Daily reading

Today’s reading is: Job 38:1-40:5

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Job Chapter Thirty-Eight

  1. Job does not get the chance to respond to any of Elihu’s assertions (Job 32-37), as YHWH (the Lord) arrives in a whirlwind and addresses Job directly (Job 38-41).
  2. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1; 40:6). סְעָרָה se‘ārāh #5591: whirlwind, tempest, storm.  Used 25x22vv. (2nd Kgs. 2:1,11; Ezek. 1:4; Jon. 1:4,12).
  3. The Lord’s messages is a message of rebuke (Job 38:2.3).
    1. Who do you think you are? (v.2). 
      1. The Lord declares that Job is darkening counsel, and that his words are not in accordance with true knowledge.
      2. Job had previously been a source for Godly counsel (Job 29:21).
      3. Job should have been extending Godly counsel to Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar, but has been too busy justifying himself to fulfill his spiritual-life work-assignment.
    2. Gird up your loins and teach Me (v.3).  If Job is really more righteous than God, then Job should be able to teach God!
  4. The Lord rebukes Job through a series of unanswerable questions (Job 38:4-38).
    1. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (v.4).
      1. Who set its measurements? Who stretched the line? Seems to have been a partnership (Prov. 8:30,31).
      2. On what were the bases sunk? Who laid its cornerstone? (capstone?). Larkin identified this as a pyramid.
      3. Unless Job is an angel, he can’t possibly answer these questions (Job 38:7). Angelity witnessed what God had prepared for humanity.
    2. A birthing metaphor communicates the establishment of the earth’s hydrological laws (Job 38:9-11; Gen. 1:2,9; Ps. 104:9).
    3. Job has never, not even once commanded the morning (Job 38:12-15; Gen. 1:3-5).
    4. God’s questions don’t stop as He employs sarcasm to hit hard (Job 38:16-21).
    5. Job doesn’t command meteorological events (Job 38:22-30).
    6. Job doesn’t command astronomical events (Job 38:31-33).
    7. Job doesn’t supervise the inner man and outer man (Job 38:34-38).
  5. The Lord continues the rebuke with a survey of 10 animals (6 land animals, 4 birds), and highlighting His work in creation (Job 38:39-41; 39:1-30).

Job Chapter Thirty-Nine

  1. Zoological illustrations highlight the contrast between Creator and creation, God and His vested stewards.
  2. Lions & ravens (Job 38:39-41).
  3. Goats & deer (Job 39:1-4).
  4. Wild (swift) donkeys (Job 39:5-8).
  5. Wild ox (Job 39:9-12).
  6. Ostriches (Job 39:13-18).
  7. Horses (Job 39:19-25).
  8. Hawks & Eagles (Job 39:26-30).

Job Chapter Forty

  1. The logic is such that if Job is really going to contend with God (Job 40:2), then Job must be qualified to be God.  If Job is qualified to be God, then providing for these 10 animals ought to be quite simple!
  2. The Lord calls Job, His contender/reprover, The Faultfinder (Job 40:2). יִסֹּור yissowr #3250: faultfinder, reprover.  Used only here. יָסַר yāsar #3256: to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish (Job 4:3). מוּסָר muwsar #4148: instruction, correction, chastisement.  Used 55x55vv. (Job 5:17; 20:3; 33:16; 36:10; Prov. 1:2,3,7,8 & often in Prov.; Isa. 53:5).
  3. Job confesses his insignificance, and agrees to close his mouth (Job 40:3-5).

(Chapter Forty continues tomorrow)