“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
God has been questioning Job about the vastness of creation, and now He stops at a lion crouching in its den. The real question is who keeps the world alive, and whether a suffering man can trust that God.
From the Vast to the Small
God has already pointed Job to what is vast. Now He turns to small things, and Job is just as helpless there.
William KellyIt is clear that God is here bringing to nothing all the proud talk of Job. But He does not stop at showing man's littleness by what is vast; He takes up what we might think are small things by comparison... So it matters little whether we look at the greatest or the least of God's works; everywhere we meet what is entirely beyond man's understanding... What could better expose how empty it is for man to accuse God? Job had even claimed the right to judge the depths of God morally. Yet he had no real idea of what God is in the smallest part of His universe, and he could not face it.
A Shift from Creator to Provider
Commentators mark this verse as a turn in God's speech. Up to now He has spoken of how He made the world. From here He speaks of how He keeps it alive.
Samuel RidoutWe come next to see His wisdom and power displayed in His protecting and providing care over all His creatures. In this portion we pass from the glories of the Creator to look at the wisdom and goodness of the God of Providence. He has not only devised the wonderful plan of the universe. He has also filled the earth with living creatures who depend on Him for life and all things.
God Answers His Own Question
The question is rhetorical, and God answers it Himself. He does not just watch the hunt; He feeds the hunters.
William Kelly"Can you hunt the prey for the lion?" It says, That is what I do — I find food for the lions and for the young lions too. There they are crouching in their dens, waiting in hiding for their prey. I do not let them die for lack of proper food. "Who provides food for the raven?" It is not only the great lion. It is also the much smaller raven, when its young ones cry to God — there it is, they cry to Him. They do not murmur; they cry. They tell their want. God has put that into them. It is a cry, and God hears it as directed to Himself.
The Lion and the Raven Together
God names the lion first, then the raven: the king of the beasts and a far smaller bird. One writer speaks of the lioness here — the mother hunting for her young.
William KellyIf the king of wild beasts is named first, it is not without purpose that the raven follows. The contrast is marked; but the LORD cared for both. He is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Was Job the one to hunt prey for the lioness, and fill the craving of her young...? Was it for Job to provide the raven with meat?... He who counts the hairs of our heads sees every sparrow that falls... So here the LORD shows that man may boast of his scanty knowledge of beasts and birds and call their classification science. Even so, it is God's work, not man's, to enter into the need of every one and watch over it.
Why Start with Predators
God begins with hunters — the animals that kill, and that man treats as enemies. That matters for Job, whom an unseen enemy was tearing apart.
Samuel RidoutGod not only tolerates but cares for these creatures which prey upon others. They are part of His wise plan — once put under the hand of man and subject to him, but now turned against him as enemies. So Satan, whose attacks Job was feeling, was only a creature of God's will. Even by his hatred he worked out the purposes of God. If Job is ignorant of his schemes, God is not, and will bring good out of all his ravening and roaring.
The Argument Turned Toward Job
A young bird's cry reaches God. That leaves one question for Job.
Leslie M. GrantIt is said here, "its young ones cry to God." Whether they do so with understanding or not is not the question. God recognises their cry. If so, did God not hear the cry of Job? Of course He did, though He did not answer Job at just the time and in the way Job thought He ought to.
Summary
- Small. God turns from the vast to a den and a nest. Man is as helpless before the least of God's works as before the greatest.
- Provider. God moves from how He designed the universe to how He feeds every living thing in it.
- Cry. The raven's young cry to God. He put that cry into them, and He takes it as addressed to Himself.
- All. He feeds both the king of beasts and the small raven — His care reaches every creature He made.
- You. God hears a young raven; He heard Job too, and answered in His own time, not Job's.