The wisdom and power of the LORD in inanimate creation
Chapter 38:4-38
In the same manner as the previous speeches, the LORD used poetry and figures of speech of great beauty.
He started with the creation of the world, which concerns us most as creatures made to live on it. The world in which we live was built by the LORD exactly to support life as we know it, and such was its beauty that there was an angelic celebration. He asked Job, where was he when this happened? None of us remembers anything before we were born, simply because we were never there, we didn't exist yet.
The LORD then went on from cosmology to geography and oceanography. It was He who controlled the formidable volume of sea water, establishing its limits to shores by raising land masses and opening abysses. If it were not so, the planet would be covered by a deep layer of water, as it was originally (Genesis 1:2), enveloped in clouds and darkness.
Verses 12 to 18 explain the effect of light on the surface of the earth as is becomes exposed to it at dawn. Light spreads all over revealing the wicked who operate in darkness, as if shaking them out. It reveals the shape of the horizon as if it had been stamped out like clay under a seal. Darkness, called here "the light of the wicked", is withheld from them and so their ability to come upon their victims by surprise is broken. But Job couldn't control the time of dawn.
Job's ignorance was recalled of where all the water from the sea comes from, and of its depths. Even today, thousands of years later, man has only a very small knowledge of the depths of the sea, and exploration continues with guided submersibles, revealing a surprising world of marine life in its depths which, until very recently, was considered uninhabitable by any living creature.
The subject of depths leads to that of death and the grave. Just as life is still a mystery to science, so is death. What makes a living body lose all its life? Why cannot it be revived after all its cells are dead? Job had no answer either. The gates of death are mentioned in Psalm 9:13.
The breadth of the earth has been calculated with the resources available today, but it was beyond Job's means when this was written.
Another question posed to Job was whether he knew the origin of light. This has been studied by modern scientists and they have come up with answers based on complex formulae beyond the understanding of ordinary people. In his experience Job would never have been able to explain light and darkness.
We think we can answer today the questions concerning snow and hail, though not how the LORD sometimes uses them to decide wars - in fairly recent times we know how Napoleon's and Hitler's armies were defeated by the winter snow in Russia.
There are various other questions concerning rain, dew, deserts, ice and frost which we can answer today. It is amazing that water solidifies into ice which nevertheless is less dense than water, allowing it to float rather than sink to the bottom of lakes and seas where it might accumulate and destroy them. Only the LORD could have planned that!
Astronomy has made great progress with the help of modern artefacts like powerful telescopes, satellites and space probes. Despite the efforts of man to "make a difference" in the heavens, he has found that there is no opportunity to do anything: distances are so vast and the universe seems unending - some scientists even talk of more than one "universe".
The desert is criss-crossed with dry river beds and ravines, channels of overflowing water which are filled with torrents when it rains, and causes grass to sprout and grow to feed the herds of Bedouins moving about there nowadays.
Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, evening of 21 March) comments:
"If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, and the whole race of men cannot effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?"
How could Job presume to criticise God, when he was so insignificant as not to know and change the laws governing nature, such as to simply control the weather: to make it rain, or to control lightning. Even today, with all advances in meteorology, man can just about forecast with a small margin or error the probable weather for the next five days, but he can do nothing to change it. How he would love to be in control of lightning, a tremendous source of free energy!
On the other hand, what a tremendous mess he would probably make of it … Could Job explain how man could get wisdom and understanding in order to properly handle these things if he were able to do so?
No man is able to number the clouds, let alone bring rain down when he thinks it is needed. No one can make a forecast of the time when rain will fall on arid ground which has been hardened into clumps and clods.
R David Jones
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb;
9 When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band;
10 When I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors;
11 When I said, 'This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!'
12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken.
16 "Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?
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 breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? and darkness, where is its place,
20 That you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home?
21 Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great?
22 "Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 "Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate waste, and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?
28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
30 The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
1 "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, 'Here we are!'?
36 Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together?