Job 38

Notes

Ushered in by a terrible whirlwind, to make Job more humble and attentive, God himself next addressed him, saying, 2. Who art thou that hast sought to eclipse, misrepresent, and censure the wisdom and justice of my providence, by discourses proceeding from ignorance, mistake, inconsiderateness, and passion? 3. Now, according to thy proud challenges, prepare thyself to debate the cause with me; nay, to answer me a few plain questions; that convinced by these of the weakness of thy understanding, thou mayest perceive how incapable thou art of judging as to my secret counsels or mysterious providences. 4-7. If thou art so skilful as thou pretendest, tell me how I laid the foundations of the earth: how I planned and adjusted the whole form and boundaries of it: how, without any foundation to stand on, I settled it upon its own centre, and firmly connected all the parts of it, while angels, whom I had previously created to be my honorary guard, celebrated the wisdom, goodness, and power which I therein manifested! 8-11. Tell me how with banks, or even sand, I set bounds to the newly formed ocean, which often rages as if it would cover the earth, from which its waters were separated; how I covered it with thick mists and fogs, restraining its fury; how I made hollow places in the earth for it; and notwithstanding its furious raging, confined it in them! 12. Hast thou, before or since thy birth, governed the morning light, making it to observe its punctual time, and orderly to appear in its ever-varying place; 13. That it might suddenly spread itself over the whole hemisphere, that wicked men who rage in the night, being detected, might by condign punishment be restrained or cut off; 14. That the earth, as the wax beneath the seal, may put on a new form, and the things on it appear as its adorning garment; 15. And that by this light the wicked may be deprived of that success and comfort which they promised themselves in their crimes, and their tyrannical power may be repressed? 16. Hast thou ever personally surveyed the springs and rough places in the bottom of the ocean, or walked, as in state, through the inmost corners of the deep, to know and direct everything there? 17. Art thou fully acquainted with all the dark caverns and inmost parts of the earth: or with the whole nature and circumstances of death and the grave, and of the eternal state? 18. Are the dimensions of the earth, with its whole substance and product, perfectly known to thee? 19-21. Dost thou, by thy great experience and long observation, fully understand the orderly returns of light and darkness, day and night? or canst thou direct their motions in a proper manner? 22, 23. Art thou fully acquainted with the collections of snow and hail in the clouds? and canst thou, like me, regularly bring them forth in the winter season or in the seasons of wrathful calamities? 24. How is the light of the sun, moon, or stars so equally and so widely diffused? How is the way prepared for the overflowing rains, or for the lightning and thunder? and how are their motions so regularly directed? 26, 27. Is it by thy direction that the rain waters those places of the earth where no one lives to do it, or which, without seasonable rains, could produce nothing? 28-30. Canst thou form drops of rain or dew; or produce ice or hoar-frost; or tell how they are formed; and how the surface of the waters is congealed into a kind of stone? 31. Canst thou alter the seasons of the year by restraining the influences of the heat and summer-boding stars? or free the earth from the tempestuous influence of the winter and sloth-boding stars? 32. Canst thou make to appear, and lead round, the luminaries of the middle region of heaven in their season? Canst thou direct the round whirling pole-stars and their attendants? 33. Knowest thou all the order and laws of the heavenly bodies? Couldest thou settle the whole government of them, and their influence upon the earth? 34, 35. Canst thou, just now, by a call bring down an abundant rain on the place where thou art, or make the thunder to dart forth its flames over thine head; or do whatever thou pleasest? 36. Canst thou direct the random darting of thunder and lightning to strike as regularly as if it had solid wisdom and distinct perception? or didst thou give thyself rational understanding? Canst thou tell how a single thought is formed? 37, 38. Canst thou number and govern all the clouds of heaven; or restrain the rain when the earth is sufficiently watered? 39-41. Canst thou provide food even for the most ravenous creatures, particularly for the lioness and her whelps, or for old lions incapable of leaving their dens; or for the young ravens when by their dams they are expelled from the nest?

Ver. 1. [No notice is taken of the transition from Elihu, God visible in human form, to Jehovah invisible in the whirlwind or stormy cloud. To those who feel any difficulty in identifying Elihu (God himself, see Mat. 1. 23) with Jehovah, it may be useful to examine the appearance of Jehovah to Abraham, and his familiar converse with him, Ge. 18. 13-33; and afterwards his appearance to Moses, Ex. 3. 2; 19. 9, 16, 18, 21; 20. 18, 22; and recollect that in each case this was the same Jehovah variously manifested; and when these facts are compared, the various appearances in Job will be more easily understood as alike manifesting 'the Word that was with God, and was God.' C.]

Ver. 2. [This ought rather to be rendered—'Who then darkeneth counsel,' &c. The words are addressed not to Elihu, who had just concluded speaking, but to Job, who said (ch. 31. 35), 'O that the Almighty would answer me!' And Job applies them to himself in ch. 42. 3. P.]

Ver. 7. [This is a suggestive as well as a beautiful passage. In the lofty imagery peculiar to the East there is embodied the truth that 'the sons of God,' or angelic hosts, existed before the formation of the world in its present state, and rejoiced at the construction of the splendid home of the future human family. It farther seems to indicate that the stars had been created previous to the preparation of this earth for man. P.]

Ver. 10. [Bars and doors. How wonderful that the iron-bound rock and the loose disconnected sand should alike barrier out the encroachments of the ocean! The chief bars and doors, however, are the balancing of the relative attractions of the sun and moon, on the one hand, and of the earth on the other. Were the attractions of the sun and moon greater, and of the earth less, the earth would be swept over by a continuous ocean tide. C.]

Ver. 13. [The figure is taken from the shaking of a great floor-cloth or carpet. The morning light taking hold, as it were, of the whole covering of the earth's surface, shakes off from it all evil-doers. They flee from the light lest their deeds should be seen. P.]

Ver. 14. [The meaning seems to be, that it (the earth) when turned round to the full light of the sun, is like the clay on which the definite impress of the signet-ring is stamped. When all was dark the lineaments upon its surface were invisible, but the light revealed them, and made them stand out in bold relief. P.]

Ver. 15. [Darkness is the light of the wicked. They love it, and work in it. The morning sun dispels the darkness, and the power ('the high arm') of the wicked is then broken. P.]

Ver. 24. [East wind. The east wind of Scripture geography is uniformly that of destruction. See Ge. 41. 6; Job 27. 21; Ps. 48. 7; Je. 18. 17; Eze. 17. 10; 18. 12; Jn. 4. 8. C.]

Ver. 25. [The water-course refers not to river-beds, but to the aerial channel by which the rain descends, when produced by the lightning in the sky; as by passing the electric spark through oxygen and hydrogen gases water is formed. C.]

Ver. 31. [Orion. Kesil in Arabic signifies cold, inactivity, torpor, and seems justly applied by Aben Ezra to the star Antares in the heart of the constellation Scorpio; and it is opposed to Pleiades by nearly half the heavens, and would consequently denote the benumbing influences of winter. C.]

Ver. 32. [Mazzaroth. The twelve monthly signs of the zodiac.—Arcturus. Most probably the Great Bear, the apparent nightly changes of which always render it a most remarkable object to observers. C.]

Ver. 36. [The Hebrew word here rendered 'heart' has been variously interpreted. It is derived from a root which signifies to 'look at' or 'contemplate;' and hence it is natural to understand it as meaning the intellect. This is the meaning given to it by the best Jewish authorities. In the Vulgate version it is translated cock, as the bird which announces the coming of the morning. P.]

Reflections.—How infinite the kindness and condescension of God, to appear himself and catechize his obstinate friend for his humiliation, in order to prepare him for deliverance! And how much more difficult is it to converse with God than is generally thought by those who appeal to him! Infinite is his wisdom who knows all things! and great his power who can do, and has made, and manages all things. All things around us are full of God: all monitors to teach us concerning him, and to stir us up to worship and glorify him! But the boasted knowledge of mankind is vain and scanty, which can everywhere be nonplussed in the most common things of nature. Let me then never contend with God;—never pretend to be a judge of his nature, purposes, or works:—but be always content with things as they are; and to be led by him, as one blind, in the ways which I know not. If he has made all things in nature so well, my new-covenant portion and lot is certainly exactly wise and kind. And if he take such care of the works of his hands, the most ravenous not excepted, it is impossible that he should forget, forsake, starve, or mismanage any of those who believe.