39. JOB – CHAPTER 38

The Lord Answers Job

1 God challenged Job to answer. 4 God, by his mighty works, convinced Job of ignorance, 31 and of imbecility.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

God’s answer to Job occupies four chapters (38–41), broken in the middle by a short confession on Job’s part (ch. 40:3–5).

Chapters 38 and 39 are closely connected, and constitute an appeal to Job, in view of his ignorance of God’s natural creation. God is endeavoring to broaden Job’s concept of the Deity. These two chapters may be subdivided as follows:

The creation of the world (ch. 38:4–7); the sea (vs. 8–11); the dawn (vs. 12–15); other earthly phenomena such as the secrets of the sea, light and darkness, snow, hail, floods, rain, lightning, thunder, ice, dew, frost (vs. 16–30); the stars and the clouds (vs. 31–38); the animal world (ch. 38:39 to 39:30). Job 38:1

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

God does not vindicate Job at once. His divine purpose is not to settle an argument, but to reveal Himself. Neither does He explain to Job the reason for his suffering. A clear understanding of God is superior in importance to an unfolding of all the reasons for divine providence. God does not explain why the wicked prosper or why the righteous suffer.

He says nothing about the future world, or future compensation for present inequalities. God simply reveals Himself—His goodness, His power, His wisdom—and He intends that this revelation shall answer Job’s problems.

God’s reply acquaints Job not merely with facts but with God. This approach was so effective that Job’s response was, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

(ch. 42:5). When Job saw God, his perplexities disappeared. Only God could provide this kind of solution for his problems. There is a profundity about God’s way of answering Job’s questions that challenges the deepest thought.

Job 38:2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Who is this? It is not clear whether God is referring to Job or to Elihu.

In favor of interpreting the statement as referring to Elihu are the following:

(1) It seems inconsistent for God to say in this instance that Job had darkened counsel by “words without knowledge” and then in ch. 42:7 for Him to say that the friends had not spoken right “as my servant Job hath.”

(2) Elihu spoke immediately before God appeared, and it would not be inconsistent that God should wave aside his arguments, along with those of the other friends, before addressing Job.

In favor of considering the statement as referring to Job are the following: (1) The speech is directed to Job (see chs. 38:1; 40:1, 6; 42:7).

(2) Job appears to apply the comment to himself (ch. 42:3).

Job 38:3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

God is now addressing Job. Job wanted to question God, but God takes the initiative and announces to him that he is about to be questioned (see chs. 9:32–35; 13:3, 18–22; 23:4–7; 31:35).

A phrase that alludes to the ancient mode of dress. The loose, flowing robe that was commonly worn was fastened with a girdle when men ran or labored or engaged in conflict. The idea here is, “make thyself as strong and vigorous as possible. Be prepared to put forth the highest effort.”

Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

The figure of the earth having foundations is frequently employed (see Ps. 102:25; 104:5; Prov. 8:29; Isa. 48:13; 51:13, 16; Zech. 12:1; Heb. 1:10).

Tell me. These expressions have the effect of showing Job how limited his knowledge really was.

Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

The purpose of the statement is obviously to help Job to readjust his thinking.

Stretched a mearing line. A figure taken from the erection of a building. A Divine Architect laid out the plan of the earth.

Job 38:6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

Footings. A figure referring to the sinking, or settling down, of a foundation stone until it becomes solid. God asks Job upon what the world rests. The figure must not be pressed into literality.

Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Three times the angels are said to “shout for joy,” at creation, redemption, and the re-creation of the earth.

Job 38:8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

From the earth God transfers Job’s attention to the sea as the second great wonder of creation (see Gen. 1:9, 10; Ex. 20:11; Ps. 104:24, 25).

God compares the creation of the sea to the birth of an infant. The verse calls attention to two evidences of God’s power—first, the creation of the sea, and second, the limiting of the sea within its borders.

Job 38:9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

The infant sea, just born, is represented as cloth, is represented as clothed with a cloud and swaddled in thick darkness.

Job 38:10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

Job 38:11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

The beautiful poetic structure of these lines possesses a special appeal for those who love the sea.

Job 38:12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

From the sea, God turns to the sunrise. The daybreak is a constantly recurring miracle, and Job is asked whether he exercises any control over it.

Job 38:13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

This vivid figure refers to the fact that the wicked hate light (see ch. 24:16, 17). When sunrise comes, they disappear.

Job 38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

As the seal changes 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 an object having form and color. Sunrise causes the earth to take on form and color, like the richly embroidered pattern on a garment. The hills, trees, flowers, houses, and fields become prominent and beautiful, whereas during the night the earth seemed desolate and uninteresting.

Job 38:15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

Daylight brings no joy to the wicked. Darkness within causes them to seek escape from light without. Detection and punishment fall upon them when daylight breaks.

Upraised arm. The arm raised to commit some violent act is “broken” by the coming of light. Lawless activity is checked.

Job 38:16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Job is asked whether he has been where the sea has its source. The unexplored caverns at the bottom of the sea are unknown and unexplored by Job.

Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

See Ps. 107:18; cf. Isa. 38:10; Rev. 20:14.

Job 38:18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

Job’s world was small. He had probably traveled within the radius of only a few miles. When God asked him whether he comprehended the expanse of the earth, the thought must have been overwhelming to him.

Job 38:19 “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

Job is challenged to explain the phenomena of light and darkness.

Job 38:20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

Light and darkness are personified and conceived of as residing in dwellings. When night falls light returns to its abode, and darkness walks forth. In the morning, darkness goes to its abode and light walks forth.

Job 38:21 Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

LXX connects this verse with the preceding thus: “If thou couldest bring me to their utmost boundaries, and if also thou knowest their paths; I know then that thou wert born at that time, and the number of thy years is great.”

The Hebrew of v. 21 is ambiguous and may be translated either as a question or as an affirmative statement as follows: “Thou knowest, because thou wast born then; and the number of thy days is great.”

Since the affirmative statement represents such an extreme form of irony, it is probably better to retain the interrogative form or adopt the idea suggested by the LXX. Compare the ironical question of Eliphaz (ch. 15:7).

Job 38:22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

Such natural phenomena as snow and hail were mysteries to man for many ages, but they were not mysteries to God.

Job 38:23 which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

Hail is reckoned throughout the Scriptures as an instrument of divine judgment (see Ex. 9:18–29; Joshua 10:11; Ps. 18:12, 13; 78:47, 48; 105:32; Isa. 30:30; Eze. 13:11, 13; Rev. 11:19; 16:21).

Job 38:24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

Many of God’s questions go back to the basic question of origins. Job’s philosophic problem was that he did not understand the source of his trouble.

Job 38:25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

The channels that carried off the overflow from violent rains had not been plowed by man and his beasts of burden. No man can chart the course of a thunderbolt.

Job 38:26 to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,

God’s providence does not stop with supplying the wants of men, but has tender regard for animal life as well.

Job 38:27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

Job 38:28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

Job 38:29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

Job 38:30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

Job 38:31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

God turns the attention of Job from the created wonders of earth to the splendors of the heavens. Pointing to several brilliant, familiar constellations, God inquires whether Job thinks himself able to guide them in their courses across the sky.

Pleiades from the Arabic root kum, meaning “group,” or “herd.” In Amos 5:8 kimah is translated “seven stars” and is again mentioned together with Orion, an adjacent constellation in the winter sky. From the most ancient times men have regarded the Pleiades, a brilliant star cluster in the constellation Taurus (the Bull), the most beautiful and fascinating display in the sky.

Tennyson described them as a swarm of fireflies caught in a silver braid. Even through small telescopes the scintillating beauty of this cluster strikes the observer with the same sense of awe and wonder that comes over one who gazes into the vast depths of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.

Perhaps ma‘adannoth refers to the forces of gravity that hold the individual members of the cluster together in their flight through space. It is known that these stars compose a closely associated physical group and pursue parallel courses. Some have suggested that ma‘adannoth refers to the conspicuous nebulosity in which the Pleiades are immersed. This nebulous material, illuminated by the stars immersed in it as if it were gas in a neon tube, is clearly visible even with a low-powered telescope, and on a photographic plate makes the Pleiades an object of beauty unequaled in the heavens. However, appealing as this explanation is, it should be remembered that Job could not see the nebulosity. It is therefore more probable that God would direct Job’s attention to something he could see, and that ma‘adannoth refers to the “chains” of gravity that hold the members of this exquisite cluster together in their journey through space. Orion. This identification is considered certain. But what is meant by the “bands,” or “cords,” of Orion is not clear. Some have suggested that the word translated “bands” designates the three stars popularly known as the “belt” of Orion.

Though apparently close together in the sky, these stars are not members of a cluster like the Pleiades. They are traveling in different directions at great velocity. This suggestion would be in harmony with the obvious contrast of the text between the “binding” of the Pleiades and the “loosing” of Orion.

Job 38:32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

Job 38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

Job 38:34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

Job 38:35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

Job 38:36 Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding?