Job 38:1-38

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• God has power over all creation. He created and set limits on all things. He uses them to accomplish his purposes.

• This chapter looks at things related to the first few days of creation (inanimate objects). In the next section (Job 38:39-41; 39:1-30), the focus is on living creatures.

Details and/or Comments

• This section focuses on God's wisdom and power, as displayed throughout creation - with a strong emphasis on climate and weather.

1. the formation of the earth
2. light and darkness
3. the skies (main focus being on weather, but also some reference to the stars)

• These examples demonstrate God's wisdom and power; and Job's lack of wisdom and power (and our lack, as well). Some of the verses make reference to God's providential use of these things to accomplish his purposes.

Scripture

Job 38:1-38

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 38:1 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,	Continued from Job 36:26 - 38:1.
Job 38:2 "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Job 38:3 Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!	This is the only appropriate way for it to be done. Job had demanded the opposite - that he be allowed to question God and that God answer him! Questioning God

People have asked God legitimate questions, and God has answered. See Habakkuk 1:2+ and 1:12+, for two examples. But in Habakkuk, the focus of the questions (and the attitude expressed by them) was totally different from what Job was doing.

Look at the world around you!

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 38:4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Job 38:5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? Job 38:6 Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, Job 38:7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?	Creating the earth - poetically described with terminology used in building a house. God and Creation The Beginning - Creation (the general concept) Day 1 of Creation - This is where it all began. In Job 1 & 2, "sons of God" refers to heavenly beings. Here in v. 7, that term (along with "stars") may refer to the same. Or it may be a symbolic reference to the actual stars ("sons" in the sense of being created, and "shouting for joy" the same way other elements of creation do). It is difficult to know which view is in mind here, or if both are implied. But both are compatible with what is said. Sons of God (Old Testament) Stars All Creation Praises God We do not know exactly when heavenly beings were created (sometime during the creation week); but stars were created on Day 4. This passage is not intended as a time line to show the order of creation.
Job 38:8 "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb, Job 38:9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, Job 38:10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, Job 38:11 and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'	Restraining the sea. This passage focuses on events related to the first few days of creation. Day 1 of Creation - the waters were formed. Day 2 of Creation - the waters were divided (waters in the sky and waters on the earth). Day 3 of Creation - the land is formed; a boundary is made for the waters
Job 38:12 "Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place; Job 38:13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? Job 38:14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment. Job 38:15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.	The creator of the morning. God is in control of the day-night cycle (since the very first day of creation). Now that sin is in the world, the daylight has an additional significance: God uses the daylight to providentially restrain the deeds of the wicked, who often try to do their evil when nobody can see them. Their "light" is darkness! Day and Night, Light and Dark
Job 38:16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Job 38:18 Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.	The depths and darkness and "everywhere." The vast expanse of the earth, the depths of the ocean, even the place of the dead - all fully comprehended by God. Omniscience Omnipresence In some respects, this paragraph is a summary for the whole section, above. But the issues are relevant for the entire account of God questioning Job.

Look at the skies above you! (This includes the weather.)

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 38:19 "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, Job 38:20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? Job 38:21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!	Light and darkness. This is not a question about the sun (the source of our light), but about the very nature of light and dark (which existed before the sun, moon and stars were created on the fourth day). "The number of your days" - another association of age with wisdom and experience. In this verse, it's almost like sarcasm, for Job obviously isn't that old! Age
Job 38:22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, Job 38:23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?	Examples of God's providential use of creation to accomplish his purposes. On more than one occasion, Israel saw this demonstrated (at least the use of hail)! Snow Hail
Job 38:24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? Job 38:25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; Job 38:26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; Job 38:27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth? Job 38:28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? Job 38:29 Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? Job 38:30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.	Various weather-related events - God providentially controls them all; and he is their source. Furthermore, he does it not only where people reside, but also in barren and desolate places. Lightning; Wind; Floods; Rain; Dew; Ice; Frost Wilderness - God watches over the places where no humans reside.
Job 38:31 "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? Job 38:32 Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? Job 38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?	A focus on the stars (constellations) of the sky. They "rule" over the night, in the sense described in Genesis 1. Day 4 of Creation Stars
Job 38:34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? Job 38:35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'	In previous verses, God asks Job what he knows about the weather. Here, he asks Job if he can in any way control it. Implied is the fact that God does control it. Weather
Job 38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? Job 38:37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, Job 38:38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?	God not only has the wisdom to do these weather-related things, but he is the very source of wisdom! Wisdom Symbolically, the rain is compared to water being poured out of jars in the sky. Other passages use other metaphors (such as "windows," in Malachi 3:10).

This continues in the next section: Job 38:39-41; 39:1-30.

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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.