 40-41)
“This concluding speech of God to Job falls into three parts: (1) Job is (ironically) invited to assume the throne of the universe (Job 40:7-14). (2) There is the description of Behemoth (Job 40:15-24), and (3) the description of Leviathan (Job 41:1-34).”
In the Genesis account of Jacob’s wrestling with `a man’ until the breaking of day, some respected writers find a similar thing revealed in the Book of Job, Job `wrestling with God.’ Kline, depending upon some of the ancient versions which support that analogy, noted that, “The `first fall’ of the wrestling ordeal is about to be decided.”
Job 40:1-2
Jehovah answered Job, and said,
Shall he that cavilleth contend with the Almighty?
He that argueth with God, let him answer it.”
Kline interpreted this to mean, “Will the contender with the Almighty yield”? There is evidence here of God’s disapproval of things that Job has spoken; but it appears to be somewhat a mild disapproval. Certainly, God’s Words to Job are far more contradictory of the arrogant over-confidence of Job’s friends, “Who believed that they had arrived at a definition of God’s righteousness on the basis of human experience.”
God’s disapproval of Job’s complaint appears to have centered, “In the spirit which Job had manifested, and especially for his presumption,” in supposing that he could even carry his case before God Himself (Job 13:3; Job 13:21-22). But now, having considered the immeasurable greatness and wonder of God’s power as exhibited in the natural and sidereal creations, the contender with God is greatly subdued, but not yet repentant. “Actually (whether or not Job realized it), his many complaints Job 40-41 equivalent of his `contending with God.'”
Driver’s paraphrase of these first two verses is, “Will Job still carry on the dispute? If so, he must answer the questions Jehovah has put to him, and explain the marvels of creation that God has brought before him; and if he cannot do so, he has no right to criticize and reprove.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 40:1-2. God interrupted his line of speech to challenge Job. Let us again note that the whole address was made for the purpose of showing the weakness of man when contending (as a mere man) with his Maker.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
There is a pause in the unveiling as Jehovah speaks directly to His servant and asks for an answer to the things that He has said. The answer is full of suggestiveness. The man who in mighty speech and strong defiance had been of unbroken spirit in the presence of all the arguments of his friends now cried out,
Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer Thee?
He has learned the wisdom of, and he listens as Jehovah speaks.
Again Jehovah proceeds, and He charges Job to “gird up” his “loins like a man.” In each case there is in this introductory word the suggestion of God’s consciousness of man’s dignity. The things He has been describing cannot hear or answer this divine wisdom. Job can, and he is called on to exercise these distinctive powers of his humanity. Job had exhibited his folly in that in the midst of all his suffering he had by inference blamed on God’s method. This God now challenges, yet not to explain it, but first to suggest to Job that he attempt to occupy God’s place in the universe. There is a fine and tender satire in Jehovah’s call to Job to assume the reins of government. Let him do this in the moral realm, in which his criticism has been at work. Let him abase and humble the proud and lofty and evil and wicked ones. When Job can do this, then Jehovah will acknowledge that Job’s own right hand can save him.
Having challenged Job thus, Jehovah now suggests two experiments. He brings before him two animals, nonmoral, and suggests that Job exercise his authority and power over them. This is much easier than governing men. The material always yields itself to man’s government with greater ease than the moral. If this man can be made to feel his absolute weakness in the lower sphere he will naturally deduce therefrom his impotence in the higher things. If he cannot govern these, how can he assume the functions of the One who made them, and perfectly governs them? The description of behemoth leaves very little room for doubt that the animal we know as the hippopotamus is intended.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Hast Thou an Arm like God?
Job 40:1-24
God seemed to await Jobs reply to His questions. Job had protested that he would fill his mouth with arguments, but none was forthcoming. That vision of God had robbed him of self-reliance. He could only humbly acknowledge that he had uttered words enough. He must be led to the further confession, which will come presently, that he had sinned. Compare Job 42:6.
It was as though the Omniscient Eye still saw in Job some trust in himself; God therefore summoned him to array himself in his utmost glory and majesty and to argue his case further. But how impotent man is at the best!
The truth is driven home by a magnificent description of the hippopotamus, to whom the strongest and biggest of mans creations are childs play. If you cannot prevail against His creatures, how can you stand against the Creator? But if that Creator is your Father, how safe you are!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Job 40:8
I. Every excuse for sin condemns God. This will be apparent if we consider (1) that nothing can be sin for which there is a justifiable excuse. (2) If God condemns that for which there is a good excuse, He must be wrong. (3) But God does condemn all sin. Hence either there is no apology for it, or God is wrong. (4) Consequently every excuse for sin charges blame upon God, and virtually accuses Him of tyranny.
II. Consider some of these excuses in detail: (1) Inability. (2) Want of time. (3) A sinful nature. (4) Sinners plead that they are willing to be Christians. (5) Sinners say they are waiting God’s time. (6) Sinners plead that their circumstances are very peculiar. (7) Another excuse is in this form: “My heart is so hard that I cannot feel.” (8) “My heart is so deceitful,” etc.
III. All excuses for sin add insult to injury. (1) A plea that reflects injuriously upon the court or the lawgiver is an aggravation of the original crime. (2) The same is true of any plea made in self-justification. (3) It is truly abominable for the sinner to abuse God and then excuse himself for it. This is the old way of the guilty.
IV. (1) Excuses render repentance impossible. (2) Sinners should lay all their excuses at once before God. (3) Sinners ought to be ashamed of their excuses and repent of them.
C. G. Finney Sermons on Gospel Themes, p. 72.
References: Job 40:23.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 120. Job 42:5.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 18; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 434.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 40
1. The answer demanded (Job 40:1-2)
2. Jobs answer (Job 40:3-5)
3. Jehovahs appeal to Job (Job 40:6-14)
4. Behold behemoth! (Job 40:15-24)
Job 40:1-3. Now comes the direct word of Jehovah out of the storm-cloud to Job. He addresses him as he that reproveth God. He had contended with the Almighty and now the Almighty Job had judged faces him and demands an answer. Let him answer.
Job 40:3-5. And Job answers; and what an answer it is! It is the answer for which God was waiting. Lo! I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. He acknowledges that he had spoken too much and that now he cannot answer and proceeds no further. He is completely silenced, acknowledges his own nothingness and vileness, that his words were wrong and that he has nothing else to say. He was convinced that such a God who had spoken to him of creation and His creatures, making known His power, wisdom and care, could never be unjust in His dealings with man.
Job 40:6-14. But Jehovah, the searcher of hearts, has not yet finished. Jobs abominable pride must be laid bare. Jehovah asks him the serious question, Wilt thou disannul My judgment? Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an almighty arm like God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like His? Then he tells him: Deck thyself now with majesty and glory. Array thyself with majesty and power. Come and take My place and then thus arrayed let Job be in Gods place, rule and deal with proud man and the evil-doers.
Send far and wide thy overflowing wrath;
And on each proud one look, and bring him low;
Each proud one single out, and humble him;
Yea, crush the evildoers where they stand;
Hide them away together in the dust;
And in the deepest dungeon have them bound.
It is Divine irony, but needed in order to humble Job still more. He who was so proud and had so stubbornly defended his righteousness in self-justification and God-accusation, how could he do what Jehovah asked him to do?
But if he were to do it, then Jehovah would be ready to own to him that thy right hand to save thee will suffice. It all strikes home to the proud, self righteous heart of Job.
Job 40:15-24. The Lord asks Job to consider the behemoth; it is undoubtedly the hippopotamus (the Greek for river-horse). A description of this powerful beast follows. He calls the behemoth the chief of the ways of God, one of His greatest works in animal creation. The behemoth is one of Jobs fellow-creatures which I made as thee. He eateth grass like an ox. He has tremendous strength in his loins and legs. He takes its rest under the shady trees and fears nothing:
Suppose the stream should swell, he will not blench
For he believes that Jordan he can drink.
Shall any take him while he lies on watch?
Or with a ring shall any pierce his nose?
Behemoth then is a powerful, uncontrollable beast which lives for itself. How weak then is man as contrasted with this beast in possession of such marvellous strength. Yet it is only a beast and Job is a man. How abominable then must Jobs pride and boasting appear in the sight of the Lord.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Job 40:6, Job 38:1
Reciprocal: Job 11:5 – General Job 16:21 – plead Job 23:3 – Oh that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIVINE ANSWER
The Lord answered Job.
Job 40:1
I. Again Jehovah proceeds, and as at the commencement of the last, so now He charges Job to gird up his loins like a man.In each case there is in this introductory word the suggestion of Gods consciousness of mans dignity. The things which He has been describing cannot hear or answer this Divine wisdom. Job can, and he is called upon to exercise these distinctive powers of his humanity. The present address of God deals with the one respect in which Job has manifested his folly. In the midst of all his suffering he has by inference flung blame upon the method of God. This God now challenges, not to explain it, but first to suggest to Job that he attempts to occupy Gods place in the universe. There is a fine and tender satire in Jehovahs call to Job to assume the reins of government. Let him deck himself, and array himself, and exercise his power. Let him do it in the moral realm, in which his criticism has been at work. Let him abase and humble the proud and lofty, and evil and wicked ones. When Job can do this, then Jehovah will acknowledge that his own right hand can save him.
II. Having challenged Job to assume the government of the world, and that in the moral realm, Jehovah now suggests two experiments.It has been objected by some that the descriptions of behemoth and leviathan are interpolations, as they do not seem to fit in with the general argument at this point. This surely, however, misses the real thought. Having, as we have seen, called upon Job to exercise government, and that in the moral realm, Jehovah brings before him two animals, non-moral; and, moreover, suggests that Job should exercise his authority and power over them. This is a much easier thing than governing men. The material always yields itself to mans government with greater ease than the moral. If this man can be made to feel his absolute weakness in the lower sphere, he will naturally deduce therefrom his impotence in the higher. If he cannot govern these, how can he assume the functions of the One who made them, and perfectly governs them? The description of behemoth leaves very little room for doubt that the animal we know as the hippopotamus is intended. Let all the description be carefully noted, and correspondence will be discovered.
Illustration
The reasoning is from the less to the greater, and is, therefore, in this case conclusive. The lower animals exercise their instincts and find what is suited to their needs. And shall it not be so with man? Shall he, able to observe the signs of an all-embracing plan, not confess and trust the sublime justice it reveals? The slightness of human power is certainly contrasted with the omnipotence of God, and the ignorance of man with the omniscience of God; but always the Divine faithfulness, glowing behind, shines through the veil of nature, and it is this Job is called to recognise.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 40:1. Moreover the Lord answered Job Having first made a little pause to try what Job had to allege in his own defence, or could answer to his questions; and he continuing silent, as being, it seems, astonished at Gods rebukes, or expecting what he would further say, the Lord proceeded with his questions and rebukes. What follows is not said to be spoken out of the whirlwind, and therefore some think God said it in a still, small voice, which wrought more upon Job (as upon Elijah) than the whirlwind did. Though Job had not spoken any thing, yet God is said to answer him: for he knows mens thoughts, and can return a fit answer to their silence.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 40:4. Behold, I am vile. Job boldly answered his friends; but when the Lord speaks, he lays his mouth in the dust.
Job 40:15. Behold now behemoth. Here sacred criticism is divided in opinion; and not less than about the unicorn and the rhinoceros. The ancients believed that the behemoth, ta therial, the beast, was an elephant. The description of this noble animal is too large to be transcribed here. It should be remarked that there is little of hyperbole in the description of animals in these two chapters. Hence one is the more surprised that his tail should be said to be like a cedar; for it resembles the tail of a hog. Modern authors, among whom are Buffon and our Dr. Shaw, contend that the behemoth of Job is the Hippopotamus or river horse, an animal found on the Nile, and in the interior of Africa. This animal, though often noticed by the ancients, has not till lately been exactly described. Hippopotame has four cutting teeth in each jaw. Those in the middle are straight and pointed forward, the two middle-most the largest. It has four tusks, those in the upper jaw are short, and the lower very long, and truncated obliquely. The head is of an enormous size, and the mouth is immensely wide and large. The ears are small and pointed, and lined within very thickly with short fine hairs. The eyes and nostrils are small in proportion to the bulk of the animal. On the lips are some strong hairs scattered in patches here and there. The hair on the body is very thin, of a whitish colour, and scarcely discernible at first sight. There is no mane on the neck, as some writers feign, only the hairs on that part are rather thicker. The skin is very thick and strong, and of a dusky colour. The tail is about a foot long, taper, compressed, and naked. The hoofs are divided into four parts; but notwithstanding it is an amphibious animal, they are not connected by membranes. The legs are short and thick. In bulk, it is second only to the elephant. The length of a male has been found to be seventeen feet, the circumference of the body is fifteen, the height near seven, the legs near three, the head above three and a half, and the girth near nine. Pennants Synops. of quad. p. 78. But here we are more at a loss than before. This prodigious animal is amphibious. He floats in lakes and rivers by day, and eats the herbage at night. Hence he does not resemble the ox. Secondly, he is not chief of all the ways of God. His tail is remarkably short, and therefore in no sense can it resemble a cedar. The elephant therefore, not the river horse, seems to be the beast described in Job. But the mammoth, which has so much interested the learned world during the last fifty years, is obviously a species of the elephant. Mr. Peal of Philadelphia dug up one, as described by Mr. Ashe, of the following magnitude. Height over the shoulders eleven feet, length from the chin to the rump fifteen feet, from the end of the tusk to the end of the tail thirty one feet, width of the hips and body five feet eight inches, length of the under jaw three feet one inch, weight of the same sixty three pounds and a half, length of the thigh bones three feet seven inches, smallest circumference of the same one foot six inches, length of the bone of the fore leg two feet nine inches; length of the tusks, defences, or horns, ten feet seven inches; circumference of one tooth one foot six inches and a half; weight of the same four pounds ten ounces. The whole weighing about a thousand pounds. Other remains of the mammoth or large elephant, and of much larger magnitude, have been dug up in Siberia; as also skeletons of the terrific Megalonyx. See note on Num 24:9.
Job 40:19. He is chief of the ways of God. The Mastodon or Mammoth might have existence in ancient times, though now extinct; and indeed its remains are still found immersed in marshes, both on the Wabash and in Siberia.
Job 40:20. The mountains bring him food; therefore it cannot be the African hippopotame, which never leaves the shores of lakes and rivers, when he feeds on vegetables.
Job 40:21. In the covert of reeds and fens, the identical places where the remains of the mammoth are discovered.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 40:1-14. Divine Irony. The passage opens with a challenge to Job (Job 40:2) in which God drives home the lesson of the previous speech.
Job 40:1 is wanting in LXX and is a gloss.
Job 40:3-5 contains Jobs reply, in which he humbles himself before God. Peake and Strahan, however, both think that these verses are properly to be taken immediately before Job 42:1-6; so that there is only one reply from Job. If Job had already humbled himself, there seems no need of a second Divine speech. If, however, Job 40:3-5 are part of Jobs one and only reply then Job 40:6 f. is a gloss (Job 40:7 is repeated from Job 38:3), and Job 40:2, Job 40:8-14 are to be read continuously; Job 40:8 joins on well to Job 40:2. Disannul my judgment means deny my justice. Job, in order to demonstrate his own innocence, has been led to challenge the moral order of the universe. He has not, however, taken a sufficiently wide point of view.
Job 40:9-14 explains why Job has failed. He cannot put himself in the place of God, and govern the world: thus neither can he understand the method of its government. In Job 40:13 c the hidden place seems to mean Sheol.
Job 40:14. Then will I praise thee, that thy right hand getteth thee victory. Duhm explains this: Thou hast so much care for my government of the world, thou wouldest no doubt maintain it better than I can do, for thou wouldst straightway smite down everyone who in any way seemed to thee dangerous or made himself displeasing to thee by arrogance. Man would, if he had Gods power, in his zeal for righteousness and for his own honour become a tyrant. God because of His true superiority is patient, His apparent equanimity is therefore no proof of want of feeling for the right.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
GOD’S CHALLENGE AND JOB’S RESPONSE
(vv.1-5)
Job had said that if God would only listen to him, he would present his whole case in showing how God was unfair in His dealings (ch.33:3-5). Therefore now God gives Job opportunity to do this. He asks Job, “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it” (v.2). Where were Job’s arguments then? How withering were God’s words to the unseemly pride of Job!
He says, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further” (vv.4-5). Job goes deeper here than apologising for what he has said, for he expresses his judgment of himself personally. Indeed, how true it is that we ourselves, in our sinful nature, are worse than the worst thing we have ever said or done. Then he judges also what he had spoken more than once, and says he lays his hand over his mouth, just as Rom 3:19 says of all mankind, “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
GOD’S FURTHER QUESTIONS TO JOB
(40:6 – 41:34)
The whirlwind had continued a long time, and is still blowing when the Lord speaks in these verses. The whirlwind itself was intended to impress Job with the fact that every circumstance of swirling troubles and confusion was under the controlling hand of the Creator. “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nah 1:3).
“Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (v.7). These questions of the Lord continue through chapter 41, so that Job’s answer is found in chapter 42:1-6. But the Lord had deeper work to accomplish in Job’s soul, and His questions probe the depths of Job’s heart as Job had never expected to be probed.
The Lord had told Job to prepare himself like a man to answer the questions God would ask. Now He asks him first, “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?” How withering are such words! – but Job needed them, for he had inferred that God was unfair, while he himself was righteous! Such pride needed to be brought down to the dust. At least, power was not on Job’s side, but with God. Had he an arm like God?. Could he speak in thunder, as God does? Let him adorn himself with majesty and splendour, with glory and beauty, and disperse the rage of his wrath (vv.10-11). God could do this. Could Job? Rather, at the very thought of such power, Job should be impressed with his own utter impotence. But he is further told, “Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in darkness. Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you” (vv.12-14) The irony of such words is evident; Job needed humbling himself. How could he even hope to humble others? But there are many proud people today. We are helpless to humble any of them, but God will bring down the pride of everyone to the dust.
Could Job’s right hand save him? (v.14). No more than that he could humble everyone who is proud. Job had to learn that only the living God is the Saviour, and that He saves, not those who deserve it but those who are humbled to the dust to recognise they deserve nothing but judgment. God saves by grace, through the great value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. Of course at that time Job knew nothing of that great sacrifice, but he could still know that he was a sinner, dependent only on the grace of God.
BEHEMOTH, A GREAT LAND ANIMAL
(vv.15-24)
Speaking of greatness and power, God draws attention now to a huge animal of great strength, which he calls “behemoth.” Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus, but that animal has a small tail, while behemoth “moves his tail like a cedar” (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur. Some think the dinosaurs were destroyed in the flood, others, that some continued after the flood, and later became extinct.
But though behemoth ate grass, like an ox (v.15), his strength was greater than that of the lion, which feeds on meat of other animals. In behemoth every part of his anatomy contributed to his exceptional strength (vv.16-18), his loins, his body, legs and bones and even his tail. Strikingly, we are told, “he is the first of the ways of God” (v.19). God has created him as an object lesson for us of resistless strength. Only the God who made him can bring him down to nothing, symbolically to subject him to the judgment of the sword.
God has supplied food for him also (v.20), while he might lie down without fear of anything, though other beasts practically surrounded him. He is the very picture of self-confident power. Even the river may rage while he is at peace (v.23). He drinks in great amounts of water rather then be drowned in it.
Thus, he is untameable and uncontrollable. Man could do nothing with him as he does with an ox or a horse. Also he was totally selfish: he was of no service to any man or animal. Would Job want to be like this, strong and self-confident, with no real object of being of help to others?
The character of behemoth is similar to that of many strong, capable men, men who know how to subdue others, but have no heart to be of help to them. Does this not remind us of 1Jn 2:18, “as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.” Behemoth thus seems to be specially symbolical of Antichrist, since he is a land animal, for Antichrist will rise out of the land (of Israel), as Rev 13:11 shows us. The first beast of that chapter rises out of the sea (of the Gentile nations), and may well be typified by leviathan, of Job 41:1-34. It is God who has made him, though he refuses to recognise God.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
God’s concluding challenge to Job 40:1-2
God’s first speech began and ended with a challenge to Job. Job had found fault with God for allowing him to suffer when he was godly. He had said he wished he could meet God in court to face Him with His injustice and to hear His response (Job 13:3; Job 13:15). Now God asked Job if he still wanted to contend with Him after God had reminded him of His power and wisdom. "It" (Job 40:2 b) may refer to the question in Job 40:2 a, though it could refer to all the evidence God had presented in chapters 38-39. [Note: Reichert, p. 209.]
"Yahweh ironically challenged Job to teach (or correct) Him in the matters of the universe to prove that he was equal to God and thus capable of arguing with God in court." [Note: Parsons, p. 150.]
"Since Job is not knowledgeable enough to discover why things take place on earth as they do, he is left with a decision-either to trust Yahweh, believing that he wisely rules his created world, or to pursue his complaint that exalts himself above Yahweh. Yahweh leaves the initiative with Job either to believe him or to continue to accuse him." [Note: Hartley, p. 517.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
XXVIII.
THE RECONCILIATION
Job 38:1 – Job 42:6
THE main argument of the address ascribed to the Almighty is contained in chapters 38 and 39 and in the opening verses of chapter 42. Job makes submission and owns his fault in doubting the faithfulness of Divine providence. The intervening passage containing descriptions of the great animals of the Nile is scarcely in the same high strain of poetic art or on the same high level of cogent reasoning. It seems rather of a hyperbolical kind, suggesting failure from the clear aim and inspiration of the previous portion.
The voice proceeding from the storm cloud, in which the Almighty veils Himself and yet makes His presence and majesty felt, begins with a question of reproach and a demand that the intellect of Job shall be roused to its full vigour in order to apprehend the ensuing argument. The closing words of Job had shown misconception of his position before God. He spoke of presenting a claim to Eloah and setting forth his integrity so that his plea would be unanswerable. Circumstances had brought upon him a stain from which he had a right to be cleared, and, implying this, he challenged the Divine government of the world as wanting in due exhibition of righteousness. This being so, Jobs rescue from doubt must begin with a conviction of error. Therefore the Almighty says:-
“Who is this darkening counsel
By words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man;
For I will demand of thee and answer thou Me.”
The aim of the author throughout the speech from the storm is to provide a way of reconciliation between man in affliction and perplexity and the providence of God that bewilders and threatens to crush him. To effect this something more than a demonstration of the infinite power and wisdom of God is needed. Zophar affirming the glory of the Almighty to be higher than heaven, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, broader than the sea, basing on this a claim that God is unchangeably just, supplies no principle of reconciliation. In like manner Bildad, requiring the abasement of man as sinful and despicable in presence of the Most High with whom are dominion and fear, shows no way of hope and life. But the series of questions now addressed to Job forms an argument in a higher strain, as cogent as could be reared on the basis of that manifestation of God which the natural world supplies. The man is called to recognise not illimitable power only, the eternal supremacy of the Unseen King, but also other qualities of the Divine rule. Doubt of providence is rebuked by a wide induction from the phenomena of the heavens and of life upon the earth, everywhere disclosing law and care cooperant to an end.
First Job is asked to think of the creation of the world or visible universe. It is a building firmly set on deep-laid foundations. As if by line and measure it was brought into symmetrical form according to the archetypal plan; and when the cornerstone was laid as of a new palace in the great dominion of God there was joy in heaven. The angels of the morning broke into song, the sons of the Elohim, high in the ethereal dwellings among the fountains of light and life, shouted for joy. In poetic vision the writer beholds that work of God and those rejoicing companies: but to himself, as to Job, the question comes-What knows man of the marvellous creative effort which he sees in imagination? It is beyond human range. The plan and the method are equally incomprehensible. Of this let Job be assured-that the work was not done in vain. Not for the creation of a world the history of which was to pass into confusion would the morning stars have sung together. He who beheld all that He had made and declared it very good would not suffer triumphant evil to confound the promise and purpose of His toil.
Next there is the great ocean flood, once confined as in the womb of primeval chaos, which came forth in living power, a giant from its birth. What can Job tell, what can any man tell of that wonderful evolution, when, swathed in rolling clouds and thick darkness, with vast energy the flood of waters rushed tumultuously to its appointed place? There is a law of use and power for the ocean, a limit also beyond which it cannot pass. Does man know how that is?-must he not acknowledge the wise will and benignant care of Him who holds in check the stormy devastating sea?
And who has control of the light? The morning dawns not by the will of man. It takes hold of the margin of the earth over which the wicked have been ranging, and as one shakes out the dust from a sheet, it shakes them forth visible and ashamed. Under it the earth is changed, every object made clear and sharp as figures on clay stamped with a seal. The forests, fields, and rivers are seen like the embroidered or woven designs of a garment. What is this light? Who sends it on the mission of moral discipline? Is not the great God who commands the dayspring to be trusted even in the darkness? Beneath the surface of earth is the grave and the dwelling place of the nether gloom. Does Job know. does any man know, what lies beyond the gates of death? Can any tell where the darkness has its central seat? One there is whose is the night as well as the morning. The mysteries of futurity, the arcana of nature lie open to the Eternal alone.
Atmospheric phenomena, already often described, reveal variously the unsearchable wisdom and thoughtful rule of the Most High. The force that resides in the hail, the rains that fall on the wilderness where no man is, satisfying the waste and desolate ground and causing the tender grass to spring up, these imply a breadth of gracious purpose that extends beyond the range of human life. Whose is the fatherhood of the rain, the ice, the hoar frost of heaven? Man is subject to the changes these represent; he cannot control them. And far higher are the gleaming constellations that are set in the forehead of night. Have the hands of man gathered the Pleiades and strung them like burning gems on a chain of fire? Can the power of man unloose Orion and let the stars of that magnificent constellation wander through the sky? The Mazzaroth or Zodiacal signs that mark the watches of the advancing year, the Bear and the stars of her train-who leads them forth? The laws of heaven, too, those ordinances regulating the changes of temperature and the seasons, does man appoint them? Is it he who brings the time when thunderstorms break up the drought and open the bottles of heaven, or the time of heat when the dust gathers into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together? Without this alternation of drought and moisture recurring by law from year to year the labour of man would be in vain. Is not He who governs the changing seasons to be trusted by the race that profits most of His care?
At Job 38:39 attention is turned from inanimate nature to the living creatures for which God provides. With marvellous poetic skill they are painted in their need and strength, in the urgency of their instincts, timid or tameless or cruel. The Creator is seen rejoicing in them as His handiwork, and man is held bound to exult in their life and see in the provision made for its fulfilment a guarantee of all that his own bodily nature and spiritual being may require. Notable especially to us is the close relation between this portion and certain sayings of our Lord in which the same argument brings the same conclusion.
“Two passages of Gods speaking,” says Mr. Ruskin, “one in the Old and one in the New Testament, possess, it seems to me, a different character from any of the rest, having been uttered, the one to effect the last necessary change in the mind of a man whose piety was in other respects perfect; and the other as the first statement to all men of the principles of Christianity by Christ Himself-I mean the 38th to 41st chapters of the Book of Job and the Sermon on the Mount. Now the first of these passages is from beginning to end nothing else than a direction of the mind which was to be perfected, to humble observance of the works of God in nature. And the other consists only in the inculcation of three things: 1st, right conduct; 2nd, looking for eternal life; 3rd, trusting God through watchfulness of His dealings with His creation.”
The last point is that which brings into closest parallelism the doctrine of Christ and that of the author of Job, and the resemblance is not accidental, but of such a nature as to show that both saw the underlying truth in the same way and from the same point of spiritual and human interest.
“Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness?
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
When they couch in their dens
And abide in the covert to lie in wait?
Who provideth for the raven his food,
When his young ones cry unto God
And wander for lack of meat?”
Thus man is called to recognise the care of God for creatures strong and weak, and to assure himself that his life will not be forgotten. And in His Sermon on the Mount our Lord says, “Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?” The parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke approaches still more closely the language in Job-“Consider the ravens that they sow not neither reap.”
The wild goats or goats of the rock and their young that soon become independent of the mothers care; the wild asses that make their dwelling place in the salt land and scorn the tumult of the city; the wild ox that cannot be tamed to go in the furrow or bring home the sheaves in harvest; the ostrich that “leaveth her eggs on the earth and warmeth them in the dust”; the horse in his might, his neck clothed with the quivering mane, mocking at fear, smelling the battle afar off; the hawk that soars into the blue sky: the eagle that makes her nest on the rock, -all these, graphically described, speak to Job of the innumerable forms of life, simple, daring, strong, and savage, that are sustained by the power of the Creator. To think of them is to learn that, as one among the dependants of God, man has his part in the system of things. his assurance that the needs God has ordained will be met. The passage is poetically among the finest in Hebrew literature, and it is more. In its place, with the limit the writer has set for himself, it is most apt as a basis of reconciliation and a new starting point in thought for all like Job who doubt the Divine faithfulness. Why should man, because he can think of the providence of God, be alone suspicious of the justice and wisdom on which all creatures rely? Is not his power of thought given to him that he may pass beyond the animals and praise the Divine Provider on their behalf and his own?
Man needs more than the raven, the lion, the mountain goat, and the eagle. He has higher instincts and cravings. Daily food for the body will not suffice him, nor the liberty of the wilderness. He would not be satisfied if, like the hawk and eagle, he could soar above the hills. His desires for righteousness, for truth, for fulness of that spiritual life by which he is allied to God Himself, are his distinction. So, then, He who has created the soul will bring it to perfectness. Where or how its longings shall be fulfilled may not be for man to know. But he can trust God. That is his privilege when knowledge fails. Let him lay aside all vain thoughts and ignorant doubts. Let him say: God is inconceivably great, unsearchably wise, infinitely just and true; I am in His hands, and all is well.
The reasoning is from the less to the greater, and is therefore in this case conclusive. The lower animals exercise their instincts and find what is suited to their needs. And shall it not be so with man? Shall he, able to discern the signs of an all-embracing plan, not confess and trust the sublime justice it reveals? The slightness of human power is certainly contrasted with the omnipotence of God, and the ignorance of man with the omniscience of God; but always the Divine faithfulness, glowing behind, shines through the veil of nature, and it is this Job is called to recognise. Has he almost doubted everything, because from his own life outward to the verge of human existence wrong and falsehood seemed to reign? But how, then, could the countless creatures depend upon God for the satisfaction of their desires and the fulfilment of their varied life? Order in nature means order in the scheme of the world as it affects humanity. And order in the providence which controls human affairs must have for its first principle fairness, justice, so that every deed shall have due reward.
Such is the Divine law perceived by our inspired author “through the things that are made.” The view of nature is still different from the scientific, but there is certainly an approach to that reading of the universe praised by M. Renan as peculiarly Hellenic, which “saw the Divine in what is harmonious and evident.” Not here at least does the taunt apply that, from the point of view of the Hebrew, “ignorance is a cult and curiosity a wicked attempt to explain,” that “even in the presence of a mystery which assails and ruins him, man attributes in a special manner the character of grandeur to that which is inexplicable,” that “all phenomena whose cause is hidden, all beings whose end cannot be perceived, are to man a humiliation and a motive for glorifying God.” The philosophy of the final portion of Job is of that kind which presses beyond secondary causes and finds the real ground of creaturely existence. Intellectual apprehension of the innumerable and far-reaching threads of Divine purpose and the secrets of the Divine will is not attempted. But the moral nature of man is brought into touch with the glorious righteousness of God. Thus the reconciliation is revealed for which the whole poem has made preparation. Job has passed through the furnace of trial and the deep waters of doubt, and at last the way is opened for him into a wealthy place. Till the Son of God Himself come to clear the mystery of suffering no larger reconciliation is possible. Accepting the inevitable boundaries of knowledge, the mind may at length have peace.
And Job finds the way of reconciliation:
“I know that Thou canst do all things,
And that no purpose of Thine can be restrained.
Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge?
Then have I uttered what I understood not,
Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”
“Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me.
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth Thee,
Wherefore I repudiate my words and repent in dust and ashes.”
All things God can do, and where His purposes are declared there is the pledge of their accomplishment. Does man exist?-it must be for some end that will come about. Has God planted in the human mind spiritual desires?-they shall be satisfied. Job returns on the question that accused him-“Who is this darkening counsel?” It was he himself who obscured counsel by ignorant words. He had only heard of God then, and walked in the vain belief of a traditional religion. His efforts to do duty and to avert the Divine anger by sacrifice had alike sprung from the imperfect knowledge of a dream life that never reached beyond words to facts and things. God was greater far than he had ever thought, nearer than, he had ever conceived. His mind is filled with a sense of the Eternal power, and overwhelmed by proofs of wisdom to which the little problems of mans life can offer no difficulty.
“Now mine eye seeth Thee.” The vision of God is to his soul like the dazzling light of day to one issuing from a cavern. He is in a new world where every creature lives and moves in God. He is under a government that appears new because now the grand comprehensiveness and minute care of Divine providence are realised. Doubt of God and difficulty in acknowledging the justice of God are swept away by the magnificent demonstration of vigour, spirit, and. sympathy, which Job had as yet failed to connect with the Divine Life. Faith therefore finds freedom, and its liberty is reconciliation, redemption. He cannot indeed behold God face to face and hear the judgment of acquittal for which he had longed and cried. Of this, however, he does not now feel the need. Rescued from the uncertainty in which he had been involved-all that was beautiful and good appearing to quiver like a mirage-he feels life again to have its place and use in the Divine order. It is the fulfilment of Jobs great hope, so far as it can be fulfilled in this world. The question of his integrity is not formally decided. But a larger question is answered, and the answer satisfies meantime the personal desire.
Job makes no confession of sin, His friends and Elihu, all of whom endeavour to find evil in his life, are entirely at fault. The repentance is not from moral guilt, but from the hasty and venturous speech that escaped him in the time of trial. After all ones defence of Job one must allow that he does not at every point avoid the appearance of evil. There was need that he should repent and find new life in new humility. The discovery he has made does not degrade a man. Job sees God as great and true and faithful as he had believed Him to be, yea, greater and more faithful by far. He sees himself a creature of this great God and is exalted, an ignorant creature and is reproved. The larger horizon which he demanded having opened to him, he finds himself much less than he had seemed. In the microcosm of his past dream life and narrow religion he appeared great, perfect, worthy of all he enjoyed at the hand of God; but now, in the macrocosm, he is small, unwise, weak. God and the soul stand sure as before; but Gods justice to the soul He has made is viewed along a different line. Not as a mighty sheik can Job now debate with the Almighty he has invoked. The vast ranges of being are unfolded, and among the subjects of the Creator he is one, -bound to praise the Almighty for existence and all it means. His new birth is finding himself little, yet cared for in Gods great universe.
The writer is no doubt struggling with an idea he cannot fully express; and in fact he gives no more than the pictorial outline of it. But, without attributing sin to Job, he points, in the confession of ignorance, to the germ of a doctrine of sin. Man, even when upright, must be stung to dissatisfaction, to a sense of imperfection-to realise his fall as a new birth in spiritual evolution. The moral ideal is indicated, the boundlessness of duty and the need for an awakening of man to his place in the universe. The dream life now appears a clouded partial existence, a period of lost opportunities and barren vainglory. Now opens the greater life in the light of God.
And at the last the challenge of the Almighty to Satan with which the poem began stands justified. The Adversary cannot say, -The hedge set around Thy servant broken down, his flesh afflicted, now he has cursed Thee to Thy face. Out of the trial Job comes, still on Gods side, more on Gods side than ever, with a nobler faith more strongly founded on the rock of truth. It is, we may say, a prophetic parable of the great test to which religion is exposed in the world, its difficulties and dangers and final triumph. To confine the reference to Israel is to miss the grand scope of the poem. At the last, as at the first, we are beyond Israel, out in a universal problem of mans nature and experience. By his wonderful gift of inspiration, painting the sufferings and the victory of Job, the author is a herald of the great advent. He is one of those who prepared the way not for a Jewish Messiah, the redeemer of a small people, but for the Christ of God, the Son of Man, the Saviour of the world.
A universal problem, that is, a question of every human age, has been presented and within limits brought to a solution. But it is not the supreme question of mans life. Beneath the doubts and fears with which this drama has dealt lie darker and more stormy elements. The vast controversy in which every human soul has a share oversweeps the land of Uz and the trial of Job. From his life the conscience of sin is excluded. The author exhibits a soul tried by outward circumstances; he does not make his hero share the thoughts of judgment of the evildoer. Job represents the believer in the furnace of providential pain and loss. He is neither a sinner nor a sin bearer. Yet the book leads on with no faltering movement toward the great drama in which every problem of religion centres. Christs life, character, work cover the whole region of spiritual faith and struggle, of conflict and reconciliation, of temptation and victory, sin and salvation; and while the problem is exhaustively wrought out the Reconciler stands divinely free of all entanglement. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Jobs honest life emerges at last, from a narrow range of trial into personal reconciliation and redemption through the grace of God. Christs pure heavenly life goes forward in the Spirit through the full range of spiritual trial, bearing every need of erring man, confirming every wistful hope of the race, yet revealing with startling force mans immemorial quarrel with the light, and convicting him in the hour that it saves him. Thus for the ancient inspired drama there is set, in the course of evolution, another, far surpassing it, the Divine tragedy of the universe, involving the spiritual omnipotence of God. Christ has to overcome not only doubt and fear, but the devastating godlessness of man, the strange sad enmity of the carnal mind. His triumph in the sacrifice of the cross leads religion forth beyond all difficulties and dangers into eternal purity and calm. That is through Him the soul of believing man is reconciled by a transcendent spiritual law to nature and providence, and his spirit consecrated forever to the holiness of the Eternal.
The doctrine of the sovereignty of God, as set forth-in the drama of Job with freshness and power by one of the masters of theology, by no means covers the whole ground of Divine action. The righteous man is called and enabled to trust the righteousness of God; the good man is brought to confide in that Divine goodness which is the source of his own. But the evildoer remains unconstrained by grace, unmoved by sacrifice. We have learned a broader theology, a more strenuous yet a more gracious doctrine of the Divine sovereignty. The induction by which we arrive at the law is wider than nature, wider than the providence that reveals infinite wisdom, universal equity and care. Rightly did a great Puritan theologian take his stand on the conviction of God as the one power in heaven and earth and hell; rightly did he hold to the idea of Divine will as the one sustaining energy of all energies. But he failed just where the author of Job failed long before: he did not fully see the correlative principle of sovereign grace. The revelation of God in Christ, our Sacrifice and Redeemer, vindicates with respect to the sinful as well as the obedient the Divine act of creation. It shows the Maker assuming responsibility for the fallen, seeking and saving the lost; it shows one magnificent sweep of evolution which starts from the manifestation of God in creation and returns through Christ to the Father, laden with the manifold immortal gains of creative and redeeming power.