God speaks out of the storm
38
📚Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 38:1 Job had expressed the desire to stand before God that he might present his case (Job 13:3, 22; 23:3-7). God now suddenly comes to him and gives him the desire of his heart. It seems fitting that God should come in the storm. A mighty storm has been blowing across Job’s life and thoughts. God has been in that storm too and has achieved His purpose. Now He comes in the clouds and thunder and speaks to His suffering servant.
We might think that God would now reveal to Job the reasons for his sufferings, or say something very comforting such as, “Job, I love you. You have passed the test I sent; you have kept your faith in me. Now I will greatly bless you”. However, God did not do this. It would seem that God had more to do in Job’s life before giving him assurance of His love.⚜
God asks a question
2 📚“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
38:2 Whom did God mean by these words? Elihu was speaking when God came in the storm and God could have meant him. It seems a fitting rebuke to one who thought too highly of his own wisdom. If God did not speak these words about Elihu then He made no comment at all about him. And it seems strange that He would completely ignore him. He spoke to the three friends in Job 42:7-8, and had much to say to Job. However, God may have been speaking here about Job. Job himself thought so (Job 42:3) – but this may have been merely a mark of Job’s humility. Actually all five persons involved in the debate were there, so perhaps God meant these words as a rebuke to all of them. Maybe God put the question in an ambiguous way so that any of them who was willing to apply it to himself could do so.
God says that “counsel” has been “darkened” by foolish words. The Hebrew word translated counsel means here God’s purpose, God’s thought, God’s plan that He was fulfilling toward Job. In their ignorance of God’s ways Job, Elihu, and the other three all made this plan of God obscure. Their words, instead of bringing light on the subject, brought darkness. If we try to teach others this book, or any truth of God, we should be careful that we do not do as they did. We should never profess a knowledge we do not have, should never speak dogmatically about doubtful matters, should never think we have a monopoly on God’s truth.⚜
God reveals Himself as the great Creator and Sustainer of the world
3 📚Now make yourself ready 📖 like a man, for I will question you, and you shall answer me.
4 📚“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare it, if you have understanding.
5 📚Who determined its measurements, if you know? Or who stretched out the measuring line on it?
6 📚On what are its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 📚When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God 📖 shouted for joy?
38:7 These morning stars may here signify angelic beings.⚜
8 📚“Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst out, as if coming from the womb,
9 📚When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling bands,
10 📚And fixed my boundaries for it, and set up its bolted doors,
11 📚And said, ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves will stop?’
12 📚Since the beginning of your days have you given commands to the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 📚That it might take hold of the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
14 📚The earth takes shape like clay under a seal, and they stand out like a garment.
15 📚Their light is withheld from the wicked, and the upraised arm is broken.
16 📚“Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 📚Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 📚Have you comprehended the wide expanse of the earth? Declare it, if you know all this.
19 📚“Where is the way to the dwelling place of light? And where does darkness have its place,
20 📚That you may take it to its boundaries, and know the paths to its house?
21 📚Do you know because you were born then, and the number of your days is so great?
22 📚“Have you entered the treasuries of the snow? Or have you seen the treasuries of the hail,
23 📚Which I reserve for a time of trouble, for a day of battle and war?
24 📚What is the way to the place where light is diffused, or the east wind is scattered over the earth?
25 📚Who cuts a channel for the flood, or a path for the thunderstorm,
26 📚To bring rain on the earth where no one lives, on the wilderness where no one lives,
27 📚To satisfy the desolate wasteland, and to cause the tender plant to bud?
28 📚Does the rain have a father? Who begets the drops of dew?
29 📚From whose womb comes the ice? And who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
30 📚Then the waters become hard as stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 📚“Can you bind the cluster of 📖 the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 📚Can you bring forth the constellations 📖 in their seasons, or lead out the Bear 📖 with its cubs?
33 📚Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Or set up its dominion on earth?
34 📚“Can you raise your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of water may cover you?
35 📚Can you send out lightning flashes, so that they go and say to you, ‘Here we are!’
38:12-35 God shows Job also how little he can do (vs 16,20,22,31,32,34). God wants Job to fully understand that he is lacking in knowledge and incapable of doing even the smallest thing God does; that his complaints have been against the all-wise, all-powerful Creator and Sovereign of the universe.
In these chapters God is showing also the folly of all men who question His wisdom, power, and ways. How many there are who know nothing, and can do nothing, who yet dare to criticize all God does! And how many others there are who look at this marvelous universe and dogmatically deny the existence of God! The arrogant ignorance of atheism! God here asks questions that should cause every human being to lay his hand on his mouth and admit his ignorance. Nature should teach us humility. Alas, many people, learning a tiny fraction of creation’s mysteries, turn proud and imagine that nothing is beyond the power of their reason.⚜
36 📚Who has put wisdom in the inner being, or who has given understanding to the heart?
38:36 What makes man differ from the rest of earth’s creation? How is it that he has a mind that can have wisdom and understanding? God has given it to man. Wisdom does not arise and evolve out of dumb and dead matter.⚜
37 📚Who can number the clouds by his wisdom? Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven,
38 When the dust becomes hard, and the clods stick together?
39 📚“Do you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 📚When they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their lairs?
41 📚Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry out to God and wander around for lack of food?
38:39-41 God speaks of His wisdom and care over the whole animal creation. The implication is that if God cares about all, will He not have loving concern for men? Compare Matt 6:25-32.⚜