who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
Bildad has argued that God is just, and Job agrees — then turns that agreement into a problem. He piles up pictures of a God so strong that the sun will not rise at His word, yet one question drives it all: how can a man be right with God?
The Question Driving the Chapter
Every line about mountains, sun and stars sits under one question raised a few verses earlier. One writer puts it in today's words:
F. B. HoleJob's striking words in Job 9 begin by acknowledging that God's ways of discipline are right. But they raise the all-important question: how could a man be right with God? In our day the short sentence, "Get right with God," has stirred interest in the gospel message. It might well bring the reply, "Yes, but how is it to be done?" That is exactly the question Job asked in verse 2. The rest of the chapter shows how earnest and sincere he was in asking it.
What the Words Picture
The verse moves from the sun to the stars. One writer reads both halves as God shutting the sky off from our sight:
Leslie M. GrantAlso, high above the earth, He could command the sun not to rise — that is, as far as we can see. Of course He does this by placing clouds in the sky, which hide the stars too. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. Whether earth or sky or sea, He is in perfect control.
Power Without Glory
Job's picture sweeps from the mountains up to the whole heavens. Yet one writer notices what is missing from it:
Samuel RidoutHere Job dwells on the power and greatness of God. The language is noble and the description true. But underneath lies a dreadful doubt about the goodness of this great and powerful Being. God overturns the mountains in His wrath, and they know nothing of it; He makes the earth tremble. Moving from earth to heaven, He makes the sun and stars stop shining… These are marvelous sweeps of language, taking in the whole heavens. But sadly they are not, "The heavens declare the glory of God." They declare absolute, unstoppable Power.
The Spirit Underneath the Words
Job speaks calmly here. The same writer weighs the spirit behind the calm and sets Job beside the prophet Jeremiah, who also questioned God's ways:
Samuel RidoutAlthough he speaks quietly, there is an intense bitterness in what Job says here. On the surface he agrees with Bildad that God is just. Job says, "Of course He is just, for there is no appeal from whatever He does. He has both wisdom and power, and can crush any useless effort to reason with Him." This is terrible. This is not a man humbly daring to ask God for a reason, as Jeremiah does in similar circumstances (Jeremiah 12:1-4). It is the hardness of despair — might is right, and God has might on His side.
What Job Could Not Yet Know
Job believed God would bring him through. What he could not see was how God could count a sinful man righteous:
William KellyHe knew man was weak and faulty. Still, Job did not doubt that God would bring him through all his troubles. What he could not work out was the ground of righteousness for it. If man was a poor sinful man, and God still showed him saving mercy, how was man to be just? You cannot put justice and sins together until you have Christ, who died for the sins and rose again for the believer's justification. There God blots the sins out completely. How could Job know anything about that?
Summary
- The question. The whole chapter grows out of one earnest question: how can a man be right with God?
- The power. God's control reaches past earth to the sky. He can hold back the sunrise and hide the stars. Earth, sky and sea are all in His hands.
- The gap. Job's words are noble and true. But they declare raw, unstoppable Power, not the glory of God, because doubt about God's goodness lies underneath.
- The danger. Job admits God is just only because no one can appeal against Him. That is not Jeremiah's humble questioning. It is the hardness of despair — might is right.
- The answer. Justice and sins only come together in Christ. He died for sins and rose again for the believer's justification — the ground of righteousness Job could not yet see.