The Revelation Of The Lord
Job 38-42

The Lord's First Challenge To Job

Job 38:1-40:2

• "In the final four chapters of this book we can count 77 questions, many of which man cannot even answer today. While the pursuit of scientific research is the legitimate pursuit of the mandate that God commissioned man with in the Garden of Eden (Gen 1:28), the tragedy is that man has insisted on pursuing rationalizations independent of acknowledging the initiatives and nurturing of the Creator and His handiwork." (Missler)
• "Science, which should have been the great testimony to the majesty and glory of God, has, instead, become a device for ignoring and rejecting him, and preying on the uninformed." (Missler)
• The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. (Job 38:1)
• For the first time since the prologue, God's special name, YHWH, is used.
• God announces that he's going to give a quiz. (Job 38:2-3)
• "God challenges Job who, by his ignorant words, has been 'darkening the light' that could have come to him. [How many times have we done the same thing? We can't be listening when we are speaking!]" (Missler)
• God asks many questions that are designed to show that in the grand scheme of things, man is not nearly as important as man thinks he is. (Job 38:4-39:30)
• "God now subjects Job to a series of questions in three different areas: 1) God's Creation; 2) God's Providential Care (& balance in nature); 3) His Restraing of the Forces of Evil in the World." (Missler)
• God's first question is, "Were you there?" This helps show that one of the most important aspects of being human is observation. Since no one was around to observe the Creation, all we are left with are conjectures masquerading as conclusions.
• God discusses many aspects of science throughout the rest of the book. E.g.: 1) the rotation of the earth (v. 12-15); 2) the springs and pathways of the sea (v. 16); 3) the breadth of the earth (v. 18); 4) the travel of light (v. 19); 5) the dividing of light (v. 24); 6) the source of rain, and ice (v. 28-30); 7) the universal nature of physical laws (v. 33); 8) electrical transmission of communications (v. 35).
• God talks about commanding the morning (v. 12). The precession of the earth causes the sun to rise in a different place each morning according to the seasons.
• God talks about the oceans. The secrets of the deep are still hargely hidden from us.
• God talks about death (v. 17). Death is still a mystery to us.
• God talks about light. (v. 19-20). The nature of light is still illusive - is it a particle? is it a wave?
• God questions why beauty exists. (v. 26-27) Flowers don't need to be beautiful - bees are color blind. Why are things beautiful even when there's no one around to see it?
• God mentions that the face of the deep is frozen (v. 30). Ice violates a basic physical law. Virtually all materials expand when heated, contract when cooled. Watter follows a strange exception by expanding when it freezes. If it didn't, life on earth would prove inmpossible if ice didn't float and rivers froze from the bottom up.
• God talks about the constellations Pleiades and Orion (v. 31). There are only two constellations in the heavens that are actually gravitationally linked: the Pleiades and Orion. The other groupings are of stars that are actually quite distant from each other and only appear to be a grouping... How did the writer know this?
• Job 38:39-41 really belong in Chapter 39.
• God points out that he supplies the needs of the animals. God preserves the species - it is man who wipes them out. (Job 38:39-41)
• Who gave the animals their instincts? Who gave the animals their diversity? God. Why? Just because. (Job 39:1-8)
• Some animals can be domesticated. Some animals are untamable. God has given them this untamable nature. (Job 39:9-12)
• One of the most humorous passages of scripture is where God takes the blame for the crazy design of the flightless ostrich - faster than a horse, but leaves her eggs unguarded on the earth. (Job 39:13-18)
• Other animals that seem to point out God's sense of humor: the camel ("a horse designed by a committee"), the elphant ("a horse built to military specifications"), the duck-billed platypus (looks like it was assembled from leftover parts), etc.
• God talks about the horse: an animal that loves conflict and competition. (Job 39:19-25)
• God emphasizes the hawk and the eagle. (Job 39:26-30)
• Then the Lord turns directly to Job and asks if he's able to argue with God. God asks Job how many of the questions he's asked Job was able to answer. (Job 40:1-2)

Job's Response

Job 40:3-5

• Job recognizes that he's out of his league. (Job 40:3-5)

The Lord's Second Challenge To Job

Job 40:6-41:34

• God now brings in the question of moral judgement to the discussion. He invites Job to sit in God's throne and see what he would do with the problems that God faces. (Job 40:6-8)
• God questions whether Job has the power that God has. Specifically, he asks Job if he can handle the proud. (Job 40:9-11)
• God tells Job that if he can handle the proud, he will be able to handle his own problems and give himself the victory as he previously claimed. (Job 40:12-14)
• God now describes two animals that apparently are now extinct: the behemoth and the leviathan. Thes may have been chosen to exemplify untameable evil. However, since God describes their diet, their habitat, their physical strength, their fierceness, etc. in detail, we can assume that these are descriptions of real creatures.
• God mentions the behemoth. Some thing that the behemoth is either the hippopotamus, an elephant, or a rhinocerous. These theories are easily refuted by the text - the behemoth must be a different kind of animal. No known living animals conform to the characteristics described. Perhaps the behemoth is a dinosaur like the brachiosaurus. (Job 40:15-24)
• God now describes a type of sea dragon which is translated leviathan. Some people thing that the leviathan refers to a crocodile or a whale, but again, the text easily refutes that. Again, perhaps the leviathan refers to some sort of dinosaur. (Job 41)
• Apparently, the leviathan was fire-breathing. (Job 41:19-21)
• "It is interesting that some dinosaur fossils have been excavated that show a strange protuberance with an internal cavity on the top of the head. It has been suggested that this might have served as a mixing chamber for combustible gases that would ignite when exhaled into the outside oxygen." (Missler)
• Is fire-breathing unthinkable? No. Consider the bombardier beetle - a beetle which has an internal cavity in which they secrete a defensive fluid which, when released, creates a small explosion and a smoke screen that the beetle can use as cover when escaping prey.
• The leviathan brings to mind images of a dragon. Dragon lore is common in early history - in the Middle East, in Greek and Roman culture, in Chineese and Japanese culture.
• Some of the references to to the leviathan cannot apply literally to any animal and seem to apply ultimately to Satan.
• The leviathan is also referenced in Psalm 104:25.
• "Some think that these creatures are mythical, legendary creatures, like the unicorn or the dragon. But while it is more likely that these may well have been actual creatures, they may also symbolized that which is invisible and supernatural." (Misler)

Job's Humble Response

Job 42:1-6

• Notice that Job has a new view of God - Job knows that God can do everything. It's a view that has expended tremendously. Job now sees the absolute sovereignty of God. He see how God's actions are consistant with his character of love. Job also has a new view of himself.
• Job's response is that he abhors himself - that is repentance. He admints that he is ignorant. He admits that he is arrogant.
• "Job has finally given up trying to defend and justify himself, so God begins to heal him and to pour into his life blessing he has never dreamed of." (Missler)
• This reminds us of one of the beattitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Epilogue: The Triumph Of Job

Job 42:7-17

• God turns his attention to Eliphaz and condemns the advice that Eliphaz had given. (Job 42:7)
• This admonition of Job's friends was certainly a shock to them. They thought that they had been giving good advice, but in reality, their advice was woefully incomplete. This is what has offended God: Job's friends have painted a picture of God as simply a neutral judge, without compassion. God is using this opportunity to show his compassion.
• Recap of the main points from Job's friends: Eliphaz (the Elequent) bases his argument on his own observation and experience and says "Job suffers because he has sinned." Bildad (the Brutal) bases his argument on tradition and says "Job is a hypocrite." Zophar (the Zealous) bases his argument on assumptions of orthodox dogma and says "Job is a wicked man." (Missler)
• God tells Eliphaz to make offerings, but to do it through Job. This is incredibly humiliating. God tells Job to pray for his friends. (Job 42:8)
• Remember through all his suffering, Job takes his problem to God - he prays. Job's friends never pray for him. Now we see God telling Job to pray for his friends. This is a great example for us. It also shows that intecessory prayer is powerful. "Here is a beautiful picture of forgiveness. Job probably prayed: 'O Lord, here are these three friends of mine. They have been stubborn, hard-headed, foolish, ignorant - just like I was. You forgave me and now I ask you to forgive them as well.' (Cf. Ephesians 4:32; Col 3:13) (Missler)
• Jobs friends did what God commanded them. (Job 42:9)
• God gave Job twice what he had before the suffering. (Job 42:10)
• Note that Job's children were not doubled. Why? Well, the first group of children were never completely taken away - Job will be restored to them in heaven.
• All of Job's family and friends came to visit, bringing gifts (Job 42:11)
• The names of Job's daughters are significant: Jemima means dove (peace), Kezia means cassia (a rare purfume), and Kerenhappuch means "horn of adornment" (beauty). (Job 42:14)
• Remember what Paul says about suffering in Romans 5:3-4: "but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:"
• Job's daughters were knockouts. Job included them in his inheritance. (Job 42:15)
• Job lived to be 140 and died happy. Job was probably about 70 when the book opened. (Job 42:16-17)
• God has really blessed Job.
• "Job teaches us that suffering is a means by which evil is answered and God is vindicated." (Missler)