Class 11, Chapters 38 to 40

Chapter 38, God

38:2—darkens counsel—could be discouraging counsel or confuses

38:4-18—God asks Job many rhetorical questions about Job’s knowledge of things only God can know. This might sound harsh—question after question when Job is probably scared—but Job justified himself rather than God (32:2).

Job forgot that God’s wisdom and perfection are apparent and his works are manifested from his perfection regardless of what we know or if we understand it.

38:19-30—God works wonders that man cannot duplicate

38:31-33—space—Mazzaroth—Hebrew word for constellations

A star trek fan called in to report the positions of the stars were incorrect in an episode. Who decided where these stars belong??

38:35—One of my favorite verses in Job

38:39-41—God is the ultimate provider—of wisdom and everything else we need. He attends to the needs of the animals and knows when they are hungry.

Chapter 39, God

39:1-4—mankind could have an idea of the birth cycles of mountain goats but the emphasis is probably that God knows better since he made it that way.

39:5-8—wild donkey: Lives in the dry places away from cities. It eats whatever green he finds.

39:9-12—wild ox—God made it wild; man cannot control it and use it for his purposes.

39:13-18—Ostrich—the ostrich seems to deal harshly with her young, at least as we would see it. God has made it this way—he doesn’t say why he hasn’t given her a share in understanding. God has his own reasons (which he doesn’t always explain).

***I picture the ostrich laughing at the horse as the ostrich runs away and the horse runs into the picture. The horse is arriving and is next to be described by God.***

39:19-25—the horse—the horse is mighty. He doesn’t fear battles but is made for them. He knows it’s his time to act and fulfill his purpose when the battle trumpet sounds.

39:26—Hawk

39:27—Eagle—God mentions the eagle’s eyesight. If we could trade eyes with an eagle we could look down at the ground from a 10 story building and see an ant crawling on the ground. Eagles have a 340-degree visual field. They have more color perception and objects in their line of sight appear magnified. Their vision is 5x better than a human’s with perfect vision. Pretty impressive.

39:30—where the corpse is…Matthew 24:28

Chapter 40, Job and God's Response

40:2—is a human to argue with God?

40:3-5—what can I say to you God? I’m small and will not speak to you; I’m not worthy.

40:7—we’re not done yet Job. Get ready to inform me from your stores of wisdom…..

40:8—can you justify yourself by saying God is in the wrong?

***We are stubborn to yield to God’s word when it disagrees with our opinions. We are “right” and we find ways to write off what God has said (or so we think)***

40:9—see Isaiah 63:12

Mount Sinai—Exodus 19:19

40:10-14—glorify yourself, eliminate the wicked right where they stand and punish foolish pride (everywhere on the earth, by the way). If you can do all of this, God will say you have the power to save yourself.

***Psalm 73 shows a good example of our human response to the wicked. We are unable to do what God is challenging Job in these verses, even rulers can’t strike people where they stand as God can.***

40:15-24—Behemoth—may be an elephant, who knows? It’s very strong. The word “tail” in verse 17 could be any extremity (leading some people to think it could refer to an elephant trunk). Behemoth isn’t described as being aggressive toward people, just very strong and impressive.  He eats grass! This spares many animals that it would probably take to feed it if they were his food instead. God has his own reasons for making things as they are.

40:24—rhetorical