Job 38

1 Then ADONAI answered Iyov out of the storm:

2 "Who is this, darkening my plans with his ignorant words?

3 Stand up like a man, and brace yourself; I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!

4 "Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.

5 Do you know who determined its dimensions or who stretched the measuring line across it?

6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Who shut up the sea behind closed doors when it gushed forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its blanket and dense fog its swaddling cloth,

10 when I made the breakers its boundary set its gates and bars,

11 and said, 'You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop'?

12 "Have you ever in your life called up the dawn and made the morning know its place,

13 so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?

14 Then the earth is changed like clay under a seal, until its colors are fixed like those of a garment.

15 But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm raised [to strike] is broken.

16 "Have you gone down to the springs of the sea or explored the limits of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, the gates of death-like darkness?

18 Have you surveyed the full extent of the earth? Say so, if you know it all!

19 "Which way leads to where light has its home? and darkness, where does it dwell?

20 If you knew, you could take each to its place and set it on its homeward path.

21 You know, of course, because you were born then; by now you must be very old!

22 "Have you gone into the storehouses for snow or seen the storehouses for hail,

23 which I save for times of trouble, for days of battle and war?

24 "By what path is light dispersed, or the east wind poured out on the land?

25 Who cut a channel for the downpours, or a way for the lightning and thunder,

26 causing it to rain where no one is, in a desert without anyone there,

27 drenching the waste and desolate [ground], till the tender grass sprouts?

28 Does the rain have a father? Who is the father of dewdrops?

29 From whose womb does ice come? Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,

30 when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the deep freezes solid?

31 "Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

32 Can you lead out the constellations of the zodiac in their season or guide the Great Bear and its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the sky? Can you determine how they affect the earth?

34 "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and make them cover you with a flood of rain?

35 Can you send lightning bolts on their way? Will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

36 "Who put wisdom in people's inner parts? Who gave understanding to the mind?

37 Who, by wisdom, can number the clouds? Who can tilt the water-skins of heaven,

38 so that the dust becomes a mass [of mud], and its clods stick together?

39 "Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in ambush in their lairs?

41 Who provides food for the raven when his young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Job 38 Commentary

Chapter 38

God calls upon Job to answer. (1-3) God questions Job. (4-11) Concerning the light and darkness. (12-24) Concerning other mighty works. (25-41)

Verses 1-3 Job had silenced, but had not convinced his friends. Elihu had silenced Job, but had not brought him to admit his guilt before God. It pleased the Lord to interpose. The Lord, in this discourse, humbles Job, and brings him to repent of his passionate expressions concerning God's providential dealings with him; and this he does, by calling upon Job to compare God's being from everlasting to everlasting, with his own time; God's knowledge of all things, with his own ignorance; and God's almighty power, with his own weakness. Our darkening the counsels of God's wisdom with our folly, is a great provocation to God. Humble faith and sincere obedience see farthest and best into the will of the Lord.

Verses 4-11 For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance, even concerning the earth and the sea. As we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not fear concerning it. The works of his providence, as well as the work of creation, never can be broken; and the work of redemption is no less firm, of which Christ himself is both the Foundation and the Corner-stone. The church stands as firm as the earth.

Verses 12-24 The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are ( 2 Corinthians. 4:6 ) government of the world is said to be in the sea; this means, that it is hid from us. Let us make sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side of death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death. It is presumptuous for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God's counsels. We should neither in the brightest noon count upon perpetual day, nor in the darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning; and this applies to our inward as well as to our outward condition. What folly it is to strive against God! How much is it our interest to seek peace with him, and to keep in his love!

Verses 25-41 Hitherto God had put questions to Job to show him his ignorance; now God shows his weakness. As it is but little that he knows, he ought not to arraign the Divine counsels; it is but little he can do, therefore he ought not to oppose the ways of Providence. See the all-sufficiency of the Divine Providence; it has wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every living thing. And he that takes care of the young ravens, certainly will not be wanting to his people. This being but one instance of the Divine compassion out of many, gives us occasion to think how much good our God does, every day, beyond what we are aware of. Every view we take of his infinite perfections, should remind us of his right to our love, the evil of sinning against him, and our need of his mercy and salvation.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 38

In this chapter the Lord takes up the controversy with Job; calls upon him to prepare to engage with him in it, and demands an answer to posing questions he puts to him, concerning the earth and the fabric of it, Job 38:1-7; concerning the sea, compared to an infant in embryo, at its birth, in its swaddling bands and cradle, Job 38:8-11; concerning the morning light, its spread and influence, Job 38:12-15; concerning the springs of the sea, the dark parts of the earth, the place both of light and darkness, Job 38:16-21; concerning the various meteors, snow, hail, rain, thunder, lightning, and the influences of the stars, Job 38:22-38; and concerning provision for lions and ravens, Job 38:40,41.