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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J O B
CHAP. XXXVIII.
In most disputes the strife is who shall have the last word. Job’s
friends had, in this controversy, tamely yielded it to Job, and then he
to Elihu. But, after all the wranglings of the counsel at bar, the
judge upon the bench must have the last word; so God had here, and so
he will have in every controversy, for every man’s judgment proceeds
from him and by his definitive sentence every man must stand or fall
and every cause be won or lost. Job had often appealed to God, and had
talked boldly how he would order his cause before him, and as a prince
would he go near unto him; but, when God took the throne, Job had
nothing to say in his own defence, but was silent before him. It is not
so easy a matter as some think it to contest with the Almighty. Job’s
friends had sometimes appealed to God too: “O that God would speak!”
And now, at length, God does speak, when Job, by Elihu’s clear and
close arguings was mollified a little, and mortified, and so prepared
to hear what God had to say. It is the office of ministers to prepare
the way of the Lord. That which the great God designs in this discourse
is to humble Job, and bring him to repent of, and to recant, his
passionate indecent expressions concerning God’s providential dealings
with him; and this he does by calling upon Job to compare God’s
eternity with his own time, God’s omniscience with his own ignorance,
and God’s omnipotence with his own impotency.
I. He begins with an awakening challenge and demand in general,
II. He proceeds in divers particular instances and proofs of Job’s
utter inability to contend with God, because of his ignorance and
weakness: for,
1. He knew nothing of the founding of the earth,
2. Nothing of the limiting of the sea,
3. Nothing of the morning light,
4. Nothing of the dark recesses of the sea and earth,
5. Nothing of the springs in the clouds
(ver. 22-27),
nor the secret counsels by which they are directed.
6. He could do nothing towards the production of the rain, or frost, or
lightning
nothing towards the directing of the stars and their influences
(ver. 31-33),
nothing towards the making of his own soul,
And lastly, he could not provide for the lions and the ravens,
If, in these ordinary works of nature, Job was puzzled, how durst he
pretend to dive into the counsels of God’s government and to judge of
them? In this (as bishop Patrick observes) God takes up the argument
begun by Elihu (who came nearest to the truth) and prosecutes it in
inimitable words, excelling his, and all other men’s, in the loftiness
of the style, as much as thunder does a whisper.
| God Answers Out of the Whirlwind. | B. C. 1520. |
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1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
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.
Let us observe here,
1. Who speaks–The Lord, Jehovah, not a created angel, but the
eternal Word himself, the second person in the blessed Trinity, for it
is he by whom the worlds were made, and that was no other than the Son
of God. The same speaks here that afterwards spoke from Mount Sinai.
Here he begins with the creation of the world, there with the
redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and from both is inferred the
necessity of our subjection to him. Elihu had said, God speaks to
men and they do not perceive it
but this they could not but perceive, and yet we have a more sure
word of prophecy,
2 Pet. i. 19.
2. When he spoke–Then. When they had all had their saying, and
yet had not gained their point, then it was time for God to interpose,
whose judgment is according to truth. When we know not who is in the
right, and perhaps are doubtful whether we ourselves are, this may
satisfy us, That God will determine shortly in the valley of
decision,
Joel iii. 14.
Job had silenced his three friends, and yet could not convince them of
his integrity in the main. Elihu had silenced Job, and yet could not
bring him to acknowledge his mismanagement of this dispute. But now God
comes, and does both, convinces Job first of his unadvised speaking and
makes him cry, Peccavi–I have done wrong; and, having humbled
him, he puts honour upon him, by convincing his three friends that they
had done him wrong. These two things God will, sooner or later, do for
his people: he will show them their faults, that they may be themselves
ashamed of them, and he will show others their righteousness, and bring
it forth as the light, that they may be ashamed of their unjust
censures of them.
3. How he spoke–Out of the whirlwind, the rolling and involving
cloud, which Elihu took notice of,
A whirlwind prefaced Ezekiel’s vision
(Ezek. i. 4),
and Elijah’s,
God is said to have his way in the whirlwind
(Nah. i. 3),
and, to show that even the stormy wind fulfils his word, here it was
made the vehicle of it. This shows what a mighty voice God’s is, that
is was not lost, but perfectly audible, even in the noise of a
whirlwind. Thus God designed to startled Job, and to command his
attention. Sometimes God answers his own people in terrible
corrections, as out of the whirlwind, but always in righteousness.
4. To whom he spoke: He answered Job, directed his speech to
him, to convince him of what was amiss, before he cleared him from the
unjust aspersions cast upon him. It is God only that can effectually
convince of sin, and those shall so be humbled whom he designs to
exalt. Those that desire to hear from God, as Job did, shall certainly
hear from him at length.
5. What he said. We may conjecture that Elihu, or some other of the
auditory, wrote down verbatim what was delivered out of the
whirlwind, for we find
that, when the thunders uttered their voices, John was prepared to
write. Or, if it was not written then, yet, the penman of the book
being inspired by the Holy Ghost, we are sure that we have here a very
true and exact report of what was said. The Spirit (says Christ)
shall bring to your remembrance, as he did here, what I have
said to you. The preface is very searching.
(1.) God charges him with ignorance and presumption in what he had said
(v. 2):
“Who is this that talks at this rate? Is it Job? What! a man?
That weak, foolish, despicable, creature–shall he pretend to prescribe
to me what I must do or to quarrel with me for what I have done? Is it
Job? What! my servant Job, a perfect and an upright man? Can he so
far forget himself, and act unlike himself? Who, where, is he that
darkens counsel thus by words without knowledge? Let him show his
face if he dare, and stand to what he has said.” Note, Darkening the
counsels of God’s wisdom with our folly is a great affront and
provocation to God. Concerning God’s counsels we must own that we are
without knowledge. They are a deep which we cannot fathom; we are quite
out of our element, out of our aim, when we pretend to account for
them. Yet we are too apt to talk of them as if we understood them, with
a great deal of niceness and boldness; but, alas! we do but darken
them, instead of explaining them. We confound and perplex ourselves
and one another when we dispute of the order of God’s decrees, and the
designs, and reasons, and methods, of his operations of providence and
grace. A humble faith and sincere obedience shall see further and
better into the secret of the Lord than all the philosophy of the
schools, and the searches of science, so called. This first word which
God spoke is the more observable because Job, in his repentance,
fastens upon it as that which silenced and humbled him,
This he repeated and echoed as the arrow that stuck fast in him: “I am
the fool that has darkened counsel.” There was some colour to have
turned it upon Elihu, as if God meant him, for he spoke
last, and was speaking when the whirlwind began; but Job applied it to
himself, as it becomes us to do when faithful reproofs are given, and
not (as most do) to billet them upon other people.
(2.) He challenges him to give such proofs of his knowledge as would
serve to justify his enquiries into the divine counsels
(v. 3):
“Gird up now thy loins like a stout man; prepare thyself
for the encounter; I will demand of thee, will put some
questions to thee, and answer me if thou canst, before I answer
thine.” Those that go about to call God to an account must expect to be
catechised and called to an account themselves, that they may be made
sensible of their ignorance and arrogance. God here puts Job in mind of
what he had said,
Call thou, and I will answer. “Now make thy words good.”
| The Creation of the World. | B. C. 1520. |
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4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who
hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid
the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as
if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness
a swaddlingband for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and
doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here
shall thy proud waves be stayed?
For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance even
concerning the earth and the sea. Though so near, though so bulky, yet
he could give no account of their origination, much less of heaven
above or hell beneath, which are at such a distance, or of the several
parts of matter which are so minute, and then, least of all, of the
divine counsels.
I. Concerning the founding of the earth. “If he have such a mighty
insight, as he pretends to have, into the counsels of God, let him give
some account of the earth he goes upon, which is given to the children
of men.”
1. Let him tell where he was when this lower world was made, and
whether he was advising of assisting in that wonderful work
(v. 4):
“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Thy
pretensions are high; canst thou pretend to his? Wast thou present
when the world was made?” See here,
(1.) The greatness and glory of God: I laid the foundations of the
earth. This proves him to be the only living and true God, and a
God of power
(Isa. xl. 21, Jer. x. 11, 12),
and encourages us to trust in him at all times,
(2.) The meanness and contemptibleness of man: “Where wast thou
then? Thou that hast made such a figure among the children of the east,
and settest up for an oracle, and a judge of the divine counsels, where
was thou when the foundations of the earth were laid?” So far were we
from having any hand in the creation of the world, which might entitle
us to a dominion in it, or so much as being witnesses of it, by which
we might have gained an insight into it, that we were not then in
being. The first man was not, much less were we. It is the honour of
Christ that he was present when this was done
(Prov. viii. 22, &c., John i. 1, 2);
but we are of yesterday and know nothing. Let us not therefore
find fault with the works of God, nor prescribe to him. He did not
consult us in making the world, and yet it is well made; why should we
expect then that he should take his measures from us in governing
it?
2. Let him describe how this world was made, and give a particular
account of the manner in which this strong and stately edifice was
formed and erected: “Declare, if thou hast so much
understanding as thou fanciest thyself to have, what were the
advances of that work.” Those that pretend to have understanding above
others ought to give proof of it. Show my thy faith by thy works, thy
knowledge by thy words. Let Job declare it if he can,
(1.) How the world came to be so finely framed, with so much exactness,
and such an admirable symmetry and proportion of all the parts of it
(v. 5):
“Stand forth, and tell who laid the measures thereof and
stretched out the line upon it.” Wast thou the architect that
formed the model and then drew the dimensions by rule according to it?
The vast bulk of the earth is moulded as regularly as if it had been
done by line and measure; but who can describe how it was cast into
this figure? Who can determine its circumference and diameter, and all
the lines that are drawn on the terrestrial globe? It is to this day a
dispute whether the earth stands still or turns round; how then can we
determine by what measures it was first formed?
(2.) How it came to be so firmly fixed. Though it is hung upon nothing,
yet it is established, that it cannot be moved; but who can tell
upon what the foundations of it are fastened, that it may not
sink with its own weight, or who laid the corner-stone thereof,
that the parts of it may not fall asunder?
v. 6.
What God does, it shall be for ever
and therefore, as we cannot find fault with God’s work, so we need not
be in fear concerning it; it will last, and answer the end, the works
of his providence as well as the work of creation; the measures of
neither can never 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 fast as the earth.
3. Let him repeat, if he can, the songs of praise which were sung at
that solemnity
(v. 7),
when the morning-stars sang together, the blessed angels (the
first-born of the Father of light), who, in the morning of time, shone
as brightly as the morning star, going immediately before the light
which God commanded to shine out of darkness upon the seeds of this
lower world, the earth, which was without form and void. They were
the sons of God, who shouted for joy when they saw the
foundations of the earth laid, because, though it was not made for
them, but for the children of men, and though it would increase their
work and service, yet they knew that the eternal Wisdom and Word, whom
they were to worship
(Heb. i. 6),
would rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, and that much
of his delight would be in the sons of men,
Prov. viii. 31.
The angels are called the sons of God because they bear much of
his image, are with him in his house above, and serve him as a son does
his father. Now observe here,
(1.) The glory of God, as the Creator of the world, is to be celebrated
with joy and triumph by all his reasonable creatures; for they are
qualified and appointed to be the collectors of his praises from the
inferior creatures, who can praise him merely as objects that exemplify
his workmanship.
(2.) The work of angels is to praise God. The more we abound in holy,
humble, thankful, joyful praise, the more we do the will of God as they
do it; and, whereas we are so barren and defective in praising God, it
is a comfort to think that they are doing it in a better manner.
(3.) They were unanimous in singing God’s praises; they sang together
with one accord, and there was no jar in their harmony. The sweetest
concerts are in praising God.
(4.) They all did it, even those who afterwards fell and left their
first estate. Even those who have praised God may, by the deceitful
power of sin, be brought to blaspheme him, and yet God will be
eternally praised.
II. Concerning the limiting of the sea to the place appointed for it,
v. 8,
&c. This refers to the third day’s work, when God said
(Gen. i. 9),
Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,
and it was so.
1. Out of the great deep or chaos, in which earth and water were
intermixed, in obedience to the divine command the waters broke
forth like a child out of the teeming womb,
v. 8.
Then the waters that had covered the deep, and stood above the
mountains, retired with precipitation. At God’s rebuke they
fled,
Ps. civ. 6, 7.
2. This newborn babe is clothed and swaddled,
v. 9.
The cloud is made the garment thereof, with which it is
covered, and thick darkness (that is, shores vastly remote and
distant from one another and quite in the dark one to another) is a
swaddling-band for it. See with what ease the great God manages the
raging sea; notwithstanding the violence of its tides, and the strength
of its billows, he manages it as the nurse does the child in swaddling
clothes. It is not said, He made rocks and mountains its
swaddling bands, but clouds and darkness, something that we are
not aware of and should think least likely for such a purpose.
3. There is a cradle too provided for this babe: I broke up for it
my decreed place,
v. 10.
Valleys were sunk for it in the earth, capacious enough to receive it,
and there it is laid to sleep; and, if it be sometimes tossed with
winds, that (as bishop Patrick observes) is but the rocking of the
cradle, which makes it sleep the faster. As for the sea, so for every
one of us, there is a decreed place; for he that determined the times
before appointed determined also the bounds of our habitation.
4. This babe being made unruly and dangerous by the sin of man, which
was the original of all unquietness and danger in this lower world,
there is also a prison provided for it; bars and doors are set,
v. 10.
And it is said to it, by way of check to its insolence, Hitherto
shalt thou come, but no further. The sea is God’s for he made it,
he restrains it; he says to it, Here shall thy proud waves be
stayed,
v. 11.
This may be considered as an act of God’s power over the sea. Though it
is so vast a body, and though its motion is sometimes extremely
violent, yet God has it under check. Its waves rise no higher, its
tides roll no further, than God permits; and this is mentioned as a
reason why we should stand in awe of God
(Jer. v. 22),
and yet why we should encourage ourselves in him, for he that stops the
noise of the sea, even the noise of her waves, can, when he pleases,
still the tumult of the people,
It is also to be looked upon as an act of God’s mercy to the world of
mankind and an instance of his patience towards that provoking grace.
Though he could easily cover the earth again with the waters of the sea
(and, methinks, every flowing tide twice a day threatens us, and shows
what the sea could do, and would do, if God would give it leave), yet
he restrains them, being not willing that any should perish, and having
reserved the world that now is unto fire,
2 Pet. iii. 7.
| Works of God. | B. C. 1520. |
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12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused
the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the
wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a
garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high
arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou
walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou
seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if
thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for
darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that
thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because
the number of thy days is great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast
thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against
the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east
wind upon the earth?
The Lord here proceeds to ask Job many puzzling questions, to convince
him of his ignorance, and so to shame him for his folly in prescribing
to God. If we will but try ourselves with such interrogatories as
these, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in
comparison with what we know not. Job is here challenged to give an
account of six things:–
I. Of the springs of the morning, the day-spring from on high,
As there is no visible being of which we may be more firmly assured
that it is, so there is none which we are more puzzled in describing,
nor more doubtful in determining what it is, than the light. We welcome
the morning, and are glad of the day-spring; but,
1. It is not commanded since our days, but what it is it was long
before we were born, so that it was neither made by us nor designed
primarily for us, but we take it as we find it and as the many
generations had it that went before us. The day-spring knew its place
before we knew ours, for we are but of yesterday.
2. It was not we, it was not any man that commanded the morning-light
at first, or appointed the place of its springing up and shining forth,
or the time of it. The constant and regular succession of day and night
was no contrivance of ours; it is the glory of God that it shows, and
his handy work, not ours,
3. It is quite out of our power to alter this course: “Hast thou
countermanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou at any time
raised the morning light sooner than its appointed time, to serve thy
purpose when thou hast waited for the morning, or ordered the
day-spring for thy convenience to any other place than its own? No,
never. Why then wilt thou pretend to direct the divine counsels, or
expect to have the methods of Providence altered in favour of thee?” We
may as soon break the covenant of the day and of the night as any part
of God’s covenant with his people, and particularly this, I will
chasten them with the rod of men.
4. It is God that has appointed the day-spring to visit the earth, and
diffuses the morning light through the air, which receives it as
readily as the clay does the seal
(v. 14),
immediately admitting the impressions of it, so as of a sudden to be
all over enlightened by it, as the seal stamps its image on the wax;
and they stand as a garment, or as if they were clothed with a
garment. The earth puts on a new face every morning, and dresses itself
as we do, puts on light as a garment, and is then to be seen.
5. This is made a terror to evil-doers. Nothing is more comfortable to
mankind than the light of the morning; it is pleasant to the eyes, it
is serviceable to life and the business of it, and the favour of it is
universally extended, for it takes hold of the ends of the earth
(v. 13),
and we should dwell, in our hymns to the light, on its advantages to
the earth. But God here observes how unwelcome it is to those that do
evil, and therefore hate the light. God makes the light a minister of
his justice as well as of his mercy. It is designed to shake the
wicked out of the earth, and for that purpose it takes hold of
the ends of it, as we take hold of the ends of a garment to shake
the dust and moths out of it. Job had observed what a terror the
morning light is to criminals, because it discovers them
&c.), and God here seconds the observation, and asks him whether the
world was indebted to him for that kindness? No, the great Judge of the
world sends forth the beams of the morning light as his messengers to
detect criminals, that they may not only be defeated in their purposes
and put to shame, but that they may be brought to condign punishment
(v. 15),
that their light may be withholden from them (that is, that they
may lose their comfort, their confidence, their liberties, their lives)
and that their high arm, which they have lifted up against God
and man, may be broken, and they deprived of their power to do
mischief. Whether what is here said of the morning light was designed
to represent, as in a figure, the light of the gospel of Christ, and to
give a type of it, I will not say; but I am sure it may serve to put us
in mind of the encomiums given to the gospel just at the rising of its
morning-star by Zecharias in his Benedictus
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,
2 Cor. iv. 6),
and by the virgin Mary in her Magnificat
(Luke i. 51),
showing that God, in his gospel, has shown strength with his arm,
scattered the proud, and put down the mighty, by that light by
which he designed to shake the wicked, to shake wickedness itself out
of the earth, and break its high arm.
II. Of the springs of the sea
(v. 16):
“Hast thou entered into them, or hast thou walked in the
search of the depth? Knowest thou what lies in the bottom of the
sea, the treasures there hidden in the sands? Or canst thou give an
account of the rise and original of the waters of the sea? Vapours are
continually exhaled out of the sea. Dost thou know how the recruits
are raised by which it is continually supplied? Rivers are constantly
poured into the sea. Dost thou know how they are continually
discharged, so as not to overflow the earth? Art thou acquainted with
the secret subterraneous passages by which the waters circulate?” God’s
way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea, and
in the great waters
intimating that it is hidden from us and not to be pried into by
us.
III. Of the gates of death: Have these been open to thee?
v. 16.
Death is a grand secret.
1. We know not beforehand when, and how, and by what means, we or
others shall be brought to death, by what road we must go the way
whence we shall not return, what disease or what disaster will be the
door to let us into the house appointed for all living. Man knows
not his time.
2. We cannot describe what death is, how the knot is untied between
body and soul, nor how the spirit of a man goes upward
to be we know not what and live we know not how, as Mr. Norris
expresses; with what dreadful curiosity (says he) does the soul launch
out into the vast ocean of eternity and resign to an untried abyss! Let
us make it sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the
other side death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of
death, though it is a way we are to go but once.
3. We have no correspondence at all with separate souls, nor any
acquaintance with their state. It is an unknown undiscovered region to
which they are removed; we can neither hear from them nor send to them.
While we are here, in a world of sense, we speak of the world of
spirits as blind men do of colours, and when we remove thither we shall
be amazed to find how much we are mistaken.
IV. Of the breadth of the earth
(v. 18):
Hast thou perceived that? The knowledge of this might seem most
level to him and within his reach; yet he is challenged to declare this
if he can. We have our residence on the earth, God has given it to the
children of men. But who ever surveyed it, or could give an account of
the number of its acres? It is but a point to the universe? yet, small
as it is, we cannot be exact in declaring the dimensions of it. Job had
never sailed round the world, nor any before him; so little did men
know the breadth of the earth that it was but a few ages ago that the
vast continent of America was discovered, which had, time out of mind,
lain hidden. The divine perfection is longer than the earth and broader
than the sea; it is therefore presumption for us, who perceive not the
breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God’s counsels.
V. Of the place and way of light and darkness. Of the day-spring he had
spoken before
(v. 12)
and he returns to speak of it again
(v. 19):
Where is the way where light dwells? And again
(v. 24):
By what way is the light parted? He challenges him to describe,
1. How the light and darkness were at first made. When God, in the
beginning, first spread darkness upon the face of the deep, and
afterwards commanded the light to shine out of darkness, by that mighty
word, Let there be light, was Job a witness to the order, to the
operation? can he tell where the fountains of light and darkness are,
and where those mighty princes keep their courts distance, while in one
world they rule alternately? Though we long ever so much either for the
shining forth of the morning or the shadows of the evening, we know not
whither to send, or go, to fetch them, nor can tell the paths to the
house thereof,
v. 20.
We were not then born, nor is the number of our days so great that we
can describe the birth of that first-born of the visible creation,
Shall we then undertake to discourse of God’s counsels, which were from
eternity, or to find out the paths to the house thereof, to solicit for
the alteration of them? God glories in it that he forms the light and
creates the darkness; and if we must take those as we find them, take
those as they come, and quarrel with neither, but make the best of
both, then we must, in like manner, accommodate ourselves to the peace
and the evil which God likewise created.
2. How they still keep their turns interchangeably. It is God that
makes the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice
(Ps. lxv. 8);
for it is his order, and no order of ours, that is executed by the
outgoings of the morning light and the darkness of the night. We cannot
so much as tell whence they come nor whither they go
(v. 24):
By what way is the light parted in the morning, when, in an
instant, it shoots itself into all the parts of the air above the
horizon, as if the morning light flew upon the wings of an east wind,
so swiftly, so strongly, is it carried, scattering the darkness of the
night, as the east wind does the clouds? Hence we read of the wings
of the morning
on which the light is conveyed to the uttermost parts of the
sea, and scattered like an east wind upon the earth. It is a
marvellous change that passes over us every morning by the return of
the light and every evening by the return of the darkness; but we
expect them, and so they are no surprise nor uneasiness to us. If we
would, in like manner, reckon upon changes in our outward condition, we
should neither in the brightest noon expect perpetual day nor in the
darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning. God has set the
one over against the other, like the day and night; and so must we,
VI. Of the treasures of the snow and hail
(v. 22, 23):
“Hast thou entered into these and taken a view of them?” In the
clouds the snow and hail are generated, and thence they come in such
abundance that one would think there were treasures of them laid up in
store there, whereas indeed they are produced
extempore—suddenly, as I may say, and pro re
nata—for the occasion. Sometimes they come so opportunely,
to serve the purposes of Providence, in God’s fighting for his people
and against his and their enemies, that one would think they were laid
up as magazines, or stores of arms, ammunition, and provisions, against
the time of trouble, the day of battle and war, when God will
either contend with the world in general (as in the deluge, when the
windows of heaven were opened, and the waters fetched out of these
treasures to drown a wicked world, that waged war with Heaven) or with
some particular persons or parties, as when God out of these treasures
fetched great hail-stones wherewith to fight against the Canaanites,
See what folly it is to strive against God, who is thus prepared for
battle and war, and how much it is our interest to make our peace with
him and to keep ourselves in his love. God can fight as effectually
with snow and hail, if he please, as with thunder and lightning or the
sword of an angel!
| God’s Sovereign Dominion and Goodness. | B. C. 1520. |
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25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of
waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on
the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the
bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of
dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of
heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the
deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst
thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the
dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance
of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto
thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given
understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the
bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave
fast together?
39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite
of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert
to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones
cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Hitherto God had put such questions to Job as were proper to convince
him of his ignorance and short-sightedness. Now he comes, in the same
manner, to show his impotency and weakness. As it is but little that he
knows, and therefore he ought not to arraign the divine counsels, so it
is but little that he can do, and therefore he ought not to oppose the
proceedings of Providence. Let him consider what great things God does,
and try whether he can do the like, or whether he thinks himself an
equal match for him.
I. God has thunder, and lightning, and rain, and frost, at command, but
Job has not, and therefore let him not dare to compare himself with
God, or to contend with him. Nothing is more uncertain than what
weather it shall be, nor more out of our reach to appoint; it shall be
what weather pleases God, not what pleases us, unless, as becomes us,
whatever pleases God pleases us. Concerning this observe here,
1. How great God is.
(1.) He has a sovereign dominion over the waters, has appointed them
their course, even then when they seem to overflow and to be from under
his check,
He has divided a water-course, directs the rain where to fall,
even when the shower is most violent, with as much certainty as if it
were conveyed by canals or conduit-pipes. Thus the hearts of kings are
said to be in God’s hand; and as the rains, those rivers of God,
he turns them whithersoever he will. Every drop goes as it is directed.
God has sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more return to cover
the earth; and we see that he is able to make good what he has
promised, for he has the rain in a water-course.
(2.) He has dominion over the lightning and the thunder, which go not
at random, but in the way that he directs them. They are mentioned here
because he prepares the lightnings for the rain,
Ps. cxxxv. 7.
Let not those that fear God be afraid of the lightning or the thunder,
for they are not blind bullets, but go the way that God himself, who
means no hurt to them, directs.
(3.) In directing the course of the rain he does not neglect the
wilderness, the desert land
(v. 26, 27),
where no man is.
[1.] Where there is no man to be employed in taking care of the
productions. God’s providence reaches further than man’s industry. If
he had not more kindness for many of the inferior creatures than man
has, it would go ill with them. God can make the earth fruitful without
any art or pains of ours,
When there was not a man to till the ground, yet there went up a
mist and watered it. But we cannot make it fruitful without God; it is
he that gives the increase.
[2.] Where there is no man to be provided for nor to take the benefit
of the fruits that are produced. Though God does with very peculiar
favour visit and regard man, yet he does not overlook the inferior
creatures, but causes the bud of the tender herb to spring forth for
food for all flesh, as well as for the service of man. Even
the wild asses shall have their thirst quenched,
God has enough for all, and wonderfully provides even for those
creatures that man neither has service from nor makes provision
for.
(4.) He is, in a sense, the Father of the rain,
v. 28.
It has no other father. He produces it by his power; he governs and
directs it, and makes what use he pleases of it. Even the small drops
of the dew he distils upon the earth, as the God of nature; and, as the
God of grace, he rains righteousness upon us and is himself as the dew
unto Israel. See
(5.) The ice and the frost, by which the waters are congealed and the
earth incrustrated, are produced by his providence,
These are very common things, which lessens the strangeness of them.
But, considering what a vast change is made by them in a very little
time, how the waters are hid as with a stone, as with a grave-stone,
laid upon them (so thick, so strong, is the ice that covers them), and
the face even of the deep is sometimes frozen, we may well ask, “Out
of whose womb came the ice? What created power could produce such a
wonderful work?” No power but that of the Creator himself. Frost and
snow come from him, and therefore should lead our thoughts and
meditations to him who does such great things, past finding out. And we
shall the more easily bear the inconveniences of winter-weather if we
learn to make this good use of it.
2. How weak man is. Can he do such things as these? Could Job? No,
(1.) He cannot command one shower of rain for the relief of himself or
his friends: “Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, those
bottles of heaven, that abundance of waters may cover thee, to
water thy fields when they are dry and parched?” If we lift up our
voice to God, to pray for rain, we may have it
(Zech. x. 1);
but if we lift up our voice to the clouds, to demand it, they will soon
tell us they are not at our beck, and we shall go without it,
The heavens will not her the earth unless God hear them,
See what poor, indigent, depending creatures we are; we cannot do
without rain, nor can we have it when we will.
(2.) He cannot commission one flash of lightning, if he had a mind to
make use of it for the terror of his enemies
(v. 35):
“Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go on thy errand, and
do the execution thou desirest? Will they come at thy call, and say
unto thee, Here we are?” No, the ministers of God’s wrath will
not be ministers of ours. Why should they, since the wrath of man
works not the righteousness of God? See
II. God has the stars of heaven under his command and cognizance, but
we have them not under ours. Our meditations are now to rise higher,
far above the clouds, to the glorious lights above. God mentions
particularly, not the planets, which move in lower orbs, but the fixed
stars, which are much higher. It is supposed that they have an
influence upon this earth, notwithstanding their vast distance, not
upon the minds of men or the events of providence (men’s fate is not
determined by their stars), but upon the ordinary course of nature;
they are set for signs and seasons, for days and years,
And if the stars have such a dominion over this earth
(v. 33),
though they have their place in the heavens and are but mere matter,
much more has he who is their Maker and ours, and who is an Eternal
Mind. Now see how weak we are.
1. We cannot alter the influences of the stars
(v. 31),
not theirs that are instrumental to produce the pleasures of the
spring: Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?–that magnificent
constellation which makes so great a figure (none greater), and
dispenses rough and unpleasing influences, which we cannot control nor
repel. Both summer and winter will have their course. God can change
them when he pleases, can make the spring cold, and so bind the sweet
influences of Pleiades, and the winter warm, and so loose the bands of
Orion; but we cannot.
2. It is not in our power to order the motions of the stars, nor are
we entrusted with the guidance of them. God, who calls the stars by
their names
calls them forth in their respective seasons, appointing them the time
of their rising and setting. But this is not our province; we cannot
bring forth Mazzaroth–the stars in the southern signs, nor
guide Arcturus–those in the northern,
God can bring forth the stars to battle (as he did when in their
courses they fought against Sisera) and guide them in the attacks they
are ordered to make; but man cannot do so.
3. We are not only unconcerned in the government of the stars (the
government they are under, and the government they are entrusted with,
for they both rule and are ruled), but utterly unacquainted with it; we
know not the ordinances of heaven,
v. 33.
So far are we from being able to change them that we can give no
account of them; they are a secret to us. Shall we then pretend to know
God’s counsels, and the reasons of them? If it were left to us to set
the dominion of the stars upon the earth, we should soon be at a loss.
Shall we then teach God how to govern the world?
III. God is the author and giver, the father and fountain, of all
wisdom and understanding,
The souls of men are nobler and more excellent beings than the stars of
heaven themselves, and shine more brightly. The powers and faculties of
reason with which man is endued, and the wonderful performances of
thought, bring him into some alliance to the blessed angels; and whence
comes this light, but from the Father of lights? Who else has
put wisdom into the inner parts of man, and given understanding
to the heart?
1. The rational soul itself, and its capacities, come from him as the
God of nature; for he forms the spirit of man within him. We did not
make our own souls, nor can we describe how they act, nor how they are
united to our bodies. He only that made them knows them, and knows how
to manage them. He fashioneth men’s hearts alike in some things, and
yet unlike in others.
2. True wisdom, with its furniture and improvement, comes from him as
the God of grace and the Father of every good and perfect gift. Shall
we pretend to be wiser than God, when we have all our wisdom from him?
Nay, shall we pretend to be wise above our sphere, and beyond the
limits which he that gave us our understanding sets to it? He designed
we should with it serve God and do our duty, but never intended we
should with it set up for directors of the stars or the lightning.
IV. God has the clouds under his cognizance and government, but so have
not we,
Can any man, with all his wisdom, undertake to number the
clouds, or (as it may be read) to declare and describe the
nature of them? Though they are near us, in our own atmosphere, yet
we know little more of them than of the stars which are at so great a
distance. And when the clouds have poured down rain in abundance, so
that the dust grows into solid mire and the clods cleave fast
together
(v. 38),
who can stay the bottles of heaven? Who can stop them, that it
may not always rain? The power and goodness of God are herein to be
acknowledged, that he gives the earth rain enough, but does not surfeit
it, softens it, but does not drown it, makes it fit for the plough, but
not unfit for the seed. As we cannot command a shower of rain, so we
cannot command a fair day, without God; so necessary, so constant, is
our dependence upon him.
V. God provides food for the inferior creatures, and it is by his
providence, not by any care or pains of ours, that they are fed. The
following chapter is wholly taken up with the instances of God’s power
and goodness about animals, and therefore some transfer to it the last
three verses of this chapter, which speak of the provision made,
1. For the lions,
“Thou dost not pretend that the clouds and stars have any dependence
upon thee, for they are above thee; but on the earth thou thinkest
thyself paramount; let us try that then: Wilt thou hunt the prey for
the lion? Thou valuest thyself upon thy possessions of cattle which
thou wast once owner of, the oxen, and asses, and camels, that were fed
at thy crib; but wilt thou undertake the maintenance of the lions, and
the young lions, when they couch in their dens, waiting for a
prey? No, needest not do it, they can shift for themselves without
thee: thou canst not do it, for thou hast not wherewithal to satisfy
them: thou darest not do it; shouldst thou come to feed them, they
would seize upon thee. But I do it.” See the all-sufficiency of the
divine providence: it has wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every
living thing, even the most ravenous. See the bounty of the divine
Providence, that, wherever it has given life, it will give livelihood,
even to those creatures that are not only not serviceable, but
dangerous, to man. And see its sovereignty, that it suffers some
creatures to be killed for the support of other creatures. The
harmless sheep are torn to pieces, to fill the appetite of the young
lions, who yet sometimes are made to lack and suffer hunger, to
punish them for their cruelty, while those that fear God want no good
thing.
2. For the young ravens,
As ravenous beasts, so ravenous birds, are fed by the divine
Providence. Who but God provides for the raven his food?
Man does not; he takes care only of those creatures that are, or may
be, useful to him. But God has a regard to all the works of his hands,
even the meanest and least valuable. The ravens’ young ones are
in a special manner necessitous, and God supplies them,
God’s feeding the fowls, especially these fowls
(Matt. vi. 26),
is an encouragement to us to trust him for our daily bread. See here,
(1.) What distress the young ravens are often in: They wander for
lack of meat. The old ones, they say, neglect them, and do not
provide for them as other birds do for their young: and indeed those
that are ravenous to others are commonly barbarous to their own, and
unnatural.
(2.) What they are supposed to do in that distress: They cry,
for they are noisy clamorous creatures, and this is interpreted as
crying to God. It being the cry of nature, it is looked upon as
directed to the God of nature. The putting of so favourable a
construction as this upon the cries of the young ravens may encourage
us in our prayers, though we can but cry, Abba, Father.
(3.) What God does for them. Some way or other he provides for them, so
that they grow up, and come to maturity. And he that takes this care of
the young ravens certainly will not be wanting to his people or theirs.
This, being but one instance of many of the divine compassion, may give
us occasion to think how much good our God does, every day, beyond what
we are aware of.
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