Job 38 - 39
Before reading Yahweh’s reproof of Job, we need to remind ourselves of His description of the man in the first chapters of the book: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8; 2:3) Now in the final chapters of the book, we are not reading the reproof of an evil man but of an exemplary one, a man who stands above his peers in his relationship with God. Remember that our own righteousness, in and of ourselves, cannot equal Job’s. In other words, we should not read the reproof of Job in these chapters with a superior attitude, as if we know better than Job how to handle his sufferings. And if the reproof of this upright man is so severe, what would Yahweh’s reproof of you and me sound like?
First of all in the reading, Yahweh gives His surprising judgment of Job’s discourses: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) If we have read ahead to the last chapter of the book, we are ready to criticize the counsel of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, or maybe to complain about Elihu’s excessive words… but Yahweh first of all reproves the one who has suffered the most, the one who spoke in pain, the one who suffered, but not for a particular sin. (No one will escape His judgment, no matter how much he has suffered.) And He accuses him of darkening counsel, of confusing and causing his listeners to wander from the path of wisdom. Job’s words are destructive!
Where did Job’s words fail? Yahweh tells us in tomorrow’s reading: “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8) Job became so confident of his own righteousness, exalted himself so high in his own integrity that he lowered Yahweh’s righteousness. As one of many examples, reread his portrayal of Yahweh’s intentional wrongdoing toward him: “God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target…” (Job 16:11-12) And how did Job react to Yahweh’s supposed injustice? With exemplary and even extreme righteousness: “I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure” (Job 16:15-17). Who appears more righteous in this portrait? Job. And that is how Job has darkened counsel by words without knowledge.
But the attempt to make one’s own righteousness appear equal or superior to that of Yahweh carries another name: it is also called pride. Therefore, Yahweh responds to Job’s discourse by humiliating him, by making him feel his powerlessness and inability. “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding" (Job 38:2-4). But Yahweh’s purpose is not solely to humiliate Job; He wants him to feel his inability so that in turn he can see something much greater: the glory of Yahweh in His righteousness.
And He expresses His glory here by references to nature. Today we are so accustomed to appreciate nature for itself, without any reference to God, that it is easy to fall into the mistake of reading these chapters as only a list of creatures designed to awaken our appreciation of natural phenomena. Therefore many people today read Yahweh’s words here without recognizing their true purpose: through nature Yahweh describes His righteousness. In His righteousness, Yahweh:
1) Places limits on the destructive forces of nature: “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” (Job 38:8-11)
2) Provides everything needed to sustain life: “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?” (Job 38:25-27)
3) Orders the seasons and years: “Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children [in reference to constellations]? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?” (Job 38:32-33)
4) Brings His provision even to those creatures farthest removed from human civilization: “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?” (Job 38:39-41)
5) Makes the natural world surpass even the accomplishments of civilization: (Speaking of the ostrich) “For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding” (Job 39:14-17). The ostrich is unwise; she cannot compare with the love and attention that we human beings show our children. But: “When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and her rider” (Job 39:18). Where we surpass her in intelligence, she surpasses us in speed! And all of these capabilities and their limits are managed by the Creator.
In other words, even though Job is righteous, his righteousness is relative. It does not compare even in the smallest measure to Yahweh’s righteousness revealed in His glorious dominion over all creation. Will Job recognize this and repent of his pride? We will see in tomorrow’s reading.
First of all in the reading, Yahweh gives His surprising judgment of Job’s discourses: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2) If we have read ahead to the last chapter of the book, we are ready to criticize the counsel of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, or maybe to complain about Elihu’s excessive words… but Yahweh first of all reproves the one who has suffered the most, the one who spoke in pain, the one who suffered, but not for a particular sin. (No one will escape His judgment, no matter how much he has suffered.) And He accuses him of darkening counsel, of confusing and causing his listeners to wander from the path of wisdom. Job’s words are destructive!
Where did Job’s words fail? Yahweh tells us in tomorrow’s reading: “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8) Job became so confident of his own righteousness, exalted himself so high in his own integrity that he lowered Yahweh’s righteousness. As one of many examples, reread his portrayal of Yahweh’s intentional wrongdoing toward him: “God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target…” (Job 16:11-12) And how did Job react to Yahweh’s supposed injustice? With exemplary and even extreme righteousness: “I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure” (Job 16:15-17). Who appears more righteous in this portrait? Job. And that is how Job has darkened counsel by words without knowledge.
But the attempt to make one’s own righteousness appear equal or superior to that of Yahweh carries another name: it is also called pride. Therefore, Yahweh responds to Job’s discourse by humiliating him, by making him feel his powerlessness and inability. “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding" (Job 38:2-4). But Yahweh’s purpose is not solely to humiliate Job; He wants him to feel his inability so that in turn he can see something much greater: the glory of Yahweh in His righteousness.
And He expresses His glory here by references to nature. Today we are so accustomed to appreciate nature for itself, without any reference to God, that it is easy to fall into the mistake of reading these chapters as only a list of creatures designed to awaken our appreciation of natural phenomena. Therefore many people today read Yahweh’s words here without recognizing their true purpose: through nature Yahweh describes His righteousness. In His righteousness, Yahweh:
1) Places limits on the destructive forces of nature: “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” (Job 38:8-11)
2) Provides everything needed to sustain life: “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?” (Job 38:25-27)
3) Orders the seasons and years: “Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children [in reference to constellations]? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?” (Job 38:32-33)
4) Brings His provision even to those creatures farthest removed from human civilization: “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?” (Job 38:39-41)
5) Makes the natural world surpass even the accomplishments of civilization: (Speaking of the ostrich) “For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding” (Job 39:14-17). The ostrich is unwise; she cannot compare with the love and attention that we human beings show our children. But: “When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and her rider” (Job 39:18). Where we surpass her in intelligence, she surpasses us in speed! And all of these capabilities and their limits are managed by the Creator.
In other words, even though Job is righteous, his righteousness is relative. It does not compare even in the smallest measure to Yahweh’s righteousness revealed in His glorious dominion over all creation. Will Job recognize this and repent of his pride? We will see in tomorrow’s reading.
