Job 38 Study Notes

38:22-23 The imagery of these verses views God as keeping snow and hail in heavenly storehouses for his use at appropriate times. God could use them as weapons (Ex 9:18-26; Ps 68:14; 78:47-48; Is 28:2,19).

38:24 God reminded Job that his knowledge did not include the distribution of the lightning (see textual footnote; also 36:30,32; 37:3,11,15) or the place where the east wind originated. Such a mighty desert wind had swept away Job’s family (1:19).

38:25-27 Humans would never bring rain on uninhabited land. “Only God has the wisdom to make it rain in the desert, giving evidence of his wise care for the entire world” (John Hartley, The Book of Job, NICOT).

38:28-30 God reminded Job that only a master craftsman could account for the manifold forms that water can assume and the places where these may be found. The elemental forces of nature are under God’s control (5:10; 28:25-26; 36:37; Ps 147:16-18).

38:31-33 God turned Job’s attention to the constellations: the Pleiades . . . Orion, and the Bear. Job had mentioned them earlier in connection with God’s creative activity (9:9). The meaning of the term constellations is uncertain and may include the planets (2Kg 23:5). Although Job knew of their existence, he did not understand the laws of physics and astronomy and their effect on the earth. God alone exercises dominion over all of this.

38:34-35 After centuries of trying, humans still have no control over rain and lightning.

38:36-38 God’s questions implied that neither Job nor any human had the wisdom to control the weather. In a metaphor the clouds are likened to giant water jars (or skins), which are tipped to spill their water on hard, dry soil (see Dt 28:23).

38:39-41 Lions are capable of securing their own prey, but it is God who established the complex relationship of predator and prey. God also cares for the needs of the ravens, scavengers that often feed on the remains of prey. His control of ravens included using them to care for one of his prophets (1Kg 17:4-6). The stately lion and lowly raven serve as a merism, the two extremes (stately and lowly) representing the whole animal world.