381 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said , 2 "Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge ? 3 "Now gird up your loins like a man , And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth ? Tell Me, if you have understanding , 5 Who set its measurements ? Since you know . Or who stretched the line on it? 6 "On what were its bases sunk ? Or who laid its cornerstone e , 7 When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy ? 8 "Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth , it went out from the womb ; 9 When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band , 10 And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors , 11 And I said , 'Thus far you shall come , but no farther ; And here shall your proud waves stop '?
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.