Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Job
Book: Job
Chapter: 38
Overview:
God calls upon
Job to answer.
(1-3) God questions
Job.
(4-11)
Concerning the
Light and
Darkness.
(12-24) Concerning other
mighty
Works.
(25-41)
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, humbles
Job, and brings him to repent of his
passionate expressions concerning
God's providential dealings
with him; and this he does,
By Calling upon
Job to compare
God's
being from
Everlasting to
Everlasting, with his own time;
God's
knowledge of all things, with his own ignorance; and
God's
almighty power, with his own weakness. Our darkening the
counsels of
God's
Wisdom with our folly, is a great provocation
to
God. Humble
Faith and sincere obedience see farthest and best
into the will of the
Lord.
4-11 For the humbling of
Job,
God here shows him his ignorance,
even concerning the
Earth and
The Sea. As we cannot find fault
with
God's work,
So we need not fear concerning it. The
Works of
his
Providence, as
Well as the work of
Creation, never can be
broken; and the work of
Redemption is
No less firm, of which
Christ himself is both the Foundation and the
Corner-
Stone. The
Church stands as firm as the
Earth.
12-24 The
Lord questions
Job, to convince him of his ignorance,
and shame him for his folly in prescribing to
God. If we thus
try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know
is nothing in comparison with what we know not.
By the tender
Mercy of our
God, the
Day-
Spring from
On high has visited us, to
give
Light to those that sit in
Darkness, whose hearts are
turned to it as
Clay to the
Seal, 2Co 4:6.
God's way in the
government of the world is said to be in
The Sea; this means,
that it is hid from us. Let us make sure that the gates of
Heaven shall be opened to us
On the other side of
Death, and
then we need not fear the opening of the gates of
Death. It is
presumptuous for us, who perceive not the breadth of the
Earth,
to dive into the depth of
God's counsels. We should neither in
the brightest noon count upon perpetual
Day, nor in the darkest
midnight despair of the return of the morning; and this applies
to our inward as
Well as to our outward condition. What folly it
is to strive against
God! How much is it our interest to seek
peace with him, and to keep in his
Love!
25-41 Hitherto
God had
Put questions to
Job to show him his
ignorance; now
God shows his weakness. As it is but little that
he knows, he ought not to arraign the Divine counsels; it is but
little he can do, therefore he ought not to oppose the ways of
Providence. See the all-sufficiency of the Divine
Providence; it
has wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every living thing. And
he that takes care of the young ravens, certainly will not be
wanting to his people. This being but one instance of the Divine
compassion out of many, gives us occasion to think how much good
our
God does, every
Day,
Beyond what we are aware of. Every view
we take of his infinite perfections, should remind us of his
right to our
Love, the evil of sinning against him, and our need
of his
Mercy and
Salvation.