381 And Jehovah 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; and I will demand of thee, and inform thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who set the measures thereof—if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it? 6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 And who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing out of the womb? 9 When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it; 10 When I cut out for it my boundary, and set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 38:1-11
Commentary on Job 38:1-3
(Read Job 38:1-3)
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.
Commentary on Job 38:4-11
(Read Job 38:4-11)
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.