Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:21

Knowest thou [it], because thou wast then born? or [because] the number of thy days [is] great?

21. The verse is ironical,

Thou knowest; for thou wast then born,

And the number of thy days is great.

The words “thou knowest” refer to the question, Job 38:19, Which is the way ? Job knows the way to the place of light, for he was born contemporary with it; he is as old as the dayspring which morning by morning has overspread the earth since creation’s dawn.

“Light is considered here, as in Genesis 1, to be a natural force, with an independent existence, apart from the heavenly luminaries that transmit it. And in this, as is well known, modern investigation coincides with the direct perceptions of antiquity” (Schlottmann, Comm. on Job, p. 468). To this remark it has to be added that in the present passage “darkness” also, no less than light, is regarded as a natural force, with an independent existence, and a “place” where it abides, contiguous to light. Science, to which Scripture is taught to look so humbly for approval, will no doubt confirm this representation also.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? – This may either be a question, or it may be spoken ironically. According to the former mode of rendering it, it is the same as asking Job whether he had lived long enough to understand where the abode of light was, or whether he had an existence when it was created, and knew where its home was appointed. According to the latter mode, it is keen sarcasm. Thou must know all this, for thou art so old. Thou hast had an opportunity of observing all this, for thou hast lived through all these changes, and observed all the works of God. This latter method of interpreting it is adopted by Umbreit, Herder, Noyes, Rosenmuller, and Wemyss. The former, however, seems much better to accord with the connection, and with the dignity and character of the speaker. It is not desirable to represent God as speaking in the language of irony and sarcasm unless the rules of interpretation imperatively demand it.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Knowest thou] This is another strong and biting irony, and the literal translation proves it: “Thou knowest, because thou was then born; and the number of thy days is great,” or multitudinous, rabbim, multitudes.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

An ironical question: If thou pretendest that thou knowest these things, and canst readily answer these questions, how comest thou by this knowledge? Was it from hence, because thou wast born when I made the world, and that first constitution of the light and darkness in that order and succession which continues to this day, and thereby hadst the opportunity of inspecting my works, and seeing whence the light came, and because thou hast gained this knowledge by long experience, as having lived ever since the creation of the world until this time? whereas in truth thou art but of yesterday, and knowest nothing, as was said, Job 8:9. But the words are and may be otherwise rendered, Dost or didst thou know, either by thy own remembrance, or by the information of others,

that thou wast then born? (to wit, when I made the world. Or, Didst thou know that thou shouldest then be born? then, to wit, when thou wast born. Or, Didst thou then know, the two Hebrew particles being transplaced, as is not unusual in that language, that thou shouldest be born? How couldst thou know this, when thou hadst no being?) and that the number of thy days should be great? that thou shouldst live so long as thou hast lived? Thou couldst neither foreknow the time of thy birth, nor the length of thy life. Or, and is the number of thy days great, i.e. so great that it reacheth to the time of the worlds creation?

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21. Or without theinterrogation, in an ironical sense [UMBREIT].

thenwhen I createdlight and darkness (Job 15:7).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Knowest thou [it], because thou wast then born?…. When light and darkness were first separated, and had their several apartments assigned them; their laws and rules given them, and their bounds and limits set them? No; he was not: and, had he been the first man, could not have been early enough to have been present at the doing of this, and so come at the knowledge thereof; since man was not made until the sixth day of the creation;

or [because] the number of thy days [is] great; reach to the beginning of time, and so as old as the creation. This was not the case. Some understand these words ironically; “thou knowest” the places and bounds of light and darkness, since thou art a very old man, born as soon as the world was. Whereas he was of yesterday, and knew nothing; which to convince him of is the design of this biting, cutting, expression. The Targum is,

“didst thou know then that thou shouldest be born, and the number of thy days many?”

No, Job did not know when he was born, nor of whom, and in what circumstances, but by the relation of others; and much less could he know before he was born, that he should be, or how long he should live in the world: but God knows all this beforehand; when men shall come into the world, at what period and of what parents, and how long they shall continue in it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(21) Knowest thou it?It is better to read this verse without an interrogation, as sublime irony. Doubtless thou knowest all this, for thou wast born then, and the number of thy days is so great!

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. Knowest thou it Thou knowest! for then wast thou born, and the number of thy days is great! The keenest irony. Job knows so much, that he must have come into existence at the time when light and darkness were created!

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 38:21 Knowest thou [it], because thou wast then born? or [because] the number of thy days [is] great?

Ver. 21. Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? ] Beza readeth it thus, These things, forsooth, thou knowest, because thou wast then born (viz. when I made them, and appointed what order and course they should keep), and the number of thy days is great, thou art very far grown in years, as having lived ever since the creation, Es annosissimus et antiquissimus, &c. Ironice omnia.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)