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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
38:1-42:6 Challenge: The Lord Answers Job. The Lord responds in two speeches, each followed by a brief response from Job. In the first, the Lord asks Job whether he knows how creation and its creatures are governed (38:1-40:2). Job, now made conscious of his ignorance, responds by pledging silence (40:3-5). In his second speech, the Lord asks Job particularly about power in relation to himself and other creatures he has made (40:6-41:34). Job, directly aware of God as never before, responds by humbly submitting to God's sovereignty and penitently despising himself for his earlier wild words (42:1-6). While Job had rightly defended himself against his friends' accusations of sin and had defined his circumstances as being governed by God, he had drawn conclusions about what his affliction meant that did not account sufficiently for what was hidden in the knowledge and purposes of God.
38:1-40:2 The First Challenge: Understanding the Universe. After addressing Job and calling him to prepare himself (38:1-3), the Lord asks whether he knows how creation was established (38:4-11) and if he has the knowledge or ability to govern it (38:12-38) or to shape the lives of its wonderful variety of creatures (38:39-40:2).
38:1 the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. The heading of the speech is brief but important for what it signifies in the context of the book as a whole. The three friends and Elihu had all assumed in one way or another that Job's circumstances and/or his response to them revealed a repudiation of the God whom he claimed to serve faithfully. They warned that if he did not repent and accept his affliction as corrective, he could only expect further judgment. However, the heading suggests that God reveals himself to Job in a display of both majestic power and relational presence: "the Lord" (Hb. YHWH), the name most often used to signify God's covenant character and promises (see Ex. 3:14-15), was used in the prologue where God describes Job's relationship to him (see Job 1:8; 2:3); the fact that the Lord "answered Job" contrasts with what the friends and Elihu indicated he should expect (see 35:9-13). Although Elihu had already described the display of God's power and purposes in elements of weather (see 36:22-37:13), it is a covenantal gesture when the Lord reveals his power and his presence as he speaks to Job "out of the whirlwind." While he does not come simply to justify Job, the Lord's presence shows that his reproof comes in the context of steadfast love toward Job and not as judgment for what the friends assumed was Job's repudiation of the path of righteousness.
38:2 Elihu had accused Job of being someone whose words were generally "without knowledge" (34:35; 35:16) or insight (34:35) and represented rebellion in addition to his sin (34:37). The Lord does not reprove Job so extensively when he indicates that he darkens counsel by words without knowledge. There appears to be a play on the notion of darkness and something being hidden (see Job's reference to the image in 42:3). Job had drawn conclusions about the nature of God's rule from what was revealed on earth in his and others' circumstances. However, he did not account fully for what is hidden from him, and thus his words cast a shadow on the wisdom and righteousness of God's rule. In his speech, God will question Job in order to remind him that, even in what is revealed of God's powerful and majestic governance of the natural world and its inhabitants, much is still hidden. And if this is true for creation and its creatures, how much more is it true in relation to the wisdom and purpose of the Creator?
38:4-11 Job had begun by lamenting his birth and the time of his life (ch. 3). Using the same language of birth, God now asks Job about the birth of the universe. Can Job explain how the origin of the cosmos could or should have been different?
38:7 sons of God. This is the same expression found in the prologue (see 1:6 and note). It refers to the members of the heavenly court surrounding God's throne.
38:12-38 The Lord questions Job about whether he has either the knowledge or the ability to govern elements of creation that he experiences regularly. In light of the obvious answer, the Lord also reminds Job that he cannot see fully what the Lord is doing with respect to justice and judgment (see vv. 13, 15, 17, 22-23).
38:13-15 The repeated reference to the wicked (vv. 13, 15) indicates that the situations Job was lamenting on earth (e.g., 24:1-12) are not exhaustive of the Lord's counsel in relation to them (see also 38:22-23).
38:14 features stand out like a garment. The coming of the dawn (see v. 12) is compared to the dyeing of a garment.
38:22-23 The reference to storehouses (v. 22) that are reserved for the time of trouble (v. 23) is another reminder to Job that the Lord's governance of earth's inhabitants is not limited to what is revealed on earth (see vv. 13-15).
38:32 the Mazzaroth. This is a transliteration of a Hebrew word, otherwise unknown. In the context, it must refer to one of the constellations. the Bear. This is also a constellation, as indicated by the reference to it along with Orion and Pleiades in 9:9 (see 38:31).
38:36 The translation of this line is difficult because the Hebrew terms are rare. If they are translated as "ibis" and "rooster" (see ESV footnote), the line has a sense that fits well in the context of the section to come (38:39-40:2). The combination of wisdom and understanding may make it more likely that these terms refer to inward parts or mind, as that which governs a person's actions and appropriates wisdom from the Lord.
38:39-39:30 The Lord now turns from describing his governance of creation to governance of specific creatures. The speech finishes with a request for Job to answer (40:1-2).
39:9 Hunting the wild ox was a sport of royalty. Shalmaneser III of Assyria had it portrayed among the items of tribute on his famous monument, the Black Obelisk.
39:15 foot may crush them. The ostrich lays her eggs in a shallow nest on the ground and sometimes scatters some of them, or deliberately destroys them if the nest is discovered.
39:18 rouses herself to flee. The ostrich makes sport of the fearless warhorse. As it flees, the ostrich reaches a height of over
40:1-2 The Lord refers to Job as a faultfinder and asks him to answer; but the questions help Job to recognize what is beyond the reach of any mortal's knowledge or power.
40:3-5 Job's Response: Silence. In the face of the Lord's questions, Job puts his hand over his mouth (v. 4), just as princes had done in his own presence (see 29:9), and pledges silence (40:5).
40:6-41:34 The Second Challenge: Understanding Justice and Power. At the hands of his three friends, Job knew what it felt like to have what was hidden about him (e.g., the state of his heart before God) questioned and judged by those who had drawn wrong conclusions from what was visible in his circumstances. The Lord now questions Job for overextending his judgment of what his suffering meant about the Lord's just governance of the world (40:6-9). In his faithfulness, Job had embodied aspects of the Lord's just and right character (see 29:11-17). However, the Lord makes the point that, in speaking about justice on earth, Job is referring to something much more extensive than he could comprehend or accomplish (40:10-14). The Lord illustrates this point further by describing two beasts of creation: Behemoth (40:15-24) and Leviathan (ch. 41). If Job is unable to subdue these powerful beasts who are themselves a part of creation, how much less should he presume to be able to maintain his own right toward the Lord (see 41:9-11).
40:6-14 The Lord addresses Job (v. 7) and questions him particularly about how Job sought to defend his integrity in such a way that he seemed to imply that it was God who was acting out of accord with his own character (v. 8). In doing so, Job has spoken beyond his knowledge or power to act justly (vv. 9-14).
40:13 Hide them . . . in the dust is a euphemism for "bury." Faces is metonymy for the whole person. bind. Death is an imprisonment; the image is that of faces pushed into the grave.
40:15-24 The Lord describes the power of Behemoth.
40:15 Behemoth usually refers to cattle, but in at least one other reference it most likely signifies a hippopotamus (see ESV footnote). It is almost universally so interpreted in this passage, taking the description of vv. 16-18 as poetical extravagance. Some, however, suppose that the description requires some kind of mythical beast to be in view, as a parallel to Leviathan (41:1); the first option is simpler.
40:17 tail stiff like a cedar. "Tail" is a common euphemism for phallus. It is to be so interpreted in this verse, considering the description of the anatomy of the animal. Potency is often associated with procreative power. In the medieval period, Behemoth was conceived as a symbol of sensuality and sin. sinews of his thighs. The word for "sinews" is otherwise unknown. Some ancient versions (see Targum, Latin) took it to mean "testicle," in keeping with the interpretation of the first line.
41:1-34 The Lord describes the power of Leviathan by focusing on the inability of man to subdue him, then applies such power analogously to himself (vv. 9-11).
41:1 Leviathan. The animal described in this section may be the crocodile (see ESV footnote). Interpreters sometimes suggest it is a mythical creature representing forces overcome by God's power in creation (see 3:8 and note). However, the focus of this section is on the fact that, whatever powerful creature is being referred to, it is a part of God's creation and is governed by his power (see note on Ps. 74:14).
41:9-11 If it is futile for people to presume that they could lay their hands on Leviathan, who is a part of God's creation (vv. 9, 11), then how much more should Job be cautious about his presumption in wanting to bring his case and stand before God.
42:1-6 Job's Response: Submission. In response to the Lord's reproof, Job confesses that the Lord's power and purposes will not fail (v. 2) and that he spoke of things beyond his knowledge (v. 3). In the presence of the Lord who is speaking and appearing to him, Job repents of what in the dialogue he was wildly blurting out (vv. 4-6).
42:3-4 In the first part of each of these verses, Job is quoting the Lord's questions (see 38:2-3; also 40:7) before responding to them.
42:6 The Lord has already embodied his mercy to Job in the way he graciously reproved and questioned Job for his good. I despise myself. That is, "I recognize the ignorance behind my own words." God's mercy is pictured further in the humble posture of Job, who in dust and ashes finally enjoys the comfort of relational peace that had been withheld from him by his friends: repent translates a form from the same root used of the friends' intention to "comfort" Job in 2:11 (see ESV footnote). The translation of the ESV footnote ("I despise myself and am comforted in dust and ashes") finds support in the way it corresponds to Job's search for comfort that runs through the book (see Introduction: Literary Features), and is consistent with God's declaration that what Job has spoken of him is right (42:7).
