1 And Jehovah answereth Job out of the whirlwind, and saith: --
2 Who `is' this -- darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
3 Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.
4 Where wast thou when I founded earth? Declare, if thou hast known understanding.
5 Who placed its measures -- if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched out upon it a line?
6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who hath cast its corner-stone?
7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy,
8 And He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out.
9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 And I measure over it My statute, And place bar and doors,
11 And say, `Hitherto come thou, and add not, And a command is placed On the pride of thy billows.'
12 Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place?
13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it,
14 It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
15 And withheld from the wicked is their light, And the arm lifted up is broken.
16 Hast thou come in to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Hast thou walked up and down?
17 Revealed to thee were the gates of death? And the gates of death-shade dost thou see?
18 Thou hast understanding, Even unto the broad places of earth! Declare -- if thou hast known it all.
19 Where `is' this -- the way light dwelleth? And darkness, where `is' this -- its place?
20 That thou dost take it unto its boundary, And that thou dost understand The paths of its house.
21 Thou hast known -- for then thou art born And the number of thy days `are' many!
22 Hast thou come in unto the treasure of snow? Yea, the treasures of hail dost thou see?
23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle.
24 Where `is' this, the way light is apportioned? It scattereth an east wind over the earth.
25 Who hath divided for the flood a conduit? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
26 To cause `it' to rain on a land -- no man, A wilderness -- no man in it.
27 To satisfy a desolate and waste place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoar-frost of the heavens, Who hath begotten it?
30 As a stone waters are hidden, And the face of the deep is captured.
31 Dost thou bind sweet influences of Kimah? Or the attractions of Kesil dost thou open?
32 Dost thou bring out Mazzaroth in its season? And Aysh for her sons dost thou comfort?
33 Hast thou known the statutes of heaven? Or dost thou appoint Its dominion in the earth?
34 Dost thou lift up to the cloud thy voice, And abundance of water doth cover thee?
35 Dost thou send out lightnings, and they go And say unto thee, `Behold us?'
36 Who hath put in the inward parts wisdom? Or who hath given To the covered part understanding?
37 Who doth number the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who doth cause to lie down,
38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
39 Dost thou hunt for a lion prey? And the desire of young lions fulfil?
40 When they bow down in dens -- Abide in a thicket for a covert?
41 Who doth prepare for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry unto God? They wander without food.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 38
Commentary on Job 38 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 38
In most disputes the strife is who shall have the last word. Job's friends had, in this controversy, tamely yielded it to Job, and then he to Elihu. But, after all the wranglings of the counsel at bar, the judge upon the bench must have the last word; so God had here, and so he will have in every controversy, for every man's judgment proceeds from him and by his definitive sentence every man must stand or fall and every cause be won or lost. Job had often appealed to God, and had talked boldly how he would order his cause before him, and as a prince would he go near unto him; but, when God took the throne, Job had nothing to say in his own defence, but was silent before him. It is not so easy a matter as some think it to contest with the Almighty. Job's friends had sometimes appealed to God too: "O that God would speak!' ch. 11:5. And now, at length, God does speak, when Job, by Elihu's clear and close arguings was mollified a little, and mortified, and so prepared to hear what God had to say. It is the office of ministers to prepare the way of the Lord. That which the great God designs in this discourse is to humble Job, and bring him to repent of, and to recant, his passionate indecent expressions concerning God's providential dealings with him; and this he does by calling upon Job to compare God's eternity with his own time, God's omniscience with his own ignorance, and God's omnipotence with his own impotency.
If, in these ordinary works of nature, Job was puzzled, how durst he pretend to dive into the counsels of God's government and to judge of them? In this (as bishop Patrick observes) God takes up the argument begun by Elihu (who came nearest to the truth) and prosecutes it in inimitable words, excelling his, and all other men's, in the loftiness of the style, as much as thunder does a whisper.
Job 38:1-3
Let us observe here,
Job 38:4-11
For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance even concerning the earth and the sea. Though so near, though so bulky, yet he could give no account of their origination, much less of heaven above or hell beneath, which are at such a distance, or of the several parts of matter which are so minute, and then, least of all, of the divine counsels.
Job 38:12-24
The Lord here proceeds to ask Job many puzzling questions, to convince him of his ignorance, and so to shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we will but try ourselves with such interrogatories as these, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. Job is here challenged to give an account of six things:-
Job 38:25-41
Hitherto God had put such questions to Job as were proper to convince him of his ignorance and short-sightedness. Now he comes, in the same manner, to show his impotency and weakness. As it is but little that he knows, and therefore he ought not to arraign the divine counsels, so it is but little that he can do, and therefore he ought not to oppose the proceedings of Providence. Let him consider what great things God does, and try whether he can do the like, or whether he thinks himself an equal match for him.