Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 11:7
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
7. The verse means, Canst thou fathom or conceive God? The special side of God’s being, which Zophar declares to be unfathomable, is His wisdom or omniscience. This is the point in question, for it is this which discovers Job’s heart and his sins; and Zophar desires to put this omniscience before Job to bring him to take a right place before it, just as Eliphaz brought the holiness of God before him. Literally the verse reads: Canst thou find the deeps of (or, that which has to be searched out in) God, canst thou reach to the perfection (the outmost, the ground of the nature) of the Almighty? Cf. ch. Job 26:10, Job 28:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 12. Panegyric on the Divine Wisdom or Omniscience. This wisdom cannot be fathomed by man ( Job 11:7). It fills all things ( Job 11:8-9). And this explains the sudden calamities that befall men, for God perceives their hidden wickedness ( Job 11:10-11). But man is of no understanding ( Job 11:12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Canst then, by searching, find out God? – In order to illustrate the sentiment which he had just expressed, that the secrets of divine wisdom must be far above our comprehension, Zophar introduces here this sublime description of God – a description which seems to have the form and force of a proverb. It seems to have been a settled opinion that man could not find out the Almighty to perfection by his own powers – a sentiment, which is as true now, as it was then, and which is of the utmost importance in all our inquiries about the Creator. The sentiment is expressed in a most beautiful manner; and the language itself is not unworthy of the theme. The word searching, cheqer, is from chaqar to search, to search out, to examine; and the primary sense, according to Gesenius, lies in searching in the earth by boring or digging – as for metals. Then it means to search with diligence and care. Here it means that by the utmost attention in examining the works of God, it would be impossible for man to find out the Almighty to perfection. All the investigations which have been made of God, have fallen short of the object; and at the present time it is as true as it was in the days of Job, that we cannot, by searching, find him out. Of much that pertains to him and his plans we must be content to remain in ignorance, until we are admitted to the revelations of a higher world – happy and thankful now that we are permitted to know so much of him as we do, and that we are apprized of the existence of one infinite and perfect mind. It is an inexpressible privilege to know anything of God; and it is proof of the exalted nature of man, that he is now capable of becoming in any degree acquainted with the divine nature.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 11:7
Canst thou by searching find out God?
The unsearchableness of God
You are not to suppose that your God is to be utterly unknown, and that because your faculties cannot pierce the inmost recesses of His being, therefore you are discharged from the duty of thinking about Him at all. Your faculties were given you for use, and the highest exercise of which they are capable is thought on God.
1. The duty of searching into Divine things is one recognised and acted out by very few. Let your own observations convince you of this. It is only by a knowledge of Gods character that we can hope to keep His law.
2. The proper objects of the search. Such as Gods mind about you. God in His dispensations and His ways. This is practical; and it is far more profitable to spend our energies on such considerations as these, than on speculations which are too deep for us, at least while we are on this side the grave, and in the flesh. To know Gods mind about Himself, I invite even the man that would study the character of the Most High, and would know the Lord.
3. What measure of success in such study may we expect? Success will not be limited to improvement. It will bring consolation. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
God incomprehensible by His creatures
That there is a first and supreme cause, who is the Creator and Governor of the universe, is a plain and obvious truth which forces itself upon every attentive mind; so that many have argued the existence of God, from the unanimous consent of all nations to this great and fundamental truth. But though we may easily conceive of the existence of the Deity, yet His nature and perfections surpass the comprehension of all minds but His own.
I. God is incomprehensible in respect to the ground of His existence. God owes His existence to Himself, yet we are obliged to suppose there is some ground or reason of His existing, rather than not existing. We cannot conceive of any existence which has no ground or foundation. The ground or reason of Gods existence must be wholly within Himself. What that something in Himself is, is above the comprehension of all created beings.
II. God is incomprehensible in respect to many of His perfections.
1. Eternity. God is eternal. He never had a beginning. We can conceive of a future, but not of a past eternity. That a being should always exist without any beginning is what men will never be able to fathom, either in this world, or that which is to come.
2. Omnipresence. The immensity of the Divine presence transcends the highest conceptions of created beings. God is equally present with each of His creatures, and with all His creatures at one and the same instant.
3. Power. God can do everything. His power can meet with no resistance or obstruction. Who can stay His hand? The effects of Divine power are astonishing.
4. Knowledge. That knowledge takes in all objects within the compass of possibility. Such knowledge is wonderful; it is high; we cannot attain unto it.
5. The moral perfections of God in extent and degree surpass our limited views.
III. God is incomprehensible in His great designs. None of the creatures of God can look into His mind and see all His views and intentions as they lie there. His counsels will of necessity remain incomprehensible, until His Word or providence shall reveal them to His intelligent creatures.
IV. He is incomprehensible in His works. Their nature, number, and magnitude stretch beyond the largest views of creatures. No man knows how second causes produce their effects; nor how the material system holds together and hangs upon nothing.
V. He is unsearchable in His providence. Whatever God has done, He always intended to do; but we do not know at present all the reasons of His conduct, nor all the consequences that will flow from it. Respecting future events, God has drawn over them an impenetrable veil. Improve and apply the subject.
1. In a very important sense God is truly infinite. To be incomprehensible is the same as to be infinite.
2. The incomprehensible nature of the Supreme Being does by no means preclude our having clear and just conceptions of His true character.
3. If God be incomprehensible by His creatures, we have no reason to deny our need of a Divine revelation.
4. If God is incomprehensible in His nature and perfections, then it is no objection against the Divinity of the Bible that it contains some incomprehensible mysteries.
5. Then it is very unreasonable to disbelieve anything which He has been pleased to reveal concerning Himself, merely because we cannot comprehend it.
6. Ministers ought to make it their great object in preaching, to unfold the character and perfections of the Deity. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
The incomprehensibleness of God
Job, in the foregoing chapter, carried the justification of his integrity so far that he seemed to entrench somewhat rudely on the justice of providence. Zophar, therefore, to repress this insolence, and vindicate the Divine honour, lays before him the incomprehensibleness and majesty of God.
I. Assert and illustrate the doctrine of the text. That God is incomprehensible. If in the Godhead we gaze and pry too boldly into eternal generation and procession, and the ineffable unity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it will but dazzle and confound our weak faculties. All the attributes of God are infinite in their perfection, and whosoever goes about to fathom what is infinite, is guilty of the folly of that countryman, in the poem, who sitting on the bank side, expects to see the stream run quite away, and leave its channel dry; but that runs on, and will do so to all ages. We cannot comprehend the whole extent of Gods moral attributes. Though God were so far discoverable by the light of reason, as served to render the idolatry and wickedness of the pagan world inexcusable (Rom 1:1-32), yet God being infinite, and His perfections a vast abyss, there are therefore mysteries in the Godhead which human reason cannot penetrate, heights which we cannot soar.
II. Reflections upon this proposition. Use it–
1. To let out the tumour of self-conceit.
2. To justify our belief of mysteries.
3. To vindicate the doctrine of providence. The incomprehensibleness of God solves all the difficulties that clog the doctrine of providence. (Richard Lucas, D. D.)
God incomprehensible
That there is a God is almost the universal belief of mankind. There are few absolute atheists. Zophar reproves Job for pretending to a perfect knowledge of God. The charge implies that God is incomprehensible. We cannot perfectly understand His works, His ways, His Word, or His attributes–such as His eternity, power, wisdom, and knowledge, holiness, justice, goodness. Practical lessons–
1. We should learn to be humble.
2. Infer how base a thing is idolatry, or image worship.
3. If God is incomprehensibly glorious, how should we admire and adore Him!
4. Let us calmly submit to all His dispensations in providence.
5. Seeing that the nature of God is so wonderfully glorious, let us study to know Him.
6. Learn the reasonableness of faith.
7. This subject should render the heavenly state exceedingly desirable; for in that state we shall know even as we are known. (G. Burder.)
The incomprehensibleness of God
This term or attribute is a relative term, and speaks a relation between an object and a faculty, between God and a created understanding. God knows Himself, but He is incomprehensible to His creatures. Give the proof of the doctrine–
I. By way of instance or induction of particulars.
1. Instances on the part of the object. The nature of God, the excellency and perfection of God, the works and ways of God, are above our thoughts and apprehensions. We can only understand Gods perfections as He communicates them, and not as He possesses them. We must not frame notions of them contrary to what they are in the creature, nor must we limit them by what they are in the creature. The ways of Gods providence are not to be traced. We take a part from the whole, and consider it by itself, without relation to the whole series of His dispensations.
2. Instances on the part of the subject, or the persons capable of knowing, God in any measure. The perfect knowledge of God is above a finite creatures understanding. Wicked men are full of false apprehensions of God. And good men have some false apprehensions. The angels do not arrive at perfect knowledge of Him.
II. By way of conviction. If the creature be unsearchable, is not the Creator much more unsearchable. He possesses all the perfections which He communicates, and many which cannot be communicated to a creature.
III. The clear reason of it. Which is this–the disproportion between the faculty and the object; the finiteness of our understandings, and the infiniteness of the Divine nature and perfections. Apply this doctrine–
1. It calls for our admiration, and veneration, and reverence.
2. It calls for humility and modesty.
3. It calls for the highest degree of our affection. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)
Doctrine of Trinity not a contradiction to reason
The doctrine of the Trinity is not at all more incomprehensible than others to which no opposition is offered. A man can comprehend the Trinity as well as he can the eternity of God, or the omnipresence of God.
1. Certain considerations from which you will infer the presumption of expecting that the nature of God should be either discernible or demonstrable by reason. If we would but observe how little way our reason can make when labouring amongst things with which we are every day conversant, we should be prepared to expect that when applied to the nature of the Deity, it would be found altogether incompetent to the unravelling and comprehending of it. We are to ourselves a mystery. There is a presumption which outweighs language in expecting that we can apprehend what is God, and how He subsists. A revelation from God may be expected to contain much which must overmatch all but the faith of mankind. We are continually in the habit of admitting things on the testimony of experience, which without such experience we should reject as incredible. We may assert this in respect to many of those operations of nature which are going on daily and hourly around us, e.g., husbandry. We do not, in regard of the things of this lower creation, measure what we believe by what we can demonstrate. Where then is the justice and the reasonableness of our carrying up to the highest investigations of God a rule which, if applied to the facts or phenomena of nature, would make us doubt the one half, and disbelieve the other? If we reject one property of God, because incomprehensible, we must, if consistent, reject almost every other. This is not sufficiently observed. It is customary to fasten on the mystery of the Trinity as the great incomprehensible in God, and to speak of it as tasking our reason in a measure far higher than the rest. We admit that whilst the whole of a revelation may be above our reason, there may be parts which seem contrary to it; and if there exists a repugnance between reason and revelation, we do right in withholding our assent. If it could be shown that the received doctrine of the Trinity did violence to the conclusions of reason, there would be good ground for rejecting that doctrine and regarding the Bible as wrongly interpreted.
2. There is no repugnance to reason in the doctrine of the Trinity. It is above reason, but not contrary to reason. The sense in which God is three, is not the sense in which God is one. The doctrine stated with simplicity, the doctrine that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are so distinct as not to be one with the other, and so united as to be one God, carries nothing on its front to convict it of absurdity. There is no contradiction in three being one, unless it be said that the three are one in the same respect. We are not now endeavouring to establish the fact that Scripture teaches the doctrine of the Trinity; we only show that there is nothing in the doctrine which reason can prove impossible. The testimonies of Scripture to the Divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit, are numerous and explicit; the declarations that there is only one God rival these in amount and clearness. You will be told that this doctrine is a speculative thing; that even if it is true, it is not fundamental; and that, whatsoever place it may fill in scholastic theology, it is of little or no worth in practical Christianity. Remember one truth. If the doctrine of the Trinity be a false doctrine, your Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was nothing more than a man. The Divinity of Christ stands or falls with the Trinity or Unity. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Feelings after God
When the Creator formed man He placed within him a religious sentiment, a sense of a superior existence, and this being the nature of the subjective mind, the outer realm became at once peopled with supernatural creatures. The religious feeling in the soul, in the first years of its strivings, saw gods in every storm, and in every ray of sunshine, and in all the shadows of the night. Paul says God so made the rational world, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they may feel after Him, and find Him. All the mythological and theological phenomena of the past are manifestations of this feeling after the true God. Christ stands the nearest of all alleged divinities to any historical fact. There have been claims to Divine honours set up by others. Christ stands farthest from myth, and nearest to reality. Think of the less questionable elements in this historic fact.
1. It was a great gain to our race that at last the search for an Incarnation came up to a real, visible being. Man had gone about as far as he could upon a theology of legend and absurdity. There was no valuable religious faith in the world at the time of the Advent. The Roman Empire had all forms of greatness except religious faith. Mankind will always exchange legend for history. The development of reason works against myth and in favour of the actual. Examine further the quality of this Christ idea. It was the first incarnation lying within the field of evidence. How far was this Christ an-incarnation of the Divine?
2. It should soften our judgment that we do not know the nature of Deity. There is every reason for supposing that man was created in the intellectual likeness of God, and hence for God to become manifest in Christ was only a filling to the full of a cup partly filled in the creation of man. Man himself held a part of the Divine image. Christ held it all. The picture of Jesus Christ is the best picture conceivable of a mingling of the earthly and the heavenly. The whole scene is above life and below the infinite. It was God brought down, and man lifted up. (David Swing.)
How can I know there is a God
A knowledge of God is necessary. It is important to have strong faith in God.
I. I know there is a God, because He has revealed Himself to men. In all ages God has spoken to men, and given them a knowledge of Himself. All along the ages God was constantly speaking to men, and revealing Himself to His people. As large numbers of these men gave their lives as witnesses for Gods revelation, I believe their testimony, and am aided in searching to know God for myself.
II. Because He has revealed Himself to me. In three ways–
1. In His Holy Word.
2. In the world in which I live.
3. In my own heart, and soul, and life.
III. Because He made the world. It could not have made itself.
IV. Because I can see His wisdom in the harmony and design which exist in the world. Wherever you see design, you may be sure there has been a designer. Things do not happen by chance.
V. I am confirmed in my knowledge of God when I learn that men everywhere have believed in God. Go wherever you will, you will find men who believe in God. Rather than be without God, men will make one. The universal failure of man has not been to have no God, but to have too many. (Charles Leach, D. D.)
Searching after God
I. This is a righteous occupation.
1. It agrees with the profoundest instincts of our souls. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. It is the hunger of the river for the ocean–every particle heaves towards it, and rests not until it finds it.
2. It is stimulated by the manifestations of nature. His footprints are everywhere, and they invite us to pursue His march.
3. It is encouraged by the declarations of the Bible. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him whilst He is near.
4. It is aided by the manifestations of Christ. Christ is the brightness of His Fathers glory, etc.
II. This is a useful occupation.
1. There is no occupation so spirit-quickening. The idea of God to the soul is what the sunbeam is to nature. No other idea has such a life-giving power.
2. There is no occupation so spirit-humbling.
3. There is no occupation so spirit-ennobling. When the soul feels itself before God, the majesty of kings, and the splendour of empires are but childish toys.
III. This is an endless occupation. Canst thou by searching find out God? Never fully. The finite can never comprehend the Infinite.
1. This endless work agrees with the inexhaustible powers of our nature. Searching after anything less than the Infinite would never bring out into full and vigorous action the immeasurable potentialities within us.
2. This endless work agrees with the instinct of mystery within us. The soul wants mystery. Without mystery there is no inquisitiveness, no wonder, no adoration, no self-abnegation. (Homilist.)
The Divine nature incomprehensible
Mankind supremely desire knowledge. In the pursuit of it every encouragement should be given. Yet there is a sort of knowledge which some busy and unsatisfied tempers are too inquisitive after. It is out of this arrogant deceit that they take upon them to be so well acquainted with the Divine nature, and to fathom all the deep things of God. As the term God must imply in it every perfection that is conceivable of a power infinitely superior to us, the very idea of such a Being must be sufficient to make us stand in awe and keep our distance. What ought effectually to deter and discourage too bold researches into the Divine nature is–
I. That it seems to be a sin to attempt to find it out. Our lust after knowledge should be put under restraint. It was a forbidden curiosity that ruined the first members of our race. Certain it is that we are under limitations; and it must be very unadvised to pretend to find out God to perfection. And–
II. It is impossible to accomplish it. Neither prophets nor apostles were capable of comprehending all knowledge: at least they were not thought fit to be entrusted with more important discoveries. Some things angels even might not look into. Will reason supply the deficiency? The immensity of the Divine nature, and the weakness of human capacities, will be perpetual discouragements to such a rash experiment. It is true that the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator are so easily deducible from the things that are made, that those are pronounced without excuse that do not discern them, and act agreeably to their conviction. But what is man that he should with so much impatience covet to know the hidden things of God before the time? Secret things belong unto God. Highly then does it concern us to cheek that petulant and wanton desire of prying into things which God hath industriously concealed from us. We may know quite enough to make us religious here, and happy hereafter. It is not unreasonable to believe that it will be one of the beatitudes of good men to have their understandings enlarged at the great day of the manifestation of all things. Let no one fancy he is injured, or that Gods ways are not equal, in not suffering us at present to see Him as He is; since He never intended that this life should be a state of perfection in any kind. Let us be thankful that God has graciously revealed to us the way of salvation, and not be dissatisfied that He hath not given us to understand all mysteries and all knowledge. (James Roe, M. A.)
The incomprehensibleness of the Divine nature and perfection
1. We can apprehend that God is a being of all possible perfection. He is the first, or self-existent being. What has no cause for its existence, we naturally think can have no bounds.
2. We cannot find God out to perfection. Were He less perfect, the attempt might not be so utterly impossible. That we cannot perfectly know God may be argued from the narrowness of our faculties, and from the great disadvantages for knowing God which we lie under in the present state. Moreover God is infinite, and all created understandings are but finite. We cannot fathom infinite perfection with the short line of our reason; or soar to boundless heights with our feeble wing; or stretch our thoughts till they are commensurate to the Divine immensity. Consider some particular perfections–eternity, immensity, omniscience, and omnipotence. Consider the moral attributes of God His holiness, goodness, justice, truth. Practical reflections–
1. Let us adore this incomprehensible Being. It is the grandeur, the infinity of His perfections which makes Him a proper object of adoration.
2. Whenever we are thinking or speaking of God, let us carry this in our minds, that He is incomprehensible. This will influence us to think and speak honourably of Him.
3. This will help us to form a more raised conception of the happiness of the heavenly state. (H. Groves.)
The incomprehensibleness of God
I. As to the creation. That work of God is perfect, with regard to the ends for which it was designed. But our wisdom is not sufficient always to trace out the Divine.
1. We cannot perfectly understand the production and disposal of things at the beginning. Creation is of two kinds: out of nothing, and out of pre-existent matter. Of creation out of nothing, it is not possible that we should form the least conception. Of creation out of preexistent matter we can have some idea, but only an inadequate one.
2. We cannot perfectly understand the causes of things in the stated course of nature. A thousand questions might be started, about which the wisest philosophers can only offer their conjectures. The way of God is too deep and winding for us to find out. We have no reason to boast of our knowledge of the works of God, since what we know not is much more considerable than what we know.
3. We cannot perfectly understand the reasons and ends for which all things are what they are, and their exact adjustment and correspondence to these ends. The general and ultimate end of all things is the glory of God. And we can perceive that things are admirably fitted to answer this end. Yet we do not clearly understand in what manner each thing contributes to this purpose. We should be cautioned against censuring any of the works of God in our thoughts, because we are not able to tell what good they answer.
II. As to providence. We can easily demonstrate that there is a providence, and this, in all its dispensations, consonant to the perfections of God, but we can by no means fathom all the depths of it. Some instances may be given in which the unsearchableness of the ways of providence appears. Such as–
1. Gods manner of dealing with the race of mankind, especially in suffering it to be in a state so full of sin and confusion, of imperfection and misery.
2. The providence of God, as exercised over His Church, is beyond our deciphering. Why is the Church so small; and why has it been so overrun with errors and corruptions?
3. The providence of God in weighing out the fates of kingdoms, nations, and families. Baffled as we are in our attempts to solve a thousand perplexing difficulties which present themselves to our minds, we should inquire with modesty, judge with caution, and always remember that God is not bound to give us any account of His matters.
4. The providence of God in relation to particular persons will be forever inexplicable. Some reasons why the ways of providence are inscrutable may be given. We have not a thorough insight into the nature of man. God governs man according to the nature He has given. The ends of providence are unknown to us, or known very imperfectly; therefore they appear to us so perplexed and intricate.
5. Only a small part of providence comes under our notice and observation. How then can we know the beauty of the whole? The subject teaches the greatest resignation both of mind and heart. (H. Groves.)
Difficulties concerning Gods providence
Zophar reproved Job as if he had replied against God in order to justify himself. The argument upon which Zophar proceeds is this, That after all our inquiries concerning the nature or attributes of God, and the reasons of His conduct, we are still to seek, and shall never be able perfectly to comprehend or account for them. But we may upon a modest and pious search have a true notion of Gods attributes, and justify His providential dispensation. Difficulties–
I. In relation to the Divine attributes. By our strongest efforts we cannot know what the essential properties are of a Being infinitely perfect. By the attributes of God, we are to understand the several apprehensions we have of Him according to the different lights wherein our minds are capable of beholding Him, or the different subjects upon which He is pleased to operate.
1. With respect to Gods power. That power is a perfection will not be disputed. How shall we form to ourselves any perfect idea of infinite power? Especially if we consider Omnipotence as operating on mere privation, and raising almost an infinite variety of beings out of nothing. And if creation implies only the disposing of existing things into a beautiful and useful order, this equally gives us a sublime idea of power.
2. With respect to Gods eternity. Who can distinctly apprehend how one single and permanent act of duration should extend to all periods of time, without succession of time? But how the eternity of God should be one single and permanent act of duration, present to all past as well as future time, is a difficulty sufficient to turn the edge of the finest wit, and the force of the strongest head.
3. With respect to the immensity of God. That a single individual substance, without extension or parts, should spread itself into and over all parts; that it should fill all places, and be circumscribed to no place, and yet be intimately present in every place; are truths discoverable by reason and confirmed by revelation. To say that God is present only by His knowledge does not solve the difficulty of conceiving His ubiquity. Where God is present in any attribute, He is essentially present.
4. With respect to the omniscience of God. God does not only foreknow what He has effectually decreed shall come to pass, but what is of a casual and contingent nature, and depends on the good or ill use man will make of his liberty. So that we must suppose in God a certain and determinate knowledge of events, which yet are of arbitrary and uncertain determination in their causes. The best answer is, that God is present to all time, and to all the events which happen in time. Futurity in respect to Him is only a term we are forced to make use of, from the defects of our finite capacity. The difficulty, however, of His predictions remains. We have more clear and distinct ideas of the moral perfections of His nature, than of His incommunicable properties.
II. In relation to the Divine providence.
1. How far is Gods wisdom affected or impeached by the sufferings of good men? One of the principal designs of God is to promote the interests of religion. The sufferings of good men appear to obstruct such a design, as they seem to lessen the force of those arguments which we draw from the temporal rewards of religion; and as circumstances of distress are commonly supposed to sour and embitter the spirits of men. The promises made to the Jews rap all along upon temporal blessings and enjoyments. But the principal motives to our Christian obedience are taken from the happiness and rewards of a life after this. Religion does, however, entitle men to the temporal advantages of life, but the Christian promises relate principally to the inward peace and tranquillity of mind which naturally flow from a religious conduct; or to the inward consolations wherewith God is sometimes pleased more eminently to reward piety in this life. The necessary supports of life are assured. To lay too great a stress on the temporal rewards of religion seems of ill consequence to religion on two accounts. As it tends to confirm people in the opinion that the happiness of human life consists in the abundance of things that a man possesses. And men are hereby tempted to suspect the truth of religion itself, or to make false and uncharitable judgments on persons truly religious. Such judgments the friends made of suffering Job.
2. Prejudices against the goodness of God. The notion we have of goodness is, that it disposes to good and beneficent actions. But pain and sickness, etc., are things naturally evil. Such things seem inconsistent with the nature of God. But God may have special ends in view in afflicting, and He may be treating men as a parent treats his child.
3. Prejudices concerning the justice of God. But the best of men are conscious to themselves of many sins and defects which might justly have provoked God to inflict what they suffer upon them. And this life is not properly a state of rewards and punishments, but of trial and discipline. So the afflictions of good men are parts of the training work of Divine goodness and mercy. Seek then to have the best and largest thoughts of the Divine perfections you possibly can. Frequently reflect on the moral perfections of the Divine nature. Since we cannot by searching find out the Almighty to perfection, nor even discover all the particular reasons of His providence in this world, let us labour for eternity. There our minds will not only be united to God in perfect vision, but our hearts in perfect love. (R. Fiddes.)
God searchable and yet unsearchable
Job sometimes spake a language difficult to be interpreted by his friends, and easy to be mistaken by his enemies. The men who came to comfort him made no allowance for the anguish that his flesh suffered, and hence they took undue advantage of every self-justifying word that fell from his lips, to humble him with reproaches, and to declare him guilty of some heinous sins in the sight of God, of which the world knew nothing. These so-called friends mistook chastening for punishment. There is something singularly ungenerous in the way that Zophar delivers his thought here. He makes assertions without proofs, and states fallacies, which he calls truths. His heart was overflowing with rancour. As if he would strip this holy man of all the brightness of hope, he proposes two questions to him which, although to a certain extent true in themselves, were, in Jobs ease, most unsympathising and comfortless.
I. All the natural searching in the world cannot find out God. Mans reason is not equal to the work of apprehending the spiritual. We are compelled to rest conjecturally upon visible impressions; we can go no further. Supposing we are intelligent enough to set every faculty to this searching work, the result would be the same. The world by wisdom never yet knew God; common earthly intelligences move in every ether direction than towards heaven. Philosophy deals with things on the earth, under the earth, and above the earth; but not one tittle of that which relates to God forms any part of it. The high-class moralists of the most civilised heathen states have no standing at all in their religious creeds. In them you perceive at once the utmost length that an unenlightened understanding can go.
II. There is a searching which can find out God, yet not unto perfection. Search the Scriptures. For thousands of years there was a dispensation in which terror prevailed over hope, and a hard bondage over spiritual liberty. It was deeply covered with a veil which hid the wonderful workings of God, as a pardoning and a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus. But when the mind has become acquainted with Scripture facts, what is its real gain? It knows more, but does it ascend higher? By such searching no man profitably finds out God. Notwithstanding all that the best searching achieves, in the way of experimental knowledge, not the holiest saint that ever searched the most, is able to find out the Almighty in His perfection.
III. In what manner are we to glorify God in the discovery of His redemptive character? Our desires must be longing and panting after fuller flowings in of His love. It is in the heart that we are the most sensible of the tender relationship which He bears to us. (F. G. Crossman.)
The unsearchableness of God
It is scarcely a paradox to say that God is at once the most known Being in the whole universe, and yet the most unknown. Our subject is the inevitable limits which are placed to the human intelligence; not only in relation to all Divine subjects, but extending, more or less, to every department of human inquiry. The claim to unlimited knowledge is never put forth by the true philosopher.
1. We find evidence of the unsearchableness of God in His own Being and perfections. Hence all the humiliating failures of the ancients in their endeavours to find out God. In the economy of nature and providence. In those providential aspects which more immediately concern our own happiness.
Practical lessons.
1. We should be prepared for some corresponding difficulties in the written word.
2. We should show great diffidence and caution in interpreting the disclosures which God has been pleased to make of Himself, whether in nature or revelation.
3. We should cherish a feeling of thankfulness for the knowledge we already possess. (D. Moore, M. A.)
The incomprehensible character of God
I. Of what we cannot find out. These are things both in providence, nature, and grace. What wonder that there is a mystery in the Trinity, that the mode of the Deitys existence is too high for earthly thought? The inability which we may feel to understand the reason of a fact, does not in the slightest degree interfere with the fact being credible. A great moral lesson is taught us. The propensity of man is to self-exaltation. He overvalues his own righteousness, his own wisdom, his own power. There is both a wisdom and an utility in the fact that we cannot by searching find out the Almighty to perfection. There are truths which, as facts, we must receive, though the reasons of them we may be inadequate to apprehend. Still we must remember,, that nothing like a blind unreflecting credulity is imposed upon us.
II. What we may reach to. Though we cannot in the abstract comprehend how the three in their essence are but One, yet what Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to us we may know, together with the unity of their will and purpose, so as to exhibit to us most clearly our consolation and salvation.
1. The Father is displayed in this unapproachable Godhead, the Former and Maintainer of all created things.
2. Whereas the Father in shewing mercy must not obliterate justice, it is in His Son, the eternal wisdom of God, that these two, apparently so opposite, are brought into union.
3. Though we cannot comprehend how the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, yet the necessity of the new birth is plain enough; and the might of the Spirit to effect it is sufficiently described. Thus, while we cannot find out the Almighty to perfection, we have enough of His dealings exhibited to guide our conduct. And remember that it is necessary to search into truth, not speculatively, but experimentally and practically. (John Ayre, M. A.)
The souls way to God
We hope for the reconciliation of science and faith. At present the struggle continues in undiminished intensity. A strict philosophical justification of faith is hard to find, and the intellect of man is always failing in the attempt to show the reasonableness of religious emotion. But whether religion can be logically justified or not, it lives. The questioning and the believing instinct, the faculty of criticism, and the faculty of faith, are equally ineradicable, and yet, apparently, essentially irreconciliable. Are we driven to the sad alternative of believing without any justification of reason, or of suffering reason to lead us into the grey twilight of unbelief? Both these tendencies of human thought and feeling are represented in the Old Testament. The moral difficulty of the universe is that which weighed upon the Jew. There were those who broke their minds against problems of providence, and could not comprehend how the good should be afflicted, and the bad be suffered to erect himself in pride of place, and one fate to befall all the children of men. Among the Greeks the speculative instinct was strong, and the religious instinct feeble, and there we find theories of the universe in plenty, physical and theological, theistic, pantheistic, atheistic. Something is to be learned from the constant inability of philosophy to arrive at a consistent and satisfactory theory of the universe. The long outcome of philosophical speculation is not simply the rejection of the religious theory of the universe, it is the rejection of all theories upon a subject which is too vast and too complicated for human thought. When the materialistic philosophy of our day bids us confine ourselves to phenomena, it does not deny the existence of that which it proclaims itself unable to comprehend. There is a point where physics and metaphysics touch, and when that is reached, men are involved in mysteries not less blinding than those of religion itself. The nature of God is not the only unintelligible thing in the world. If we are told that through physical science is no path to God, it is of the greatest importance to show that physical science, pressed with her own ultimate problems, cannot help admissions which make room for, and even point to, the thought of Him. If philosophy shrinks from the affirmations of theism, and will own no more than a possibility, what can be more necessary than to point out that the philosophic method is not the one by which God can be surely approached? We have been accustomed to speak of God as the Eternal, the Omnipresent, the Omnipotent, the Absolute, the Infinite. These are wide words, and, taken at their widest essentially unintelligible to us, for the very reason that their opposites accurately describe the limitations of our own nature. Still, we put into them as much meaning as we can, and make of them the most that the extent of our knowledge and the force of our imagination will permit. (C. Beard, B. A.)
The incomprehensibility of God
The nature of God is the foundation of all true religion, and the will of God is the rule of all acceptable worship. Therefore the knowledge of God is of the greatest importance. To know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, is eternal life. The mysteriousness of the Divine nature and government is no reason why we should neglect what may be known concerning Him. Give one the spirit of adoption and self-renunciation, and he cannot be frightened from the presence of his Maker either by the lustre or the darkness round about His throne. The doctrine of this text is, that there is in the nature and ways of God much that is incomprehensible to us.
1. The adorable first person of the Trinity, the Father, is and must ever be beyond the grasp of our senses and faculties. It is generally agreed that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, is, and ever will be, beyond the direct and immediate notice of all creatures. He is far beyond the grasp of both our bodily and mental faculties. The brightest manifestation of the Godhead is in the incarnation of the Son of God. We may behold His glory, as of the only-begotten of the Father, but we can go no further. This manifestation is for all practical purposes sufficient. But even in Christ divinity shone forth under great obscuration. Whatever eludes all our senses and faculties is to us necessarily clad with mysteriousness. Whatever is concealed from every perceptive power excludes the possibility of original knowledge. In such a case learning without instruction is impossible.
2. The incomprehensibility of Gods nature and ways is often asserted in His Word. Nowhere is the incomprehensibility of God spoken of in Scripture as cause of sorrow to the pious. Our inability to find out the Almighty to perfection is not merely moral, but natural. The same would have been true if man had not sinned.
3. So very wonderful are the perfections of God, compared with the attributes of the most exalted creature, that His nature and ways must always be mysterious, just in proportion to our knowledge of their extent. How should man, as compared with God, have knowledge either extensive or absolute? Gods plans are founded on the most perfect knowledge of all things. Mans information is very imperfect both in scope and degree. The moral character of God presents greater wonders than His natural attributes. His moral character–holiness, justice, goodness, truth, faithfulness–is presented in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
4. God has shown Himself to be incomprehensible in His works of creation. Out of nothing God made all things, our bodies and our souls, all we are, all we see, all that is within us, above us, beneath us, around us. Most of our knowledge of God is negative. Our positive knowledge of Him is very limited. There will ever be topless heights of Divine knowledge, to which we shall have to look up with inquiring awe.
5. In Gods government and providence are several things which must ever make them incomprehensible to us. How noiseless are most of His doings. But when He chooses He can make our ears to tingle. God hides His works and ways from man by commonly removing results far from human view. Gods ways respecting means are very remarkable. He, apparently, often works without means. Perceiving no causes in operation, we expect no effects. God also employs such instruments as greatly confound us. We often tremble to see God pursuing a course which, to our short sight, seems quite contrary to the end to be gained.
Lessons–
1. The Christian lives and walks by faith, not by sight.
2. As the object of God in all His dealings with His people is His own glory and their eternal good, so they ought heartily to concur in these ends, and labour to promote them. Gods glory is more important than the lives of all His creatures.
3. Let us put a watch upon our hearts and lips, lest we should think or say more about Gods nature and ways than befits our ignorance and our selfishness.
4. Note how excellent are Divine things. Divinity is the haven and Sabbath of all mans contemplations. Every honest effort to spread the knowledge of God is praiseworthy. (W. S. Plumer, D. D.)
Man can never apprehend first causes
All our knowledge is limited, and we can never apprehend the first causes of any phenomena. The force of crystallisation, the force of gravitation and chemical affinity remain in themselves just as incomprehensible as adaptation and inheritance or will and consciousness (Haeckel, History of Creation.)
Mans imperfect knowledge of God
If I never saw that creature which contains not something unsearchable; nor the worm so small, but that it affordeth questions to puzzle the greatest philosopher, no wonder, then, if mine eyes fail when I would look at God, my tongue fail me in speaking of Him, and my heart in conceiving. As long as the Athenian inscription doth as well suit with my sacrifices, To the unknown God, and while I cannot contain the smallest rivulet, it is little I can contain of this immense ocean. We shall never be capable of clearly knowing, till we are capable of fully enjoying; nay, nor till we do actually enjoy Him. What strange conceivings hath a man, born blind, of the sun and its light, or a man born deaf of the nature of sounds and music; so do we yet want that sense by which God must be clearly known. I stand and look upon a heap of ants, and see them all, with one view, very busy to little purpose. They know not me, my being, nature, or thoughts, though I am their fellow creature, how little, then, must we know of the great Creator, though He with one view continually beholds us all. Yet a knowledge we have, though imperfect, and such as must be done away. A glimpse the saints behold, though but in a glass, which makes us capable of some poor, general, dark apprehensions of what we shall behold in glory. (R. Baxter.)
Natures testimony of God insufficient
All nature is incapable of discovering God in a full manner as He may be known. Nature, like Zaccheus, is of too low a stature to see God in the length and breadth, height and depth of His perfections. The key of mans reason answers not to all the wards in the lock of those mysteries. The world at best is but a shadow of God, and therefore cannot discover Him in His magnificent and royal virtues, no more than a shadow can discover the outward beauty, the excellent mien, and the inward endowments of the person whose shadow it is.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Canst thou by searching find out God?] What is God? A Being self-existent, eternal, infinite, immense, without bounds, incomprehensible either by mind, or time, or space. Who then can find this Being out? Who can fathom his depths, ascend to his heights, extend to his breadths, and comprehend the infinitude of his perfections?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Find out God, i.e. discover all the depths of his wisdom, and the reasons of all his actions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Rather, “Penetrate tothe perfections of the Almighty” (Job 9:10;Psa 139:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Canst thou by searching find out God?…. God is not to be found out by human search; that there is a God may be found out by inquiring into the book of nature, by considering the creatures that are made, who all proclaim some first cause or maker of them, who is God; but then it cannot be found out what God is, his nature, being, and perfections: an Heathen philosopher i, being asked by a certain king what God was, required a day to give in his answer; when that was up he desired a second, and still went on asking more; and being demanded the reason of his dilatoriness, replied, the more he had considered the question, the more obscure it was to him: the world by wisdom, or the wiser part of the Heathen world, knew not God; though they knew there was one, they knew not who and what he was; and therefore in some places altars were erected to the unknown God,
Ac 17:23: and though some of the perfections of God may be investigated from the works of nature, such as the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, Ro 1:19; yet not all his perfections, such as his grace, mercy, c. proclaimed and displayed in Christ nor indeed his counsels, purposes, and decrees, which lie in his eternal mind, are the thoughts of his heart, the deep things of God, which none but the Spirit of God searches, knows, and reveals; and since Zophar’s request was, that God should show to Job “the secrets of wisdom”, these may be meant here, either evangelical wisdom, the wisdom of God in a mystery hid in his heart from everlasting, and the mysterious truths and doctrines or it, things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of; these are not to be found out by human search, but are by the revelation of God; or else the reasons of the proceedings of God in Providence, which are out of the reach of men, dark, intricate, mysterious, unsearchable, and past finding out:
canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? to the uttermost of his nature and perfections; all his attributes, the last of them, and the extremity thereof: that God is perfect and entire, wanting nothing, and is possessed of all perfections, may be found out, or otherwise he would not be God; but his essence and attributes, being infinite, can never be traced and comprehended by finite minds; there are some perfections of God we have no idea of, but are lost in confusion and amazement as soon as we think of them and reason about them, as his eternity and immensity particularly; for, when we have rolled over in our minds millions and millions of ages, we are as far off from eternity as when we began; and when we have pervaded all worlds, and every space and place, we have got no further into immensity than at first; we are confounded when we think of a Being without beginning and without bounds, unoriginated, and unlimited; yea, even it is but a small part of the works of God in creation that is known by men, or of God in and by them; nay, by divine revelation, which gives the clearest and most enlarged view of him, whereby he has proclaimed his name, a God gracious and merciful, c. yet it is only his back parts that are shown, not his face it is only through a glass, darkly, we now see; indeed, in the other world, we shall see him face to face, and as he is, yet then never comprehend his essence: and, after all, it is only in Christ that God is to be found, to saving purposes; in him is the most glorious display of him; being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; and not only all his perfections are in him, as a divine Person, but they are glorified by him as Mediator; every step in salvation is taken in Christ, and every blessing of grace comes through him; what of the divine Presence and communion with God is enjoyed is by him; and he will be the medium of the enjoyment of God, and of all the glory and happiness of the saints in the world to come.
i Simonides, apud Cicero, de Nat. Deor. l. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 Canst thou find out the nature of Eloah,
And penetrate to the foundation of the existence of the Almighty?
8 It is as the heights of heaven-what wilt thou do?
Deeper than Hades-what canst thou know?
9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
The majority of modern commentators erroneously translate searching = comprehension, and perfection, a meaning which this word never has. The former, indeed, signifies first in an active sense: finding out by search; and then also objectively: the object sought after: “the hidden ground” (Ewald), the depth (here and Job 38:16; also, according to Ew., Job 8:8, of the deep innermost thought). The latter denotes penetrating to the extreme, and then the extreme, , itself (Job 26:10; Job 28:3). In other words: the nature that underlies that which is visible as an object of search is called ; and the extreme of a thing, i.e., the end, without which the beginning and middle cannot be understood, is called . The nature of God may be sought after, but cannot be found out; and the end of God is unattainable, for He is both: the Perfect One, absolutus ; and the Endless One, infinitus .
Job 11:8-9 The feminine form of expression has reference to the divine wisdom ( Chokma, Job 11:6), and amplifies what is there said of its transcendent reality. Its absoluteness is described by four dimensions, like the absoluteness of the love which devised the plan for man’s redemption (Eph 3:18). The pronoun , with reference to this subject of the sentence, must be supplied. She is as “the heights of heaven” (comp. on subst. pro adj. Job 22:12); what wilt or canst thou do in order to scale that which is high as heaven? In Job 11:9 we have translated according to the reading with He mappic. This feminine construction is a contraction for , as Job 5:13, for ; Zec 4:2, for , and more syncopated forms of a like kind (vid., Comm. ber den Psalter, i. 225, ii. 172). The reading recorded by the Masora is, however, with He raph., according to which the word seems to be the accusative used adverbially; nevertheless the separation of this acc. relativus from its regens by the insertion of a word between them (comp. Job 15:10) would make a difficulty here where is wanting, and consequently seems to signify mensura ejus whichever way it may be written (since ah raphe is also sometimes a softened form of the suffix, Job 31:22; Ewald, 94, b). The wisdom of God is in its height altogether inaccessible, in its depth fathomless and beyond research, in its length unbounded, in its breadth incomprehensible, stretching out far beyond all human thought.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. 10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? 11 For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? 12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
Zophar here speaks very good things concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly: these two compared together, and duly considered, will have a powerful influence upon our submission to all the dispensations of the divine Providence.
I. See here what God is, and let him be adored.
1. He is an incomprehensible Being, infinite and immense, whose nature and perfections our finite understandings cannot possibly form any adequate conceptions of, and whose counsels and actings we cannot therefore, without the greatest presumption, pass a judgment upon. We that are so little acquainted with the divine nature are incompetent judges of the divine providence; and, when we censure the dispensations of it, we talk of things that we do not understand. We cannot find out God; how dare we then find fault with him? Zophar here shows, (1.) That God’s nature infinitely exceeds the capacities of our understandings: “Canst thou find out God, find him out to perfection? No, What canst thou do? What canst thou know?” Job 11:7; Job 11:8. Thou, a poor, weak, short-sighted creature, a worm of the earth, that art but of yesterday? Thou, though ever so inquisitive after him, ever so desirous and industrious to find him out, yet darest thou attempt the search, or canst thou hope to speed in it? We may, by searching find God (Acts xvii. 27), but we cannot find him out in any thing he is pleased to conceal; we may apprehend him, but we cannot comprehend him; we may know that he is, but cannot know what he is. The eye can see the ocean but not see over it. We may, by a humble, diligent, and believing search, find out something of God, but cannot find him out to perfection; we may know, but cannot know fully, what God is, nor find out his work from the beginning to the end, Eccl. iii. 11. Note, God is unsearchable. The ages of his eternity cannot be numbered, nor the spaces of his immensity measured; the depths of his wisdom cannot be fathomed, nor the reaches of his power bounded; the brightness of his glory can never be described, nor the treasures of his goodness reckoned up. This is a good reason why we should always speak of God with humility and caution and never prescribe to him nor quarrel with him, why we should be thankful for what he has revealed of himself and long to be where we shall see him as he is, 1Co 13:9; 1Co 13:10. (2.) That it infinitely exceeds the limits of the whole creation: It is higher than heaven (so some read it), deeper than hell, the great abyss, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea, many parts of which are to this day undiscovered, and more were then. It is quite out of our reach to comprehend God’s nature. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us, Ps. cxxxix. 6. We cannot fathom God’s designs, nor find out the reasons of his proceedings. His judgments are a great deep. Paul attributes such immeasurable dimensions to the divine love as Zophar here attributes to the divine wisdom, and yet recommends it to our acquaintance. Eph 3:18; Eph 3:19, That you may know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of the love of Christ.
2. God is a sovereign Lord (v. 10): If he cut off by death (margin, If he make a change, for death is a change; if he make a change in nations, in families, in the posture of our affairs),–if he shut up in prison, or in the net of affliction (Ps. lxvi. 11),– if he seize any creature as a hunter his prey, he will gather it (so bishop Patrick) and who shall force him to restore? or if he gather together, as tares for the fire, or if he gather to himself man’s spirit and breath (ch. xxxiv. 14), then who can hinder him? Who can either arrest the sentence or oppose the execution? Who can control his power or arraign his wisdom and justice? If he that made all out of nothing think fit to reduce all to nothing, or to their first chaos again,–if he that separated between light and darkness, dry land and sea, at first, please to gather them together again,–if he that made unmakes, who can turn him away, alter his mind or stay his hand, impede or impeach his proceedings?
3. God is a strict and just observer of the children of men (v. 11): He knows vain men. We know little of him, but he knows us perfectly: He sees wickedness also, not to approve it (Hab. i. 13), but to animadvert upon it. (1.) He observes vain men. Such all are (every man, at his best estate, is altogether vanity), and he considers it in his dealings with them. He knows what the projects and hopes of vain men are, and can blast and defeat them, the workings of their foolish fancies; he sits in heaven, and laughs at them. He takes knowledge of the vanity of men (that is, their little sins; so some) their vain thoughts and vain words, and unsteadiness in that which is good. (2.) He observes bad men: He sees gross wickedness also, though committed ever so secretly and ever so artfully palliated and disguised. All the wickedness of the wicked is naked and open before the all-seeing eye of God: Will he not then consider it? Yes, certainly he will, and will reckon for it, though for a time he seem to keep silence.
II. See here what man is, and let him be humbled, v. 12. God sees this concerning vain man that he would be wise, would be thought so, though he is born like a wild ass’s colt, so sottish and foolish, unteachable and untameable. See what man is. 1. He is a vain creature–empty; so the word is. God made him full, but he emptied himself, impoverished himself, and now he is raca, a creature that has nothing in him. 2. He is a foolish creature, has become like the beasts that perish (Psa 49:20; Psa 73:22), an idiot, born like an ass, the most stupid animal, an ass’s colt, not yet brought to any service. If ever he come to be good for any thing, it is owing to the grace of Christ, who once, in the day of his triumph, served himself by an ass’s colt. 3. He is a wilful ungovernable creature. An ass’s colt may be made good for something, but the wild ass’s colt will never be reclaimed, nor regards the crying of the driver. See Job xxxix. 5-7. Man thinks himself as much at liberty, and his own master, as the wild ass’s colt does, that is used to the wilderness (Jer. ii. 24), eager to gratify his own appetites and passions. 4. Yet he is a proud creature and self-conceited. He would be wise, would he thought so, values himself upon the honour of wisdom, though he will not submit to the laws of wisdom. He would be wise, that is, he reaches after forbidden wisdom, and, like his first parents, aiming to be wise above what is written, loses the tree of life for the tree of knowledge. Now is such a creature as this fit to contend with God or call him to an account? Did we but better know God and ourselves, we should better know how to conduct ourselves towards God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
2. The Almighty is not fooled; He recognizes iniquity. (Job. 11:7-12)
TEXT 11:712
7 Canst thou by searching find oat God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
8 It is high as heaven; what canst thou do?
Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?
9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
10 If he pass through, and shut up,
And call unto judgment, then who can hinder him?
11 For he knoweth false men:
He seeth iniquity also, even though he consider it not.
12 But vain man is void of understanding,
Yea, man is born as a wild asss colt.
COMMENT 11:712
Job. 11:7Driver claims that by searching is grammatically impossible. He suggests the translation Canst thou find out the immensity of God? The R. S. V. accepts Drivers criticism. Zophar is affirming that Gods mind and purpose are beyond human capacity to measure. Jobs friends are surely correct in this judgment, though he draws a false conclusion from his premises. Job does the same thing, i.e., draws wrong conclusions from true premises. In all probability, the translation canst thou find out, should be can you reach God from your sinful human vantage point.[147]
[147] For this suggestion, see M. Dahoods article in The Bible in Current Catholic Thought, ed. by J. L. McKenzie (Herder & Herder, 1962), p. 57.
Job. 11:8-9God has no limitsIsa. 7:11.
Job. 11:10Compare this verse with Job. 9:11-12. Job has already declared that Gods power is limitless, and that it is futile for man to oppose HimJob. 9:2 ff. The meaning here is that God does not need to investigate mans condition in order to understand it; He knows immediately.
Job. 11:11God knows (men of emptinessPsa. 26:4). The only ultimate knowledge available in the universe is Gods, so men ought not to revolt against God for this reason.
Job. 11:12Hollow men or men without hearts will not understand their need and return to God. The A. V. is misleading. The R. S. V. seems most likely.[148] The meaning is probably a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild asss colt is born a manRowley.
[148] For the technical issues involved, see Dhorme, Job, p. 163; Pope, Job, p. 86; and M. Dahood, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 25, 1963, 1234.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) Canst thou by searching find out God? Literally, Canst thou attain to the searching out of God?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second division, double strophe THE PERFECTION OF DIVINE WISDOM NECESSITATES AN IMMEDIATE AND COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HEART, Job 11:7-12.
a. God’s wisdom is unsearchable heaven, hell, earth, and sea may be measured, but this divine wisdom knows no limits, Job 11:7-9.
7. By searching find out God Furst, Zockler in Lange, etc., read, “Canst thou reach the deep things (depths) in God;” but Umbreit, Hit-zig, (die Forschung Gottes erreichen,) Hengstenberg, etc., read substantially as in the A.V. The former interpret , the depths of God. Compare 1Co 2:10, , the depths of God. The latter translate it, the searching of God, (Eloah,) either of which meanings the word will bear. The most satisfactory reading of the text is that of Delitzsch, Canst thou find out the nature of God “The hidden ground of God,” (Ewald,) a reading favoured by the Hebraic order of the words. To attribute to hheker the idea of search savours too much of tautology. Simonides, asked by Hiero what God is, desired a day to deliberate. When questioned the next day, he asked for two more; and after this doubled the days, until Hiero, wondering, again asked for his answer, when he replied, The longer I consider, the more obscure the subject appears to me. And Cicero declares, if asked the same question, he should follow the example of Simonides. De Nat., i, sec. 22. (Compare Rom 1:19-20. Meth. Quar. Revelation, 1869, p. 173, and In Memoriam, sec. 123.)
Almighty unto perfection Thus Conant, justified by the parallelism and the accentuation. Others interpret it, “Penetrate to the uttermost parts in the Almighty,” (Dillmann and Zockler,) a harsh reading; “canst thou arrive at the limit of God, “(Wordsworth;) “canst thou reach the perfection of the Almighty,” (Davidson and Hitzig,) both of which are questionable. (See a sermon by Archbishop Tillotson on “The Incomprehensibleness of God.”)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 11:7. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou penetrate into the secrets or depths of God? Canst thou fathom the immensity of the Almighty? Houbigant and Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 462
THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD
Job 11:7-12. Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild asss colt [Note: Perhaps it might be better to take only ver. 7 and 8. for the text, and to leave out the second head of this Discourse. In that case, the subject will be The Incomprehensibility of God; and the great divisions of it will be those which are found in the first head in this Discourse. Then the improvement of the subject might be, to learn, 1st, To receive with meekness whatever God has revealed: (and there ver. 12. might be introduced:) 2dly, To hear with patience whatever he may inflict: (where the inefficacy, ver. 11 and the danger, ver. 12. of contending with God are stated:) and 3dly, To be thankful especially for the discovery he has given of himself in the person of his dear Son. Here it might be shewn, that God, though still incomprehensible, has given the fullest discoveries of himself. Christ is expressly called the image of the invisible God; and Whosoever has seen him, has seen the Father. In his cross, all the perfections of the Father are illustrated and glorified (Psa 85:10.); and by the help of his Spirit (2Co 4:6) we may discover them.].
WE are not a little grieved to see a good man, under circumstances that should have called forth nothing but tenderness and compassion, run down and persecuted by his own friends, and those friends men of great intelligence and real piety. But human nature, notwithstanding it may have been renovated by divine grace, is still imperfect: and, if left under the influence of any mistaken principle, we may pursue evil with earnestness under the semblance of good, and may provoke God to anger, whilst we imagine that we are rendering him the most acceptable service. The friends of Job were eminently enlightened men: yet all in succession act towards him the part of enemies; and each in succession, with increasing acrimony, condemns him as a hypocrite before God. How painful is it to hear this address of Zophar; Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed [Note: ver. 3.]? But, whilst we lament the sad misapplication of their arguments to the point in hand, and the bitterness of spirit with which they were urged, we must still avail ourselves of the instruction they afford us, which in some respects is equal to any that is contained in the sacred volume.
Zophar supposed, that Job had complained of God as acting unjustly towards him: and, if he had been right in his interpretation of Jobs expressions, the reproof he administered would have been just and salutary. His error in relation to Jobs real character divests his observations of all force in reference to him: but they deserve the strictest attention in reference to ourselves. From them we are naturally led to notice,
I.
The incomprehensibility of God
Well does David say, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable [Note: Psa 145:3.]. Truly he is unsearchable,
1.
In the perfections of his nature
[Men will often talk of God, and lay down laws for him, just as if they had the most perfect knowledge of him, and of every thing relating to him. But our knowledge of God is altogether negative: we know that he is not unwise, not unholy, not unjust; but, as to any definite ideas of his attributes, we have them not. What notion have we of his natural perfections of eternity or immensity? None at all. So of his moral perfections, of justice, mercy, goodness, truth, we, in fact, know as little. We contemplate these qualities as existing in man, and are enabled to estimate with some precision their proper bearings: but, when we come to transfer these qualities to the Deity, we are much in the dark: and we are guilty of great presumption, when we prescribe rules for him, and bind him by laws that are suited for the restrictions or human actions. He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto: and presumptuously to ascend the mount of his habitation, or to look within the ark, is death [Note: Exo 19:12-13. 1Sa 6:19.].]
2.
In the dispensations of his providence
[These we see; but no one of them do we understand [Note: This was as strongly affirmed by Job himself as by his friends. Compare Job 5:9; Job 9:10. with the text.]. Who will pretend to account for Gods conduct towards our first parents, in suffering them to be overcome by temptation, and to entail sin and misery on all their posterity? Who will undertake to declare all the consequences that may arise from any one event, however trivial, or all the motives which exist in the divine mind for the permission of it? We are apt to speak of things as great and small, because of the degree of importance that we attach to them: but there is nothing great, nothing small, in the estimation of God: and whoever meditates on the history of Joseph, or the facts recorded in the Book of Esther, will see, that the most casual and trifling circumstances, as they appear to us, were as important links in the chain of providence, as those which bear the clearer marks of counsel and design. The rejection of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles, and the restoration of the Jews to the favour of their God, are events of vast magnitude in human estimation: but what the Apostle says in reference to them, is in reality as applicable to the events of daily occurrence, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out [Note: Rom 11:33.]!]
3.
In the operations of his grace
[Let that first act of grace be surveyed, the destination of Gods only dear Son to be the surety and substitute of man: let the whole covenant of grace be contemplated: let every act of grace from the foundation of the world to this present moment be scrutinized: and what shall we know of it all? Let it be inquired, why God puts a difference between one nation and another, and between one individual and another: let the mode in which divine grace operates upon the soul be investigated, so as to distinguish in all things the agency of the Holy Spirit from the actings of our own minds: Who is sufficient for these things? Who is not a child and a fool in his own estimation, when he turns his attention to them? We would address our text to every child of man; Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out [Note: Job 37:23.]. As no man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of man which is in him; so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God [Note: 1Co 2:11.].]
If God be so incomprehensible, then we may see,
II.
The folly of presuming to sit in judgment upon him
This was the particular drift of Zophars admonition. He conceived that Job had complained of God as unjust towards him: and therefore, having solemnly warned Job, that God had exacted less of him than his iniquities deserved, he proceeded to dilate upon the character and ways of God as far exceeding all human comprehension, and to shew unto Job the folly of arraigning the conduct of the Most High. In prosecution of his argument, Zophar shews,
1.
How incompetent we are to resist his will
[God is almighty: and, if he is pleased to cut off a mans family, or to shut him up in darkness and distress, or to gather together his adversaries against him, what power has any man to hinder him? We may dispute against him; but we cannot divert him from his purpose: we may complain and murmur; but we cannot stay his hand. He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth: and, whatever his counsel may be, that shall stand. What folly then is it to be indulging hard thoughts of him, and to be maintaining a stoutness of heart against him, when we know beforehand that we can never prevail, that we only kick against the pricks, and that the only way of averting his wrath is, to humble ourselves before him! Think, all ye who now repine, Will your hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with you? or will you thunder with a voice like his?]
2.
How unable we are to escape his judgment
[God sees all the rebellious motions of our hearts, and will certainly call us into judgment for them. Here then, is a strong additional reason for not presuming to condemn him. To know that the indulgence of such a rebellious spirit will not avert his displeasure, were quite sufficient to suppress all risings of heart against him: but to know that it greatly augments his displeasure; to know that he marks every rebellious thought that springs up in our minds, and that he considers it with a view to a just and awful retribution; surely this should make us extremely cautious how we thus ensure and aggravate our eternal condemnation. On this subject we shall do well to remember the warning which God himself gave to Job; He that reproveth God, let him answer it [Note: Job 40:2.].]
3.
How destitute we are of every thing that can qualify us for such an office
[What is any man, vain man, that would be wise? What? He is born as stupid, as unteachable, and as refractory as a wild asss colt [Note: See Jer 2:23-24.]. Were he of the first order of created intelligences, he could know nothing of God any further than God was pleased to reveal himself to him: but he is a being of an inferior order, and that too in a fallen and degraded state; having the eyes of his understanding darkened by sin, and blinded by the god of this world; yea more, having also a thick impenetrable veil over his heart. What then can such a creature pretend to know of God, that he should presume to sit in judgment upon him, and to arraign his conduct? We know how incompetent a little child would be to comprehend and sit in judgment upon the designs of a great statesman; yet is there no distance between those, in comparison of that which exists between God and us. Let us bear in mind then what we ourselves are; and that will most effectually repress our arrogance, if we be tempted to judge of God.]
As the obvious improvement of this subject, let us learn,
1.
To receive with meekness whatever God has revealed
[We are no more to sit in judgment upon Gods word than upon his providence: if once it be ascertained that the word is a revelation from God, then are we to receive it with the simplicity of a little child. We must indeed use all possible means to attain a clear knowledge of the meaning of the Scripture, as well as to assure ourselves that it is of divine origin: but we must not wrest the word, and put an unnatural construction upon it, because we do not fully comprehend it: we must rather look up to God for the teachings of his Spirit, and wait upon him till he shall be pleased to open our understandings to understand the Scriptures. Did we act thus, setting ourselves against no truth that God has revealed, but receiving with humility whatever he has spoken, we should no longer behold the Church rent into parties, and the minds of men embittered against each other by controversies. Let us remember, that the riches of Christ are unsearchable; that his love passeth knowledge; and that however deep our knowledge of Scripture may be, there will always remain some things difficult to be understood: and our wisdom is, first, to improve for our benefit all that is clear; and then, in reference to the rest, to say, What I know not now, I shall know hereafter.]
2.
To bear with patience whatever God has inflicted
[Impatience does, in fact, reflect upon God either as unjust or unkind. But if we considered how little a portion is heard of him, that his footsteps are not known, and that those things which we deplore as calamities are sent by him in love for our eternal good, we should not only submit with patience to whatever he might lay upon us, but should adore him for it as an expression of his love. The issue of Jobs trials is proposed to us in this very view, as the means of composing our minds, and of reconciling us to the most afflictive providences [Note: Jam 5:11.]. If Job were now to live on earth again, and were to see all the benefit that has resulted both to himself and to the Church, and all the glory that has redounded to his God from the troubles that he endured, how differently would he speak of them, from what he did when under their immediate pressure! What he has seen of Gods unerring wisdom and unbounded love would make him justify God, yea and glorify him too, for all those trials which once he felt so insupportable: and, if we now by faith learn to estimate the divine character aright, we shall welcome every dispensation however afflietive, and glory in our present troubles, under the sweet assurance, that our light shall ere long rise in obscurity, and our darkness be as the noon-day.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(7) Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? (8) It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? (9) The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. (10) If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? (11) For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it? (12) For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
Zophar in those verses draws a most beautiful, and striking contrast, between the glory and greatness of GOD, and the vanity and littleness of man. He points to several of the distinguishing attributes of JEHOVAH, such as his sovereignty, eternity, incomprehensibleness. He then takes the dullest, and silliest of all domesticated animals, by way of showing the poverty and emptiness of man, and in that of an ass and a wild ass, and even worse than both, a wild ass’s colt, which of course must be more egregiously stupid than its dam, sets forth the folly of the man that pretends to wisdom.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 11:7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Ver. 7. Canst thou by searching find out God? ] i.e. The nature of God, or the course of his providence, and the reason of his proceedings? thou canst never do it. Neither did Job ever take upon him to do it, but had excellently and accurately set out the same things, Job 9:4 , &c., that Zophar here doth; so that he might well have spared his pains in this discourse as to Job; but that being too pertinacious in his evil opinion of him, he chose rather to thwart him than to close with him, as contentious people use to do.
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Canst. ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
THE ALMIGHTY. Hebrew El Shaddai. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 11:7-12
Job 11:7-12
ZOPHAR ACCUSES JOB OF BEING IGNORANT OF GOD
“Canst thou by searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
It is high as heaven; what canst thou do?
Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?
The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
If he pass through, and shut up, and call unto judgment,
Then who can hinder him?
For he knoweth false men:
He seeth iniquity also, even though he consider it not.
But vain man is void of understanding,
Yea, man is born as a wild ass’s colt.”
The things Zophar said in this passage were just as applicable to himself as they were to Job; but men with a plank in their own eye love to gouge for the mote in their brother’s eye. In the last analysis, God Himself finally opened his lips, as Zophar suggested in Job 11:5, flatly declaring that Zophar and Job’s other friends had not spoken “that which was right” about God (Job 42:7). How wrong he was!
Some of the generalities Zophar here uttered about God were of course true; but his thinly veiled suggestions that Job was ignorant (Job 11:8), that he could not hinder God (Job 11:10), that Job was one of the “false men” (Job 11:11), that God could see Job’s sin (Job 11:11), that Job was a vain man void of understanding (Job 11:12), and that he was as ignorant as a wild ass’s colt (Job 11:12) – all of this speech by Zophar must have been a very bitter thing for Job to hear.
Zophar had pretended to know that Job was a sinner, but without any evidence whatever. “So in these verses (Job 11:7-12), Zophar supported his charges by appealing to God’s infinity”!
The greatest insult of all from Zophar is in Job 11:12, which in the RSV is rendered thus: A stupid man will get understanding when a wild ass’s colt is born a man. “This is a statement of the utter impossibility of a stupid man’s attaining wisdom.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 11:7. Job never made any such claim as was implied by this question. Not knowing all about God would not prevent him from knowing more than did his friends.
Job 11:8. Hell is from a word that has a figurative meaning in this place intended to represent the opposite of heaven. The idea is that God is higher and deeper than all other beings or things.
Job 11:9. This verse was said for the same purpose as the preceding one. But Job already believed what it said and thus the remarks of Zophar were unnecessary.
Job 11:10. The ability of God to control things is the subject of the forepart of the verse. In view of his great might it would be foolish to attempt any hindrance to the Lord, a truth known to Job as well as to Zophar.
Job 11:11. God knows all about vain or empty men and can see through all their wickedness in whatever form it may exist.
Job 11:12. Some men are as vain or empty as a wild ass’s colt, yet they will pretend to be wise. This was said as a reproach upon Job but was false.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The Deeps of God
Canst thou by searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?Job 11:7.
1. These words occur in the first speech of Zophar the Naamathite. What is Zophars creed? It is that wherever there is suffering, there is sin, real and tangible sin, proportional to that suffering. God governs this world by rewards and punishments, and those rewards and punishments are distributed here below with unerring justice. It follows therefore that Job, this seeming saint, is really a man of heinous sin.
And having said this to his brother in his pain, and discharged that which, he honestly believes, Jobs words had made the duty of others (Job 5:3), by speaking sharply where sharp words were needed, he points Job to the high and mysterious nature of the God against whom he is in rebellion. High, he tells him, that nature as Heaven, deep as the deep underworld; it stretches beyond the bounds of earth, and is broader than the broad sea. His power, too, is irresistible, and His eye sees at a glance concealed iniquity. How small before Him the wisdom, or rather the ass-like folly and petulance of man.1 [Note: Dean Bradley.]
2. The words of the text are sometimes read as a question whether God be discoverable by the efforts of the natural mind. The margin, Canst thou find out the deep things of God? suggests that the question is not whether God be discoverable at all, but whether He be wholly discoverable; not whether He can be found, but whether He can be comprehended. No Hebrew writer would have thought of putting the question whether God could be found or was knowable; the question, however, whether He could be wholly known, whether there were not deeps in His nature unfathomable by the mind of man, was a question which, with a view to right conduct under trying providences, many felt themselves compelled to put.
More literally rendered it would readHast thou arrived at the inner deeps of God, or arrived at the outermost bounds of Shaddai. Zophar challenges Job, and asks whether he has reached either the centre or the circumference of Deity? Had he either arrived at the inner thought or purpose, or scanned the unlimited range of the operations, of God? The one presents the microscopic, and the other the telescopic, aspect of investigation. Zophar asks whether in either direction Job had found out God. The question is not whether Job had found God, but whether he had found out, that is, comprehended, God. Then by a series of graphic images he seeks to impress upon Job the fact that, compared with Gods omniscience, his very knowledge was utter ignorance. His perceptions at best were dull and very limited. Poor ignorant man, how could he comprehend Him who was infinite, or judge Him who was far beyond the scope of his investigation?
Canst thou by searching find out God? No; and why? Because I never begin to search for Him until I have found Him; God alone can create the search for God. That is the great difference between things material and things spiritual. In material things the search precedes the finding; in spiritual things the finding precedes the search. When a man goes out to seek for gold you may infer that he is materially poor, but when a man goes out to seek for God you may conclude that he is spiritually rich. In the case of the gold we see the shadow before we touch the substance; in our experience of God we first touch the substance and then see the shadow. When a child stretches out its hand and cries for the moon it is seeking something which it will never find; but when a man stretches out his hand and cries for holiness, he is seeking something which he has found already. No man can pray for the Divine Spirit except by the voice of that Spirit. Why is our Father so eager that we should pray for the Kingdom? Is it because our prayer for goodness will make us good? No, it is because our prayer for goodness proves us to be good already. When did Abraham begin to search for the land of Canaan? When he got into it. He wandered up and down seeking the promised country; and he was there all the time, folded in her bosom. So is it with us. We long for Canaan when we stand in Canaan. We cry for love when we have learned love. We pray for purity when we have tasted purity. We feel our distance from God when God is at the door.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Times of Retirement, 235.]
I.
The Deeps of God
Literally the verse reads: Canst thou find the deeps of (or, that which has to be searched out in) God; canst thou reach to the perfection (the outmost, the ground of the nature) of the Almighty? The word is the same as that translated in Job 38:16 recesses of the sea.
1. God is not to be fully comprehended in His Being.Our knowledge of God, in this life, must be a constant moving forward in the twilight; fragmentary, and perhaps unequal; but by His grace increasing, as we follow on to know; starting from a venture, demanding an effort; and to the end of this life a knowledge only in part. But after this life, if we have endured and persevered unto the end, there will be a change. Then shall I know even as also I have been known. When the things which keep us back have loosed their hold on us; when sin and indolence and doubt are done with; when all the anxieties that we have allowed to fret us and divide our hearts here are put away for ever; when, through whatsoever discipline, in this world or beyond it, God has wrought His perfect work in us; then will the broken and faltering effort pass into an unhindered energy, and we shall know Him even as also we are known. Even as from the first He has known us; as, when He made us His, when He called us to Himself, when He gave us our work to do, He knew us; as now, in all the discipline of life, in all His dealings with us, His gaze penetrates at once the inmost depths of our being; so shall we be ever moving forward, with intensity then undivided and unwearied, in the realization of His infinite truth and goodness.
Some measure of the knowledge of God is within the reach of all who really desire it and will really strive for it. Through many ways He is waiting to reveal Himself more clearly to every one of usthrough conscience, through nature, through the Bible, through the lives of the poor and of those who suffer patiently, through all moral beauty, and above all in the life and teaching of our Lord. Through all these ways, it may be, hints and glances of His glory have already come to us; through all these ways we may know in part, and follow on to know continually more. But, undoubtedly, there is need of venturethe venture of faith, to commit ourselves to Him; to trust the light we see, even though we see it faintly and unsteadily. Knowledge will never grow in that cold and sceptical mind which Dr. Newman has described so well; the mind which has no desire to approach its God, but sits at home waiting for the fearful clearness of His visible coming, whom it might seek and find in due measure amid the twilight of the present world.
How my mind and will, which are not God, can yet cognize and leap to meet Him, how I ever came to be so separate from Him, and how God Himself came to be at all, are problems that for the theist can remain unsolved and insoluble for ever. It is sufficient for him to know that he himself simply is, and needs God; and that behind this universe God simply is and will be for ever, and will in some way hear his call. In the practical assurance of these empirical facts, without Erkentnisstheorie or philosophical ontology, without metaphysics of emanation or creation to justify or make them more intelligible, in the blessedness of their mere acknowledgment as given, lie all the peace and power he craves. The floodgates of the religious life are opened, and the full currents can pour through.
It is this empirical and practical side of the theistic position, its theoretic chastity and modesty, that I wish to accentuate. The highest flights of theistic mysticism, far from pretending to penetrate the secrets of the me and the thou in worship, and to transcend the dualism by an act of intelligence, simply turn their backs on such attempts. The problem for them has simply vanishedvanished from the sight of an attitude which refuses to notice such futile theoretic difficulties. Get but that peace of God which passeth understanding, and the questions of the understanding will cease from puzzling and pedantic scruples be at rest.1 [Note: W. James, The Will to Believe, 135.]
It is neither what we seem to understand about God that feeds our love, nor the fact that He is infinitely beyond our understanding, but the fact that we can ever progress in knowledge and love, and always with a sense of an infinite beyond. It is at the margin where the conquering light meets the receding darkness that love finds its inspirations. If we are forced to conceive Him human-wise, we know that the conception is but an idol or picture; that if He is all that, He is also infinitely more. To the savage He is but the biggest and strongest of men; to the rationalist He is but the most intelligent and moral; to faith He is the hidden Infinite, of which these are but the finite symbols.1 [Note: George Tyrrell.]
The splendours of the Summer sunset-glow
Shot blood-red through the intercepting trees:
And, fretful that my vision could not seize
Unblurred, the hues beyond, or fully know
The gorgeous scene that was obstructed so,
In haste my discontentment to appease
I climbed my tower, when lo! I missed the trees!
Too dazzling was the sight! The charm did go!
I must not seek all things to understand:
If mid the tangled mystery of my days,
And cares that mar delights on every hand,
I catch but gleams of glory through the maze,
Ill wait till in the All-revealing Land
The full effulgence meets my tutored gaze!2 [Note: Thomas Crawford, Horae Serenae, 65.]
(1) The intellect by itself is utterly at fault in the search for God.
Jacob begged that he might know his Benefactors name, but it was not conceded to him. God wraps Himself in mystery. He partly reveals and partly conceals Himself. His purpose is to keep man, not in ignorance, but in lowly reverence. Wonder is an element of worship. God is not angry with man for his reverent curiosity; He rather stimulates it to the utmost; but there are limits which He will not let us overstep. He says, Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther. We have no line with which to measure the Infinite. Who can by searching find out God? who can find out the Almighty unto perfection?
No answer came back, not a word,
To the patriarch there by the ford;
No answer has come through the ages
To the poets, the saints, and the sages,
Who have sought in the secrets of science
The name and the nature of God
But the answer that was and shall be,
My name! Nay, what is that to thee?1 [Note: J. Hay, Israel.]
Yet God does reveal Himself. He is not the unknown and unknowable. His revelations come to the heart and the conscience; they come in the experiences of life; and they come really rather than verbally. When God has wrestled with Jacob and blessed him, Jacob knows God, although His name is withheld. He knows His power and His grace; knows Him as the source of blessing; knows how wonderful and adorable He is. For the rest, mystery does not repel men from God, it attracts them to Him; and in view of the infallible assurances of the soul we may reverently say even of God, Whats in a name? If the Hebrews could do nothing better, they could at least now call upon the God of Jacob. They could encourage one another by saying, The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. The contents of that designation, the experience which it recalled, were full of inspiration. Therefore, to whom turn I but to Thee, the ineffable Name?2 [Note: J. Strachan, Hebrew Ideals, ii. 67.]
It is really time for men of science to be warned off the grounds of philosophy and psychology as peremptorily as they warn religion off the territory of science. A purely materialistic student of the facts of science is simply impudent when he applies his scientific methods to things spiritual. It is as absurd as the old application of theological methods to science. Let him say what he knows about his atoms, but when he attempts, as Tyndall says he attempts, to leap beyond the bounds of experiment and guess at the cause of his atoms he is just in the position in which Tyndall places usthat of a man attempting to lift himself by his waistband. But after all what a testimony to the need of a revelation is all this! What is it all but what Job said long ago, Who can by searching find out God? The last word of science must be atheism, if science denies all that is not scientifically demonstrable; and just for that reason when science has said her last word, religion says her first, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. I look on Stuart Mills Life and Tyndalls manifesto as two valuable contributions to the evidence of Christianity; the one showing mans moral need, the other his intellectual need of a revelation ab extra.3 [Note: The Life of Archbishop Magee, ii. 11.]
(2) Our knowledge of God is a recognition by our whole personality.
God is for me that after which I strive, that the striving after which forms my life, and who, therefore, is for me; but He is necessarily such that I cannot comprehend or name Him. If I comprehend Him, I would reach Him, and there would be nothing to strive after, and no life. But, though it seems a contradiction, I cannot comprehend or name Him, and yet I know Himknow the direction toward Him, and of all my knowledge this is the most reliable.
You know God not so much by means of reason, not even by means of your heart, as by the complete dependence felt in relation to Himsomething like the feeling which a suckling babe experiences in the arms of its mother. It does not know who holds it, who warms and feeds it; but it knows that there is somebody who does this, and, moreover, loves this person.1 [Note: Tolstoy, Thoughts on God (Works, xvi. 410).]
Maeterlincks cardinal doctrine will, I conjecture, prove to be something like this. What should be of most account for us all is not external fact, but the supra-sensuous world. What we know is not interesting; the really interesting things are those which we can only divinethe veiled life of the soul, the crepuscular region of sub-consciousness, our borderland feelings, all that lies in the strange neutral zone between the frontiers of consciousness and unconsciousness. The mystery of life is what makes life worth living. Twas a little being of mystery, like every one else, says the old King Arkel of the dead Mlisande. We are such stuff as dreams are made of might be the refrain of all M. Maeterlincks plays, and of most of his essays. He is penetrated by the feeling of the mystery in all human creatures, whose every act is regulated by far-off influences and obscurely rooted in things unexplained. Mystery is within us and around us. Of reality we can only get now and then the merest glimpse. Our senses are too gross. Between the invisible world and our own there is doubtless an intimate concordance; but it escapes us. We grope among shadows towards the unknown. Even the new conquests of what we vainly suppose to be exact thought only deepen the mystery of life.2 [Note: A. B. Walkley, in Maeterlincks Treasure of the Humble, xii.]
I cannot find Thee! Still on restless pinion
My spirit beats the void where Thou dost dwell;
I wander lost through all Thy vast dominion,
And shrink beneath Thy light ineffable.
I cannot find Thee! Een when most adoring,
Before Thy throne I bend in lowliest prayer;
Beyond these bounds of thought, my thought upsoaring,
From farthest quest comes back: Thou art not there.
Yet high above the limits of my seeing,
And folded far within the inmost heart,
And deep below the deeps of conscious being,
Thy splendour shineth: there, O God! Thou art.
I cannot lose Thee! Still in Thee abiding,
The end is clear, how wide soeer I roam;
The Hand that holds the worlds my steps is guiding,
And I must rest at last in Thee, my home.1 [Note: Eliza Scudder.]
2. God is incomprehensible in His Providence.How small and insignificant are the mysteries of Nature in comparison with the problems of human life! Almost every month sees some fresh triumph of scientific research. It looks as if, by persistent and certain processes, man were to wrench from Nature her most precious secrets, as if in the end matter must confess itself beaten, as if all physical forces would ultimately bow before the dominion of the intellect and the mind. How different it is in the sphere of human experience! Sin remains; sorrow remains; pain remains; death remains. What more do we know about any one of them than the world knew in its infancy and childhood? They, too, like the earth and the air, the rocks and the seas, have their own secrets, but they hold them fast.
Sinwhy upon this man does it swoop down with overmastering might, and hold him in its relentless clutches, and crush and lacerate his soul, till it passes out of shape and festers and dies? And why does it leave that other man alone or touch him so rarely and gently that the wound heals up almost at once?
Sorrowhere is some polished voluptuary, whose life is one stream of apparent happiness, who never feels the cankerworm of care and weariness and desolation, to whom remorse and bitterness and anguish are strangers, and there is some simple, pious, reverent soul from whose mind perplexities and griefs and distresses are never absent.
Painhow wayward, how partial, how erratic is its empire! This man with his magnificent physique and indomitable strength has neither been chastened by its discipline nor has smarted under its sting, while that poor body, lying in uncomplaining solitude in some cheerless back-room, remembers hardly anything else.
And Death, vastest, richest, final mystery of alllook at it from which standpoint you like, on the one hand the grisly Terror, on the other
That golden key
That opens the palace of eternity
need one of us travel beyond a very small and solemn circle to realize the strange scope and cruel incidence of its grim visitations?
If I could answer you
If I could give you any light
On this dark question, true,
I should have more than human sight.
I cannot understand
The strange, sad mystery to-day,
Here in the shadowland,
Where knowledge only leads astray.
I also sometime trod
This path where hidden danger lies,
And sought to find out God
Where heights of human wisdom rise.
But now I only see,
Though all around is cold and dim,
One Light that shines on me,
And as I look away to Him
Lo! in the Light divine
Wherever falls its living ray
I see that all things shine
Undimmed, and night is changed for day.1 [Note: E. H. Divall, A Believers Songs, 94.]
3. God is incomprehensible in His Grace.Grace is more than pity with tearful eye; more than mercy with outstretched hand; it is an arm made barean omnipotent arm, bared for a mighty task. Gods love finds its supreme expression in His grace as manifest on Calvary. It is His power to save. Here is the solution of the problem, How can God be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly? and of that other, How shall a man be just with God?
To measure the heart of the Infinite, we must get the dimensions of the cross. We call it the accursed tree. Rather, it is the tree of life; its roots deep as hell, its crown in heaven, its branches, laden with the fruits of life, reaching out to the uttermost parts of the earth. On the cross the only-begotten Son of God tasted death for every man. From the cross He offers redemption to the uttermost, not to respectable sinners only, but to thieves, harlots, and reprobates. By the cross He saves utterly; nailing our indictment there, blotting out our sin, sinking it into the depths of an unfathomable sea, washing us, though stained as scarlet and crimson, until we are whiter than snow. This is the measure: God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to suffer and die for it. That so is spelled with two letters, but it is vast enough to girdle the sin-stricken world and bind it back to God.1 [Note: D. J. Burrell, The Wondrous Cross, 162.]
II.
Our Attitude to the Deeps of God
1. Reverence.It goes without saying that, while faith in its essence must ever be the same, the particular standpoint of our fathers is not that of their children. They dwelt upon the depravity of human nature, the horror of sin, the holiness of God, the helplessness of the soul, the sovereignty of the Divine Mercy, and the unsearchable purpose of the Divine Will, themes full of awe and majesty. Therefore they humbled themselves before God and east their souls upon His pity. They sought anxiously for a ground of pardon, and searched themselves for signs of the Divine calling. They dared not boast of His favour, but they walked humbly before Him and hoped for His salvation. Theirs was an inward, intense, and lowly religion. We are inclined to dwell on the possibilities of human nature, the wide hope of the Incarnation, the revelation of the Divine Fatherhood, the compass of Gods love, the full assurance of faith, the joy of the present life, and the glory of the life to come. Our religion is, therefore, more outspoken, unfettered, high-spirited. About the saint of the former day it was written, he feared God; but of our good man you read in his biography that he was a bright or a happy Christian.
It is futile to recall days which are gone, or to reproduce their moods; for the time spirit bloweth where it listeth, and, rightly used, it is the spirit of God. We have cause to be thankful, because we have learned not to despair of our race, to think of our fellow-men as brethren, and to remember that a man has more to do in this world than save his own soul. Our religion is less morbid, gloomy, introspective, and selfish; but there are times when, looking out through the palms upon this expanse of blue, one wearies for the strong salt air of the Atlantic and the grandeur of the hills when the sun shines through the mist. One is haunted with the conviction that if in our day we have gained joy and charity, we have lost in devoutness and humility, and that we have almost bidden good-bye to reverence.
Reverence is the eyelash that lets us endure the sun, which lost, we must make up our minds to darkness for the rest of our lives, and give up for ever all thoughts of the vigour and health and pure richness of life which sunlight only gives.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, 52.]
2. Thankfulness.To one who sees the spiritual order of the world and recognizes the sublime chances of spiritual fortune which it offers, there is no need of special causes of gratitude; such an one thanks God daily that he lives. Times and seasons for special thanksgiving are wise and necessary; for men need to be reminded of what they have received, and they need to have provision made for the special expression of their gratitude; but the grateful man does not depend on days and festivals for his thought of Gods goodness and care for him; these thoughts are always with him, and the song of thanksgiving is always in his heart. For all sweet and pleasant passages in the great story of life men may well thank God; for leisure and ease and health and friends may God make us truly and humbly grateful; but our chief song of thanksgiving must be always for our kinship with Him, with all that such divinity of greatness brings of peril, hardship, toil, and sacrifice.
An old man in Nottinghamshire came to me one Sabbath as we were going into church, and said: Do you think, Sir, you could bring in that prayer about giving thanks this morning? I am eighty years old to-day, and I should like to thank God for all the mercies He has been pleased to send. He had one small room in a poor cottage; his income was three shillings a week; he had no relatives and few friends; he was often ailing and always infirm, needing two sticks to lean on, and yet he was not only content, but happy. He was a Christian in spirit and in truth, and the last words he spoke to me, just before his death, were these: l am not dying in darkness, I am dying in the light of life.1 [Note: Dean Hole.]
Lord, in this dust Thy sovereign voice
First quickend love divine;
I am all Thine,Thy care and choice,
My very praise is Thine.
I praise Thee, while Thy providence
In childhood frail I trace,
For blessings given, ere dawning sense
Could seek or scan Thy grace;
Blessings in boyhoods marvelling hour,
Bright dreams, and fancyings strange;
Blessings, when reasons awful power
Gave thought a bolder range;
Blessings of friends, which to my door
Unaskd, unhoped, have come;
And, choicer still, a countless store
Of eager smiles at home.
Yet, Lord, in memorys fondest place
I shrine those seasons sad,
When, looking up, I saw Thy face
In kind austereness clad.
I would not miss one sigh or tear,
Heart-pang, or throbbing brow;
Sweet was the chastisement severe,
And sweet its memory now.
Yes! let the fragrant scars abide,
Love-tokens in Thy stead,
Faint shadows of the spear-pierced side
And thorn-encompassd head.
And such Thy tender force be still,
When self would swerve or stray,
Shaping to truth the froward will
Along Thy narrow way.
Deny me wealth; far, far remove
The lure of power or name;
Hope thrives in straits, in weakness love,
And faith in this worlds shame.1 [Note: J. H. Newman, Occasional Verses.]
3. Patience.This is the question to which a man must get the answer before he can work against evil and on the side of enduring good, viz.: not, Why does evil exist? but Why has not God thrown a clear light upon the problem of its existence? That is the question which he is bound to face or he must be for ever uselesshe can never understand Gods ways or know God Himself. There is a mighty and loving Being whose object is to educate us into likeness with Himself. That is the fundamental postulate. Why then has He not told us what we want to know, viz., why there is evil at all? The Christian answer is that He has given us this problem to work at for the sake of our education, in order that through thinking about it and working at it, certain powers, which we call spiritual, might be developedpowers by which we draw near to Him now, and shall come to be like Him hereafter. God did not set us this hard sum to work at merely in order to puzzle us. He set it us in order that we might in our working at it, even through our sense of despair in solving it, become what He meant us to be, that we might be trained in inmost character. When we become like Him, when the conditions of this life are changed into those of the fuller life, the fog will lift, and by means of the fuller life the question will be answered and the problem solved. In the meantime the very question which we took to be a kind of hindrance, because we could not find the answer to it, turns out to be a means of educationis calling out our strongest powers, is preparing us for finding the answer in another life. This is the Christian theory: and, starting from it, vast numbers of men and women are working for good against evil at the present day; they have their share of those difficulties with a monopoly of which frivolous critics often credit themselves; they feel those difficulties amid surrounding evil and intensified sufferings, and feel them acutely; but nevertheless they go on living their lives in a useful and a noble fashion; and they recognize that the very existence of this insoluble problem, when once they take up arms and play the man, does help them, does educate them, does call out from them nobler powers and more enduring virtue, and a more resolute patience than were otherwise possible.
Patience, thou blessed attribute! How could we get on without thee? How we would worry and fret this miserable life away but for thy benign help. It is among the ranks of the poor and lowly that we see that grace in most frequent and most beautiful operation. I never return from visiting my poor sick people without learning a lesson of thankfulness from them. They are so patient under suffering, so thankful for the least attention, so submissive to Gods sovereign will. I suspect that it still holds true that God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him.1 [Note: Dr. MacGregor of St. Cuthberts, 127.]
I, and the Bird,
And the Wind together,
Sang a supplication
In the winter weather.
The Bird sang for sunshine,
And trees of winter fruit,
And for love in the springtime,
When the thickets shoot.
And I sang for patience
When the tear-drops start;
Clean hands and clear eyes,
And a faithful heart.
And the Wind thereunder,
As we faintly cried,
Breathed a bass of wonder,
Blowing deep and wide.2 [Note: A. C. Benson, Lord Vyet and Other Poems.]
Literature
Barton (G. A.), The Roots of Christian Teaching as found in the Old Testament, 103.
Bigg (C.), The Spirit of Christ in Common Life, 53.
Burrell (D. J.), The Wondrous Cross, 154.
English (W. W.), in Church Sermons, No. 29.
Eyton (R.), The Search for God, 1.
Hadden (R. H), Selected Sermons, 47.
Hutton (A. W.), Ecclesia Discens, 11.
Leach (C.), Old Yet Ever New, 290.
Macintosh (W.), Rabbi Jesus, 31.
Matheson (G.), Times of Retirement, 234.
Moffat (H. B.), in Sermons from the Pulpit, No. 141.
Momerie (A. W.), Defects of Modem Christianity, 337.
Ritchie (A.), St. Ignatius Pulpit, 150.
Russell (A.), The Light that Lighteth every Man, 149.
Simeon (C.), Works, iv. 372.
Terry (G. F.), The Old Theology in the New Age, 43.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), xviii. No. 1128.
Voysey (C.), Sermons (1876), No. 9.
Cambridge Review, vi. Supplement, No. 132 (Robertson).
Christian World Pulpit, xxxix. 333 (Hocking); lxiv. 401 (Gibbon).
Church of England Magazine, xxii. 356 (Ayre); xxiii. 421 (Webster).
Church of England Pulpit, liii. 2 (Lias).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Canst: Job 5:9, Job 26:14, Job 37:23, Psa 77:19, Psa 145:3, Ecc 3:11, Isa 40:28, Mat 11:27, Rom 11:33, 1Co 2:10, 1Co 2:16, Eph 3:8
Reciprocal: Gen 17:1 – Almighty Gen 32:29 – Wherefore Exo 3:14 – I AM hath Exo 33:23 – thou shalt Deu 29:29 – secret Rth 1:20 – the Almighty Job 36:26 – we Job 37:5 – great Job 37:20 – surely Psa 8:9 – General Psa 36:6 – judgments Psa 86:10 – For Psa 139:6 – knowledge Pro 25:2 – the glory Pro 30:3 – nor Ecc 7:24 – General Ecc 8:17 – that a man Isa 19:12 – let them Isa 40:12 – measured Jer 31:37 – If 1Co 13:9 – General Eph 3:18 – able
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 11:7-8. Canst thou by searching find out God? That is, discover all the depths of his wisdom, and the reasons of all his actions. It is as high as heaven Thou canst not measure the heights of the visible heavens, much less of the divine perfections; what canst thou do? Namely, to find him out. Deeper than hell; what canst thou know? Concerning him and his ways, which are far out of thy sight and reach. God is unsearchable. The ages of his eternity cannot be numbered, nor the spaces of his immensity measured; the depths of his wisdom cannot be fathomed, nor the extent of his power bounded: the brightness of his glory can never be described, nor the treasures of his goodness counted. This is a good reason why we should always speak of God with humility and caution, and never prescribe to him, or quarrel with his dispensations; why we should be thankful for what he has revealed of himself, and long to be there where we shall see him as he is.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zophar’s praise of God’s Wisdom 11:7-12
Eliphaz and Bildad had spoken mainly of God’s justice. Zophar extolled His wisdom. He rightly explained that God’s wisdom is unfathomable, but he inadvertently claimed to fathom it by saying Job deserved more punishment than he was getting. Job 11:12 may have been a proverb common in Job’s day. It means that it is harder for a fool (empty head) to learn wisdom than for a wild donkey, notorious for its stupidity, to give birth to a man. In Zophar’s view, Job was extremely foolish because he failed to see the truth of what Eliphaz and Bildad had said.