Job 38
PATWhat Elihu had said concerning the Divine Majesty, in the twenty-second verse of the foregoing, God declares to be true, by a sensible demonstration, as I have expressed it in the first verse of this chapter. In which God himself appears as a judge (according to Job’s repeated desires) to decide this great controversy. And taking up the argument begun by Elihu (who came nearest to the truth), and prosecuting it in inimitable words (excelling his and all other men’s in the loftiness of the style, as much as thunder doth a whisper), he convinces Job of his ignorance and weakness, by shewing him how little he understood of the most obvious things in this world. Intending from thence, at last, to infer, that he who found himself puzzled, when he went about to give an account of the meanest of God’s visible works, should not presume to penetrate into his secret counsels, nor question his goodness, no more than he could his wisdom and power, though he knew not why he was afflicted. One instance had been sufficient to bring Job to a nonplus; but he heaps up abundance, to humble him the more when he saw how much cause there was for it: whether he considered the earth, or the heavens, the sea, or the sun, things contained in the bosom of the sea, or in the bowels of the earth, especially all the meteors (as we call them) which are formed in the clouds, and the constellations in the higher regions; together with the beasts upon the earth, and the birds which fly in the air; one of each of which he mentions in the end of this chapter. Vcr. 1. jt HEN the Lord ansivered Job out of the whirlwind, and said.) No sooner had Elihu spoken these words, but there was a sensible token of the presence of that most dreadful majesty of God (xxxvii. 22.) among them. For there arose an unusual cloud (after" the manner of God’s appearing in those days), and a voice came out of it, as loud as a tempest, which called to Job, saying, Vcr. 2. Who is this that darkkneth. counsel by words ivithont knotaledge?) AVho is this that disparages my counsels with his ignorant discourses about them?
Job 38:3
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will de* mand of thee 9 and answer thou me.) If thou hast the courage to argue the case with me (as thou hast often desired), make thyself ready for the debate, and answer me the questions I shall ask thee. Vcr. 4. Where ivast thou when I laid the foundations of tlie earth? declare if thou hast tinder standing.) Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Speak, man, and relate how I went about that work, if thou art so skilful as thou pretendest. - \ Vcr. 5. Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou Jcnowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?) How came it to have these dimensions? (For thou, sure, who’ presuracst to censure my providence, canst not be ignorant of such matters.) After what manner was the line and the rule applied, to give it these exact proportions? Ver. G. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? pr who laid the cornerstone thereof) Canst thou tell how it was fixed and settled upon its centre, or what it is tljat holds all the parts of it so firmly together?.
Job 38:7
When the morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?) Where wast thou when the bright stars first appeared to proclaim ray praise with one consent; and all the angelical powers expressed their joy, but did not assist at the birth of the world?
Job 38:8
Or ivho shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?) What midwife had the sea to bring it forth, when it burst out of the confused abyss, like an infant out of the womb?
Job 38:9
When I made the cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a sivaddling-band for ifa) And I covered it with clouds as with a garment, and wrapped its boisterous waves in a thick mist, with as much ease as a nurse swaddles a new-born child;.
Job 38:10
And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors.) And laid it in that bed, which I had appointed to be broken up for it in the earth? Where, though it be tossed to and fro, as an infant in a cradle, yet it keeps within its shores, which cannot be overturned.
Job 38:11
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.) For I have fixed its bounds, and resolved, Thus far shalt thou ilow, but no farther: these sands and these cliffs shall stop thy swelling waves, be they lifted up never so tempestuously.
Job 38:12
Hast thou commanded the* morning since thy days; and caused the day-spring to know his place.) Raise up thy thoughts still higher, and tell me, dost thou remember since the morning-light was made? Or was it thou who ordered the sun,* in what part of the heaven it should every day arise?
Job 38:13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?) And spread its beams to the ends of the earth; that the wicked, who delight in works of darkness, may be detected and dragged to their deserved punishment? Vcr. 14. Jt is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.) For (Jiey are daunted at its approach, and change colour as oft as the clay doth its form under different seals; they are no more consistent with themselves than a changeable garment:
Job 38:15
And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.) And at last lose the use of that light/ which innocent persons enjoy with so much pleasure; their insolent power, which in the night was so audacious, being broken in pieces in the morning, Ver. 1G. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? on hast thou walked in the search of the depth?) O thou who adventurest to enter into the abyss of my judgments, didst thou ever penetrate intp the spring of tjic sea? or hast thou perfectly discovered all that lies at the bottom of that greftt deep? - %. - •
Job 38:17
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?) Hath the earth opened all her dark caverns to thee? or hast thou gone down to the very centre of it?
Job 38:18
Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?, declare if thou knowest it all.) Nay, dost thou so much as understand all that grows upon the surface of the earth? shew’thy skill, if it be so comprehensive.
Job 38:19
Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as [chap, XXXIX. for darkness, where is the place thereof. Tell me, which is the way that leads to the place where light takes up its dwelling when the sun goes down? Or what becomes of the darkness when the sun rises again?
Job 38:20
That thou shoiddest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shoiddest know the paths to the house thereof?. Art thou able to go and bring either of them hither? or to carry them back again away from hence, and prescribe them their limits at thy pleasure?
Job 38:21
Knoivest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?. Art thou acquainted with these things, because thou wast then born when I made them? How comest thou to discourse so confidently of my government of mankind, who canst neither tell that thou shouldest be born, nor art able now to say when thou shalt die?
Job 38:22
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snoiv? or hast thou seen the treasure of the hail. And when wast thou in the clouds, to see how the snow or the hail is made in such abundance;
Job 38:23
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?. That I need no other weapon than those, if I please to use them, for the destruction of mine enemies?
Job 38:24
By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?. Art thou able to give an account how the light diffuses itself all over in an instant? dr what makes the east wind blow so violently upon the earth?.'
Job 38:25
Wlio hath divided a water-course for the overflowing of waters; or a way for the lightning of thunder. Didst thou make a channel in heaven for the conveyance of 1 overflowing showers? or open the way for the breaking out of lightning and thunder?
Job 38:26
To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man?. Is it by thy direction that these showers go, and fall upon the desert places/ where there are no inhabitants to employ their art to provide them with water? •
Job 38:27
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?. And that they satisfy the dry and rotten parts of the earth, where all the labour of man is unprofitable, without such plentiful rains to make them fruitful?
Job 38:28
Hath the rain a father? or ivho hath begotten the drops of the dew?. What is more common than the rain and the dew? but who is able to produce one drop of either?
Job 38:29
Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?. In whose womb was the ice formed? or who can make so small a thing as the hoary frost?
Job 38:30
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of tike deep is frozen. Whence comes the cold that turns the waters into stone, and fetters the raging waves of the sea?
Job 38:31
Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades? or loose the bands of Orion?. Canst thou forbid the sweet flowers to come forth when the seven stars arise in the spring? or open the earth for the husbandman’s labour, when the whiter season, at the rising of Orion, tics up their hands?
Job 38:32
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?. Is it by thy power that the rest of the stars, great and small, appear in the southern and the northern signs, in their proper seasons?
Job 38:33
Knoivest thou the ordinance of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof on the earth?. Dost thou understand the orders and the laws which I have established among the heavenly bodies? or couldest thou tell what to do, if it were referred to thee here on earth, to settle the government of them?
Job 38:34
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?. Let me see an instance of thy power and skill; lilt up thy voice to the clouds, and command them to pour out abundance of waters upon the place where thou now art.
Job 38:35
Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?. Or call to the lightnings* and bid them go whither thou hast a mind to send them? and let me hear them answer, Behold, we arc ready to obey thee. Ver. 3G. Wlio hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or zvho hath given understanding to the heart?] Didst thou give thyself understanding? how comes it then to be so small, that thou canst not tell how a thought is made?
Job 38:37
Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven. Nor, with all the wisdom thou hast, so much as count the number of the clouds, whose showers thou art as unable to stop, as to. make them run:
Job 38:38
When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?. Though they have fallen so long, that the earth is abundantly satisfied, and fit for the plough, or for the seed? t
Job 38:39
)Vilt thou hunt the prey for the lion, or*fill the appetite of the yoiaig lions. Or dost thou pretend to have great power upon earth, though none in heaven? wilt thou undertake then to provide food for a lion and all his whelps,
Job 38:40
Wlien they couch in their den, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?. And that in a desert; where they lie lurking in their dens, and groedily watch for a prey in close and shady places?
Job 38:41
Who providethfor the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat. Or, which is less, wilt thou take upon thee to feed the young ravens? who, expelled by the old ones out of their nest, complain to me of their cruelty, but know not where to get a bit of meat.