Job 38:1–7

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.

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 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).

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.

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.

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.

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!

"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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

"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.

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.

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?

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.

"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.

"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" He does not mean that Job did not know Him at all. But He did mean that his knowledge was limited, and that he had no adequate knowledge of the dealings of God. 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. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" What an overwhelming question! What did Job know about it? "Who determined its measurements — surely you know!" He did not know. "Or who stretched the line upon it?"

"Who determined its measurements — surely you know!" (v.5). Of course Job knew that only God could do this. "Who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?" (v.6). Certainly the foundations of the earth are not fastened to anything visible to us. Whether Job knew this at that time or not, he could not answer God's question.

It almost looks as if Paul were alluding to God's work in creation, as stated in Job 38:5, where God Himself asks, of the earth, "Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?" He is a God who works by measure and by line, whether in creation or in the administration connected with His grace.

Present day knowledge can speak in detail about nebulae and the solar system, about attraction and the laws of gravitation. It can explain that the working together of these laws has given the earth its shape and its steady relation to the heavenly bodies. It can explain that the particles of the earth cling together by the laws of cohesion and chemical affinity. But law means a Law-giver. Who has established these laws? How do they act unfailingly? Revelation, and that alone, gives the answer — "By Him all things consist" (Col. 1:17). Where was Job, where was man, when the Lord established and set in motion these laws and principles? The form of the question met Job's knowledge at that time; it equally meets man's advanced knowledge at the present.

Who, Jehovah further asks, has laid down the measures of this great fabric and set His line upon it? The question suggests the possibility of another Presence. It points to One who was with Him, and who acted for Him in laying down and carrying out the whole vast plan. Who was this? "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old… Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth" (Prov. 8:22, 25). Or in the language of the New Testament, "All things were made by Him" (John 1:3).

And yet Jehovah is not seeking to crush Job. He is seeking to bring him to a true knowledge of himself and of God… The very fact that Jehovah addresses Job in this way shows His purposes of mercy for him. His appeal is to reason, and so to conscience. He leads Job through the vast, and yet familiar, scenes of creation. Can he solve one of ten thousand of its riddles?

Though Job had heard something about the Lord, it was not enough to meet Job's actual need. Now the Lord brought him face to face with His own greatness and glory. The result was, "I abhor myself." It was not simply a matter of what he had done that he abhorred, but himself. This was the root of what he may have done, and God was dealing with that root: the pride of Job's very character. Every believer needs to be brought down to this very point.

God appears on the scene for the express purpose of flattening the pretensions of man. He does it in the most magnificent language, as far as I know, that was ever spoken on such subjects — language worthy of Him who is said to have spoken it. Jehovah appears to put Job in his true place, and that place was dust and ashes. Jehovah only touches the skirts of His power, the outer edge of His glory; yet what had man to say? And did he who could not explain God's least things presume to judge the deepest part of His ways and designs?

"To what were its foundations fastened?" Two things are true of the earth. Stability for the time — that is the point here, and that is why the verse speaks of foundations. But this same book of Job gives another view: the earth hangs on nothing. That never entered anyone's mind until recent times. Even scientists have only just arrived at it. But there it was in Scripture before them.

Jehovah begins with the earth, the home of man. Does Job know the history of his own dwelling place? Where was he when the great Architect laid its foundations? They were sunk not in shifting sand, nor on lasting rock, but in the empty space of apparent nothingness.

Who, Jehovah further asks, has laid down the measures of this great structure and set His line upon it? The question suggests the possibility of another Presence, of One who was with Him, His agent in laying down and carrying out the whole vast plan. Who was this? "The LORD possessed Me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of old… Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth" (Prov. 8:22, 25). Or in the language of the New Testament, "All things were made through Him" (John 1:3). Here was a truth more wonderful even than creation.

The corner stone, the foundation of the earth — who laid it? Where is it? What is the basic law of physics or of chemistry? Does science know any more now than Job did then? Atoms and ions are grouped together, clasped and unclasped, as other great laws are brought to bear on them. Where is the foundational law? "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). To be brought to God, to know Him, is the object of all facts.

God is speaking here to Job, a man on earth. He names sons of God who were present, and who showed their delight, when He made the foundation of the earth firm and laid the corner-stone. Intelligent creatures, heavenly beings, already existed then, and they watched God prepare the earth for man.

God appears on the scene for the express purpose of destroying the pretensions of man. Here the Lord uses the most magnificent language I know of on such subjects. He appears to put Job in his true place, and that place was dust and ashes. Who and what was Job to speak or murmur against God? The Lord only touches the skirts of His power, the outer edge of His glory; yet what had man to say? And did the man who could not explain God's least things presume to judge the deepest part of His ways and designs?

There is no doubt the sons of God are angels (Job 1:6), who were therefore created before the earth was. If "the morning stars" are literal stars, then the stars too were created before the earth was. Some may object that Genesis 1:16 seems to place the making of the stars on the fourth day, when the earth was made over. But that notice is likely not in time order. It records a creation earlier than the history of the fourth day. We may question whether literal stars can sing, but science tells us a harmony of sound comes from the stars. At the very least there was a great celebration among God's creatures when He created the earth.

Job 38:7 seems to express in poetry the joy of the heavenly bodies when God first brought them in as the hosts of heaven. With it came the audible shout of the angels, whom this book, like Genesis, calls God's sons.

The expression "sons of God" seems to suggest not merely a spirit-nature, but moral likeness to God as well. The mention of "Satan" in contrast underlines this further. "Sons of God" shouted for joy when God founded the material universe. We know too that infernal beings will also own that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). But that is by compulsion; the worship of the "sons of God" flows out of their hearts.

There has been a creation song, when the earth came fresh from the hands of God and "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." But sin spoiled that beautiful creation, and singing gave way to weeping, and songs to groans. In the thousand-year day to come, earth will become new. Creation's groan will stop, and heaven and earth will unite in a new song.

The corner stone, the foundation of the earth — who laid it? Where is it? What is the basic law of physics or of chemistry? Does science know now any more than Job did then? Other great laws come to bear on atoms and ions, grouping them, clasping and unclasping them. Where is the foundation law? "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). To be brought to God, to know Him, is the object of all facts, and nature is only in harmony with the great mediatorial law when it leads us to Him. Only when seen this way do we hear the morning stars sing together. Only then do the sons of God shout aloud for joy.