Notes on Job 38-42

by Grant Thorpe

Chapters 38 and 39

God did not answer Job with an explanation of himself but with a questioning of Job. God had not acted inappropriately and did not need to explain himself. He asked Job about the creation, a creation in which evil was a reality (38:13, 15). He asked Job about his own place in it. Could he comprehend or control it, or bring on a flood at its appropriate time (38:34). Did Job understand why an ostrich was made with no understanding, or could he create a creature like a horse with so much nobility.

Does each new discovery bring us closer to deity? Rather, each discovery opens up a new field of knowledge so vast that in fact what seemed to be a small distance now becomes a vast panorama. We don't actually become exponentially closer to God, we become exponentially more amazed at the distinction between God being creator and ourselves living in space and time as his creatures. Far better to live as creatures and gladly accept our humanity. In fact, we already have proximity to him-by his love and his coming to us as Creator. This enables us to live contentedly as creatures, all the while exploring with fascination and with diligence and with purpose but never with the intention to become something we're not.

Job had asked that he might be in court with God to plead his case. Now, God had summoned him and asked him to quit himself like a man. But God would do the questioning and Job must respond. Now Job knew that he was of small account, and that he will not answer. But Job was in God's presence; he had held conversation with God and heard his voice

It is for the benefit of our health to know God without explaining him. It is the seeking for explanations for things that cannot be explained that turns us humans into devils. Well may the circumstances of this life drive us to ask that we may have an encounter with God, though they take us to the very edge of our humanity. By faith we believe there is a God who will justify us, that is, bring us into His presence as sons and daughters who are beloved and approved.

Although Job was reproved, God had responded to his servant and vindicated him by speaking to him, to give him the wisdom that he lacked. In this court, Job's well being depended not on human counsel and agreement but on being a creature before God.

Chapters 40 and 41

God granted Job's wish to be a whole man in God's presence. But Job had sought to be justified by finding fault with God (40:8). At the end of the story Job would be justified before God, but not on the grounds of finding fault with God. God's second questioning of Job was more probing than the first. It dealt not just with human evil in the world but with whether Job can do what he wills with the proud and the arrogant and the evil, and whether he can abase them. If Job could do this, then God would acknowledge that Job could actually bring victory not only to himself but to the whole creation, for nothing less is necessary for the peace of the earth and for its coming to its goal. With this in mind, we can better see the majesty of Jesus' claim to have come to destroy the works of the devil.

Behemoth and Leviathan were creatures of God and were used as symbols of proud and wicked humanity because they were uncontrollable. Behemoth was the first of God's great acts and could only be approached by its Maker. How would Job survive in this Leviathan's presence? How would he tame it so that a girl could lead it on a rope? The purpose of God in the earth is not just the suppression of the evil, but the bringing of all things to their proper goal to serve the ends of God. Only Christ has been able to approach Behemoth and only Christ has faced the fury of Leviathan. On the cross He faced the fury of this entire evil world so as to be its Master.

Chapter 42

Job had nothing more to say. His desire to be in God's court and to justify himself was gone. He was no longer concerned with his place in God's presence but with God Himself.

Job's three friends had been silenced, Elihu had been ignored, and now Job himself was silent. But Job's three friends were instructed to seek the prayers of Job and to offer an offering that they may be spared from the wrath of God for their failure to truly represent the truth of God to Job. But now, Job, having seen God, could faithfully represent the truth of God to his friends, and pray for their salvation.

In the days before Christ brought life and immortality to light, the appropriate ending for a person's life was that they would see their children and children's children, and prosper in this life and be surrounded with their friends. When Job had prayed for his friends, these gifts were given to him as God's witness to his favour on his life.

Clearly there are mysteries in this life, particularly mysteries that are focused in times of suffering and that cannot be unravelled and must be left with God. God showed Job that he was God, that only he could be God, and that to know this was peace and fruitfulness in this life.