when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?
God has been answering Job by walking him through creation — the heavens, the sea, the snow, the lightning. Now He comes down to a lion waiting in its den. The question is not about animals at all. It asks who feeds a hunter that no man could feed, and what that says about the God Job has been arguing with.
Where the question falls in God's answer
The lion comes at the end of a long sweep through creation.
William KellyGod is here bringing to nothing all the proud talk of Job. But He is not content to show man's littleness only by what is vast. He also takes up what we might think comparatively small things. He has crossed the immense heavens and the uncontrollable sea, and then the treasures of the snow and the hail, of the lightning and the waters. At last, towards the end of the chapter, He comes down to the little things of nature, where man is just as much at a loss. So it matters little whether we look at the greatest or at the least of God's works. Everywhere we meet what is entirely beyond man's grasp.
A question that is really a claim
God asks whether Job hunts for lions. One writer hears the question as God's own answer.
William Kelly"Will 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, "and they lie in wait in their thicket." I do not let them die for want of proper food.
Why start with predators
Of all creatures, hunters look the least needy.
Leslie M. GrantHe begins with the beasts of prey. That is not where we would likely begin. We think of predators as needing no outside care. But they need the care of God as much as every other creature. God has made them as they are, and provides for them in the very fact that they are able to hunt their own food. Who would think of hunting food for them, at least while they are in the wild?
Classifying animals versus feeding them
Job might name the creatures. He could never attend to each one's hunger.
William KellyIf man boasts of his small knowledge of beasts and birds, and calls their classification science, Jehovah shows whose work this really is. It is His province, not man's, to enter into and watch over the need of every one. He watches those most remote from human dwellings, and no less those whose croaking may disturb man's ease. They are always before God, who has made them all and provides for each as a faithful Creator.
The hunter on a leash
The lion in the thicket is a killer, and God still feeds it. One writer follows that thought to the enemy behind Job's suffering.
Samuel RidoutGod does not merely tolerate these creatures that prey on others — He cares for them. They are part of His wise plan: once put under man's hand and subject to him, but now turned against him as enemies. In the same way, Satan was only the creature of God's will. Job was feeling his attacks, yet even his hatred worked out God's purposes. If Job is ignorant of his schemes, God is not, and will bring good out of all his tearing and roaring.
The argument God is making to a sufferer
The whole list of animals is framed by creatures man would gladly be rid of. That framing carries the point Job is meant to feel.
Samuel RidoutIt is significant that the series opens and closes with beasts and birds of prey. They might seem worthless, if not positively harmful, and yet He cares for them with unerring wisdom. Shall He fail to watch over His child who knows and trusts Him?
Another writer puts the same reasoning as the question Job had been silently asking.
William J. HockingHad Job been thinking that God did not consider his welfare? Was there any creature, small or great, that Jehovah did not care for — the leviathan of the deep waters, or the sparrow on the housetop? He cared for every creature of His in its need. Would He not care for Job, the highest creature on earth, who also had a life beyond the grave?
Summary
- Least. God comes down from stars and seas to a lion in a den. Man is out of his depth in God's smallest works as much as His greatest.
- Feeds. The question is God's own testimony: He finds food for the lions and their young, and does not let them die of hunger.
- Equips. Provision for a predator looks like ability — God made it able to hunt, and that is His care for it.
- Rules. God does not just tolerate the hunters — He cares for them. Satan too was only a creature of God's will, serving purposes he never intended.
- You. God cares for every creature in its need. He will not overlook Job, the highest creature on earth, who has a life beyond the grave.