381 And Jehovah answereth Job out of the whirlwind, and saith:— 2 Who 'is' this—darkening counsel, By words without knowledge? 3 Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.
4 Where wast thou when I founded earth? Declare, if thou hast known understanding. 5 Who placed its measures—if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched out upon it a line? 6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who hath cast its corner-stone? 7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy, 8 And He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out. 9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 And I measure over it My statute, And place bar and doors, 11 And say, 'Hitherto come thou, and add not, And a command is placed On the pride of thy billows.'
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.