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Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Job 38:2

Counsel — God's counsel. For the great matter of the dispute between Job and his friends, was concerning God's counsel and providence in afflicting Job; which Job had endeavoured to obscure and misrepresent. This first word which God spoke, struck Job to the heart. This he repeats and echoes to, Job 42:3, as the arrow that stuck fast in him.

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See also Job 38:2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Job 38:2. _WHO_ IS _THIS THAT DARKENETH COUNSEL_] As if he had said, Who art _thou_ who pretendest to speak on the deep things of God, and the administration of his justice and providence, which...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    WHO IS THIS - Referring doubtless to Job, for he is specified in the previous verse. Some have understood it of Elihu (see Schultens), but the connection evidently demands that it should be understood...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    V. THE LORD'S TESTIMONY TO JOB AND CONTROVERSY WITH HIM CHAPTER 38:1-38 _ 1. The Lord speaks to Job (Job 38:1)_ 2. The questions of the Lord (Job 38:4) Job 38:1. The voice of man is hushed; the voi...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Yahweh, speaking to Job out of the storm, challenges him to the contest, which he has so often demanded....

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    WHO IS THIS... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. DARKENETH. Hebrew. _hashak._ See note on Job 3:6....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _who is this that darkeneth counsel_ lit. _who then is darkening counsel_? The word _then_merely adds the emphasis of impatience or astonishment to the question, _who_…? The expression _counsel_sugges...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    WHO IS THIS THAT DARKENETH COUNSEL, &C.— Nothing can be conceived more awful, than this appearance of Jehovah; nothing more sublime, than the manner in which his speech is introduced. Thunders, lightn...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    _THE SHATTERING OF SILENCE_ VI. THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE PENITENCE OF JOB (Job 38:1, Job 42:6) A. INTEGRITY, CERTAINTY, AND KNOWLEDGE (Job 38:1, Job 40:2) 1.

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _WHO IS THIS THAT DARKENETH COUNSEL BY WORDS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE?_ This - Job. COUNSEL - impugning my divine wisdom in the providential arrangements of the universe. Such "words" (including those of...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FIRST SPEECH OF THE ALMIGHTY (JOB 38:39) The marvels of creation, which witness to the infinite wisdom, power, and watchful care of the Creator, are presented to Job in such a way as to force fro...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    The question evidently refers to Job. 'God condemns Job for making dark the divine plan of the world. He had spoken as though it was all a tangled riddle. Really there is in it a beautiful luminous or...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Elihu had already explained this to Job (Job 34:35)....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD Job _KEITH SIMONS_ Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible. This commentary has been through Advanced Checking. CHAPTER 38 GOD BEGINS HIS SPEECH...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    WHO IS THIS? — The question may be answered by Job’s own words (Job 14:1). It is a man as so described, a dying and enfeebled man, like Job himself, not even a man in his best estate, but one so perse...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    מִ֤י זֶ֨ה ׀ מַחְשִׁ֖יךְ עֵצָ֥ה בְ מִלִּ֗ין בּ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    XXVII. "MUSIC IN THE BOUNDS OF LAW" Job 38:1 OVER the shadowed life of Job, and the world shadowed for him by his own intellectual and moral gloom, a storm sweeps, and from the storm issues a voice....

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    DIVINE POWER AND HUMAN IGNORANCE Job 38:1 When the storm had ceased and the thunder was hushed, a voice spoke out of the golden splendor of the sky. See Job 37:21. Job had challenged God to answer hi...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the third movement in the great drama, that which deals with the controversy between Jehovah and Job. Out of the midst of the whirlwind the divine voice speaks. Its first word is a challen...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Who [is] this that (b) darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? (b) Which by seeking out the secret counsel of God by man's reason, makes it more obscure, and shows his own folly....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Words. Many explain this as a condemnation (Calmet) of the last speaker, (Du Hamel) who would otherwise pass without any reproach, (Haydock) though he had spoken with less reserve than the rest. (Calm...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (2) Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? (3) Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Observe, it is to Job the LORD directeth his sp...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _FINITE CREATURE V. INFINITE CREATOR_ ‘Who is this?… Where wast thou?’ Job 38:2; Job 38:4 I. HUMILITY SHOULD BE ONE GRACE WHICH SPRINGS UP IN MY HEART AS I THINK OF THE MAJESTY AND MIGHT OF MY GOD....

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    God Speaks Job Repents I. INTRODUCTION A. Last week we covered a lot of territory! 1. We finished with Elihu's speeches to Job and found that, although he was a lot more accurate in what he had to...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 38 THROUGH 42. Jehovah then speaks, and addressing Job, carries on the subject. He makes Job sensible of his nothingness. Job confesses himself to be vile, an...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHO [IS] THIS,.... Meaning not Elihu the last speaker, as some think; and there are some who suppose not only that these words are directed to him, but all that is said in this and the following chapt...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Ver. 2. _Who is this that darkeneth counsel_] Who is this that talketh thus? saith God, stepping forth, as it were, from behind the ha...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Who is this_, &c. What and where is he that presumes to talk at this rate? _That darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?_ Words proceeding from ignorance, mistake, and want of consideration. Wh...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S MAJESTY IN CREATION...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? In permitting Job to suffer, the Lord was not acting in a capricious, arbitrary way, but according to a plan which He considered good, wh...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    Marvellously, God Himself directly intervenes in this discussion so early in the history of man. The storm that had been brewing as Elihu spoke becomes a whirlwind, and God spoke to Job out of the whi...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "WHO IS THIS THAT DARKENS COUNSEL BY WORDS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE?" The first thing that Job hears from God, is. rebuke. Job's comments and questions had confused the issue rather than shedding any light....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-3 Job had silenced, but had not convinced his friends. Elihu had silenced Job, but had not brought him to admit his guilt before God. It pleased the Lord to interpose. The Lord, in this discourse,...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    WHO IS THIS? it is a question of admiration and reprehension, What and where is he that presumeth to talk at this rate? this language becomes not a creature, much less a professor of religion. The per...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 38:2 darkens H2821 (H8688) counsel H6098 words H4405 knowledge H1847 Job 12:3,...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: God's challenge to Job. CHARACTERS: God, Job. CONCLUSION: Those who try to call God to account, will be called to account. Seeking to establish one's own character and darkening the counse...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 38:1. _The whirlwind._ Clouds and flames are the chariots of the Lord, in deigning to speak with men. When he spake to Elijah in Horeb, it was with wind, and fire, and earthquake. Likewise in Psal...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said._ THE ADDRESS OF THE ALMIGHTY This sublime discourse is represented as made from the midst of the tempest or whirlwind which Elihu describes...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB 38:1 Challenge: The Lord Answers Job. The Lord responds in two speeches, each followed by a brief response from Job. Aware of God as never before, Job responds by humbly submitting to God’s sovere...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB—NOTE ON JOB 38:2 Elihu had said that Job’s words were generally “without knowledge” (Job 34:35; Job 35:16). The Lord does not reprove Job

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _JEHOVAH’S ADDRESS TO JOB_ Elihu had now said all he intended. Possibly interrupted by the storm which had been gathering during his speech. Out of the storm-cloud, from which already issued thunders...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    CLOSE OF THE CONTROVERSY BY THE INTERFERENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY. EXPOSITION The discourse, by which the Almighty answers Job and rebukes his "friends," occupies four chapters (ch. 38-41.). It is broken...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou m...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Timothy 1:7; Job 12:3; Job 23:4; Job 23:5; Job 24:25;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    GOD SPEAKS TO JOB Job 38:1 _to Job 42:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS God's words to Job do not carry much by way of the explanation of redemption. Job was a child of God, and well-instructed on those lines....

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