who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;
Job speaks these words while answering Bildad. He opens his reply with the question that drives the whole book: how can a man be right with God? What follows is not calm praise. It is a man measuring himself against a power he cannot argue with.
The question underneath the poetry
Job's description of God's greatness is not there for its own sake. It is his answer to a problem he cannot solve. One commentator points out that nobody alive yet had the answer.
William KellyJob describes in a very grand way what God is in His ways — His uncontrollable power and authority. He knew man was weak and faulty. Even so, Job did not doubt that God would see him through all his difficulties. But he could not imagine on what ground of righteousness. 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. He died for the sins and rose again for the believer's justification. There the sins are completely blotted out. How could Job know anything about that? Nobody knew it; no man on earth.
Heaven, earth and sea in one hand
The verse names two things God does alone. He stretches out the sky, and He walks on the sea. One writer sets that beside the earthquake and the darkened sun in the lines just before. (His wording, "treads on the waves of the sea," follows an older translation.)
Leslie M. GrantGod could remove mountains by an earthquake, shaking the earth and causing its most stable features to tremble. Also, high above the earth, He could command the sun not to rise — that is, as far as our vision is concerned. Of course He does this by placing clouds in the sky, so that the stars too are sealed off from view. He "alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea." Whether the earth or sky or sea, He is in perfect control.
The sea under His feet
Job's words travel. Another writer follows them from the ground up to the sky, then back down to the water.
Samuel RidoutGod overturns the unconscious mountains in His wrath; He makes the earth tremble. Passing from earth to heaven, He causes the sun and stars to stop shining. Returning to earth, He walks upon the raging waves of the sea.
Every word true, and still not worship
Here is the sting. Every word Job says about God is true. Yet the same writer hears something missing underneath.
Samuel RidoutThe language is noble and the description true. But underneath it lies the awful doubt about this great and powerful Being's goodness… These are marvellous sweeps of language, taking in the whole heavens. Sadly, though, this is not "The heavens declare the glory of God." It is a declaration of absolute, unstoppable Power.
It shows in the way Job talks about God's justice.
Samuel RidoutAlthough he speaks quietly, there is an intense bitterness in what Job says here. Apparently agreeing 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 overwhelm any pointless attempt to reason with Him." This is terrible. This is not someone humbly asking God for a reason, as Jeremiah does in a similar situation (Jer. 12:1-4). It is the hardness of despair — might is right, and God has might on His side.
The One who walked on the water
Centuries later, men watched someone do this very thing.
Leslie M. GrantThere is a precious New Testament confirmation of His control of the sea, when "He came to them, walking on the sea" (Matt. 14:25), a clear proof that Jesus is God.
And He did it as a Man.
James McBroomWe see Him as a Man, yet the great "I Am," in a scene that shows in picture all the power of evil under His feet. He walks upon the sea as His by double right: in Godhead He created it, and in Manhood it forms part of His vast domain.
Summary
- Alone. Sky, sun, stars, earth and sea are all the work of one hand. Nothing in Job's world stands outside God's control.
- Alone, and out of reach. Job's problem is not that God is too weak. It is that no one can argue with Him. His real question is how a man can be right with God.
- True words, cold heart. Every line Job speaks about God is true. Yet it declares raw power, not glory. Despair can say right things.
- The missing answer. No one can put justice and sins together until Christ. He died for sins and rose again for the believer's justification.
- The feet on the water. The One who treads the waves later walked on the sea as a Man — the same power, now seen close enough to touch.