And Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
Job and his friends have argued for chapter after chapter, and Elihu has spoken last. Now God answers for Himself. Why does He speak out of a storm? And why does the man who begged for this meeting end up wishing he had stayed silent?
Job had cried out for a hearing with God. One writer notes how that cry was answered: by word, not by sight, and only once Elihu had finished.
One more thing crowns Elihu's work: the incomparable favour Job had also, in a frantic way, begged for. He asked that a man rather than God might meet him; but he asked that he might find God too. And so he does. God appears. Jehovah Himself gives His answer from the whirlwind... this is the special value at the close of the book of Job: God does not wait until the day of judgment to decide where there is faith to look for Him. Only now it is His word, and in no way an appearance of God in visible form. Jehovah meets him here, when Elihu's word had done its work.
The Hebrew name behind "the LORD" has been almost absent since chapter 2. Here it returns, and with it a rebuke that is better than God's silence.
Here, then, we have Jehovah — notice that this name has not appeared after Job 2 (except in Job 12:9) in the historical part... He speaks according to His authority and His relationship. That is exactly what "Jehovah" means. It is God not merely in the abstract, but God in relation to man upon the earth. And so He answers Job. But He answers him here because it was a rebuke out of the whirlwind... And it is a terrible thing when God does not rebuke a soul upon the earth. What does it mean? It means judgment by and by for ever. Everyone God brings into living relationship with Himself has His interference.
The storm is not just scenery. God speaks from the very thing that pictured Job's confusion.
The whirlwind had continued a long time, and is still blowing when the Lord speaks in these verses. The whirlwind itself was meant to impress on Job that all his swirling troubles and confusion stood under the Creator's controlling hand. "The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3).
Another writer notes what the roar of that wind really was, and who it was for.
Wind is not visible; yet when it blows hard, men feel its pressure and hear its roar. As the whirlwind came near, its roar was the voice of Jehovah Himself. He spoke to Job alone.
God's opening question is aimed at Job, not at Elihu. It exposes what all his words had achieved.
Out of that whirlwind Jehovah replies to Job's empty questions and laments — not to Elihu, who had been God's spokesman leading up to this. So it was not Elihu who darkened counsel. "My desire is that the Almighty would answer me," was Job's closing word (Job 31:35). He is now to have his wish granted; but how different the effect! "As a prince would I go near to Him" (v. 37), he had declared. "I am vile" is what he has to say when he hears His voice. Jehovah asks, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" To darken counsel is to hide the purposes of God and the truth. Job had poured out a flood of words — laments, protests, accusations. Much was true and excellent. But as far as God's purposes went, it was all spoiled by one thing: he exalted his own righteousness at the expense of Jehovah's.
What follows this verse is striking for what it leaves out.
The other very striking thing comes at the end. All the cloud of words had died away, and Jehovah answers Job out of the whirlwind. What will He say?... He didn't do it! Not one word of explanation of Himself did God utter. Not one word to answer the questions that Job had asked. His words were entirely concerned with the things of this earth and nature.
Where all the arguing had failed, God's presence succeeded.
These moments in the presence of God produced a result that all the talk of the three friends, and even of Elihu, had not achieved. Here was a man who stood out among men, with a good word from God Himself. Now he had discovered his own utter sinfulness in the deepest springs of his being. A discovery we all in our turn have to make!
- Asked — Job begged for a hearing with God, and he got it: by God's word, not by a vision.
- Answered — God speaks out of the whirlwind. The swirling trouble that had spun Job's life around was always under the Creator's hand.
- Named — the name "Jehovah" returns after chapter 2. It means God in relationship, so even His rebuke proves that relationship is alive.
- Silent — He explains nothing about Job's suffering. He speaks only of earth, sky and creatures.
- Seen — that presence did what three friends and Elihu could not. Job saw his own sinfulness and called himself vile.
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
After chapters of argument, and then Elihu's speech, God answers Job out of the storm — and His first word is a question, not comfort. Who is He rebuking, what does it mean to "darken counsel," and why does He open with a challenge instead of an answer?
Job had begged for a hearing from God. He gets it — but not the effect he expected. God's question exposes who is speaking.
"My desire is that the Almighty would answer me," was Job's closing word (Job 31:35). He is now to have his wish granted; but how different the effect! "As a prince would I go near to Him" (v. 37), he had declared. "I am vile" is what he has to say when he hears His voice. Jehovah asks, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" To darken counsel is to hide the purposes of God and the truth. Job had poured out a flood of words — laments, protests, accusations. Much of it was true and excellent. But as far as God's purposes went, he spoiled it all by exalting his own righteousness at the expense of Jehovah's. Instead of light, the clear flame of divine truth, it was all a smoke-cloud of unbelief that blotted out the sun in the sky. Who is this? Is it some divine being, Jehovah's equal, calling the other's acts into question? Was it some mighty angel, gifted with heavenly wisdom, that dared lay a charge against his Maker? No, it was a man, frail, ignorant, sinful.
Some read this opening line as a rebuke of Elihu, the young man who spoke last. The words themselves point elsewhere.
It should be very clear to everyone that God is not speaking to Elihu. He confirms what Elihu had said, and He answers Job directly (v. 1). Most of what God says is in the form of questions. His first question is, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (v. 2). In other words: "Who do you think you are, Job?" Job's words lacked the knowledge he ought to have had, and God will drive that home to him.
The charge is not that Job was godless. It is about the limits of what he knew. God now turns the questions back on the man who had been asking them.
"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" He does not mean that Job did not know Him at all. He did mean that Job's knowledge was limited, and that he knew nothing like enough about God's dealings… God is going to ask him many questions. Job had been questioning the dealings of God. Now God turns it back on him; now He says, I am going to ask you, and answer Me like a man if you can.
This rebuke is not God abandoning Job. It is proof of a living link between them.
It was meant to be a rebuke and that Job should really feel it and profit by it. And it is a terrible thing where God does not rebuke a soul upon the earth. What does it mean? It means judgment by and by for ever. God steps into the lives of those He has brought into living relationship with Himself. That is not just the fact that they are in relationship — it is the proof of it.
Notice, too, how God speaks — He asks what a man can follow.
And yet Jehovah is not seeking to crush Job, but rather to bring him to a true knowledge of himself and of God. God will not ask questions which a man cannot understand… When Jehovah speaks to Job like this, it shows His purposes of mercy for him. His appeal is to reason, and so to conscience.
What follows this question is striking for what it leaves out. Job is never told why any of it happened.
The other very striking thing comes at the end. All the cloud of words had died away, and Jehovah answers Job out of the whirlwind. What will He say? How will He explain what Job's friends failed to explain? How will He finish the explanations Elihu began? He didn't do it! Not one word of explanation of Himself did God utter. Not one word to answer the questions that Job had asked. He spoke only about the things of this earth and nature.
God spoke to one man, but the question reaches far past him.
This is God's question to all the vain words of men. They may be the cries of imagined wrong. They may be the empty efforts of human reason to explain the state of the world around us, and of the human family in particular. Whatever form they take, they only darken true wisdom. Write this divine question over the doorway of every library. Its volumes of human science, history and philosophy shut out the revelation of God, whether on purpose or in ignorance.
- Darkening — to darken counsel is to hide God's purposes and the truth. Job spoiled his flood of words by exalting his own righteousness at God's expense.
- Addressed — the rebuke lands on Job, not Elihu. God confirms what Elihu said, then turns to the man who demanded an answer.
- Limited — the charge is not that Job knew nothing of God. It is that he knew far too little of God's dealings to say what he said.
- Merciful — God is not crushing Job but bringing him to know himself and God. He asks questions a man can follow. Where God never rebukes a soul, that silence is far worse.
- Unexplained — Job gets a voice, not a reason. God speaks of earth, sea and creature, and never tells him why the suffering came.
Gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will demand of thee, and inform thou me.
Job had ended his defence, sure that he could face God and win. God's answer comes back as a summons: stand up, and take questions.
Job had challenged the Almighty to meet him face to face. He thought he had spoken his last word.
Calamity had not broken him. Insult and scorn could not subdue his proud spirit. He would hold his head up without fear before the best of his fellow men. Even in the presence of the Almighty he would stand up as a prince. What could a man say after that? That surely was the climax, the limit, and Job felt it so to be, for he added, "The words of Job are ended." But they were not. The Almighty took up his challenge. He had heard all his proud words and now He answers him and demands that Job should open his mouth again.
The word for "man" in God's reply is not the word Job had used of himself.
If he had longed wistfully to find God, Jehovah does answer him... He had asked God, challenging Him to such a meeting. God replies: "Gird up now your loins like a man." It is not now, "What is mortal man?" as Job had said... He used the word "man" in the sense of mortality or weakness. But God uses a very different word: "Gird up now your loins like a hero," for that is pretty much the force of the word. It means a strong man. He had challenged God to this judicial trial, and he was now heard.
Older translations read "gird up your loins" where the ESV has "dress for action." The picture comes from everyday clothing. The New Testament uses the same figure for a heart put in order before any work starts.
"Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth." This is the first thing... Our state comes first, and there is no divine activity until the heart is perfectly in order. The loins are the seat of strength when they are properly tied up. But they stand for the deep affections and movements of the heart. This picture comes from the customs of the country where these instructions were given. People there wore long garments, which got in the way of their work unless they tied them up. We get the expression in Job 38:3 — "Gird up now your loins like a man" — that is, to see what he had to say to God.
Job had been putting God's dealings on trial. Now God turns the questioning around and tells Job to make things known to Him.
And Jehovah does answer out of the storm. He challenges Job to gird up his loins as a hero: let the creature then make the Creator know, seeing that He now asks questions of him! What a proud thing the flesh is, and no better in the saint than in the sinner! Would Job also set aside the moral dealings of Jehovah? Worse still, would he condemn Him so as to justify himself? Grace produces the exact opposite in every soul born of God. It makes a person ready to take God's part against self, to judge his own ways, and to bow to the word.
The summons sounds severe. Writers read it as kindness rather than crushing.
And yet Jehovah is not seeking to crush Job, but rather to bring him to a true knowledge of himself and of God. Let him gird up his loins like a man. God will not ask questions which a man cannot understand. His loins are girded with truth, and he can answer — as indeed he does — these questions. The very fact that Jehovah addresses Job this way shows His purposes of mercy for him. His appeal is to reason, and so to conscience.
One writer draws out the limit God sets on what He asks.
God expects Job to take only a man's place. The questions God asks are simple enough for a man to understand. Yet Job would find himself helpless to answer them.
- Challenge — Job demanded that the Almighty answer him and said he would approach Him as a prince. This verse is God accepting that challenge.
- Strength — The word for "man" here means a hero, a strong man, not the frail mortal Job had called himself.
- Girding — People tied up their long robes before work. The picture is a heart set in order, the same figure as the belt of truth.
- Reversal — God now asks the creature to inform the Creator. Grace produces the opposite instinct: taking God's part against self.
- Mercy — God does not ask what a man cannot understand. The appeal to reason and conscience shows His purpose was Job's recovery, not his ruin.
Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job had defended his innocence at length and questioned God's fairness. God answers at last — not with an explanation of Job's suffering, but with a question about how the earth began.
God's reply is made of questions. They test whether Job is fit to judge God at all.
The whole address is largely in the form of questions. Job had presumed to sit in judgment on the Lord and His ways; his competence for this is tested: what does he know? What can he do? The creature is so small in power, so ignorant, and yet so full of empty pride. Shall he presume to instruct God about His duties, to point out His failures, in fact to take over what belongs to Him alone?
God speaks like a builder laying a foundation. Yet the earth hangs in space with nothing under it. One writer asks how that can be, and who was there to watch it happen.
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (v.4). Does the earth have foundations — an earth that turns in space with nothing to hold it up? Yes, it could not even exist without a basic foundation of truth, but could Job explain this? Can anyone today explain it? No! For one thing, none of us was present when God laid these foundations. And who can understand how creation came into existence? "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm" (Psalm 33:9). The earth's foundations and the earth itself were created at the same instant, simply by the word of God.
Many readers expect God's speech to explain why Job suffered. One writer notes it does not — not even to finish what Elihu, the last man to speak before God, had started.
When, in the end, all the cloud of words had died away, the Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind. What will He say? How will He explain the things that Job's friends have failed to explain? How will He complete the explanations that Elihu began? He didn't do it! God did not utter one word of explanation about Himself. Not one word to answer the questions Job had asked. His words were entirely about the things of this earth and of nature.
Some assume science has now answered what Job could not. One writer replies that naming a law is not the same as naming the Law-giver.
Present-day knowledge can talk in a learned way about nebulae and the solar system, about attraction and the laws of gravitation. It can explain how these laws work together to give the earth its shape and its stable place among the heavenly bodies. It can explain how the particles of the earth hold together, by the laws of cohesion and chemical affinity. But law means a Law-giver. Who established these laws? How do they act without ever failing? Revelation, and revelation alone, gives the answer — "in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:17). Where was Job, where was man, when the Lord established and set these laws in motion?
God's questions stay on the outward world. One writer weighs that world against something far greater.
In these words God takes up only a small part of His wisdom and power in the outward world. He does so because that part is so small a thing compared with the ways of His grace. They are no more than what, so to speak, His fingers have formed... Do you suppose that His ways with us are merely the product of such skill? They speak of incomparably more. His heart, His thoughts, His plan of love and goodness — all that God is — has come out in the blessing of His saints.
Job already believed God existed. The verse still asks him to answer "if you have understanding" — and one writer points to what his faith was missing.
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God." This is where faith begins. So is the truth that whoever comes to God must believe that He is. Job did believe in God as existing, but his faith was not simple and settled in the might of God, in His greatness. He is now called to consider whether he could explain or know the origin of any of God's works.
- Absent — Job was not there when the earth was founded. He judged how God runs a world whose first moment he never saw.
- Unanswerable — Neither Job nor modern science can say who laid the earth's foundation. Describing a law is not the same as naming the Law-giver.
- Unexplained — God never tells Job why he suffered. He answers a demand for reasons by displaying Himself instead.
- Outer edge — Creation is only the fringe of God's wisdom. If the fringe silences us, His deeper ways in grace are far beyond our judgment.
- Faith — Job's need was not more facts but settled trust in God's greatness. That trust is where real understanding begins.