Job 38:31–33

Out of that whirlwind, or golden storm-cloud, Jehovah replies to the vain questionings and lamentations of Job... "My desire is that the Almighty would answer me," was Job's closing word. He is now to have his wish granted; but how different the effect! "As a prince would I go near unto Him," he had declared. "I am vile" is what he has to say when he hears His voice.

Kimah. The Hebrew means "a heap or collection." Scripture names it alongside Arcturus and Orion, so it almost certainly refers to the group of stars we still call the Pleiades. The same Hebrew word appears as "seven stars" in Amos 5:8. There are many stars in the group, but seven are visible to the naked eye. Job 38:31 is better translated, "Can you fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?"

Some think the Pleiades are pictured here as a cluster of brilliant jewels: "Can you fasten the shining brooch on the bosom of the night?" Others point out that the Pleiades belong to Spring, and Orion to Winter. To loose the cords of Orion would be to break up Winter. To bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades would be to delay Spring. Can you hold back the coming of Spring, or bring Winter to an end? Can you change the ordered, onward march of the hosts of heaven, or move the North out of its place?

The Lord draws his attention first to the Pleiades, meaning "the heap of stars." He asks if Job can "bind the chains of the Pleiades." Astronomers discovered "that the whole solar system is moving forward around Alcyone, the brightest star in the Pleiades"... The planets circle the sun. But the sun and all the planets circle Alcyone at the rate of 422,000 miles per day! Such are the chains of the Pleiades that hold the whole solar system captive. Could Job bind such forces? Could he loose the belt of Orion, the force that keeps Orion in its orbit?

Kima, the Pleiades, means a "hinge," or pivot — that on which all the heavenly bodies turn. Science points out that the whole visible universe is slowly turning round an unknown centre, seemingly not far from this hinge. What if God were hinting to Job at the great centre which holds all things to itself, showing him the One who holds all things in His hand?

Were the words of the Almighty meaningless to Job when He said, "Can you fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?" These questions were not asked to interest Job in astronomy. They were asked to turn his attention to how small he is, compared with the greatness of the One he was fighting against, and to bring him to admit the hopeless folly he was pursuing. We can be sure the Lord's questions were in no way mysterious to him. They pointed to things he already knew something about.

What questions these are. Job had not a single answer to them... And we live 3000 years or more later, with all our boasted progress and our scientific discoveries of the great laws of nature. We still cannot answer these questions in a satisfactory way... But what is the Lord's aim in putting these questions? To show that God is greater than man, and to humble man. He wants to bring Job to the true knowledge of himself that he needs, and to free him from the pride of his heart.

Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind. He did not argue, and He did not even instruct. He displayed the witness of His majesty and power. So Job had to say, "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth."

Most of the address comes in the form of questions. Job had presumed to sit in judgment on Jehovah and His ways, so God tests his competence for it. What does he know? What can he do? Shall the creature dare to instruct God about His duties, to point out His failures, in fact to take over His rights? He is so puny in power, so ignorant, and so full of empty pride.

"Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?" Conditions have an immense effect upon the earth. All of it is having an influence, either of a terrible kind or a beneficial kind. Who is it that has fixed all that? Was it you, Job?

So the stars were common knowledge this early in history, and their names have stayed the same. But did Job know the ordinances God had established in the heavens? Did he even understand how the stars relate to the earth — let alone set them in places of dominion over the earth? Astrologers try to link the movement of the stars to events on earth, but their efforts only expose how little they know.

It is important to see this. When God formed the present system of this world, He made a heaven to this earth, so that heaven should rule the earth. The earth's blessing, in material things and in moral things, depends on its connection with heaven.

Every great movement of the powers here below turned on the mind of heaven. And the opening chapters let us know it is just as true of a single saint... The world might be in confusion, the eyes of the judges blinded, oppression in the place of righteousness, groaning and misery everywhere. Yet despite the misrule and rebellion, heaven is the spring and centre of power... Even Satan himself cannot act without God. What an immense comfort!

And yet modern science must not claim it can answer what Job could not. There has been advance in outward knowledge, with discoveries of great laws and principles of nature. But can the scientist of today give truer and more satisfying replies to these divine questions than the patriarch of old could?... What is the key to all these questions? It is God, the true knowledge of Himself. Knowing Him, we know the Author and Source of all knowledge. Leave Him out of account, and the sum of all science is a blank wall, beyond which the hidden truth still lies.

One thing we do know. He, and He alone, can hold the stars in His hand. He numbers them and calls them all by name, and brings them out in due order, "because he is strong in power, not one is missing" (Isa. 40:26). The prophet reminds afflicted Israel that this One knows their affliction and their way.