Job 38 - Introduction

A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520.

God begins with an awakening challenge, Job 38:1. Proceeds to several proofs of Job's inability to contend with him, because of his ignorance and weakness: for he knew nothing of the founding of the earth, Job 38:4; the limiting of the sea, Job 38:8; of the morning light, Job 38:12; the recesses of the sea and earth, Job 38:16; of the treasures in the clouds, Job 38:22. He could do nothing toward the making of his own soul, the producing of rain, frost, lightning, or the directing of the stars and their influences, Job 38:28. He could not provide for the lions or the ravens, Job 38:39. How then should he direct God's secret counsels? Here God takes up the argument begun by Elihu, and prosecutes it in inimitable words, exceeding his, and all other men's, in the loftiness of the style, as much as thunder does a whisper.