Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:1
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
1. out of the whirlwind ] Rather, out of the storm. Jehovah, even when condescending to speak with men, must veil Himself in the storm cloud, in which He descends and approaches the earth. Even when He is nearest us, clouds and darkness are round about Him. His revelation of Himself to Job, at least, was partly to rebuke him, for he had sinned against His majesty. and He veils Himself in terrors. The storm is not necessarily that which Elihu describes; the Art. is rather generic, the meaning being that thus Jehovah spoke, namely, out of storm.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then the Lord answered Job – This speech is addressed particularly to Job, not only because he is the principal personage referred to in the book, but particularly because he had indulged in language of murmuring and complaint. God designed to bring him to a proper state of mind before he appeared openly for his vindication. It is the purpose of God, in his dealings with his people, to bring them to a proper state of mind before he appears as their vindicator and friend, and hence, their trials are often prolonged, and when he appears, he seems at first to come only to rebuke them. Job had indulged in very improper feelings, and it was needful that those feelings should be subdued before God would manifest himself as his friend, and address him in words of consolation.
Out of the whirlwind – The tempest; the storm – probably that which Elihu had seen approaching, Job 37:21-24. God is often represented as speaking to people in this manner. He spake amidst lightnings and tempests on Mount Sinai Exo 19:16-19, and he is frequently represented as appearing amidst the thunders and lightnings of a tempest, as a symbol of his majesty; compare Psa 18:9-13; Hab 3:3-6. The word here rendered whirlwind means rather a storm, a tempest. The Septuagint renders this verse, After Elihu had ceased speaking, the Lord spake to Job from a tempest and clouds.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 38:1-3
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said.
The address of the Almighty
This sublime discourse is represented as made from the midst of the tempest or whirlwind which Elihu describes as gathering. In this address the principal object of God is to assert His own greatness and majesty, and the duty of profound submission under the dispensations of His government. The general thought is, that He is Lord of heaven and earth; that all things have been made by Him, and that He has a right to control them; and that in the works of His own hands He had given so much evidence of His wisdom, power, and goodness, that men ought to have unswerving confidence in Him. He appeals to His works, and shows that, in fact, man could explain little, and that the most familiar objects were beyond his comprehension. It was therefore to be expected that in His moral government there would be much that would be above the power of man to explain. In this speech the creation of the world is first brought before the mind in language which has never been equalled. Then the Almighty refers to various things in the universe that surpass the wisdom of man to comprehend them, or his power to make them–to the laws of light; the depths of the ocean; the formation of the snow, the rain, the dew, the ice, the frost; the changes of the seasons, the clouds, the lightnings; and the instincts of animals. He then makes a particular appeal to some of the mere remarkable inhabitants of the air, the forest, and the waters, as illustrating His power. He refers to the gestation of the mountain goats; to the wild ass, to the rhinoceros, to the ostrich, and to the horse (ch. 39). The ground of the argument in this part of the address is that He had adapted every kind of animal to the mode of life which it was to lead; that He had given cunning where cunning was necessary, and where unnecessary, that He had withheld it; that He had endowed with rapidity of foot or wing where such qualities were needful; and that where power was demanded, He had conferred it. In reference to all these classes of creatures, there were peculiar laws by which they were governed; and all, in their several spheres, showed the wisdom and skill of their Creator. Job is subdued and awed by these exhibitions. To produce, however, a more overpowering impression of His greatness and majesty, and to secure a deeper prostration before Him, the Almighty proceeds to a particular description of two of the more remarkable animals which He had made–the behemoth, or hippopotamus, and the leviathan, or crocodile; and with this description, the address of the Almighty closes. The general impression designed to be secured by this whole address is that of awe, reverence, and submission. The general thought is, that God is supreme; that He has a right to rule; that there are numberless things in His government which are inexplicable by human wisdom; that it is presumptuous in man to sit in judgment on His doings; and that at all times man should bow before Him with profound adoration. It is remarkable that, in this address, the Almighty does not refer to the main point in the controversy. He does not attempt to vindicate His government from the charges brought against it of inequality, nor does He refer to the future state as a place where all these apparent irregularities will be adjusted. (Albert Barnes.)
The theophany
As Elihus eloquent discourse draws to a close, our hearts grow full of expectation and hope. The mighty tempest in which Jehovah shrouds Himself sweeps up through the darkened heaven; it draws nearer and nearer; we are blinded by the flash which He flings to the ends of the earth, our hearts throb and leap out of their place, and we say, God is about to speak, and there will be light. But God speaks, and there is no light. He does not so much as touch the intellectual problems over which we have been brooding so long, much less, as we hoped, sweep them beyond the farthest horizon of our thoughts. He simply overwhelms us with His majesty. He causes His glory to pass before us, and though, after he has seen this great sight, Jobs face shines with a reflected lustre which has to be veiled from us under the mere forms of a recovered and augmented prosperity, we are none the brighter for it. He claims to have all power in heaven and on earth, to be Lord of all the wonders of the day and of the night, of tempest, and of calm. He simply asserts, what no one has denied, that all the processes of nature, and all the changes of providence are His handiwork, that it is He who calleth forth the stars, and determines their influence upon earth, He who sendeth rain and fruitful seasons, He who provides food for bird and beast, arms them with strength, clothes them with beauty, and quickens in them the manifold wise instincts by which they are preserved and multiplied. He does not utter a single word to relieve the mysteries of His rule, to explain why the good suffer and the wicked flourish, why He permits our hearts to be so often and so cruelly torn by agonies of bereavement, of misgiving, of doubt. When the majestic voice ceases we are no nearer than before to a solution of the haunting problems of life. We can only wonder that Job should sink in utter love and self-abasement before Him; we can only ask, in unfeigned surprise–and it is well for us if some tone of contempt do not blend with our surprise,–What is there in all this to shed calm, and order, and an invincible faith into Jobs perturbed and doubting spirit? We say, This pathetic poem is a logical failure after all; it does not carry its theme to any satisfactory conclusion, nor to any conclusion; it suggests doubts to which it furnishes no reply, problems which it does not even attempt to solve; charmed with its beauty we may be, but we are none the wiser for our patient study of its argument. But that would be a sorry conclusion of our labour. And before we resign ourselves to it, let us at least ask:
1. Is it so certain as we sometimes assume it to be that this poem was intended to explain the mystery of human life? Is it even certain that a logical explanation of that mystery is either possible or desirable to creatures such as we are in such a world as this? The path of logic is not commonly the path of faith. Logic may convince the reason, but it cannot bend the will or change the heart. God teaches us,–Jehovah taught Job,–as we teach children, by the mystery of life, by its illusions and contradictions, by its intermixtures of evil with good, of sorrow with joy; by the questions we are compelled to ask even though we cannot answer them, by the problems we are compelled to study although we cannot solve them. And is not this His best way?
2. But if the answer of Jehovah disappoints us, it satisfied Job; and not only satisfied him, but swept away all his doubts and fears in a transport of gratitude and renewed love. Expecting to hear some conclusive argument, we overlook the immense force and pathos of the fact, that Jehovah spake to Job at all. What Job could not bear was that God should abandon as well as afflict him. It was not what God said, but that God did speak to him, brought comfort.
3. Still the question recurs: What was it that recovered Job to faith and peace and trust? Was there absolutely nothing in the answer of Jehovah out of the tempest to meet the inquest of his beseeching doubts? Yes, there was something, but not much. There is an argument of hints and suggestions. It meets the painful sense of mystery which oppressed Job. God simply says, we should not let that mystery distress us, because there are mysteries everywhere. Another argument is, Consider these mysteries and parables of Nature, and what they reveal of the character and purpose of Him by whom they were created and made. You can see that they all work together for good. May not the mystery of human life and pain be as beneficent? God does not argue with us, nor seek to force our trust; for no man was ever yet argued into love, or could even compel his own child to love and confide in him. Trust and love are not to be forced, but won. God may have to deal with us as we deal with our children. Not by logical arguments, which convince our reason, but by tender appeals which touch and break our hearts, our Father conquers us at last, and wins our love and trust forever. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)
The appearance of Jahve
As Job has at last exhausted all mortal powers in order to prevail upon God without defiance and without murmuring, and to behold the solution of the dark enigma, He who has so long been desired and entreated cannot longer withhold His appearance. He now appears at the right time, since an earlier appearance would either have been perilous to the man who was still insufficiently prepared for it, because it would then necessarily have been an angry and destructive response to the defiant or murmuring challenge of man, or else have been incompatible with the proper majesty of God, supposing it had been mercifully condescending and conciliatory, as if man in his ignorance could force such a gracious appearance by rebellion. But now, after the sufferer has tried every human means of prevailing upon God in the proper manner, and already, as conqueror over himself, endeavours without passionate feeling to obtain a higher revelation and final deliverance, this is granted to him at the right moment. It thus appears as if Jahve had so long delayed simply because He had from the beginning anticipated and known that such a brave sufferer as Job would not wholly lose himself, even in the utmost temptation and danger, but would triumphantly go forth from it with higher power and capacity, so as to be able to experience the awful moment of the revelation of a truth and glory such as had been previously never thought of. A revelation coming in this manner must be for Job a friendly and gracious one. (Heinrich A. Von Ewald.)
The revelation in the whirlwind
We are reminded by these words of the similar experience of Elijah when, in the midst of the grandest manifestations of nature, he was brought into direct contact with God. The Lord, we are told, was not in the mighty wind that passed before Elijah on Horeb. He did not choose the whirlwind as the symbol of Himself; because what Elijah required was not the display of Gods newer but the revelation of His love–not the stormy, but the gentle side of Gods nature. He Himself was a tempestuous spirit, an incarnate whirlwind. To such a stormy nature a lesson came to teach him the secret of his failure, and to show him that there were greater powers than those which he had employed, and a better spirit than that which he had displayed. He believed that the most effective way of freeing the land from its idolatry was by threatening and judgment. There was nothing in these judgments to appeal to Israels better nature–to convince them of their sin, and to rouse them to a sense of duty; and the Baal worship, which they were compelled by fear to renounce for a day, resumed its old spell over them when the storm subsided, and the sky became once more serene. But not thus did God reveal Himself to Job. He revealed Himself in the still, small voice to Elijah, because there was too much of the whirlwind in his own character, and in his work of reformation for Israel, and he needed to be taught the greater power of gentleness and love. He revealed Himself in the whirlwind to Job, because there was too much of the still, small voice in his own disposition and in his circumstances, and he needed to be stirred up by trials and troubles that would shake his life to the very centre. The lot of Job was at first extraordinarily prosperous. His nature became like his circumstances; his soul was at ease he lived upon the surface of his being; he was contented with himself and with the world. Jobs worship was practically a similar bargain of faith. He would offer sacrifice to God as a preventive of worldly evil, and as the safeguard of his prosperity. We know what happens in nature after a long continuance of sunshine and calm. It needs a storm to agitate the stagnant waters, and fill the foaming waves with vital air for the good of the creatures of the sea. And so the man whose prosperous life settles down upon the lees of his nature, and partakes of their sordidness, requires the storm of trial to purify the atmosphere of his soul, to rouse him from his selfishness, to brace up his energies, and to make him a blessing to others, and a grander and truer man in himself. It was for this reason that the overwhelming troubles that came upon Job were sent. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. That Divine speech was entirely different from the arguments of Elihu and Zophar, Bildad and Eliphaz. There were no upbraidings in it; no replies to specious sophistries and short-sighted charges it seemed to ignore altogether the questions at issue; it appealed not to the intellect, but to the heart. He grew wiser the more he suffered; and the storm that purified his soul gave him a deeper insight into the mysteries of Divine providence, so that he could rise superior to the doubts of his own heart, and vindicate the ways of God to man against all the dishonouring arguments of his false friends. As a candle within a transparency, so the fire of pain illumined the truth of God to him, and made plain what before had been dark. He had lost everything which men of the world value, but he had found what was more than a compensation. And so God deals with us still. He speaks to different persons in different ways: to one who is self-sufficient because of his prosperity, by the loud roar of the whirlwind; to another who is despondent and depressed because of failure and blighted hopes arising from wrong methods of doing good, He speaks in the still, small voice, and assures him that fury is not in Him. The Divine method is ever by the still, small voice. God would prefer to deal with us in gentle, loving, quiet ways. Judgment is His strange work. Gods continued goodness to us too often leaves us careless and godless. The still, small voice speaking to us in the blessings of life with which day after day our cup is filled, is unheeded, and God requires to send His whirlwind to speak to us in such a way that we shall be compelled to hear. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
Spiritual tempests
Numerous instances might be cited where God manifested Himself out of a cloud. But as well in the dew drop, out of the calm and silent lake, as well as from the billowy ocean. In all ways He seeks to reach and impress men with His greatness and goodness. But I believe men are more impressed when in the pathway of the cyclone, where the ordinary provisions of safety are inadequate, and men lift up their voices, and implore the mercy of the great Jehovah.
I. The first thing to consider is, how easily the most innocent things may become harmful and dangerous. A child may sleep in the morning breeze. What is softer than the dewdrop as it releases the aroma of the fields that we drink in with so much pleasure? And yet with what terrific force it sweeps on when changed into the tornado and flood! How great, therefore, the power for destruction in the simplest. In the souls of men there are forces no less terrible than those in physical nature that, held by a slight restraint, keep in check vices, which, were they loose, would carry devastation into society.
II. The second principle teaches that destructive things may become beneficial. At first we shrink from the approaching storm, property is lost, homes destroyed, and yet we learn from viewing the scene of desolation that storms may be beneficial. Do we think of the poison in the atmosphere, and how the storm has taken it up and blown it away, giving us in its place a pure atmosphere? A few lives may be given to the tornado, but you and I have been given purer air. The soldier in the same manner dies for his country. These may be great mysteries. The storm may destroy much, but it blesses us all. The cyclones in the spiritual world strike us, but give us a better vision; they purify our spiritual atmosphere, and let us see nearer the world to which we are journeying.
III. The third teaching of the tornado is how the simple things become inscrutable. Mans knowledge seems to extend to a certain point. God said to the sea: Thus far shalt thou go and no farther. But the storm may bring great blessings. We live in a little circle of light; we see but a few feet, and know not but the next step may be into infinite blackness; but if God is with us it does not matter. The three lessons, considered together, teach us that this world is an island in the midst of a great ocean. We are like the mariners on the lake–the more the storm rages the more lights will be turned toward the haven. We all need a refuge from the storm. Some seek it in the sciences and philosophy; but the only haven is in the arms of Jesus, where there is at least heaven, sweet, blessed heaven, for the burdened and weary. (George C. Lorimer, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Lord answers Job out of a whirlwind, and challenges him to
answer, 1-3.
He convinces him of ignorance and weakness, by an enumeration
of some of his mighty works; particularly of the creation of
the earth, 4-7.
The sea and the deeps, 8-18.
The light, 19-21.
Snow, hail, thunder, lightning, rain, dew, ice, and hoar-frost,
22-30.
Different constellations, and the ordinances of heaven
influencing the earth, 31-33.
Shows his own power and wisdom in the atmosphere, particularly
in the thunder, lightnings, and rain, 34-38.
His providence in reference to the brute creation, 39-41.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVIII
Verse 1. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind] It is not suphah, as in the preceding chapter, Job 37:9; but searah, which signifies something turbulent, tumultuous, or violently agitated; and here may signify what we call a tempest, and was intended to fill Job’s mind with solemnity, and an awful sense of the majesty of God. The Chaldee has, a whirlwind of grief, making the whole rather allegorical than real; impressing the scene on Job’s imagination.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Answered Job, i.e. began to debate the matter with him, as Job had desired.
Out of the whirlwind, i.e. out of a dark and thick cloud, from which he sent a terrible and tempestuous wind, as the harbinger of his presence. In this manner God appears and speaks to him, partly, because this was his usual method in those times, as we see, Exo 19:18; Num 9:15,16; see also 1Ki 19:11; Eze 1:4; partly, to awaken Job and his friends to the more serious and reverent attention to his words; partly, to testify his displeasure, both against Job, and against his three friends; and partly, that all of them night be more deeply and thoroughly humbled and abused within themselves, and prepared the better to receive, and longer to retain, the instructions which God was about to give them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Jehovah appears unexpectedlyin a whirlwind (already gathering Job 37:1;Job 37:2), the symbol of”judgment” (Psa 50:3;Psa 50:4, c.), to which Job hadchallenged Him. He asks him now to get himself ready for the contest.Can he explain the phenomena of God’s natural government? Howcan he, then, hope to understand the principles of His moralgovernment? God thus confirms Elihu’s sentiment, that submissionto, not reasonings on, God’s ways is man’s part. This andthe disciplinary design of trial to the godly is the greatlesson of this book. He does not solve the difficulty by reference tofuture retribution: for this was not the immediate question glimpsesof that truth were already given in the fourteenth and nineteenthchapters, the full revelation of it being reserved for Gospeltimes. Yet even now we need to learn the lesson taught byElihu and God in Job.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,…. As soon as Elihu had done speaking, who saw the tempest rising, and gave hints of it, Job 37:2; and hastened to finish his discourse. This was raised to give notice of the Lord being about to appear, and to display his majesty, and to command reverence and attention. The Targum calls it the whirlwind of distress, as it might be to Job; and a representation of the distressed and disturbed state and condition in which he was. The person that spoke out of it is Jehovah the Son of God, the eternal Word, who very probably appeared in an human form; there was an object seen, Job 42:5; and spoke with an articulate voice to Job;
and said; in answer to his frequent wishes and desires that the Lord would appear and take his cause in hand.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1 Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm, and said:
2 Who then darkeneth counsel
With words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins as a man:
I will question thee, and inform thou me!
“May the Almighty answer me!” Job has said, Job 31:35; He now really answers, and indeed out of the storm ( Chethib, according to a mode of writing occurring only here and Job 40:6, , arranged in two words by the Keri), which is generally the forerunner of His self-manifestation in the world, of that at least by which He reveals Himself in His absolute awe-inspiring greatness and judicial grandeur. The art. is to be understood generically, but, with respect to Elihu’s speeches, refers to the storm which has risen up in the meanwhile. It is not to be translated: Who is he who … , which ought to be , but: Who then is darkening; makes the interrogative more vivid and demonstrative, Ges. 122, 2; the part. (instead of which it might also be ) favours the assumption that Job has uttered such words immediately before, and is interrupted by Jehovah, without an intervening speaker having come forward. It is intentionally for (comp. for , Isa 26:11), to describe that which is spoken of according to its quality: it is nothing less than a decree or plan full of purpose and connection which Job darkness, i.e., distorts by judging it falsely, or, as we say: places in a false light, and in fact by meaningless words.
(Note: The correct accentuation is with Mercha, with Athnach, with Rebia mugrasch, bly (without Makkeph) with Munach.)
When now Jehovah condescends to negotiate with Job by question and answer, He does not do exactly what Job wished (Job 13:22), but something different, of which Job never thought. He surprises him with questions which are intended to bring him indirectly to the consciousness of the wrong and absurdity of his challenge – questions among which “there are many which the natural philosophy of the present day can frame more scientifically, but cannot satisfactorily solve.”
(Note: Alex. v. Humboldt, Kosmos, ii. 48 (1st edition), comp. Tholuck, Vermischte Schriften, i. 354.)
Instead of (the received reading of Ben-Ascher), Ben-Naphtali’s text offered (as Eze 17:10), in order not to allow two so similar, aspirated mutae to come together.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| God Answers Out of the Whirlwind. | B. C. 1520. |
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Let us observe here, 1. Who speaks–The Lord, Jehovah, not a created angel, but the eternal Word himself, the second person in the blessed Trinity, for it is he by whom the worlds were made, and that was no other than the Son of God. The same speaks here that afterwards spoke from Mount Sinai. Here he begins with the creation of the world, there with the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and from both is inferred the necessity of our subjection to him. Elihu had said, God speaks to men and they do not perceive it (ch. xxxiii. 14); but this they could not but perceive, and yet we have a more sure word of prophecy, 2 Pet. i. 19. 2. When he spoke–Then. When they had all had their saying, and yet had not gained their point, then it was time for God to interpose, whose judgment is according to truth. When we know not who is in the right, and perhaps are doubtful whether we ourselves are, this may satisfy us, That God will determine shortly in the valley of decision, Joel iii. 14. Job had silenced his three friends, and yet could not convince them of his integrity in the main. Elihu had silenced Job, and yet could not bring him to acknowledge his mismanagement of this dispute. But now God comes, and does both, convinces Job first of his unadvised speaking and makes him cry, Peccavi–I have done wrong; and, having humbled him, he puts honour upon him, by convincing his three friends that they had done him wrong. These two things God will, sooner or later, do for his people: he will show them their faults, that they may be themselves ashamed of them, and he will show others their righteousness, and bring it forth as the light, that they may be ashamed of their unjust censures of them. 3. How he spoke–Out of the whirlwind, the rolling and involving cloud, which Elihu took notice of, Job 37:1; Job 37:2; Job 37:9. A whirlwind prefaced Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek. i. 4), and Elijah’s, 1 Kings xix. 11. God is said to have his way in the whirlwind (Nah. i. 3), and, to show that even the stormy wind fulfils his word, here it was made the vehicle of it. This shows what a mighty voice God’s is, that is was not lost, but perfectly audible, even in the noise of a whirlwind. Thus God designed to startled Job, and to command his attention. Sometimes God answers his own people in terrible corrections, as out of the whirlwind, but always in righteousness. 4. To whom he spoke: He answered Job, directed his speech to him, to convince him of what was amiss, before he cleared him from the unjust aspersions cast upon him. It is God only that can effectually convince of sin, and those shall so be humbled whom he designs to exalt. Those that desire to hear from God, as Job did, shall certainly hear from him at length. 5. What he said. We may conjecture that Elihu, or some other of the auditory, wrote down verbatim what was delivered out of the whirlwind, for we find (Rev. x. 4) that, when the thunders uttered their voices, John was prepared to write. Or, if it was not written then, yet, the penman of the book being inspired by the Holy Ghost, we are sure that we have here a very true and exact report of what was said. The Spirit (says Christ) shall bring to your remembrance, as he did here, what I have said to you. The preface is very searching. (1.) God charges him with ignorance and presumption in what he had said (v. 2): “Who is this that talks at this rate? Is it Job? What! a man? That weak, foolish, despicable, creature–shall he pretend to prescribe to me what I must do or to quarrel with me for what I have done? Is it Job? What! my servant Job, a perfect and an upright man? Can he so far forget himself, and act unlike himself? Who, where, is he that darkens counsel thus by words without knowledge? Let him show his face if he dare, and stand to what he has said.” Note, Darkening the counsels of God’s wisdom with our folly is a great affront and provocation to God. Concerning God’s counsels we must own that we are without knowledge. They are a deep which we cannot fathom; we are quite out of our element, out of our aim, when we pretend to account for them. Yet we are too apt to talk of them as if we understood them, with a great deal of niceness and boldness; but, alas! we do but darken them, instead of explaining them. We confound and perplex ourselves and one another when we dispute of the order of God’s decrees, and the designs, and reasons, and methods, of his operations of providence and grace. A humble faith and sincere obedience shall see further and better into the secret of the Lord than all the philosophy of the schools, and the searches of science, so called. This first word which God spoke is the more observable because Job, in his repentance, fastens upon it as that which silenced and humbled him, ch. xlii. 3. This he repeated and echoed as the arrow that stuck fast in him: “I am the fool that has darkened counsel.” There was some colour to have turned it upon Elihu, as if God meant him, for he spoke last, and was speaking when the whirlwind began; but Job applied it to himself, as it becomes us to do when faithful reproofs are given, and not (as most do) to billet them upon other people. (2.) He challenges him to give such proofs of his knowledge as would serve to justify his enquiries into the divine counsels (v. 3): “Gird up now thy loins like a stout man; prepare thyself for the encounter; I will demand of thee, will put some questions to thee, and answer me if thou canst, before I answer thine.” Those that go about to call God to an account must expect to be catechised and called to an account themselves, that they may be made sensible of their ignorance and arrogance. God here puts Job in mind of what he had said, ch. xiii. 22. Call thou, and I will answer. “Now make thy words good.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
JOB – CHAPTER 38
JEHOVAH AND JOB
Verses 1-41:
Verses 1, 2 assert that then, at this time, after the extended addresses of Elihu, Job’s three friends, and Job, the Lord responded to Job’s laments and cries, unexpectedly, out of the whirlwind, the commotion that was stirred, as a symbol of boiling judgment. God came to answer Job’s questions and lead Job to the conclusion that submission to, not reasoning on, God’s judgments, is man’s duty, Exo 19:16; Exo 19:18. Such requires discipline and develops character in those who accept suffering, even in innocence, for the glory of God, without complaint, 1Pe 4:12-16. His first question was “just who is this that darkens counsel, or obscures light by words void of understanding?” or lacking comprehension? Job 34:35; Job 42:3. See also 1Kg 19:11; Eze 1:4; Nah 1:3.
Verse 3 calls upon Job to gird up (girt or bind up) his loins like an “hero-man;’ a man ready for battle, Job 40:7; 1Co 16:13; Job 9:35; Job 13:22; Job 31:25. Man wore long, flowing robes in the heat of the middle east, held or girt up tightly by a girdle, on three occasions: 1) for running, 2) for hard labor, and 3) for fighting. See also 1Pe 1:13.
Verse 4 begins an extended inquiry of Jehovah God of Job, designed to humble Job further, and cause him to pray for his three friends from afar, his critics who made him suffer more by their charges, even tho they were wrong, Job 42:10; Mat 5:44; It was designed to reflect in him an evidence of maturity, more like that of the Lord, who prayed for His persecutors from the cross, and as Stephen did while dying, Act 7:60.
Verse 4 further inquires of Job where he was when Jehovah laid out the foundations of the earth. Finite beings, tho bearing the image of Jehovah God, are limited in their knowledge of original things, to the extent that their Creator has revealed them to them, See? They can not fathom the wisdom, purpose, or designs of infinite wisdom, Job 28:12; Job 15:7-8; Pro 8:23. Job is asked to explain it, if he has the knowledge or understanding that he thinks himself to have.
Verses 5, 6 ask Job to explain further who laid the foundations of the earth, and the cornerstone? and who anchored them fast? Or who did the work, after the architect of v.5, laid out the measurements and line plumbing work, as both architect and engineer? See Isa 28:17 for the symbolism illustration. The fastening of foundation stones, v.4 was literally by a sinking of the stones of the corner, deep into the earth, until they settled finally in the clay, Job 26:7.
Verse 7 continues to ask Job just where he was, existed, or resided when the morning stars sang together, at the early morn of creation. Stars are personified as singing in harmonious glee, glorious praise to the Creator, as in Psa 19:1; Psa 148:3. They are servants to the earth, as angels, called “the sons of men,” who “shouted for joy,” are to the redeemed, among men, Psa 34:7. See also Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 25:5; Psa 101:4; Rev 5:11.
Verse 8 asks Job to explain who shut up or closed the doors to the sea-flood, the flood gates, to stop the great flood? Gen 7:11. Who stopped the womb of the flood when the chaotic “foundation” of the earth erupted? See also Gen 1:9; Psa 24:2; Psa 33:7; Psa 95:5; Psa 104:9; Psa 136:6; Pro 8:28-29; Jer 5:22; 2Pe 3:5.
Verse 9 declared that Job should dispute with the Creator, only if he had the age to have been present as a witness, when the Lord made the cloud-ocean, or ocean like a cloud, that wrapped the earth about as swaddling bands; As He created all the earth together in one place, with one sea surrounding it, Gen 1:9-10; It appears that Job was reminded of the Lord how the earth, as He created it, was all in one place, one continent, surrounded by one sea; It was a thing that evidently continued until in the days of Peleg, great grandson of Noah, after the flood, when “the earth was divided,” evidently into its present different continental forms, Gen 10:25.
Verses 10, 11 assert further that the Jehovah God who was addressing Job was the one who “brake up” for it, the created universe, divided for it, His decreed place, setting bars and doors between the seas and her continents. And He addressed the bars and doors, instructing them how far each should come or go, be broken up, and no further; You see He controls the earth and the seas still, at His will, as set forth further, restricting even how far the proud, boisterous waves of the sea may go, Isa 27:8; Job 26:10.
Verses 12, 13 ask Job also if he had commanded the morning daily during his life, as God does, and caused the dayspring to know his place, causing the sun to rise on time, in varying parts of the earth? Tho it varies from place to place, and time to time, it obeys God in giving light at Divinely fixed and regulated times, Psa 74:16; Psa 148:5. See? This it does, taking hold of the earth’s spreading light over all the earth, that the wicked “who love darkness rather than light,” may be shaken out of it, out of spiritual darkness, as set forth Job 24:13; Psa 19:1-4; Joh 3:19-20.
Verses 14,15 explain that “it,” the dayspring or the sun is turned (turns itself about) cylindrically as clay to the seal or image wheel. “They stand,” as a garment, means the form of earth’s beauty, as disclosed by the sun, stands out like a beautiful garment that covers the earth. From the wicked their light (which is darkness) is withholden, removed or taken away; Their darkness (by which they work) is taken away or extinguished by the dayspring, the shining morning sun, Job 24:17. And the “high arm,” arm lifted for theft, plunder, rape, or murder, “shall be broken,” fall down through fear of the light, Joh 3:19-20.
Verse 16 inquires of Job whether or not he has ever entered into the “spring of the sea,” the foundation that boils forth from beneath the sea, to keep her waters ever moving, Psalms 77; Psalms 19; Psa 95:5. And he is to reply whether or not he has ever searched out, or walked in an exploration of the caverns of the depth of the sea? Psa 139:9.
Verse 17 continues a probe of Job’s experimental knowledge, turning from matters of creation and nature, to the experience of death. Have the “gates of death ever been opened to him?” or has he ever seen the door of the “shadow of death?” During life man does not “see” the gates (entrance) to the realm of the dead. Nor are they opened to him, Job 10:21; Yet, they are naked before God, Job 26:6; Psa 9:13.
Verses 18-20 challenge Job to disclose or explain if he knows or comprehends the breadth (or marvels) of the earth and heavens, as God does, Job 38:24, Where, if he could explain, does light dwell or reside? And while answering, Job was asked to explain also the place or locality in which darkness resided. Did he know where they resided well enough to guide one there and show him where they dwelt, what path led to where the two, light and darkness, might be found headquartered? Isa 36:17; Job 26:10.
Verse 21 asks if Job knows the answer to the residence of light and darkness because he was not born when they received their
dwelling places, Or did he know such because of his age of great days? The idea was, was Job present when Jehovah created light and darkness. If not then he should not contest the wisdom or works of the ancient Creator, the God of the universe, See? Job 15:7.
Verse 22 inquires of Job’s knowledge of the elements. Has he comprehended the treasures (or storehouses) of the snow? Or of the hail? The snow is formed into crystal like images of a variety of beautiful figures from congealed vapour in the air. Hail is formed by distilled raindrops as they fall through cold air. These are purifiers of the air and deliverers of oxygen to the soil of the earth, Psa 147:16.
Verse 23 adds that Jehovah had reserved these (snow and hail) against the time of trouble, and the day of battle and war, when He should purpose to chastise men by special use of them, Exo 9:18; Jos 10:11; Rev 16:21; Isa 21:17; Isa 30:30; Psa 18:12-13; Hag 2:17; Eze 13:11; Eze 13:13; Rev 16:21.
Verse 24 asks Job to explain by what means, or in what way, the light is parted, continually scattering or defusing the east wind upon the earth, tho it appears to come from one particular point, from the sun, to the earth, 90 million miles, in about eight minutes, as suggested Jon 4:8.
Verses 25-27 Interrogates Job further to please explain who had divided a watercourse as a path, to air canals in which rain clouds and rains are formed, and move across the earth to empty themselves upon the earth? And who made a way for lightning flashes to travel and thunder to roll? Just who causes these clouds, lightning, thunder, and rain to move in convoy over the earth; covering deserts and wilderness, where no man resides? Job 28:26. Who causes these to bear the cool air and rain to satisfy the burning desolate places of the earth, making them to bud and the tender herb to shoot forth in her season, proper time? Since “no man is out there” to cover or produce these, it is the necessary inference that such comes by the power and will of the owner of the universe, His property, for which He has Divine care, Exo 19:5; Psa 24:1; Psa 50:10; Psa 50:12; 1Co 10:26.
Verse 28 Inquires whether or not the rain has a father or the dewdrops have one who begat them, a living creator? Job 6:16. Or did they just evolve by self-energy? Did some man create or give birth to rain or dew? Or do they have a creator? Psa 147:8; Jer 14:22.
Verse 29 continues to inquire out of whose womb ice had its blessed origin, a human being? The womb of fate? Or does Job believe that there is a living creator who has and does create and sustain recreation of ice? And who begets the hoary (white) frost of heaven? Would you explain, please? Jehovah inquires of Job. Job 6:16; Psa 147:16; Job 37:10.
Verse 30 adds that “the waters are hid” (the unfrozen waters) under the frozen waters, as with a stone, so as to cohere or hold one to the other, as the face of the deep is frozen over. It is as lakes and streams in arctic areas are often frozen in stone-like firmness, to cover or protect the greater body of waters of the earth, to support the covenant seasons, as set forth Gen 8:22.
Verse 31 begins Jehovah’s inquiry of Job regarding the constellations of stars. Is Job able to bind or control the sweet influences of Pleiades (the seven stars) or loose the bans of Orion’s constellation? The seven stars of the lesser and greater “dippers” have some dynamic, orderly, sustaining power to hold them together, direct their paths, and cause them to bless travelers on land and on sea. By what or whose power are they bound, energized and controlled? Would Job give his answer, Job 9:9; Amo 5:8.
Verse 32 asks If Job can bring forth Mazaroth (the 12 signs of the Zodiac) into the sky in their seasons orderly? Or could he guide or direct Arcturius with his sons (ursa major) with the three stars in Its tall? Could Job cause them to appear on schedule. 2Kg 23:5; Job 9:9.
Verse 33 inquires whether or not Job Is knowledgeable of the definitive ordinances of heaven, so that he could fix or set the dominion of those ordinances up some where on earth so that man could administer them. These extended questions, of rhetoric nature, suggest that surely Job and mankind are too finite, too limited In knowledge, wisdom and power to be entrusted with such powers that are preserved unto Jehovah God, Gen 1:16; Gen 8:22; Psa 119:90-91; Jer 31:35-36.
Verses 34, 35 continue Jehovah’s Interrogation of Job; Can he speak to the clouds, to cause them to obey him, in giving him rain at his request or command? Job 22:11; Jer 14:22. If he had made them or brought them and commanded them they were obligated to obey, but he had done neither, See? Is Job able to give an order, command or mandate to lightnings, that they may strike, return as servants to say to their master or commander “here we are,” at your service? The necessary answer implied is that he could not. For he had not created nor did he own the lightning, See? The clouds and lightning belong to their Creator as vocal witnesses of the living God to men who can hear, who will hear, who are not willfully, spiritually deaf, Psa 19:1-4; Isa 6:8.
Verse 36 asks Job to acknowledge just who it was that puts wisdom in the inward parts, or has given and gives understanding to the hearts of men! Who gives man mental acumen or perception? the power to perceive, Job 32:8.
Verses 37, 38 ask just who can enumerate the clouds in wisdom? Just how many particles go to make up the clouds? Or who can stay, delay, or prevent the bottles of heaven, the rain-filled clouds from emptying themselves upon the earth? Is any able? If so, who is he? Ecc 11:3. All this exists in the wisdom and power of God, not man, See? When the dust grows, increases or expands its volume into hardness, solids or vapor, and the clouds of large distilled raindrops cleave close together who can count, enumerate, or calculate their number, or keep them from falling upon the earth, from their air flow channels and cloud-vessel containers in the heavens? The answer is, none.
Verse 39 inquires of Job whether or not he will hunt or stalk the prey (food) for the lion, to satisfy his hunger? Psa 104:21; Psa 145:15. Or is he able or willing to fill the recurring, voracious appetite of the young, growing lions? Job 33:20; For life depends on satisfying the appetite.
Verse 40 adds, would you secure or provide their food when they either crouch In their dens or abide in the covert place to lie in wait? Psa 10:9.
Verse 41 continues to ask if Job would explain who provides food for the raven. The Lord switches, from the care of the noble lion, to the croaking raven, considered to be of ill-omen; Yet God cares for it. Will Job acknowledge it, with penitent humility? This is the question, Psa 104:27-28; Psa 147:9; Mat 6:26. When the young wander, cry, croak for food, God provides it for, cares for them. How much more for men! Luk 12:24; Php_4:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
JEHOVAHS ADDRESS TO JOB
Elihu had now said all he intended. Possibly interrupted by the storm which had been gathering during his speech. Out of the storm-cloud, from which already issued thunders and lightnings, the Almighty was now to speak. The grandeur and sublimity of the scene not to be surpassed. Its only counterpart at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai (Exo. 19:18).
I. The announcement of the Almightys speech. Job. 38:1.Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind (or storm-cloud). Observe
1. The Speaker. The Lordehovah. A name
(1) Mysterious; expressive of the mysterious attributes of Godheadeternity, self-existence, unchangeableness, self-dependenceHe Who was, is, and is to be. Equivalent to that given by God Himself at the burning bush: I am, or I am that I am.
(2) Gracious; a covenant name. Assumed by God in relation to Israel as His chosen and covenant peopleJehovah, the God of Israel. Indicates unchangeable faithfulness in the performance of His promises and covenant obligations. Especially revealed to Moses at the bush as expressive of the relationship to be established between God and Israel from that period. The pronunciation of the name lost to the Jews, together with their covenant relationship to the Almighty. Now known by them only as the name of four letters. AdonaiLord or Mastersubstituted for it. The name as given in the text, probably indicative of the Israelitish authorship of the book, as well as in some degree of the period of its composition. The name applied in the Bible to three distinct persons in the Godheadthe Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Here the Son intended as The Word, or He by Whom the Godhead speaks and reveals Himself to man (Joh. 1:1). Unspeakable condescension on the part of Jehovah to address Himself to fallen man in any other way than one of judgment.
2. The speech. Answered. Gods address to Job an answer. Mercy implied in Gods speaking to man at all. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers, &c. (Heb. 1:1). Might have treated men as the fallen angelswith eternal silence. One of the greatest trials and griefs to the godly when God appears to be silent to them (Psa. 28:1). Sauls great misery that God answered him no more (1Sa. 28:15). Especial mercy when God answers men. Implies felt need and desire on mans partsense of darkness, perplexity, want. God still answers menby His written word, His Spirit, the lips of His servants, His providence. Especial mercy when God answers men. Jobs three friends, and then Elihu, had answered Job, but without effect. The answer from God Himself needed. None teacheth like Him. I am the Lord that teacheth thee to profit. He speaks and instructs with a strong hand (Isa. 8:11). His word with power. The proper posture of men in relation to God that of Samuel: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth; or that of David: I will hear what God the Lord will speak(1Sa. 3:10; Psa. 85:8). Gods answer to Job given according to his desire, yet not such as he expected. Intended not to vindicate Himself or His procedure, but to instruct and humble Job. Given to convince him of the sinfulness of his complaints and questionings, by showing him his own ignorance and littleness in contrast with Jehovahs omniscience and almightiness. Designed to show him his inability even to judge of His Makers procedure, from his inability to explain the commonest operations in nature. The answer a prosecution of the argument of Elihu. Job apparently silenced, but not convinced, by Elihus speeches. The address unequalled for majesty of sentiment and sublimity of language by any uninspired production either of ancient or modern times. The speech a daring flight for a poet, but sustained because inspired. The book of Job the sublimest poem in the world. One of the grandest things ever written with pennothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit.Carlyle. This speech the sublimest part of the book.
3. The party addressed. Job. Others present; possibly, however, without hearing, or at least understanding, what was spoken. Sauls companions on the way to Damascus saw the light, but heard not the voice of Him that spake to him (Act. 22:9). Yet, they heard a voice, but saw no manhearing it without understanding its utterance (Act. 9:7). A Divine voice, like thunder, spoke to Jesus in the presence of the people, understood by Him, but not by them (Joh. 12:28-29). Observe
(1) Divine sovereignty. The three friends in greater error than Job, yet Job only answered. Yet
(2) sovereignty exercised in justice and goodness. Job alone desired an answer from God, and alone believed that such would be given.
(3) Divine mercy and kindness in answering Job. His spirit at times all but, if not actually, rebellious, and his language petulant and irreverentsuch as called for deep repentance. God does not turn away from His sincere, though sinning, servants.
(4) Gods faithfulness to His people. His answer a sharp reproof to Job. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. God loves His people too well to suffer sin upon them. Saints often dealt with in an apparently rougher manner than even sinners.
(5) The particularity of Gods dealing with men. Job singled out in this address, as if the only person present. So always when God speaks effectually. Thou art the man. Zacchus, make haste and come down. The Good Shepherd calleth His own sheep by their name.
4. The place. Out of the whirlwind. The tempest raised for this special purpose. Perhaps an ordinary storm-cloud now produced in the providence of God to be employed as His pavilion whence to issue this address. Natural for a storm to be chosen for such a purpose. Perhaps a similar storm employed in the giving of the law (Exo. 19:18). All nature under Gods control, and ready at His call. The lightnings His servants, saying: Here we are (Job. 38:35). A storm the symbol of judgment and the expression of power. The descent of the Spirit at Pentecost like the sound of a rushing mighty wind (Act. 2:2). Divine interposition on behalf of David and Davids Lord represented as connected with a storm of wind and hail, thundering and lightning (Psa. 18:9-14). Clouds, fire, and tempest accompany the Judges descent at the last day (Psa. 50:3; Dan. 7:10; 2Th. 1:8; Rev. 1:7). The whirlwind, or storm-cloud, now employed as expressive of
(1) The majesty of the Speaker;
(2) The weightiness of the matter;
(3) The power of the Almighty to accomplish His purposes, whether of mercy or judgment;
(4) The terribleness of His displeasure. Intended
(1) To awaken more solemn attention;
(2) To convey a deeper impression of the power and majesty of God;
(3) To contribute to the object of the speech, Jobs conviction and humiliation. Suitable as
(1) Accompanying a Divine reproof; 2) On an occasion in which the power, justice, and providence of God had appeared to be called in question. The present case compared and contrasted with Gods voice to Elijah in the wildernessa wind, earthquake, and fire, yet the Lord in none of them, but in a still, small voice which followed (1Ki. 19:11-12). Observe
(1) All nature used as Gods instruments. The storm-cloud employed as His pavilion, and the whirlwind as His car (Psa. 18:10-11).
(2) Terrible to hate such a Being for our enemy; blessed to have Him for our friend. A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31).
(3) God occasionally speaks to His people out of a storm. Storms in the experience of believers; but the Lord is in the storm, and speaks out of it. An ancient version of the text reads: The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind of grief. A Fathers voice in every tempest of trouble that overtakes a believer. The voice, as in Jobs case, may be one of reproof, but is, at the same time, one of love. It is I; be not afraid. I will allure her into the wilderness, and I will speak comfortably unto her (Marg.: to her heart). What appears only to betoken wrath, and to threaten destruction, made to believers to be a channel of mercy. In Jobs case the storm-cloud prepared the way for the sunshine that followed. Blessed for God to speak to us, though out of a whirlwind. A storm of any kind a blessing, if God speaks to us out of it. If God only speak to us, we may well leave the mode of His doing so to Himself. The same loving Father and faithful covenant-God, whether He speak in a whirlwind, an earthquake, a fire, or a still, small voice.
II. The Reproof. Job. 38:2.Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? The question expressive of wonder and reprehension. Who is this? Who so bold, foolish, and pre sumptuous? The wisest and best incompetent to sit in judgment on the Divine procedure. The ground of Gods reproofthat darkens counsel by words without knowledge. Job not reproved for his previous life, but his present language. His language blamed not for its impiety, but its presumption and ignorance. Job darkened counsel
(1) By casting reflections on the Divine procedure, and so obscuring its brightness;
(2) Making that which is mysterious to us still darker by cavils and short-sighted reasonings. Great force in the expression. Man, by his carnal reasoning, and still more by his complaining, instead of clearing up what is dark in the Divine procedure, only makes it darker. Observe
1. All Gods ways are counsel. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. Nothing in Gods dealings but what is the result of an infinite wisdom and eternal forethought. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Everything both actual and possible taken into view by Him at one glance. His perfections enable Him not only to know, but to choose and accomplish, what is best. Nothing unforeseen or unprovided for. A sparrows fall not without God. His purposes called His counsel, because the result of wisdom and forethought (Psa. 33:11; Pro. 19:21; Isa. 28:29; Act. 2:23). Gods grace in Christ abundant towards us, but in all wisdom and prudence (Eph. 1:8). Every event in Providence and every trouble in a believers experience, the filling up of a wise and well-calculated plan, without any prejudice to mans freedom or lessening of his responsibility.
2. Man, by reasoning about, and cavilling against, Gods dealings, only darkens the subject. Our duty in reference to Gods procedure not to reason and question, but to submit and adore. The more that man, in his own carnal wisdom, reasons about God and His providence, the greater His perplexity and confusion. To teach mans duty in reference to the Divine procedure, the object of the Almightys present address. Its meaning, Be still, and know that I am God (Psa. 66:10).
3. Human reasonings in regard to God and his dealings, apart from revelation, only words without knowledge. Such reasonings the mere thoughts and prattle of children in regard to the administration of a kingdom. God and His ways known only as He is pleased to reveal them. What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Our knowledge, while on earth, at best but in partfragmentary and piecemeal. Gods providential dealings seen hereafter as a transparent sea of glass (Rev. 15:2).
4. All cavils and complaints against Gods dealings in providence only the result of ignorancewords without knowledge.
III. The Challenge Job. 38:3.Gird up now thy loins like a man (a valiant man, ready to enter on a contest, as Job had wished to do with the Almighty (ch. Job. 13:22),spoken in irony and humbling reproof); for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Jobs desire now granted, but not in the way he expected. God calls (ch. Job. 13:22), but not to enter into a suit with Job in regard to his past life. The questions put, not as to what he has done, but what he knows and is able to do. The object of them to shew his folly and presumption in questioning his Makers dealings. His knowledge shown to be ignorance, and his power perfect weakness. These contrasted with the wisdom and power of God, as seen
(1) In His work of creation;
(2) In His work of providence. A series of questions proposed which follow each other like claps of thunder in the ear of the silenced patriarch. The challenge intended to show Job his utter incapacity to sit in judgment on Gods procedure, and his arrogance in arraigning it. Job reminded by it that he is but of yesterday and knows nothing, and that he is unable to put a finger to the commonest processes of nature, either in the inanimate or animate world; while all has been seen, planned, and executed ages before he was born, and is continually, every moment, and in all places, executed still by Him who is both Creator and Governor of the universe. The questions such as to teach us true Christian wisdomsilence and submission in the presence of Gods most mysterious and painful providences. Observe
1. Mans proper character and behaviour in relation to Gods procedure, rather that of a child than of a man. The things of God hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes. Our duty and interest in relation to Gods dealings, to behave ourselves like a weaned child (Psa. 131:2). In malice be ye children, but in understanding be ye men (1Co. 14:20).
2. In the presence of God, mans posture to be rather that of a child than of a man. In relation to our duty as Christians in the world, we are to quit ourselves like men and be strong, but in the presence of God to take the place of children. When Jeremiah took the place of a child, God made him an iron pillar and a brazen wall against the whole land (Jer. 1:6; Jer. 1:18). The worm Jacob taken by God and employed as a new sharp thrashing instrument having teeth, to thrash the nations (Isa. 41:15).
3. Mans duty to gird up his loins in order to work for God, not to debate with Him. The mightiest but a sorry match for his Maker. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth; but woe unto him that striveth with his Maker (Isa. 45:9). Who will set the thorns and briars against me in battle. Mans glory and honour, to contend for God; his disgrace and ruin, to contend with Him.
IV. The Questioning. Job. 38:4-41).Embraces a wide field both in nature and Providence. As suitable and appropriate to humble mans pride in the present age of advanced science, as in the days of the patriarch. The questions have relation to
1. Jobs antiquity and Gods creation of the world. Job. 38:3-7.Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if (or sinceironically) thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures (assigned the dimensions and proportions) thereof, if (or since) thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it (the measuring line, in order to regulate its form and dimensions for beauty and use)? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened (its bases sunk)? or who laid the corner-stone thereof (rendering the fabric so firm as not to fall to pieces); When the morning stars (angels, figuratively so called from their splendour and early place in creation; or perhaps, literal stars, by personification) sang together (like the Priests and Levites at the foundation and finishing of the second Temple (Ezr. 3:10-11; Zec. 4:7), and all the sons of God (angels, so called from their Divine origin and resemblance) shouted for joy? (participating with their Makers joy in the perfection of the work and the prospects connected with it (Exo. 31:17; Psa. 104:31; Pro. 8:31).
Observe
(1) Man incapacitated from his very creaturehood, and especially his comparatively recent creation, for forming a judgment, apart from revelation, concerning Gods purposes and procedure. The plan of the worlds government formed in connection with the creation of it. To form an unaided judgment of the former, man should have been present at the latter.
(2) Every thing Connected with the
Formation of the Earth,
indicative of infinite wisdom and power, but lying beyond mans present knowledge. Science confessedly ignorant of such a thing as creation, and of the origin of the universe. The rocks probably intended here as the foundations of the earth. These ascertained to descend several miles below the surface. The earths crust known to the depth of eight or ten miles. Supposed, from calculation, to extend nearly twenty miles lower. The globe itself believed to have been at the beginning a mass of metal resembling quicksilver, and to have been launched into space in a state of extreme heatbeing first, by a natural process, covered with rust and then with water. The first really solid ground believed to have been granitea hard, fire-baked substance, prepared in the interior furnace of the globe for the pavement of the water-covered earth, and pressed, while in a soft state, by some enormous weight occasioned by the hot and burning metals that rested over it. Its hard stony masses afterwards, by some mighty agency, forced up to the surface; some portions being left under the waters, while others were driven up through them, and formed mountains and hills. The granite subsequently covered by various earths placed on it by the Creator, so as to form the earths crust. The granite itself formed out of eight of the sixty materials found in the crust of the globe, these forming three distinct bodies (quartz, mica, and feldspar), each so constituted as to answer the purposes for which it was required, viz.to form by its union with the other substances a solid pavement, suitable to go round the globe. Streams of electricity supposed to have accompanied the mighty forces that lifted the granite, in mountain piles, up through the waters, causing it to crack and rend into four-sided blocks. The granite thus uplifted at various periods of the worlds existence, and made the great storehouse whence mud, sand, and fragments have been supplied for the building up of the greater number of our rocks; its blocks grinding one against another, and its mountain surfaces being broken and crumbled into dust by the united action of frost, wind, and rain. The particles rolling down the rocky steeps, and falling into innumerable rills trickling down the mountains side, believed to have been washed by them into the valleys below, to meet the river floods; where they were ground and smoothed, through constant friction, into masses of sand, mud, and rubble, swept into the ocean, and driven still onwards by tides and currents, till they gradually sank down and formed flat beds or strata. Some of these strata thousands of feet in depth. Hardened into rock by the pressure of new beds over them, by the effects of heat, and by dissolved iron or lime percolating in water through the masses. Some of the loosened particles of granite falling into the surrounding waters, believed to have been spread in beds over the hot ocean floors, or piled up in hollow places between the sea-mountains; and having been there baked by the hot granite, to have formed what are called crystalline rocks of gneiss and mica slate, sometimes two miles in depth; while clay slate, several hundred feet in thickness, was further made from the same materials, and divided into its thin plates by the electric fluid having been sent through the mass of the slate mud. The earth thus said in Scripture to have been founded upon the seas and established upon the floods (Psa. 24:2); an ocean of water having been the original covering of the globe, before the rocks were heaved up through its waters. In another sense, the earth without foundations, being hung upon nothing (ch. Job. 26:7), and kept in its place while moving round the sun, by the two opposite centripetal and centrifugal forces.
(3) The formation of the earth and its preparation as a habitation for man, especially when viewed in connection with its future history, a work of such glory and excellence as to call forth the joyful songs of angelic spectators. The earth itself, before sin defaced it, and as it appeared on the day on which God rested from His work, a scene of matchless beauty. That must have been beautiful, and worthy of the songs of angels, which the Divine Creator himself pronounced very good. From that earth, as probably in some degree made known at the time of its formation, angels themselves were to derive a large accession both to their knowledge and their joy (Eph. 3:10; 1Pe. 1:12; Luk. 2:10-14; Rev. 5:12).
(4) Angels of inconceivable antiquity. Millions of ages since the foundations of the earth were laid in its granite rocks. Angels apparently spectators during the laying of those foundations as well as through the whole process of the earths formation. Hence probably called morning stars. Gods elder children. Full of knowledge as the elder-born of creation. Happy they are who made to resemble them in character and to spend eternity in their society!
(5) That in Gods works of creation on earth sufficient to occupy the songs of the highest created Intelligences. How glorious then those works, and how worthy of our contemplation and praise! A lesson here intended for Job. The angels joyful adoration exhibited for his and our imitation. Gods works, whether of creation or providence, to be commended, not complained against nor cavilled at. A privilege to be the inhabitants of a world whose formation awakened the joyful songs of angels. If angels rejoiced and sung on account of its formation, how much more may we, if savingly interested in the redemption-work of Him by whom and for whom all things were made, and who, to save us, took our nature and became our elder Brother!
2. The sea and its barriers of sand and rock. Job. 38:8-11.Or who shut up the sea (probably the waters that covered the earth at the beginning of the Mosaic creation, Gen. 1:2) with doors, when it brake forth (perhaps from an underground abyss), as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof (perhaps the darkness or thick vapour that was upon the face of the deep, Gen. 1:2), and thick darkness a swaddling band for it (the waters viewed as a new-born infant); and brake up for it my decreed place (or, appointed my decree over it), and set bars and doors (in the sand and rocks, while preparing the sea and dry land, Gen. 1:9); and said: Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.
The operations here referred to, in accordance with the account of the creation given in the book of Genesis. Darkness and dense vapour enveloping the globe and its watery surface, the natural effect of the earths internal heat acting upon the waters that covered it. According to geologists, the fiercest heat of the glowing globe probably checked from ascending into the air through the rusty covering spread over it; the change in temperature thus causing the steaming vapours in the atmosphere to fall down upon that covering in the shape of water, and so to surround the whole of the globe with one general primeval ocean. The doors, or sandy and rocky barriers of the ocean afterwards formed, the result of upheavals and subsidencies at subsequent and different periods. The whole process the work of a wisdom and power surpassing our conception, and one far beyond the knowledge and comprehension of men. Observe
The restraint imposed upon the rolling and dashing waves of ocean by a barrier of sand and rocks, the emblem of the restraint put upon the pride and rebellion of intelligent creatures. Fallen angels restrained within the bounds assigned them by the Almighty. Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jud. 1:8). Their liberty to tempt and do mischief only such as He is pleased to allow. Such restraining power frequently exhibited by the Saviour when on earth. In their endeavours to crush the Church, allowed to proceed so far and no farther. So with wicked men and the Churchs human adversaries. Herod stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church. Had already slain one apostle and was intent on the murder of another, when he is smitten by an invisible hand and miserably dies (Act. 12:1, &c.). The reformation under Luther took place immediately after the Pope and his adherents, at the Lateran Council in 1514, rejoiced that not a single voice was raised against his authority throughout the whole world. The power of the Moslems arrested at Tours by Charles Martel in 1492, when it threatened to subdue the whole of Europe, as it had already done a large portion of it. The Invincible Armada, by which Philip
2. of Spain expected to crush the Reformation in England, with its troops drawn from all quarters, after three years of preparation, carrying, as it did, the instruments of torture by which the heretics of England were to pay the price of their desertion from Rome, was destroyed almost without hand when on the very eve of accomplishing its purpose. Deus flavit, et dissipantur. God blew and they are scattered. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. The gates of hell may send forth its raging legions against the Church of Christ, but shall not prevail against it. The interests of the Church as a whole, and of every believer composing it, safe in the hands of such a God and Saviour.
3. The vicissitude of day and night. Job. 38:12-15.Hast thou commanded the morning (to succeed the night) since thy days (since thou wast born, or, because thou hast seen many days); and caused the day-spring to know his place (the exact time throughout the year when it should arise); that it might take hold of the ends of the earth (spreading its light from one end of the earth to the otherfrom the eastern to the western horizon), that the wicked might be shaken out of it (as no longer able to pursue their deeds of darkness after the morning light has risen)? It (the earth) is turned as clay to the seal (Heb., as clay of the seal, as the clay under the impression of the seal, exhibiting forms and appearances which were not visible upon it before); and they (the objects on the earths surface) stand [forth] as a garment (a beautiful, parti-coloured, and variously-figured robe clothing the earth, which during the night was entirely unseen). And from the wicked their light is withholden (these being, as the result of their evil deeds, deprived of the light either by imprisonment or death), and the high arm (their mighty power, or the arm uplifted for deeds of violence,) shall be (or is) broken (in consequence of the light exposing their deeds and leading to their detection and punishment, and from courts of justice being in those countries usually held in the morning). Observe
(1) One of the most striking examples of Divine wisdom, power, and goodness, afforded in the succession of day and night. The result of the earths daily rotation on its axis in its annual revolution round the sun, and the inclination of that axis from the perpendicular. The return of light every morning a mercy demanding devout thankfulness, and calling for adoring consideration of the Divine wisdom and goodness; all the more as this has been going on ever since the creation of the world.
(2) Mans feebleness exhibited in connection with the return of each mornings light. Man unable to promote or hinder, hasten or retard, its return by a single moment.
(3) Among other beneficial objects accomplished by the return of morning light, is its subserviency to Gods moral government of the world, in checking the commission of evil deeds which can only be perpetrated under the cover of night, and in leading to their detection and punishment.
(4) As every morning throughout the year exhibits afresh to mans view the earth arrayed in its beautiful garments, our duty is thankfully to recognize the goodness of God in an arrangement which conduces so much to our comfort and enjoyment, as well as to our convenience.
4. The depths of the ocean. Job. 38:16.Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea (the fountains of the great deep, Gen. 7:11; or the entangled thickets or jungle in the ocean beds)? or hast thou walked (as on dry land) in the search of the depth? (penetrated and examined the depths of the ocean or its caverned recesses). Three facts connected with the ocean-depths exhibiting Gods greatness and mans littleness.
(1) The unexplored vegetation found in the bottom of sea. The bed of the ocean in many localities luxuriantly clothed with marine vegetation, to the extent of many hundred miles. These submarine forests and jungles thronged with living beings, while no eye of man rests on their hidden beauties.
(2) The great depth of water in some parts of the ocean. Probable that, considering the greater extent of the ocean than of the land, the bed of the former descends to a depth considerably exceeding the highest mountains of the latter. In the North Atlantic, no bottom found in 1849 with a line of 34,200 feet, nearly equal to six and a half miles in length. In the South Atlantic, the depth reached, in 1853, of eight miles and three quarters. In these almost unfathomable depths, not a plant that vegetates, nor a creature that finds a home in those ocean-caves, but is open to Gods omniscient eye, and is the object of his providential care.
(3) The existence of fountains in the bottom of the sea. These fountains emit their streams of fresh water into the ocean from underground sources. In many places the water of the sea is fresher at great depths than at the surface, owing to the presence of such springs. A powerful jet of fresh water found in the Gulf of Spezzia, and others in the Persian Gulf and in the Bay of Xagua, south-east of Cuba.
5. The earths interior and the nether world of spirits. Job. 38:17.Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Two ideas suggested in these interrogatories.
(1) The earths interior hidden and unknown to men. The place of departed spirits often represented as in the interior of the earth, probably from the body being buried beneath its surface (1Sa. 28:8-15). The earths interior entirely unknown to man. Rocks of various kinds known to constitute its crust to the depth of eight or ten miles. This crust supposed to extend perhaps fifteen miles furtheran extent, however, of which nothing is known. The space beyond, probably an immense cavern of subterranean fire, heating the lower parts of the crust, and occasioning hot springs and volcanoes, which from time to time force up flames, lava, and red-hot mud.
(2) The world of spirits unknown and unpenetrated by men while in the body. Of that world nothing is certainly known except as revealed in the Word of God. Man unable to penetrate its hidden regions except by bursting the bars of his corporeal enclosure. Views of the abode of happy spirits sometimes vouchsafed to favoured men on earth, probably while in an ecstatic state (2Co. 12:2-4; Rev. 4:1-11; Rev. 7:9-17). Persons miraculously restored to life unable to report their observation and experience in the spirit-world. Glimpses of heaven occasionally afforded to to believers, especially when already arrived at its confines. Human power or science unable to draw aside the veil that conceals the world of spirits from our view. Mysteries connected with the state of the dead not revealed. One thing certain;a heaven of joy or a hell of woe awaits men after death, according as their character prepares them for one or the other. Fallen angels reserved in chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day, with temporary liberty allowed, in the mean time to perhaps a part (Jud. 1:6; Luk. 8:18-31).
6. The earths extent. Job. 38:18.Hast thou perceived (as in one glance) the breadth of the earth? declare if (or since) thou knowest it all. The language adapted to the ideas then prevalent in regard to the earth. Its form and extent equally unknown in the days of the patriarch. The earth then thought to be a vast plain with inequalities on its surface, stretching to an unknown extent, and bounded on all sides by the ocean. More recent observation and study have ascertained, with sufficient accuracy, both the figure and the dimensions of the earth. In consequence however of its spherical figure, mans eye able to rest at any moment on but a small portion of its surface. The Eye of Omniscience every moment equally on every part of that surface, as well as on its secret depths.
7. The origin and diffusion of light. Job. 38:19-21; Job. 38:24. Where is the way [to] where [the] light dwelleth? and as for darkness (viewed as a substance, rather than as the absence of light), where is the place thereof (from whence it comes, or where it exactly begins)? that thou shouldst take it to (or seize it at) the bound thereof (where it begins and terminates), and that thou shouldst know the paths to the house thereof? Knowest thou (or thou knowest) it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great? By what way is the light parted (diffusing itself over the earth every morning), which scattereth the east wind upon the earth? (the solar heat causing the air to ascend while colder air rushes in to fill its place, thus causing the wind, especially the trade winds, which blow for months from east to west; or, which the east wind scatters upon the earth,the light rising in the east).
Light
naturally an object of special attention to early sages. Its emanation from the sun and other heavenly bodies obvious. The subject, however, still a mysterious one. According to Genesis, light created before either sun or moon. These bodies merely reservoirs or reflectors of light. The question still arose: What is light, and what is its origin? Philosophers still uncertain as to its nature. Doubtful whether an extremely thin and subtle fluid substance, or merely an agitation or undulation of the ether, producing its effects in a similar way to that in which sound is produced; the undulations in the one case striking the ear and in the other the eye, and so producing the sensation of sound or light respectively. The former, till lately, generally believed; the latter now the prevailing theory. Light now viewed by men of science as radiant force. Uncertain whether, by the creation of light at the beginning, we are to understand the creation of the actual force itself, or that of the particular condition or medium of radiation, technically known as ether, supposed to permeate space and substance. The latter thought more probable. Of the source of light, the account in Genesis says nothing. Its existence or appearance followed the command: Let there be light. That it came from an external source, previous to the suns formation or appearance, seems evident from the alternation of light and darkness during the intervening days. Light ascertained, from the testimony of the rocks, to have operated on the earth ages before mans residence on it. The sun the centre of light, only as endued with a luminous atmosphere which envelopes its opaque body, but through which portions of that body are distinctly visible. The manner in which the light is parted, or separated from its great solar centre, as much a mystery now as in the days of the patriarch. Known to occupy a certain time in reaching the earth. Its rate of travel ascertained to be about thirteen millions of miles in a minute, and the period required in reaching the earth, about eight minutes. Some of the laws according to which light operates, in recent times satisfactorily ascertained. Known to be composed of different coloured raysred, yellow, and blue; their composition affording the white light, and their parting or separation, and partial blending, giving the various colours presented by different objects. Exhibited in their pure and blended form in the rainbow; the raindrops separating the rays and refracting them at different angles after the manner of a prism, and so producing the three primary and four secondary colours. The light emanating from the fixed stars generally like that of our own sun, but in some cases coloured; different stars appearing to be different colours.
The question in regard to the abode of the light, perhaps referring rather to the sun itself, frequently called the light, as being the centre and source of it to the earth. Represented as coming forth as a bridegroom from his chamber (Psa. 19:4). The question: Where is that chamber? The earths annual revolution round the sun and daily rotation on its own axis, not then known. The sun supposed to move from east to west, as it appears to do. But whence he rose, and where he remained after setting, a mystery. The Ptolemaic theory of the earth being the centre of the system, and the sun, &c., moving round it, finally succeeded by the Copernican or Newtonian, which places the sun in the centre, at the distance of ninety-five millions of miles from the earth. The sun appears to rise in the east and move towards the west, from the earth moving on its axis from west to east. The opposite hemispheres of the globe naturally illuminated and in darkness alternately once in twenty-four hours, the period of one rotation on its axis.
8. The snow and hail. Job. 38:22-23. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and of war? Snow and hail known to be the effects of cold in the higher regions of the atmosphere; the former being condensed vapour congealed before it is formed into drops, and the latter the drops themselves congealed in their descent to the earth. Usually brought by cold winds from the north; their treasures therefore, to those living north of the equator, apparently in the northern regions. These regions probably unknown in the days of Job. The treasures of the snow and hail, however, rather in the higher parts of the atmosphere, where man has not been able to penetrate. Spoken of as treasures from their vast abundance, and as being apparently stored up in the clouds. Snow and hail among the Creators instruments in His government of the world, employed often in a way of judgment. Hail especially an instrument of destruction to the crops of the field. Employed as one of the plagues on Egypt (Exo. 9:14); and as the means of discomfiting the combined forces of the Canaanites (Jos. 10:11). To be, perhaps, still more grievously employed among the judgments to be inflicted on the kingdom of Antichrist, forming part of the seventh and last vial (Rev. 16:21). The sufferings and destruction of Napoleons Grand Army, in 1812, mainly due to the snow and cold of a Russian winter. Snow and hail among the Almightys reserved treasures for the discomfiture of His and His Churches adversaries, to be probably employed in the battle of that great day of God Almighty,in the place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon (Rev. 16:14-16).
9. Rain. Job. 38:25-28; Job. 38:34; Job. 38:37-38.Who hath divided a water-course (conduit or channel) for the overflowing (inundation or pouring forth) of waters [in the form of rain], or a way for the lightning (or flash) of thunder (the usual precursor of rain in the east, ch. Job. 28:26; Zec. 10:1): to cause it to rain on the earth where no man is [to care either for the ground or the beasts that live upon it]; on the wilderness, where there is no man [but only the inferior animals to be provided for]; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring? Hath the rain a father? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, [commanding] that abundance of waters may cover thee? Who can number the clouds in wisdom (or muster them as an army for the purpose for which he requires them (2Ki. 25:29)? Who can stay (or lay, so, as to empty) the bottles of heaven (the clouds, resembling in their form and use the dark-coloured water-skins employed in the East), when the dust groweth into hardness (is fused into a solid mass), and the clouds cleave fast together (thus forming soil for cultivation, instead of mere dust,the effect of continued drought)? Still points to the mysteries of meteorology, even yet but imperfectly understood, but evincing a wisdom and a power altogether Divine.
Four circumstances connected with rain here alluded to as exhibiting Gods greatness and mans littleness.
(1.) That the rain does not descend in one mass of water from the clouds, but in innumerable channels or tiny rills. Who makes these channels? what has man to do with the forming of them? Man, as in Egypt, makes channels for conveying the water from the well to irrigate his garden or his field; but who makes those channels that convey the water down from the clouds?
(2) The mysterious production of the rain, by the conversion of invisible into visible vapour, and its condensation into drops, which increase in size as they fall to the ground. This atmospheric process unknown in the days of Job, and still a mystery of Divine power and wisdom. Hath the rain a father?
(3) The preparation for the rain by the lightning or electric flash, dissolving the rain-cloud by reducing its temperature, or otherwise. Drops of water known to result from the combination of the two gases of which water is composed, through the introduction of an electric spark. But what power is it which so manages that mysterious element or force called electricity, as to produce the copious and fertilizing showers? Who hath made a way for the lightning?
(4) That the wilderness receives a supply of rain as well as inhabited places. Proof of its abundance and the riches of Divine goodness. No stinting with God, neither from want of ability nor willingness to bestow. Enough and to spare with Him. Even the beasts in the solitary waste provided for. His also to make even the solitary place to be glad for His people, and to cause the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose (Isa. 35:1). Divine power and goodness able to turn the wilderness into a fruitful field as seen in the cases in African deserts (Isa. 32:15).
(5) That the clouds are so managed as to be made the means, by their filling and emptying, like so many huge water-skins, of irrigating the earth and ministering to mans necessities. Who so musters those clouds, like a general his forces, taking account of their number, size, &c., as to have them ready for his service, and to bring them together whenever he pleases to employ them? Who disposes and empties those bottles of heaven?
10. The dew. Job. 38:18.Who hath begotten the drops of dew? Another of the mysteries of nature. Dew long supposed to fall on the ground during the night. But whence its fall? There is no cloud. No one ever saw it fall. The process better understood in modern times. The dew rather a formation or deposit than a descent. The moisture in the saturated air, in consequence of the greatly reduced temperature during the night and its contact with the cooler ground, condenses on certain substances and forms drops, like those which stand on the wall of a room, when the air, which has been saturated with moisture, is suddenly cooled by the reduction of the temperature. Usually falls, or is deposited, in clear cold nights after a warm day. Hence found with us especially in autumn. Most copious in warm climates, where the days are hot and the nights often cold. In eastern countries, as in Juda, the want of rain often compensated by the abundant dew, in cooling and moistening the ground, and in refreshing and promoting vegetation. Hence the frequent allusion to it and to its beneficial effects found in the Scriptures (Gen. 27:28; Deu. 33:13; Deu. 33:28; Psa. 132:3; Prove. Job. 19:12; Isa. 18:4). Frequently employed for comparison and metaphor. The Word of God compared to it from its influence on the soul (Deu. 32:2). The people of God compared to it from their influence on the world (Mic. 5:7). God Himself compared to it in relation to his people (Hos. 14:5). The converts of Christ compared to it both from their number and beauty, especially as seen in the morning of the resurrection after the night of the tomb (Psa. 110:3).
11. The ice and hoar-frost. Job. 38:29-30.Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath engendered it? The waters (in consequence of the cold) are hid as with a stone (or, being made as a stone), and the face of the deep (any collection of water) is frozen (held bound or holds itself together, i.e. is congealed). Ice known to be water rendered solid by the loss of its natural heat, which keeps its particles separate and so preserves it in a liquid state, but which the water gives out to the atmosphere in contact with it in consequence of the great reduction of its temperature. Hoar-frost simply the dew frozen before it has been formed into drops. The temperature of the atmosphere that to which these and almost all the phenomena of meteorology are due. This again due to the radiant force, or light, as including heat, imparted by the sun to the earth, and then again dispersed into space. Heat an element or force pervading all bodies, and keeping their particles at a certain degree of expansion. Suddenly withdrawn from nature, the globe would shrink into a much smaller compass; what is now in a gaseous state would become liquid; the liquid would become solid; and all vegetable and animal life on the earths surface would instantly perish. On the other hand, an opposite result would ensue from a much increased degree of heat. Solids would become liquid or be consumed, while liquids would be converted into vapour. The wisdom, power, and goodness of God seen in so tempering the heat given forth from the sun, that both the atmosphere and the earth are in their present ordinary condition. Times indicated by the rocks when a different state of things existed. A time indicated in the Scriptures of truth, when it will be otherwise again (2Pe. 3:10; 2Pe. 3:12).
12. The heavenly bodies. Job. 38:31-33.Canst thou bind (restrain, or perhaps unite) the sweet influences (or delights, or according to another reading, bonds) of Pleiades (Marg., Chimah, or the Seven Stars), or loose the bands of Orion? (Marg., Chesil, or the Fool or, Impious one; a magnificent constellation appearing in winter, and therefore connected with stormy weather, hence probably the Hebrew name. Orion a warrior in Greek mythology; the name given from the supposed resemblance of the constellation to a giant or hero; the bands of Orion either the rigours of winter, which bind up vegetation, or the invisible tie which connects the numerous stars that compose it, the telescope revealing myriads more than are visible to the naked eye, particularly in the nebula seen in the belt of the figure). Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (Marg., the [twelve] signs of the Zodiac, appearing successively through the twelve months of the year), in his season? or, canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (probably the constellation known as the Great Bear, or the Plough; the Hebrew and Arabic name Aish denoting the Bier, the four stars in the body of the Bear forming the Bier itself, and the three in the tail, its sons or attendant mourners: the constellation appropriately said to be guided, not brought forth,being visible all through the year, and appearing continually to move round the centre which we call the North Pole). Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven (or laws of the heavens)? Canst thou set the dominion (or influence) thereof in the earth?
The attention of eastern sages directed at an early period to the stars, their time of appearing, and their supposed influence on the earth. Their successive appearance indicative of the seasons of the year and the time suitable for agricultural and other pursuits. Stars early grouped into figures or constellations, to which names were given from their supposed resemblance to terrestrial objects. Twelve of these appeared to rise or come into view successively in the course of the year, thus marking the twelve months. Their names, the Ram, the Bull, &c. These twelve groups or constellations, called the twelve signs of the Zodiac, probably what is here meant by Mazzaroth. The name perhaps identical with one denoting abodes, as indicating the different stages of the sun in his apparent annual course. Said to be brought forth, because apparently so; their appearance being probably due to the earths progress round the sun. Natural things spoken of in the Bible rather as they appear to be, than as they are in reality.
The Pleiades or Seven Stars, a group or cluster of stars in the constellation or Sign of the Bull. Their Hebrew name Chimah, denoting a heap or cluster, probably given from their appearance. Appears about the middle of April. Hence associated with the season of spring, whence its Latin nameVergili. The name in the text its Greek one, from a word denoting to sail; as indicating the time when navigation might be safely commenced. The sweet influences, or delights, ascribed, according to the present text, to the Pleiades, as marking the arrival of Spring. The genial change in the weather accompanying the appearance of this constellation, hailed as not merely necessary to vegetation and the sustenance of man and beast, but as also contributing in a high degree to mans comfort and enjoyment. The season of
Spring
loved and celebrated in all ages, as the season
(1) Of returning brightness and sunshine, after the clouds and gloom of winter.
(2) Of warmth and comfort, after the cold and tempests of preceding months.
(3) Of revived life, both in the vegetable and animal creationthe natural world appearing to burst forth as from a state of death.
(4) Of freshness and beauty, as seen everywhere in the verdure of the fields, the foliage of the woods, and the flowers of the garden and the meadow.
(5) Of joyousness and gaiety, exhibited in the melody of birds and hum of insects that fills the air, the flitting butterfly and the sportive fish.
(6) Of love, as seen especially in the birds that now pair and build their nests, and warble their affection to one another. All nature appears to rejoice and put on festal attire, and man participates largely in the sweet influences of Spring.
Now that the winters gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes; and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or calls an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm air thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a second birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the longd-for May.
Now all things smile.
Spring fitted and intended
(1) To awaken gratitude to its Divine and bountiful Author, who gives us again to rejoice in the sweet influences of the Pleiades. Then, if ever, it is to be said: All thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless Thee (Psa. 145:10).
(2) To serve as an emblem of the spiritual spring(i.) When the soul is renewed and quickened to spiritual life by the Holy Ghost, and Jesus arises on it as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings. Mans natural state, in consequence of the Fall, one of winter and spiritual death. Christ came into the world and comes into the soul as the reviving Sun, to impart life, and fruitfulness, and joy. The Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, employed by Him to breathe upon the soul and renew its life. (ii.) When the believer, under the same Divine influence, is restored to liveliness and comfort, and to the joys of Gods salvation, after a season of darkness, deadness, and tempest. (iii.) When both the Church and the earth itself shall be renewed in life and beauty at the Lords advent and the resurrection of the just. A new life then imparted to the believers body after the winter of the tomb, and a new earth created out of the ashes of the present one, wherein shall dwell righteousness (2Pe. 3:12-13; Rom. 8:21-23). The Bridegrooms call to the Church then fully realized: Lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; and the time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away (Son. 2:11-13).
The Pleiades, especially the brightest star in the cluster, called Alcyone, recently ascertained to be the centre or axle round which the Solar System revolves, the sun carrying with it the earth and other planets with their satellites, and moving in the direction of the constellation Hercules. The number of stars seen in the cluster, with the aid of a good telescope, nine or ten times as many as those visible to the naked eye. The distance of the group from the sun, thirty-four millions of times greater than that of the sun from the earth. The influences of the Pleiades upon the earth, in so attracting it with the whole Solar System as to carry it round it at the rate, it is supposed, of four hundred and twenty-two thousand miles a day, in an orbit which it will require many thousands of years to accomplish, probably unspeakably greater than was dreamt of in the days of Job. Yet perfectly known to Him who asked the question: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades? and who Himself communicated to the group its mighty power of attraction. The Hebrew name, interpreted by some as denoting a pivot or hinge, in striking accordance with this recent discovery of science.See an article on the subject from Dr. McMillan in Dickinsons Theological Quarterly for April, 1875.
The ordinances of heaven, or laws governing the motions and influences of the heavenly bodies, much better understood now than in the time of the patriarch. The discovery of these laws one of the greatest achievements of modern science, associated with the names of Newton, Kepler, and Laplace. The laws themselves of a different nature from that contemplated by early sages. The law of gravitation,by which bodies and the particles which compose them act upon each other according to their bulk, with an attracting force which increases as the squares of their distance from each other decrease,found so far as observation has been able to penetrate, to operate through all space. This law, in connection with another,that of the vis inerti of bodies operating as a centrifugal force, or the tendency of a body to move on in a straight line when once put in motionthat by which the earth and other planets, with their attendant moons, are preserved in their orbits and carried round the sun. The same law in operation among the fixed stars, some of which are observed to revolve round each other. Each star thus preserved in its own place in the heavens. The same law that which carries our solar system round its centre in the Pleiades, and which probably carries the Pleiades themselves round some other centre hid far away in the unexplored depths of our galaxy; and, possibly, the galaxy itself, with its countless millions of worlds, round some other centre,perhaps the glorious throne of their Almighty Creator.
The conservation of forceor the fact that none of the natural forcesheat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, magnetism, and chemism,is either created or annihilated in any of the material processes of the universe, but is only transformedeither taking the place of or giving place to an equivalent amount of some other forcepronounced by the late Professor Faraday to be the highest law in physical science which our faculties permit us to perceive. Yet, how little it is that we know of the ordinances of heaven, or laws of the material universe, we are reminded by the well-known language of one of the greatest discoverers of those laws. According to the authority just quoted, the idea of gravity as varying inversely as the square of the distance, apparently in direct opposition to the principle of the conservation of force; involving, as it appears to do, the creation and annihilation of power to an enormous extent, simply by the change of distance,a result equal to the highest acts our minds can appreciate of infinite power upon matter. Here science, notwithstanding her amazing progress in unfolding the mysteries of the universe, is at a stand. Besides her ignorance of the nature of the forces which she has succeeded in discovering, she is unable to explain the apparent opposition between the two highest physical laws with which she is acquainted. These ordinances of heaven, as not only known but established by the Almighty, singularly expressive of the infinite power and glorious majesty of Him, with whom we have to do.
The dominion or influence of the heavenly bodies upon the earth, also a subject transcending mans present knowledge. The influence of the sun alone upon the earth still full of mystery. Science teaches us that on the light or radiant force (including heat) imparted by the sun, depend well nigh the whole of the phenomena of meteorology; being the cause not only of the temperature of the earth, but of the moistness of the atmosphere, of winds, of clouds, of dew, of rain, of ocean-currents, and of every one of the elements which, variously combined and conditioned by the earths external features, go to make up climate.Warringtons Week of Creation. Changes in the condition of our own atmosphere, and so of the weather, believed to be connected with changes in the atmosphere of the sun. The influence of the moon upon the earth, especially upon its waters, well known. A portion of heat discovered to reach us even from the fixed stars. The chemical influence of the solar rays on bodies exposed to the light also well known. The very existence of vegetation dependent on that element or force in those rays called actinism or chemism. Even metals and rocks unable to be exposed to its influence without undergoing a change in consequence of it. The dominion or influence of the heavenly bodies, especially of the sun, doubtless intimately connected with the physical forces now known to man, and found to be so correlated as to be capable of producing and being resolved or transformed into each other. Man so far from setting that dominion in the earth, that he even yet very imperfectly understands it.
13. Lightning and meteors. Job. 38:35-36.Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee: Here we are? Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts (perhaps into the dark masses of cloud or into the airy dartings)? or, who hath given understanding to the heart (not here the word always translated heart, but one elsewhere denoting a picture, image, or imagination, as in Isa. 2:16; Lev. 26:1; Psa. 73:7,perhaps the forms of the clouds, or the shooting meteors)? Human powerlessness seen in relation to the lightning. Man able to draw down electricity from the thundercloud, and by a suitable apparatus to obtain vivid electric sparks and flashes from the atmosphere. But his feebleness in the presence of this mysterious agent shown in the fact that such attempts have been known to be followed by instant death. Although uncontrollable by man, the lightning yet obedient to the command of its Maker. Its origin in the electricity of which the earth is the reservoir. The earth thus shown to contain within it the elements of its own destruction, which only await the bidding of their Creator to do their work.
The allusions in the 36th verse uncertain. The reference to celestial phenomena favoured, if not rendered certain, by the context. Clouds or meteors probably in view, as objects far beyond mans control, but serving the wise purposes of their Creator as if themselves endowed with intelligence. The first clause possibly a reference to the Aurora Borealis, the well-known lights arising from electricity, and seen sometimes at night shooting up in streams from the northern part of the sky; their motions, especially as seen in more northern latitudes, sometimes amazingly quick and their forms rapidly changing. The second clause of the verse may be an allusion to the phenomenon known as Meteoric Showers or Falling Stars. These meteors usually visible in clear weather about the middle of November. Myriads of small stars appear to shoot out in all directions with the rapidity of lightning, and then suddenly disappear. The nature and origin of the phenomenon still undetermined. To man the motions of these meteors appear in the highest degree arbitrary. But even these, like the lightning-flash, are under the direction of infinite wisdom and in accordance with the will of their Creator. Not an object in nature left to the reckless sway of chance. All things adjusted with unerring wisdom, managed by infinite power, and overruled for good with paternal care.Duncans Philosophy of the Seasons.
According to the English version, the questioning in the 36th verse will relate to
14. Human reason and intelligence. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts, &c. Wisdom and understanding used to denote reason and intelligence, or the first of the three great classes of mental facultiesthe intellect, the emotions, and the will; the intellect including both the cognitive or knowing, and the reflective or reasoning faculties. The inward parts and the heart spoken of as the seat of these faculties. The brain now more correctly regarded as the seat and organ of the mind. Three things suggested by the questions in reference to the
Human Intellect
(1) Reason and intelligence proper to man. Wisdom found in mans inward parts, and understanding in his heart. Man distinguished from the brute creation by the possession of these faculties of the intellect. Thus qualified to know, love, and intelligently to serve his Creator, to contemplate the works of God around him, to reason on subjects of the most varied and highest import, and to prepare for another and a better life. Only so much understanding possessed by the lower animals as to qualify them for the preservation and enjoyment of the present life, and for the propagation and preservation of offspring, as well as to render them, in various respects, serviceable to man. Reason and intelligence in man not something merely differing in degree from the instinct of other animals, but differing from it in kind. Intellect that which allies him both to angels and to God Himself. Constitutes a large portion of the image of his Creator in which he was created. Existed in a much higher degree before sin disordered and depraved his nature. Men now alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart (Eph. 4:18). The faculties themselves, however, still in existence as man enters the world. Their development the work of time. That development affected by circumstances, and the means employed for it. Education the great means of developing the mental faculties. The intellect of races and families progressive or retrograde according to such development. The degree of intellect different in different individuals, constitutionally and from birth. This difference, doubtless, in some cases the result of circumstances, but more generally from the good pleasure of the Creator, who even in this respect divideth to every man severally as He will (1Co. 12:11). The degree as well as the development of intellect connected with the condition, size, and configuration of the brain, which forms its seat, and is the organ through which it acts.
(2) Reason and intelligence imparted to man by the Creator. Wisdom put into the inward parts; given to the heart. The mind or intellect entirely different and distinct from the material organ through which it acts and manifests itself. Reason and thought not a mere force existing in and belonging to the brain as a material substance. The brain the seat and organ of thought, not its cause. Mind not the production of other physical forces, as heat is transformed into electricity; but something superadded to the material organization. Mans physical frame formed out of the dust of the ground, after which God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Man thus made to partake of an intellectual as well as an immortal nature, which rendered him what his Maker designed him to bea reflection of His own image (Gen. 1:26). The art, science, and skill of man mediately or immediately the gifts of God. The language of the prophet applicable not merely to agriculture, but to all the arts and manufactures, and to all the sciences which elevate the human mind and distinguish the most enlightened of the human species: This also cometh from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working (Isa. 28:29). The language of the Almighty concerning Bezaleel, the son of Uri, true of any other similarly eminent in any of the arts of civilized life: I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, &c. (Exo. 31:3). In the hearts of all the wise-hearted I have put wisdom (Job. 38:6).
(3) The impartation of reason and intelligence to man a special exhibition of Divine power and wisdom. Who put wisdom in the inward parts? Thought and reason the highest manifestation of power in a creature. Man thus placed far above other creatures greatly his superior in size and physical strength. Able thus to fulfil his Makers purpose concerning him and the commission given him, to subdue the earth and have dominion over all other living creatures (Gen. 1:28). Made by the possession of his mental faculties a fellow-worker with God. Enabled, by working upon the materials placed at his hand, to produce other works of power, both of a material and an intellectual nature. Qualified to invent and construct works which are themselves the admiration of others and the multiplication of power. A Watt and an Arkwright enabled to produce machines by which, with a little water and fuel, one man is able to do the work of twenty or a hundred, and the strength of draught-horses can be entirely dispensed with. By a simple apparatus, provided through the human intellect, man is enabled to employ the lightning to convey his messages, and to hold almost immediate fellowship with distant countries and continents. As a co-worker with his Maker, he is enabled, by the faculties which God has given him, to convert the wilderness into a fruitful field, and to cause the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. If God thus puts wisdom and understanding into man, and endows him with so much power, how great the wisdom and power of the Creator Himself!
15. Beasts and birds of prey. Job. 38:39-41Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion (or lioness), or fill the appetite of the young lions, when they couch in their dens and abide in the covert to lie in wait? Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander (or, and wander, or are famished) for lack of meat. Passes from inanimate to animated nature. The present section properly belonging to the next chapter. Begins with beasts of prey. Their food provided for them by the Creator Himself, by bringing other animals, which they are enabled to overcome and feed upon, within their reach. Some animals formed, by their physical structure, to live upon others. Their character as carnivorous given them by God, who provides for them the sustenance for which their bodily organization is adapted. Even the fierce lioness provided with her food by God. Beasts of prey, with all their ferocity, only a portion of the great family for which the Creator daily provides. But how powerless is man in their presence! How unable to provide for them! Man, since the entrance of sin into the world, obliged to employ his intellect in destroying, instead of supporting, such animals.
The raven probably mentioned in contrast with the lion. The largest of the sparrow-order of birds. Feeds on carrion as well as fruit and small animals, and is known even to carry off poultry. An unclean bird, and of little apparent significance; yet the raven cared for by the Creator equally with the noble and majestic lord of the forest. His Divine providence, directed even to the young of the raven, when forsaken by the parent bird, or early expelled by it from the nest. Not a cry of these young ravens but enters into the ears of the great and gracious Creator (Psa. 147:9). Their cry viewed as directed to Himself as their parent and provider. God cares and provides for the meanest as well as the mightiest of His creatures. A twofold lesson for man.
(1) To be kind to animals, and, when not injurious or destructive, attentive to their wants.
(2) To trust in God while doing His will. The lesson taught by Jesus to his disciples: Consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have store-house nor barn: and God feedeth them: how much are ye better than the fowls? (Luk. 12:24). The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing (Psa. 34:10).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE SHATTERING OF SILENCE
VI. THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE PENITENCE OF JOB (Job. 38:1Job. 42:6)
A.
INTEGRITY, CERTAINTY, AND KNOWLEDGE (Job. 38:1Job. 40:2)
1. God questions Job about the marvels of the universe. (Job. 38:1-41)
TEXT 38:141
38 Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man;
For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who stretcheth the line upon it?
6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors,
When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb;
9 When I made clouds the garment thereof,
And thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 And marked out for it my bound,
And set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,
And caused the dayspring to know its place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed as clay under the seal;
And all things stand forth as a garment:
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden,
And the high arm is broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?
Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou comprehended the earth in its breadth?
Declare, if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
And that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof?
21 Doubtless, thou knowest, for thou wast then born,
And the number of thy days is great!
22 Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,
Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
Against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted,
Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
25 Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood,
Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;
On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground,
And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father?
Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters hide themselves and become like stone,
And the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season?
Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?
Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
That abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go,
And say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?
Or who hath given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust runneth into a mass,
And the clods cleave fast together?
39 Canst thou hunt the prey for the lioness,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens,
And abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his prey,
When his young ones cry unto God,
And wander for lack of food?
COMMENT 38:141
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent, Wittgenstein.
God, my God, why have you abandoned me? But there is only Gods silence, Christs twisted face, the blood on the brow and the hands, the soundless shriek behind the bared teeth . . . no, God does not exist anymore,
Bergman from Winter Light
Sir, do you pray? Tillich replied, No, I meditate.
Buddhism is parallel to Western atheisms stress on sheer silence. Gautama Buddha always answered in terms of roaring silence. Those who know do not speak, Laotse.
Job. 38:1We return to the spell of the genius of the weaver of words and the source of the wonders of the world. Yahweh[367] now confronts Job directly. This fact is a direct challenge to the theological assumptions of Jobs three friends and Elihu. Job has nowhere renounced God, as Satan predicted. The suffering of Job requires Yahwehs intervention, and in His intervention we all experience The Shattering of Silence. In His Word, God declares that Job, as is every saved sinner, is redeemed by grace.[368] The common assumption between Job and his three consolers was that he was alienated from God, and his suffering was concrete proof of this. The speeches of Yahweh are a direct challenge to that thesis. Job can have the presence of God in the midst of suffering. Job is humbled by God. If Job is incapable of the simplest answers, how could he hope to debate Yahweh, creator of the universe? We are told that Yahwehs love and mercy are as fundamental to His nature as are His power and transcendence. Yet, for all their beauty and majesty, the speeches contribute nothing essentially newJob. 5:10-16;. Job. 9:4-10; Job. 12:13-25; Job. 22:12-14; Job. 26:5-14. The most striking factor in Yahwehs speeches is that Jobs personal problem is completely ignored. Nothing is said about his guilt or innocence, or the cause and meaning of his suffering. Jobs response in Job. 42:5 is not that I understand your instructions, but that I have seen you. In the revelation of His word, God is made known. The theophany, i.e., seeing God, is the solution to the Jobian drama.[369] Ultimately, Jesus, Jobs redeemer, is the great explanation of Gods person and purposeJoh. 1:18. Gods answer came from one of the most unexpected placesThe Whirlwind. Yahweh ignores Elihu and zeros in on the main figure of the drama, the searching sufferer Job. 31:35. Gods sovereignty over nature was a central thesis of Elihus speecheschapters 3237. We have been prepared for the ensuing thrilling theophanyExo. 19:16; 1Ki. 19:11 ff; Isa. 6:4; Eze. 1:4; Nah. 1:3; Zec. 9:14; Psa. 18:8-16; Psa. 68:8-9; Hab. 3:5-6. Perhaps the storm is anticipated by ElihuJob. 37:2.[370]
[367] The name Yahweh is used here as in the Prologue and Epilogue, and in Job. 40:1; Job. 40:3; Job. 40:6; Job. 42:1; but it does not appear in the Dialogue or Elihus speeches. See my essay, Is God in Exile? in this commentary for comments on the descriptive terms for God in the Old Testament and specifically the Book of Job.
[368] See the excellent essay by A. R. Sauer, Salvation by Grace: The Heart of Jobs Theology, Concordia Theological Monthly, 1966, pp. 259270.
[369] For a survey of the theological content and implications of Yahwehs speeches, see J. Leveque, Et Jahweh repondit a JobJob. 38:1, Foi Vivante, 1966, pp. 727; P. W. Skehan, Jobs Final Plea (Job 29-31) and the Lords Reply (Job 38-41), Biblica, 1964, pp. 5162; G. Fohrer, Gottes Antwort aus dem Sturmwind, Hiob 3841, Theologische Zeitschrift, 1962, pp. 124; R. A. F. MacKenzie, The Purpose of the Yahweh Speeches in the Book of Job, Biblica, 1959, pp. 435445; G. von Rad, Hiob 38 und die altagyptische Weisheit, Vetus Testamentum, Supplement, III, 1955, 293301; C. Stange, Das Problem Hiobs und seine Losung, Zeitschrift far systematische Theologie, 1955, pp. 342355; W. Lillie, The Religious Significance of the Theophany in the Book of Job, Expository Times, 1957, pp. 355358.
[370] For information regarding storms in Syria-Palestine, see Y. Levy Tokatly, Easterly Storms in November 1958, Israel Exploration Journal, 1960, pp. 112117; and D. Nir, Whirlwinds in Israel in the Winters 19541955 and 19551956, Israel Exploration Journal, 1957, pp. 109117.
Job. 38:2The this is a plain reference to Job, not ElihuJob. 40:4 ff and Job. 42:2-6. Some take this as literary proof that the Elihu speeches are not integral to the book, but this is purely subjective psychoanalysis of a dead man. The counsel (esah) referred to is to the purposes of God, not to the dialogical discussion between Job and his friends. The participle mahsik implies a state of ignorance concerning Gods purposesPsa. 33:10; Pro. 19:21; Isa. 19:17. No one lacking so much knowledge regarding the intricacies of the universe should ever challenge God to a debate. Elihu had earlier charged Job with speaking out of a reservoir of ignoranceJob. 34:35. Job has denied that the universe has a moral order, contra Ecclesiastes. All human efforts to search out all the interrelatedness in the universe is doomed to failure.
Job. 38:3Girding the loins is a figurative expression of preparation for a difficult undertakingExo. 12:11; Isa. 11:5; Jer. 1:17. Job had demanded the opportunity to debate with GodJob. 9:32 and Job. 13:3; Job. 13:15. But God will not submit to questioning. Instead of making specific charges, as Job has requested that He do, God confronts him with unanswerable questions regarding His providential control of the cosmosJob. 13:23 and Job. 31:35. Gods design for such interrogation is to bring Job to the awareness of the vastness of his ignorance. Job had claimed earlier that all God would need do was to call him, and he would answerJob. 13:22. This reveals supreme ignorance conceived by pride, which can deliver only darkness. God is only doing what Job asked Him to do. How can he impugn Gods wisdom and justice when he knows so little? This is not an arrogant cosmic bully interrogating Job; this is His redeemer preparing him for deliverance. God always extends His merciful forgiveness, but the contingency is that we accept it. Herein lies the defectiveness of Universalism in the name of grace. God extends no cheap grace despised and rejected. There are no believers anonymous, or holy pagans in Gods purpose.
Job. 38:4God hurls a series of questions toward Job in order to expose his vast and presumptuous ignorance. By swift ironical interrogation, Jobs omniscience is questioned. There cannot be two omniscient persons in the same universe; so, is it Yahweh or Job?Job. 15:7-8; Job. 37:18. The Hebrew text reads binah for understanding or comprehension. There are, of course, levels of understanding: (1) Minimal understanding is exercised in assimilating instruction, memorizing, and returning the content upon request; (2) Maximal understanding requires knowledge of the intricate interrelatedness of all the factors. This knowledge enables one not only to control but to modify various ranges of reality. An example would be that nineteenth century science could control nature; twentieth century science can modify nature through systems analysis of the gene code, societal, economic, and political structures, etc. Most knowledge never changes anything. Most new ideas are worthless because they do not expose the intricate interworkings of either nature, history, or society. Twentieth century technologically dominated man is a Jobian counterpart. Both assume that knowledge means salvation. The neo-gnostic heresy is upon us once more in our world where recorded knowledge doubles every three and one-half years. Knowledge is not to be confused with wisdom, which is an integrating force[371]1Co. 1:10 ff. At least Bunyans Pilgrim understands Gods message. Contemporary astro-physics, microscopic physics, and bio-chemistry reinforce this Jobian imagery which conceives of creation in terms of building or erecting the cosmos. But no atomistic reductionism can remove the intentional, i.e., purposeful, dimension of all reality. We need no longer be hampered by the model of the Newtonian World-Machine Model after Einstein, Planck-Heisenberg, et al. We live in a universe in which we can witness a revolution in cosmic models and knowledge paradigms. (See my doctoral thesis on The Kuhn-Popper Debate and The Knowledge Paradigm Revolution.)
[371] The Qumran Targum on Job reads hkmhwisdomfor binahunderstanding. See M. Dahoods efforts with the personification of wisdom and knowledge in Proverbs 8his Psalms, Vol. Ill, on Psa. 136:5; and D. S. Shapiro, Wisdom and Knowledge of God in Biblical and Talmudic Thought, Tradition, 1971, pp. 7089; see TWNT, VII, sophia, 465528cf. Cross as the integrating power of Gods wisdom.
Job. 38:5The emphatic -ki strongly sets forth Yahwehs question: Who sets its measure(s) if you know? Who stretches over it the lineQumran TargumWho does that, Job, answer me, if you know!Job. 26:7; Psa. 24:2; Psa. 102:26; Psa. 104:5; Pro. 3:19; Isa. 48:13; Isa. 51:13; Isa. 51:16; Zec. 12:1; Eze. 40:3; and Eze. 43:17. Who measures it?Isa. 34:11; Jer. 31:39. Contemporary cosmology sets forth conflicting models of the universe, i.e., Steady State, Big Bang. Is the universe finite or infinite? If Einsteins theory of space is scientifically accurate, then the universe is finite. Yahwehs universe is a finite creation, but what or who is the source of its staggeringly intricate design? Measurement means finitude or limitation and imprecision, though accurate to an amazing degree.
Job. 38:6Job, who designed and built the universe?Isa. 28:16; Jer. 51:26; Psa. 118:22. The stone referred to here may be either the initial foundation stone, or the final capstone. These two stones were used for measurement in ancient building procedureJob. 9:6.
Job. 38:7When the foundation of the Second Temple was laid, Israel sangEzr. 3:10-11; Zec. 4:7. Joyful singing was present when the universe was createdGen. 1:16; Psa. 148:2 ff. In pagan mythology, i.e., the astro-cults, the stars were gods.[372] In contrast, Yahweh was Creator and Lord of the stars, which were subservient to Him and sing His praises, Deu. 4:19; Isa. 40:26; 1Ki. 22:19; 2Ki. 17:16; 2Ki. 1:3; Psa. 19:2; Psa. 29:2; and Psa. 148:2-3. See Job. 1:6 for sons of God.
[372] Astro-deities abound in Ugaritic literature. Occult practices abounded in Canaan, also Egypt and Babylon. The editors of the Qumran Targum suggest that certain emendations were motivated by efforts to avoid saying that objects of pagan worship worshipped Yahweh. Historically in western Christian civilization, when occultism, etc., becomes a powerful alternative to the Christian faith, the word of God has been sharply curtailed and spiritual apathy has all but quenched the power of Gods Holy Spirit, both in individual Christian lives and the corporate life of the community. Paul clearly declares that we are not contending against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers (Eph. 6:12). But such description is very difficult for technologically oriented 20th century man to appreciate. The 19th century produced the Comparative Religion school and the History of Religions school, each of which cast serious doubts on the ontological existence of Satan, principalities and powers, and evil spirits, etc. lames G. Frazers The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Experimental Science, 12 vols., (MacMillan Co., 1935) and Lynn Thorndikes A History of Magic and Experimental Sciences, Vols. I-VI (MacMillan and Columbia University Press, 19231941) were and are influential in circles which believe that the revolutionary developments in the sciences preclude the validity of the Biblical witness to the existence of supernatural evil beings such as Satan. M. Dibelius, Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus (Gottingen, 1909) was the result of the most radical developments in the history of religion. It is fused with R. Bultmanns radical hermeneutical principle, which relegates the Biblical data concerning Satanology to the category of myth, though to be sure that is the technical connotation of myth which stems from folklore research and comparative religion, Dibelius work removed the demoniac from serious exegetical consideration until the outbreak of irrational evil forces, especially immediately following World War II. In Heinrich Schliers inaugural lecture, Machte und Gewalten in Neuen Testament, (Theologische Blatter, 1930), we hear the Marburg of the late Heidegger and Bultmann denounce the objective realities of principalities and powers. Even the old neo-orthodox exorcist, K. Barth, gives token consideration to the Powers in his Church Dogmatics, Vol. III/3. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, many in Western Christian civilization rejected the Biblical category of evil powers and replaced the Biblical explanation with the counter-explanation of sociology and psychology, etc. These explanations were satisfactory to many until the most radical outbreak of occult in the history of the world, in the last 25 years. Christian, arm for battle! See Franz Cumont, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans (Dover, 1960); E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (Univ. of Calif. Press, 1951); Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety (Cambridge Univ. Press); and Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible (Harper & Row, 1962).
Job. 38:8Now the origin of the sea is presented. Even Jacque Cousteau has not seen all its marvels. Oceanography is an intriguing science which only serves to illuminate this imagery. Two images are employed in this verse: (1) The sea as an unruly infant bursting forth from the womb; and (2) A flood needing to be controlled. The text says and he shut (not as A. V. who, though the grammar calls for a question), i.e., God was both its origin and orderer.[373] The Qumran Targum has the interrogative particle before the verbal formDid you shut the Sea within doors? implying, Job, did you do it, or did I do it?
[373] The developments in 17th-18th century science made the classical design argument, as constructed by Aristotle and Aquinas, only a precarious past-time until the Post-Einsteinian developments in the sciences. See R. H. Hurlbutt, Hume and Newton and the Design Argument (Lincoln, Neb.: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1965). The issue is not design versus the absence of design, but whether the origin of the design is transcendent, i.e., God, or immanent, i.e., based in bio-chemical chancism.
Job. 38:9Birth imagery continues in this verse; as an infant is wrapped in swaddling clothes, so the sea is wrapped in clouds.
Job. 38:10God set bounds for the sea and locked it into its boundaries. Dahoods emendations clarify the verse, And I traced out its limits, and set bars and two doors.[374] In all probability, the allusion is to the cliffs and rocky shores which mark the coast of the seaPro. 8:29.
[374] See possible emendations by M. Dahood, Psalms, Vol. I, note 2 on Psa. 16:6.
Job. 38:11Upon notification of the death of his son, while still under the guard of Hitlers SS, Martin Niemuller read this majestic verseHitherto shalt thou come, but no further. It fell as a mantle of mercy on Niemullers soul. The verse clearly describes Gods control of the sea.
Job. 38:12The succession of light and dark must be controlled if the creation is to be orderedPsa. 104:19 ff. Job, did you ever control the light in the universe? Did you ever assing the dawn (sahar) its responsibilities?[375]
[375] Pope continually attempts to give a pan-Ugaritic explanation of all imagery, as Delitzsch sought a pan-Babylonian explanation in the early decades of this century. Often their most creative factor is their high degree of technical imagination.
Job. 38:13In splendid poetic power, Yahweh depicts night as a garment covering the earth, which the dawn takes hold of by the fingers and shakes. The wicked who work in the cover of darkness are shaken out of their protection. The garment so essential for protection from the chill of the night here becomes an image of protection for the wickedJob. 22:6. Job, can you do that?[376]
[376] G. R. Driver, Journal of Theological Studies, 1953, pp. 208212.
Job. 38:14It changes refers to the feminine noun earth. Darkness removes all but the shadowed shapes of the landscape. The morning sun returns the beautiful contours to the shapeless surface of the earth. The sun rays give shape to creations contours, as clay receives the impress of the seal. Dhorme emends the second line to refer to color, i.e., and it is dyed like a garment. Then the imagery refers to the return of the rich hues to the earth as the creation is bathed in beams of sunlight.
Job. 38:15Yahweh repeats what we have already been told, that the light of the wicked is darknessJob. 24:13-17. Light banishes darkness from its kingdom; they are forever incompatible. The upraised arm (zeroa ramah) is probably a metaphor signifying powerful wickedness, which Yahweh shatters.
Job. 38:16Job shows little knowledge regarding the origins of things visible. Now he is challenged to expose his knowledge concerning the range and extent of things invisible. Matter is reducible to energy. Reality at the microscopic level is unavailable to our perceptive field. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries naturalistic reductionistic positivists gain little comfort from contemporary science[377]Job. 28:11. The word rendered recesses (tehomGen. 7:11) denotes what is to be sought for or searched outJob. 11:7.
[377] See The Concept of Matter, edited by Ernan McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press) for history of the concept of matter from the Greeks to contemporary physics.
Job. 38:17The gates of Sheol hold back the deep darknessJob. 10:21 ff; Job. 26:5 ff; Psa. 9:13; Psa. 107:18; and Isa. 38:10which the parallelism necessitates. The gates restrain the darkness of SheolJob. 3:5; Eze. 32:18.
Job. 38:18The term rendered as breadth in the A. V. is found only here and Job. 36:16. The plural probably implies the vastness or expansiveness of the earth. If you do not understand creation, Job, how can you pretend to know the creator?
Job. 38:19Yahweh separated light and darkness on the first day of creationGen. 1:6and thus they have separate locations in the universe.
Job. 38:20The pronouns are both singular, but they must refer to light and dark.
Job. 38:21Yahwehs irony and sarcasm increasedoubtless. You know because you must have been born before creation, if you understand all the intricate balances within natures systemsJob. 15:7; Pro. 8:22 ff.
Job. 38:22For the use of hail as Gods weapon, see Isa. 30:30; for its occurrence in theophanies, see Psa. 18:12 ff; Job. 37:9; Deu. 28:12, Jer. 10:13. Yahweh has treasuries full of snow and hail.
Job. 38:23The imagery continues. God has reserves of snow and hail. Do you, Job?
Job. 38:24Light was dealt with in Job. 38:19. The most difficult issue in this verse is the parallel between light and east wind, though Driver argues for a root yielding parching heat for the latter.[378]
[378] G. R. Driver, American Journal of Semitic Literature, 19351936, p. 166; and Yetus Testamentum, 1955, pp. 91ff.
Job. 38:25The time of the rain was more important than the channel (tealahtrench, conduits1Ki. 18:32; 1Ki. 18:35; Isa. 7:3; Eze. 31:4) through which it came. The word rendered waterflood (setepflood watersNah. 1:8; Dan. 9:26) is a common Old Testament root for washing and overflowing of streams. The second line is identical with Job. 28:26 b, but the parallel is different. In Job. 28:26 the parallelism calls for rain, here flood.
Job. 38:26Gods providence extends to every factor of creation, not just man and his societal relationships. Man is repeated in both lines, but they represent two different Hebrew wordsys and adamJob. 12:6-10; Job. 24:4 b Job. 24:5; Job. 30:2-8. Yahweh does not condemn Job for what he could not possibly know; He condemns for his narrow perspective. If he could see the universe as Yahweh sees it, then he would not complain, but, of course, that is impossible.
Job. 38:27God makes the desolate and waste ground productive and makes young grass to growGen. 1:11. The personification of the ground suggests Gods relationship to and control over the productive power of the earth.
Job. 38:28Can man cause rain? Can Job explain the nature of rain?
Job. 38:29What is the origin and nature of ice?Job. 6:16; Job. 37:10; Gen. 31:40; and in Jer. 36:30 where it means frost.
Job. 38:30The rendering like stone as in the A. V. confuses the image. Literally the text says They hide themselvesare hidden, hardens, i.e., freezes. The Qumran Targum translates the Hebrew word yithabbau with the verb -qrm which means to cover the surfaceEze. 37:6; Eze. 37:8, or crust. Freezing water begins with surface layer or crust. This makes perfectly good sense in this verse.
Job. 38:31Job, can you chain or bind (maadannotonly here and 1Sa. 15:32; and verb nd is used in Job. 31:36 and Pro. 6:21 with meaning of bind) the cluster[379] of the Pleiades or loose the belt (mosekotbonds) of Orion?Job. 9:9.
[379] For defense of this translation, see G. R. Driver, Journal of Theological Studies, 1956, p. 3.
Job. 38:32The Hebrew word mazzarot appears untranslated in the A. V. because the root occurs only here and its significance is uncertain. But perhaps it is related to mazzalot, constellations in 2Ki. 23:5. If so, it refers to the southern constellations of the zodiac.[380]
[380] For discussion of these constellations, see G. R. Driver, JTS, 1953, pp. 208212; andJTS, 1956, pp. 111.
Job. 38:33The ordinances (mistar is parallel with huqqotStatutes Exo. 5:6 ff; 2Ch. 26:11; Num. 11:16; Deu. 1:15; Pro. 6:7) are the laws that govern the movements of the entire universe, but here the sun, moon, and stars in the earths galaxy.
Job. 38:34Compare the first line with Job. 36:29 b; Job. 37:2; Job. 37:4. The image underlying the question is that of God commanding the clouds to release their captive rain. The second line is verbatim with Job. 22:11 b, but the contexts are different, thus calling for different parallel analysis. Job, can you interfere with the laws of climatology?
Job. 38:35Job, can you direct and control lightning? Will lightning obey you, as it obeys me? It even reports to Yahweh its accomplishments. Lightning is Gods servant, not mans Job. 36:32 and Job. 37:11 ff.
Job. 38:36The meaning of the two basic words in this verseinward parts and mindis uncertain. These two words are rendered clouds and mists elsewhere. The root meaning of the former is probably cover over or hidden, i.e., hidden or inward parts; and the root significance of the latter is perhaps to look out, i.e., in the sense that men can draw meanings from observing. Regardless of these difficulties, Yahweh is asking Job whether or not he can understand the workings of His wonderful creation.
Job. 38:37Who but Yahweh knows the exact number of clouds necessary at any given time?Isa. 40:26. Who but God knows the precise balance of rain to provide the earth?Job. 26:8.
Job. 38:38When it rains, the dust forms a mass or whole once more. The whole earth is related to His purpose.
Job. 38:39The second part of the speech begins in this verse. Eight creatures are described in increasing details. Yahweh calls forth a number of birds and animals and asks Job if he knows the secrets of their habitat and behavior. He begins with the king of the beasts, the lion. Who provides the lion with its prey? It does not require man to obtain its prey. Could man even do it if challenged? God cares for lions and their youngPsa. 104:21.
Job. 38:40God provides them with food, even while they are waiting in the lairs, as rendered in Job. 37:8.
Job. 38:41After the king of the beasts, the scavenger Raven is brought to Jobs attention. The raven is destructive; it picks out the eyes of its victimsPro. 30:17. Job, surely this is an example of injustice, at least, to those animals that make up the ravens prey. They have no particular home; they wander wherever there is food available. In nature, every living creature has its natural enemies. This, too, is part of Gods providential direction of His creation. Will Job learn any lessons from these eight examples from the realm of birds and beasts?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXVIII.
(1) Then the Lord answered Job.This chapter brings the grand climax and catastrophe of the poem. Unless all was to remain hopelessly uncertain and dark, there could be no solution of the questions so fiercely and obstinately debated but by the intervention of Him whose government was the matter in dispute. And so the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, or tempest: that is to say, the tempest which had been long gathering, and which had been the subject of Elihus remarks. The one argument which is developed in the remaining chapters is drawn from mans ignorance. There is so much in nature that man knows not and cannot understand, that it is absurd for him to suppose that he can judge aright in matters touching Gods moral government of the world. Though Job is afterwards (Job. 42:8) justified by God, yet the tone of all that God says to him is more or less mingled with reproach.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. The Lord Jehovah. See note, Job 1:21. This name of tenderness, mercy and hope reappears as the solution of the mystery draws nigh.
Answered Job Bishop Wordsworth remarks, that the mention of the fact that the Lord answered Job is tantamount to an intimation that some one else had spoken just before the Lord’s answer. This was Elihu.
Out of the whirlwind ; more properly, out of the storm. Canon Cook ( Speaker’s Com.) justly observes, that the article refers to the last part of Elihu’s address. It is an attestation to the genuineness of that discourse, nor has any satisfactory explanation been suggested by those who reject it. Nothing could be more abrupt than the transition from Job’s last words to this statement.
And said The natural inference is, that the communication was an articulate utterance, and not, as Canon Cook intimates, a mere mental impression upon the understanding. The closing description of Elihu shows that the storm was abating. There is, therefore, no intrinsic difficulty in supposing an audible voice of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:1
Job 1:18-19, “While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”
Ezekiel was called into the ministry during a vision in which the Lord appeared to him in a whirlwind (Eze 1:4). Both Job and Ezekiel received divine visitations during a time of great distress in their lives.
Eze 1:4, “And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”
Also, Elijah was caught up to heaven in a whirlwind (2Ki 2:11).
2Ki 2:11, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
Job 38:2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:2
Job 38:3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Job 38:3
[26] George Rawlinson, Job, in The Pulpit Commentary, ed. H. D. M. Spence and Joseph Exell (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1950), in Ages Digital Library, v. 1.0 [CD-ROM] (Rio, WI: Ages Software, Inc., 2001), notes on Job 38:3.
“Gird up now thy loins like a man” Comments – God tells Job to gird up his loins like a man and interact with Him in dialogue. Job must prepare himself for the context, which Otto Zckler describes as a series of questions and answers between the two contestants. [27] The phrase “Gird up now thy loins like a man” is not uncommon to the Scriptures. We find it used on a number of occasions. The Philistines were able to encourage themselves and win the battle. See:
[27] Otto Zckler, The Book of Job, trans. by L. J. Evans, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 602.
1Sa 4:7-9, “And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men , O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.”
The children of Israel encouraged, or strengthened themselves in the Lord:
Jdg 20:22, “And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.”
Note that there was another time when David encouraged himself in the Lord.
1Sa 30:6, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God .”
King David told his son Solomon to be strong like a man should be.
1Ki 2:2, ”I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man;”
Paul exhorted the Corinthians to be strong like a man as they pursued a lifestyle of sanctification within their church members.
1Co 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
“for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me” Comments – God will demand of Job a reply to His forthcoming speech, which is recorded in Job 40:3-4. Thus, Job will be given an opportunity to plead his case as he requested during the course of his dialogues with the three friends.
Job 38:4-7 The Founding of the Earth Job 38:4-7 described the beginning of the creation of the earth when God laid its foundations. It was a time when God, in His infinite wisdom, calculated its design and size (Job 38:5-6). It was also a time of great celebration as the “morning stars” and angels sang together in harmony and joy. Radmacher notes that great building projects in the ancient Near East began with similar celebrations. [28] We see such festive occasions in the laying of the foundation of the second temple (Ezr 3:10), and of the future temple prophesied in Zechariah (Zec 4:7-9).
[28] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds., Job, in Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub., 1999), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), notes on Job 38:4-7.
Ezr 3:10, “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.”
Zec 4:7-9, “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.”
Perhaps this passage of Scripture refers to three steps in the initial creation of the earth: the laying of its foundations, the design of its size, and its suspension by gravity to orbit the sun. We see this aspect of creation described in Gen 1:1-2.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:4
“ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ” Comments – The phrase “the foundation(s) of the earth” can be found fourteen times in the Scriptures (Job 38:4, Psa 82:5; Psa 102:25; Psa 104:5, Pro 8:29, Isa 24:18; Isa 40:21; Isa 48:13; Isa 51:13; Isa 51:16, Jer 31:37, Mic 6:2, Zec 12:1, Heb 1:10), and the phrase “the foundation(s) of the world” can be found seven times (2Sa 22:16, Psa 18:15, Eph 1:4, Heb 4:3; Heb 9:26, 1Pe 1:20, Rev 17:8).
Psa 104:5-6 says, “Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.” This passage tells us that the “foundations of the earth” were covered by “the deep”, which appears to be the top primordial lay of soupy soil and water that covered the earth in Gen 1:1-2. Thus, one popular interpretation of the phrase “the foundations of the earth” is to say it refers to the lower layers of earth’s crust that supports the top layer of soil and water that supports life on earth. This would require the word “earth” ( ) (H776) in Job 38:4 to refer to soil rather than to the entire planet itself.
Job 38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:5
Job 38:6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:6
“or who laid the corner stone thereof” Comments – The description of the founding of the earth in Job 38:4-6 is likened to the laying of the cornerstone at a new construction site. This cornerstone determines the direction and dimensions the rest of the building that rests upon it.
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job 38:7
[29] Matthew Henry, Job, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Job 38:7.
[30] Adam Clarke, Job, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Job 38:7.
[31] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Job, in A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Job 38:7.
[32] Otto Zckler, The Book of Job, trans. by L. J. Evans, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 602; Albert Barnes, Notes, Critical, Illustrative, and Practical, on the Book of Job, vol. 2 (New York: George A. Leavitt, 1852), 213.
Isa 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”
Rev 2:28, “And I will give him the morning star.”
Rev 22:16, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”
We also find a similar phrase “the day star” used in 2Pe 1:19.
2Pe 1:19, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”
However, Rawlinson interprets “the morning stars” in a literal sense as the stars of heaven singing together. [33] This would require the creation story of Job 38:4-7 to include all six days of creation so that the heavenly bodies would have had time to be created on the fourth day. Amazingly, modern science now supports this possibility. The first man to discover extra-terrestrial noise was Karl Jansky, who discovered radio waves coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy in August 1931, opening the door for the science of radio astronomy. [34] Since then, scientists have discovered that the planet earth emits a number of sounds, from “an ear-piercing series of chirps” to low frequency “hums”. This implies that all planetary bodies emit sounds of varying frequencies, so that all solar systems emits sounds, giving scientific evidence that “stars sing together”. [35]
[33] George Rawlinson, Job, in The Pulpit Commentary, edited by H. D. M. Spence and Joseph Exell (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1950), in Ages Digital Library, v. 1.0 [CD-ROM] (Rio, WI: Ages Software, Inc., 2001), notes on Job 38:7.
[34] “Karl Guthe Jansky,” in Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia (San Francisco, California: Wikipedia Foundation, Inc.) [on-line]; accessed 20 January 2009; available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Guthe_Jansky: Internet; Ronald Smothers, “Commemorating a Discovery in Radio Astronomy,” in The New York Times, 9 June 1998 [on-line]; accessed 20 January 2009; available from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E3DE15 3AF93AA35755C0A96E958260; Internet.
[35] Robert Roy Britt, “Earth’s Screams Recorded in Space,” on Fox News [on-line]; accessed Wednesday, 2 July 2008; available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,374621,00.html; Internet. This article reads, “Earth emits an ear-piercing series of chirps and whistles that could be heard by any aliens who might be listening, if they’re out there. The sound is awful, a new recording from space reveals. Scientists have known about the radiation since the 1970s. It is created high above the planet, where charged particles from the solar wind collide with Earth’s magnetic field. It is related to the phenomenon that generates the colorful aurora, or Northern Lights. The radio waves are blocked by the ionosphere, a charged layer atop our atmosphere, so they do not reach Earth. That’s good, because the out-of-this-world radio waves are 10,000 times stronger than even the strongest military signal, the researchers said, and they would overwhelm all radio stations on the planet. Theorists had long figured the radio waves, which were not well studied, oozed into space in an ever-widening cone, like light from a torch. But new data from the European Space Agency’s Cluster mission, a group of four high-flying satellites, reveals the bursts of radio waves head off to the cosmos in beam-like fashion, instead. This means they’re more detectable to anyone who might be listening. The Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR), as it is called, is beamed out in a narrow plane, as if someone had put a mask over a torch and left a slit for the radiation to escape. This flat beam could be detected by aliens who’ve figured this process out, the researchers say. The knowledge could also be used by Earth’s astronomers to detect planets around other stars, if they can build a new radio telescope big enough for the search. They could also learn more about Jupiter and Saturn by studying AKR, which should emit from the auroral activity on those worlds, too. ‘Whenever you have aurora, you get AKR,’ said Robert Mutel, a University of Iowa researcher involved in the work. The AKR bursts Mutel and colleagues studied 12,000 of them originate in spots the size of a large city a few thousand miles above Earth and above the region where the Northern Lights form. ‘We can now determine exactly where the emission is coming from,’ Mutel said. Our planet is also known to hum, a mysterious low-frequency sound thought to be caused by the churning ocean or the roiling atmosphere.”
Job 38:7 “and all the sons of God shouted for joy” – Comments – To whom is the phrase “sons of God” referring to, celestial beings, or angels? Note:
Job 1:6,”Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”
Job 2:1, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.”
Job 38:7, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Note the use of the term “son of men” in Psa 4:2; Psa 31:19; Psa 33:13; Psa 57:4; Psa 58:1; Psa 145:2, Pro 8:4; Pro 8:31, Ecc 1:13; Ecc 2:3; Ecc 2:8; Ecc 3:10; Ecc 3:18-19; Ecc 8:11; Ecc 9:3; Ecc 9:12, Isa 52:14, Jer 32:19, Dan 5:21, Dan 10:16, Joe 1:12, Mic 5:7. Since this phrase is used primarily in the Hebrew books of poetry, it appears to be a poetic term, since there was a Hebrew word for angel ( ) (H4397) that was used two hundred fourteen (214) times in the Old Testament. Its poetic nature becomes even more evident when the phrase is contrasted with “the daughters of men” and “sons of men.”
Note “man….son of man” in Psa 8:4, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
Note also: Hos 1:10, “Ye are the sons of the living God.” This is a reference to the church age and its future. Thus, in the New Testament, the phrase, “we are sons of God” is used. So:
Rom 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
Conclusion: “Sons of God” in Gen 6:2 seems to refer to angelic creatures of God, and “sons of man” refers to earthly humans.
The ancient Jewish The Book of Jubilees, written a few centuries before Christ, describes these “sons of God” as angels who had come down to the sons of men in order to teach them in the ways of righteousness. But some of them defiled themselves with the daughters of men.
“And in the second week of the tenth jubilee [449-55 A.M.] Mahalalel took unto him to wife Dinah, the daughter of Barakiel the daughter of his father’s brother, and she bare him a son in the third week in the sixth year, [461 A.M.] and he called his name Jared, for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers, that they should instruct the children of men, and that they should do judgment and uprightness on the earth ..And in the twelfth jubilee, [582-88] in the seventh week thereof, he took to himself a wife, and her name was Edna, the daughter of Danel, the daughter of his father’s brother, and in the sixth year in this week [587 A.M.] she bare him a son and he called his name Methuselah. And he was moreover with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything which is on earth and in the heavens, the rule of the sun, and he wrote down everything. And he testified to the Watchers, who had sinned with the daughters of men; for these had begun to unite themselves, so as to be defiled, with the daughters of men , and Enoch testified against (them) all.” ( The Book of Jubilees 4.15-23) [36]
[36] The Book of Jubilees, trans. R. H. Charles, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English With Introductions and Critical and Explanatory Notes to the Several Books, vol 2, ed. R. H. Charles, 1-82 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 18-9.
Job 38:8-11 God Garments the Earth With Clouds and the Sea Job 38:8-11 describes the forming of the seas and the clouds that would appear to garment the earth if viewed from space. A properly sized earth could now sustain an atmosphere and hold liquid water on its surface. The sea below and the clouds above need to be in place in preparation for the creation of life. We see this aspect of creation in Gen 1:6-10, when God created a firmament to divide the waters into seas and clouds.
Job 38:8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Job 38:8
Job 38:9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Job 38:9
Job 38:10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
Job 38:11 Job 38:12-13
Joh 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Job 38:15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
Job 38:15
Job 38:16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
Job 38:16
Job 38:23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
Job 38:23
Exo 9:18, “Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.”
Exo 9:24, “So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.”
Jos 10:11, “And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.”
Isa 30:30, “And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.”
Eze 13:11-13, “Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.”
Rev 16:21, “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”
Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Job 38:31
Comments – The English translation “sweet influences” ( KJV) reflects the view that this Hebrew word is derived from the root verb ( ) (eden), which echoes the idea of pleasure or delight. William Wright says the phrase “sweet influences” is derived from the belief that the stars held sway over man’s destiny. [37] However, other commentators believe this phrase reflects the dawning and pleasures of spring in April when these stars become first visible after hiding throughout the course of winter (see Clarke, JFB).
[37] William Aldis Wright, “Pleiades,” in Dr. William Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 3, eds. H. B. Hackett and Ezra Abbot (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1889), 2549.
Word Study on “Pleiades” Gesenius says the Hebrew word ( ) (kiymah) (Pleiades) (H3598) means, “a heap, a cluster.” Strong defines this word as “Pleiades, seven stars,” and is derived from an unused primitive root ( ) (H3558) that means, “to store away.” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word “cimah” is found three times in the Old Testament (Job 9:9; Job 38:31, Amo 5:8), being translated in the KJV as, “Pleiades 2, seven stars 1.”
Job 9:9, “Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades , and the chambers of the south.”
Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades , or loose the bands of Orion?”
Amo 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”
Comments – Webster tells us that the English name “Pleiades” is derived from Greek mythology, referring to “the seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.” As a constellation, it is “a group of small stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus.” Since there are only six of these pleiads that are “distinctly visible to the naked eye,” the ancient Greeks supposed that “a sister had concealed herself out of shame for having loved a mortal, Sisyphus.” Hence, the KJV renders this same Hebrew word as “the seven stars” in Amo 5:8.
Job 38:31 “or loose the bands of Orion” Word Study on “Orion” – Gesenius says the Hebrew word “Orion” “kes-eel” ( ) (H3685) means, “a fool.” Strong says it is derived from the primitive root ( ) (H3684), which literally means, “to be fat,” and figuratively, “to be silly.” Thus, this constellation is also called “the Fool.” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word is used only 4 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “Orion 3, constellation 1.” This word is used in Job 38:31 and Amo 5:8 as the name of one of several constellations. Isa 13:10 uses this word in its plural form in a wider sense to mean all of the constellations in the heavens.
Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ?”
Amo 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion , and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”
Isa 13:10, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”
Comments – Webster says that Orion is “a large and bright constellation on the equator between the stars Aldebaran and Siriusit contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.” In addition, John Gill tells us that the Hebrew name “Cesil” ( ) is a derivative of the name of the Hebrew month “Cisleu,” which corresponds to the Roman calendar of November and December at which time this constellation is visible in the Middle East. He says because this constellation appears during the stormy, winter season, Virgil referred to it as “nimbosus Orion,” or “stormy Orion.” [38]
[38] John Gill, Job, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Job 9:9.
Comments – The legend of this constellation is of a celebrated mythological hero who was bound in the heavens for an unsuccessful war against the gods. Thus, Job 38:31 describes Orion as being bound with cords. Among the Eastern tradition this individual was identified as Nemrod, who rebelled against the Lord in Genesis. [39] However, the Greeks identified this person as Orion, a celebrated hunter in the oldest Greek mythology of a gigantic stature. [40]
[39] Albert Barnes, Job, in Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1997), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on Job 9:9.
[40] David H. Levy, “Orion,” in The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 14 (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1994), 856.
Job 38:32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Job 38:32
The LXX transliterates the Hebrew word as “ ” in Job 38:32, which means that these Hebrew letters are simply converted into another alphabet. Jerome translates it “luciferum” ( VgClem) as a reference to the morning star. In the KJV and many other modern English versions, the Hebrew word ( ) is not translated, but rather transliterated as “Mazzaroth” ( ASV, BBE, ESV, HNV, JPS, KJV, LXX, NAB, NRSV, RSV, YLT). Many other English versions translate this Hebrew word to give the broader meaning, “the constellations” ( Darby, God’sWord, LITV, NIV, WEB). The NCV reads, “the stars.” The NLT reads, “the sequence [of the seasons].” Rotherham translates it, “The Signs of the Zodiac.”
Word Study on “season” Strong says the Hebrew word “season” “ayth” ( ) (H6256) means, “time.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 296 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “time 257, season 16, when 7, always 4, eveningtide + 06153 2, misc 10.”
Comments – The sentence, “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?” could read, “Can you bring forth the twelve major constellations and their thirty-six associated constellations in the twelve times [months] of the year?”
Job 38:32 “or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons” Word Study on “Arcturus” Strong tells us that the Hebrew word “ayish” ( ) (H5906) comes from ( ) (H5789), which means, “to hasten.” However, Easton suggests that the word “aish” is derived from an Arabic word meaning “night-watcher” because this constellation revolves around the North Pole and never sets. John Gill says that Arcturus does set in the horizon, first appearing in early September at the beginning of stormy weather preceding winter. [41]
[41] John Gill, Job, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Job 9:9.
Comments – Webster tells us that the English name Arcturus is derived from the Latin “arcturus” (OE. artik, OF. artique, F. arctique, L. arcticus, L. Arcturus), which is derived from the Greek words , meaning “bear tail.” It is in the same famil y of words with “arctic,” which means, “Pertaining to, or situated under, the northern constellation called the Bear.” In addition, the alternate title “Ursa Major” is derived from the Latin “ursus” meaning, “bear.”
Scholars give us several opinions as to the identification of the Hebrew word “Arcturus” “ayish” ( ) (H5906). Some say that it refers to the constellation commonly known as “the Great Bear,” “Ursa Major,” or “Charles’ Wain” ( Smith, ISBE) [42] Others, such as Easton, tells us that Arcturus refers to a single star called “bear-keeper,” which is the brightest star within the constellation Bootes located near the Bear.
[42] E. W. Maunder, “Arcturus,” and “Astronomy, II,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word ( ) is used only 2 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “Arcturus 2.” Its second use in found in Job 38:32 and makes a reference to “his sons,” which supports the second view that the Hebrew word Arcturus is the brightest star within a constellation of stars. However, it may be that the name for this bright star is being used to identify its constellation as well.
Job 38:32, “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?”
Comments – The NIV reads, “the Bear with its cubs.” Rotherham reads, “the Bear and her Young.” JFB says that this refers to Ursa Major and the three stars in its tail.
Job 38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
Job 38:33
“Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven” – Comments – Job 38:33 a tells us that there are laws that govern the heavenly bodies, which we know today as the laws of physics.
“canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” – Comments – Job 38:33 b can be interpreted to read that the earth answers to these heavenly ordinances ( BBE, KD). For example, since 1792 The Old Farmer’s Almanac has been used in an effort to plant crops by these laws, and ancient astrologers advised kings by watching the course of the stars and heavenly bodies. Yet, today much knowledge of the laws and effects of the universe are still beyond our knowledge.
BBE, “Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?”
Keil & Delitzsch, “Knowest thou the laws of heaven, Or dost thou define its influence on the earth?” [43]
[43] C. F. Keil, and F. Delitzsch, The Book of Job, in Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Job 38:31-38.
We find similar statements in Gen 1:14-19 and Jer 31:35
Gen 1:14, “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
Jer 31:35, “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night , which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:”
Job 38:38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
Job 38:38
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
God Reveals Himself to Job by His Creation Did not Job believe God heard his prayers in the midst of his prosperity? How much more should God hear him in the midst of his suffering? In a mighty display of nature’s energy, a whirlwind approaches Job, and a divine voice begins to come forth and speak to Job. God now reveals His true character to Job because his friends had misrepresented Him. He reveals Himself as the omnipotent Creator of the universe, who daily watches over each aspect of His creatures with love and concern through His omniscience and omnipresence. More specifically, God reveals that He alone is just and Job and all of mankind are in need of redemption through faith in God. In man’s fallen condition since the Garden of Eden, all of creation has been made subject to vanity and endures suffering. God will now lead Job into an act of intercession for his friends in order to receive his own deliverance as a testimony that man will have to redeem himself. Yet, what man is qualified to redeem mankind? Job will understand that it must be a man, a man who was righteous before God, a man who must suffer, a man who must be an intercessor, that will redeem mankind. The fullness of this revelation will come at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, when God Himself becomes a man to redeem His people, and with it, all of creation.
We find a similar passage of Scripture in Isa 40:12 to Isa 41:29, where God challenges backslidden Israel to produce her reasons for trusting in idols (Job 41:21). In a similar manner God reveals to Israel her frailty and weakness in the midst of His majestic creation that reveals Him as the divine creator of all things.
Here is a proposed outline:
God’s First Speech Job 38:1 to Job 40:2
Job’s Reply Job 40:3-5
God’s Second Speech Job 40:6 to Job 41:34
Job’s Reply Job 42:1-6
Job 38:1 to Job 42:6 God Reveals Himself to Job by His Creation (The Purpose of the Sciences and Art) The Lord spoke to me this morning and said that the sciences and arts are an expression of God’s divine nature. God reveals His divine nature through His creation (Job 38-41), and the sciences are the tools that mankind uses to explore His creation. The arts are an expression of man’s heart and emotions, and when the Spirit of God is allowed to inspire mankind, he speaks in poetry and song, in paintings and other works of art. (March 24, 2009)
Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 God’s First Speech to Job: The Story of His Creation In Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 God delivers His first speech to Job. The story of creation recorded in Job 38:1 to Job 40:2 serves as a testimony to Job of God’s divine attributes. In this passage of Scripture the Lord revealed to Job His omnipotence, His omniscience, His omnipresence, and His infinite wisdom and power over all of His creation. He reveals to Job the fact that He daily oversees the activities of His creation. God’s description of creating the heavens and earth in Job 38:4-38 reveals His omnipotence. His description of overseeing and sustaining His creatures reveals His omniscience and omnipresence.
In the study of the Holy Scriptures we discover a number of passages revealing the events in the Story of Creation. For example, we have the testimony of the Father’s role in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:4 as the One who has planned and foreknown all things in His creation. We also have the testimony of the Jesus Christ the Son’s role in creation recorded Joh 1:1-14, who is the Word of God through whom all things were created. In Pro 8:22-31 we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit’s role in creation as the Wisdom and Power of God. 2Pe 3:5-7 refers to the story of creation with emphasis upon God’s pending destruction of all things in order to judge the sins of mankind. Heb 11:3 tells us how it is by faith that we understand how the world was created by the Word of God. Another passage of Scripture that reveals the story of Creation is found in Job 38:1 to Job 40:2, where the wisdom and majesty of God Almighty are revealed by describing the details of how His creation came into existence. We can find other brief references to the creation of the earth throughout the Scriptures, such as Psalms 104 and many other individual verses.
Here is a proposed summary of Job 38:1 to Job 40:2:
God Asks Job for Dialogue Job 38:1-3
God As Creator of the Earth Job 38:4-38
God Created the Earth Job 38:4-7
God Created the Seas Job 38:8-11
God Created Day and Night Job 38:12-15
The Depths and Breath of the Sea & Earth Job 38:16-18
God Created Light and Darkness Job 38:19-21
God Created Snow and Ice Job 38:22-30
God Created the Stars & Constellations Job 38:31-33
God Created the Clouds Job 38:34-38
God As Sustainer of Life on the Earth Job 38:39 to Job 39:30
God Sustains the Lion Job 38:39-40
God Sustains the Raven Job 38:41
God Sustains the Wild Goats & Deer Job 39:1-4
God Sustains the Wild Donkey Job 39:5-8
God Sustains the Wild Ox Job 39:9-12
God Sustains the Ostrich Job 39:13-18
God Sustains the Horse Job 39:19-25
God Sustains the Hawk & Eagle Job 39:26-30
God Concludes His First Speech Job 40:1-2
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Manifestation of God’s Majesty in Creation
v. 1. Then the Lord answered Job v. 2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? v. 3. Gird up now thy loins like a man v. 4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding v. 5. Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest? v. 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? v. 7. when the morning stars, all the heavenly host v. 8. Or who shut up the sea with doors v. 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof v. 10. and brake up for it My decreed place v. 11. and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? v. 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days v. 13. that it might take hold of the ends of the earth v. 14. It is turned as clay to the seal v. 15. And from the wicked their light is withholden
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
CLOSE OF THE CONTROVERSY BY THE INTERFERENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY.
EXPOSITION
The discourse, by which the Almighty answers Job and rebukes his “friends,” occupies four chapters (ch. 38-41.). It is broken into two parts by the interposition of a-short confession on Job’s part (Job 40:3-5). Job 38:1-41 and Job 39:1-30 are closely connected, and form a single appeala sort of argumentum ad verecundiamto Job’s profound ignorance of God’s natural government, which incapacitates him from passing judgment upon what is far more incomprehensible and mysterious, God’s moral government. The points adduced, in which Job is challenged to claim that be has knowledge, or confess that he is ignorant, are:
(1) The creation of the material world (Job 38:4-7).
(2) The control and government of the sea (verses 8-11).
(3) The bringing forth of the dawn (verses 12-15).
(4) The formation of Sheol, of light and darkness, Of snow, hail, floods, rain, lightning, thunder, ice, dew, hoarfrost (verses 17-30).
(5) The government of the stars and of the clouds (verses 31-38).
(6) The creation, endowment with instincts, and general direction of the animal worldwild goats, hinds, wild asses, wild cattle, ostriches, horses, hawks, eagles (Job 39:1-30.)
The tone of the appeal is sustained at a high pitch, and the entire passage is one of extraordinary force and eloquence.
Job 38:1
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. It is remarked, with reason, that the special mention of Job as the person answered “implies that another speaker had intervened” (Wordsworth); while the attachment of the article to the word “whirlwind” implies some previous mention of that phenomenon, which is only to be found in the discourse of Elihu (Job 37:9). Both points have an important bearing on the genuineness of the disputed section, ch. 32-37. And said. The question whether there was an objective utterance of human words out of the whirlwind, or only a subjective impression of the thoughts recorded on the minds of those present, is unimportant. In any case, there was a revelation direct from God, which furnished an authoritative solution of the questions debated to all who had been engaged in the debate.
Job 38:2
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? It is very noticeable that God entirely ignores the reasonings of Elihu, and addresses himself, in the first instance, wholly to Job, with whom he begins by remonstrating. Job has not been without fault. He has spoken many “words without knowledge” or with insufficient knowledge, and has thus trenched on irreverence, and given the enemies of God occasion to blaspheme. Moreover, he has “darkened counsel.” Instead of making the ways of God clear to his friends and companions, he has east doubts upon God’s moral government (Job 21:7-26), upon his mercy and loving-kindness (Job 16:7-14), almost upon his justice (Job 19:7; Job 31:1-35). He is thus open to censure, and receives censure, and owns himself “vile” (Job 40:4), before peace and reconciliation can be established.
Job 38:3
Gird up now thy loins like a man. Job had desired to contend with God, to plead with him, and argue out his case (Job 9:32-35; Job 13:3, Job 13:18-22; Job 23:4-7; Job 31:35). God now offers to grant his request, and bids him stand forth “as a man'” and “gird himself” for the contest, which he has challenged. For I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. He will begin with interrogatories which Job must answer; then Job will be entitled to put questions to him. Job, however, on the opportunity being given him, shrinks back, and says, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken: but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further” (Job 40:4, Job 40:5). The confident boldness which he felt when God seemed far off disappears in his presence, and is replaced by diffidence and distrust.
Job 38:4
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Wast thou present? Didst thou witness it? If not, what canst thou know concerning it? And if thou knowest nothing of creation, what canst thou know of deeper things? The metaphor, by which the creation of the earth is compared to the foundation of an edifice, is a common one (Psa 102:25; Psa 104:5; Pro 8:29 : Isa 48:13; Isa 51:13, Isa 51:16; Zec 12:1; Heb 1:10, etc.), and is to be viewed as a concession to human weakness, creation itself, as it actually took place, being inconceivable. Declare, if thou hast understanding. That is, if thou hast any knowledge on the subject (comp. Job 38:18).
Job 38:5
Who determined the measures thereof? Everything in creation is orderly, measured, predetermined, governed by law and will The actual weight of the planets is fixed by Divine wisdom, with a view to the stability and enduringness of the solar system (comp. Isa 40:12). If thou knowest; literally, for thou knowestan anticipation of the lofty irony which comes out so remarkably in Job 38:21. Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Human builders determine the dimensions of their constructions by means of a measuring-line (Eze 40:3-49, etc.). The writer carries out his metaphor of a building by supposing a measuring-rod to have been used at the creation of the earth also. Some find a trace of the idea in Gen 1:9, where they translate , “Let the waters be marked out with a line.“
Job 38:6
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? These details follow naturally upon the adoption of the particular metaphor of a house or building. They are not to be pressed. The object is to impress on Job his utter ignorance of God’s ways in creation. Or who laid the corner-stone thereof? Who gave the last finishing touch to the work (see Psa 118:22; Zec 4:7)? Canst thou tell? If not, why enter into controversy with the Creator?
Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together. The stars generally, or the actual stars visible on the morn of creation, are probably meant. They, as it were, sang a song of loud acclaim on witnessing the new marvel. Their priority to the earth is implied, since they witness its birth. Their song is, of course, that silent song of sympathy, whereof Shakespeare speaks when he says, “Each in its motion like an angel sings” (‘Merchant of Venice,’ act 5. sc. 1). And all the sons of God shouted for joy. “The sons of God” here must necessarily be the angels (see Job 1:6; Job 2:1), since there were no men as yet in existence. They too joined in the chorus of sympathy and admiration, perhaps lifting up their voices (Rev 5:11, Rev 5:12), perhaps their hearts only, praising the Creator, who had done such marvellous things.
Job 38:8
Or who shut up the sea with doors? From the earth a transition is made to the sea, as the second great wonder in creation (comp. Gen 1:9, Gen 1:10; Exo 20:11; Psa 104:24, Psa 104:25). God’s might is especially shown in his power to control and confine the sea, which rages so terribly and seems so utterly uncontrollable. God has blocked it in “with doors”i.e. with “bounds that it cannot pass, neither turn again to cover the earth” (Psa 145:9). Sometimes the barrier is one of lofty and solid rock, which seems well suited to confine and restrain; but sometimes it is no more than a thin streak of sliver sand or a bank of loose, shifting pebbles. Yet, in both eases alike, the restraint suffices. “The sand is placed for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it” (Jer 5:22); the beach of shifting pebbles remains as firm as the rock itself, and never recedes or advances more than a few feet. When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb; i.e. at its birth, when it was first formed, by the gathering together of the waters into one place (see Gen 1:9).
Job 38:9
When I made the cloud the garment thereof. The account of creation here given is certainly not drawn wholly from Genesis It is to be viewed as a second, independent, account of the occurrences, in fuller detail, but vaguer, by reason of the poetical phraseology. And thick darkness a swaddllng-band for it. The infant sea, just come from the womb (verse 8), is represented as clothed with a cloud, and swaddled in thick darkness, to mark its complete subjection to its Creator from the first.
Job 38:10
And brake up for it my decreed place; rather, as in the margin, and established my decree upon it; or, as in the Revised Version, and prescribed for it my decree. The decree itself is given in Job 38:11. And set bars and doors (see above, Job 38:8, where the imagery of “doors” has been already introduced). As Professor Lee observes, “The term contains a metaphor taken from the large folding-doors of a city, which are usually set up for the purpose of stepping the progress of an invading enemy, and are hence supplied with bolts and bars”. Representations of such folding-doors are common in the Assyrian sculptures; and in one instance the doors themselves, or, to speak more exactly, their outer bronze easing, has been recovered. These gates were twenty-two feet high and six feet broad each.
Job 38:11
And said, Hitherto shalt thou corns, but no further. The law is not quite absolute. Wherever the sea washes a coast-line, there is a continual erosive action, whereby the land is, little by little, eaten away, and the line of the coast thrust back. But the action is so slow that millennia pass without any considerable effect being produced, and encroachments in some places are generally counterbalanced by retrenchment in others, so that the general contour of laud and water, with the proportion of the one to the other, remain probably very much the same at the present day as when the earth first became the habitation of man. And here shall thy proud waves be stayed. The waves of the sea “rage horribly,” and every now and then topple down a rock or undermine a cliff, and seem proud of their achievements; but how little do they effect, even in thousands of years! The little islet of Psyttaleia still blocks the eastern end of the straits of Salamis. The Pharos island lies off the westernmost mouth of the Nile. Even the low, fiat Aradus, on the Syrian coast, has not been swept away. Everywhere the waves are practically “stayed,” and all the menaces of the sea against the land come to nought.
Job 38:12
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? rather, by reason of ray length of daysa similar irony to that observable in Job 38:5, Job 38:21, etc. The third marvel of creation brought before us is the dawn, or daybreakthat standing miracle of combined utility and beauty. Has Job authority to issue his orders to the dawn, and tell it when to make its appearance? Has he caused the dayspring to know his place? Job cannot possibly pretend to any such power.
Job 38:13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? The idea seems to he that the dawn, suddenly appearing, seizes hold of all the ends of the earth “at one rush” (Canon Cook), and lights up the whole terrestrial region. The wicked, lovers of darkness, are taken by surprise, and receive a shock from which they recover with difficulty (comp. Job 24:16, Job 24:17). That they are “shaken from the earth” must be regarded as Oriental hyperbole.
Job 38:14
It is turned as clay to the seal; rather, it changes as the clay of a seal. The seals of the Babylonians, Assyrians, and others were commonly impressed upon clay, and not upon wax. As the seal changed the clay from a dull, shapeless lump to a figured surface, so the coming of the dawn changes the earth from an indistinct mass to one diversified with form and colour. As M. Renan explains, “L’aurore fair our la terre l’effet d’un sceau sur la torte sigillee, en dormant de laforme, et du relief, a la surface do l’univers, qui pendant la nuit est somme un chaos indistinct.” And they stand as a garment; rather, and things stand out as a garment‘ or as on a garmenta richly embroidered dress is intended, on which the pattern stands out in relief.
Job 38:15
And from the wicked their light is withholden. Then, when the dawn bursts forth, “from the wicked, their light”-which is darkness (Job 24:13-17)”is withholden,” and the consequence is that the high armthe arm that is proud and lifted upshall be broken. Detection and punishment fall upon the wicked doers who are surprised by the daylight.
Job 38:16
Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? The emphasis is on the word “springs,” which means sources, origin, or deepest depths. Canst thou go to the bottom of anything, explore its secrets, explain its cause and origin? Or hast thou walked in the search (rather, the deep places) of the depth? Art thou not as ignorant as other men of all these remote and secret things? Physical science is now attempting the material exploration of the ocean-depths, but “deep-sea dredgings” bring us no nearer to the origin, cause, or mode of creation of the great watery mass.
Job 38:17
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? By “the gates of death,” Sheol, the abode of the dead, seems to be intended (comp. Job 10:21, Job 10:22; Job 17:16). Has Job explored this region, and penetrated its secrets? Or is it as unknown to him as to the rest of mankind? The second hemistichOr hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?is a mere echo of the first, adding an new idea.
Job 38:18
Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? literally, the breadths; i.e. the dimensions generally. The exact dimensions are probably not even yet known. Job can scarcely have had any conception of them. To him the earth was probably a vast plain, extended, he knew not how far, in all directions. Declare if thou knowest it all (comp. verses 4, 5, and 21).
Job 38:19
Where is the way where light dwelleth? or, Which is the way to the dwelling-place of light ‘? Where, i.e; does light dwell? What is its original and true home? Light is a thing quite distinct from the sun and moon and planets (Gen 1:3, Gen 1:16). Where and what is it? Dost thou know the way to its dwelling-place? If not, why, once more, dost thou pretend to search out the deep things of God? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof? Darkness, too, light’s antithesis, must not that have a homea “place” of abode, as Job himself had postulated, when he spoke of “a land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness itself Where the light is as darkness” (Job 10:21, Job 10:22)? If so, can Job point out the locality?
Job 38:20
That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof. Can Job “take” light and darkness, and lead them to their proper places, and make them observe their proper “bounds,” as God can (Gen 1:4)? And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof (comp. verse 19).
Job 38:21
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? The irony that has underlain the whole address comes here to the surface, and shows itself palpably. Job, of course, is as old as the Almighty, or, at any rate, coeval with creation; otherwise he could not presume to take the tone which he has taken, and arraign the moral government of the Creator. Or because the number of thy days is great? Compare the sarcasm of Eliphaz (Job 15:7).
Job 38:22
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? The “treasures of the snow” are the storehouses, wherein the snow is, poetically, supposed to be laid up. Vast accumulations of snow actually exist in various portions of the earth’s surface, but the fresh snow that falls is not taken from these treasuries, but newly generated by the crystallization of floating vapours in the atmosphere. Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail? This expression is to be explained similarly, as poetical. Hail is nowhere kept in store. It is generated by the passage of rain-drops through a layer of freezing air.
Job 38:23
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble. Hail is reckoned throughout Scripture as one of the ministers of the Divine vengeance (see Exo 9:18-29; Exo 10:5-15; Jos 10:11; Psa 18:12, Psa 18:13; Psa 78:47, Psa 78:48; Psa 105:32; Isa 30:30; Isa 32:19; Eze 13:11, Eze 13:13; Eze 36:22; Hag 2:17; Rev 8:7; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:21). Its destructive effect upon crops, even in temperate latitudes, is indicated by the insurances against damage from hail, which, even in our own country, so many farmers think it worth their while to pay. In tropical and semi-tropical regions the injury caused by hailstorms is far greater. Against the day of battle and war. Compare especially Jos 10:11, which, however, we need not suppose to have been in the mind of the writer. In ancient times, when the bow held the place in war which is now occupied by the rifle or the musket, a heavy hailstorm, striking full in the face of the combatants on one side, while it only fell on the backs of their adversaries, must of tea have decided a battle.
Job 38:24
By what way is the light parted? or, distributed, so as to be enjoyed by all the inhabitants of the earth (Stanley Loathes). Which scattereth, etc.; rather, or by what way is the east wind scattered over the earth? (see the Revised Version) Job is asked to explain God’s modus operandi in nature, which, of course, he cannot do. Hence his answer in Job 40:5.
Job 38:25
Who hath divided a water-course for the overflowing of waters? rather, as in the Revised Version, Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood? i.e. Who has furrowed and seamed the ground (in Western Asia) with deep gullies, or “water-courses,” for the rapid carrying off of the violent rains to which those regions are subject? The wadies of Syria and Arabia seem to be alluded to. They too are God’s work, not Job’s. Or a way for the lightning of thunder? The “way” for the passage of the electric current is not marked out beforehand, like the way for the escape of the superfluous waters; but it is equally determined on and arranged previously by God, who has laid down the laws which it is bound to follow.
Job 38:26
To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man. God not only causes his rain to fall equally on the just and on the unjust (Mat 5:45), but equally, or almost equally, on inhabited lauds and uninhabited. His providence does not limit itself to supplying the wants of man, but has tender regard to the beasts, and birds, and reptiles, and insects which possess the lands whereon man has not yet set his foot.
Job 38:27
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground. Parched ground seems to cry aloud for water, and so to make a piteous appeal to Heaven. Perhaps rain is not wholly wasted, even on the bare sands of the Sahara, or the rugged rocks of Tierra del Fuego. It may have uses which are beyond our cognizance. And to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth. Where the rain produces herbage, it is certainly of use, for wherever there is herbage there are always insects, whose enjoyment of life has every appearance of being intense.
Job 38:28
Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? How do rain and dew come into existence? Can Job make them, or any other man? Can man even conceive of the process by which they were made? If not, must not their Maker, who is God, be wholly inscrutable?
Job 38:29
Out of whose womb came the ice? Modern scientists admit that the process by which a liquid is metamorphosed into a solid transcends their utmost power of thought. They know nothing more than the fact that at the temperature of 32 Fahr. water, and at other temperatures other liquids, are solidified. It is thus not only creation itself, but the transformations of created things, that transcend the scientific intellect and are inexplicable. And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? This is the same question as that of the previous clause, expressed in different words
Job 38:30
The waters are hid as with a stone; rather, the waters are hardened, like unto stone. When the frost comes, the waters are congealed and rendered as hard as stone. (So Dillmann and Canon Cook.) And the face of the deep is frozen. By “the deep” () is certainly not meant here either the open ocean, which, in the latitudes known to the dwellers in South Western Asia, never freezes, or the Mediterranean. Some of the lakes which abound in the regions inhabited by Job and his friends are probably meant. These may occasionally have been thinly coated with ice in the times when the Book of Job was written (see the comment on Job 6:16).
Job 38:31
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? (On the almost certain identification of the Hebrew Kirnah with the Pleiades, see the comment on Job 9:9.) Whether the “sweet influences” of the constellation are here spoken of is very doubtful. Schultens and Professor Lee support the rendering; but most critics prefer to translate the word employed () by “chains” or “fastenings” (Rashi, Kimchi, Rosenmuller, Dillmann, Canon Cook). If we adopt this view, we must suppose the invisible links which unite the stars into a constellation to be intended. Job is asked whether he can draw the links nearer together, and bind the stars closer to one another. Or loose the bands of Orion? The identity of Kesil with Orion is generally allowed. Job is asked if he can loosen the tie which unites the several members of this constellation together. Of course, he can pretend to no such powers.
Job 38:32
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? The context implies that “Mazzaroth” is a constellation on a par with the Pleiades, Orion, and the Bear (Kimah, Kesil, and ‘Aish). This makes it impossible to accept the meaning, so generally assigned, of “the twelve signs of the Zodiac.” Again, the plural form is fatal to the conjecture that “Mazzaroth” designates a single star or planet, as Jupiter, Venus, or Sirius (Cook). The word is derived probably from the root zahar, “to shine,” “to be bright,” and should designate some especially brilliant cluster of stars Whether it is to be regarded as a variant of Mazzaloth (2Ki 23:5) is uncertain. Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (On the identity of ‘Ash or ‘Aish with the Great Bear, see the comment on Job 9:9.) The “sons” of ‘Aish are conjectured to be the three large stars in the tail of Ursa Major (Stanley Leathes); but the grounds on which the conjecture rests are very slight.
Job 38:33
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? i.e. the physical laws by which the course of nature is governed (comp. Psa 119:90, Psa 119:91; Psa 148:6). The general prevalence of law in the material world is quite as strongly asserted by the sacred writers as by modern science. The difference is that modern science regards the laws as physical necessities, self-subsisting, while Scripture looks upon them as the ordinances of the Divine will. This latter view involves, of course, the further result that the Divine will can at any time suspend or reverse any of its enactments. Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? If Job does not even know the laws whereby the world is governed, much less can he establish such laws himself, and make them work.
Job 38:34
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of water may sever thee? Will the clouds take their orders from thee, listen to thee, obey thy voice? None but the “medicine-men” of savage tribes profess to have any such power. Elijah, indeed, “prayed, and the heaven gave rain” (Jas 5:18); but this was a very different thing from “commanding the clouds of heaven.” His prayer was addressed to God, and God gave the rain for which he made his petition.
Job 38:35
Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Hers we are? If Job cannot command the clouds, much less can he send (or rather, send forth) lightningsthese marvellous and terrible evidences of almighty power. Even now, with all our command of electricity, our savants would, from the best electrical ms-chine, find it difficult to produce the effects which often result from a single flash of lightning.
Job 38:36
Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Some refer this to human wisdom, and understand the Almighty as askingWho has put man’s wisdom into his inward parts? literally, into his kidneys, or as our idiom would express it, “into his heart.” But there is great difficulty in supposing a sudden transition from clouds and lightning in Job 38:34, Job 38:35 to the human understanding in Job 38:36, with a return to clouds and rain in Job 38:37. Hence many of the best critics understand Job 38:36 of the purpose and intelligence that may be regarded as existing in the clouds and rain and lightning themselves, which are God’s ministers, and run to and fro at his command, and execute his pleasure. (So Schultens, Rosenmuller, Professor Lee, and Professer Stanley Leathes.) To obtain this result, we must translate the word By “tempest” or “thunder-belts,” and the word , in the next clause, by “storm n or something similar (see the Revised Version, where “dark clouds” is suggested as an alternative for “inward parts'” and “meteor” as an alternative for “heart”). The whole passage will then run thus: Who hath put wisdom in the thunderbolts? or who hath given understanding to the tempest?
Job 38:37
Who can number the clouds in wisdom? i.e. Who is wise enough to number the clouds, and say how many they are? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven? rather, Who can pour out? (see the Revised Version). The “bottles,” or “water-skins,” of heaven are the dense clouds heavy with rain, which alternately hold the moisture like a reservoir, and pour it out upon the earth. God alone can determine when the rain shall fall.
Job 38:38
When the dust groweth into hardness. ‘Aphar () here, as often, means “earth,” or “soil,” rather than “dust.” When by the heat of the sun’s rays the ground grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together, baked into a compact mass, then is the time when rain is most needed, and when the Almighty in his mercy commonly sends it. The consideration of inanimate nature here ends, with the result that its mysteries altogether transcend the human intellect, and render speculation on the still deeper mysteries of the moral world wholly vain and futile.
Job 38:39
Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? A new departure. Job 39:1-30 should commence from this point. What does Job know of the habits and instincts of animals? Can he arrange so that the lion (rather, lioness) shall obtain its proper prey, and thus fill the appetiteor, satisfy the appetite (Revised Version)of the young lions, which depend on their dam? Certainly not. “The lions, roaring after their prey, do seek their meat from God“ (Psa 104:21).
Job 38:40
When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait (comp. Psa 10:9, Psa 10:10; Psa 17:12).
Job 38:41
Who provideth for the raven his food? (comp. Luk 12:24, “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them“). God’s mercy is “over all his works,” not only over those whereof man sees the utility; but also over beasts of prey, and birds thought to be of ill omen. Especially he cares for the young of each kind, which most need protection. When his young ones cry unto God. So Psa 147:9, “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” The young ravens are driven to cry out, when they, i.e. the parent birds, wander for lack of meat, and have a difficulty in finding it.
HOMILETICS
Job 38:1-3
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the theophany.
I. THE LORD‘S APPEARANCE TO JOB.
1. The time of this appearance. At the close of Elihu’s address. Not too soon, when neither had Elihu finished his expositions nor had Job’s heart been suitably prepared for such an interview as he was on the eve of obtaining, but precisely at the moment when the purpose of his coming was most likely to be effected. God never mistimes any of his visits to his people, whether he comes for judgment or for mercy. In this case the preaching of Elihu had begun to tell upon the turbulent spirit of the patriarch. The thunderstorm had helped to solemnize his mind, and lay him prostrate before the majesty of that Worker who had hitherto remained invisible. Then, amid the crashing of the thunder and the lurid gleams of the lightning, while the fierce whirlwind swept up from the southern desertthen was the moment God selected for making his presence known to his afflicted servant.
2. The mode of this appearance. Whether there was a visible form presented to the patriarch’s eye it is impossible to say. Probably there was only a voice, like that which spoke to Adam in the garden (Gen 3:9,Gen 3:10), to Abraham on Moriah (Gen 22:11), to Israel at Sinai (Exo 19:19; Exo 20:1; Deu 4:12), and to Elijah at Horeb (1Ki 19:12); like that which spoke to Christ at the Jordan (Mat 3:17), on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat 17:5), and in the city of Jerusalem (Joh 12:30); like that which arrested Saul (Act 9:4), and afterwards St. John (Rev 1:10). That this voice should have issued from the midst of a whirlwind (by the way, an indirect confirmation of the authenticity of the Elihu section) was doubtless designed
(1) to arrest Job’s attention,
(2) to convey some impression of the majesty of God, and
(3) to indicate the weighty character of the truth about to be communicated.
3. The reality of this appearance. It has been suggested that there was no objective appearance presented to any of Job’s senses except what was afforded by the phenomena of the thunderstorm; that the voice was purely subjectivethe inner voice of Job’s own spirit, as it were, rising up within him to proclaim the overpowering sense of the Divine majesty under which it lay. “As the storm passes away with a vehement wind, clearing the heavens and presenting a lively symbol of the terrible majesty of God, Job feels the near presence of his Maker; the word rings through his heart, it brings back all that he had ever ]earned of his works; creation arises before him to witness for its Maker, the Spirit of God moulds his thoughts and completes his knowledge,” and leads him to pour forth the sentiments here recorded in that “methodical and artistic form which pertains to the highest order of Hebrew poetry” (Canon Cook). To such an interpretation of the dramatist’s language there is no very serious objection; but, on the other hand, it is permissible to hold that the entire phenomenon was objective.
4. The object of this appearance.
(1) To meet Job’s desires. Repeatedly and earnestly had the patriarch expressed a wish, at first dubiously, but afterwards with something like defiance, that God would admit him to an interview, that he might have an opportunity of stating his case and pleading his cause (Job 9:34, Job 9:35; Job 13:3, Job 13:22; Job 23:3; Job 31:37). Well, in amazing condescension to this almost impious demand, Jehovah, “who giveth not an account of his matters” (Job 33:13), chines down from the serene altitudes of his eternal palace, riding on a whirlwind, thundering with his voice, sending forth his lightnings, causing the solid globe to tremble beneath the tread of his glowing feet (Psa 18:9-14).
(2) To complete Job’s instruction. Elihu had been sent to begin the work of educating God’s ill-informed servant. That work had been performed with some considerable measure of success. Accordingly, to deepen the impressions made upon the mind of Job, Jehovah takes up the line of argument pursued by his ambassador, thus in a manner confirming all that had been by him advanced, and opening up before the mind of Job the full import of that teaching in a way that was impossible to Elihu.
(3) To humble Job’s pride. Although the Lord had expressly come to afford Job an opportunity to vindicate himself, if he could, he begins by aiming at the reduction of Job’s self-righteous vanity. With a creature filled as Job was at the moment with such intolerable haughtiness and presumption, it was impossible that God could treat. The first thing to be attempted was to bring Job down from the lofty pedestal of self-complacent dignity on which he had established himself; and this was aimed at partly by the sublime character of the Divine manifestation, and partly (perhaps chiefly) by the elevated tenor of the Divine teaching.
(4) To effect Job’s restoration. That in the terrible ordeal through which Job had passed his integrity had not been to some extent shaken, no candid reader will affirm. Satan at the outset alleged that it would wholly fail. Jehovah maintained that it would stand. When the last trial (the preaching of the friends) had ended, Job was far from being in a state of stable equilibrium as to his integrity. Accordingly, Elihu, in perfect harmony with the original conditions of the problem, was sent to his assistance; and now, when all things had been prepared for his coming, God himself arrives upon the scene. “Who can teach like him?” said Elihu; and so discerning the approach of the great King, the faithful ambassador withdraws, leaving Job to get his last lesson from him who alone teacheth to profit (Isa 48:17). If after this Job still continues unhumbled, then Satan will have proved victorious; but if God shall be able to restore his servant to a proper frame of mind, then the final verdict will go with him, and not only the devil, but the intelligent universe, be forced to own that
“A good man, in the darkness and dismay
Of powers that fail, and purposes o’erthrown,
May still be conscious of the proper way;”
(Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ Prologue.)
that a man through the grace of God may become possessor of a piety against which even the gates of hell shall not prevail.
II. THE LORD‘S REPROOF OF JOB.
1. Sin charged. Jehovah begins the interview by distinctly specifying Job’s offence. He had “darkened counsel” (verse 2); that is, he had obscured and misrepresented the prearranged plan and underlying principles of the Divine administration. The language reminds us:
(1) That there is a well-defined plan in accordance with which everything on earth comes to pass. As the primordial atoms of matter did not fortuitously fashion themselves into that brilliant host of suns and systems which we name the universe, or even into this wondrous globe which in comparison with the whole is but as a drop in the ocean, so neither do the events of time which compose human history occur by chance, but each one falls into the place prepared for it in the universal scheme.
(2) That this plan, or creation-programme, has been arranged in accordance with the highest wisdom. It is not a random plan that God has selected for his universe, or even for the earth, as an architect might build a house agreeable to the first idea or sketch that came into his mind; it is the best possible plan that omniscient wisdom could devise.
(3) That this creation-programme or world-plan in all its details has been constructed in accordance with the fundamental principles of truth and equity. Otherwise it could not have been the production of the highest wisdom. Hence it is deducible that the existence neither of sin nor of suffering is incompatible with eternal right.
(4) That the harmonious accordance of this Divine plan with law and justice shines forth in God’s administration with sufficient clearness to convince every one who studies that administration with fairness and impartiality.
(5) That if in any case the luminous radiance of God’s counsel is obscured, it must be owing to the shadow cast thereon by the intellectual and moral darkness of those by whom it is beheld.
2. Ignorance affirmed. Exactly this was the case with Job, for the challenge is not addressed to the friends, and still less to Elihu. Job had asserted more than once that the Divine government of the world was not in accordance (at any rate, not in visible accordance) with the eternal principles of equity, adducing instances, as he supposed, which no amount of ingenuity could harmonize with absolutely impartial justice. “But God pronounces that these words were ‘without knowledge.’ The instances that Job had appealed to as being obvious to the sight of all men of God’s giving prosperity to the wicked, and causing the innocent to suffer wrongfully, and without redress, are pronounced to be untrue” (Fry).
3. Astonishment expressed. “Who is this?” The words carry in them
(1) “a rebuke or reprehension,” “as if God, pointing at Job, had said, Is it you? I could not have believed that my servant Job would have so much forgotten himself;” and
(2) “a slight or diminution,” as though Job, otherwise a man of an excellent spirit, “had been too bold with God, and therefore no wonder if God spake contemningly to him” (Caryl).
III. THE LORD‘S DEMAND FROM JOB.
1. To display the courage he had previously vaunted. “Gird up thy loins now like a man,” i.e. like a valiant hero (a geber), as you frequently affected to be. Job had formerly professed to be ready for an interview with God (Job 13:18, Job 13:22); had complained that God acted towards him like an invisible assailant (Job 19:7), whom he knew not how to meet or where to find (Job 23:3, Job 23:8, Job 23:9); nay, had declared that nothing would rejoice him more than to hear that his unseen adversary had opened a tribunal for the hearing of his case and prepared an indictment for the exposition of his guiltthat such an indictment he would wind around his brow like a regal crown, and march into God’s presence with the stately steps of a prince (Job 31:35-37). Brave words, O Job! But most men, like Falstaff, are valiant in the absence of the foe. Jehovah had now come to ask Job to evince the sincerity of his boast. So will God one day come, upon the clouds of heaven, with great power and glory, to afford all the presumptuous ungodly an opportunity of showing whether they can meet without fear him whom they now despise without shame.
2. To recite the answers he had formerly professed to have prepared. Job had declared his perfect indifference as to whether the Almighty when he came should assume the position of assailant or defendant. If he preferred that Job should open the case, Job was ready; if he elected to assume the initiative, Job had his defences at hand. “Well,” exclaims Jehovah, “as you gave me the choice, I decide upon the latter. I am ready to begin the hearing of your cause. Therefore stand forth. I will demand of thee, and answer thou me ]” “I will come shortly,” wrote Paul to the Corinthians (1Co 4:19), “if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power” In the like spirit had Jehovah come to Job, to see whether the reality corresponded in any degree with the loud-sounding profession he had made.
Learn:
1. That God keeps the times and seasons of all things connected with his kingdom in his own hand.
2. That nature with all its phenomena is under service to God.
3. That God’s voice in nature, much more in the Word, and most of all in the conscience, is full of majesty.
4. That for God to answer any of his creatures, much more sinful dust and ashes, is an act of amazing condescension.
5. That God will not hide the faults of any of his people when he enters into judgment with them.
6. That ignorance lies at the root of much, if not all, of man’s misunderstanding of, and murmuring against, God’s ways.
Job 38:4-15
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 1. Concerning the creation.
I. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH THE HANDIWORK OF GOD.
1. An exclusively Divine work. Jehovah claims not simply to have been the Framer of the mighty fabric of the globe, but to have shared the honour of that stupendous achievement with no co-worker. Hence certainly not with Job. “Where wast thou when I established the earth?” Not taking part or even looking on, since thou wast not then in existence. That this terrestrial world, and indeed the vast universe of which it forms a part almost infinitesimally small, has not existed from eternity, and did not spring into being fortuitously and without adequate cause, hut was summoned from the womb of nothingness by the fiat of Omnipotence, besides according with the plainest declarations of Scripture (Gen 1:1), harmonizes more exactly than any other theory with the dictates of reason.
2. A perfectly finished work. As in the Mosaic cosmogony Elohim is represented as beginning, carrying forward through successive stages, and completing the preparation of the newly made earth as man’s abode, so here Jehovah advances a like claim in behalf of himself. Under the image of a building he describes the earth, in its construction, as having been planned by him: “Who,” i.e. but me, “hath determined its measure?” founded by him: “Where wast thou when I established the earth?” erected by him: “Whereupon are the foundations,” i.e. the bases of its pillars, “fastened?” finished by him: “Who hath laid the cornerstone thereof?”
3. A firmly secured work. Not, however, in the sense of standing still and without motion (Caryl), but in that of being permanently established. The constitution and course of nature, though not unalterable at the will of him by whom it hath been decreed, is yet so definitely settled that man can reckon on its uniformity. It can be overthrown by neither accident nor design. The properties and laws of matter are so certain in their operation, that some reasoners have falsely concluded them to be immutable.
II. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH WAS THE SONG OF THE ANGELS.
1. The singers: the angels. The race of spiritual intelligences who inhabit the heavenly world (Psa 68:17; Mat 18:10; Joh 1:51), who are here described by:
(1) Their place in creation; being styled (according to one exposition of the passage) “morning stars,” as having been first created, the first beings summoned into the broad expanse of dependent existence (Gen 3:24; Isa 8:5), as the morning stars appear to swim out first into the vault of heaven; as being possessed of incomparable excellence of nature (Psa 103:20), as the morning stars outshine all other stars in brilliance; or as being the harbingers or heralds of succeeding and perhaps higher creatures than themselves (Joh 1:51), as the morning star serves to usher in through the portals of the dawn the golden chariot of the sun.
(2) Their relation to God; being designated his “sons,” not as Christ is, who is the Father’s Only Begotten (Psa 2:7; Joh 1:18; Act 13:33)an honour never conferred upon the angels (Heb 1:5); or as saints are, by regeneration and adoption (Joh 1:12)an experience which the unfallen angels do not need, and the fallen ones do not get; out probably as Adam was (Luk 3:38), and as men in general are (Act 17:28) to indicate their dependence upon, and constitutional likeness to, God their Creator.
2. Their song: an anthem of creation. Which also is characterized in a twofold way:
(1) By its outward expression, as vocal,” they sang,” giving utterance to their emotions in the tongue of immortals; as choral, “they sang together,” preserving harmony in their singing, maintaining a delightful concord of sweet sounds; as universal, “all the sons of God shouted” there was not a voice in the innumerable throng that was silent (cf. ‘Merchant of Venice,’ act 5. sc. 1); as cordial, “they shouted,” expressive of the hearty vehemence and exuberant gladness with which they poured forth their heavenly melodies.
(2) By its inward inspiration, as proceeding from the full tide of joy which rose and swelled within their breasts, which joy was occasioned by admiration of the great Creator’s power, contemplation of the Divine Artificer’s wisdom, appreciation of the Infinite Father’s goodness, anticipation of the supreme God’s purpose, in calling forth from the wide womb of non-existence, by a single fiat of omnipotence, a world so wondrously fair, for an end of which it may have been given to their angelic minds to form some by no means, dim conception, viz. to be the future home of man.
III. THE CREATION OF THE EARTH A STUDY FOB MAN, As such it was propounded to Job, who was asked to receive lessons from it as to three points.
1. The brevity of man‘s life as compared with the existence of God. “Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Thou wast not then born! Thy days on earth are as a Shadow. A few years ago thou hadst no existence. But I, thy Creator, whom thou dost foolishly arraign, bad a being before the world was!” Nothing is more fitted to impress man with a sense of the utter vanity and insignificance of this terrestrial existence of which he partakes than a contemplation of the eternity of God.
2. The ignorance of man‘s mind as compared with the omniscience of God. Jehovah asks the patriarch if he could tell how the pillars of the globe were fastened in their sockets, or how either the foundation or corner stones of the stupendous fabric were laid in their places, and fixed so as to continue permanent and immovable. “Declare, if thou hast understanding.” But all these were comprehended by eternal wisdom. How immeasurably foolish, then must it be for man to presume that he either can, or ought to be able to, understand the moral administration of a world of whose original construction he is entirely ignorant! Nothing is better calculated to humble the pride of human wisdom than we reflect both how small is the circle of knowledge surveyed by the wisest in comparison with the vast sphere of ignorance by which he is still encompassed, and in particular how infinitesimal is the largest quantity of science collected by man when weighed against the immeasurable omniscience of God.
3. The impotence of man’s arm as compared with the omnipotence of God. Vast in contrivance and execution as are many of the works of man, the building of the pyramids, the exploration of mines, the construction of locomotives, the tunnelling of mountains, and other mighty achievements of human genius, it is certain that man himself must regard these as puny and insignificant beside the gigantic works of nature, the piling up of Himalayas, the formation of oceans, the establishment of those mysterious influences which men in their ignorance denominate physical forces, the peopling of earth, air, and sea with their myriad forms of life. And yet these are all the handiwork of God, effected by his power with infinite ease and with such consummate skill that man cannot hope to improve them, cannot oven imitate them, yea, can hardly succeed in making a perfect copy of them. Nay, modern astronomy, by enlarging our conceptions of the stellar world, reminds us that stupendous a work as is the formation of this material globe, it is in reality one of the smallest of the productions that have come from his creative hand, being in fact but as a drop in a bucket, or as the small dust of a balance, in comparison with the boundless universe to which it belongs.
Learn:
1. That the first of all beings is God.
2. That the primal cause of all things is the power of God.
3. That only the mind which planned the world can perfectly understand its government.
4. That all God’s works, in the moral world no less than in the material, are characterized by wisdom.
5. That God’s works should never fail to excite the admiration and rejoicing of God’s children.
6. That, though man cannot be saved, he may yet be instructed, by the angels.
7. That if the old or material creation required the power of God, much more does the new or spiritual creation.
Job 38:7
The songs of the angels.
I. AT THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
II. AT THE INCARNATION OF THE SAVIOUR.
III. AT THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS.
IV. AT THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH.
Job 38:8-11
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 2. Concerning the sea.
I. THE PRODUCTION OF THE SEA.
1. The place whence it issued. The sea, by a bold metaphor, is represented as a child proceeding from its mother’s womb. The allusion apparently is to the third day’s creative work, when the terrestrial waters were collected into seas by “the upheaval of the land through the action of subterranean fires, or the subsidence of the earth’s crust in consequence of the cooling and shrinking of the interior mass” (‘Pulpit Commentary: Genesis,’ Gen 1:9). The hitherto quiet surface of the deep being thrown into violent commotion, on the one hand the upward rush of waters occasioned by the sinking of the solid particles would seem like an irruption from the interior of the earth, while on the other hand the backward sweep produced by the sudden upheaval of mountain-peaks would appear as if effected by the superior restraint of some mighty hand. Hence, the whole is depicted as the birth of a young giant, who is no sooner ushered into life than he requires to be restrained and confined.
2. The violence of its irruption. The word employed by Jehovah to describe its evolution from the still chaotic mass of the globe is the same which Scripture writers use to represent the bursting forth of a river from its source (Job 40:23), the emerging of a child from its mother’s womb (Psa 22:10), the rushing of a soldier into battle (Eze 32:2), the springing of a warrior from ambush (Jdg 20:33). The language conveys a vivid picture of the vehement and sudden manner in which the land and water of our globe were separated, which, according to both revelation (Psa 104:7) and science, was most probably effected by volcanic agency.
3. The appearance it presented. Still adhering to the metaphor of a new-born infant, which the nurse wraps in swaddling-bands and baby-clothes, Jehovah tells the patriarch that he too had provided suitable apparel for the new-born sea, giving it clouds for a garment and darkness for a band, meaning that at its first separation from the solid earth it was overhung by heavy vapours and thick mists which served to enshroud it like a pall.
II. THE DISPOSITION OF THE SEA.
1. The preparation of its place. The received translation, which is clearly inspired by Gen 1:9 and Psa 104:8, understands God to say that the newly formed sea was not left to roll its waters at will across the surface of the globe, but was withdrawn into the ocean beds in which at the present time it rests, and that these beds, besides being constructed by Divine agency, acting, no doubt, through natural means, had also been definitely prearranged by Divine wisdom, which had “broken up for it my decreed place,” and were permanently fixed by Divine power, which had “strictly measured its boundary” (Umbreit), or broken over it a Divine decree (Delitzsch), i.e. imposing upon it a statute of limitation.
2. The restraining of its waters. This again is represented as the imprisoning within strongly built walls and firmly barred doors of the aforesaid young and vigorous giant, who cannot be permitted unchecked liberty, but must be kept within bounds, being afforded so much freedom and no morefreedom, that is to say, within the precincts of his prison, but not beyond. In the case of the sea, the imprisoning walls and doors are the rocks and sands and beaches which line the coasts of the great ocean waters. And yet it is not these that repel the sea from overflowing its banks, but the voice of God who says, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;’ as it is not the prison walls that really confine the young giant, but the sovereign will of him, the Parent or Nurse, by whom they have been constructed and the infant monster has been immured.
Learn:
1. That God is the Maker of the sea as well as of the dry land.
2. That God can control the sea even in its fiercest moods.
3. That the sea, no less than other creatures, cannot overstep the bounds assigned it by its Maker.
4. That God’s hand upon the sea, and God’s voice to the sea, are all that keep its waters from overflowing the earth.
Job 38:12-15
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 3. Concerning the light.
I. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE SERVANT OF GOD.
1. The light of the morning is a servant to some one. It is under the commandment of a Superior. Every movement that it makes proclaims it to be under law. Modern science is even able with much precision to formulate the laws to which it renders obedience. And these operate with such unfailing regularity and such irresistible potency, that even this subtlest, nimblest, and most powerful of creatures is unable to elude their grasp or repel their sway. Morning after morning does the dawn appear like a sentinel returning to his place. Day after day does the golden sun push his disc above the horizon, never mistaking the time when or the exact spot where he should first begin to tip the mountain-tops with roseate hues. From whatever source the laws emanate it is clear that the sun yields them submission.
2. The light of the morning is not the servant of man. “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? hast thou caused the day-spring to know its place?” inquires Jehovah of Job, as if he meant ironically to suggest that, although Job could have had no hand in either the first formation of the globe or the production of the sea, inasmuch as he was not then in existence, perhaps since he had arrived on earth he had been the lord paramount, to whom the powerful king of day did obeisance, and from whom the roseate dawn received its daily charge. At the same time, the interrogation is so phrased as to point to the appropriate reply that not only was Job not the director-general of the solar movements, but throughout the entire course of his career he had not been able to impose his authority on the morning light for so much as a single day. And, of course, what was true of Job is likewise true of all. The student of the heavens may contemplate the beauty and investigate the laws of the solar beam; but he cannot hinder it on its mission or turn it aside from its path. He can neither instruct nor direct it as to when, where, or how it is to shine. It may serve him in obedience to the Divine command which has made all creatures wait on man; but man cannot make of it his servant in the sense of subjecting it to his ordinances. Hence the inference that follows is inevitable.
3. The light of the morning is exclusively the servant of God. The voice it obeys is that which addressed Job from the whirlwind. The rule it follows is that prescribed for it by him who at the first said, “Let light be,” and light was. The law it recognizes and fulfils is that of him who set the sun in the heavens to give light upon the earth.
II. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE ENEMY OF EVIL–DOERS.
1. The expressive metaphor. The light, personified as a powerful servant or minister of God, is represented as coming forth every morning from the chambers of the dawn, as seizing the broad and beautifully variegated carpet of the earth by the edges, as forcibly lifting it up, and as effectively shaking from it the evil-doers who, under cover of darkness, had laid themselves down to rest, or had gone forth on errands of wickedness, upon its surface.
2. The authorized interpretation. So completely does the dawn of day surprise the night-birds, or workers of iniquity, who prey upon society that their outstretched arms are broken, i.e. are arrested in the very act of perpetrating their nefarious deeds. When the darkness vanishes, the light in which they work is removed from them; and, shunning the dawn of day as if it were the shadow of death (Job 24:17), they slink away into their dens, disappearing as effectually from the world of light as if they had been shaken violently from the surface of the earth.
III. THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THE BEAUTIFIER OF THE EARTH.
1. The imprinting seal. Analyzing the Divine metaphor, one may say that the spreading of the dawn is compared to the rolling of a cylindrical seal across the surface of a prepared sheet of clay. The figure indicates the gradual and progressive opening of the dawn, the silent and onward march of the light, the continually widening diffusion of day, the uprising of objects on the earth’s surface into clearness and distinctness of outline.
2. The printed clay. As the seal when it passes over the smooth clay ]eaves behind it an impression winch seems to start up from the clay, so the sweeping of the dawn across the plains of earth causes object after object, mountain, rock, tree, grass, flower, everything that earth supports on its bosom, to start up in succession into prominence of vision.
3. The radiant garment. The result is expressed by a change of figure. The illuminated earth is compared to a richly embroidered garment, whose variegated hues and deftly woven figures, concealed by the preceding darkness, are now brought to light by the effulgent day.
Learn:
1. That the constitution and course of nature in all its parts and details rest upon the command of God.
2. That apart from this Divine commandment the sons of men could not enjoy so much as a single day.
3. That the power of man can interfere with little things no more than with great things in nature.
4. That man has many servants who obey not his command.
5. That light plays an important part in the moral administration of earth.
6. That the main source of beauty in material things is the light of day.
7. That evil-doers generally and instinctively hate the light.
Job 38:16-30
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 4. Concerning the mysteries of creation.
I. THE MYSTERIES OF CREATION ARE MANIFOLD IN THEIR VARIETY. Jehovah directs Job’s attention to some examples of these hidden things, or secrets, of nature.
1. The depths of the ocean. The sea, perhaps more than any other object in nature, the universal emblem of the mysterious, in respect of its immensity, inconstancy, potency, harmony, is specially invested with a veil of wonder when the mind reflects upon its unfathomable profundity. Ever sounding and singing on its surface, now chanting weird melodies as its tiny wavelets break upon the shore, now bellowing and roaring with discordant fury when the raging winds catching the ruffian billows by the top bid them clash in mortal conflict, underneath all is still, silent, solemn, voiceless, and, except where there are currents, motionless as the grave. Above inviting man’s approach and investigation, below it has deep and dark recesses, untraversed by human foot, unscanned by mortal eye. Continually sending forth its treasures to the upper air in magic trains of mist, doing homage to the golden sun, it has “springs” or “fountains” underneath (Gen 7:11), whence its waste is supplied.
2. The realms of the unseen world. The grim and gloomy subterranean regions so eloquently described by Job (Job 10:22; Job 26:5) as the abodes of disembodied spirits, are here similarly represented as the habitations of the dead, who are shut. within the sunless receptacles by means of doors and bars. Without expressly asserting that the two places,” the interior parts of the earth” and “the realm of shades,” were identical, the language of Jehovah imports that both alike were among the secret things as yet unveiled to man. And this witness is true. To saint and sinner equally the manner of existence, when the now embodied spirit shall have shuffled off this mortal coil, is an unfathomable mystery. A terra incognita is the country beyond the tomb. Nor has man yet been able to explore the innermost recesses of the earth. His investigations and researches have been confined to the earth’s crust, possessing a thickness of only a few thousand feet. Whether the central substance of the globe is a solid mass or a glowing fire is yet with physicists a quaestio vexata.
3. The extent of the earth. That the earth was in patriarchal times popularly believed to be a plain is no proof that even then its sphericity was not guessed at, though perhaps not definitely ascertained by geographers and astronomers (vide Job 26:7, homiletics). Still, with all the appliances of modern science for observing the transit of Venus, upon which calculations for the earth’s dimensions depend, the most that can be thus obtained is only an approximation towards the truthan approximation no doubt sufficiently accurate for working purposes, but still an approximation as distinguished from the absolute truth.
4. The origin of light and darkness. Among the discoveries of modern science few surpass in interest those relating to the composition and the laws of light. The prism by untwisting a solar beam, and the spectrum by analyzing its very substance, have widened man’s knowledge in this department of physics to an astonishing extent. Yet what light itself is, what are its physical causes, and how it produces its particular effects, are still among the unascertained facts of nature.
5. The sources of snow and hail. Here again it is not the physical power or force which causes snow or hail which constitutes the mystery; but the fact that they seem to descend upon earth in inexhaustible supplies at the moments when they are most required, viz. when God has some time of trouble in store for man or some terrible judgment to inflict on earth. Scripture speaks of hail as having been employed by God for the destruction of his enemies (Exo 9:18; Jos 10:11; Isa 30:10).
6. The distribution of light and wind. Jehovah alludes to the laws in accordance with which the beams of light and the air-currents spread themselves across the surface of the globe, and exercise their respective influences upon the earth and its inhabitants.
7. The inner principles of rain, dew, ice, and frost. The causes that immediately produce these phenomena were probably to a large extent unknown in the days of Job, though they are now understood by persona of a moderate degree of culture. But it is the power behind the immediately operating material causes after which Jehovah inquires.
II. THE MYSTERIES OF CREATION ARE UNDISCOVERABLE BY MAN.
1. The oldest man was not present at their formation. “Knowest thou it [i.e. where the light dwelleth] because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy months is great?” Jehovah means that neither Job nor any other human intelligence was cognizant by personal observation of the institution of this or any other of the above-named mysteries. The establishment of nature’s laws took place before the birth or creation of man. Each individual as he opens his eyes upon the theatre of existence witnesses their operation. When they first began to operate no man was there.
2. The wisest man does not know them through intuition. “Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?” Has the knowledge of this or of any of these mysteries flashed in upon thee, or risen up within thee by a kind of scientific intuition? The human understanding we believe to be sent into the world with a definite amount of mental furniture in the shape of mental and moral intuitions, which gradually assert their presence in and power over the soul; but among these innate ideas are not to be discovered solutions of the physical problems of the universe.
3. The most diligent man cannot roach them by personal investigation. “Hast thou come in thy walkings upon the fountains of the sea?” Have thy researches conducted thee to the secrets of creation? At the best man’s knowledge of the material universe is comparatively superficial. It is doubtful if his powers of investigation can conduct him to the first principles of natural phenomena; and, even if they were sufficient in themselves, the limited extent of time during which man can apply them to the task renders ultimate success well-nigh impossible.
III. THE MYSTERIES OF CREATION ARE ALL UNDERSTOOD BY GOD.
1. They are all of his making. The sea with all its springs and caves is of his production. The dark underworld of spirits has been constructed by him. His was the voice that summoned the light into being. Snow, hail, wind, rain, frost, and dew, are each and all his creatures.
2. They are all of his hiding. If man knows so much and no more about natural phenomena, that is traceable solely to the Divine will. God could have endowed man with a deeper insight into the final causes of things had he chosen. If, therefore, God has power to hide, he must likewise know what he hides.
3. They are all of his directing. It is God who bids the fountains of the ocean spring, who says to the light, “Be distributed across the face of the earth,” who charges the snow to fall upon the ground, who causes it to rain upon the wilderness where no man is. Hence the entire secret of their working must be known to him.
Learn:
1. In the presence of nature’s mysteries, a lesson concerning our own ignorance.
2. In presence of our ignorance, a lesson of humility.
3. In presence of the God of nature, lessens of reverence, trust, and submission.
Job 38:31-41
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 5. Concerning four worlds.
I. THE WORLD OF STARS. Jehovah invites Job to reflect upon his own impotence, and therefore also inferentially upon his (i.e. Jehovah’s) omnipotence, as regards the phenomena of the heavens, over which the Power of God is exhibited in a fourfold degree.
1. In creating the orbs of heaven. The constellations (Orion, Arcturus, the Pleiades, Mazzaroth) and the planets that adorn the nocturnal sky, the nebulae that fill the depths of space, the wandering comets that flash along their eccentric paths, are all the work of his almighty fingers; cf. Job 9:9, homiletics; and consult Exposition for the import of the names Orion (“Giant” or “Fool”), the Pleiades (“A Heap” or “Group”), Arcturus (the Great Bear). Mazzaroth is commonly understood to signify the twelve signs of the zodiac (Gesenius, Umbreit, Delitzsch, Carey), though its introduction between Orion and Arcturus, conjoined with its obvious connection with the root zahar, “to shine,” seems to point to a constellation or star of peculiar brightness (Canon Cook), as e.g. Jupiter or Venus (LXX; Lucifer).
2. In instituting the ordinances of heaven. The laws in accordance with which the celestial luminaries have been formed and established in their respective places in the sky, and in obedience to which they move through the depths of space and shine upon the face of earth, have been patiently investigated, and are now in some degree understood by man; but in the sense of comprehending how they have been ordained, the wisest astronomer, no less than the dullest peasant, is completely ignorant. Kepler ascertained that planets move in elliptical orbits, but why, was beyond his Power to tell Newton discovered the law of gravitation; but what gravitation itself was, the philosopher could no more explain than a schoolboy.
3. In regulating the movements of heaven. Whether the image is that of a chariot to which its snorting steeds are fastened by means of bands (Carey), or of a bouquet of jewels bound or twisted together (Delitzsch), the binding, of the sweet influences of the Pleiades refers to God’s power in bringing that constellation above the horizon at certain seasons of the year, and in calling it forth every night during the season upon the dark vault of heaven. So the loosening of the bands of Orion may point to the disappearance of that constellation from the firmament, the bringing forth of Mazzaroth and the guiding of Arcturus to the directing of their movements in the sky.
4. In determining the influences of heaven. That the stellar world exercised an influence upon the earth, the course of its events and the fortunes of its inhabitants, was a dream of astrological superstition, and cannot be admitted as the subject to which Jehovah here alludes. The explanation must be sought, and with sufficient fulness will be found, by recurring to the words of Moses in connection with the work of the fourth creative day (Gen 1:14-19).
II. THE WORLD OF METEORS. Descending from the upper circle of the stars, Jehovah pauses at the next beneath it, the circle of the aerial firmament, directing Job to two phenomena that lie beyond the range of his ability, but quite within the sphere of God’s, thereby demonstrating on the one hand the feebleness of man, and on the other hand the omnipotence of God.
1. The bringing of rain. “Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? God speaks to the clouds when his voice thunders through the sky, and immediately the clouds reply by deluging the earth with a flood. But man may shout himself hoarse in the vain endeavour to make the clouds obedient to his will. Yet the Power of faith wielded by a weak man has accomplished what is here denied to man in himself (1Ki 18:42; Jas 5:17).
2. The sending of lightning. “Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?” No! It is a special mercy that no Job ca, a thus exercise unlimited control over the powers of nature.
“Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder!”
(‘Measure for Measure,’ act 2. so. 2.)
But the thunderbolts of the sky, the electric currents of the air, the innumerable forces of the globe, are all obedient to the word of command which God gives (cf. Mat 8:9).
III. THE WORLD OF INTELLIGENCE. Descending yet a third step, Jehovah reaches the realm of men. Interrogating Job, he:
1. Makes a frank recognition. Man is possessed of wisdom in the inward parts, and retains understanding in his heart; i.e. he has a certain power of inquiring into the names and causes of terrestrial phenomena. God delights to acknowledge the essential dignity of man, even though sin has largely defaced his beauty and impaired his powers. Man’s intelligence is a noble gift which man should not despise, but cultivate with assiduity.
2. Asks an important question. Whence did man receive his wisdom? Was it from himself? Did it spring up within his heart as a spontaneous growth or development? Or was the doctrine of Elihu (Job 32:8) correct that it is the Spirit of the Almighty which gives man understanding? Many modern scientists would affirm the former, which shows that they still require to ponder Jehovah’s question to the patriarch.
IV. THE WORLD OF ANIMALS. Leaving man, the last stage is arrived at in the domain of the lower creatures, in which Job is invited to behold an evidence of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God.
1. Of God‘s power. Had the problem been proposed to Job to provide food for the lioness and her whelps, Jehovah asks him if he could have done it: “Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness? or fill the appetite of the young lions?” (verse 39). No; Job could not have so much as approached these ferocious creatures without trembling; but God did it every day, silently, regularly, effectively, by the operation of a divinely implanted instinct which impelled every particular creature to seek and find its own particular food That God was able thus to move even the most untamable of beasts was sufficient demonstration of the completeness of that control which he wielded over the entire animal creation.
2. Of God‘s wisdom. There are few more striking illustrations of the wisdom of God than those afforded by the instincts of the lower creatures, and in particular by that which guides them to the special food which each requires, to the place where it is to be found, and the manner in which it is to be appropriated. What this mysterious force is which controls every sentient creature neither science nor philosophy can explain. Resembling intelligence, it yet differs from intelligence by obvious characteristics.
3. Of God‘s goodness. Manifested in catering for any of his creatures, it is conspicuously seen in providing food for the unclean raven and her hateful brood. It is even revealed by those predatory instincts which lead the stronger animals to prey upon the weaker, thus serving among other purposes to limit the increase of the inferior orders of existence, and even shadowing forth to man truths of a lofty spiritual significance, had he only the opened eye to understand them.
Learn:
1. That there is no part of God’s universe over which his sway is not sovereign and complete.
2. That man may admire God’s great power and wisdom, but he can neither equal the one nor improve the other.
3. That man is even dependent upon God for the capacity to understand and appreciate the Divine wisdom and power.
4. That nothing exists in God’s world that does not serve some divinely ordained purpose.
5. That God’s goodness extends to the meanest and most repulsive of creatures.
6. That that God who is kind to lionesses and ravens will not likely be forgetful of his own children.
7. That men should imitate their Maker in being kind to the lower animals.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Job 38:1
Job 42:6
The discourses of Jehovah.
At length, in answer to the repeated appeals of Job, the Almighty appears, not to crush and overwhelm, as fear had often suggested, but to reason with his servant; to appeal to his spiritual intelligence, rather than to smite him into lower prostration by some thunderbolt of rebuke. “Come now, and let us reason together,” is the gracious invitation of him who is Eternal Reason, amidst the wild clamours of our passion and despondency. At the same time, this revelation of the majesty of God humiliates and purifies the recipient of it, teaching him his own littleness and limitation in presence of this fulness of might and of wisdom. God, as the Almighty and only Wise, with whom no mortal may contend in judgment, may appoint the sufferings of the righteous for their probation and purification. And thus the great problem of the book, the enigma of life, receives from the highest Source its long-delayed solution.J.
Verse 1-39:30
First discourse of Jehovah: God the Almighty and the All-wise: man may not contend with him.
I. INTRODUCTION. APPEARANCE OF GOD; SUMMONS TO JOB. (Job 39:1-3.) Out of the storm, in all its grandeur and beauty, which had been gathering while Elihu was speaking, the voice of the Creator is heard, calling upon Job, as one who has been obscuring the Divine counsel by ignorant words, to gird up his loins and prepare for the contest he has so often invoked.
II. GOD‘S QUESTIONS TO MAN‘S REASON AND CONSCIENCE. (Verse 4- Job 39:30.) These questions all appeal to man’s wonder and curiosity, which impel him to seek the causes of things, and are therefore indirect reminders of his ignorance which can find no last answer to the questions he cannot but ask.
1. Questions on the mode of creation. (Verses 4-15.)
(1) How was the earth founded? Who prescribed its limits? How shall the solid pillars, on which in the fancy of the ancient world it was conceived as resting, be themselves conceived as supported? Where is the corner-stone of this world-building, and who laid it? How can that great epoch of creation be realized in imagination when all the celestial beings held jubilee over the new-born world? We conceive of the existence of the earth in space under different notions than these; but is the wonder of a world rolling in space, and bound by the principle of gravitation to other bodies, a less wondrous conception, or one more easy to explain?
(2) So with the great sea. Who gave it its limits, who shut in as with gates the vast flood of waters? Breaking forth, as it seemed, from the womb of earth with impetuous force, yet governed and kept within bounds, so that its proud waves cannot transcend the limits fixed by Omnipotence, clothed with the raiment of clouds, the great ocean awakes in all minds the sense of sublimity, the emotion of awe.
“Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty’s form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
Calm or convulsed, in breeze, or gale, or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime
Dark-heavingboundless, endless, and sublime,
The image of eternity, the throne
Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee: thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone”
(3) Or look again at the dawn in its splendid beauty, which men worshipped as Eos, Ushas, Aurora; consider the regularity of its appearance, gladdening the hearts of all creatures. Who bade the dawn arise and gild the summits of the mountain, causing the earth to flash with all her brilliant variety of colours? Who bade the sun clothe the torrent with rainbows? Nay, who made yonder sun a symbol of righteousness, instinctively perceived by the human conscience, so that ill-doers flee before its revealing beams, for their stronghold of darkness is broken open and their power is overthrown?
2. Question continued: earth‘s depths and heights, and the forces that thence proceed. (Verses 16-27.)
(1) The depths under the earth. (Verses 16-18.) God calls man to reflect upon the immeasurable, the inaccessible; to cause his thought to plunge into the abysses of the sea, to pass in imagination those gloomy portals where the sun goes down, and which lead to Hades, the realm of shadows and of darkness; or with extensive view to survey the broad earth in all its vastness from east to west. “Cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d” to one spot by the conditions of the bodily life, our mind has spiritual capacities and organs by which we may have notions of the Infinite, and these fill us with the sense of the unsearchableness of God.
(2) Again, from the depths let fancy sear to the bright heights above (verses 19-21), let it seek to explore the unapproachable fount of light, or the seat of darkness. Still our ignorance blushes and hides her face before the Divine secrets of existence. With what keen irony does Jehovah rebuke the sciolists of every age in verse 21? Shall short-lived man presume to know the beginning and source of anything? What though we may have cleared up some childlike confusions of thought, have introduced some method and system into our conceptions of the universe, have reduced heat and light to modes of motion, traced the correlation of forces, and perhaps are on our way to the conception of a oneness of force in all its various manifestations: what then? Whence force? Whence and what is motion? Approach as indefinitely near as we may to the last generalization, to the ultimate germ-principle of the genesis of the universe, there will still remain the unknown and the unknowable; there will be need and room still for wonder, worship, reverence, religion.
(3) Or turn to the wonders of the atmosphere: snow and hail, light and wind (verses 22-27). The questions here asked again are those of childlike wonder and ignorance. We do not put them in the same way. Science restates these questions for us; but only to give our wonder a new direction, a wider scope, a more intelligent quality.
3. The wonders of the air and starry heavens. (Verses 28-38.)
(1) Here a number of natural phenomena and processes are mentioned, and the explanation of them in like manner demanded. The generation of rain, of dew, of ice, of frost,science mediately explains these, i.e. traces them to their secondary causes, and brings these causes under certain general laws. But thus the interest deepens in the phenomena; the wonder is not less, but more.
(2) The guidance of the stars, and their influence upon the earth (verses 32, 33). The Pleiades, or seven stars, appear as if threaded upon a skein, as a necklace of jewels. Who formed that wondrous thread? Or who can loose the fetters of Orion, so that that splendid figure of the heavens should fall to pieces or descend from the sky? Can man lead forth the splendid stars (Mazzaroth) in their season?Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and the Bear along with its little ones? Knowest thou the laws of the heaven, by which the course of the planets, the changes of the day and of the year, are brought about? Or canst thou determine its influence upon the earth? Modern science has answered these ancient questions with a clearness and fulness inconceivable in the days of the patriarch. But the field of contemplation and of wonder it thus opens to us is infinitely vaster. And the sentence holds good, “An undevout astronomer is mad.” Perhaps there is no science which more assists the mind to the sense of the sublimity of God than astronomy. And besides the revelation of the infinitely great above our heads, microscopic science has brought to light the infinitely small beneath our feet. The longer Job stands gazing, musing, the more do the Divine questions thicken upon him. From every star, from every cloud amidst the innumerable host spread out in the welkin, from every flash of lightning and from every drop of rain, the same voice speaks, the same challenge comes. Man cannot create by all his science the least of these things, and how shall he presume to penetrate the mysteries of the counsel of the Almighty, or question the wisdom and the rightness of his doings?
4. The animal world. (Verse 39- Job 39:30.) A rich field of study is opened here in the evidences of natural history to the creative power and the loving providence of God for all his creatures. We cannot turn our sermons into lectures on natural history; to descend into details would be to lose sight of those grand elementary truths of which nature’s every page furnishes such abundant illustrations. For purposes of teaching, religion and science must to some extent be kept apart in their consideration. That is, we must not burden religious teaching with natural details, however interesting; nor interrupt at every step a scientific lesson, in order to pronounce a homily, or thrust forward a moral application. But viewed in a general way for the purpose of stimulating intelligent religious feeling, the animal world presents:
(1) Variety, rich and boundless, of form, of structure, of mode, and existence. How different the powers of the animals here enumeratedthe lion, the raven, the goat, the wild ass, the horse! The limbs that spring and bound, that climb or fly, provided with that muscular apparatus which no human art can rival; the internal organs fitting the creature for its particular food and scene of existence;these and all the variety of facts that come to light under this head bespeak a power and skill that can adapt the instrument to every set of circumstances, can be daunted by no difficulty, can find means for all necessary ends (see the illustrations in McCosh and Dickie’s ‘Typical Forms and Special Ends’). Whatever may be the scientific theory in fashion, whether teleological or evolutionary, in so far as it is a true theory, i.e. correctly represents the facts of observation, it can and must lend itself to natural piety, to the confirmation of the great truths of religion. Separate the wild guesses of some scientific men from the sober theories of an accurate science, the latter must ever remain, side by side with the Bible, a witness for God.
(2) Consider again the marvellous force that we call instinct. Instinct may possibly be defined as unconscious reason. We see traces of it in plants, and more strikingly marked ones in animals. It is a power by which these lower creatures arrive at ends, execute designs of marvellous skill and beauty, penetrate immediately to natural truth. Man, plodding his way slowly by the light of reason to his ends, stands in amazement before the effects and results of this mysterious mind-force. Well he may; for what is this force, so constant, so unerring, so matchless, but a direct emanation and impartation from the Creator himself?
(3) And again our sense of the beautiful and the sublime is awakened by the study of animal life. The description of the war-horse in Job 39:1-30, has always been reckoned among the most striking examples of the sublime. His strength, his vibrating mane and trembling neck, all quivering with emotion, his fiery spirit breathing, as it were, fire through his nostrils, pawing the ground in his impatience, rushing to the charge at the battle-signal,the whole is a living expression of Divine force, awful and beautiful to behold. The analytic habits of scientific thought may hinder, if we do not guard against it, our simple and intense appreciation of nature and nature’s individual objects as appealing to our sense of wonder, awe, and beauty. These feelings were given to lead us upward to the Fountain of all existence, to adore the beauty and the might of God. Thus “the book of animal life, that God here writes down for us, may be to us a true book of training for all virtues” (Cramer). If God cares so closely and so providently for the life of the lower animals, how much more are we, his children, his care? This wondrous life in body, soul, and mind; these capacities of moral improvement, of increasing knowledge of eternal life in communion with himself;will he not care fro them? Let the cry of the dumb creatures remind us of our need of prayer, and of him who delights to hear; let the contemplation of the beauty and order of their divinely created life fill us with disgust at the disorder of sin in our own heart and life, and let us seek, in the new redeemed mode of existence, to use and improve all our powers, and consecrate them to the service of our faithful Creator, our compassionate Father and Redeemer.J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Job 38:4, Job 38:19, Job 38:32, Job 38:33
Human impotence and ignorance exposed.
Job’s affliction is a mysterya mystery that needs to be revealed. Job has not given the explanation of it. He has not known it. His friends have failed. It has been attributed to his sin; but he is confident in his honest integrity, and cannot be persuaded that he is suffering punishment, for he has not a consciousness of guilt. Elihu has indicated the hidden nature of the Divine works, and has not made the mystery clearer. But he has closed the lips of them who would accuse God of wrong and unjust dealing. Job is being led, perhaps blindfold, to a final exposition of the whole. By imperfect knowledge of the purpose of God, Job may be led to wrong conclusions. But God will not forsake his faithful servant, of whom the Divine testimony at the beginning was that he “sinned not with his tongue;” and at the end that he had “spoken the thing which is right.” It is still night with Job; he is in the dark as to the purpose of his affliction, but the morning breaketh. And whilst God has appeared hitherto as the Punisher of Job, he will ere long declare himself his Friend, and when he has well tried his faithful servant will amply reward him. But there are processes in the Divine method. Job has to be humbled to the very dust, and the present stage in that process is to reveal the littleness of man in presence of the Most High. Human impotence and ignorance are displayed in presence of the wonderful creation of God.
I. GOD‘S WORK INDEPENDENT OF MAN. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” “Hast thou commanded the morning,” and “caused the day-spring to know his place?” “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” etc.
II. GOD‘S WORK ABOVE MAN. “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?” etc.
III. GOD‘S WORK UNKNOWN TO MAN. “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?” “Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?” etc. Thus is Job taught amidst the wonders of God’s creation how great is the Creator. If his works are past finding out by puny man, surely his purpose which he hath hidden is beyond the reach of human research. It is another step in the valley of humiliation for him who is finally found biting the dust.R.G.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Job 38:1
A theophany.
At length Job has his wish. He has been longing to meet with God and praying for God to reveal himself. The time has now come for God to hear his prayer and make his will known. This is far more important than man’s speculations.
I. THE COMING OF GOD.
1. The time of his coming. God comes last. The three friends have had their say, reiterating till they weary us. Job has been free to vent his grief and his despair. Elihu, more enlightened, yet not quite attaining to the full light, has uttered his long harangue. All have said all they had to say, and throughout God has been silent. Now it is his time to appear. God will have the last word in every controversy, in every life’s story, in the great world’s history. “In the beginning God “In the end, too, there is God. Christ is the Alpha and also the Omega. We have but to wait in patience. The end is not yet; when it comes God reveals himself.
2. The manner of his coming. “Out of the whirlwind.” When Elijah met God the Lord was not in the whirlwind. God uses various vehicles of revelationthe “still small voice” for Elijah, the whirlwind for Job. He is not tied down to any routine. He has no rigid ceremonies. He adapts his methods to circumstances and requirements. Anything God has made may be a chariot in which he will come to visit his people. Sometimes it is best for him to come in storm and tempest, to hush our vain babble and subdue our wayward spirit. The noisy debate of men is drowned in the whirlwind of God.
II. THE ACTION OF GOD. When he comes it is to answer Job.
1. For Job‘s sake. Then the first thought is of the patriarch. He is the central figure in the whole drama. But we might have thought that the three friends would have been rebuked first. Yet their condemnation is postponed. It is more necessary for Job to be relieved of his perplexity and led into a right state of mind.
2. An answer. Then God had heard what preceded. He may not make his presence manifest, but yet he is a silent Auditor at all our conferences, debates, quarrels. He hears our trusty words. He perceives our foolish doubts. God’s treatment of us is not irrespective of our action. He takes account of all we do and say, and his action is adjusted accordingly. Thus God answers man. He meets the doubt, takes up the difficulty, handles the complaint, deals with the prayer, replies to the question. We may have to wait long for the answer. It may not come in this life. But as it came to Job, so at last, in God’s time, it will assuredly come to us, and when it has come no more need be said. It will certainly be full, sufficient, satisfying.
3. In words. The Lord spoke out of the whirlwind. God usually answers us on earth by deeds of providence, or by the voiceless pleading of his Spirit in our hearts. But he has given us words in the messages that prophets have brought to us and that are recorded in the Bible. For us, however, God’s great answer to every question and every prayer is the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. The gospel shows that God has not left us to work out our problems in the dark. It reveals God speaking to us, and his message in Christ is one to give light and peace.W.F.A.
Job 38:2, Job 38:3
God’s answer.
This is perplexing. When after long delays God has at length appeared, we expect him to clear up all doubts and to fully vindicate his providence to Job, while he also vindicates Job in the presence of the three friends. But God acts in a very different way, and rather seems to defend darkness and mystery than to shed light. Yet if we look into the matter carefully we shall see that all the light that could be given with profit comes through the new impression of awe and mystery that the language of God’s reply produces.
I. IGNORANCE MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED AND HUMBLED. If anything had been most painfully apparent to Job throughout the whole debate, rousing his scorn as well as his anger, it was the fact that his three friends had “darkened counsel by words without knowledge.” Now God wilt have Job see that even he has been making the same mistake. The perplexed patriarch has been throwing out a cloud of indignant words, but he has not really understood what he has been talking about. Such words have not helped to the explanation of things; on the contrary, they have been misleading, darkening counsel instead of throwing light upon it. Now, until Job perceives this, he cannot be led to a vision of reassuring truth. While we think we know, our ignorance is invincible. So long as we are satisfied with ourselves, we cannot receive the deliverance of God. The first lesson must reveal our ignorance and humble our pride.
II. MYSTERY MUST BE MANFULLY FACED. Job had lain groaning on his ash-heap. Let him now gird up his loins like a man. Humility should not be thought to exclude courage. We are most brave when we think least of ourselves. Now, a courageous facing of difficulty is necessary if we would conquer it. It is useless to rave against the mystery of life. Let us go up to it and confront it calmly. This is the second step to the conquest of moral and intellectual difficulties. But there may be a touch of irony in God’s words to Jobmerciful and not bitter, kindly meant, to complete his lesson of humility. Can the patriarch face the mystery? Let him try. It’ he fails in the honest attempt, he will be in the very condition for receiving the help of a Divine revelation.
III. THOUGHT MUST BE ROUSED AND STIMULATED. Job had been questioning God; God will now question Job. God’s first answer to Job is to request an answer from the patriarch. It is easy to put questions. We should be wiser if we listened to those that are addressed to us. The method of the reply to Job out of the whirlwind was fitted to awaken the thinking of the patriarch. We must learn to approach the mysteries of God with an open and an active mind. No help can come to us so long as we remain inert. Perhaps one effect of the awakening of thought will be to reveal our own littleness by the side of the awful greatness of God. This is what God’s answer to Job seems designed to produce in his hearer. Then we can be no longer perplexed at mystery. We see we must expect it. At the same time, the greatness and goodness of God in his works teach us to trust him and not despair at the mystery.W.F.A.
Job 38:7
The song of creation.
I. A GLAD SONG. This highly poetic picture describes the joy of creation. When the world was made God saw that it was good (Gen 1:10). There is no Manichaean pessimism in the Bible. Nature is full of gladness. This we should expect when we know the character of God, for he whose name is love must take pleasure in the joy of his creatures. We may see the same truth in the construction of the world. It is beautiful, and made to minister to the happiness of the myriads of living creatures that inhabit it. We may find it hard to catch the echoes of the song of creation, yet even amid the toils and cares of life it is cheering to be reminded of its rare and ravishing melody.
II. A SONG OF PRAISE. This was more than gladness. The Creator’s glory is celebrated in the joyful recognition of the greatness and beauty of his works. Nature-worship always tends to grovel in the mire, twining itself most closely about the lowest thing in nature. Wordsworth was a prophet of nature of the highest order, because he saw more than nature, and because he took nature as a mirror of the spiritual world. The glad praises of the sons of the morning begin the history of the world with a hymn to God.
III. A HOPEFUL SONG. It was sung by morning stars, in view of the new day of creation. It sprang out of the fresh youth of the world. We praise God for what he has done since that first psalm was sung. Yet we too can sing in hope, for God still lights up the future with glory. There is always something melancholy in a song of memory. The right attitude of the sons of God is the forward gaze.
IV. A HARMONIOUS SONG. The morning stars sang together. Plato discovered the music of the spheres in their rhythmic movements. There is no music in war, confusion, or selfishness. The joy of heaven is the gladness of love. Sympathy tunes the sweetest music the heart can utter. If we would emulate the joyous praises of the angels, we must follow their willing obedience, and live in that heavenly atmosphere of love which is their home.
V. AN ANCIENT SONG. Vastly more ancient than any one imagined in the days of Job. The brain grows dizzy in the vain attempt to form some idea of the immeasurable antiquity that is opened up to us by the wonderful story of geology. Before all that came the first song of creation. This thought dwarfs the life of man. Job had considered of the brevity of life from another point of view, and with regard to the melancholy prospect of its termination. Now he is to look back and see how recent was his origin. This was to check dogmatic assumptions. How can the creature of a day enter into the age-long counsels of God?
VI. AS ETERNAL SONG. The far-off antiquity was joyous in the light and love of God. But the Divine light and love have not laded out of the world. God is still creating. Every fresh spring is a new birth from God, every day has its dawning, every child its gladsome youth. The theory of evolution suggests even more joyous creations in the future. But better than them all is the second creation, the regeneration of souls, for which there is joy in the presence of the angels of God (Luk 15:10). The joy of creation is the angels’ joy; that of redemption is “in the presence of the angels.” For this greater joy does not first arise in them; it springs from the very heart of God.W.F.A.
Job 38:8-11
Lessons of the sea.
Passing from the thought of the joy of creation, when the morning stars sang together, we find our thoughts directed to the sea in its power and pride, first formed by the hand of God, and ever reined in by his commanding voice.
I. GOD‘S POWER OVER WHAT IS MOST GREAT. The sea strikes our imagination chiefly because of its vastness. It only consists of water, which, when we see it in the trickling rill or hold it in the cup, is one of the most simple and seemingly harmless things in nature. But in gathering volume it gains strength. The little rill swells into the roaring torrent. The water of the sea grows into a tumult of awful forces before which the strongest man is helpless. To the ocean Byron says
“Man marks the earth with ruinhis control
Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor cloth remain
A shadow of man’s ravage, save his own,
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell’d, uncoffin’d, and unknown.”
Yet the sea is under God’s complete control Nothing is too strong for God. No might can escape his authority. Kings and emperors, men of genius and men of vast resources, are all subject to the present rule, and must all answer to the final call of God.
II. GOD‘S ORDER IN WHAT IS MOST TURBULENT. Nothing looks so wild and lawless as the sea in a storm. In the mixing of the elements, when the wind shrieks among the waves, and the waters leap up madly to the sky, we seem to be back in the confusion of Old Chaos. Yet we know that the raging sea is as truly under the laws of nature as the fields with their growing crops. Every drop of water is as absolutely obedient to law as the stars in their orderly courses. God rides upon the storm. He rules over the unruly. Wild tempests of human passion, the fury of the despot and the rage of the people, are all watched and controlled by God. When black clouds gather and angry waves rise on the sea of human life, let us remember that there is One who rules over nations and cities as well as over the wild forces of nature.
III. GOD‘S RESTRAINT OF WHAT IS MOST CHANGEFUL. The waters threaten to invade the land. But there is a limit to their progress. Each wave that tries most eagerly to outrun its predecessor is compelled to break and fall back in confusion, hissing with vexation as it is dragged down among the pebbles. The tide rises, higher and yet higher; but it has its limit. God gives man a certain scope for freedom. He can rise and fall like the wave, and ebb and flow like the tide. Sometimes he seems to have a very long leash. But it is not endless, and God has hold of it. At the right moment he will draw it in, and then all man’s pride will be of no use. Our life is like the shifting tide, like the restless wave. We are wearied with its incessant changefulness. It is like the sea crawling up on the beach, and creeping back again, moaning on the shore night and day without intermission. There is monotony even in the changes. That is just the point to be noted. They are all limited and under restraint. So is it with those of life; they are limited and restrained by the providential care of our Father.W.F.A.
Job 38:31, Job 38:32
Astrology and astronomy.
The earliest science was that which concerned itself with the movements of the heavenly bodies; until recent times this science was universally associated with the fortunes of men, and it is still thus associated by the greater part of the world. What is our relation to the heavenly bodies?
I. IN COMMON WITH THE STARS, WE ARE PART OF ONE DIVINE UNIVERSE. The study of the heavens is the study of God’s works. He dwells in the most distant systems, and equally in this familiar world. All parts of the universe obey the fixed laws of God; all move in harmony under his directing hand. Thus all the worlds are linked together. We are members of a very large “household of God.”
II. WE ARE SUBJECT TO INFLUENCES FROM THE HEAVENLY BODIES. We have given up astrology as a delusion. But we are entirely dependent for life itself upon one heavenly body, the sun. This earth is not self-sufficient. It would be frozen to death if the sun were to cease to pour into it his streams of heat. Some have connected sun-spots with social and financial crises! Although this may be but a survival of an ancient superstition, perhaps it is not wise to affirm that it must be nothing more. Now, the physical heavens have always been to us a type of the spiritual heavens. Spiritually our life is not self-contained. Astrology had this in its favour, that it taught a certain largeness of view. It did not permit a person to confine his attention to his own parish. It compelled him to look up and to look to distant things. It is our duty to “do the next thing,” and not to waste our time in star-gazing. Nevertheless, we need to be lifted in thought out of the petty round of interests that immediately concern us, even in order that we may best discharge our duty in connection with those interests. Astronomy is an elevating and enlarging science; much more so is a true theology.
III. WE CANNOT AFFECT THE HEAVENLY BODIES. They roll on their age-long courses in sublime indifference to our greatest achievements and strongest desires. Job is asked whether he can bind up the cluster or Pleiades, as he would bind up a hunch of jewels. Can he unclasp the belt of great Orion? Here man is nothing. This is a lesson in humility. Yet have we not a grand encouragement in knowing that the Lord of the starry universe is our Father who cares for us, listens to our cry, and helps our need?
IV. WE CANNOT RULE THE SEASONS. As summer came on, Job would see the brilliant little group of the Pleiades rising before the sun and the giant Orion sinking out of sight; and this would be a sign that the fruitful season was approaching. But Job could not hasten it. The farmer cannot bring abort the seasons he would choose. It is useless to murmur at their apparent inopportuneness. It is wiser to learn the lesson they teach us of our absolute dependence on God. Before these great phenomena of nature we are as nothing. Yet in the sight of God we are more than all of them; for they are material, we spiritual; they his works, we his children.W.F.A.
Job 38:41
The raven.
Job is asked to think of the raven, and consider how it is provided for. Christ answers the question: “Consider the ravens; that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds!” (Luk 12:24). But the lessons are not the same in both cases. While Job is to see the greatness of God in providence, Christ directs attention to his care and kindness in providing for his creatures. There are some characteristics of the raven that accentuate the ideas of providential power and kindness.
I. ONE OF THE LOWER CREATURES. God is not only concerned with spiritual beings He makes his power felt, and he shows his kindness in the animal world. Nothing is so insignificant as to be beneath his notice. Material wants are thought of and supplied by God. But if he supplies these wants of the lower creatures, much more will he satisfy the deeper hunger of spiritual beings.
II. A WILD BIRD. Man cares for his domestic pets, and leaves the wild creatures to shift for themselves. But these animals are not neglected by God. Though building its nest in the depths of the forest or in some remote mountain recess among desolate cliffs and crags, the raven is watched over and cared for by God. Though no meek caged bird, but a free denizen of the wilderness, it is not beyond his control. God cares for his wandering children. Wild races, savage tribes, forgotten peoples, forlorn souls, are all under the notice and care of God.
III. A REPULSIVE BIRD. The raven has no gorgeous plumage; there is no music in its croak; it feeds on carrion. Yet God provides for it. God is very wide in his sympathies. We are narrow, partial, selective. While we favour one person and slight another, the large bounty of God is extended to all his creatures. God provides for the insignificant sparrow and the croaking raven. He cares for both insignificant and objectionable men and women. We must remember, however, that the repulsiveness of the raven is not moral. Sin is worse than feeding on carrion. God provides for sinners, sending rain and sunshine alike on the good and on the evil. Nevertheless, his best blessings are reserved for those of his children who know and love him.
IV. A NATURAL CREATURE. The raven is a part of nature. It simply follows its unconscious instincts, and in doing so it finds that its wants are provided for. God who implanted instincts satisfies them. We are to follow our whole nature, not the animal part only, but also the spiritual, which in us is as natural as the animal, and more important. Then, just in proportion as we keep to the laws of our being as God has constituted us, shall we find that our real wants are provided for. But if God has given to us reason and conscience, and only instinct to the raven, we must use our higher faculties in obtaining what is needful, just as the raven uses what is highest in its nature. The raven is not fed if it lives idly like the lily, which God still cares for in its own sphere; and man will not be satisfied if he lives only like the raven. Each creature must follow its full nature.
V. A PARENT. God implants parental love. When the young ravens cry, God feeds them by leading their parents to food. God uses natural affections for the good of his creatures. He blesses children through their parents.W.F.A.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
CHAP. XXXVIII.
The Lord speaks to Job out of a whirlwind, and challenges him to answer. He convinces him of ignorance and weakness, by an enumeration of some of his mighty works.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 38:1. Then the Lord answered Job, &c. The Chaldee paraphrast, by the addition of a word, has given a very bold exposition of this text thus, Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind of grief; taking the word seaarah rendered whirlwind, not in a literal, but a metaphorical sense. As if the meaning were only this: That amidst the tumult of Job’s sorrows, God suggested to him the following thoughts, to bring him to a sense of his condition. But the generality of expositors agree to understand it of a sensible and miraculous interposition of the Deity, appearing in a cloud, the symbol of his presence, not to dispute, but absolutely to decide the controversy. It is, perhaps, of no great moment to inquire into the manner of the revelation: supposing the appearance and speech to have been nothing more than a prophetic vision; yet, if we allow that speech to be divine, its authority will be the same, whichever way we may suppose it to have been impressed on the mind of Job; whether by an immediate voice from the Deity, or in a prophetic trance. It is certain, that God, who formed our minds, can enlighten them to what degree he pleases; and whenever he inspired his prophets or holy men in an extraordinary way, with an intent of conveying through their hands some useful truths to mankind, there can be no doubt but that they in some way or other a certainty of the inspiration, and perhaps as clear a perception of the things suggested, as if they had been delivered to them by an audible and external voice. But whatever was the way of communicating, if it be possible to discover the divinity or inspiration of a writing by its own light, I think we cannot hesitate to pronounce this speech to be divine. The subject of it is, “God’s omnipotence, as displayed in the works of creation.” Many are the pens which have adorned this noble argument; philosophers, poets, and divines, have laid out all their eloquence upon it; and seemed raised above themselves whenever they have been led to touch upon this agreeable topic; but as the Holy Scriptures far surpass all human compositions in those sublime descriptions which they give us of the majesty of God, and of the wisdom and magnificence of his works; so, if we may be allowed to make the comparison, it will be difficult to find any thing in the sacred writings themselves that comes up to this speech. Who is this that darkeneth counsel, &c.?It proceeds all along in this majestic strain; and every step that we advance, there is still presented to the imagination something new, and something great and wonderful. The descriptions scattered here and there are pictures drawn in such a lively manner, and withal so just, that they might instruct a Phidias or a Raphael. But what is most observable in this speech, as it gives a life and energy to the whole, is, the distribution of it for the most part into short questions, falling thick upon each other, and darting conviction, each like a flash of lightning, with a suddenness and force impossible to be resisted. Peters. See Longinus on the Sublime, sect. 18: de Interrog.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Third Stage of the Disentanglement
Job 38:1 to Job 42:6
JEHOVAHS DISCOURSE.The aim of which is to prove that the Almighty and Only Wise God, with whom no mortal man should dispute, might also ordain suffering simply to prove and test the righteous: (Second Half of the positive solution of the problem.)
Job 38:1 to Job 40:5
First Discourse of Jehovah (together with Jobs answer): With God, the Almighty and Only Wise, no man may dispute. Job 38:1 to Job 40:5
1. Introduction: The appearance of God; His demand that Job should answer Him
Job 38:1-3
1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
22 Who is this that darkeneth counsel
by words without knowledge?
3Gird up now thy loins like a man;
for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me!
2. Gods questions touching His power revealed in the wonders of creation
Job 38:4 –Job 39:30
a. Questions respecting the process of creation:
Job 38:4-15.
4Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth?
declare, if thou hast understanding.
5Who hath laid the measure thereof, if thou knowest?
or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?
or who laid the corner-stone thereof:
7when the morning-stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8Or who shut up the sea with doors,
when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it;
10and brake up for it my decreed place,
and set bars and doors,
11and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
and caused the day spring to know his place;
13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14It is turned as clay to the seal;
and they stand as a garment.
15And from the wicked their light is withholden,
and the high arm shall be broken.
b. Respecting the inaccessible depths and heights below and above the earth, and the forces proceeding from them
Job 38:16-27
16Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
declare if thou knowest it all.
19Where is the way where light dwelleth?
and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20that thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21Knowest thou it because thou wast then born?
or because the number of thy days is great?
22Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?
or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
against the day of battle and war?
24By what way is the light parted,
which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters,
or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is;
on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27to satisfy the desolate and waste ground;
and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
c. Respecting the phenomena of the atmosphere, and the wonders of the starry heavens
Job 38:28-38
28Hath the rain a father?
or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29Out of whose womb came the ice?
and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30The waters are hid as with a stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,
or loose the bands of Orion?
32Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?
or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth.
34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go,
and say unto thee, Here we are?
36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?
or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38when the dust groweth into hardness,
and the clods cleave fast together?
d. Respecting the preservation and propagation of wild animals, especially of the lion, raven, wild goat, oryx, ostrich, war-horse, hawk, and eagle
Job 38:39 to Job 39:30
39Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion?
or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40when they couch in their dens,
and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41who provideth for the raven his food?
when his young ones cry unto God,
they wander for lack of meat.
Chap. 39
1Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?
or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2Canst thou number the months that they fulfil?
or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones,
they cast out their sorrows.
4Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn;
they go forth, and return not unto them.
5Who hath sent out the wild ass free?
or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6Whose house I have made the wilderness,
and the barren land his dwellings.
7He scorneth the multitude of the city,
neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
8The range of the mountains is his pasture,
and he searcheth after every green thing.
9Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee,
or abide by thy crib?
10Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?
or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?
or wilt thou leave thy labor to him?
12Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed,
and gather it into thy barn?
13Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?
or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
14Which leaveth her eggs in the earth,
and warmeth them in the dust,
15and forgetteth that the foot may crush them,
or that the wild beast may break them.
16She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers:
her labor is in vain without fear;
17because God hath deprived her of wisdom,
neither hath He imparted unto her understanding.
18What time she lifteth up herself on high,
she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19Hast thou given the horse strength?
hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
20Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?
the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:
he goeth on to meet the armed men.
22He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted;
neither turneth he back from the sword.
23The quiver rattleth against him,
the glittering spear and the shield.
24He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha!
and he smelleth the battle afar off,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom,
and stretch her wings toward the south?
27Doth the eagle mount up at thy command,
and make her nest on high?
28She dwelleth and abideth on the rock,
upon the crag of the rock and the strong place.
29From thence she seeketh the prey,
and her eyes behold afar off.
30Her young ones also suck up blood;
and where the slain are, there is she.
3. Conclusion of the discourse, together with Jobs answer, announcing his humble submission
Job 40:1-5
Chap. 40.
1And Jehovah answered Job, and said,
2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him?
he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
4Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee?
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
5Once have I spoken, but I will not answer:
yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The appearance of God, which Job had again and again expressly wished for, a wish which recurs in Job 23:3 seq., and especially towards the end of his last discourse (Job 31:35), and for which Elihus preaching of doctrine and of repentance had prepared the waythis appearance now takes place during that storm, of fearful beauty, which had supplied the last of Elihus discourses with the material for its impressive descriptions of the greatness of God in His works. This Divine manifestation, which is not to be understood as taking place corporeally in a human form; see on Job 38:1corresponds moreover to the preparatory representations proceeding from Elihu in this respect, that like those representations it bears testimony at the same time in behalf of Job and against him. It testifies for Job in that it brings about the actual realization of the ardent longing which he had so often uttered, and in that it is not accompanied by that terrifying and crushing effect on the bold challenger which he himself had several times dreaded as possible (Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Job 23:6), and had on that account deprecated. It testifies against him by means of the deep humiliation which the majesty of the Almighty occasions to him, by means of the consciousness wrought within him of his own insignificance and limitation in contrast with this fulness of power and wisdom, and by means of the principle which in this very way is brought forth into full expression, and which is expressly acknowledged by him at the close of this first address of Jehovahthe principle, namely, that from henceforth he must lay aside entirely all condemnation of Gods ways, and be willing to submit himself in absolute humility to His decree.Again the rich illustration, elaborated in the most elevated style of poetic discourse, which in this first address God gives of His all-transcending majesty in contrast with mans insignificance (chs. Job 38:4 to Job 39:30) is also such as testifies at once for and against Job, and thus continues with increased emphasis the strain already begun by Elihu (especially in his fourth discourse). On the one side it serves to confirm the previous descriptions given by Job himself of Gods greatness, wonderful power, and plenitude of wisdom; on the other side it transcends the same in the incomparably more elevated and impressive power of its representation, under the influence of which the last remainder of insolent pride still adhering to Job must of necessity dissolve and disappear. The discourse forms one well-conceived, harmoniously constructed whole, consisting of two principal divisions of almost equal length, of which the first (Job 38:4-38) refers to the creation and to inanimate nature, the second (chs. Job 38:39; Job 39:30) to the animal kingdom, as sources of evidence proving the divine majesty. It is not necessary to resolve these two divisions into two separate discourses, as is done by Kster and Schlottmann, the former of whom even deems it necessary to resort to the violent operation of transposing the conclusion in Job 40:1-5, and putting it after Job 38:36.Each of these divisions may be subdivided into three strophegroups, or long strophes, consisting of 1112 verses each, which may again be subdivided, according to the subjects described, into subordinate strophes or paragraphs, now longer and now shorter. Of these simple, short strophes the three long strophes of the first principal division (a, b and c) contain respectively three to four, whereas the last two long strophes, at least of the second chief division, which dwell on themes derived from the animal world, consist of but two short strophes respectively.
2. The Introduction: Job 38:1-3.Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm.The answering or replying refers back to Jobs repeated challenges, and especially to the last, found in Job 31:35 : Let the Almighty answer me! (here, as also in Job 40:6 with medial ; comp. Ewald, 9, 11, c [Green, 4, a]; which the Kri in both cases sets aside) out of the storm (thunderstorm); not (as Luther translates) out of a storm. It is beyond question an unsatisfactory explanation of the definite article to say that as applied to it means that storm, which always, or as a rule, is wont to announce and to accompany the appearance of God, whenever He draws nigh to the earth in majesty and in the character of a judge (Dillmann). In view of the way in which the most ancient Old Testament sources describe the theophanies of the patriarchal age in general, this generic rendering of the article is not at all suitable (comp. also 1Ki 19:11 : the Lord was not in the wind). The only explanation of the here, as well as in Job 40:6, which is linguistically and historically satisfactory, is that which finds in it a reference to Elihus description of a violent thunder-storm in his last discourse (Job 36:37)a reference which at the same time confirms not only our interpretation of this discourse given above, but also its genuineness, and the authenticity of Elihus discourses in general. Placing ourselves (along with the commentators cited above on Job 36.) on this, the only correct point of view, we see at once the impossibility of viewing Gods speaking out of the storm as taking place through a corporeal appearance of Jehovah in human form. On the contrary, precisely in the same way that Elihus description pre-supposed only an invisible approach and manifestation of God in the storm-clouds, in their thunder and lightning, so also here a similar presence and self-manifestation of the Highest is intended, taking place under the veil of those mighty phenomena of nature; hence only a symbolical, not a corporeal appearance of God. For this reason we may with some propriety describe the solution of the whole problem of our poem which is introduced by this divine appearance as a solution in the consciousness (Delitzsch). In any case the theophany which effects it is to be conceived of as one in which God drew near to the earth veiled, perceptible indeed to the ear, and in His shining veil visible to the eye, but nevertheless veiled, and not presenting a bodily appearance (Ewald). [In accordance with the explanation given above of Job 37:21-22, the out of which Jehovah speaks is not to be limited to the storm while raging, but refers rather to the dark materials of the storm now pacified, the mountainous cloud-masses in the north, which having spent their thunder, were now looming up in terrible majesty, while their open rifts disclosed the golden irradiation of the sunlight, a scene we may suppose not unlike that described by Wordsworth near the close of the Second Book of the Excursion. Such a scene, just preceded as it had been by the awe-inspiring phenomena of the storm at its height would fitly usher in the Divine Presence, from which the words which are to end the controversy are about to proceed.E.]
Job 38:2. Who is this that darkens counsel: lit. who is this, who is here ( , comp. Gesenius, 122 [ 120], 2) darkening counsel? without the article (instead of , or instead of ) is used intentionally in order to describe that which is darkened by Job qualitatively, as something which is a counsel (or a plan), as opposed to a whim, or a cruel caprice, such as Job had represented Gods dealings with him as being. [Two things are implied in what is here said to Job: that his suffering is founded on a plan of Gods, and that he by his perverse speeches is guilty of distorting and mistaking this plan (in representing it as caprice without a plan). Dillm. Jobs ignorant words had darkened Gods plan by obscuring or keeping out of sight its intelligent benevolent features]. The participle is used rather than the Perf., because down to the very end of his speaking Job had misunderstood Gods counsel, and even during Elihus discourses he had recalled nothing of what he had said in this particular. For to the instruction and reproofs of this last speaker he had made no other response than persistent profound silence. He actually appeared accordingly at the moment when Jehovah himself began to speak as still a darkener of counsel, however true it might be that his conversion to a better frame of mind had already begun inwardly to take place under the influence of the addresses of his predecessor. This participle accordingly furnishes no argument against the genuineness of chap. 32-37. (against Ewald, Delitzsch, Dillmann, etc.): and all the less seeing that a direct interruption of Job at the moment when he had last spoken contentiously and censoriously in respect to Gods plan (Job 31:35 seq.) by the appearance of God cannot be intended even if these chapters were in fact not genuine (comp. remarks on that passage). And especially would the assumption that the interpolator of the Elihu discourses had been prompted by this expression, , purposely to avoid introducing Job within the limits of that section as making any confession whatever of his penitence, presuppose on the part of the interpolator a degree of artistic deliberation, nay more, of crafty cunning absolutely without a parallel in the entire Bible literature.
Job 38:3. Gird up now thy loins like a mani.e., in preparation for the contest with me (comp. Job 12:21). According to b this contest is to consist in a series of questions to be addressed by God to Job and to be answered by the latter; hence formally or apparently in the very thing which Job himself had in Job 13:22 wished for; in reality however God so overwhelms him by the humiliating contents of these questions that the absolute inequality of the contending parties and Jobs guilt become apparent at once.
3. The argument: a. Gods questions respecting the process of creation: Job 38:4-15. [This division consists of three minor strophes of four verses each, the fourth verse in each forming, as Schlottmann observes, a climax in the thought].
a. Questions touching the foundation of the earth: Job 38:4-7.
Job 38:4. Where wast thou when I founded the earth? (A question similar to that of Eliphaz above: Job 15:7 seq.). Declare it if thou hast understandingto wit, of the way in which this process was carried on. This same How of the process of founding the earth is also the unexpressed object of declare! In respect , to have an understanding of anything, comp. Isa 29:24; Pro 4:1; 2Ch 2:12.
Job 38:5. Who hath fixed its measure that thou shouldest know it? , not: for thou surely knowest it (Schlottmann) [Good, Lee, Barnes, Carey, Renan, Elzas], but so that thou shouldest know it ( as in Job 3:12). [Dillmann objects to the rendering, for thou knowest, that the verb should be in that case ; an objection which may also be urged against the rendering of E. V., Sept., Vulg., Umbreit, Rosenmller, Bernard, if thou knowest. Compare in Job 38:4 b.]. The inquires not after the person of the Architect, the same being sufficiently known, but rather after His character, and that of His activity:what kind of a being must He be who could fix the earths measure like that of a building? (Dillmann).
Job 38:6. Whereon were its pillars sunkeni.e., on what kind of a foundation? lit. pedestals, comp. Exo 26:19 seq.; Son 5:15. The meaning of the question is of course that already indicated in Job 9:6; Job 26:7, according to which passages the earth hangs free in space. The question in b refers to the same thing: or who laid down her corner-stone? where the laying down (, jacere) of the corner-stone points to the wonderful ease with which the entire work was accomplished.
Job 38:7. When the morning-stars sang out together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.The Infinitive is continued in b by the finite verb, as in Job 38:13, and often. The whole description determines the time of the fact of the founding of the earth ( ) spoken of in Job 38:6. The founding is here set forth as a festal celebration (comp. Ezr 3:10; Zec 4:7) attended by all the heavenly hosts, which are here mentioned by the double designation sons of God (comp. Job 1:6; Job 2:1) and morning stars, i.e., creatures of such glory, that they surpass all other creatures of God in the same way that the brightness of the morning-star (= , Isa 14:12, Lucifer) eclipses all the other stars. As another example of this generic generalized form of expression here found in the word morning-stars, compare the of Isa 13:10, i.e., the Orion-like constellations. The expression morning-stars moreover is scarcely to be understood as a tropical designation of that which is literally designated by the expression sons of God, that is to say, the angels (Hirzel, Dillmann [Carey, Wemyss, Barnes] etc.). Rather are the angels and stars mentioned together here in precisely the same way that in Job 15:15 heaven and the holy ones of God are mentioned together, this being in accordance with the mysterious connection which the Holy Scriptures generally set forth as existing between the starry and angelic worlds (comp. also on Job 25:6). Such a representation of the brightly shining and joyously jubilating stars (comp. Psa 19:2; Psa 148:3) as present when the earth was founded by God by no means contradicts the Mosaic account of creation in Genesis 1. where verse 14 (according to which the sun, moon and stars were not made until the fourth day) is assuredly to be interpreted phenomenally, not as descriptive of the literal fact.
. Questions respecting the shutting up of the sea within bounds: Job 38:8-11.
Job 38:8. And (who) shut up the sea with doors?, which is attached to in Job 38:6, is used with reference to the waters of the sea in the newly-created earth, which at first wildly swelling and raging had in consequence to be enclosed, penned up, as it were, behind the doors (comp. Job 3:23) of a prison (comp. Gen 1:2; Gen 1:9 seq.). The second member introduces a clause determining the time of the first which continues to the end of Job 38:11.When it burst forth, came out from the wombi.e., out of the interior of the earth (comp. Job 38:16). The verb , which is used in Psa 22:10 [9] of the bursting forth of the ftus out of the womb, is explained by the less bold word (which follows the Infinitive in the same way as the finite verb above in Job 38:7). The representation of the earth as the womb, out of which the waters of the sea burst forth, seems to contradict the modern geological theory, which on the contrary makes the earth to emerge out of the primitive sea, which enveloped and covered everything. But the science of geology recognizes not only elevations, but depressions by sinking of land or mountain masses (comp. Friedr. Pfaff, Das Wasser, Munich, 1870, p. 250 seq.). Especially do the recent Deep Sea Explorations, as they are called, seem to be altogether favorable to the essential correctness of the biblical view presented here and also in Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2, which regards the interior of the earth as originally occupied by water (comp. Pfaff, p. 90 seq.; Hermann Gropp, Untersuchungen und Erfahrungen ber das Verhalten des Grundwassers und der Quellen, Lippstadt, 1868).
Job 38:9. When I made the cloud its garment, etc. A striking poetic description of that which in Gen 2:6 seq. is narrated in historic prose. In respect to , wrapping, swaddling-cloth, comp. the corresponding verb in Eze 16:4. [By this expression the ocean is obviously compared to a babe. God thus in grand language expresses how manageable was the ocean to Him. Carey].
Job 38:10. And brake for it (lit. over it) my bound, etc. The verb which is not here equivalent to , to appoint, as Arnheim, Wette, Hahn [Lee, Bernard, Noyes, Conant, Wemyss, Barnes, Renan] think, [or according to Rosenmller, Umbreit, Carey, to span, after the Arabic] vividly portrays the abrupt fissures of the sea-coast, which is often so high and steep. Comp. the Homeric . On , bound, comp. Job 26:10; Pro 8:29; Jer 5:22. On b comp. Job 38:8 a.
Job 38:11. Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further ( scil. ); here let one set against the pride of thy waves, scil. a dam, a bound. The verb , let one place is used passively [and impersonally] for let there be placed (comp. Gesen. 137 [ 134]). It is not necessary, with the Vulg. and Pesh. to read , here shalt thou stay the pride of thy waves, or, with Codurcus, Ewald, and others to make the subj. (in the sense of this place). On the pride of the waves=proud waves, comp. Psa 89:10 [9].
. Questions respecting the regular advance of the light of morning upon the earth: Job 38:12-15. [The transition from the sea to the morning is not so abrupt as it appears. For the ancients supposed that the sun sets in the ocean, and at his rising comes out of it again. Noyes. Here with genuine poetry the dawn sending forth its rays upon the earth immediately after creation is represented in its regular recurrence and in its moral significance. This member accordingly forms the transition to the following strophe; it is however first of all the logical conclusion of the first. Schlottmann].
Job 38:12. Hast thou since thy birth (lit. from thy days) commanded the morning (i.e., to arise at its time), made known to the dawn its place, (lit. made the dawn to know its place). Instead of the Kthibh, it is certainly admissible to read with the Kri ; the anarthrous of the first member by no means requires us to remove the definite article from the dawn, which is always only one. [The mention of its place here seems to be an allusion to the fact that it does not always occupy the same position. At one season of the year it appears on the equator, at another north, at another south of it, and is constantly varying its position. Yet it always knows its place. It never fails to appear where by the long-observed laws it ought to appear. Barnes].
Job 38:13. That it may take hold on the borders (or fringes) of the earth. The surface of the earth is conceived of as an outspread carpet, of the ends of which the dawn as it were takes hold all together as it rises suddenly and spreads itself rapidly (comp. Job 37:3; Psa 139:9), and this with the view of shaking out of it the wicked, the evil-doers who, dreading the light, ply their business upon it by night; i.e., of removing them from it at once. The passage contains an unmistakable allusion to Jobs own previous description in Job 24:13 seq. God, anticipating herein in a certain measure the contents of His second discourse, would give Job to understand how through the original order of creation as established by Himself human wrong is ever annulled again) Ewald. Comp. also Job 5:15).
Job 38:14. That it may change like signet-clayi.e., the earth ( , Herod. II. 38), which during the night is, as it were, a shapeless mass, like unsealed wax, but which, in the bright light of the morning, reveals the entire beauty of its changing forms, of its heights and depths, etc. The subj. of is to be sought neither in the morning and day-spring of Job 38:12 (Schultens, Rosenmller), which is altogether too far removed from this clause, nor in the borders of Job 38:13 (Ewald), but in the particular things found on the earths surface. The effect of the morning on them is that they set themselves forth (or, all sets itself forth) like a garment, i.e., in all the manifold variegated forms and colors of gay apparel.
Job 38:15. From the wicked their light is withheldi.e., the darkness of the night with which they are so familiar [and which is to them what light is to others], comp. Job 24:16 seq. (Delitz.: the light to which they are partial [ihr Lieblingslicht]). And the uplifted arm (is) brokeni.e., figuratively, in the sense that the light of the day compels it to desist from the violence, to fulfil which it had raised itself (comp. Job 22:8).
4. Continuation: b. Questions respecting the heights and depths above and below the earth, and the natural forces proceeding from them: Job 38:16-27.
a. The depths under the earth: Job 38:16-18.
Job 38:16. Hast thou come to the well-springs of the sea?i.e., to those fountains of the deep of which the Mosaic account of the Flood makes mention; Gen 7:11; Gen 8:2 (comp. above on Job 38:8). The phrase , found only here, is not, with Olshausen and Hitzig, to be changed into , for the root is evidently only a harsher variation of , and so beyond a doubt expresses the notion of welling, springing. Thus correctly the LXX: . [Jarchi, followed by Bernard, Lee, (and see Ewald and Schlottmann) defines to mean entanglements, mazes (comp. ); but this meaning is less probable than the one more commonly received after the Sept.].In respect to in b, comp. above, Job 8:8; Job 11:7.
Job 38:17. Have the gates of death opened themselves to thee, etc.Comp. Job 26:6, where the mention of the realm of the dead follows that of the sea precisely as here. On death, as meaning the realm of the dead, comp. Job 28:22; and on in the same sense, see Job 10:21 seq.
Job 38:18. Hast thou made an examination unto the breadths of the earth. signifies, as also in Job 32:12, to attend to anything strictly, to take a close observation of anything, the indicating that this observation is complete, that it penetrates through to the extreme limit. The interrogative is omitted before , in order to avoid the concurrence of the two aspirates (Ewald, 324, b). On b comp. Job 38:4, refers not to the earth, but in the neuter sense, to the things spoken of in the questions just asked. [To see the force of this (question), we must remember that the early conception of the earth was that it was a vast plain, and that in the time of Job its limits were unknown. Barnes. Too much stress is commonly laid on the fact that when the poet wrote this, only a small part of the earth was known. Unquestionably the consciousness of the limitation of mans vision was in some respects strengthened by that, fact; but that which is properly the main point here, to wit, the inability of man, at one glance to compass the whole earth and all its hidden depths retains all its ancient stress in connection with the widest geographical acquaintance with the surface of the earth. Schlottmann].
. The heights of light above the earth: Job 38:19-21.
Job 38:19. What is the way (thither, where) the light dwells.On the relative clause comp. Ges. 123 [ 121], 3, c. On b, comp. Job 28:1-12. The meaning of the whole verse is as follows: Both light and darkness have a first starting point or a final outlet, which is unapproachable to man, and unattainable to his researches. [As in Genesis 1., the light is here regarded as a self-subsistent, natural force, independent of the heavenly luminaries by which it is transmitted: and herein modern investigation agrees with the direct observations of antiquity. Schlottm.]
Job 38:20. That Thou mightest bring them (light and darkness) to their bound [lit. it to its bound, the subjects just named considered separately]. as above in Job 38:5. lit. to bring, to fetch; comp. Gen 27:13; Gen 42:16; Gen 48:9.And that thou shouldest know the paths of their house, i.e. to their home, their abiding place (comp. Job 28:23). It is possible that by this knowing about the paths of their house is meant taking back [escorting home] the light and darkness, just as in the first member mention is made of fetching, bringing them away; for the repetition of seems to indicate that the meaning of the two halves of the verse is not identical (Dillmann).
Job 38:21 is evidently intended ironically: Thou knowest, for then wast thou born, i.e. at the time when light and darkness were created, and their respective boundaries were determined. The meaning is essentially the same as in Job 15:7. On the Imperf. with comp. Gesenius, 127 [ 125], 4, a; Ewald, 136, b.And the number of thy days is many.The attraction in connection with as in Job 15:20; Job 21:21. [The interrogative rendering of this verse, as in E. V.: Knowest thou it, because thou-wast then born? etc., is excessively flat. It may be undesirable, as Barnes says, to represent God as speaking in the language of irony and sarcasm, unless the rules of interpretation imperatively demand it. But humiliating irony surely accords better with the dignity and character of the speaker, as well as with the connection, than pointless insipidity.E.]
. Snow and hail, light and wind: Job 38:22-24.
Job 38:22. Hast thou come to the treasuries of the snow? Comp. on Job 37:9. The figure of the treasuries (, magazines, storehouses) vividly represents the immense quantities in which snow and hail are wont to fall on the earth; comp. Psa 135:7.
Job 38:23 gives the purpose and rule of the Divine Government of the world, which snow and hail are constrained to subserve.Which I have reserved for the time of distress.Such an (comp. Job 15:24; Job 36:16) may be caused in the east not only by a hailstorm (Exo 9:22; Hag 2:17; Sir 39:29), but even by a fall of snow. In February, 1860, innumerable herds of sheep, goats and camels, and also many men, were destroyed in Hauran by a snow-storm, in which snow fell in enormous quantities, as described by Muhammed el-Chatib el-Bosrawi in a writing still in the possession of Consul Wetzstein (Delitzsch).The second member refers to such cases as Jos 10:11 (comp. Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:13; Psa 68:15 [14]; 1Sa 7:10; 2Sa 23:20), where violent hail or thunder-storms contributed to decide the issues of war in accordance with the divine decrees.
Job 38:24. What is the way to where the light is parted [where] the east wind spreadeth over the earth.The construction as in Job 38:19 a. The light and the east wind (i.e. a violent wind, a storm in general, comp. Job 27:21) are here immediately joined together, because the course of both these agents defies calculation, and because they are incredibly swift in their movements [possibly also because they both proceed from the same point of the compass]. scarcely denotes the lightning, as in Job 37:3 seq. (Schlottmann), which is first spoken of in Job 38:25, and then again in Job 38:35, and to which the verb , divides, scatters itself, is less suitable than to the bright day-light (comp. Job 38:13 seq.) In respect to , se diffundere, comp. Exo 5:12; 1Sa 13:8. [According to the E. V. the light is the subject of both members: By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth. But this construction is less probable and suitable than that given above, which recognizes the light as the subject of the first member, and the east-wind of the second.E.]
d. The rain-storm and the lightning considered as divinely appointed phenomena which, while they inspire terror, are productive of beneficent results: Job 38:25-27.
Job 38:25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the rain-torrent, i.e., conducted the rain through the thick masses of clouds to specific portions of the thirsty earth. , which of itself means flood, torrent of waters in general, is used here of a down-pouring beneficent torrent of rain [the earthward direction assigned to the water-spouts is likened to an aqueduct coming downwards from the sky; Delitzsch], and hence in a different sense from e.g., Psa 32:6. The second member is taken verbally from Job 28:26.
Job 38:26. That it may rain on the land where no man is; lit. to cause it to rain, etc. The subject of is of course God who has been already indicated by in Job 38:25. That it should rain on a land of no-man (the construction as in Job 10:22), i.e., on a land destitute of men, not artificially irrigated and tilled by men, is here set forth as a wise and loving providential arrangement of Gods. [God lays stress on this circumstance in order to humiliate man, and to show him that the earth was made neither by him, nor for him. Renan. Man who is so prone to put his own interests above everything else, and to judge everything from his own human point of view, is here most strikingly reminded, how much wider is the range of the Divine vision, and how God in the exercise of His loving solicitude remembers even those regions, which receive no care from man, so that even there the possibility of life and growth is secured to His creatures. Dillmann].
Job 38:27 then states more definitely this beneficent purpose of God: to satisfy the wild and wilderness, ( as in Job 30:3) [the desert is thus like a thirsty pilgrim; it is parched, and thirsty, and sad, and it appeals to God, and He meets its wants and satisfies it, Barnes], and to make the green herb to sprout; lit. to make the place (the place of going forth, , comp. Job 28:1) of the green herb to sprout.
5. Continuation. c. Questions respecting the phenomena of the atmosphere and the wonders of the starry heavens: Job 38:28-38.
. Respecting rain, dew, ice, and hoar-frost: Job 38:28-30.
Job 38:28-29. Is there a father to the rain? As this member, together with the following inquires (through the formula ) after a male progenitor for the atmospheric precipitations of moisture, so does Job 38:29 inquire after the mother of ice and hoar-frost, for the formula in b also refers to the agency of a mother, as well as the question in a. This variation of gender in the representation is to be explained by the fact that rain and dew come from heaven, the abode of God, while ice and hoarfrost come out of the earth, out of the secret womb of the waters (verse 8). in Job 38:28 b are not reservoirs of dew (Gesenius), for which the verb would not be suitable, but drops (lit. balls, globules; LXX.: ) of dew, whether the root be associated with , volvere (which is the view commonly held), or with the Arab, agal, retinere, colligere (so Delitzsch).
Job 38:30 describes more specifically the wonderful process which takes place when water is frozen into ice. The water hardens like stone. , lit. they hide themselves, draw themselves together, thicken (a related form is , whence , curdled milk). The same representation of the process of freezing as producing contraction or compression (a representation which in the strict physical sense is not quite correct, seeing that water on the contrary always expands in freezingcomp. Pfaff, in the work cited above, pp. 103, 189 seq.), was given above by Elihu, chapter Job 37:10, not however without indicating in what sense he intended this compression, a sense which is by no means incorrect; see on the passage. A similar intimation is conveyed here by the second member: and the face of the deep cleaves together, and thus constitutes a firm solid mass (continuum), instead of fluctuating to and fro, as in the fluid state. as in Job 41:8 [17]; comp. the Greek .
. Respecting the control of the stars, and of their influence upon earth: Job 38:31-33.
Job 38:31. Canst thou bind the bands of the Pleiades? here not = amnitates, as in 1Sa 15:32, [E. V., sweet influences, referring to the softening and gladdening influences of spring-time, when that constellation makes its appearance] but vincula (LXX.: ; Targ. =) as appears from to bind, and the parallel in b, and not less from the testimony of all the ancient versions, of Talmudic usage, and of the Masora. It is to be derived accordingly by transposition from , to bind (comp. Job 31:36) not from . The arranging of the stars of the Pleiades ( as in Job 9:9) in a dense group is with poetic boldness described here as the binding of a fillet, or of a cluster of diamonds. (See a similar conception copied out of Persian poets in Ideler, Sternennamen, p. 147).Or loose the bands of Orion, so that this brilliant constellation would fall apart, or fall down from heaven, to which the presumptuous giant is chained (comp. on Job 9:9). The explanation preferred by Dillmann is admissible, and even perhaps, in view of the etymon of , to be preferred to the one more commonly adopted: Or canst thou loose the lines [GermanZugseile, draw-lines, traces, the cords by which he is drawn up to his place, suggested by ] of Orion (the giant suspended in heaven), and thus canst thou now raise, and now lower him in the firmament? The reference of the passage to the Star Suhl = Canopus (Saad., Gekat., Abulwalid, comp. also Delitzsch) is uncertain, and conflicts with the well-known signification of , which is also firmly established by Job 9:9.
Job 38:32. Canst thou bring forth the bright stars in their time ( as in Job 5:26; Psa 104:27; Psa 145:15). The word , to which such a variety of interpretations have been given, which already the LXX. did not understand, and accordingly rendered by [followed herein by E. V., Mazzaroth], seems to be most simply explained (with Dillmann) as a contracted form of , from , splendere, and to mean accordingly the brightly shining, brilliant stars, in which case we may assume the planets to be intended, particularly such as are pre-eminently brilliant, as Venus, Jupiter, Mars, (comp. Vulg., Luciferum) [Frst: Jupiter, the supreme god of good fortune]. The being brought forth in their time seems to suit better these wandering stars than e.g., the two crowns, the Northern and Southern (Cocceius, Eichhorn, Michaelis, Ewald, by comparison with ) [these constellations being, as Dillmann objects, too obscure and too little known], or the twelve signs of the Zodiac (so the majority of moderns, on the basis of the very precarious identification of with , 2Ki 23:5), or the twenty-eight stations (Arab. menzil) of the moon (so A. Weber, in his Abhandlung ber die vedischen Nachrichten von den naxatra, oder Mondstationen, 1860), or, finally, any prophetic stars whatever, astra, prsaga, prmonentia (Gesenius, who refers the word to in the Arabic signification).And guide the Bear (lit., the she-bear, , comp. Job 9:9) together with his [lit., her] young?i.e., the constellation of the Bear with the three stars forming its tail, which are regarded as its children (, in Arab. ); see on Job 9:9. The evening star (vesperus, Vulg.) is far from being intended, and equally so the comparatively unimportant constellation Capella (Eichhorn, Bibliothek, Vol. VII., p. 429).
Job 38:33. Knowest thou the laws of heaven?i.e., the laws which rule the course of the stars, the succession of seasons and periods, annual and diurnal, etc., (comp. Gen 1:14 seq.; Job 8:22).Or dost thou establish its dominion over the earth?i.e., dost thou ordain and confirm its influence (that of heaven, here personified as a king; comp. Ewald, 318 a) on earthly destinies. , dominion, is construed [with ] after the analogy of the verbs , .
. Respecting the Divine control of clouds and lightnings: Job 38:34; Job 38:36. On Job 38:34 b, comp. Job 22:11 b (which is here verbally repeated). On Job 38:35 comp. Psa 104:3; Psa 33:9.
. Additional questions relating to the clouds, and their agencies: Job 38:36-38.
Job 38:36. Who put wisdom in the dark clouds, who gave understanding to that which appears in the sky [Germ. Luftgebilde atmospheric phenomena]; i.e., who has given to them an intelligent arrangement and significance, , from , signifies here as in Psa 51:8, dark, hidden places, meaning here, as the connection shows, dark clouds, black cloud-layers (Eichhorn, Umbr., Hirz., Stickel, Hahn, Dillmann, etc., by comparison with the Arabic , and its derivative nouns. In that case, from the Hebr. and Aram, , to see, (comp. and ), signifies appearance, phenomenon, form, here according to the parallelism of the first member, a form, phenomenon of the atmosphere, or the clouds. It can scarcely mean (the rainbow being certainly called , Gen 9:13) an appearance of light, fiery meteor (Ewald, Hahn), or the full moon, (so Dillmann, at least tentatively, assuming at the same time that refers to the dark phases of the moon). At all events the explanation which refers both parallel expressions to phenomena of the cloud-heavens is the only one suited to the context (as was the case with the meteorological sense of gold in Job 37:22; whereas on the contrary the interpretation long ago adopted by the Vulg., the 2d Targ., and many Rabbis [and E. V.] and recently by Delitzsch [Gesenius, Noyes, Conant, Barnes, Wordsworth, Schlottmann, Renan], according to which means the reins, or entrails, (comp. Psa 51:8 [6]), and the cock [as the weather-prophet among animals, Delitzsch: while Gesenius, Schlottmann, Noyes, Conant, Wordsworth, Renan, as also E. V., render by heart, intelligence] yields a meaning that is singular enough, and which is made no better when the cock is regarded as speculator et prco auror, as ales diei nuntius (Prudentius), or as a weather-prophet (after Cicero, de divin. II., 26), and the reins are supposed to be mentioned because of their power of foretelling the weather and presaging the future. Still more singular and opposed to the context is the rendering of the LXX.: [And who has given to woman skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery]? They seem to have read in the first member , in the second , embroidering women, or to embroider.
Job 38:37. Who numbers the clouds in Wisdom. as elsewhere the Kal: to number (Job 28:27). And the bottles of the heavenswho inclines themi.e., who causes them to be emptied, to pour out their fluid contents. The comparison of the clouds, laden with rain, to bottles, or pitchers occurs frequently also in Arabic poets (see Schultens on the passage). [E. V. Who can stay the bottles of heaven? which is less suitable to , and to the context. Jerome, taking, to mean harps, renders uniquely: et concentrum clorum quis dormire faciet?]
Job 38:38. When the dust flows together into a molten mass. , fused, solid metal, a word which is to be explained in accordance with Job 37:18 (not in accordance with Job 22:16). here, as in 1Ki 22:35, to be rendered intransitively: When the dust pours itself, i.e., when it flows, runs, as it were, together. In respect to , clods, comp. Job 21:33.
6. Continuation and conclusion, d. Questions respecting the propagation and preservation of wild beasts as objects of the creative power and wise providence of God. chap. 3839:30. a. The lion, the raven, the wild goat, the stag, and the wild ass: Job 38:39 to Job 39:8.
Job 38:39. Dost thou hunt the prey for the lioness, and dost thou appease the craving of the young lions?Respecting the lions names, and , comp. on Job 4:11. To appease (lit. to fill) the craving ( ), means the same as to fill the soul ( ), Pro 6:30.
Job 38:40. When they crouch in the dens. On comp. Psa 10:10. On lustra, comp. Psa 104:22. In respect to in b, comp. , used elsewhere in the sense of thicket, Psa 10:9; Jer 25:38. On , which gives the object of the crouching and sitting [or dwelling], comp. Job 31:9 b.
Job 38:41. Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry unto God, [wander without food?The interrogation properly extends over the whole verse, not, as in E. V., over the first member only, which makes the remainder of the verse meaningless.E.]. , to prepare, to provide, as in Job 27:16 seq. when, as in Job 38:40 a. The ravens are introduced here, as in the parallel passages, Psa 147:9; Luk 12:24, as objects of Gods fatherly care, rather than any other description of birds, because they are specially noticeable among birds in search of food, by reason of their hoarse cries. Observe moreover the contrast, which is surely intentional between the mighty monarch of the beasts, which in Job 38:39 seq. is put at the head of beasts in search of food, and the contemptibly small, insignificant, and uncomely raven. [Jewish and Arabian writers tell strange stories of this bird, and its cruelty to its young; hence, say some, the Lords express care for the young ravens, after they had been driven out of the nests by the parent birds; but this belief in the ravens want of affection to its young is entirely without foundation. To the fact of the raven being a common bird in Palestine, and to its habit of flying restlessly about in constant search for food to satisfy its voracious appetite, may perhaps be traced the reason for its being selected by our Lord and the inspired writers as the especial object of Gods providing care. Smiths Bib. Dict. Art. Raven.]
Job 39:1-4 : Propagation and increase of the wild goats (rock-goats, ibices) and stags.
Job 39:1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bear? observest thou the travail of the hinds? Inf. Pilel of , to be in labor, (comp. the Pulal in Job 15:7), here the object of , to which verb the influence of the before in the first member extends.
Job 39:2. Dost thou number the months which they (must) fulfil;i.e., until they bring forth, hence their period of gestation. [The point of the question can scarcely be that Job could have no knowledge whatever of the matters here referred to, but that he could have no such knowledge as would qualify him to stand toward these creatures at such a time in the place of God; or, as Carey expresses it: Can you keep an exact register of all this, and exercise such providential care over these creatures, the mountain goats and hinds, as to preserve them from dangers during the time of gestation, and then deliver them at the proper period?E.]. In the second member , with full-toned suffix, is used for ; comp. Rth 1:19, and Gesenius, 91 [ 89], 1, Rem. 2. [Green, 104, g].
Job 39:3. They bow themselves (comp. 1Sa 4:19), they let their young ones break through (lit. cleave; comp. Job 16:13), they cast away their pains;i.e., the fruit of their pains, their ftus, for this is what here signifies, not the after-pains, as Hirzel and Schlottmann think. Comp. = edere ftum, in Euripides, Ion 45; also examples of the same phraseology from the Arabic in Schultens on the passage. It will be seen further that (instead of which Olshausen needlessly conjectures after Job 21:10) forms a paronomasia with .
Job 39:4. Their young ones become strong (, lit. to grow fat, pinguescere), grow up in the desert.=, or , as often in the Targ. [a meaning more suitable to the context than that of E. V. with corn ]. They go away, and return not to them;i.e., to the parents, however might also be explained after Job 6:19; Job 24:16 as Dat. commodi: sibi=sui juris esse volentes (Schultens, Delitzsch).
Vers 58. The wild ass, introduced as an example of many beasts, the life of which is characterized by unrestricted liberty, defying and mocking all human control and nurture.
Job 39:5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed the bands of the fugitive?The words (Arab, fer; comp. above Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5) and denote one and the same animal, the wild ass or onager (the of the LXX., the Kulan of the eastern Asiatics of to-day), which is characterized by the first name as the swift runner, by the latter (which in Aramaic, and particularly in the Targum is the common name), as the shy, fleeing one. As to the predicate accusative , free, set loose, comp. Deu 15:12; Jer 34:14. As to the second member, comp. Job 38:31.
Job 39:6. Whose home [lit. house] I have made the desert, and his abode the salt-steppe.The word salt-steppe () which is here used as parallel to waste, desert (, Job 24:5 b), stands in Psa 107:34 as the opposite of (comp. Jdg 9:45, where mention is made of sowing a destroyed city with salt). On the preference of the wild ass for saline plants, and on his disposition to take up his abode in salt marshes, comp. Oken, Allg. Naturgesch. Vol. VII., p. 1230.
Job 39:7. [He laughs at the tumult (E. V. multitude, but the parallelism favors tumult) of the city], the drivers shouts he hears not;i.e., he flees from the control of the drivers, to which the tamed ass is subjected. On , comp. Job 36:29.
Job 39:8. He ranges through the mountains as his pasture.So according to the reading (Imperf. of , investigare), which is attested by almost all the ancient versions, by the LXX, Vulg., Targum. The Masoretic reading is either (with the Pesh. Le Clerc, etc.) to be taken as a variant of , abundantia, or as a derivative of with the meaning, that which is searched out (investigatum, investigabile). But the statement that the abundance of the mountains is the pasture of the wild ass would be at variance with the fact in respect to the life of these animals, which inhabit the bare mountain-steppes (comp. Oken in the work cited above). On the other hand we should expect the normal form , following the analogy of such words as to have an active rather than a passive signification. however can scarcely mean circle, compass, [E. V. range] here (Hahn).
. The oryx and ostrich: Job 39:9-18.
Job 39:9. Will the oryx be pleased to serve thee?, contracted from (comp. the full written form , Psa 92:11), assuredly denotes not the rhinoceros (Aq., Vulgate) [Good, Barnes], because the animal intended must be one that was common in Western Asia, and especially in the regions of Syria and Palestine. Comp. the reference to it in Psa 22:22 [21]; Job 29:6; Deu 33:17; Isa 34:7. It would be more natural, with Schultens, Gesenius, De Wette, Umbreit, Hirzel [Robinson, Noyes, Carey, Wordsworth, Renan, Rodwell, Conant, Frst, SmithsBib. Dict. Art. Unicorn], etc., to understand the buffalo or wild ox [bos bubalus) to be intended, seeing that this animal is still quite common in Palestine, and that here a contrast seems to be intended between this wild ox and the tame species (see Job 39:10). But this particular buffalo of Palestine is an animal which is not particularly strong, or characterized by untamable wildness, as is shown by the fact that it is frequently used in tilling the land (Russell, Naturgesch. von Aleppo, II. 7) [ThomsonsLand and the Book, I. 386, 387]. The of the LXX. [E. V.: unicorn] (of which the Talmudic is a mutilated form, and the of Aquila and Jerome is a misunderstanding) points to an animal which is, if not always, yet often, represented as having one horn, i.e., as being armed with one horn on the forehead, consisting of two which have grown together. Such an animal seems in ancient times to have been somewhat common in Egypt and South-western Asia, the same being a species nearly related to the oryxantelope (Antil. loucoryx) of to-day. It is represented on Egyptian monuments, now with two horns, and now with one. It is described by Aristotle and Pliny as a one-horned, cloven hoof (Aristotle, Hist. Anim. II. 1; De Partib. Anim. III. 2; Pliny, Hist. Nat. XI. 106); and in all probability it has been again discovered recently in the Tschiru, or the Antil. Hodgsonii of Southern Thibet (Hue and Gabet, Journeyings through Mongolia and Thibet, Germ. Edit., p. 323; see the passage quoted in Delitzsch, II., p. 334, n. 2). The name in the passage before us is all the more suitably applied to such an animal of the oryx species, in view of the fact that the corresponding Arabic word still signifies a species of antelope among the Syro-Arabians of to-day, and that this same oryx-family embraces sub-species which are particularly wild, largely and powerfully built, and almost bovine in their characteristics. Accordingly, Luthers translation of the word by unicorn, in this passage, and probably in every other where occurs in the Old Testament, supported as it is by the LXX., might be justified without our being compelled to understand by this unicorn a fabulous animal like that of the Perso-Assyrian monuments, or of the English royal coat-of-arms. Comp. on the subject S. Bochart, Hierozoicon, II. 335 seq.; Rosenmller, Bibl. Alterth. IV. 2, 288 seq.; Lichtenstein, Die Antilopen, 1824; Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmud, 1858, 146, 174; Sundewall, Die Thierarten des Aristoteles, Stockholm, 1863, p. 64 seq.; also Koners Zeitschr. fr allgem. Erdkunde, 1862, II., H. 3, p. 227, where interesting information is given respecting the researches of the Englishman, W. B. Bailie, touching the existence of a one horned animal still to be found in the regions of Central Africa, south of the Sea of Tsad, differing both from the rhinoceros and from the unicorn of the British coat-of-arms, which is probably, therefore, an African variety of the oryxantelope, and possibly the very same variety as that represented on the old Egyptian monuments. [See Robinsons Researches in Palestine, III, 306, 563; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, II., p. 167 seq.; and the remarks of Dr. Mason, of the Assam Mission, in the Christian Review, January, 1856, quoted by Conant in this verse.] Will he lodge [lit. pass the night, at thy crib?lit. over thy crib [hence cannot be, as defined by Gesenius, stall, stable], for the crib being very low, the cattle of the ancients in the East reached over it with the head while lying beside it. Comp. Isa 1:3 and Hitzig on the passage.
Job 39:10. Dost thou bind the oryx to the furrow of his cord?i.e., to the furrow (comp. Job 31:38) which he raises by means of the ploughshare, as he is led along by the cord. Or will he harrow the valleys (Ps. 65:14) after thee (), i.e., while following thee, when thou seekest to lead him in the act of ploughing [rather, as in the text, harrowing, , to level].
Job 39:11. Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?i.e., will the great strength which he possesses awake thy confidence, and not rather thy mistrust? On , labor [wilt thou commit to him thy labor], in the sense of the fruit of labor, the product of tilling, comp. Psa 78:46; Psa 128:2. The verse following is decisive in favor of this interpretation of the verse before us; otherwise the word might, in accordance with Gen 31:42, denote the labor or the toil itself.
Job 39:12. Wilt thou trust to him that he bring home thy sowing?Respecting as exponent of the object, see Ewald, 336, b., if we adhere to it, with the Kthibh, is used in the transitive sense, as in Job 42:10; Psa 85:5. The Kri, however, substitutes for it the Hiphil, which, in this sense, is the form more commonly used. And that he gather (into) thy threshing-floor. is probably locative (=). It may possibly, however, be taken as accusative of the object per synecdochen continentis pro contento (threshing-floor=fruits of the threshing-floor, yield of the harvest), as in Rth 3:2; Mat 3:12.
Job 39:13-18. The ostrich (lit. the female ostrich) introduced as an example of untamable wildness from among the birds. The wing of the (female) ostrich waves joyously., lit. wailings, shrill cries of mourning plur. abstr.) is a poetic designation of the ostrich here, or of the female ostrich, noted for its piercing cries. So correctly the Vulg., Bochart, and almost all the moderns. The Targ. arbitrarily understands the bird designated to be the mountain-cock, Kimchi and Luther the peacock [and so E. V.: Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the pea-cocks?] As to , to move itself joyously, comp. Job 20:18; also the Homeric expression, . Is it a pious pinion and plumage?i.e., is the wing of this bird, the waving of which is so powerful and wonderfully rapid, a pious one, productive of mild and tender qualities, like that of the stork? For it is to that birdwhich in its build resembles the ostrich, but which is more mild in disposition, and is, in particular, more affectionate and careful in the treatment of its offspringthat the predicate , pia with its double meaning, refers (which Delitzsch accordingly translates storchfromm [stork-pious], pia instar circoni). This is evident from the description which follows.
Job 39:14. Nay, she abandons her eggs to the earth. here nay, rather, as in Job 22:2. The subj. of is the of Job 39:13, construed here as Fem. Sing. The same construction obtains in the following verbs (Ew. 318 a).
Job 39:15. And forgets that the foot can crush them., simply consecutive, and hence present; comp. Job 3:21. On the sing, suffix in , referring to the eggs, see Gesenius, 146 [ 143], 3. The fact here described, to wit, that the mother ostrich easily forgets her eggs, at least while she is not yet through with laying them, as well as in the beginning of the period of incubation, and that she leaves them unprotected, especially on the approach of hunters, is true of this animal only in its wild condition. In that state it shares these and similar habits, proceeding from excessive wildness and fear of man, with many other birds, as, e. g., the partridge. In its tamed condition, the ostrich watches over its young very diligently indeed,and, moreover, shows nothing of that stupidity popularly ascribed to it, and which has become proverbial (to which Job 39:17 alludes). Comp. the Essay entitled: Die Zuchtung des Straussen als europisches Hausthier, in the Ausland, 1869, No. 13, p. 30.6. The opinion moreover, partially circulated among the ancients, that the ostrich does not at all incubate its eggs, belongs to that class of scientific fables which, as in the case of those strange animals the basilisk, the dragon, the unicorn, etc., have been incorrectly imputed to the Old Testament. The verse before us furnishes no support whatever to that opinion. [See Smiths Bib. Dict., Art, Ostrich. The habit of the ostrich leaving its eggs to be matured by the suns heat is usually appealed to in order to confirm the Scriptural account, she leaveth her eggs to the earth; but this is probably the case only with the tropical birds; the ostriches with which the Jews were acquainted were, it is likely, birds of Syria,. Egypt and North Africa; but even if they were acquainted with the habits of the tropical ostriches, how can it be said that she forgetteth that the foot may crush. the eggs, when they are covered a foot deep or more in sand? We believe the true explanation of this passage is to be found in the fact that the ostrich deposits some of her eggs not in the nest, but around it; these lie about on the surface of the sand, to all appearance forsaken; they are however designed for the nourishment of the young birds, according to Levaillant and Bonjainville (Cuvier, An. King. by Griffiths and others, Job 8:432), and see below on Job 39:16].
Job 39:16. She deals hardly with her young, as though they were not hers; lit. for not to her (i.e., belonging to her) , lit. he deals hardly; which, bearing in mind [the suffix in , and] the clause , which immediately follows, gives a change of gender which is intolerably harsh, which we may perhaps obviate (with Ewald, etc.) by pointing (Inf. Absol., comp Ewald, 280, a). The correction (Hirzel, Dillmann) [Merx] is less plausible. In vain is her labor without her being distressed; lit. without fear (), i.e., her labor in laying her eggs is in vain (inasmuch as many of her eggs are abandoned by her to destruction), without her giving herself any trouble or anxiety on that account. This unconcern and carelessness of the female ostrich touching the fate of her young, which stands in glaring contrast with the tender anxiety of the stork-mother (Job 39:13 b), is carried to such a length, that she herself often stamps to pieces her eggs (the shells of which moreover are quite hard), when she observes that men or beasts have been about; and even uses the eggs which are left to lie unhatched in feeding the young ones as they creep forth. Comp. Wetzstein, in Delitzsch II., p. 339 seq.
Job 39:17. For God made her to forget wisdom, and gave her no share in understanding. Perf. Hiph. with the suffix from (comp. Job 11:6). , to give a share in understanding (comp. Job 7:13; Job 21:25). For parallel expressions as to the thought, to wit, Arabic proverbs about the stupidity of the ostrich, see Schultens and Umbreit on the passage. The only other passage in the Old Testament where the cruelty of the ostrich is set forth in proverbial form is Lam 4:3.
Job 39:18. At the time when she lashes herself aloft, she laughs at the horse and his rider., here not at this time, just now (Gesen., Schlott,), but= , and hence with an elliptical relative clause following. Respecting , which both in Kal. and Hiphil can signify to lash, to beat, and which in Hebrew is found in this signification only here, see Gesenius in the Lexicon. The whole verse describes in a way which combines simplicity and terseness with vividness, the lightning-like swiftness of an ostrich, or a herd of such birds, fleeing before hunters on horseback, the running movement of the bird being aided by the vibration of the wings. At the same time the mention of the horse and his rider prepares the transition to the description which follows, the only one in this series which refers to a tamed animal.
Job 39:19-25. The war-horsea favorite subject of description also on the part of Arabian and other oriental poets; comp. the Praise of the Horse in 5. HammerPurgstalls Duftkrner: Amrul-Keis, Moallakat, 39:50, 64, and other parallels to this passage cited by Umbreit. Of all these poetic descriptions which have come down from antiquity (to which also may be added Virgil, Georg. III, 75 seq.)., the present one is the oldest and most beautiful. [In connection with this description of the war-horse, which among many similar ones is the most splendid, it has been justly observed that to a Hebrew the horse as a theme of description must seem all the more noble in that he was known not as a beast of draught, but only as a war-horse. Schlottmann].
Job 39:19. Dost thou give strength ( used specially of warlike strength, fortitudo; comp. Jdg 8:21; 2Ki 18:20) dost thou clothe his neck with fluttering hair?i.e., with quivering, waving mane? It is thus that most moderns explain the word , not found elsewhere, from the root , to quake (Eze 27:35), by comparison with the Greek (related to ). The signification thunder, neighing (Symmach., Theodot., Jerome, Luther, Schlottmann) [E. V.] would indeed be etymologically admissible, but it would not be suited to the words neck, and clothe. Umbreit and Ewald, ( 113, d) [the latter however in his Commentary as abovequivering mane] explain it by dignity; but the identity of with is questionable, and such words as , or would have been more naturally used to express that idea.
Job 39:20. Dost thou make him leap like the locust?i.e., when he rushes along on the gallop, like a vastly enlarged bounding troop of locusts (comp. Joe 2:4). What is intended, is a spiral motion in leaps, now to the right, now to the left, which is called the caracol, a word used in horsemanship, borrowed from the Arabic har–gala–l–farasu (comp. ), through the medium of the Moorish Spanish (Delitzsch). [The rendering of E. V.: canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopperis at variance with the spirit of the description, which, in each member, sets forth some trait which commands admiration.E.]. The glory of his snorting is a terror,or, since the glory of his snorting, etc. (descriptive clause without ). On snorting, comp. the Arabic nachir, the death-rattle, snoring, Greek, , Lat., fremitus. here denoting not a splendid appearance, but a majestic peal or roar.
Job 39:21. They explore in the valley, then he rejoiceth in strength.The subject of can scarcely be the hoofs of the horse (Delitzsch [the representation of the many pawing hoofs being blended with that of the pawing horse]), and the use throughout thus far of the singular in speaking of the horse (so also again in ) makes it impossible that the plural here should refer to him. Hence the signification pawing preferred here by the ancient versions [and E. V.], and most of the moderns seems inadmissible, even admitting that is the word commonly used for the pawing of the horse (see Schultens on the passage). We must rather with Cocceius and Ewald understand the subject to be the riders, or the warriors; they take observations, or observations are taken in the valley (while it is uncertain whether the fighting should begin): then he rejoiceth in strength. The meaning to paw is to be retained only in case we adopt with Dillmann [Merx] the reading , or with Bttcher . He goes forth against an armed host, lit. the armor; here otherwise than in Job 20:24.On Job 39:22 comp. Job 39:7; Job 39:18.
Job 39:23. The quiver rattleth upon him;i.e. the quiver of the horseman who is seated upon him, not the hostile contents of the quiver, the whirring arrows of the enemy, as Schultens [Conant, Rodwell] explain. Besides this part of the armor, the second member mentions the spear and the lance [not shield, E. V.], or rather with poetic circumlocution, the lightning (lit. flame) of the spear and the lance, synonymous with , Job 20:25; comp. , Gen 3:24; also Jdg 3:22; 1Sa 17:7; Nah 3:3.
Job 39:24. With rushing and raging he swallows the ground;i.e. in sweeping over the ground at full gallop, he swallows it up as it were; a figure which is current also among Arabic poets (see Schultens and Delitzsch on the passage). The assonance of may be represented by rushing and raging.And he does not stand still when the trumpet sounds.Lit. he does not show himself fixed, does not stay fixed, does not contain himself: accordingly in its primitive sensuous meaning; not he believes not (Kimchi, Aben Ezra) [E. V. i.e. for joy; it is too good to be true]. As to comp. Ewald, 286, f [adverbial use of here=when the trumpet is loud]. As parallel in thought comp. beyond all other passages that of Virgil referred to above (Georg. III. 83 seq.):
. Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dedere,
Stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus
Collectumque fremens volvit sub naribus ignem.
Job 39:25. As often as the trumpet (sounds), he says, Aha! i. e., he neighs, full of a joyous eagerness for the battle. On quotiescunque (lit. in sufficiency), comp. Ewald, 337, c.And from afar he smells the battle, the thunder (comp. Job 36:29) of the captains, and the shouting (the battle-cries of the contestants; comp. Jdg 7:18 seq.). Similarly Pliny, N. H. VIII. Job 42 : prsagiunt pugnam: and of moderns more particularly Layard (New Discoveries, p. 330): Although docile as a lamb, and requiring no other guide than the halter, when the Arab mare hears the war-cry of the tribe, and sees the quivering spear of her rider, her eyes glitter with fire, her blood-red nostrils open wide, her neck is nobly arched, and her tail and mane are raised and spread out to the wind, etc.
Job 39:26. The hawk, as the first example of birds of prey, distinguished by their strength, lightning-like swiftness, and lofty flight.Doth the hawk fly upward by thy understanding? (the high flyer) is, according to the unanimous testimony of the ancient versions, the hawk, a significant bird, as is well known, in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which is here introduced on account of its mysteriously note-worthy characteristic of taking its flight southwards at the approach of winter (Pliny, N. H. x. 8). For it is to this that the apocop. Imperf. Hiph. (denominative from , wing) refers: assurgit, attollitur alis, not to the yearly moulting, which precedes the migration southward (Vulg.: plumescit; in like manner the Targ., Gregory the Great, Rosenm.). For this annual renewal of plumage (, see LXX., Isa 40:31) is common to all birds, and is predicated elsewhere in the Old Testament only of the eagle (Psa 103:5; Mic 1:16; Isa 40:31), not of the hawk.
Job 39:27-30. The eagle, as king of the birds, closing the series of native animals here described, in like manner as the lion, as king of the mammalia, had opened the series. is in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, like in the New Testament (comp. Mat 24:28; Luk 17:37), a. common designation of the eagle proper, and of the vulture: and the characteristic of carnivorousness which is here and often elsewhere referred to belongs in fact not only to the varieties of the vulture (such as the carrion-kite and lammergeyer), but also to the more common varieties of the eagle, such as the golden eagle and the osprey, which do not disdain to eat the carcasses of animals which have recently died. Comp. Winers Real-Wrter-Buch, under Adler.Doth the eagle soar at thy command? lit. make high (, scil. ) his flight; comp. Job 5:7.And build his nest on high? lit. is it at thy command that he builds his nest on high? Comp. Oba 1:4; Jer 49:16; Pro 30:19.
Job 39:28. With the phrase , lit. tooth of the rock, comp. the names Dent du midi, Dent-blanche, Dent de Moreles, etc.
Job 39:30. And his young ones lap up blood.[The gender throughout is masculine, not fem. as in E. V.] from , an abbreviated secondary form of , Pilp. of , to suck. Possibly, however, we should read (with Gesen. and Olsh.) , from =, deglutere. On the sucking of blood by the young eagles, comp. lian, H. anim. x. Job 14 : .
7. Conclusion of the discourse, together with Jobs answer: Job 40:1-5.
Job 40:2. Will the censurer contend with the Almighty ? to wit, after all that has here been laid before him in proof of the greatness and wonderful power of God. Observe the return to Job 38:2, which this question brings about. Inf. absol. of (as in Jdg 11:25) here in the sense of a future. The adoption of this construction in preference to the finite verb gives a meaning that is particularly forcible. Comp. the well-known sentence: mene incepto desistere victim? Also Ewald, 328, a.He who hath reproved God, let him answer it;i.e. let him reply to all the questions asked from Job 38:2 on.
Job 40:4. Behold, I am too base;i.e. to solve the problem presented, I am not equal to it.I lay my hand on my mouth; i.e. I impose on myself absolute silence; comp. Job 21:5; Job 29:9.
Job 40:5. Once have I spoken, and I will not again begin, will no more undertake to speak; see on Job 3:2. Oncetwice, as in Psa 62:12 [11], are used only because of the poetic parallelism for often; comp. Gesenius, 120 [ 118], 5. The solemn formal retractation which Job here makes of his former presumptuous challenges of God marks the first stage of his gradual return to a more becoming position toward God. It is Gods purpose, however, to lead him forward from this first stage, consisting in true self-humiliation (in contrast to his former self-exaltation) to a still more advanced stageeven the complete melting down of his heart in sincere penitence. It is the realization of this purpose which Jehovah seeks in His second and last discourse.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. As a magnificent specimen of physico-the-ological demonstration in poetic form, the present discourse of God, the first and longest which He delivers, is incomparable. With wonderful symmetry of treatment, it makes first the inanimate, and then the animate creation the theme of profound contemplation; each of these domains being treated with about the same fulness, and with a homologous arrangement of strophes (see Exegetical Remarks, No. 1), in order thus to impress Job with the highest admiration of the divine power, wisdom and goodness, as these attributes are revealed in the entire world of nature. The First Long Strophe (Job 38:4-15) which makes the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the sea, the theme of contemplation serves to illustrate principally the divine omnipotence, together with the attributes most immediately related to it, eternity, infinity and omnipresence, or the divine being as transcending space and time. Towards the close of this strophe the attribute of justice is also drawn into the circle of contemplation, it being one chief object of the whole description to represent the Almighty God as being also just in His vast activities, always and everywhere just (see Job 40:13-15). The consideration of omnipotence is next followed by that of wisdom, together with the attribute of omniscience which stands most closely connected with it, the discussion having reference to the hidden heights and depths above and below the earth, from which the phenomena of the atmosphere and of light, proceed (Second Long Strophe, Job 38:16 seq.). Already toward the end of this description the attribute of Gods goodness emerges into view, as it is shown in the beneficent effects of the rain-showers (Job 40:25-27). Afterwards in the third Long Strophe (Job 40:28-38) this attribute retires again to the background, while the power manifested in the heavens, and the wisdom revealed in the atmosphere, occupy the foreground. All the more decidedly however in the last three Long Strophes, or in the zoological and biological description constituting the section which we have marked d (Job 38:39 to Job 39:30), is the discourse again directed to the goodness of God, or to the Creators fatherly care, which is most intimately united with His power and wisdom, and which in the exercise of them takes the most particular interest in the life of His earthly animate creation. For all that is advanced in this section in the way of proof of the wonderful wisdom and all-penetrative knowledge of the Most High in the sphere of animal life, and of its ordinary as well as its extraordinary phenomena is subordinated to the teleological reference to His special providence, in view of which not one of His creatures is indifferent to Him. (Comp. Bocharts Remarks on Job 39:1-4 : The knowledge here spoken of is not passive and speculative simply, but that knowledge which belongs to God, by which He not only knows all things, but directs and governs them, etc.). That which makes this survey of the most exalted attributes of God as reflected in the wonders of His creation especially impressive is the accumulation of so many examples and illustrations from the domain of physical theology, and the wonderful art with which they are elaborated in the minutest detail, together with the striking harmony and consistency which their arrangement exhibits, notwithstanding all the flow and freedom of the poetic sweep of thought. Not one of these illustrations from the great book of creation is absolutely new. Job himself has more than once in his discourses introduced brief reflective descriptions of nature similar in kind, and scarcely inferior in beauty (Job 9:4-10; Job 12:7-10; Job 12:12-25; Job 26:5-14); even Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have at least occasionally described, not without skill and taste, the divine power and wisdom, as they are revealed in the works of His creation; and Elihu near the close of his discourses dwelt on this theme at length, and with powerful effect. The grandeur and superiority of that which Jehovah here advances, in part confirming, in part going beyond those utterances of the former speakers, consists in the way in which, alike with artless simplicity, and with harmonious and connected order, He has accumulated such an array of the most manifold and luminous evidences of His majesty as revealed in the wonders of nature. Comp. Julius Frst, Geschichte der biblischen Literatur, etc., II., p. Job 418: The poet has here artistically combined the utmost polish of diction, the greatest abundance of natural pictures, the most thrilling and winning vividness in the succinct descriptions given of the wonders of creation; and the effect on Job must have been really overpowering. The reader also finds the discourse distinguished by tone and harmony, by power, acuteness, and clearness, by method, order, and plan, so that it presents itself as the most beautiful discourse in the Old Testament Scriptures. In this discourse, cast in the form of questions, Jehovah exhibits the animate and inanimate creation, the manifold channels in which the forces of nature secretly operate, its wonderful and mysterious phenomena, as they are held together in glorious order by His creative hand, as they are ruled by His nod. The eternal creative energy, which bears witness to a wisdom that is unsearchable, to a providential love, to a wise moral order of the universe, appears to the weak human spirit as an insoluble mystery, which has for its aim to put Job to shame. In this discourse, embracing six long strophes, each consisting for the most part of twelve verse-lines, the exhibition of the transcendent wonders of nature certainly imparts indescribable power to the contemplation of the greatness of the Creator. Every one must see however that these natural wonders, after we have explained them in their immediate foundations through our knowledge of natural laws, and after we have understood them from the general laws of nature, must be understood according to the effects which they produce. The next thing to be noticed is the poetic conception of the beauty of nature, the deep mental contemplation of the Cosmos, as it shows itself among all the civilized nations of antiquity; and then the poetry of nature found among the Hebrews, considered particularly as the reflex of monotheism. The characteristic marks of the Hebrew poetry of nature, as A. Von Humboldt strikingly observes in his Cosmos, are that it always embraces the whole universe in its unity, comprising both terrestrial life and the luminous realms of space. It dwells but rarely on the individuality of phenomena, preferring the contemplation of great masses. The Hebrew poet does not depict nature as a self-dependent object, glorious in its individual beauty, but always as in relation and subjection to a higher spiritual power. The natural wonders here sung by the poet point to the invariableness, the amazing regularity of the operations of nature, i.e., to its laws, which lead us to adore supreme wisdom, power, and love, lead us in a word to religion. Finally, it is to be borne in mind that the century in which the poet lived was one of the earliest in which such questions were propounded, and sketches of nature made.Comp. the still more decided appreciation of the contents of our discourse as respects its natural theology and its sthetic features in the book of Jos. L. Saalschtz, entitled Form und Geist der biblisch-hebrischen Poesie, Knigsb., 1853, (Third Lecture: Biblisch-hebrische Naturanschau-ung und Natur-poesie); also Ad. Kohnts Alexander v. Humboldt und das Judenthum, Leipzig, 1871 (Fourth Part: Humboldts Stellung zur Bibel), also the striking observations of Reuss, in his Vortrag ber das Buch Job towards the end), which show with peculiar beauty how that, notwithstanding the vast enlargement of our knowledge of nature in modern times, the larger number of the questions here addressed by Jehovah to Job, still remain as unanswerable as at the time when the poem was composed; the fact being that it is only the old formulas in respect to particular mysterious phenomena which have disappeared before a clearer and fuller knowledge, not the mysteries themselves, and that accordingly even to the naturalist of the present, God remains a hidden God. See further on this subject in the Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks on the following discourse of God (Job 40-41).
2. Notwithstanding all the admiration which this first discourse of Jehovah evokes in view of the evidences here presented of its beauty, and in particular of the value of its contributions to natural theology, we might still continue in doubt respecting its congruity to the plan and connection of the poem as a whole. It might seem singular and incongruous: (1) That the discourse from beginning to end runs through a series of questions from God to Job, calculated to shame and humiliate the latter, when he has already (Job 9:3) declared his shrinking from such a rigid inquisition, and his inability to answer even one in a thousand of such questions as the Most High might ask of him. (2) Fault might be found moreover with the contents of these questions, as exhibiting too little that is new, that has not already been touched upon, as being in too close agreement with what has been advanced by Job himself in respect to the greatness and wisdom revealed in the Cosmos, as being therefore too exclusively physical, i.e. as being too little adapted to produce a direct impression on the inward perversity and blindness of him who is addressed (an objection which has in fact been to some extent urged by some expositors and critics, as e. g. by de Wette, Knobel, Arnheim, etc.). The first of these objections, however, is directed against what is simply a misconception; for that declaration of Job in respect to his inability to answer God is made only incidentally, and in no wise conditions the final issue of the action of the poem. On the contrary Job had in the course of his discourses wished often enough that God might enter into a controversy with him. And, most of all, the questions which God puts to him, and of which he cannot answer one, are significantly related in the way of contrast to the last of the presumptuous challenges which Job had put forth. Whereas in Job 31:35 he had exclaimed: Let the Almighty answer me! God now fulfils this wish, although in quite another way than that which he had expected. He speaks to him out of the storm, not however by way of reply or self-vindication, but throughout asking questions, and so overwhelming the presumptuous fault-finder with a series of unanswerable queries, permanently silencing him, and compelling him at last to acknowledge his submission. At the same time the tendency of these divine questions is by no means to stun, to crush, to annihilate. Here and there it is true their tone borders on irony (see especially Job 38:21; Job 38:28; Job 39:1 seq.). It never, however, becomes harsh or haughty; on the contrary it is throughout affectionately condescending, lifting up at the same time that it humbles, gently administering instruction and consolation.And as with this interrogative form of the discourse, so also is its natural theology thoroughly suited to the divine purpose in regard to Job. That self-humiliation, that silent submission to the divine will as being always and in every case wise, just and good, which was to be wrought in Job, how could it have been more suitably promoted than by pointing him to the visible creation, which already in and of itself is full, nay which overflows with facts adapted to vanquish all human pride and presumption? And especially may we ask in respect to that, presumptuous argument, on which Job had continually planted himself in opposition to God: I have not transgressed; therefore my grievous suffering is absolutely inexplicablemay more, is unreasonable and unjust,how could the error and folly of that position have been more effectually demonstrated to him than by a reference to the numberless inexplicable and incomprehensible subjects which continually present themselves to us in the realms of nature, in its life, processes and events? how could the doubt respecting the logical and ethical grounds of the apparently harsh treatment to which God had subjected him, be more effectually disposed of than by bringing forward various phenomena of physical life on earth and elsewhere, each one of which stands before us as an amazing wonder, and as an eloquent witness of the unsearchableness of Gods ways, who in what He does is ever wise, and whose purpose is ever one of love? Comp. Delitzsch (II., p. 354): From the marvellous in nature, he divines that which is marvellous in his affliction. His humiliation under the mysteries of nature is at the same time humiliation under the mystery of his affliction. And a little before (p. 352): Contrary to expectation, God begins to speak with Job about totally different matters from His justice or injustice in reference to his affliction. Therein already lies a deep humiliation for Job. But a still deeper one is Gods turning, as it were, to the abecedarium natur, and putting the censurer of His doings to the blush. That God is the almighty and all-wise Creator and Ruler of the world, that the natural world is exalted above human knowledge and power, and is full of marvellous divine creations and arrangements, full of things mysterious and incomprehensible to ignorant and feeble man, Job knows even before God speaks, and yet he must now hear it, because he does not know it rightly; for the nature with which he is acquainted as the herald of the creative and governing power of God, is also the preacher of humility; and exalted as God the Creator and Ruler of the natural world is above Jobs censure, so is He also as the author of His affliction. That which is new therefore in the speech of Jehovah is not the proof of Gods exaltation in itself, but the relation to the mystery of his affliction, and to his conduct towards God in this his affliction, in which Job is necessitated to place perceptions not in themselves strange to him. He who cannot answer a single one of those questions taken from the natural kingdom, but, on the contrary, must everywhere admire and adore the power and wisdom of Godhe must appear as an insignificant fool, if he applies them to his limited judgment concerning the Author of his affliction.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
In the homiletic treatment of this first discourse of Jehovahs, it will be necessary of course to explain its position in the structure of the poem as a whole, and the significance of its contents for the solution of the problem of the book. All that pertains to this, however, will evidently possess only a subordinate practical value. For the practical treatment, on the contrary, it is of the highest importance suitably to set forth the value of the contents of the discourse for modern doubters, or those who after Jobs fashion find fault with divine providence; to show accordingly that the questions contained in it touching natural theology are still in a certain sense unanswerable, and that the mysteries to which allusion is made ever remain real mysteries, even to the greatest intellects in the world of science. In this connection use might be made, in the way of illustration and exemplification, of the many confessions which have been made by the greatest investigators of nature touching the incompleteness and limitation of all earthly knowledge and of all the discoveries which have hitherto been achieved in the department of natural science (especially the confessions of astronomers like Newton, Herschel, A. V. Humboldt, Laplace, and recently by Proctor [Other worlds than ours, Preface], and also by chemists and biologists, such as J. V. Liebig, Darwin, Laugel, etc.) The phenomena described in the first half of the discourse (Job 38:4-38), derived from the consideration of the heavens and of atmospheric meteorology, being pre-eminently rich in convincing examples of the mystery and unsearchableness which characterize the divine procedure in the economy of nature, also admit evidently of being considered with particular thoroughness (as e.g., a point which obviously suggests itselfby calling attention in connection with such passages as Job 38:22 seq., Job 38:29 seq. to the fruitlessness, and indeed the hopelessness of the attempts hitherto made to reach the North Pole). The zoological and biological phenomena, on the other hand, which form the subject of the second half of the divine description, it will be better to present together in brief outline, in so far at least as the purpose of illustrating the incomprehensibility of the divine agency in creating and governing the universe is concerned. This second series of natural facts on the contrary are all the better suited to the basis of meditations on the fatherly love of God which remembers and cares for all His creatures, whether brutes or men.
Particular Passages
Job 38:4 seq. Brentius: The aim of this discourse is to show that no one has the right to accuse the Lord of injustice. The proof of this point is that the Lord alone is the Creator of all things, which with a certain amplification is illustrated from various classes of creatures. From the history of these creatures God proves that it is permitted to no one to accuse Divine sovereignty of injustice, or to resist it; for of all creatures not one was the Lords counsellor, or rendered Him any aid in the creation of the world. He can without any injustice therefore dispose of all creatures according to His own will, and create one vessel to honor, another to dishonor, as it may please Him.Oecolampadius: No other reason can be given than His own good pleasure why God did not make the earth ten times larger. He had the power to enlarge it, no less than to confine it within such narrow limits; He would have been able to make valleys, where there are mountains, and conversely, etc. But He is Lord, and it pleased Him to assign to things the length and depth and breadth which they now have.Cramer: That God, who has from eternity dwelt in inaccessible light, has revealed Himself through the work of creation, receives its explanation out of the depth of His great goodness and mercy. When therefore we treat of God, of His works and mysteries, we must do it with beseeming modesty and reverence. If even the book of nature transcends our ability to decipher it fully, how much more incomprehensible and mysterious will the book of Holy Scripture be for us.von Gerlach: The fundamental thought of these representations which God here puts forth is that only He who can create and govern all things, who superintends everything and adjusts all things in their relation to each other, can also comprehend the connection of human destinies. Inasmuch however as feeble short-sighted man cannot understand and fathom the created things which are daily surrounding him, how can he assume to himself any part of Gods agency in administering the universe?
Job 38:16 seq. von Gerlach: Of the particular subject here referred to [scientific discoveries in the natural world], it is true that the later researches of mankind have accomplished much, only however to reveal new depths of this immeasurable creation. In seeking to penetrate into the meaning of these words, we are not to dwell on the literal features of each separate statement. It is a poetic and splendid description of the greatness and unsearchableness of God in creation, from the point of view which men then occupied, a description which retains its lofty internal truth, although the letter of it, regarded from the stand-point of our present knowledge of nature no longer seems as striking to us as the ancients. Indeed it may be said that this more thorough investigation of natural laws has itself vastly increased the number and greatness of such wonders as are set forth in this description for him who enters into the spirit of it.
Job 38:39 seq.; Job 40:1 seq. Cramer: The volume of natural history [das Thierbuch] which God here writes out for us, should be a genuine text-book to all the virtues.Starke: If animals, whether strong or despicable, great or small, are embraced in Gods merciful providential care, we can regard their need as a silent appeal to the goodness of the Lord, and in this sense even the ravens cry to God when they cry out from hunger.
Job 39:27 seq. Vict. Andrea: From that which is here intimated (to wit, that other animals must sacrifice their life, in order to satisfy the blood-thirsty brood of an eagle) do we not see that the suffering of a simple creature might in Gods plan be designed to benefit other creatures of God?So the death of a man may, through the terrifying effect which it has on others, often be a blessing to them. And how often is severe sickness, wholly irrespective of the end which the suffering may have for the patient himself, a most effective school of sympathy, yea, of the most self-sacrificing love for all who surround the sufferer. Very often such a sufferer, if he diligently strives to exhibit in his own person a pattern of resignation and praise to God, has been a rich source of light and blessing for those who are round about him! How short-sighted it is therefore for the sick to complain that their life is wholly without use, that they are only a burden to those who are about them, etc. In short the majesty of God has only to question man, in order to bring into the dearest consciousness his narrow limitations.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Hitherto, through the subject of dispute, we have been attending to the words of Job and his friends. In this chapter God himself becomes the speaker; and a most solemn address it forms. God challengeth Job, from the whirlwind, on divers subjects, by way of showing Job’s nothingness, and the Lord’s sovereignty; and this in such language as manifests the wisdom of the Speaker, beyond all possible conception, of man’s weakness, and the Lord’s strength.
Job 38:1
(1) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Reader, let us enter upon the perusal of this chapter with more than ordinary reverence. When GOD speaks, well may man hear. Job might well have cried out, and you and I ought to cry out in the language of Samuel. Speak, Lord! for thy servant heareth. 1Sa 3:9 . And, Reader, let us further observe from whence the LORD spake; from the whirlwind: such as the LORD spake to the Prophet Elijah from, 1Ki 19:11-12 . The Prophet Ezekiel, and the Evangelist John, were favoured with visions in the same way. Eze 1:4 ; Rev 10:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 38:14-15
When Hooker lay on his deathbed, he was asked what were his thoughts. ‘To which,’ says Izaak Walton, he replied: ‘that he was meditating the number and nature of Angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which peace could not be in heaven: and oh! that it might be so on earth’.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The First Chapter of Genesis
Job 38:4
The real object of the narrative in Genesis is not to teach scientific truth, but to teach religious truth.
I. One object of the narrative will be evident at once: it is to show, in opposition to the crude conceptions current in many parts of the ancient world, that the world is not self-originated; that it was called into existence, and brought gradually into its present state, at the will of a Spiritual Being, prior to it, independent of it, deliberately planning each stage of its development. The fact of a Creator is the fundamental teaching of the cosmogony of Genesis.
II. The first chapter of Genesis is not meant to teach authoritatively the actual past history of the earth. Its object is to afford a view true in conception, if not in detail, of the origin of the earth as we know it, and to embody this not in an abstract or confused form which may soon be forgotten, but in a series of representative pictures which may impress themselves upon the imagination, and in each one of which the truth is insisted on, that the stage which it represents is no product of chance, or of mere mechanical forces, but that it is an act of the Divine will.
III. A third point on which the record insists is the distinctive pre-eminence belonging to man. ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ What, then, do we suppose to be meant when it is said that man was made in the ‘image of God’? It is meant that he has been endowed with that highest and noblest of gifts, the gift of self-conscious reason.
IV. The cosmogony of Genesis teaches the absolute supremacy of the Creator in His work of Creation: it exhibits to us, in a series of representative pictures, how every stage of His work was dependent upon His will and realized His purpose: it emphasizes the distinctive pre-eminence belonging to man.
S. R. Driver, Sermons, p. 163.
Job 38:4
Was man with his experience present at the creation, then, to see how it all went on? Have any scientific individuals yet dived down to the foundations of the universe, and gauged everything there? Did the Maker take them into His counsel; that they read His ground-plan of the incomprehensible All; and can say, This stands marked therein, and no more than this? Alas, not in anywise! These scientific individuals have been nowhere but where we also are; have seen some handbreadths deeper than we see into the Deep that is infinite, without bottom as without shore.
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (book III. chap. VIII.).
References. XXXVIII. 4. A. Ainger, The Gospel and Human Life, p. 108. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 288.
Job 38:7
Every time that analysis strips from nature the gilding that we prized, she is forging thereout a new picture more glorious than before, to be suddenly revealed by the advent of a new sense whereby we see it a new creation, at sight of which the sons of God shall have cause to shout for joy.
Prof. W. K. Clifford.
‘Neither say,’ Carlyle writes in the Sartor Resartus, chap. VII, ‘that thou hast now no Symbol of the Godlike. Is not God’s Universe a Symbol of the Godlike; is not Immensity a Temple; is not Man’s History, and Men’s History, a perpetual Evangel? Listen, and for organ-music thou wilt ever, as of old, hear the Morning-stars sing together.’
Does there not exist a perfected sense of Hearing as of the morning-stars singing together an understanding of the words that are spoken all through the universe, the hidden meaning of all things, the Word which is creation itself a profound and far pervading sense, of which our ordinary sense of sound is only the first novitiate and initiation.
Edward Carpenter, Civilization Its Cause and Cure, p. 98.
The office of the artist should be looked upon as a priest’s service in the temple of Nature, where ampler graces are revealed to those that have eyes to see, just as ever gentler chords announce the fuller life to those that have ears to hear, while declared Law opens up wide regions unordered and anarchic, where selfish greed has yet to be tutored into wise rule. In the circle of the initiated, responsive beings recognize the elimination of immature design in creation to be a triumph of patient endeavour, and they join in the chorus of those who ‘sang together for joy’ on the attainment of the ideal of Heaven’s Artist, who in overflowing bounty endowed the colourless world with prismatic radiance, prophesying of Titians yet to be, who should go forth to charm away scales from the eyes of the blind. W. Holman Hunt in the preface to his Pre-Raphaelitism.
‘ Werther,’ Carlyle writes in his essay on Goethe’s works, ‘we called the voice of the world’s despair: passionate, uncontrollable is this voice; not yet melodious and supreme, as nevertheless we at length hear it in the wild apocalyptic Faust: like a death-song of departing worlds; no voice of joyful “moraine-stars singing together” over a creation; but of red nigh-extinguished midnight stars, in spheral swan-melody, proclaiming, It is ended.’
The great advantage of this mean life is thereby to stand in a capacity of a better; for the colonies of heaven must be drawn from earth, and the sons of the first Adam are only heirs to the second. Thus Adam came into this world with the power also of another; not only to replenish the earth but the everlasting mansions of heaven. Where we were when the foundations of the earth were laid, when the morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. He must answer who asked it. Sir Thomas Browne.
Job 38:11
You have indeed winged ministers of vengeance, who cany your bolts to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in, that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, and says, ‘So far shalt thou go and no further*. Who are you, that should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature? Burke, Speech on Conciliation with America.
The unavoidable aim of all corporate bodies of learning is not to grow wise, or teach others wisdom, but to prevent anyone else from being or seeming wiser than themselves; in other words, their infallible tendency is in the end to suppress inquiry and darken knowledge, by setting limits to the mind of man, and saying to his proud spirit, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further I Hazlitt, Table-Talk. ‘ It is always hard,’ wrote Dr. Mandell Creighton to a young friend,’ to curb oneself within the possibilities of one’s own particular life! How happiness consists in recognizing limits, and how hard it is to do so!’ To his wife he wrote thus in 1871: ‘Everybody obeys the doctrine of limits, not every one recognizes the fact and owns it; the last persons in the world to be lazy, to be indolent, or to be cowardly are those who can recognize limits as self-imposed; they are decidedly not under the power of circumstances, but rather are entire masters of them.’
In Old Mortality Scott makes young Morton soliloquize thus: ‘Alas! what are we that our best and most praiseworthy feelings can be thus debased and depraved that honourable pride can sink into haughty and desperate indifference for general opinion, and the sorrow of blighted affection inhabit the same bosom which licence, revenge, and rapine, have chosen for their citadel? But it is the same throughout; the liberal principles of one man sink into cold and unfeeling indifference, the religious zeal of another hurries him into frantic and savage enthusiasm. Our resolutions, our passions, are like the waves of the sea, and, without the aid of Him who formed the human breast, we cannot say to its tides, “Thus far shall ye come, and no further”.’ Describing, in the first volume of The Stones of Venice, the Alpine peak, Ruskin ejaculates: ‘There was it set, for holy dominion, by Him who marked for the sun his journey, and bade the moon know her going down. It was built for its place in the far-off sky; approach it, and, as the sound of the voice of man dies away about its foundation, and the tide of human life, shattered upon the vast aerial shore, is at last met by the eternal “Here shall thy waves be stayed,” the glory of its aspect fades into blanched fearfulness.’
Let anyone look on the long wall of Malamocco, which curbs the Adriatic, and pronounce between the sea and its master. Surely that Roman work (I mean Roman in conception and performance) which says to the ocean ‘Thus far shalt thou come and no further,’ and is obeyed, is not less sublime and poetical than the angry waves which vainly break beneath it.
Byron.
Compare the closing paragraphs of Carlyle’s essay on Taylor’s Survey of German Poetry, especially the sentences on the rise of literature in the age. ‘Higher and higher it rises round all the Edifices of Existence; they must all be molten into it, and anew bodied forth from it, or stand unconsumed among its fiery surges. Woe to him whose Edifice is not built of fine Asbest, and on the Everlasting Rock; but on the false sand, and of the driftwood of accident, and the paper and parchment of antiquated Habit! For the power, or powers, exist not on earth, that can say to that sea, Roll back, or bid its proud waters be still.’
References. XXXVIII. 11. T. Spurgeon, Dawn to the Sea, p. 105. XXXVIII. 13. D. Roberts, Christian World Pulpit, October 1, 1890. XXXVIII. 17. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines, p. 104. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. li. No. 2917. XXXVIII. 22. W. L. Watkinson, The Ashes of Roses, p. 5. XXXVIII. 25-27. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliv. No. 2583.
Job 38:28
Two passages of God’s speaking, one in the Old and one in the New Testament, possess, it seems to me, a different character from any of the rest, having been uttered, the one to effect the last necessary change in the mind of a man whose piety was in other respects perfect; and the other, as the first statement to all men of the principles of Christianity by Christ Himself I mean the 38th to 41st chapters of the book of Job, and the Sermon on the Mount. Now the first of these passages is, from beginning to end, nothing else than a direction of the mind which was to be perfected to humble observance to the works of God in nature. And the other consists only in the inculcation of three things: 1st, right conduct; 2nd, looking for eternal life; 3rd, trusting God, through watchfulness of His dealings with His creation; and the entire contents of the book of Job, and of the Sermon on the Mount, will be found resolvable simply into these three requirements from all men that they should act rightly, hope for heaven, and watch God’s wonders and work in the earth; the right conduct being always summed up under the three heads of justice, mercy, and truth, and no mention of any doctrinal point whatsoever occurring in either piece of divine teaching.
Ruskin.
Reference. XXXVIII. 28. W. R. Inge, Faith and Knowledge, p. 29.
Job 38:31
So far as the Jewish prophets made use of such astronomy as they had, they used it altogether in the sense in which the modern agnostics use their heliocentric astronomy to impress upon man his utter insignificance in creation…. When the author of the book of Job, in urging what another prophet calls ‘the Lord’s controversy,’ wants to convince Job of his nothingness, what is his most impressive illustration? ‘Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades’ [or, as the Revised Version puts it, ‘Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades?’] ‘or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou lead forth the signs of the Zodiac in their season, or canst thou guide the Bear with her train? Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?’ language surely, if ever language could be used, which suggests that to control the heavenly bodies implies a force of far mightier scope and magnitude than any which is needed only for our little planet.
R. H. Hutton, Contemporary Thought and Thinkers, vol. I. p. 291.
Reference. XXXVIII. 31. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 818.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Theophany
Job 38-41
We have now come to the portion of the Book of Job which is known as the Theophany, or Appearance, that is to say, the appearance of the Divine Being. Let us set forth the sacred speech in its fulness and unity:
1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind [a voice without a form], and said,
2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3. Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth [or founded the earth]? declare if thou hast understanding.
5. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? [Intimating absolute order and law.]
6. Whereupon are the foundations [not the same word as in verse four] thereof fastened [or sunk]? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7. When the morning-stars sang together [the stars preceded the earth], and all the sons of God [angels] shouted for joy?
8. Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? [The ocean is personified as a new-born giant.]
9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days [any day in thy little life]; and caused the day-spring to know his place;
13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? [Note the material and moral effects of light].
14. It is turned as clay to the seal [it is changed as seal-clay]; and they stand as a garment [all things stand out as a garment].
15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16. Hast thou entered into the springs [weepings] of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search [vain search] of the depth?
17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18. Hast thou perceived [comprehended] the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
19. Where is the way [the land] where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?
20. That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21. Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24. By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth? [ or, doth the east wind scatter itself over the earth?]
25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters [who hath riven a channel for the torrent of waters], or a way for the lightning of thunder [of voices];
26. To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27. To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28. Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30. The waters are hid as with a stone [the waters are hardened like stone, and the surface of the deep is held fast], and the face of the deep is frozen.
31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences [fastenings] of Pleiades [a heap or group], or loose the bands of Orion [the fool or giant]?
32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth [some say the Zodiac; others, Jupiter or Venus] in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
36. Who hath put wisdom [the gift of discerning causes] in the inward parts [the kidneys are regarded in Hebrew physiology as the seat of instinctive yearnings]? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay [cause to lie down] the bottles of heaven.
38. When the dust groweth into hardness [when the dust is molten into a mass], and the clods cleave fast together?
39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion [lioness]? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40. When they couch in their dens, and abide [sit] in the covert to lie in wait?
41. Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Job 39
1. Knowest [this knowledge includes perception into causes] thou the time when the wild goats [rock-climbers] of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2. Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3. They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows. [Arab poets call infants and young children “pangs.”]
4. Their young ones are in good liking [fatten], they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.
5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free [whose speed exceeds that of the fastest horse]? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6. Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings [salt waste which wild asses lick with avidity].
7. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver [task-master].
8. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
9. Will the unicorn [ rather, a well-known species of gazelle] be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
10. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11. Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12. Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?
13. Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks [a mistranslation]? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
14. Which leaveth [not in the sense of forsaking, but in the sense of committing] her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
15. And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
16. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not her’s: her labour is in vain without fear;
17. Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
18. What time she lifteth up herself on high [lashes the air], she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? [Suggesting the idea of vehement and terrific movement.]
20. Canst thou make him afraid [spring] as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21. He paweth in the valley [he diggeth the plain], and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
22. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted: neither turneth he back from the sword.
23. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
24. He swalloweth the ground [the space which separates the armies] with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
27. Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28. She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
30. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
Job 40
1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said,
2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3. Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
4. Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
5. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
6. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
7. Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
8. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
9. Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with voice like him?
10. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
11. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
12. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
13. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
14. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
15. Behold now behemoth [the hippopotamus], which I made with thee; he eateth grass [herbage] as an ox.
16. Lo now, his strength [his special characteristic] is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. [Unlike the hippopotamus, the elephant is mostly easily wounded in the belly.]
17. He moveth his tail like a cedar [not in size but in rigidity]: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
18. His bones are as strong pieces of brass [his bones are as tubes of copper]; his bones are like bars of iron.
19. He is the chief of the ways [the masterpiece] of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
20. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. [“He searches the rising ground near the river for his substance, in company with the animals of the land.”]
21. He lieth under the shady trees [the lotus trees], in the covert of the reed, and fens.
22. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
23. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth [he is steadfast if the Jordan boast upon his mouth].
24. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
Job 41
I. Canst thou draw out leviathan [crocodile] with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down [sinkest his tongue in a noose]?
2. Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
4. Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? [The crocodile can be partially tamed.]
5. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
6. Shall the companions [Egyptian fishermen were called Fellows or Companions] make a banquet [traffic] of him? shall they part him among the merchants [Canaanites]?
7. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8. Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9. Behold the hope of him [the hope of man that the animal may be caught] is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
11. Who hath prevented me [made me a debtor], that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13. Who can discover the face of his garment [who can lift up, as a veil, his outside covering]? or who can come to him with his double bridle [his double row of teeth]?
14. Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about [round about his teeth is terror].
15. His scales are his pride [“grand is the channeling of his shield-like scales”], shut up together as with a close seal.
16. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning [and were made a symbol of morning by the Egyptians],
19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
21. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
22. In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23. The flakes of his flesh [even the parts of most animals which are loose and flabby] are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves [lose their presence of mind].
26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28. The arrow cannot make him flee: sling stones are turned with him into stubble.
29. Darts [or clubs] are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.
30. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
32. He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34. He [coldly] beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride [all beasts of prey].
The Theophany. I.
Job 38-41
Let us admit that the Theophany is poetical; that will not hinder our deriving from it lessons that are supported by reason and vividly illustrated by facts. As an incident, the Theopany is before us, come whence it may. It inquires concerning great realities, which realities are patent to our vision. It does not plunge into metaphysics only, or rise to things transcendental; it keeps within lines which are more or less visible, lines which in many cases are actually tangible. Here, then, it stands as a fact, to be perused and wisely considered.
To such questions there ought to be some answer. They are a hundred thick on the page. If we cannot answer all we may answer some. God has not spared his interrogatories. There is no attempt at concealment. He points to the door, and asks who built it, and how to get into it, and how to bring from beyond it whatever treasure may be hidden there. It is a sublime challenge in the form of interrogation.
The thing to be noted first of all, is, that it purports to be the speech of God. That is a bold suggestion. The man who wrote the first verse fixed the bound of his own task.
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said ” ( Job 38:1 ).
It was a daring line even for an author to write. He proposed his own end, and by that end he shall be judged. He himself assigned the level of his thought, and we are at liberty to watch whether he keeps upon the level, or falls to some lower line. A wonderful thing to have injected God into any book! This is what is done in the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Whether he did so or not, some man said he did. That thought must be traced to its genesis. It is easy for us now, amid the familiarity of religious education, to talk of God doing this and that, and accomplishing great purposes, and consummating stupendous miracles. We were born into an atmosphere in which such suggestions and inquiries are native and familiar. There was a time when they had to be invented or revealed. Notice that God is supposed to have taken part in the colloquy. Now Job will be satisfied. He has been crying out for God; he has been telling his friends again and again that if he could but see God everything would be rectified almost instantaneously. Job has been mourning like one forsaken, saying, Oh that I knew where I might find him! Oh that God would come to me, and prefer his accusation against me in his own person and language! Now the aspiration is answered: God is at the front. Let us see what comes of the conflict.
Still we may dwell upon the sweet and sacred thought that God is taking part in human controversies, inquiries, and studies of every depth and range. He is a friend at least who suggested that God has something to say to me when all time is night, when all sensation is pain. If we could be sure that One takes part in human conversation if only by way of cross-examination, it would be something to know; at any moment he might change his tone. It is everything to feel that he is in the conversation. Whatever point he may occupy, whatever line of reply he may adopt, to have him, who is the beginning and the ending, in the intercourse, is to have at least a possible opportunity of seeing new light, and feeling a new touch of power, and being brought into more vivid and sympathetic relations with things profound and eternal. Why do we edge the Almighty out of life by describing his supposed intervention as the suggestion of poetry? What is this poetry, supposed to be so mischievous? Is it any more mischievous than a sky? What crimes has it committed? What is the indictment against poetry? By “poetry” we are not to understand words that meet together in sound and rhyme, but the highest reason, the sublimest philosophy, the very blossom of reason. Men suppose that when they have designated a saying or a suggestion as poetical, they have put it out of court. It is not so. A fable may be the highest fact. In a romance you may find the soul of the truest history; there may not be p solitary literal incident in the whole, and yet the effect shall be atmospheric, a sense of having been in other centuries and in other lands, and learned many languages, and entered into masonry with things hither unfamiliar. Sometimes we must use wings. Poetry may be as the wings of reason. But how good the poetry is which suggests that God is a listener to human talk, and may become a party to human conversation, and may at least riddle the darkness of our confusion by the darts of his own inquiries. Here is a case in point. Does he ask little questions? Are they frivolous interrogations that he propounds? Is the inquiry worthy of his name, even though that name be poetical? Is every question here on a level with the highest thinking? Judge the Theophany as a whole, and then say how far we are at liberty to excuse ourselves from the applications of its argument on the trivial ground that it is but poetry.
Who can read all these questions without feeling that man came very late into the field of creation? No deference is paid to his venerableness. The Lord does not accost him as a thing of ancient time as compared with the creation of which he is a part. Everything was here before man came: the earth was founded, the stars shone, the seas rolled in their infinite channels; the Pleiades were sprinkled on the blue of heaven, and the band of Orion was a fact before poor Job was born. It would seem as if everything had been done that could have been done by way of preparation for him! He brought nothing with him into this creation, not even one little star, or one tiny flower, or one singing bird: the house was furnished in every chamber for the reception of this visitor. This is scientific according to the science of the passing time. Has any one invented a theory that man came first, and furnished his own house, allotted his own stars, and supplied the face of the earth with what ornamentation he required? Is there anything here inconsistent with the marvellous doctrine of evolution? Contrariwise, is not everything here indicative of germ, and progress, and unfolding, and preparation, as if at any moment the consummation might be effected and God’s purpose revealed in the entirety of its pomp and beneficence? Man is here spoken of as having just come into the sphere of things, and not having yet had time to know where he is, what is the meaning of the symbols that glitter from the sky or the suggestions that enrich the earth. A challenge like this would be quite inconsistent with a recent creation of the universe. How recent that creation would be at the time at which these inquiries were put! Now that astronomy has made us familiar with whole rows and regiments of figures, we speak of six or eight or ten thousand years as but a twinkling of the eye, but according to old reckoning how young would creation have been, if it had been created but six thousand years ago when this Theophany was written some three or four thousand years since as a matter of literary fact! Take off three or four thousand years from the supposed six, and then all the questions would be inappropriate and absurd as applied to a creation hardly finished. The speech seems to be spoken across an eternity. So that we have no fear of evolutionary figures or astronomical calculations; we have no apprehension arising from theories of growth, involvement, evolvement progress, consummation; on the contrary, the whole spirit and genius of the Bible would seem to point to age, mystery, immeasurableness, unknowableness. Everywhere there is written upon every creation of God Unfathomable. The Theophany, then, is worthy, in point of literary conception and grandeur of the opening line “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.”
Not only does man come late into the field of creation, but, viewed individually, how soon he passes away! “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” We are of yesterday, and know nothing. The bells that announce our birth would seem to be interrupted by the toll of the knell that announces our decease. Thus God has great hold upon the whole race by the hold which he has upon the individual man. When the individual man enlarges himself into humanity, and speaks of the whole race, the speech is not without nobleness; but how soon the speaker is humbled when he is reminded that he will not have time to finish his own argument that long before he can reach an appropriate peroration he will be numbered with the generations that are dead. Thus we have greatness and smallness, abjectness and majesty, marvellously associated in the person of man. God seems to have taken no counsel with man about any of his arrangements of a natural kind. Man was not there to be consulted. Poor man! he was not asked where the Pleiades should shine; he was not invited to give an opinion upon the length and breadth of the sea; he was not asked how the rain should be brought forth, and at what periods it should descend in fertilising baptism upon the thirsty ground. He finds everything appointed, fixed, settled. Man is like the sea in so far as there seems to be a boundary which he may not pass “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” and here shall thy pursuit become prayer, and thy strength assume the weakness of supplication. Be the author of the Theophany who he may, be he profound reasoner or winged and ardent poet, he keeps his level well. Let us be just to him, even if we approach him from an unbelieving or a sceptical point of view. The palm be his who wins it: honour to whom honour is due. The man who dreamed this Theophany never falls into a nightmare; his dream keeps on the wing until it alights at the very gate of heaven.
Judged in relation to all the universe which has been described, how inferior is the position which man occupies in creation! some of the questions are very mocking and most humbling: man is asked if he can fly; if he can send out lightnings, and cause the electricity to come and stand at his side and say, Here am I. He is put down, snubbed, rebuked. He is pointed to the beasts of the field, and asked what he can do with them: can he hire the unicorn? “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?” ( Job 39:9-12 ). What art thou? Gird up thy loins now like a man, and answer these questions. “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?… canst thou put an hook into his nose?… The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: sling stones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.” What art thou? what canst thou do? where is thy strength? Disclose it. And as for thy wisdom, what is the measure thereof? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? canst thou play with the stars? All these questions drive man back into his appropriate position. The argument would seem to be, Until you can understand these comparatively inferior matters, let other subjects alone: if you cannot explain the ground you tread upon, the probability is that you will not be able to explain the sky you gaze upon: if you know not yourself, how can you know God? And yet let us not be discouraged. If man has any superiority it must be in other directions. How great, then, must those directions be, how sublime in their scope and energy! Is man altogether overwhelmed by these inquiries? In a certain limited way he is; but does he not recover his breath, and return and say, After all, I am crowned above all these things? He does, but we must wait until he has had time to recover his breath or regain his composure. The questions come upon him like a cataract! they roar upon him from all points of the compass in great overwhelming voices, so that he is deafened and stunned and thrown down, and asks for time. Presently we shall see that man is greater than all the stars put together, and that although he cannot search the past to exhaustion he will live when the sun himself grows dim and nature fades away; he will abide in the secret of the Almighty, long as eternal ages roll. His greatness is not in the past but in the future. Hardly a star in the blue of heaven but mocks the recentness of his birthday: but he says that he will live when the stars shall all be extinguished. Greatness does not lie in one direction. Greatness may hardly lie at all in the past: “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” The Christian hope is that when Christ appears we shall be like him, that we shall see him as he is. We are not to be great as antiquarians but great as sons of God.
Here, then, is our opportunity: shall we arise and avail ourselves of it? the mischief is lest we should be tempted to follow out these inquiries in the Theophany as if our whole interest lay in the past. Into the past we can go but a little way. Who can tell the number of God’s works, or find out the Almighty unto perfection? The oldest man amongst us is less than an infant of days compared even with some gigantic trees that have been rooted in the earth for a thousand years; they stand whilst man perishes; yea, they throw a shadow over a man’s grave, and still grow on as if time meant them to be immortal. Our greatness, let us repeat, does not relate to the past, or to the past only; our opportunity is tomorrow the great morrow of eternity. So our song is, This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality: death shall be swallowed up in victory; saints shall mock the tomb. How do we feel now? are we rebuked? are we humbled? The answer must be Yes, and No: we are very young compared with the creation of God, but all these things shall be dissolved, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; the little eternity of the ages shall be swallowed up and forgotten, and all the eternity of God’s love and fellowship shall open as in ever-increasing brightness. How is that glory to be attained? Here the gospel preacher has his distinctive word to deliver. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The word may be disputed, but there it is; the word may occasion great mental anxiety, but it abides there a solemn and noble fact in the book. Why should it affright us? There is music in that gospel. Hear it again. “This is life eternal.” A peculiar quality of life rather than a mere duration of life: “eternal” does not only point to unendingness but to quality of life “This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” The mystery is a mystery of music; the mystery is a mystery of light: there is no confusion in the thought, but unsearchable riches, and the embarrassment is that of wealth not of poverty. So new we have two standards of judgment: the one the great outside creation, stars and seas, beasts and birds, hidden secrets of nature, undiscovered laws of the intricate economy of the universe; there we can know but little: and the other standard of judgment is the Son of God, of whom it is said, he created all things, was before all things, that in him all things consist, that he is Lord of all the stars, even of hosts; he shaped every one of them, flashed its light into the eye of every planet that burns, and rules them all with majesty as sublime as it is gracious. The Christian gospel says that he, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” that he might give us eternal life. O creation! great, monotonous, hard, austere creation! we perish as to the mere matter of duration before the ages which measure the period of thine existence, but we mock thee, laugh at thee, despise thee, if thou dost challenge us with a view to the future: the past is thine, take it, and die in luxuriating upon it; the future is ours, and being in Christ we cannot die. This is our rational challenge, as well as our Christian appeal and comfort.
Note
The exact amount of censure due to Job for the excesses into which he had been betrayed, and to his three opponents for their harshness and want of candour, could only be awarded by an omniscient Judge. Hence the necessity for the Theophany from the midst of the storm Jehovah speaks. In language of incomparable grandeur He reproves and silences the murmurs of Job. God does not condescend, strictly speaking, to argue with His creatures. The speculative questions discussed in the colloquy are unnoticed, but the declaration of God’s absolute power is illustrated by a marvellously beautiful and comprehensive survey of the glory of creation, and His all-embracing Providence by reference to the phenomena of the animal kingdom. He who would argue with the Lord must understand at least the objects for which instincts so strange and manifold are given to the beings far below man in gifts and powers. This declaration suffices to bring Job to a right mind: his confesses his inability to comprehend, and therefore to answer his Maker ( Job 40:3-4 ). A second address completes the work. It proves that a charge of injustice against God involves the consequence that the accuser is more competent than he to rule the universe. He should then be able to control, to punish, to reduce all creatures to order but he cannot even subdue the monsters of the irrational creation. Baffled by leviathan and behemoth, how can he hold the reins of government, how contend with him who made and rules them all? Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
The Theophany. II.
Job 38-41
How far is it possible to read all the great questions contained in the Theophany in a sympathetic and gentle tone? May we not be wrong in supposing that all the questions were put as with the whole pomp and majesty of heaven? Has not the Lord a still small voice in which he can put heart-searching questions? Is there not a river of God, the streams whereof shall make glad his city? Is that river a great, boiling, foaming flood? Perhaps we may have been wrong in carrying the whirlwind into the questions. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,” but it is not said that the Lord answered Job like a whirlwind; even out of that tabernacle of storm God might speak to the suffering patriarch in an accommodated voice, in a whisper suited to his weakness. Let it be an exercise in sacred rhetoric to read the questions of the Theophany sympathetically, to whisper them, to address them to the heart alone. Unless we get the right tone in reading God’s Book, we shall mar all its music, and we shall miss all its gospel. The people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus Christ; and the tone was often an explanation of what was spoken; there was something in the Man’s way of stating what he had to say, which led hearers, otherwise hostile, to admit “Never man spake like this man.” It seems, indeed, as if the questions should be spoken with trumpets and thunders and whirlwinds a thousand in number; and yet by so speaking them we should not reveal the majesty of God; we might reveal that majesty still more vividly and persuasively by finding a way of asking the questions which would not overpower the listener or destroy what little strength he had.
God does not hesitate to charge upon the patriarch and all whom he represented something like absolute ignorance: “Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?… Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?” What hast thou done? What hast thou seen? We have only seen outsides what are called phenomena or appearances, aspects and phases of things; but what is below? “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” Thou hast sailed across the sea, but hast thou ever walked through its depths? Hast thou not rather been carried as by some mighty nurse from continent to continent, rather than been a spectator of the springs of the infinite flood? “Hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” The word “search” is full of meaning; it signifies a kind of quest which will not be satisfied with anything but the origin, the actual fountain and spring and beginning of things: it is not enough to see the water, we must know where the water comes from; we must search into the depth. It is not enough to see the hail that falls, we want to see the house out of which it comes, the infinite snow-house in which God has laid up his treasures of cold. May we not see the treasures of the hail? We are ever kept outside. God has always something more that we have not seen. “Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?” Thus we are reminded of our ignorance. Yet we are wise, limitedly wise; we are quite great as grubbers after phenomena; we come home every night laden with more phenomena. By some mysterious process the word “phenomena” seems to satisfy our appetite because it fills our mouth. But what are these phenomena? Have we found out everything yet? Let the most learned men answer, and they will say, We have found out nothing as it really is; we have just learned enough to correct the mistakes of yesterday, and enough to humble us in view of tomorrow; we are waiting for another revelation or discovery or acquisition; we have spent one century in obliterating the misrecorded phenomena of another. This is admitted by the men themselves. They demand justice at the hands of the Christian teacher, and they are the first to admit that they know nothing in its reality, in its interior condition, quality, and meaning. We are not now forcing an interpretation upon their words, but almost literally quoting them. What is it that you are now playing with? hand it to me: what is the name of it? A flute. Very good: I have heard it, now I want to examine it! Open it for me! Why don’t you open it? What are you playing upon? It seems to be a grand, many-voiced instrument, what is the name of it? You answer me, It is an organ. Good: I like it; it touches me at a thousand points, and makes me feel as if I had a thousand lives: now open it; show me the music: I have heard it, I want to see it. You decline; in declining you are wise. Who destroys the instrument through which the music comes? Who would cut a little bird’s throat to find out the secret of its trill? Hast thou seen the treasures searched the depths gone into the interior of things? Or art thou laden like a diligent gleaner with sheaves of phenomena, which thou art going to store in thy memory today for the purpose of casting them out tomorrow? What can we then know about God, if we can know so little about his sea, and the treasure-house of his hail, and the sanctuary of his thunder? It is the same with religious emotion and religious conviction. Take your emotion to pieces. You decline to take your flute to pieces; you smile at the suggestion that you should open every part of the organ and show me the singing angels that are closeted in the good prison: how then can I take this religious emotion to pieces? These deep religious convictions resist analysis; when we approach them analytically, they treat us as murderers. Men who exclaim against vivisection, and often justly, surely ought to be proportionately indignant with the men who would take souls, so to say, fibre from fibre, and perform upon them all the tricks and cruelties of analysis. Yet the universe is beautiful and profitable exceedingly. Even what we can see of it often fills our eyes with tears. Who has not been melted to tears by the beauty of nature, by the appealing sunshine, by the flower-gemmed fields and hills, by the purling streams and singing birds, and all the tender economy of summer? Men have sometimes been graciously forced to pray because things were so comely, beautiful, tender, suggestive; they could not be wild-voiced in the presence of such charms; even the rudest felt a new tone come into his voice as he spake about the mystic loveliness. Behind all things there is a secret, call it by what name you please: some have called it secret; others have called it persistent force; others have described it by various qualifications of energy; others again have said, It is a spirit that is behind things; others have whispered, It is a father. But that there is something behind appearances is a general belief amongst intelligent men. When one of the greatest of our teachers compares what is known to a piano of so many octaves, he only numbers the octaves which he can touch: who can tell what octaves infinite lie beyond his fingers? Who will say that any one man’s fingers can touch the extremes of things? Were he to say so, we should mock him as he extended his arms to show us what a little span he has. Throughout the Theophany, then, God is not afraid to charge men with absolute ignorance of interior realities which may be spiritual energies.
Not only is man ignorant, he is powerless “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?” ( Job 38:31 ). Hark how he speaks of Pleiades as if the white sapphires were but a handful, and a child could use them! “Or loose the bands of Orion?” Answer me! “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?” ( Job 38:32-35 ). These questions admit of some answer. Surely we should be able to give some reply to interrogatories of this kind. Then how man’s power is mocked “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?” Try him; reason with him; show thyself friendly to him: come, thou art learned in the tricks of persuasion and all the conjuring of rhetorical argument, try thy skill upon the unicorn “canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?” Make some use of him; make a domestic of him; make a slave of the unicorn: or trust him; put confidence in him; be magnanimous to the unicorn: “Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?” Surely there is a mocking laugh running through all these particular inquiries, not a laugh of bitter mockery, but of that taunt which has a gracious meaning, and by which alone God can sometimes call us to a realization of our strength which is in very deed our weakness. Then when all the questions are answered so far, God says, “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?” Thou art very able and yet very feeble: come, let us see what thou canst do. Thou canst beat a dog, conciliate a unicorn; thou canst slay an ox, and stand over him like a butcher-conqueror, call the eagle back from heaven’s gate; demand that he come; thou art a man, thunder at him: what is the result? Thou hast numerous trophies and proofs of thine ability, now put a thorn through the nostrils of leviathan, thrust a spear through the scales of the crocodile. Thou canst do something: thou canst not do everything. Do not understand, therefore, that weakness is power, or that power is all power; draw boundaries, lines, limits, and within these assert thy manhood and begin thy religion. Truly we are very powerless. Yet in some respects we are influential in a degree which warms our vanity. In the summer of 1886 there were shocks of earthquake in Charleston and in various other American cities. Why did the people not speak to the earthquake, and bid it be quiet? Surely they might have done that. Many of them were rich planters; many of them were gifted in the power of cursing and swearing and defying God. Look at them! Another shock, and the greatest buildings in the city are rent and dashed to the dust. Hear these men drunkards, swearers, blasphemers, worldly men begging black niggers on the open highway to pray! What a humiliation was theirs! Why did they not bind the earthquake, throw a bridle upon the neck of the infinite beast, put a bit in his mouth, and make him lie down and be still? See, they reel to and fro like drunken men! How powerless we are! And in these hours of powerlessness we know what a man’s faith is worth. It is in such crises that we know what your intellectual speculations and fine metaphysical flourishings come to; it is then that we put our finger upon the pack of her mysteries, and say, Why don’t you open this pack, and be quiet and comfortable whilst the heart is being shaken at its very centre? Not a metaphysician but would part with all the mysteries he ever knew if he could only be saved from the wolf that is two feet behind him. We are not sure that any metaphysician ever lived who would not be quite willing to go back to school again as an ignorant boy if the earthquake would only give over! Oh it rocks the town, it tears the mountains, it troubles the sea oh would it but be quiet! We would give money, fame, learning, and begin the world afresh: but we cannot live in this misery. When you see men boasting, and blaspheming and scorning the Church, and pouring contempt upon all the ordinances of religion, all you need desire by way of testing the reality of such ebullition and madness would be to see them under the influence of an earthquake: they would beg a dog to pray for them if they thought that the dog had any influence with Heaven. Are we to be led by these men and to take the cue of our life from them, and to say, How strong they are, how lofty in stature, how broad in chest, and how they breathe with all the vigour of superabounding life: they shall be our leaders, and not your praying men in the Church? Can the blind lead the blind? they shall both fall into the ditch. You cannot tell what a man is by any one particular hour of his experience; you must see him in every degree of the circle before you can fully estimate the quality which marks him as a man.
It is something to know that we are ignorant and that we are powerless. Much is gained by knowing the limits of our ability, and the limits of our knowledge. Let a man keep within the boundary of his strength, and he will be powerful for good: let him stretch himself one little inch beyond God’s appointment, and he will be not only impotent but contemptible. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves and strong ambition be stayed. “The Lord reigneth.” We are but men; our breath is in our nostrils. We cannot see through one little sheet of paper; the tiniest leaf that grows in the field if put upon our eye would shut out the sun. Better let us be quiet, simple, watchful, humble, patient, receiving the divine revelation as the divine Giver may see fit to disclose it.
The great argument, then, is this: as there is so much in nature which thou hast not understood, there may be also much in human life and discipline thou hast not fully comprehended. It is the argument of analogy. It is the great argument of the philosophical bishop. There is no escape from it; certainly none within the limits of the Theophany. If we do not know the interior of a piece of wood, how can we know the interior of a thought? If we cannot pluck a flower, and keep it, how could we pluck the secret of God, and retain it as our own? Again and again we have seen that to pluck a flower is to kill it. However tenderly you may treat it, however you may feed it with water, protect it from all adverse influences, you have plucked the flower, and you have killed it Thou shalt not trespass in the divine province. We may walk through the garden of God, but may not pluck the flowers that grow in that holy paradise. Things are not made valuable to us simply by holding them in the hand. The sun would be no sun if we could inclose him within our own habitation: he stands away at an inaccessible distance; he can come down to us, but we cannot go up to him. O thou great hospitable sun, terrible yet genial, distant yet quite near, thou art a bright symbol of the God who made thee. As there are mysteries in nature, so there are mysteries in life. What is your thought? Where did it come from? How did your ideas originate? What is that thing you call your soul? Show it; describe it; trace its length; name its relations; what is it? Psychology has its holy of holies as well as theology. Do not imagine that all the mysteries cluster around the name of God. We must, then, accept the mysteries of life: they are many in number; they are very pressing and urgent, and often embarrassing and difficult; but they belong to the great system of God’s government. Why should the good man have trouble? Why should the atheist have a golden harvest? Why should the blasphemer prosper and the suppliant be driven away as if by a pursuing and judicial wind from heaven? “My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.” Ah me! my soul, wait thou patiently upon God. The mysteries of nature have their counterpart in the mysteries of life. But remember, in the second place, that as all in nature is under divine control, so is all in human life. There is a wise God over all, blessed for ever more. He comes down to us as a father, compassionate, tender, watchful, regarding every one of us as an only child, numbering the hairs of our head; he besets us behind and before; he is on the right hand and on the left, and he lays his hand upon us. We know it, for we have proved it in a thousand instances: our whole life is an argument in proof of the existence, government, and goodness of God. “Oh rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” The day is very cloudy and the night is full of weary hours; the chariot-wheels of time and the soul’s trouble roll heavily; morning after morning comes like one disappointment upon another. It requires a God-wrought faith, a very miracle of trust, to wait and not complain.
Is man, then, but a part of an economy; not an individual but part of a process; one amongst ten thousand other things? Is a man at liberty to say I have renounced my individuality; I fall into the great stream and current of what is called history; I have declined individual responsibility, and identified myself with the sum-total of things? How foolish would be this talk! Let us test that for one moment. Does Society recognise the impersonal creed? We must bring these creeds to practical tests. Suppose Society should say to all its members: Individual responsibility is gone; we are part and parcel of a stupendous economy, and we must just take our lot with the general movement: it is in vain that man after man should stand up and claim individual franchise or honour or influence or responsibility. Society never said so, and yet retained its security for any length of time. Does man himself recognise it in reference to his daily wants? Does he say: I am part of a general system of things, and therefore I do not trouble about what I should eat and what I should drink and wherewithal I should be clothed: all these are petty questions, minor and frivolous inquiries and concerns? Does man ever say so? But when he mounts his philosophic steed, then he becomes “part of a general economy,” a shadowy gentleman, an impalpable nothing, a most proud humility. The doctrine will not bear practical tests. Man is always asserting his rights. Take part of his property from him, and you will destroy his creed. Occupy the seat for which he has paid, and tell him when he comes to claim it that he is part of a great system of things, belongs to a mysterious and impalpable economy, and say, “Why so hot, my little sir? Why not amalgamate yourself with the universe?” If these creeds will not bear testing in the marketplace and at the railway station, and in all the wear and tear, in all the attrition and controversy, of life, they are vanity, an empty wind. The Christian doctrine is Every one of us shall give account of himself to God: we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. We cannot abandon our individuality socially, why should we abandon it religiously? We could not live by giving ourselves away into airy nothingness, then how can we live the better and nobler life by obliterating our personality and sinking like a snowflake on a river?
Here let us rest. God has spoken. His questions have been a multitude; they may have been thundered, they may have been whispered; now and then they may have risen into pomp and majesty and augustness, and yet now and then they may have come down into whisper and breathing and gentle speech. God’s ministry is manifold. There is no monotony in the speech of God. He reveals himself to us as we are able to bear it. We cannot go to himself directly; we can go to his Son Jesus Christ, whom he hath made Lord of all things. We hail thee, Son of man, Son of God, and we do our own convictions injustice unless we hail thee as God the Son, and crown thee Lord of all.
The Theophany, As a Whole
Job 38-41
We have been waiting for the answer of God to the tremble of Job and to the tumult occasioned by his friends. We became weary of the fray of words, for they seemed to have no legitimate stopping-place, and to bring with them no sufficient and satisfactory answer. At length God has appeared, and we have already said that the appearance of God upon the scene is itself the great answer. To have come into the action at all is to have revealed a condescension and a complacency amounting to an expression of profound and tender solicitude in regard to all that distressed and overwhelmed the life of the patriarch. If God had not spoken, his presence would have been an answer. To be assured that God draws nigh at any moment to troubled human life, is to be also sure that he will see the right vindicated: he will not break the bruised reed; he will not quench the smoking flax; nor will he allow others to break and to quench what he has lovingly taken within his fatherly care. But, as a matter of fact, God has used words, and therefore we are entitled to read them, and to estimate their value, and to consider their whole influence upon the marvellous situation which occasioned them. This is not the answer that we expected. If we had been challenged to provide an answer, our imagination would have taken a very different line from that which God adopted in his reply to Job and his comforters. But who are we that we should have imagined any answer at all? Better that we should have sat down in silence, saying, This is a trouble which puts away from its sacred dignity all words ever devised or used by man. Let man keep his words for mean occasions; let him not attempt to use them when God’s hand it laid heavily upon one of his creatures: then silence is the true eloquence, mute grief is the wisest sympathy.
The answer overwhelms our expectations. It is greater than we had supposed it would be. We were not aware that such a sweep of thought would have been taken by the great Speaker and the divine Healer. Our way would have been more direct, in some respects more dramatic: we would have seen the black enemy lifted in mid-air, and blasted by the lightning he had defied; we might have imagined him slain upon the altar of the universe, and cast down into outer and eternal darkness, and Job clothed with fine linen in sight of earth and heaven, and crowned conqueror, and having in his hand a palm worthy of his patience. Thus our little expectations are always turned upside down; thus our little wisdom is proved by its littleness to be but a variety of ignorance: so does God make all occasions great, and show how wise a thing it would be on our part to refer all matters to his judgment, and not to take them within the limits of our own twilight and confused counsels. At the last it will be even so; the winding-up will be so contrary to our expectations: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first; and men shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and many who had attempted to force their way into the kingdom will be ordered back into the darkness which is native to their corruption. Let us learn from this continual rebuking of expectation that things all lie within God’s power and wisdom, and that he will dispose them graciously and permanently, and vindicate his disposal by appeals to our own judgment and experience, in a larger world, where there is light enough to touch the problems of the past at every point.
In the next place, this is a terrible use to make of nature. Who could have thought that nature would be so used forced, so to say, into religious uses of the largest kind? The very stones cry out in hymns of praise to God; the whole heaven comes to vindicate the excellence of his wisdom and the completeness of his power. What can man do when Nature takes up the exposition of divine purpose and decree? Who can answer the whirlwind? Who can hold his breath in face of a tempest that leaps down from the clouds and makes the mountains shake by its tremendous energy? Who could look up when the stars put on all their light and blind the mortal vision of man? We are made afraid when we come into a realisation of this particular use of nature. We did not know that God had so many ministers who could speak tor him. We had been dreaming about the heavens, and wondering about the infinite arch, and talking about the beauty of the things that lay round about us; we had called the earth a garden of God, and thought of nature as a comforting mother and nurse: yet now when the occasion needs it all nature stands up like an army ten thousand times ten thousand strong, and takes up the cause of God and pleads it with infinite eloquence. If we have to be rebuked by nature in this way, who can stand for one moment? If a may may not utter a complaint lest the lightning blind him, who then dare, confess that he has a sorrow that gnaws his heart? If our disobedience is to be reproved by the rhythmic movement of the obedient stars, then who would care or dare to live? All things obey the Creator but man: “the heavens declare the glory of God”; night unto night uttereth speech; there is no disobedience in all the uproar of the seas; when nature is shaken she is not rebellious: but man strange, poor, weird, ghostly man can scarcely open his mouth without blasphemy, or look without insulting the heavens he gazes at, or think without planning some treason against the eternal throne. So God uses this great machine; so God hurls at us the stars that shine so placidly, and make the night so fair. Yet we must take care how we use nature: she is a dainty instrument; she resents some of the approaches we make when we intend to use her for illicit or base or unworthy purposes. We must beware how we press nature into our service. We must not appropriate nature to exclusive uses or to hint at the divisions and separations of men. Nature should be used otherwise. Better allow the great Creator to say how nature may be employed in illustrating religious thought, religious relations, and religious action.
But this is not the only use which is made of nature even by the Creator. At first we are affrighted, as we nearly always are in the Old Testament, but when the Creator speaks of nature in the New Testament he adopts quite a different tone. There is One of whom it is said, He made all things: he is before all things: by him all things consist: without him was not anything made that was made. It will be instructive to hear him speak of the uses of nature. Does he answer his hearers “out of the whirlwind?” Does he thunder upon them from the sanctuary of eternity? Hear him, and wonder at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth Consider the lilies of the field how they grow: if God so care for or clothe the grass of the field, will he not much more care for and clothe you, O ye of little faith? Yet it would be unfair to the Old Testament if we did not point out that even there the gentler uses of nature are shown by the very Creator himself. When Jacob was cast down, when his way was supposed to be passed over, when all hope had died out of him, and every glint of light had vanished from his sky, God said to him, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,” the same God, the same nature; a weakened and discouraged man, yet nature in this case used to restore and comfort the soul that was overwhelmed. Thus God must use his armoury as he pleases. He can plead against us with great strength, he can overwhelm us, he can take away our breath by a whirlwind, he can blind us by excess of light; or he can so show the galaxy of heaven, and the whole panorama of the visible universe, as to heal us and comfort us, and lead us to say, He who keeps these lights in their places will not quench the smoking flax. Where is there a healer so gentle and compassionate, loving and sympathetic, as nature? Sometimes she seems to say to brokenhearted man, I was made for you; you never knew it until this hour: now I will heal you, and lead you to the altar, where you thought the fire had died out the altar which you thought God had abandoned. This appeal to nature is the higher and truer way of teaching. It brings a man out of himself. That is the first great conquest to be achieved. All brooding must be broken up; everything of the nature of melancholy or fixing the mind upon one point, or dwelling upon one series of events, must be invaded and dissipated. God would take a man for a mountain walk, and speak with him as they climbed the hill together, and watch him as the fresh wind blew upon his weary life, and revived him as with physical gospels; the Lord would take a man far out into the mid-sea, and there would watch the effect of healing influences which he himself has originated, and which he never fails to control: the man would be interested in new sights; he would feel himself in point of contact with great sweet nature; without knowing it, old age would be shed from his face, and he would ask youthful questions, and propose plans involving expenditure of hope and energy and confidence and faith of every degree and quality; and he who went out an old, bent-down, helpless man, would come back clothed with youth, having undergone a process almost of resurrection, being brought up from the dead, and set in new and radiant relation to all duty, responsibility, and labour. Here is the benefit of the Church. So long as men hide themselves in solitude they do not receive the advantage and helpfulness of social and Christian sympathy. The very effort of coming to the church helps a man sometimes to throw off his imprisonment and narrowness of view. There is something in the human touch, in the human face divine, in the commingling of voices, in the public reading of the divine word, which nerves and cheers all who take part in the sacred exercise. Solitude soon becomes irreligious; monasticism tends to the decay of all faculties that were meant to be social, sympathetic, reciprocal: “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”: come into the larger humanity, behold the larger creation, and thus receive healing and comfort and benediction from enlargement of relation and sympathy. Never allow yourself to prey upon yourself. That act of self-consumption means everything that is involved in the words despair and ruin. Force yourselves into public relations; so to say, compel yourselves to own your kith and kindred, to take part in family life and in that larger family life called the intercourse of the Church in public worship, in public service and also know that God has made all nature to minister unto your soul’s health, establish a large intercourse with mountain and river and sea, with forest and flower-bed, and singing birds, and all things great and lovely: some day you will need them, and they will be God’s ministers to you.
This answer is a sublime rebuke to the pride which Job had once asserted during the colloquies. In chapter Job 13:22 , Job said, in quite a round strong voice, indicative of energy and independence and self-complacency, “Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.” That tone needed to be taken out of his voice. Oftentimes the musical teacher says to the pupil, Your voice must be altogether broken up, and you must start again in the formation of a voice; you think now your voice is good and strong and useful, but you are mistaken; the first thing I have to do with you is to take your voice away, then begin at the beginning and cultivate it into an appropriate expression. Job’s voice was out of order when he said, “Call thou, and I will answer,” or, if it please thee, I will adopt another policy “let me speak, and answer thou me.” Behold how complacent is Job! how willing to adopt any form of arbitration! how anxious to throw the responsibility upon another! He feels himself to be right, and therefore the other side may make its own arrangements and its own terms, and whatever they are he will boldly accept them! Every man must be answered in his own tone: “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If your challenge is so bold and proud, God must meet you on the ground which you yourself have chosen. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said ” then comes the cataract of interrogation, the tempest of inquiry, in which Job seems to say, O spare me! for behold I am vile: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth: once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will proceed no further: O thou God of the whirlwind, give me rest; let me have time to draw my breath! But, poor Job, thou didst say to God, “Call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me:” where is now thy boast, thy pride, thy vain talking? Thus does God humble us in a thousand ways. We pull down our barns and build greater, and behold in the morning they are without roof and without foundation and none can say where the solid structure stood. We say, “Let us build a tower which shall reach even unto heaven”; and we build it very high, and in the morning when we come to finish it, lo, there is not one stone left upon another. There is a humbling ministry in creation. Nature is full of rebuke, and criticism, and judgment; or she is full of comfort and suggestion, and religiou rapsable and most tender benediction.
How apt we are to suppose that we could answer God if we only had the opportunity! Could we but see him; could we but have an interview with him; could we but speak to him face to face, how we should vindicate ourselves! There was a man who once sought to see God, and he turned and saw him, and fell down as one dead. Sudden revelation would blind us. Let us not tempt God too much to show himself. We know not what we ask. What is the great answer to our trial? The universe. What is the great commentary upon God? Providence. What is the least profitable occupation? Controversy. Thus much have we been taught by our reading in the Book of Job. Where Job had a spiritual revelation a voice answering out of the whirlwind we have had personal example. We do not hear God or see God in any direct way, but we see Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of man, who also knows all the secrets of nature, for he was before all things, and by him all things consist: the universe is his garment; behold, he is within the palpitating, the living soul. O mighty One! when thou dost come to us in our controversies and reasonings, plead not against us with thy great power, but begin at Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, and in all the Scriptures expound unto us the things concerning thyself; and we shall know who the speaker is by the warmth that glows in our thankful hearts.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
(See the Job Book Comments for Introductory content and general conclusions and observations).
IX
ELIHU’S SPEECH, GOD’S INTERVENTION AND THE EPILOGUE
Job 32-42
The author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech consists of the prose section (Job 32:1-5 ), the several items of which are as follows:
1. Why the three friends ceased argument, viz: “Because he was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1 ).
2. Elihu’s wrath against Job, viz: “Because he justified himself rather than God” (Job 32:2 ).
3. Elihu’s wrath against Job’s friends, viz: “Because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job” (Job 32:3 ; Job 32:5 ).
4. Why Elihu had waited to speak unto Job, viz: “Because they were older than he” (Job 32:4 ).
Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) consists of two sections as follows:
1. Elihu’s address to the three friends.
2. His soliloquy.
Now, an analysis of part one of this introduction consists of Elihu’s address to his three friends, with the following items:
1. He waited because he was young, and considered that days should speak and that years should teach wisdom (Job 32:6-7 ).
2. Yet there is individual intelligence, a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty which gives understanding (Job 32:8 ).
3. And greatness, and age are not always wise, therefore, I speak (Job 32:9-10 ).
4. He had waited patiently and had listened for their reasonings while they fumbled for words (Job 32:11 ).
5. They had failed to answer Job’s argument, and therefore had failed to convince him (Job 32:12 ).
6. Now beware; do not say that you have found wisdom, for God can attend to his case, but not man (Job 32:13 ).
7. I will not answer him with your speeches (Job 32:14 ). Now let us analyze his soliloquy which is found in Job 32:15-22 and consists of the following items:
1. They are amazed and silent; they have not a word to say (Job 32:15 ).
2. Shall I wait? No; I will speak and show my opinion (Job 32:16-17 ).
3. I am full of words, and must speak or burst, therefore I will speak and be relieved (Job 32:18-20 ).
4. His method was not to respect persons nor give flattering titles, because he did not know how to do so and was afraid of his Maker (Job 32:21-22 ).
Elihu’s address to Job in 33:1-7 is as follows:
1. Hear me for the integrity and sincerity of my speech, since I have already begun and am speaking to you right out of my heart (Job 33:1-3 ).
2. I also am a man, being made as a man and since we are on a common level, answer me or stand aside (Job 33:4-5 ).
3. I will be for God, and being a man, I will not terrify you, for I will not bring great pressure upon you (Job 33:6-7 ).
The point of issue now is a general charge that Job’s heart attitude toward God is not right in view of these afflictions (Job 33:8-12 ). It will be seen that Elihu’s charge is different from that of the three friends, viz: That Job was guilty of past sins.
Elihu charged first that Job had said that God giveth no account of any of his matters (Job 33:13 ).. In his reply Elihu shows that this is untrue.
1. In that God reveals himself many times in dreams and visions in order to turn man from his purpose and to save him from eternal destruction (Job 33:14-18 ).
2. In that in afflictions God also talks to man as he often brings him down into the very jaws of death (Job 33:19-22 ). [Cf. Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a preventive.] None of the speakers before him brought out this thought. This is very much like the New Testament teachings; in fact, this thought is nowhere stated more clearly than here. It shows that afflictions are to the children of God what the storm is to the tree of the forest, its roots run deeper by use of the storm.
3. In that he sends an angel sometimes to interpret the things of God, to show man what is right for him (Job 33:23-28 ).
4. Therefore these things ought to be received graciously, since God’s purpose in it all is benevolent (Job 33:29-33 ). Elihu charged, in the second place, that Job had said that God had taken away his right and that it did not profit to be a righteous man (Job 34:5-9 ; Job 35:1-3 ).
His reply is as follows:
1. The nature of God disproves it; -he is not wicked and therefore will not pervert justice (Job 34:10-15 ).
2. Therefore Job’s accusation is unbecoming, for he is by right possessor of all things and governs the world on the principles of justice and benevolence (Job 34:21-30 ).
3. What Job should have said is altogether different from what he did say because he spoke without knowledge and his words were not wise (Job 34:31-37 ).
4. Whether Job was righteous or sinful did not affect God (Job 35:4-8 ).
Elihu charged, in the third place, that Job had said that he could not get a hearing because he could not see him (Job 35:14 ). His reply was that this was unbecoming and vanity in Job (Job 35:15-16 ).
Elihu’s fourth charge was that Job was angry at his chastisements (Job 36:18 ). He replied that such an attitude was sin; and therefore he defended God (36:1-16).
Elihu’s fifth charge was that Job sought death (Job 36:20 ). He replied that it was iniquity to suggest to God when life should end (Job 36:21-23 ).
Elihu discusses in Job 37 the approaching storm. He introduces it in Job 36:24 and in Job 36:33 he gives Job a gentle rebuke, showing him how God even tells the cows of the coming storm. Then he describes the approaching storm in Job 37 , giving the lesson in Job 36:13 , viz: It may be for correction, or it may be for the benefit of the earth, but “stand still and see.”
Elihu makes a distinct advance over the three friends toward the true meaning of the mystery. They claim to know the cause; he, the purpose. They said that the affliction was punitive; he, beneficent. His error is that he, too, makes sin in Job the occasion at least of his sorrow. His implied counsel to Job approaches the final climax of a practical solution. God’s first arraignment of Job is found in Job 38:1-40:2 . Tanner’s summary is as follows:
It is foolish presumption for the blind, dependent creature to challenge the infinite in the realm of providence. The government of the universe, physical and moral, is one; to question any point is to assume understanding of all. Job, behold some of the lower realms of the divine government and realize the absurdity of your complaint.
Job’s reply follows in Job 40:3-5 . Tanner’s summary: “I see it; I hush.”
God’s second arraignment of Job is recorded in Job 40:6-41:34 . Tanner:
To criticize God’s government of the universe is to claim the ability to do better. Assuming the role of God, suppose Job, you try your hand on two of your fellow creatures the hippopotamus and the crocodile.
Job’s reply is found in Job 42:1-6 , Tanner’s summary of which is: This new view of the nature of God reveals my wicked and disgusting folly in complaining; I repent. Gladly do I embrace his dispensations in loving faith.
There are some strange silences in this arraignment and some people have been disappointed that God did not bring out all the questions of the book at the close, as:
1. He says nothing of the heaven scenes in the Prologue and of Satan.
2. He gives no theoretic solution of the problems of the book.
3. He says nothing directly about future revelation and the Messiah.
The explanation of this is easy, when we consider the following facts:
1. That it was necessary that Job should come to the right heart attitude toward God without any explanation.
2. That to have answered concerning future revelation and the Messiah would have violated God’s plan of making revelation.
3. That bringing Job to an acceptance of God’s providence of whatever form without explanation, furnishes a better demonstration of disinterested righteousness.
This is true of life and the master stroke of the production is that the theoretical solution is withheld from the sufferer, while he is led to the practical solution which is a religious attitude of heart rather than an understanding of the head. A vital, personal, loving faith in God that welcomes from him all things is the noblest exercise of the human soul. The moral triumph came by a more just realization of the nature of God.
Job was right in some things and he was mistaken in other things. He was right in the following points:
1. In the main point of difference between him and the three friends, viz: That his suffering was not the result of justice meted out to him for his sins.
2. That even and exact justice is not meted out here on the earth.
3. In contending for the necessity of a revelation by which he could know what to do.
4. In believing God would ultimately vindicate him in the future.
5. In detecting supernatural intelligence and malice in his affliction.
He was mistaken in the following particulars:
1. In considering his case hopeless and wishing for death.
2. In attributing the malice of these things to God instead of Satan.
3. In questioning the mercy and justice of God’s providence and demanding that the Almighty should give him an explanation.
The literary value of these chapters (Job 38:1-42:6 ) is immense and matchless. The reference in Job 38:3 to “The cluster of the Pleiades” is to the “seven stars” which influence spring and represents youth. “Orion” in the same passage, stood for winter and represents death. The picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 has stood the challenge of the ages.
The lesson of this meeting of Job with God is tremendous. Job had said, “Oh, that I could appear before him!” but his appearing here to Job reveals to him his utter unworthiness. The man that claims sinlessness advertises his guilty distance from God. Compare the cases of Isaiah, Peter, and John. The Epilogue (Job 42:7-17 ) consists of three parts, as follows:
1. The vindication of Job and the condemnation of his three friends.
2. Job as a priest makes atonement and intercession for his friends.
3. The blessed latter end of Job: “So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”
The extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends are important. In extent it applies to the issues between Job and the three friends and not to Job’s heart attitude toward God. This he had correct-ed in Job by his arraignment of him. In vindicating Job, God justifies his contention that even and exact justice is not meted out on earth and in lime, and condemned the converse which was held by his friends. Out of this contention of Job grows his much felt need of a future judgment, a redeemer, mediator, interpreter, and incarnation, and so forth. Or if this contention is true, then man needs these things just mentioned. If the necessity of these is established, then man needs a revelation explaining all these things.
Its value is seen in God’s confirming these needs as felt by Job, which gives to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come, implicit confidence in the revelation he has given us, pointing out the fact that Job’s need of a redeemer, umpire, interpreter, and so forth has been supplied to the human race with all the needed information upon the other philosophic discussions of the book.
The signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends” is seen in the fact that Job reached the point of right heart attitude toward God before the victory came. This was the supreme test of Job’s piety. One of the hardest things for a man to do is to invoke the blessings of heaven on his enemies. This demand that God made of Job is in line with New Testament teaching and light. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for them,” and while dying he himself prayed for his executioners. Paul who was conquered by the prayer of dying Stephen often prayed for his persecutors. This shows that Job was indeed in possession of God’s grace, for without it a man is not able to thus pray. The lesson to us is that we may not expect God to turn our captivity and blessings if we are unable to do as Job did.
The more thoughtful student will see that God does not ex-plain the problem to Job in his later addresses to him, nor in the Epilogue, because to give this would anticipate, out of due time, the order of the development of revelation. Job must be content with the revelation of his day and trust God, who through good and ill will conduct both Job and the world to proper conclusions.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the author’s introduction to Elihu’s speech and what the several items of it?
2. What is Elihu’s introduction (Job 32:6-22 ) and what the two sections?
3. Give an analysis of part one of this introduction.
4. Give an analysis of his soliloquy?
5. Analyze Elihu’s address to Job in Job 33:1-7 .
6. What is the point al issue?
7. What did Elihu charge that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?
8. What did Elihu charge, in the second place, that Job had said and what Elihu’s reply?
9. What did Elihu charge in the third place, that Job had said, and what Elihu’s answer to it?
10. What was Elihu’s fourth charge and what was Elihu’s answer?
11. What Elihu’s fifth charge and what his reply?
12. What does Elihu discuss in Job 37 ?
13. What the distinct advances made by Elihu and what his error?
14. What God’s first arraignment of Job?
15. What Job’s reply?
16. What God’s second arraignment of Job?
17. What Job’s reply?
18. What the strange silences in this arraignment and what your explanation of them?
19. What the character of the moral solution of the problem as attained by Job?
20. In what things was Job right and in what things was he mistaken?
21. What can you say of the literary value of these chapters (Job 33:1-42:6 )?
22. Explain the beauties of Job 38:31 .
23. What of the picture of the war horse in Job 39:19-25 ?
24. What the lesson of this meeting of Job with God?
25. Give an analysis of the epilogue.
26. What the extent and value of the Almighty’s vindication of Job and his condemnation of the three friends?
27. What the signification of the Almighty’s “turning the captivity of Job” just at the point “when he prayed for his friends”?
28. Does God give Job the explanation of life’s problem, and why?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Ver. 1. Then the Lord answered Job ] God himself, taking the word out of Elihu’s mouth (who bad spoken well, but lacked majesty to set it forth), became his own patron, et huius disputationis sequester, and decider of this long controversy, vindicating his own authority, and teaching that truth in the four following chapters, which St Paul briefly compriseth in these words, Rom 11:33-34 , “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! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” Why then should any one require an account of his proceedings, or question his justice? Job had often desired that God would take knowledge of his cause. His friends also had desired the same, Job 11:5 . Here therefore he appeareth in person, not as out of an engine devised for that purpose, after the manner of some partial tragedy, for the whole narration testifieth that this is a true story of things done indeed, and afterwards faithfully recorded (Beza). Which history is highly to be esteemed as an incomparable treasure, if it were for nothing else, yet for the right knowledge of natural philosophy here laid open, in these four following chapters, together with the chief and principal end thereof, which is, that in these visible creatures we may behold the invisible things of God.
Out of the whirlwind
And said
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job Chapter 38
Chap. 38: 1-38. The last three verses of this chapter properly belong to the next chapter, as we there enter upon animate nature. All that we have here is in regard to what is called inanimate nature. Yet it is a part of the creation of God quite as truly as is animate nature. Still, this latter rises above everything that is without life. For life is a very wonderful thing, even in an animal, however small, and distinguishes it from all that never had life. But here we have Jehovah speaking, and it was Jehovah who spake at Sinai and in a way suitable to the law. Because the law of God if given to man – sinful man, as it was – must be a ministration of death and condemnation. It is because of defect in human law that a bad man escapes, and therefore the better the law the greater certainty that it will reach one who deserves to be punished by it. And God’s law is perfect for the object for which He gave it as the rule for fallen man upon the earth, to curb and restrain him; and if he be not curbed or restrained, to condemn (and in effect ending in death).
But here there was quite a different reason why God spoke; because there was an end, for those who believed – to know that God cares for them, and this too, entirely independent of Israel and the very special dealings of God for the chosen people. God’s eye and God’s hand too are ever in exercise over every creature on the face of the earth. It does not matter how small or how great; it does not matter how violent or how peaceful; this makes no difference, they are creatures of God. And God has to do with them, as He shows here. This was a grand lesson for Job. He had forgotten that God has to say to the very hairs of our head, for they are all numbered; and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowing. But God takes it in according to His own grandeur, and His grandeur is quite beyond man’s ability to comprehend, and this was exactly the object – to show the folly of Job venturing to judge God’s dealings, venturing to pronounce, or to find fault for a moment. In an early chapter of the Book you may remember that Job wished that God would only lay aside His alarming nature, and allow him to approach Him that he might plead his cause, and that he might defend himself before God. Here came the answer. I need not say it was to be an answer to every person, to everyone that has the fear of God, in all ages. The value of this Book does not at all diminish by the light of Christ. On the contrary, we ought to understand the Book a great deal better for that light.
Here, then, we have Jehovah – you observe this name has not appeared after Job 2 (except in Job 12:9 ) in the historical part. But now before the proper history is concluded (the last chapter is the concluding chapter of the history), before that it brings Him in again. We have Him speaking according to His authority, according to His relationship; and that is just exactly what “Jehovah” means. It is God not merely in the abstract, but God in relation to man upon the earth. And hence He answers Job. But He answers him here because it was a rebuke out of the whirlwind. “Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind.” It was meant to be a rebuke and that Job should really feel it and profit by it. And it is a terrible thing where God does not rebuke a soul upon the earth. What does it mean? It means judgment by and by for ever. Those that are brought into relationship livingly with God have His interference – not merely the fact that they are in relationship, but the proof of it. And He was giving this grand light upon how it acts and how Job ought to have been – if he did not enter into it – ought to have been on his guard against setting up his own judgment about God. This is what He is overthrowing, in these chapters.
“Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” He does not mean that Job did not know Him at all, but He did mean that his knowledge was limited, and that he had no adequate knowledge as to the dealings of God. “Gird up now thy loins like a man” – like a hero – “for I will demand of thee and answer thou me.” That was a remarkable word. God is going to ask him a number of questions. Job had been questioning the dealings of God. Now God retorts upon him; now He says, I am going to ask you, and answer Me like a man if you can. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” What an overwhelming question! What did Job know about it? “Declare, if thou hast understanding.” He had none. “Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?” He did not know. “Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?” Because there are two things true of the earth. Stability for the time – that is what is referred to here, and why foundations are spoken of; and there is another view given in this very Book of Job, that it is suspended upon nothing. That never entered into the mind of anyone until comparatively late. Even the men of science have only just come to that. But there it was in Scripture before them. It is hung upon nothing. So that it has great stability and regularity in its course, so firmly are the foundations laid; but on the other hand the mighty power of God is shown, because, although it is hung upon nothing of the creature, it hangs entirely upon God’s power.
“When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The angels were made before the earth was made, but this is not at all referred to in Gen 1 ; and the reason is plain. The point in Gen 1:1 , is simply to give, first of all, the creation of all the universe where there was nothing. I do not say out of nothing – that is folly; but where there was nothing, God created the universe, the heavens, the earth, and all their host, but in a very different state from what it is in now. Then the next verse shows a complete collapse that subsequently took place – what people call chaos; and the heathen always began with chaos, but we begin with God the Creator. But that chaotic condition was of all importance for man when man should be created upon the earth. Because how was man to get down to the bowels of the earth? How was he to know that there were treasures of gold, silver, precious stones, and marble and slate, and granite, and all the other most useful things that God had created? They were down deep in the earth, and the only way in which man could even suspect and learn certainly of their existence, and, consequently, to lock for them, was by that confusion which brought up some part of that which was buried deep in the earth. So that all mining was founded upon that very fact of the power of God that caused the inner contents of the earth to appear, at any rate, on the earth’s crust. Be. cause what is deep in it no one can tell; no man can tell. Man has never penetrated but a very small way – I suppose not more than the thickness of an orange peel compared with the orange – so little, into the bowels of the earth. What fills it, therefore, they do not know. They may reason; and as to what one man reasons, another man reasons to the contrary. They really do not know; and this is the thing that Jehovah was causing Job to realise – his total ignorance.
What is the effect, then, on a pious man that really believes in Him and His guidance? What is the effect of knowing our ignorance to be so immense? Reliance upon God. There was the great thing in which Job failed, murmured and found fault. He could not understand it. He might have believed and ought to have believed, and that is where we find our failure too, for we are quite as ready to reason and murmur as Job. Well, now, He speaks here clearly of the creation, and He carries that on in the verses which follow.
“Or who shut up the sea?” He had looked at the earth, and now he looks at the sea. “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I make the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it.” Well, it was a very bold child, this new ungovernable creature that came into existence! And therefore He speaks about covering it up and swaddling it. “And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” ? For who can control the ocean? “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days”; now He looks at the vicissitudes of day and night, and He says now, ‘Was it you that set this all agoing, or do you know anything about it, how it was done?’ . . . “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the day-spring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth” – that is, when the son rises to gild it as it were – “that the wicked might be shaken out of it?” Because the darkness of the night is exactly what gives the opportunity for murder and burglary and all the other knaveries of men more than any other time. “It is turned as clay to the seal” – because when the earth is in darkness just like that, no more can you discover it than the clay before it is impressed with the seal. But the moment the light shines, there you find its conformation and its beauty as God fixed upon it – but in the dark there is nothing to be seen. “And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.” Then He turns to the sea again in another way. Not the rushing of the waters controlled by the power of God; but here He looks at the source of it. “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?” – the abyss.
Now He goes down lower still, because Sheol, or Hades, as we have it, that is, the receptacle of departed spirits – is represented under the figure at any rate, and it may be the reality, of the heart of the earth. It is not the same thing as the lake of fire, but here we have a prison for those that have died. “Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? “
Now He comes up to the surface. “Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?” What do you know about it? “Declare if thou knowest it all. Where is the way where light dwelleth?” (vers. 18-21). And He shows that God has a store that man knows nothing about, which is caused to act whenever it pleaseth God. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow, or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?” Look at the case of the Amorites, who, on the way to Beth-horon, fell by the hail stones that God rained upon them. And, again, He rained fire and brimstone, in other cases, on the cities of the plain. “Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters; or the way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is?” Well, God does think of animals, He thinks of even the insect; He thinks of where no man is; there He has His thoughts and His plans and His goodness.
“To satisfy the desolate and waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?” And it is remarkable how much rain has to do. People have been lamenting the immense and abnormal rain that we have had lately. But I saw a letter of an expert upon it, who looks forward, if God is pleased to give a good spring, that there will be an exceptional harvest. The fruit of it will be far beyond what has been had in England for many a day and many a year. That is in the hands of God. I do not pretend to say; let these men fight it out. “Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?”
Then He looks also at the various stars and constellations. He asks, now what have you to do with them; do you know anything about how they came there. and how they have been ranged there? “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades” – it is rather the bands of the Pleiades – at any rate it is a counterpart of the bands of Orion – “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?” They say that the signs of the Zodiac are here referred to, but whether that is the case is very uncertain. “Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?” Conditions have an immense effect upon the earth. All is having an influence either of a terrible kind or a beneficent kind. Who is it that has fixed all that? Was it you, Job? “Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are? Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the heart?” It comes down to man now. “Who can number the clouds in wisdom? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven” – well, all that is perfectly simple to God, and God has command in every whit of it – “when the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?”
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
answered. See note on Job 4:1. We now have Jehovah’s own ministry, and the theme is Himself. Elihu’s ministry furnishes the text: “God is greater than man “(Job 33:12). This leads up to “the end of the Lord” (Jam 5:11). “How should mortal man be just with God? “See Job 4:17; Job 9:2; Job 15:14; Job 33:9; Job 34:5. How different from the ministry of the three friends, which, like most ministries of to-day, consists in the effort to make men “good” by persuasion.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me, if you have understanding. Who has laid the measures of it, tell me if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it? Where are the foundations fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy? ( Job 38:1-7 )
God is now talking to Job about the creation of the earth, about nature. Pointing out that Job knows so little about nature. “Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? What did I fasten the foundations upon? When the morning stars sang together.”
Now, the morning stars, the word star oftentimes refers to the angels. You remember in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, when the dragon was cast out of heaven, he took a third part of the stars with him. Referring to the angels that fell with Satan. Now can you let your mind go back and we see God as He is bringing the earth into existence and the angels, the morning stars, are singing together and all the sons of God are shouting for joy. The sons of God referring again to angels. Now Jesus is referred to as the only begotten Son of God. Special classification. But the angels are referred to as sons of God. In the first chapter of Job the sons of God were presenting themselves to God, and Satan also came with them. In the New Testament, we are referred to as sons of God. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” ( 1Jn 3:2 ). But Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. What a glorious scene that must have been when God created the earth and the angels, the morning stars, sang together.
Who shut up the sea with the doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and the thick darkness a swaddlingband for it ( Job 38:8-9 ),
God is talking about the earth now, His creation of the earth. “Who put the bounds for the seas, when I allowed the water to gush forth, as a child out of the womb? When I made the cloud a garment of the earth, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it.”
And I broke it up for in my decreed place, I set the bars and doors, and said to the seas, This far you shall come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed? Have you commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? ( Job 38:10-17 )
Now go back to verse Job 38:2 : “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” God is rebuking Job for talking about things that he doesn’t know anything about. “Have the gates of death been opened to you? Have you been beyond them? Do you know what is there?” You see, Job was saying, “Oh, I wish that I were dead, where all is silent, where there is no memory, where there is no thought. Oh, I wish I were in the oblivion of death. Where man is at rest, where everything is at peace.” And God said, “Job, have you been there? Have the gates of death been opened to you? You’re talking about these things, Job, but you don’t know anything about them.”
That is why it is wrong to use the scriptures out of Job to try to prove the doctrine of soul sleep. That when a person dies he is in an unconscious state of waiting, that there is no consciousness or awareness or anything else. That is wrong to conclude those doctrines out of the book of Job, which they usually find their proof scriptures in Job or in Ecclesiastes. And when we get to Ecclesiastes, we’ll show why it’s wrong to use Ecclesiastes for proof text. These were things that Job was saying, but God is rebuking him for saying them.
Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? tell it if you know it all. Where is the way where light dwells? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof ( Job 38:18-19 ),
Where does light dwell? Tell me this: where did the darkness go when they turned on the lights tonight? Where is the darkness hiding? Now it’s around here someplace. And it’s very close. All we have to do is flip off the lights and it moves right back in. But where is it lurking? I don’t know. But God is questioning Job and saying, “Where is the place where light dwells? Where is the place where darkness dwells?”
That you should take it to the bound thereof, that you should know the paths to the house thereof? Do you know it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great? Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail ( Job 38:20-22 ),
Beautiful treasures in every snowflake. Have you seen the pictures of snowflakes magnified? The beautiful geometric designs, and no two of them alike. Talk about a God of variety. You see a snowstorm, I don’t know how many flakes of snow fall in a single storm, but it can blanket large areas of the United States. And you take those snowflakes and put them under a microscope and you’ll see beautiful treasures of intricate, beautiful, geometric designs. Perfect geometrical patterns, and no two of them alike. Now how did Job know that when this book was written? “Have you entered into the treasures of the snow or the hail?”
But then He says something even more interesting:
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? ( Job 38:23 )
What do you mean you’ve reserved the snow or ice for the day of war? During World War II, as we were seeking to supply the Allies with Trinitrotoluene (TNT), one of our ships was blown up because TNT is a very volatile type of explosive and, jarred, it’ll go off. In fact, that’s the way you set off TNT is by putting a dynamite cap in it and the dynamite cap, when it explodes, it sets off the whole Trinitrotoluene. But at any rate, Weissman discovered that by packing TNT in ice, they could transport it safely. After some of the ships and all had been blown to smithereens trying to transport TNT, this Jewish scientist discovered that if they would pack it in ice that that way they could transport it, store it and all without any dangers. Here God declared that He had reserved ice for the day of war and trouble. “I’ve reserved it for that.” Man didn’t come to the discovery of God’s reservation until 1916 or so, but God had reserved it all that time for the day of battle and war.
By what way is the light parted ( Job 38:24 ),
“How is light divided?” God said. Now, we know that now we can divide light. We have developed the spectroscope and we can actually divide light into compartments. God was speaking about the dividing of light before man ever knew that light could be divided. It can be divided into definite areas through the spectroscope. God is challenging Job about this, thousands of years before we even discovered the spectroscopes.
Who hath divided the watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; or the wilderness, where there is no man; To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? ( Job 38:25-27 )
God said, “Who waters the wilderness, Job, causing the wilderness to bring forth grass and flowers and all?”
Has the rain a father? or who has begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of the heaven, who hath gendered it? ( Job 38:28-29 )
How are these things formed, Job?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Can you bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons? ( Job 38:30-32 )
The Pleiades is a constellation that is most commonly mistaken by amateur stargazers as the Little Dipper. It is a winter constellation and it comes up just about in the middle of the winter skies. And it’s a little cluster of stars that does look something like a dipper, but it is the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Now the North Star is actually a part of Little Dipper and the Big Dipper. Of course, the pointer stars always point to the North Star, but it takes a good clear night in the mountains or out in the desert to actually see the Little Dipper, so it is accepted for people to make the mistake and to point at the Pleiades as the Little Dipper, but don’t you make that mistake. In the winter constellations, then, of course, you get up early in the morning now and you can see the Pleiades is starting to come up early in the morning as we’re moving into the fall equinox. But it is a part of the winter constellations, comes up in the center of the sky, small little cluster, Seven Sisters, the Pleiades.
Now, God said, “Can you bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades?” Astronomers now believe that the Pleiades actually is the center of the gravitational forces in our Milky Way Galaxy. Pretty well accepted now that it is the center of the gravity and the gravitational forces within the Milky Way Galaxy. Here God is telling Job, “Can you bind the sweet influence of the Pleiades?” Hinting actually, to what the astronomers have discovered, that this actually is the center of the gravitational forces in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Then God said, “How about, Job, how would you like the job of guiding Arcturus?” Arcturus is known as the runaway star. Now how did Job know this? It travels at about 125,000 miles per second. Now God said to Job, “How would you like the job of steering that thing through the sky?” Get this steering wheel and this large mass. Arcturus is larger than our sun, guiding that thing at 125,000 miles a second through the sky, dodging these stars and so forth so you don’t have a major collision in our universe here. No thanks. You go ahead, God, and You keep Your hand on it.
Do you know the ordinances of the heaven? can you set the dominion thereof in the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that the abundance of water may cover thee? Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? ( Job 38:33-35 )
Can you order the lightning?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the heart? ( Job 38:36 )
Where did you get your knowledge? Where did you get understanding? Where does it come from? Who put it there? Who gave you the capacity? Who put the DNA there? Who created the memory cells? You know, God is just speaking of the marvels of His creation. Pointing to Job the marvels of His creative genius. And surely as David said, “We are fearfully and wonderfully made” ( Psa 139:14 ), and we live in a marvelous universe.
Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? Will you hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, when they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? Who provides for the raven his food? ( Job 38:37-41 )
Who is overseeing the universe? Who’s taking care of the animals, the ravens?
when the young ones are crying unto God, they wander for the lack of meat ( Job 38:41 ).
Here God saying these little ravens in the nest are squawking, they are actually crying unto Him.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Job 38:1-7
Job 38
GOD ANSWERS JOB FROM THE WHIRLWIND (Job 38-41)
THE FIRST PORTION OF GOD’S RESPONSE: THE PROBLEM
Job 38:1-7
GOD ANSWERS JOB
“Then Jehovah answered Job out of
the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel
By words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man;
And I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare if thou hast understanding.
Who determined the measurements thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the cornerstone thereof?
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy.”
The most perplexing problem in the whole book of Job is in these two verses. Of whom is God speaking in Job 38:2? The question is not, “To whom does God speak”? That is clear enough. He spoke to Job. But the question is, “Of whom does he speak”? Scholars are sharply divided on the question. “Some commentators have applied Job 38:2 to Job, others to Elihu.” It is the conviction of this writer that the words cannot possibly apply to anyone other than Elihu. The reasons behind this conviction are:
1.Applying the words to Job is a contradiction of Job 42:7-8. The advocates of that interpretation, however, are not bothered by the contradiction, “Because they assign the entire Epilogue to a different author from the poetic Dialogue, making it an argument for multiple authorship of Job.” Although we have interpreted the Epilogue and the Prologue as the work of Moses, who was inspired of God, we cannot believe that his inspired approval of Job’s words regarding God would have been given if God indeed had said in Job 38:2, here, that those words were `without knowledge.’
2.The verse is profoundly true as an evaluation of the Elihu speeches, as we have frequently noted in the preceding notes.
3.The application of these words to Job leaves the entire six chapters of the Elihu speeches dangling without any response whatever from any person whomsoever, thus supporting the affirmation that the six chapters are an interpolation. Our acceptance of the unity of Job, as regards the whole of it, except the Prologue and the Epilogue forbids that explanation.
4.It cannot be denied that God interrupted and terminated Elihu’s tirade. God by that action indicated the same evaluation of Elihu’s words that Job 38:2 declares; and if Job 38:2 were placed in a parenthesis, that fact would be clearly indicated by the punctuation. The punctuation of the Holy Bible is the work of men, not of God; and where punctuation can be made to harmonize or explain difficult passages, it should be utilized for that purpose.
We shall not take the space to line up scholars on both sides of the question. The alleged problem disappears if we apply the words as God’s parenthetical and derogatory dismissal of everything Elihu said.
The big thing here is that Almighty God appeared to Job in one of the most remarkable theophanies in the Bible. What did that mean? It meant that God approved of Job, that Job’s integrity was established in the only place where it mattered, namely, with God Himself. In Job 31:5, Job had pleaded with God to answer him; and here God did so. That is the colossal fact of these concluding chapters; and it dramatically establishes the truth that God approved of Job, and that God loved him. God honored him as few men in the history of the world were honored; and the undeniable corollary of this is that Job 38:2 was in no sense whatever addressed to Job, but to Elihu.
May the Almighty answer me (Job 31:35), Job had pleaded; “And now God really answers, and indeed out of a storm.”
God would at this point speak repeatedly to Job, asking many questions about many different things. The great truth that shines like the sun at perihelion here is not so much related to the particular things about which God questioned Job as it is to the incredible and glorious truth that Almighty God Himself was here carrying on a conversation with a mortal man! How, beyond all imagination, is the character of such a man elevated and glorified by this most astonishing event, unparalleled by anything else in the history of mankind, Jesus Christ himself alone standing any higher in such a relationship than did Job.
“Then Jehovah answered Job” (Job 38:1). God’s answer, however, is a surprise. He did not answer any of Job’s questions, except in the implications of this reply. “This was not because the questions have no answers.” He answered Job with a barrage of counter-questions concerning the mysteries of the entire sidereal creation; and it is evident that this brought healing, comfort and satisfaction to Job.
God’s not giving specific answers to Job’s questions suggests that: (1) It is not possible for man to know all the answers and that, (2) It is enough to know that God loves him (as evidenced to Job in the very fact of God’s speaking to him). (3) Also, by God’s not giving Job a list of his transgressions, there is the dramatic affirmation that Job’s misfortunes did not come as punishment for his wickedness; and yet God did not reveal to Job the real secret of what had happened, namely, that exchange between God and Satan in the Prologue. (4) In this, there is another key discernment, 1e, that it is best for man not to know the reasons why this or that occurs in his life.
“Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1). Job’s troubles started when a great wind killed his children; and now in a whirlwind Job began his return to happiness and prosperity. This is not the storm that might have been described by Elihu in the previous chapter; because the final paragraph there, “Appears to describe the calm as the storm abates.” The glorious light mentioned in that paragraph indicated the cessation of the storm.
The relation between a theophany and violent weather appears often in the Bible, as for example in Psa 18:8-16, and in Exo 19:16.
“Gird up now thy loins like a man” (Job 38:3). The word here rendered ‘man’ is translated by Pope as `hero.’ “Gird your loins like a hero.” Here is the true picture of God’s estimate of Job. In fact, Job is here invited to do the very thing he had longed to do, that is, to plead his case before God; and there is the implication that God considers Job worthy to do such a thing. This, God would most certainly not have done, if he had just finished saying that Job’s words without knowledge were darkening counsel.
All of the questions God asked were not for the purpose of humiliating Job, or mocking him. In this loving and gentle admonition God was leading Job into the knowledge that the specific answers he sought were impossible for mortal men to know. Note also, that God did not criticize Job for his tearful and aggressive search for such answers. The very questions that God asked constitute a heavenly endorsement of humanity’s ceaseless and diligent pursuit of every possible answer to the perplexing, nagging questions of all the mysteries that confront mankind in our earthly sojourn.
In the light of these considerations, we do not think that it is necessary to investigate all of these questions one by one. In the aggregate the answers to all of them were impossible for Job to know; and mankind today is no more able to answer all the questions than was he. Every great mystery that science has solved proves not to be the ultimate reality. Every door which the intelligence of men has unlocked has failed to disclose the Great Truth; but, conversely, has opened upon a corridor reaching into infinity with many doors remaining yet to be unlocked. Indeed, the Great Truth may not be any fact or formula whatever, but the Great Person, God Himself. This was the marvelous answer that came to Job. Knowing God and being loved and known by Him – that is the Great Answer, the Great Truth, the Great Joy, the Great Salvation, Eternal Life!
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, … when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7). The mysteries of the sidereal creation are the theme here. Not Job, nor any other man, was present when such great things were done. As a matter of fact, man himself was relatively a late-arrival upon earth. “The sons of God” are here the angels, because man was last in the Creation.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 38:1. When the Lord got ready to enter the controversy he completely ignored Elihu. We are not told why he did so but we are sure that nothing had been said, in addition to that of the three friends, that deserved any attention. God spoke to Job with the accompaniment of a whirlwind. That would secure and hold the attention of those whom he wished to address.
Job 38:2. Words without knowledge means that the speakers had been talking about things that they did not understand.
Job 38:3. Loins in the O.T. is from different originals but the general meaning is the vigor or strength of man. To gird the loins meant for Job to summon all the human strength he had for the task about to be placed before him. And since he was to be called upon to answer certain questions, we know that loins was used figuratively, meaning that Job was to use his greatest strength of mind in answering. We should note very carefully that Job was to answer the questions like a man. That means he was to answer them from the standpoint of human knowledge. The answers would be clearly correct if they were done by using the one and greatest of all names which is God. The questions in this and the following chapters present a challenge to the unbeliever that he cannot meet. If he answers them by saying “God did it,” he then gives up his position as an unbeliever. But if he refuses to let God into his speech he will not be able to answer the questions. In the study of this tremendous speech of God let us keep in mind always that Job was to answer the questions like a man, which means from a human standpoint, not regarding the existence of God.
Job 38:4. If there is no higher power than man, he was present at the foundation-laying of the earth; but was he?
Job 38:5. What power decided on the dimensions of the earth?
Job 38:6. If man is the highest power in the universe (as the unbelievers claim), then he should account for the foundation of the earth.
Job 38:7. When has the meaning of “at which time,” going back to the time when the foundation of the earth was laid. Since that was before the creation of man, the sons of God were of necessity the angels. Moffatt so translates it and it agrees with the thought on Job 1:6; please read my comments at that place. Psa 89:6 also gives light on the subject for these “sons of the mighty” are connected with the persons “in the heaven.”
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Here begins the third movement in the great drama, that which deals with the controversy between Jehovah and Job. Out of the midst of the whirlwind the divine voice speaks. Its first word is a challenge to Elihu. The challenge must be carefully considered. It does not charge Elihu with false interpretation, but with darkening counsel by the use of words which he himself did not perfectly understand. As we have said, his theme is too great for him, and God now deals with it. His method is to unveil His own glory in certain aspects before the understanding of His child. God first speaks of the simplest facts of the material universe, which are sublime beyond the comprehension of man. The first movement has to do with the material universe. Throughout, Jehovah claims that all is of Himself, and that He is interested in all, and suggests Job’s ignorance to him. The earth itself is dealt with (Job 38:4-7), and the sea also (Job 38:8-11), daybreak in its effect on nature and on man (Job 38:12-15), the underlying mysteries of the deep (Job 38:16-18).
Continuing the same line, Jehovah proceeds to speak of the heavens: the first, or atmospheric (Job 38:19-30); and the second, or stellar (Job 38:31-32). In dealing with the first, illustrations of the things which men may observe and cannot explain are suggested: the way of light and darkness, the mysteries of snow and hail, the majesty and sweep of the storm, the origin and method of rain, dew, ice, frost. Similarly, illustrations from the stellar spaces, the chain of the Pleiades, the bands of Orion, the signs of the Zodiac, the going of the Bear. All the while God is suggesting His own knowledge and interest, and the perfect ease of His stupendous activity. The ordinances of the heavens, their influences on earth, the bringing of rains, and the sending forth of lightnings; if man can perchance do any of these things, who then put wisdom in him, or gave him understanding?
Still the unveiling of the divine glory proceeds, but now in its application to the things of life: the feeding of the lioness and the young lions, the fact that the cry of a young raven is prayer in His ears, which He answers with food.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Divine Power and Human Ignorance
Job 38:1-18
When the storm had ceased and the thunder was hushed, a voice spoke out of the golden splendor of the sky. See Job 37:21-22. Job had challenged God to answer him and now he is taken at his word. We recall Horebs ancient cave, where, after wind and earthquake, there came a sound of gentle stillness. Arise, said the Eternal to Job, and gird thyself, Job 38:3. In after years, under similar circumstances, the Spirit entered Ezekiel to strengthen him. Surely some such strengthening was forthwith given the patriarch!
A sublime series of questions is now addressed to him, not by a God of judgment and wrath, but by a Father arguing and pleading with His child and pointing out two things: first, the inability of mortal man to understand the ways of God; and second, the minuteness and tenderness of Gods providence. Job had thought of Him as remote, but He is near and is ordering all things wisely and lovingly. Can He forget His child?
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Job 38:6-7
The earth might have been regarded by the angels in reference either to its future inhabitants, or to God, or to the evil which had already found its way into the universe.
I. In reference to its future inhabitants, it was to be the house of a great family and the school of a great character.
II. It was destined to be a temple of God, from every corner of which should ascend to Him continually the incense of praise, where He should signally manifest His glory and develop His perfections.
III. The earth might have been viewed by the angels in reference to the strife with evil which had even then commenced in heavenly places. They saw the end from the beginning; they looked through the perplexities and the entanglements of Providence, and saw judgment through all gradually brought forth unto victory. The principalities and powers who shouted for joy at the foundation of the earth look down even now from their glory thrones upon the contest of which it is the field. Nay, rather should we think of them as encamped among us, and waging an invisible war, of which we ourselves are the subject.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons, p. 401.
Reference: Job 38:16.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 251.
Job 38:22
Snow is my text, written in letters of white. “Hast thou”-have you, boy or girl-“entered into the treasures of the snow?” How pure it is; how soft it is; how strong it is; how silent it is; how useful it is.
I. Think of the purity of the snow. What a wonderful white it is! You can get no other white like it. If you would learn the lesson of purity, never say an impure word. You cannot help the thought coming into your mind, but do not cherish the thought.
II. Then think of two things about the snow which we do not often think of connecting together. One is silentness, and the other is power. The strongest things in the world are the most silent. The snow is strong. You say you can take it in your hands and melt it; but when all the flakes have drifted together, an engine cannot break it. It will get so strong that it will come down from the mountains and then, rushing down along the mountainside, crush hundreds of houses. It is strong and silent. Your lives would be stronger if they were silent.
III. Another thing about snow is that it joins together two things not always together-beauty and usefulness. The snow, which we talk of as cold, is the thing that keeps the life and warmth in the roots in the earth. It keeps out of the earth the cold east wind, and keeps in the moisture. It is therefore not only beautiful in giving beauty to others, but it is useful.
IV. When you see the snow in the streets, you can say, “O God, for Jesus’ sake make my heart and my life even purer than that white snow.” And then think of its use and say, “If it be Thy will, O God, make my life a little use to some, and make it beautiful, not with any earthly beauty, but with the beauty of faith and holiness.”
T. T. Shore, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. i., p. 94.
References: Job 38:25-27.-G. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, p. 297; Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Genesis to Proverbs, p. 141. Job 38:31.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 818; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 81; H. Macmillan, Bible Teaching in Nature, p. 1. Job 38:35.-T. Kelly, Pulpit Trees, p. 9; A. W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, p. 150. Job 38-42-S. Cox, Expository Essays and Discourses, p. 126. 38-42:6-Ibid., Expositor, 1st series, vol. xii., pp. 1, 143, and 199; Ibid., Commentary on Job, p. 489. Job 40:2.-E. Monro, Practical Sermons, vol. i., p. 53. Job 40:3, Job 40:4.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 83. Job 40:4.-Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 158.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
V. THE LORDS TESTIMONY TO JOB AND CONTROVERSY WITH Him
CHAPTER 38:1-38
1. The Lord speaks to Job (Job 38:1-3)
2. The questions of the Lord (Job 38:4-38)
Job 38:1-3. The voice of man is hushed; the voice of the Lord begins to speak. The Almighty, the Creator, the Lord of All comes now upon the scene. He too, like Elihu, had been the silent listener; He heard Jobs complaint and wailing and the babblings of his friends. Elihus wonderful utterance, inspired by the Lord, was ended. The thunderstorm is on, no doubt a literal storm, the dark clouds gather–
Then from the North there comes a golden light.
God appears in wondrous Majesty (Job 37:22).
The golden light of Gods own presence and glory overshadows the scene. Out of the whirlwind His own voice is heard. It is that voice which David in the thunderstorm-Psalm (Psa 29:1-11) so wonderfully describes. The voice which is upon the waters–full of majesty, the voice which breaketh the cedars; the voice which divideth the flames of fire. When David thus extolled the voice of the Lord, he shows the demands of that voice. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the Glory due unto His Name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. And that voice, though terrible in majesty, will bring peace. The LORD will bless His people with peace. What a scene it must have been there in the land of Uz, when the voice of the LORD spoke out of the whirlwind! We can imagine how good Elihu stepped aside and covered his face. And Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, terror-stricken, fell on their faces in the dust, while silent Job, awe-struck, dares not to look up. And what He speaks is for the one great purpose to humble Job, to bring him in the dust.
Jobs last utterance was this: Oh, that the Almighty would answer me (31:35). He answers him now. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? What a blunder expositors have made of speaking of Elihus gentle words, and true words, as a harsh judgment and that God rebukes him in this verse. No; God does not rebuke Elihu who had exalted His Name and His works. He rebukes Job. He had darkened counsel by the multitude of his senseless words. God answers Job. He is going to ask him questions.
Job 38:4-38. If we were to examine these questions minutely, which the compass of our work does not allow, we would have to write many pages. There are 40 questions which the Lord asks of Job, His creature, concerning His own works in creation. They relate to the earth and its foundations upon which all rests. the bounds of the sea–
When I decreed for it My boundary
And set its bars and doors and to it said,
Thus far-no farther, ocean, thou shalt come:
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed.
He asks about the morning light and the unknown depths, the unexplored depths of the sea, with their hidden secrets, and the gates of death. He questions as to the elements, the treasuries of the snow, the storehouse of hail, the rain, the winds and the ice–
Whose is the womb whence cometh forth the ice?
And heavens hoar-frost, who gave it its birth?
As turned to stone, the waters hide themselves;
The surface of the deep, congeald, coheres.
And what about the things above, the stars and their wonderful constellations?
Canst thou bind fast the cluster Pleiades?
Or canst thou loosen great Orions bands?
Canst thou lead forth the Zodiacs monthly signs?
Or canst thou guide Arcturus and his sons?
And then the rain clouds, the lightnings and their control. What questions these are. They cover every department of what man terms natural sciences–geology, meteorology, geography, oceanography, astronomy, etc. Job had not a single answer to these questions and if he had spoken his words would have been folly. And we, 3000 years or more after, with all our boasted progress, scientific discoveries of the great laws of nature, are still unable to answer these questions in a satisfactory way. All the boastings of science of getting at the secrets of creation are nothing but foam. One breath of the Almighty and mans speculations, apart from Him and His Word, are scattered to the winds. But what is the aim of the Lord in putting these questions? To show that God is greater than man and to humble man, to bring Job to the needed true knowledge of himself and to deliver him from the pride of his heart.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
The Lord answered Job
The words of jehovah have the effect of bringing Job consciously into His presence. Job 42:5. Hitherto the discussions have been about God, but He has been conceived as absent. Now Job and the Lord are face to face. It is noteworthy that Job does not answer Elihu. Despite his harsh judgment he has spoken so truly about God that Job remains silent. Job 38:1 might be paraphrased, “Then Jehovah answered for or on behalf of Job.”
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Job 37:1, Job 37:2, Job 37:9, Job 37:14, Exo 19:16-19, Deu 4:11, Deu 4:12, Deu 5:22-24, 1Ki 19:11, 2Ki 2:1, 2Ki 2:11, Eze 1:4, Nah 1:3
Reciprocal: Gen 3:8 – cool of the day Gen 9:10 – General Job 11:5 – General Job 31:35 – Oh Job 40:1 – General Job 40:6 – out Psa 111:2 – works Mat 17:5 – a voice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Silence having fallen upon all four disputants, a fresh speaker appeared, and he too is introduced to us in a way that shows we are considering a history and not a romance. He was descended from Buz, who was a nephew of Abraham, as Gen 22:21 shows. In those early days after the flood, when population was small, the duplication of names would not be common.
Now Elihu is a name with a meaning, which is given to us as, “God Himself.” If we bear this in mind, and then read verse Job 32:6 of Job 33:1-33, we shall see that he intervened to play the part of a mediator, and so become a type – though a faint one – of the true Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Elihu was truly a man, formed out of the clay and he stood before Job on God’s behalf, according to the desire that Job expressed in Job 9:33.
In Job 32:1-22 we have, what we may call, Elihu’s apology for speaking at all. As a much younger man he had been content to listen to all these controversial speeches and in result was moved to wrath against all four. Job had justified himself without justifying God, while the others had condemned Job without being able to answer his arguments. He acknowledged that normally men should increase in wisdom and understanding as they increased in years, but neither greatness of reputation nor age guaranteed this, since wisdom really comes to man through his spirit and as the fruit of the “inspiration,” or “breath” of the Almighty. If the three friends had succeeded in convicting Job, they would have prided themselves on their own wisdom; only God could do it. The closing words of verse Job 32:13 have been translated, ” God will make him yield, not man.”
Elihu also had the advantage which he mentioned in verse Job 32:14. He had not been involved in the wordy warfare, hence he could view it all impartially, and speak in a way that would not be flattering to any of the contestants. Moreover, having listened to all that had been said, he was so full of matter that it had to find an outlet and burst forth from him.
So in the opening verses of Job 33:1-33, we find him making two claims. First, he asserts that his words will be marked by uprightness and purity, as becomes one who has his being and life from God. Second, that though he would speak on God’s behalf, he himself was a man, “formed of the clay,” just as Job was, and hence, though Job had said of God, “Let not His fear terrify me” (Job 9:34), what he had to say, as interpreting God’s ways, would bring no terror to Job’s spirit. Even as our Lord Jesus became a Man, thus bringing God to us without any sense of terror.
In verse Job 32:8, Elihu began to challenge Job in a direct way. He had heard what Job had contended, and he summed it all up as being a repudiation of any accusation brought against him as to transgression and iniquity, which of necessity involved, either directly or indirectly, an accusation against God of hard dealing, if not injustice. In thus summing up the whole position we can see, we think, that Elihu was not far wrong. The world being as it is and what it is, if perfection be claimed for man, then obviously all the wrong that exists must be blamed upon God.
In answer to Job, Elihu’s first point is the supreme greatness of God. Hence striving against Him is futile. It is man who is accountable to God, not God accountable to man. Let us in our day never forget this.
But then in the second place, though God gives no account of His matters, He does speak to man, though so often man does not perceive it. And, having stated this, he proceeded to indicate ways in which God does thus speak. He may speak in a dream or a vision. He has often done so, as Scripture records, and evidently He does so still, particularly with simple saints, who know but little of the Bible, and possibly have but little of the Bible in their native tongue. Where saints are instructed in and by the Bible – a superior form of guidance – dreams, in which God speaks, are comparatively rare. And, if God does thus speak to a man in a dream: to what end is it? To alter his course and to humble his pride into the dust. A salutary word for Job; and for all of us.
God may also speak to a man by granting him some merciful deliverance when he is threatened by disaster or war. This is mentioned in verse Job 32:18, and many of us can look back to occasions when we received mercy of this sort, and we were conscious at once that God had something to say to us in it.
And yet again, God may speak through pain and sickness, which is so vividly described in verses Job 32:19-22, until the sufferer is brought face to face with death itself. We can see how Elihu’s description of this exactly fitted the case of Job, and indeed not a few of us, though our cases have not been nearly as extreme as Job’s. How often has a careless sinner, when smitten thus, been led to turn to God and awakened for his eternal salvation. How often too has a saint had to look back to a time of severe sickness as an occasion of much spiritual blessing.
These times of emergency are the opportunity for the one whom Elihu called a “messenger,” an “interpreter,” who can show what it is that God has to say in these things. Though such are not common, as indeed we know, they are of great value, and Elihu called them, “one among a thousand,” which indicates rarity. There may be many who can commiserate and sometimes condemn the afflicted one, as did Job’s three friends. To give the mind of God is another and a greater thing.
When the interpreter has arrived what has he to say? He shows to a man his uprightness; which is of course, to judge himself and hence honestly to take his place before God as a self-confessed sinner. This Job had not as yet done, but it is that to which he was led when the end of the story is reached. It is the end we must all of us reach if we have to do with God at all. Have we, all of us, reached it?
When that point is reached, what is the result? An exhibition of grace on God’s part, resulting in deliverance from going into the pit, and that, because God Himself had found a ransom. The word translated “ransom” here simply means a “covering,” akin to the word translated, “atonement” in the Old Testament. Before Christ came God covered before His holy eye the sin of the repentant sinner, waiting for the time when full propitiation should be made in the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. Hence that word about “the remission [passing over – see, margin] of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Rom 3:25). These past sins were those of pre-Christian saints; Job’s among them.
Verse 25 had special reference to Job’s case; but verses 26 – 30 have a wide application. The ransomed sinner stands before God in righteousness and with joy and, as the next verses show, he can happily confess both his sin and his deliverance before men, as the marginal reading of verse 28 shows. Elihu’s words here were instruction to Job and designed to lead him to honest confession before God. They are equally true for us, and that in a far more ample and perfect way, as we look back to the accomplished work of Christ.
In these remarkable words Elihu was certainly acting the part of the interpreter with Job, by showing what is the good design of God in His dealings, so adverse apparently, with men. He aims at delivering them from the “pit” of self-esteem and complacency in this life, and the “pit” of judgment and condemnation in the life to come. Having interpreted God’s ways thus far Elihu evidently paused to see if at this point there was anything Job wished to say.
There being no response on Job’s part, Elihu resumed his discourse and, as Job 34:2 indicates, had a larger audience in view. He addressed himself also to the three friends and any other bystanders, challenging them as to whether they had the wisdom and knowledge that would enable them to try words: and choose what is good and right. He knew well that the effect of sin is to pervert man’s judgment and blind him to what is right.
In keeping with the larger audience he began to speak about Job rather than to Job as previously he had done. Job does not appear to have said, “I am righteous,” in so many words; he had rather inferred it by singing his own praises in the way recorded in Job 29:1-25. But, turning back to Job 27:2, we note he did definitely say, “God hath taken away my judgment.” Hence his attitude clearly was, “Should I lie against my right?”
His “right” was, he maintained to be free of these calamities and he did not intend to say otherwise. His wound did indeed seem to be incurable but he maintained it was not provoked by any transgression on his part. Verses Job 32:5-6 sum up Job’s position, as Elihu saw it. He had not claimed to be sinless, but he did claim that he was guilty of no transgression that justified God in inflicting upon him such woes. In effect it came to this, that he was right, and God was wrong.
Elihu now shows that in all this Job had really allied himself with the wicked. The scorning of men he might drink up like water, but he could not so treat the judgment of God. The absolute perfection and rightness of all God’s ways is what Elihu asserts; a matter of the greatest importance, seeing He is supreme in all the earth. He has “charge over the earth,” so that He has “disposed the whole world.” Verse Job 32:14 has been translated, “If He only thought of Himself, and gathered unto Him His spirit and His breath;” then the result would be that all flesh would expire together and man return to the dust. Such is the greatness as well as the rightness of God.
Hence the argument of the succeeding verses. Should government be in the hands of the unjust? And if in the hands of the ALL-Just, is what He orders to be challenged? Men would not speak thus to kings or princes. Much less then to God. What He orders must be right.
Elihu proceeds to speak of the searching judgment of God, which is quite impartial, the rich being amenable to it equally with the poor Moreover there is “no darkness, nor shadow of death,” where those who work evil may hide themselves. He went on to assert that God’s judgments are always right and that He acts as seems good in His sight, breaking in pieces and overthrowing mighty men, yet on the other hand hearing the cry of the afflicted. He may give quietness to the afflicted and who then can disturb it? He may hide His face from the wicked and who then can behold Him? And this is true whether a nation be in question or only an individual.
The rest of this chapter is more directly a word to Job. It would have been more becoming if he had humbly accepted the chastisement, admitting that there was iniquity with him, of which he was ignorant, and as to which he needed God should teach him, so that he should put right what was wrong. Instead of that he had challenged God’s judgment in favour of his own mind, and in so doing he had added to his sin rebellion against God.
Job 35:1-16. It would seem that at this point Elihu paused again, and no answer being forthcoming, he proceeded further to expose the drift of Job’s arguments. In claiming that he had committed no sin that called for the enduring of such extreme sufferings as had come upon him, he had elevated his own righteousness above God’s, and inferred that there was no profit in a life of piety. The answer to this would be of profit to Job’s companions as well as himself.
The answer Elihu gave was based upon the supreme greatness of God as the Creator. Further than this he could not go, but that knowledge he had in common with all men after the flood. From that primeval knowledge the mass of mankind soon departed, as Rom 1:20, Rom 1:21, declares. Yet the men we listen to in this book were exceptions to this sad rule, and they retained this knowledge, and argued from it.
God was far above His heavens, and so great that nothing wrong, perpetrated by puny man could hurt Him, and nothing that was right could be any addition to Him. Our wrongs may be of damage to our fellow-men, and our right actions be of profit to them. And if we wrong our fellows, they cry out in complaint, yet God is forgotten. No one thought of God who is Creator, and who can lift up the spirit and give songs even in the night of sorrow.
The God, who gives the songs in the night, teaches man whom He made; beings of a far higher order than the beasts and birds, able to have intercourse with Him, whether in songs of joy or cries of need. Verse Job 32:10 mentions the songs and verse Job 32:12 the cries. And why do men cry and yet receive no answer? The answer is, because of pride: and in verse Job 32:13, Elihu diagnoses the root cause of it all as vanity, which is abhorrent to God, a thing which He completely disregards. Is not this instruction for us? Do we not see here an explanation of many an unanswered cry and prayer?
These things Elihu said in order to drive the point home to the heart of Job, as he did in the last verse of the chapter. Job had opened his mouth “in vain,” or “in vanity,” and hence though his words had been abundant they had been without knowledge. The excellence of Job’s outward life had betrayed him into an inward spirit of vanity, which lay at the root of his lack of a true knowledge of himself. This we shall find Job himself confessed, when we reach Job 42:3.
Again it looks as if Elihu paused for a moment to see if Job had any reply to make, but none being forthcoming, he resumed his discourse the finish of which occupies Job 36:1-33 and Job 37:1-24. He commenced by saying that he had yet words to say on God’s behalf; and as we read these two chapters we shall notice that he had little more to say to Job about his utterances, but he rather dwelt on the greatness and power of God, and on His righteous dealings with the sons of men. He would “ascribe righteousness” to his Creator.
He proceeded to extol the way in which God, who is perfect in knowledge, deals both with the wicked and the righteous. From the latter He does not withdraw His eyes; that is, He keeps them ever under observation, and ultimately He exalts them as kings. Yet, before that happy end is reached, He may permit them to be “bound in fetters” and “holden in cords of affliction,” just as poor Job was at that moment. And, if He does permit this, it is for a purpose, as is shown in verses Job 32:9-11. Notice, it is the righteous who are thus dealt with, for even an Abraham and a Job, though righteous, were not sinless, and God’s disciplinary dealings are exerted towards such, rather than those who shut God out of their lives.
The arguments of the three friends had led to the conclusion that Job was not a righteous man. Elihu seems rather to admit that he was righteous, and that, because he was, God had permitted this severe discipline to come upon him; and in verse Job 32:16 he does apply what he is saying to Job, for after all the deep-seated pride and vanity of the human heart is the greatest offence of all.
Verse Job 32:18 was addressed to Job. We must remember that in that far distant day, nearly two millenniums before Christ appeared, life and incorruptibility had not been brought to light, as 2Ti 1:10 shows; and hence an eternal salvation was not known as we now know it. If we today were to quote this verse we should do so to an unbeliever.
Elihu’s warning to Job, however, was timely, particularly verse Job 32:21. In shrinking from the “affliction,” he had turned to the “iniquity” of maintaining his own righteousness. But affliction is to be preferred to iniquity, as we are reminded in Peter’s first Epistle – “He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin” (Job 4:1). The early Christians might escape suffering by sinning and so may we, if it is only a question of what may come upon us from the world or the flesh or the devil.
Having thus warned Job, Elihu turned afresh to dwell upon the greatness of God as evidenced in creation, and upon this theme the rest of his discourse dwells. Particularly did he consider the control exercised by the Creator on that which lies wholly out of man’s control – the clouds, the winds, the thunder, the lightning, the rain, the snow, the frost. As these things came before his mind, he had to confess that his heart trembled and was deeply moved.
In our day men have made many discoveries and gained control of a sort over a few of the subtle powers that lie in God’s wonderful creation, but the things Elihu mentioned they cannot master. When, as he put it in verse Job 32:9, “Out of the south cometh the whirlwind; and cold out of the north,” the cleverest of men can only accept the situation and seek shelter or warmth, as the case may be.
Elihu recognized that God ordered the weather with wise purpose, and what He sends may be, “for correction,” i.e, discipline for wrongdoing; or, “for His land,” i.e., to maintain the ordinary productivity of the earth; or, “for mercy,” i.e., to effect some merciful deliverance. This too had a bearing on Job’s case.
Job did not know, and none of us know, how God exerts His supreme power. The Lord Jesus displayed His Godhead power when He stilled the wind and waves on the Lake of Galilee. He did so in mercy. Elihu ended his words with the assertion that with God, the Almighty, is “terrible majesty,” and yet all His doings are in justice. Hence, however wise of heart any of us – Job included – may consider ourselves to be, our attitude before Him should not be that of criticism and questionings but of fear.
Taking the place of the “interpreter” of God’s ways, that Job might recognize what “uprightness” demanded, Elihu closed his discourse on the lofty theme of the majesty and the justice of God, so the moment had come for Divine intervention. He is God, and Almighty, as the closing verses of Job 37:1-24 declared: He is also Jehovah, and He spoke out of the whirlwind, to which Elihu had also alluded.
It is remarkable too that Elihu had spoken of the “noise,” or “roar” of “His voice.” Wind is not visible; yet in violent motion, men feel its pressure and hear its roar. As the whirlwind approached and its pressure was felt, its roar was the voice of Jehovah Himself. His words were addressed specially and only to Job. Whether what He said was intelligible to others, we are not told. Brought face to face with Jehovah, Job had to recognize that all his many words had darkened and not shed light upon the matter in dispute.
If we refer back to the beginning of Job 23:1-17, we may remind ourselves that Job in a self-confident way had expressed his wish to get into contact with God, feeling sure that he could order his cause before Him, and fill his mouth with arguments, and know the words in which God would answer him. The moment had come now for his wish to be fulfilled, and Jehovah bids him gird up his loins like a man, and be prepared to answer the voice of God. The questionings now should come from God. They begin with verse Job 38:4.
The words of Jehovah fill four chapters, with a brief interlude at the opening of Job 40:1-24. Question after question is propounded for Job to consider and answer, if he could; and all are concerned with the mighty power that had acted in creation. Once more we see that only the primeval revelation of God is assumed. If, as some think, Moses wrote this book, he wrote of things that happened before the law was given, or, at least, of circles where the law was not known. We are reminded of what we read in Rom 2:12-15, as we notice that “the work of the law” was written in the heart of Job. Jehovah judged him in the light of what he knew, and as He did so, we shall discover how Job’s conscience bore witness and his thoughts which had been excusing him began to accuse him. The law did not make men responsible, it only heightened their responsibility.
In verses Job 38:4-38 of Job 38:1-41, the Lord asserts His own greatness and Job’s insignificance in the light of His mighty creatorial acts. He started with His founding of the earth, which occasioned jubilation among angelic beings, who witnessed it; and then He proceeded to speak of the seas breaking forth, though in darkness, and then light appearing so that there was a dayspring as well as darkness. After that came mention of the wonders of snow and hail and rain, as well as the wonders displayed in the stars, the constellations and the ordinances of heaven. We cannot but be reminded of the early part of Gen 1:1-31, down to the point where we read, “He made the stars also.” What did Job know of these things? Had he entered into the springs of the sea? Or had the gates of death opened to him?
From verse Job 38:38 and through Job 39:1-30 the questions refer to animals and birds, the creation of which is related in the latter part of Gen 1:1-31. Here again, if carefully considered, wonders innumerable confront us, and questions were raised that Job could not answer.
So, in the opening verses of Job 40:1-24, Jehovah challenged Job about it and Job at once capitulated. He acknowledged that he had spoken too much and that now silence became him. Before his Creator, he realized he was vile.
But the conviction that now had seized Job had to be driven into him yet more deeply. Hence again he was challenged. He had been guilty of disannulling the judgment of God, and condemning Him in order to maintain his own righteousness. This was really a very great sin, and in verses Job 38:9-14 he is condemned in a most searching way. Ironic language is used. Let him not contend with God but rather turn his attention to the proud and powerful among men, and abase such; then it might be admitted that he could save himself.
From verse Job 38:15 to the end of Job 41:1-34, the Lord makes further reference to the wonders of His creation. He called Job’s attention to behemoth and to leviathan – probably the hippopotamus and the crocodile. They had brute strength but no human intelligence. It would be more easy to subdue them than to bring down proud man. In Job’s day human inventions had hardly begun, so this was probably not so apparent as it is in our day, when these mighty creatures are easily subdued – but not so, proud man!
Job however could not tackle leviathan or behemoth, nor could he subdue proud man. How then could he contend with God? This was powerfully driven home into his heart.
Job 42:1-17. Jehovah’s voice out of the whirlwind ceased, and Job humbled himself in full measure. He confessed the wrongness of his former utterances. He had to abhor himself and repent in the place of death – dust and ashes. These moments in the presence of God had produced a result which all the talk of the three friends, and even of Elihu, had not achieved. The man, who was so excellent among men, and had a testimonial from even God Himself, had discovered his own utter sinfulness in the deepest springs of his being. A discovery we all in our turn have to make!
The whole of this story has a great lesson for us, as we realize, if we read Jam 5:11. We are now going to see “the end of the Lord” in all this, which reveals that He is indeed “very pitiful and of tender mercy.” What then was the end that the Lord had in view, when He permitted all these testing disasters to come upon Job?
First, he obtained what we may call a first-hand knowledge of God. Previously he had known of Him by “the hearing of the ear;” that is, by tradition. But now, said he, “mine eye seeth Thee;” that is, God was apprehended in a new and vital way. He did not “see” in a literal sense, as we are assured by 1Ti 6:16, yet the eye is but the organ of sight and it is the mind that sees. Again and again we say, “I see,” when something that made no appeal to our eyes has sunk into our minds. Job now knew God in His power, holiness, righteousness, as far as He could be known in those days.
It is our privilege to know God as He has been revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ, and through that knowledge we receive “all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” and, “exceeding great and precious promises,” as well as gaining day by day, “grace and peace.” So we are told in the opening verses of Peter’s second Epistle. Indeed we may say that with us, as well as with Job, a first-hand and experimental knowledge of God lies at the base of everything.
But second, as the fruit of this knowledge of God, Job saw himself in a totally new light. Formerly he had sung his own praises. Now the correctness of his outward behaviour faded out of his mind, and he saw the self-conceited depths of his fallen nature. Hence in true repentance he abhorred himself.
This spirit of self-judgment is wrought in all who really have to do with God. Examples of it abound in Scripture. For instance: when Abraham found himself in the presence of God, he said, I “am but dust and ashes” (Gen 18:27). Similarly, Isaiah said, “I am undone” (Isa 6:5); and Daniel, “my comeliness was turned in me into corruption” (Dan 10:8). So, Peter, “I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk 5:8), and Paul, “sinners, of whom I am chief” (1Ti 1:15). And all these were saints eminent in their day. They would not have been eminent, if they had not had such an experience. Have we had it?
And now there comes into view another feature comprised in the end which the Lord had in view. The three friends of Job were condemned, for they had not spoken rightly, nor humbled themselves as Job had, vindicating God and condemning themselves. They were instructed to go to Job, offer up sacrifices, and seek his intercession on their behalf: without a doubt a most humiliating process for them. Though they had visited Job in order to commiserate and console they had been led in the progress of the arguments into hurling accusations and reproaches at him, and as they did so developing a self-righteous spirit themselves. Thus, not having humbled themselves as Job had done, they were publicly humbled by God.
But what about Job? The Lord knew right well what a complete revolution had been wrought in his spirit, while as yet his poor body was unaltered. He said, “My servant Job shall pray for you; for him will I accept.” Not long before with heat and sarcasm he had argued against them. Now, with kindness and grace in his heart he prays for them! The man who had gained a true knowledge of God, and consequently had learned to abhor himself, is quite transformed in his relations with his former opponents. Resentment has given place to reconciliation. The spiritual gain of this was immense.
It must have been an extraordinary scene. Verse Job 38:10 shows that the turn in Job’s bodily condition and in his fortunes came when he had prayed for his friends, and not before. Here were the three friends, well-favoured gentlemen of the east with their sacrifices; Job, an emaciated figure, covered with boils Yet this poor physical wreck is in touch with God, and able to hold up his hands in gracious and priestly intercession. When had anything like this been seen in the east? No wonder the story had to be written to find a place amongst the oracles of God.
Let us not miss the application of all this to ourselves. Matters of dispute arise among those who are brethren in Christ, and if out of the presence of God, debate may be fierce and division ensue. Let the presence of God be realized, let self be judged and abhorred, and a totally different spirit prevails and a right solution is reached.
Job’s prayer was effectual since he was now right with God, and not only right with his friends. We have the definite statement, “The Lord also accepted Job.” The man who condemned and repudiated himself stands in acceptance before God. This has ever been God’s way. We find testimonies to it in other Old Testament scriptures; for instance, Isa 57:15; Isa 66:2. But we have to pass on to the New Testament to find the basis on which the acceptance rests. The character of the acceptance which is ours today is found in the words, “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). In Job’s day this had not come to light.
Thus far we have been noting what God wrought in Job, as the result of all he had passed through; now we see God acting for him. Up to this point he has been held in the grip of the awful disease produced by Satan. Now, “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” Deliverance for his body took place, evidently with dramatic suddenness, once the end of the Lord as to his spiritual state was reached for with God the spiritual takes precedence over what is physical or material. Satan himself was eliminated from the story by the end of chapter 2. Now his cruel infliction was removed, having been overruled to achieve God’s purpose.
In this again we see illustrated a great principle of God’s ways. He makes the malevolence of the devil, as well as the wrath of man, to work cut to His own praise as well as our good. The great example of this, unapproached by all else, is of course the Cross. To accomplish that, Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. Of such extreme importance was it in his eyes that he allowed no lesser demon to deputize for him. Yet he was helping on his own overthrow for referring to His Cross, the Lord Jesus said, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (Joh 12:31). A further example we see in 2Co 12:1-21, where the “messenger of Satan” sent to buffet Paul, was overruled for Paul’s spiritual preservation. When afflictions come upon us, let us remember these things, and profit by them.
As we observe “the end of the Lord,” we can indeed say with the Apostle James that, “the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” We have noted at least five things: (1) that Job gained a first-hand knowledge of God, such as he had never had before: (2) he knew and abhorred himself, as he had never done before; (3) that in spirit and character he was transformed, from anger and harshness to grace: (4) that he was given the knowledge of his acceptance before God: and (5) that he was delivered in his body from the grip that Satan had been permitted to have upon him.
But now a sixth thing appears for, “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Previously he had been a man of very large wealth, as wealth was counted m those days, but now his possessions grew to such proportions as would have befitted a king. God gave a mighty increase to the animals he had, but there was also that which came to him by the gifts of his brethren and acquaintance. He was restored to the confidence and esteem of all who previously had known him: a great point this, when we remember his sad complaint as to the treatment he had received, recorded in Job 30:1-31.
In keeping with the day in which he lived, the blessings recorded are of a material sort, which ensured earthly prosperity to the end of his days. These were the positive blessings granted, just as the fifth item, noted above, was blessing of a negative order – the removal of bodily trouble. The first four items we noted were blessings of a spiritual order, and of the very first importance, since once received they abide for ever. Let us remember that as Christians all our blessings are of a spiritual and heavenly order, as stated in Eph 1:3.
Having passed through this unprecedented storm, Job lived to old age under the smile of God, enriched spiritually and materially. He saw his possessions, sheep, camels, oxen, asses, multiply until their number was doubled. His seven sons and three very beautiful daughters grew up around him, and so God gave him twice as much as he had before.
But what about the sons and daughters? They were not doubled. Should they not have numbered fourteen and six? As the new family grew up around him and then stopped at the number recorded, we wonder if it raised an enquiry in his mind, as it certainly does in ours. Yes, after all God did give Job twice as much as he had before, without exception. The animals were visibly doubled for the earlier lot were irrevocably lost, and he would never see them again. The earlier sons and three daughters were not lost FOR EVER.
About these earlier sons and daughters Job had been continually concerned as the first chapter of the book bears witness. Acting as priest of his family he had continually offered sacrifices on their behalf. They were outwardly God-fearing for Job did not fear that they cursed God with their lips, but he thought they might have done so in their hearts. Yet in spite of this all of them, and all together, they had been swept out of life in a moment. So in this striking way it was intimated that another world does exist into which their spirits had entered, that the resurrection, as to which Job had reasoned and debated in Job 14:1-22, would be reached in due season, and that Job would meet them again.
We are not told in so many words that all this was plain to Job, but we assume that God, who so kindly gave this intimation, gave him the ability to perceive it. It must have confirmed his faith in resurrection on the one hand and comforted his heart on the other. It has, we trust brought comfort to many a heart beside Job’s. When full of days Job ended his long life, he must have looked back upon this time of unparalleled testing, through which he had to pass, as being but a dark tunnel leading into bright sunshine a time of outward disaster but of inward enrichment. That it was so, such a scripture as Eze 14:14 bears witness. He is held up as a shining example, together with Noah and Daniel.
As we close our Bibles on the Book of Job, we may well do so with a song of praise and thanksgiving in our hearts, and also having, we trust, learned some needed lessons. We may not suffer in anything like the degree that Job did, but none of us escapes the chastening hand of our God and Father. When chastened ourselves let us be exercised thereby; and when we observe chastening coming on others, let us be careful how we interpret it.
In the light of the New Testament, chastening may be sent for retribution, as we see in 1Co 11:30. But on the other hand it may not be, as we see in Paul’s case – 2Co 12:7, – where the thorn in the flesh was preventive; lest he should be puffed up and fall. Yet again, it may be neither retributive nor preventive but educational, as Heb 12:1-29 shows. The Father trains and disciplines His children, and even scourges them; but all is in pursuance of His objective – “that we might be partakers of His holiness.”
In that direction Job was led, as we have seen. In that direction we too are being led in all the Father’s dealings with us. Let us ever remember this, and praise God that it is so.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
God Speaks to Job
Job 38:1-41 to Job 42:1-17
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
God’s words to Job do not carry much by way of the explanation of redemption. Job was a child of God, and well-instructed on those lines. When, however, God refers to Job’s three friends, who had not spoken of God, as they should have spoken, then the Lord commands, at once, that a burnt offering of seven bullocks, and of seven rams should be made. In the first chapter of job we learn how Job, continually, offered up burnt offerings.
As we see it, God is teaching Job to think less of himself, and more of his Lord. God wants Job to know Jehovah’s greatness and power, so he may learn to trust Him implicitly, and without misgivings and fault-findings.
It is delightful to see the immediate effect of God’s speech upon Job. In this Job’s true greatness and faith shines out in a wonderful way. The forty-second chapter of Job gives us Job’s reaction to God’s words.
1. Job acknowledged God’s power and supremacy. In verse two Job said, “I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee.”
2. Job acknowledged his own nothingness and shame. Job said (Job 42:5-6): “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Thank God for the ready response which Job gave to God’s correction. The man who, in the first part of the Book of Job, was acclaimed by God as “perfect and upright”; and who, in the second chapter is acclaimed as, “none like him in all the earth,” is made even purer and better by reason of his sore testings and trials. The result of all this is plainly seen in this statement, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12).
Let the result of our study of this wonderful Book of Job be the obtaining of a better knowledge of God in His own all-glorious Person; as well as a deeper trust in God in His personal care for His people.
Christians need an unwavering trust in the Eternal and Great I Am. He who watches over the sparrow will surely watch over us. He who clothes the grass of the field will surely clothe us.
Christians likewise need that quality of faith which will trust in Jehovah, even when there is no light in their sky. They need to know that God cares for them when they cannot see His face, the same as when He graciously manifests to them the glory and grace of His countenance.
I. A QUESTION AS TO GOD’S ETERNITY (Job 38:4)
Sometimes we have wished that those men and women who deny God’s creative acts, and seek to undo the Genesis account of creation, could sit for a moment in Job’s place as God thunders out question upon question to Job, in order to bring him to a realization of his own utter ignorance.
Great men are not always wise. After all, how little do any of us mortals know of the works of the eternal God!
What we would do, is to drive us all back to God as the One who existed before anything that is made, was made. There, in the might and power and love of His Eternity, God, the Solitary One, stood. He stood “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.”
Where was man? He was uncreated; he had not yet appeared on the scene of human activities. “In the beginning God”-these are the words to which we all must bend the knee, as we worship Jehovah. He it is who worketh all things after the counsel of His will.
II. A QUESTION AS TO INTELLIGENCE (Job 38:16; Job 38:18)
God proceeds to ask Job questions that quickly reveal unto Job the utter incapacity of his intellectual vision.
Through countless labyrinths of mystic suppositions, through innumerable contradictions of scientific deductions, they have made shipwreck concerning the faith. A “thus saith investigation” (not inspiration, not revelation) may be final to the philosopher, but, let a “thus saith the Lord” remain final to a child of God. The Word of God must ever surpass man’s investigation simply because it is the Word of God. With humble, worshipful mien, let us cry, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them?”
III. A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY (Job 38:31-35)
Job in chapter twenty-nine had said, “When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me, and hid themselves: the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace.” “Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. Alter my words they spake not again.”
We do not wonder that Job, after God had spoken, said, “I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” At Job’s presence others had done this very thing; now the sage among men confesses his utter folly of words, and he is ready to cease speaking.
Ah, Job, thou art not the only one who speaketh words without knowledge, darkening counsel thereby. One of the signs of our own day is the prating of men, who go about speaking evil of those things which they know not; they speak great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration. God will come upon them one of these days, and convince them of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Let us all stand before God, acknowledging our ignorance and weakness. One man may say to another, “Come, and he cometh”; and he may say to another man, “Go, and he goeth”; but God can say, “Let there be light,” and “there is light.” He can say, “Lazarus, come forth”; and, “he that was dead came forth.”
There is a place where the authority of God alone can speak. Let vain man, then, like Job, put his hand on his mouth, and be still.
IV. A QUESTION OR PROVISION (Job 38:39)
God now comes to Job with another matter for his thought. Job had spoken of having provided for the widow and the orphan. In this Job did well.
God, in speaking to Job, did not discount his philanthropic spirit; but God asked Job some questions which showed him how his beneficence was circumscribed.
Thus did God show to Job His care for the animals that rove the earth, or nest in the clefts of the mountains. Job had cared for the poor who were at his steps; God had cared for the innumerable hosts of otherwise helpless beasts and birds upon which no man had ever looked.
Did not our Lord speak of this very thing, when He said? “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet * * Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field.” “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them.”
We are reminded of that verse in Jonah wherein God said, “And should not I spare Ninevah, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.”
Let us acknowledge that the God of creation, the One who holds the planets in His hand, is also the One who cares for the least of His creatures.
V. A QUESTION OF POWER (Job 40:9-10)
Job had boasted his power in the gates. He had told with glowing colors of how he had been robed. Now Job sat in the dust, and wore sackcloth. He who knew so much of the plaudits of men, had become their byword, and their scorn.
God stands before the downcast, undone man who was bemoaning the days of his former glory, and the helplessness of his present condition. God said to Job: “Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be righteous?” “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?”
Then, in order to show Job his utter dependence upon Him, God said to Job, “Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.”
We wonder if God did not permit Satan to seek Job’s undoing, because God saw, in spite of Job’s integrity and greatness that he was self-righteous. Of one thing we know,-God taught Job his helplessness when shut off from the good hand of God. How could Job deck himself with majesty and excellency, and array himself with glory and beauty, when his body was foul with disease? God continued to ask Job to consider the power of the beasts before which men cowled in fear. God said: “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee.” “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?”
God’s description of these massive creatures and their mighty power was given to cause Job to sense his own weakness; and to show him that his own hand could not save him.
VI. JOB’S CONFESSION (Job 40:4-5; Job 42:2-6)
1. Job said, “Behold I am vile.” He who had, under the maledictions of his false friends, steadfastly upheld his righteousness, now quailed before God, realizing his own overwhelming vileness and sin.
When men compare themselves among themselves, and measure themselves by themselves they may boast their goodness. When the same men come into the presence of the holy God, they immediately abhor themselves.
2. Job said, “I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” He also said, “I uttered that I understood not.” It is so easy for men to make their boast of knowledge; but when God comes to them and opens up to them their ignorance, they can do no more than abhor themselves.
The men of this world, who have not retained God in their knowledge, have been given over to reprobate minds. Here is the Divine picture of such men: “But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2Pe 2:12). Consider these words: “To convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
3. Job said, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” What a confession was this from the man of whom God said, “There is none like him in the earth.” Surely none of us will ever again desire to go around parading our own goodness or greatness. Let us walk in all lowliness of mind.
Some there are who delight to speak of their own prowess. Let us own no righteousness but His, and claim no comeliness excepting that which He has placed upon us.
Remember that Paul said, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”
VII. THE END OF THE LORD (Jam 5:11)
We now come to the closing scenes of the Book of Job. We are about to behold the “end of the Lord.” Why all the suffering, all the pain which befell Job? Was it to establish Job’s faith and faithfulness, pursuant to Satan’s challenge? No doubt. Was it to correct certain things in Job’s character which demanded just such an experience as befell Job? No doubt.
There is, however, another side to all of this. God was preparing the way for Job’s enrichment and enlargement. Satan’s purpose was the undoing of Job; God’s purpose was the uplifting of Job. Mark “the end of the Lord.”
1. Job was restored to the place of an intercessor. The Book opens with Job making a sacrifice, and praying for his children. The Book closes with Job making a sacrifice, and praying for his three friends.
2. Job was given twice as much as he had before. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
3. Job’s friends and kindred were restored to him, and he feasted with them in joy and gladness, while they brought to him gifts of gold and silver.
4. Job was given seven sons and three daughters; and in all the land there were no daughters as fair as Job’s.
5. Job was given a long and useful life. So Job died, “Being old and full of years.”
Beloved, we should never judge the artist’s picture while it is yet unfinished, on the easel. Sometimes we may feel deserted and forgotten of God. Sometimes the task may be heavy, and disappointments may be severe. Let us wait on the Lord and renew our hope. God will surely lead us out and lead us in-out of our poverty, and into His wealth; out of our travail, and into His rest.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” (Job 38:22).
When the soft, pure flakes fall noiselessly, we instinctively shiver; they are associated in our minds only with hard frosts, leafless trees, and long wintry days; but what about the underground work, hidden roots, and bulbs covered up and kept warm till spring welcomes them? Does life look like a snowcovered plain? Do you feel icebound? Wait-there are treasures there, hidden under the chilliest circumstances and surroundings; and the great Gardener will reveal them in time. Treasures of snow and hail! Not by chance do the “chills” touch our life and work. It may be that God allows them, to drive us nearer to Himself-the ever-warming center of love; and also, doubtless, that, having gone through the trials ourselves, we may be able to help others afterwards by an enriched experience and sympathy. Let the rays of the Sun of Righteousness so warm your heart that He can reach and thaw other ice-bound souls through you.-Laura Barter Snow.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Job 38:1. Then the Lord answered Job No sooner had Elihu uttered the words last mentioned, but there was a sensible token of the presence of that dreadful majesty of God among them, spoken of Job 38:22, and Jehovah began to debate the matter with Job, as he had desired; out of the whirlwind Out of a dark and thick cloud, from which he sent a terrible and tempestuous wind, as the harbinger of his presence. The LXX. render the clause, , perturbinem et nubes, by a tempest and clouds. It is true, the Chaldee paraphrast, by the addition of a word, has given a very different exposition of this text, thus: Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind of grief; taking the word , segnarah, rendered whirlwind, not in a literal, but in a metaphorical sense: as if the meaning were only this: that amidst the tumult of Jobs sorrows, God suggested to him the following thoughts, to bring him to a sense of his condition. The matter is viewed in nearly the same light by a late writer in a periodical work, styled The Classical Journal, who contends that this Hebrew word properly means trouble, and may be rendered whirlwind only when it is applied to the elements, denoting the troubled state of the atmosphere; but when it has reference to man, it can have no such signification. In answer to this it must be observed, that many passages occur in the Old Testament, in which the word evidently means, and is rightly translated, whirlwind, or tempest, as that writer himself acknowledges; but probably not one can be found, at least he has not produced one, in which, as a noun, it means merely trouble, nor can it with propriety be so translated here, on account of the preposition , min, which properly means a, ab, de, e, ex, from, or out of, and not because of, as he proposes rendering it: for surely it would be improper to read the passage, The Lord answered Job out of his trouble, &c. Accordingly the generality of expositors agree to understand it of a sensible and miraculous interposition of the Deity appearing in a cloud, the symbol of his presence, not to dispute, but absolutely to decide the controversy. God appeared and spoke to him in this manner, says Poole, 1st. Because this was his usual method of manifesting himself in those times, and declaring his will, as we see Exo 19:13; Num 9:15; 1Ki 19:11; Eze 1:4; Ezekiel 2 d, To awaken Job and his friends to a more serious and reverent attention to his words; 3d, To testify his displeasure both against Job and them; and, lastly, that all of them might be more deeply and thoroughly humbled, and prepared to receive and retain the instructions which God was about to give them. There arose, says Bishop Patrick, an unusual cloud, after the manner of Gods appearing in those days, and a voice came out of it, as loud as a tempest, which called to Job. Nothing can be conceived more awful than this appearance of Jehovah; nothing more sublime than the manner in which this speech is introduced. Thunders, lightnings, and a whirlwind announce his approach: all creation trembles at his presence: at the blaze of his all-piercing eye every disguise falls off; the stateliness of human pride, the vanity of human knowledge, sink into their original nothing. The man of understanding, the men of age and experience; he who desired nothing more than to argue the point with God; he that would maintain his ways to his face; confounded and struck dumb at his presence, is ready to drop into dissolution, and repents in dust and ashes. See Heath.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 38:1. The whirlwind. Clouds and flames are the chariots of the Lord, in deigning to speak with men. When he spake to Elijah in Horeb, it was with wind, and fire, and earthquake. Likewise in Psa 18:11, it is said, he clothed himself with thick clouds of darkness. It belongs to him alone to clear up the clouds of his providence.
Job 38:3. Gird up now thy loins like a man, like the ancient Kibborim or giants. Oh Job, thou art ignorant of the cause of thy calamities; thou knowest not that thy character has been impeached in heaven; neither dost thou know the mysteries of creation and of providence, as it is insinuated in the following part of this chapter.
Job 38:7. Sons of God. The hosts of angels shouted for joy.
Job 38:11. Here shall thy proud waves be stayed, The laws of gravity which regulate the tides, are adjusted with the greatest nicety; and they vary not, except by winds and hurricanes, which drive the tides beyond the equilibrium.
Job 38:12. The dayspring, according to the seasons in lengthening day or night, and also the refraction of light from the atmosphere, which occasions a twilight of an hour and a quarter, before the rising and after the setting of the sun.
Job 38:16. The springs of the sea. The submarine rivers are sometimes so powerful as to freshen the sea-water for many leagues. Charibdis, in Sicily, is so powerful as to give an eddy to the whole current in the straits of Messina.
Job 38:17. The doors of the shadow of death. This is copied in Psa 23:4. The gates of death, or the gates of hell: the shadow of death, hades, or the abode of separate spirits. Both these passages indicate a world of spirits, for there could be no shadow effected by annihilation. All pagan mythology asserts the existence of a separate state, as well as the bible.
Job 38:22. The treasures of the hail. Mount Lebanon being nine thousand six hundred feet high, occasions the most tremendous storms of hail in the east. Psa 68:14.
Job 38:31. Pleiades. The seven stars; the seventh is not often seen without a glass.Orion, a brilliant constellation in the southern hemisphere. Orion is represented as a gigantic man, with three stars on the scabbard of his sword, a club in his right hand, and a lions skin in his left.
Job 38:32. Mazzaroth in his season. Here the LXX follow the Hebrew. The word is plural, and designates the zodiac, consisting of twelve signs, invented to instruct the husbandman in the seasons of the year. Mr. Lloyd, whose lectures I attended, had an oriental zodiac, which indicates the invention to be of the remotest antiquity.
Job 38:38. When the dust groweth into hardness; Without a doubt the laws of gravity are here understood, as well as those of cohesion, though the idea of exsiccation only is conveyed to the English reader.
Job 38:39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? In Campbells travels in South Africa, we are told that the lions hunt always to windward, by which they can smell their prey at a very great distance. The Hottentot servants therefore always watched leeward of the waggon and the bullocks.
Job 38:41. The ravenwander for lack of meat. In 1827, abundance of fish were thrown on the western shores of some parts of Scotland, and left to putrefy. In a few days, so great a multitude of ravens came as to alarm the inhabitants, because they remained covering the rocks. It is not doubted, but the offensive effluvia had attracted them from the Norwegian shores. After awhile, hunger induced them to take their flight. Is it credible that the effluvia had blown a thousand miles!
REFLECTIONS.
After a most arduous contest of eighteen speeches and replies, we are now come to a close. In these speeches we see the utmost strength of argument and efforts of reason. But what can reason do, when God has involved his steps in clouds of impervious darkness? Both the parties had ranged and exhausted the limits of human knowledge, and ended where they began. They seem to resemble those warriors who, after exhausting their ammunition and strength in vain efforts, sit down and look one upon another. Job had maintained his integrity, and his friends had done what they could to vindicate the equity of Gods afflicting hand; and in the issue we see he will clear up all the dark scenes of human life, and cause the equity of his ways to appear luminous as the lamp that burneth, and resplendent as the sun at noon-day.
We also learn that when God appears in a dark and cloudy day, his first object is to comfort and compose the afflicted. By a vast variety of arguments on the ignorance of man, and the insufficiency of human knowledge, he leads Job to calmness and composure under the strokes of providence. It therefore well becomes us to support afflictions with fortitude. Why should we be disspirited, while we have yet a God who is alsufficient? The blasts of winter are as essential in the seasons as the serenity of summer: and if God manage our afflictions as he manages the storms and tempests, he will most assuredly close them in scenes of serenity, and gain our fullest approbation to his severest strokes.
The subjects on which God addressed Job, were the imperfections of his knowledge, with regard to nature and her ancient economy. He asks him where he was when he laid the foundations of the earth, and finished all his works in glory and perfection; when, on every process of the creation, the morning stars (or angels created on the first day of his work) sang together, and shouted for joy? And consequently, if the Almighty was adequate to manage in all the heavenly worlds, and in all the glory of his work, Job was not to arraign his Maker as cruel or unjust; for the supreme Being is not bound to explain to man the reasons of his conduct. Who can stay his hand, or say to him, what doest thou?Lord, then make my soul as a weaned child. Let me be alike content when thou givest or withholdest health, and all other temporal good.
On the same grounds of imperfection in knowledge, God endeavours to reconcile Job to patience and submission, by asking a series of questions concerning his defects in the knowledge of natural history. And if he was defective in tracing the history of the lion, the raven, the goat, the hind, the ass, the unicorn, the peacock, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk, the eagle, and behemoth and leviathan; how could he expect a perfect acquaintance with the unsearchable ways of providence. All men should therefore learn submission to the visitations of God, should be confident that he is too wise to err, and too good to do his creatures harm. But oh how gracious and compassionate he is to condescend to reason with his creatures, that they may approve of his ways, and trust with a firm confidence in the most beclouded paths of providence.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 38:1-3. Yahweh, speaking to Job out of the storm, challenges him to the contest, which he has so often demanded.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Marvellously, God Himself directly intervenes in this discussion so early in the history of man. The storm that had been brewing as Elihu spoke becomes a whirlwind, and God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind. Job had felt his whole life to be in the vortex of a whirlwind, but he little realised that God was speaking in the very troubles he faced, therefore God spoke directly to him. This was miraculous, of course, and there was no possibility that Job would not listen.
It may seem amazing that God would take time to speak to one man in the presence of only a few others when the message He gave was so wonderful that all mankind should benefit by it. However, it was not necessary to speak to large numbers, for the complete record is given in writing for the benefit of every person who will read it, from that time in early history throughout all succeeding history. Who could dare to question the magnificent wonder of these words directly from God in chapters 38 to 41? How well it is for us to take this message deeply to heart.
Are His words too philosophic to understand? Not at all! This is no treatise on theological mysteries, but a plain appeal to simple honesty, concerning the evident facts of God’s creation. It surely puts man in his place, for it gives God His true place of Creator and Sustainer of all the universe. How well worth our serious meditation are all the details of which God speaks to Job.
GOD’S CALL TO JOB
(vv.1-3)
It should be very clear to everyone that God is not speaking to Elihu, but that He confirms what Elihu had said as He answers Job directly (v.1). Most of what God says is in the form of questions. His first question is, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge,” (v.2) – in other words, “Who do you think you are, Job?” Job’s words lacked the knowledge he ought to have had, and God will deeply impress this upon him.
“Now prepare yourself like a man: I will question you, and you shall answer Me” (v.3). God expects Job to take only a man’s place, and the questions God asks are simple enough for a man to understand, though Job would find himself helpless to answer such questions.
QUESTIONS AS TO GOD’S WORKS OF CREATION
(vv.4-38)
This section is divided into seven parts, beginning with
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH
(vv.4-7)
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (v.4). Does the earth have foundations? – an earth that revolves in space with nothing to hold it up? Yes, it could not even exist without a fundamental basis of truth, but could Job explain this? Can anyone today explain it? No! For one thing, none of us was present when God laid these foundations, and who can understand anything about the way that creation came into existence? “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa 33:9). The earth’s foundations and earth itself were created at the same instant, simply by the Word of God.
“Who determined its measurements? Surely you know!” (v.5). Of course Job knew that only God could do this. “Who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?” (v.6). Certainly the foundations of the earth are not fastened to anything visible to us.. Whether Job knew this at that time or not, he could certainly not answer God’s question. When man builds he must have a foundation fastened to something solid, but what of God’s building? Man too requires a corner stone. Who laid the corner stone for God’s building?
[Creation of Angels]
At the creation of earth “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” There is no doubt the sons of God are angels (ch.1:6), who were therefore created before the earth was. If “the morning stars” are literal stars, then the stars too were created before the earth was, it may be objected that Gen 1:16 seems to indicate that God made stars on the fourth day of the refurbishing of the earth, but when we are told, “He made the starts also,” this is likely not chronological, but a notice of a creation prior to the history of the fourth day. We may question if literal stars can sing, but science has told us that there is a harmony of sound emanating from the stars. At least there was a great celebration among God’s creatures when He created the earth.
HIS CONTROL OF THE SEAS
(vv.8-11)
“Who shut in the sea with doors?” (v.8). God is not speaking here of the original creation, but of His separating the waters above from the waters beneath (Gen 1:6-7). For the earth was at first covered with water, then the waters were separated and the dry land appeared. As the Word of God caused the appearance of the land, so His Word caused the waters to be gathered “into one place” (Gen 1:9).
As to the seas being gathered together into one place, it is a known fact that all the seas are connected, which is not true of the lands. But this tremendous body of waters, always in motion, often surging in mighty waves, so that man is helpless before its raging, is yet under the perfect control of the Creator. He says, “I make clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band.” Yet how good to read in Psa 93:4, “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.”
This is beautifully confirmed in verses 10 and 11: “I fixed My limit for it and set bars and doors, when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop.”‘ People may speak of “natural laws” as causing this phenomenon, but who is the Author of natural law?
How striking is the spiritual significance of God’s control of the seas! Job felt as though the waves of the sea were engulfing him in the succession of painful tribulations that seemed to be uncontrolled. Believers may pass through times of turbulent unrest and distress as though tossed by the waves of a rolling sea, but God is in perfect control of all this, and is able to quiet the sea immediately, just as the Lord Jesus did when His disciples were so alarmed: “He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still:’ and the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mar 4:39).
THE DAY DISPLACING THE NIGHT
(vv.12-15)
Did Job decide when the morning was to dawn? (v.12). What a question for the man who thought he could practically make God accountable to him! The morning always follows the night, and what man can change this amazing fact? Job had been feeling the darkness of night in the hard experiences he had suffered. If he could command the morning, then he could bring complete relief to the trials of darkness. But only God can cause the dawn to know its place.
Verse 13 reminds us that when the millennial day dawns it will embrace “the ends of the earth,” and the wicked will be shaken out of it. The wicked, who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, will at that day be exposed by the light of “the Sun of righteousness” arising with “healing in His wings.” The Lord Jesus, the true Light, will so expose the wicked as to shake them out of the earth.
As to verse 24, Samuel Ridout writes, “As the marks of the signet ring upon the formless day, so the light stamps upon the face of the earth the varied forms and colours of all things. They stand out like a lovely garment – or the reverse, a scene of ruin – under the light. The light shows all things as they are” (The Book of Job – S. Ridout – p.227).
Because the wicked love darkness, then light is withheld from them (v.15), and their arm, upraised in opposition to God, is simply broken. Job should certainly have been deeply impressed by this, for he had been dangerously close to raising his arm in opposing God, and in this way acting as the wicked do.
THINGS UNFATHOMED, UNMEASURED
(vv.16-21)
Now God asks Job if he had entered the springs of the sea or walked in search of the depths (v.16). We are told that the insect population of the world is far greater in weight than all the human and animal population – though it would require quite a number of mosquitoes to equal the weight of one elephant! But all the population of earth -human, animals, insects and birds – are nothing compared to the population of the seas, for the seas are populated in all areas and at every level. Job had no idea of what was unseen beneath the surface of the seas.
Had the gates of death been opened to him? (v.17). Of course the seas have swallowed countless millions of people (including those drowned in the flood of Noah’s day); but apart from this, did Job understand where death had taken those who had been claimed by it through all the years?
“Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this” (v.18). At that time, no doubt Job did not know the earth was formed as a tremendous ball rotating in space. But even today, though we are told the earth is 25,000 miles in circumference, who can possibly comprehend the greatness of this? Though scientists have learned a great deal about God’s creation, yet the more they learn, the more evident it becomes that their ignorance is far greater than their knowledge.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place?” (v.19). God had said, “Let there be light” on the first day of the remaking of the earth (Gen 1:3), before the sun was set in its place on the fourth day. Some scientists have considered that the sun was the source of light, but further searching has persuaded them that there is light apart from the sun. Where does it come from? We do not know any more about this than Job did. Thus, the origin of light or the origin of darkness are matters of which mankind is totally ignorant.
Could Job take the light or the darkness back to its original place of dwelling? (v.20). The very question would not have arisen in men’s minds, but God raises it simply to show how greatly man’s knowledge is limited. The irony of verse 21 is striking. Was Job born when light was introduced? Had he lived so many years? Of course these words of God are simply intended to put Job in his place.
THE ELEMENTS
(vv.22-30)
The Lord now turns to bring to Job’s attention the many elements of the weather, which continually affect people in various ways, – the snow, hail, wind, rain, frost and dew. Amazingly, every snowflake (of which there are trillions) is beautifully designed in a pattern of six points, yet none have ever been found to be identical to another! Snow provides a cover for earth in winter to protect the ground from freezing deeply. In the snow there are treasures of which Job was totally ignorant, and similarly in the hail. While the snow may be for protection, the hail is reserved for times of trouble, battle and war. Both snow and hail are frozen water, but how different they are when falling on earth!
Man likes to think of himself as in control of things, but can he control the snow or the hail or the wind? (vv.22-24). Verse 24 inserts the matter of the way in which light is diffused before speaking of the east wind. For Job was to realise that the light of God was involved in all His actions, and just as definitely at work when He sent His east wind of strong adversity. God’s ways had really been darkness to Job, so he did not understand the way God was diffusing His light.
Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one?” (vv.25-26). Sometimes the rain causes overflowing floods, sometimes even where there are no inhabitants, yet also sometimes where the inhabitants are greatly affected by it. But God’s work is not confined to the needs of humans, little as we may understand these things. Our mere human thoughts centre around ourselves, which is only unseemly pride. God’s thoughts are infinitely higher than we naturally imagine (Isa 55:8-9).
“Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?” (v.28). Where and when the rain falls may seem to us totally haphazard, but it is dependent simply on the will of our God and Father, who never makes a mistake. Similarly, frost is always sent by Him in perfect wisdom for every occasion (v.29). How it is possible for water to harden like stone is only explained by God’s law in sending the cold (v.30). Who really understands this?
THE HEAVENLY BODIES
(vv.31-33)
Job had spoken of “the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades” (ch.9:9), so that he knew something of astronomy. The Lord draws his attention first to the Pleiades, meaning “the heap of stars,” asking if Job can “bind the chains of the Pleiades.” Astronomers discovered “that the whole solar system is moving forward around Alcyone, the brightest star in the Pleiades” (Fausset’s Bible Encyclopaedia – p. 576). While the planets revolve around the sun, the sun and all the planets revolve around Alcyone at the rate of 422,000 miles per day! Such are the chains (or “binds”) of the Pleiades that captivate the whole solar system. Could Job bind such influences? Or could he loose the belt of Orion, the force that keeps Orion in its orbit? Could he bring out Mazzaroth (the constellations of stars) in their proper season? Could he guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
Thus the stars of the heavens were a matter of common knowledge at this early date in history, and the names have remained the same. But did Job know the ordinances God had established in the heavens? Did he even understand the relationship the stars had to the earth, let alone being able to set those stars in places of dominion over the earth? Astrologers try to correlate the movement of the stars with the events of earth, but their efforts only expose their utter ignorance.
HOW ARE CLOUDS CONTROLLED?
(vv.34-38)
These verses conclude the first section of God’s answer to Job, for it is clear that chapter 39 should begin with verse 39 of chapter 38. He had spoken of the rain in verses 25-28, now He adds a question as to whether Job could give orders to the clouds to drop their water when Job desired it (v.34). We may see the clouds dark and heavy and think at such a time that we could tell the clouds to pour out their rain, but it may be that no rain falls at all. Lightning may trigger a rainfall, but who can send the lightning? (v.35). If man does have any wisdom at all, who has put it in his mind? Is he to have the credit for this? Or does he manufacture his own understanding? (v.36). If one thinks he is wise, let him number the clouds! They are so constantly changing and on the move, often amazing in their magnificence, that we are wise simply to observe and marvel at the display they present, rather than to think of numbering them. May such lessons deeply impress us.
GOD’S CARE FOR HIS CREATURES
(ch.38:39 to 39:30)
THE BEASTS OF PREY
(vv.38-41)
God is not only infinitely great, but He has a heart of kindness and care for all His creation. In this section He begins with the beasts of prey, with which we should not likely begin, for we think of them as needing no outside care for they are predators. But they require the care of God as do all other creatures. God has made them as they are and provides for them in the fact of their being able to hunt their own food. Who would think of hunting food for them, at least while they are in the wilds? “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God” (Psa 104:21).
Even Satan (who is spoken of as “a roaring lion” – 1Pe 5:8) is dependent on God for his very existence. It was Satan who implied to Eve that God was not good in withholding from her and her husband the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:1); yet Satan has himself benefited by God’s goodness since the time of his creation.
The raven is a bird of prey (v.41), but if God did not provide the prey for them and their young, how could they continue to exist? Interestingly, it is said here, “its young ones cry to God.” Whether intelligently or not is not the question, but God recognises their cry. If so, did God not hear the cry of Job? Of course He did, though He did not answer Job at just the time and in the way that Job thought He ought to.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the {a} whirlwind, and said,
(a) That his words might have greater majesty, and that Job might know with whom he had to do.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
G. The Cycle of Speeches between Job and God 38:1-42:6
Finally, God spoke to Job and gave revelation that Job had been demanding for so long (cf. Job 13:22; Job 31:35). There was now no need for the middleman that Job had requested who could mediate between them (cf. Job 9:33; Job 16:19). Yahweh spoke directly to Job, and Job had the opportunity to respond directly to God.
"God challenged both Satan and Job by confronting them with his wondrous works. And since Job himself is the divine work by which Satan was challenged, it is through the success of this challenge to Job that God perfects the triumph of his challenge to Satan." [Note: Kline, p. 486.]
What God did not say to Job is as surprising as what He did say. He did not mention Job’s suffering, He gave no explanation of the problem of evil, and He did not defend Himself against Job’s charge of injustice. God simply revealed Himself to Job and his companions to a greater degree than they had known, and that greater revelation silenced them. He proved Himself to be the truly wise Person.
"The reader is told why Job was suffering in the Prologue, but that is to show that Job was innocent. Job was never told this; had he been told, the book would immediately lose its message to all other sufferers. So the book is teaching us through the divine theophany that there is something more fundamental than an intellectual solution to the mystery of innocent suffering. Though the message reaches Job through his intellect, it is for his spirit." [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 1029.]
"To Elihu the suffering may bring enrichment; to the author of the book of Job it is the presence of God that is enriching, and that presence is given to men of integrity and piety in prosperity and in adversity alike." [Note: Rowley, pp. 20-21.]
". . . whereas the advice of Elihu is to learn his lessons that his prosperity may be restored, the effect of the Divine speeches is to make Job realize that he may have the Divine fellowship in his sufferings, and not merely when he has been delivered from them." [Note: Ibid., p. 229.]
God’s role in His speeches was not that of a defendant on trial, whom Job the prosecutor charged with injustice. Rather, He was the Prosecutor asking the questions of Job, the defendant. He asked him more than 70 unanswerable questions and proved him both ignorant and impotent. Wiersbe found 77 questions that God asked Job in chapters 38-41. [Note: Wiersbe, pp. 23 and 76.] Since Job could not understand or determine God’s ways with nature, he obviously could not comprehend or control God’s dealings with people. Who is the truly wise person? It is not Job, or his three older friends, or his younger friend, Elihu, but God. He alone is truly wise.
"In the end the point is that Job cannot have the knowledge to make the assessments he made. It is wiser to bow in submission and adoration of God than to try to judge him." [Note: The NET Bible note on 38:1.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
God’s introductory challenge to Job 38:1-3
God sometimes made His self-revelations to people in a storm, symbolic of the disturbing effects His awesome presence produced (cf. Exo 19:16-17; 1Ki 19:11-13; 2Ki 2:1; 2Ki 2:11; Isa 6:4; Eze 1:4; Zec 9:14). One wonders if Job’s friends thought God was about to strike Job dead with a bolt of lightning.
"Job’s troubles began when a great wind killed his children (Job 1:19). The Lord was in that storm, and now He speaks from the tempest (cf. Eze 1:4)." [Note: Andersen, p. 273.]
God began His speech with a challenge to His opponent’s understanding, as the five human debaters on earth had done. He accused Job of clouding the truth about Him by saying things that were not true. Job should have defended God’s justice rather than denying it, since he claimed to be God’s friend. His lack of adequate revelation led to this error. Likewise, every believer should be slow to affirm that he knows God’s will about the affairs of an individual’s life, his own or someone else’s. We still do not know all the facts concerning why God is allowing what takes place. God then told Job to prepare for a difficult job: to explain His ways in nature. If God had done wrong, Job must have known what was right!
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. God’s first speech 38:1-40:2
God’s first speech "transcends all other descriptions of the wonders of creation or the greatness of the Creator, which are to be found either in the Bible or elsewhere." [Note: Samuel R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, p. 427.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
XXVII.
“MUSIC IN THE BOUNDS OF LAW”
Job 38:1-41
OVER the shadowed life of Job, and the world shadowed for him by his own intellectual and moral gloom, a storm sweeps, and from the storm issues a voice. With the symbol of vast Divine energy comes an answer to the problem of tried and troubled human life. It has seemed, as time went by, that the appeals of the sufferer were unheard, that the rigid silence of heaven would never break. But had he not heard? “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Job should have known. What is given will be a fresh, presentation of ideas now to be seen in their strength and bearing because the mind is prepared and made eager. The man, brought to the edge of pessimism, will at last look abroad and follow the doings of the Almighty even through storm and darkness. Does the sublime voice issue only to overbear and reduce him to silence? Not so. His reason is addressed, his thought demanded, his power to recognise truth is called for. A great demonstration is made, requiring at every step the response of mind and heart. The Creator reveals His care for the creation, for the race of men, for every kind of being and every need. He declares His own glory, of transcendent power, of immeasurable wisdom, also of righteous and holy will. He can afflict men, and yet do them no wrong but good, for they are His men, for whom He provides as they cannot provide for themselves. Trial, sorrow, change, death-is anything “disastrous” that God ordains? Impossible. His care of His creation is beyond our imagining. There are no disasters in His universe unless where the will of man divorced from faith would tear a way for itself through the fastnesses of His eternal law.
Eloah is known through the tempest as well as in the dewdrop and the tender blossom. What is capable of strength must be made strong. That is the Divine law throughout all life, for the cedar on Lebanon, the ox in the yoke, the lion of the Libyan desert. Chiefly the moral nature of man must find its strength. The glory of God is to have sons who can endure. The easy piety of a happy race, living among flowers and offering incense for adoration, cannot satisfy Him of the eternal will, the eternal power. Men must learn to trust, to endure, to hold themselves undismayed when the fury of tempest scours their world and heaps, the driven snow above their dwellings and death comes cold and stark. Struggle man shall, struggle on through strange and dreadful trials till he learn to live in the thought of Divine Will and Love, coordinate in one Lord true to Himself, worthy to be trusted through all cloud and clash. Ever is He pursuing an end conformable to the nature of the beings He has created, and, with man an end conformable to his nature, the possibilities of endless moral development, the widening movements of increasing life. Let man know this and submit, know this and rejoice. A dream life shall be impossible to man, use his day as he will.
Is this Divine utterance from the storm required by the progress of the drama? Some have doubted whether its tenor is consistent with the previous line of thought; yet the whole movement sets distinctly towards it, could terminate in no other way. The prologue, affirming Gods satisfaction with His servant, left us assured that if Job remained pure and kept his faith his name would not be blotted from the book of life. He has kept his integrity; no falsehood or baseness can be charged against him. But is he still with God in sincere and humble faith? We have heard him accuse the Most High of cruel enmity. At the close he lies under the suspicion of impious daring and revolt, and it appears that he may have fallen from grace. The author has created this uncertainty knowing well that the verdict of God Himself is needed to make clear the spiritual position and fate of His servant.
Besides this, Jobs own suspense remains, of more importance from a dramatic point of view. He is not yet reconciled to providence. Those earnest cries for light, which have gone forth passionately, pathetically to heaven, wait for an answer. They must have some reply, if the poet can frame a fit deliverance for the Almighty. The task is indeed severe. On one side there is restraint, for the original motive of the whole action and especially the approval of Job by his Divine Master are not to be divulged. The tried man must not enjoy vindication at the risk of losing humility, his victory over his friends must not be too decisive for his own spiritual good, nor out of keeping with the ordinary current of experience. On the other side lies the difficulty of representing Divine wisdom in contrast to that of man, and of dealing with the hopes and claims of Job, for vindication, for deliverance from Sheol, for the help of a Redeemer, either in the way of approving them or setting them definitely aside. Urged by a necessity of his own creating, the author has to seek a solution, and he finds one equally convincing and modest, crowning his poem with a passage of marvellous brilliance, aptness, and power.
It has already been remarked that the limitations of genius and inspiration are distinctly visible here. The bold prophetic hopes put into Jobs mouth were beyond the authors power to verify even to his own satisfaction. He might himself believe in them, ardently, as flashes of heavenly foresight, but he would not affirm them to be Divine in their source because he could not give adequate proof. The ideas were thrown out to live in human thought, to find verification when Gods time came. Hence, in the speeches of the Almighty, the ground taken is that of natural religion, the testimony of the wonderful system of things open to the observation of all. Is there a Divine Redeemer for the faithful whose lives have been overshadowed? Shall they be justified in some future state of being when their bodies have mouldered into dust? The voice from on high does not affirm that this shall be; the reverence of the poet does not allow so daring an assumption of the right to speak for God. On the contrary, the danger of meddling with things too high is emphasised in the very utterance which a man of less wisdom and humility would have filled with his own ideas. Nowhere is there a finer instance of self-denying moderation for the sake of absolute truth. This writer stands among men as a humble student of the ways of God-is content to stand there at the last, making no claim beyond the knowledge of what may be learned from the creation and providence of God.
And Job is allowed no special providence. The voice from the storm is that which all may hear; it is the universal revelation suited to every man. At first sight we are disposed to agree with those who think the appearance of the Almighty upon the scene to be in itself strange. But there is no Theophany. There is no revelation or message to suit a particular case, to gratify one who thinks himself more important than his fellow creatures, or imagines the problem of his life abnormally difficult. Again the wisdom of the author goes hand in hand with his modesty; what is within his compass he sees to be sufficient for his end.
To some the utterances put into the mouth of the Almighty may seem to come far short of the occasion. Beginning to read the passage they may say:-Now we are to have the fruit of the poets most strenuous thought, the highest inspiration. The Almighty when He speaks in person will be made to reveal His gracious purposes with men and the wisdom of His government in those cases that have baffled the understanding of Job and of all previous thinkers. Now we shall see a new light penetrating the thick darkness and confusion of human affairs. Since this is not done there may be disappointment. But the author is concerned with religion. His maxim is, “The fear of God that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.” He has in his drama done much for human thought and theology. The complications which had kept faith from resting in true spirituality on God have been removed. The sufferer is a just man, a good man whom God Himself has pronounced to be perfect. Job is not afflicted because he has sinned. The author has set in the clearest possible light all arguments he could find for the old notion that transgression and wickedness alone are followed by suffering in this world. He has shown that this doctrine is not in accordance with fact, and has made the proof so clear that a thoughtful person could never afterwards remember the name of Job and hold that false view. But apart from the prologue, no explanation is given of the sufferings of the righteous in this life. The author never says in so many words that Job profited by his afflictions. It might be that the righteous man, tried by loss and pain, was established in his faith forever, above all possibility of doubt. But this is not affirmed. It might be that men were purified by their sufferings, that they found through the hot furnace a way into the noblest life. But this is not brought forward as the ultimate explanation, Or it might be that the good man in affliction was the burden bearer of others, so that his travail and blood helped their spiritual life. But there is no hint of this. Jehovah is to be vindicated. He appears; He speaks out of the storm, and vindicates Himself. Not, however, by showing the good His servant has gained in the discipline of bereavement, loss, and pain. It is by claiming implicit trust from men, by showing that their wisdom at its highest is foolishness to His, and that His administration of the affairs of His world is in glorious faithfulness as well as power.
Is it disappointing? Does the writer neglect the great question his drama has stirred? Or has he not, with art far more subtle than we may at first suppose, introduced into the experience of Job a certain spiritual gain-thoughts and hopes that widen and clear the horizon of his life? In the depth of despondency, just because he has been driven from every earthly comfort and stay, and can look only for miserable death, Job sees in prophetic vision a higher hope. He asks, “If a man die, shall he live again?” The question remains with him and seeks an answer in the intervals of suffering. Then at length he ventures on the presage of a future state of existence, “whether in the body or out of the body he cannot tell, God knoweth,”-“My Redeemer liveth; I shall see God for me.” This prevision, this dawning of the light of immortality upon his soul is the gain that has entered into Jobs experience. Without the despondency, the bitterness of bereavement, the sense of decay, and the pressure of cruel charges made against him, these illuminating thoughts would never have come to the sufferer; and along this line the author may have intended to justify the afflictions of the righteous man and quietly vindicate the dealings of God with him.
If further it be asked why this is not made prominent in the course of the Almightys address from the storm, an answer may be found. The hope did not remain clear, inspiring, in the consciousness of Job. The waves of sorrow and doubt rolled over his mind again. It was but a flash, and like lightning at midnight it passed and left the gloom once more. Only when by long reflection and patient thought Job found himself reassured in the expectation of a future life, would he know what trouble had done for him. And it was not in keeping with the gradual development of religious faith that the Almighty should forestall discovery by reviving the hope which for a time had faded. We may take it that with rare skill the writer avoids insistence on the value of a vision which could appear charged with sustaining hope only after it was again apprehended, first as a possibility, then as a revelation, finally as a sublime truth disentangled from doubt and error.
Assuming this to have been in the authors mind, we understand why the Almighty, speaking from the storm, makes no reference to the gain of affliction. There is a return upon the original motive of the drama, -the power of the Creator to inspire, the right of the Creator to expect faith in Himself, whatever losses and trials men have to endure. Neither the integrity of man nor the claim of man upon God is first in the mind of the author, but the majestic Godhead that gathers to itself the adoration of the universe. Man is of importance because he glorifies his Creator. Human righteousness is of narrow range. It is not by his righteousness man is saved, that is to say, finds his true place, the development of his nature and the end of his existence. He is redeemed from vanity and evanescence by his faith, because in exercising it, clinging to it through profoundest darkness, amidst thunder and storm, when deep calleth to deep, he enters into that wise and holy order of the universe which God has appointed, -he lives and finds more abundant life.
It is not denied that on the way toward perfect trust in his Creator man is free to seek explanation of all that befalls him. Our philosophy is no impertinence. Thought must have liberty; religion must be free. The light of justice has been kindled within us that we may seek the answering light of the sublime justice of God in all His dealings with ourselves and with mankind. This is clearly before the mind of the author, and it is the underlying idea throughout the long colloquies between Job and his friends. They are allowed a freedom of thought and speech that sometimes astonishes, for they are engaged in the great inquiry which is to bring clear and uplifting knowledge of the Creator and His will. For us it is a varied inquiry, much of it to be conducted in pain and sorrow, on the bare hillside or on the rough sea, in the face of peril, change, and disappointment. But if always the morale of life, the fulfilment of life bestowed by God as mans trust and inestimable possession are kept in view, freedom is ample, and man, doing his part, need have no fear of incurring the anger of the Divine Judge: the terrors of low religions have no place here.
But now Job is given to understand that liberty has its limitation; and the lesson is for many. To one half of mankind, allowing the mind to lie inert or expending it on vanities, the word has come-Inquire what life is, what its trials mean, how the righteous government of God is to be traced. Now, to the other half of mankind, too adventurous in experiment and judgment, the address of the Almighty says: Be not too bold; far beyond your range the activities of the Creator pass: it is not for you to understand the whole, but always to be reverent, always to trust. The limits of knowledge are shown, and, beyond them, the Divine King stands in glory inaccessible, proved true and wise and just, claiming for Himself the dutiful obedience and adoration of His creatures. Throughout the passage we now consider this is the strain of argument, and the effect on Jobs mind is found in his final confession.
Let man remember that his main business here is not to question but to glorify his Creator. For the time when this book was written the truth lay here; and here it lies even for us. and will lie for those who come after us. In these days it is often forgotten. Science questions, philosophy probes into the reasons of what has been and is, men lose themselves in labyrinths at the far extremities of which they hope to find something which shall make life inexpressibly great or strong or sweet. And even theology and criticism of the Bible occasionally fall into the same error of fancying that to inquire and know are the main things, that although inquiry and knowledge do not at every stage aid the service of the Most High they may promote life. The colloquies and controversies over, Job and his friends are recalled to their real duty, which is to recognise the eternal majesty and grace of the Unseen God, to trust Him and do His will. And our experiments and questions over in every department of knowledge, to this we ought to come. Nay, every step in our quest of knowledge should be taken with the desire to find God more gloriously wise and faithful, that our obedience may be more zealous, our worship more profound. There are only two states of thought or dominant methods possible when we enter on the study of the facts of nature and providence or any research that allures our reason. We must go forward either in the faith of God or with the desire to establish ourselves in knowledge, comfort, and life apart from God. If the second way is chosen, light is turned into darkness, all discoveries prove mere apples of Sodom, and the end is vanity. But on the other line, with life which is good to have, with the consciousness of ability to think and will and act, faith should begin, faith in life and the Maker of life; and if every study is pursued in resolute faith, man refusing to give existence itself the lie, the mind seeking and finding new and larger reasons for trust and service of the Creator, the way will be that of salvation. The faults and errors of one who follows this way will not enter into his soul to abide there and darken it. They will be confessed and forgiven. Such is the philosophy of the Book of Job, and the final vindication of His servant by the Almighty.