mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 38.xml

<div2 id="Job.xxxix" n="xxxix" next="Job.xl" prev="Job.xxxviii" progress="18.96%" title="Chapter XXXVIII">
<h2 id="Job.xxxix-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xxxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xxxix-p1">In most disputes the strife is who shall have the
last word. Job's friends had, in this controversy, tamely yielded
it to Job, and then he to Elihu. But, after all the wranglings of
the counsel at bar, the judge upon the bench must have the last
word; so God had here, and so he will have in every controversy,
for every man's judgment proceeds from him and by his definitive
sentence every man must stand or fall and every cause be won or
lost. Job had often appealed to God, and had talked boldly how he
would order his cause before him, and as a prince would he go near
unto him; but, when God took the throne, Job had nothing to say in
his own defence, but was silent before him. It is not so easy a
matter as some think it to contest with the Almighty. Job's friends
had sometimes appealed to God too: "O that God would speak!"
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.11.7" parsed="|Job|11|7|0|0" passage="Job 11:7"><i>ch.</i> xi. 7</scripRef>. And now,
at length, God does speak, when Job, by Elihu's clear and close
arguings was mollified a little, and mortified, and so prepared to
hear what God had to say. It is the office of ministers to prepare
the way of the Lord. That which the great God designs in this
discourse is to humble Job, and bring him to repent of, and to
recant, his passionate indecent expressions concerning God's
providential dealings with him; and this he does by calling upon
Job to compare God's eternity with his own time, God's omniscience
with his own ignorance, and God's omnipotence with his own
impotency. I. He begins with an awakening challenge and demand in
general, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.2-Job.38.3" parsed="|Job|38|2|38|3" passage="Job 38:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. II.
He proceeds in divers particular instances and proofs of Job's
utter inability to contend with God, because of his ignorance and
weakness: for, 1. He knew nothing of the founding of the earth,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.4-Job.38.7" parsed="|Job|38|4|38|7" passage="Job 38:4-7">ver. 4-7</scripRef>. 2. Nothing of
the limiting of the sea, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.8-Job.38.11" parsed="|Job|38|8|38|11" passage="Job 38:8-11">ver.
8-11</scripRef>. 3. Nothing of the morning light, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.12-Job.38.15" parsed="|Job|38|12|38|15" passage="Job 38:12-15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. 4. Nothing of the
dark recesses of the sea and earth, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.16-Job.38.21" parsed="|Job|38|16|38|21" passage="Job 38:16-21">ver. 16-21</scripRef>. 5. Nothing of the springs in
the clouds (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.22-Job.38.27" parsed="|Job|38|22|38|27" passage="Job 38:22-27">ver.
22-27</scripRef>), nor the secret counsels by which they are
directed. 6. He could do nothing towards the production of the
rain, or frost, or lightning (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.28-Job.38.30 Bible:Job.38.34 Bible:Job.38.35 Bible:Job.38.37 Bible:Job.38.38" parsed="|Job|38|28|38|30;|Job|38|34|0|0;|Job|38|35|0|0;|Job|38|37|0|0;|Job|38|38|0|0" passage="Job 38:28-30,34,35,37,38">ver. 28-30, 34, 35, 37, 38</scripRef>),
nothing towards the directing of the stars and their influences
(<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.31-Job.38.33" parsed="|Job|38|31|38|33" passage="Job 38:31-33">ver. 31-33</scripRef>), nothing
towards the making of his own soul, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.36" parsed="|Job|38|36|0|0" passage="Job 38:36">ver. 36</scripRef>. And lastly, he could not provide
for the lions and the ravens, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.39-Job.38.41" parsed="|Job|38|39|38|41" passage="Job 38:39-41">ver.
39-41</scripRef>. If, in these ordinary works of nature, Job was
puzzled, how durst he pretend to dive into the counsels of God's
government and to judge of them? In this (as bishop Patrick
observes) God takes up the argument begun by Elihu (who came
nearest to the truth) and prosecutes it in inimitable words,
excelling his, and all other men's, in the loftiness of the style,
as much as thunder does a whisper.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xxxix-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Job.38" parsed="|Job|38|0|0|0" passage="Job 38" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xxxix-p1.13" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.1-Job.38.3" parsed="|Job|38|1|38|3" passage="Job 38:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.38.1-Job.38.3">
<h4 id="Job.xxxix-p1.14">God Answers Out of the
Whirlwind. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxxix-p1.15">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxxix-p2">1 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxxix-p2.1">Lord</span>
answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,   2 Who <i>is</i>
this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?   3
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and
answer thou me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p3">Let us observe here, 1. Who speaks—<i>The
Lord,</i> Jehovah, not a created angel, but the eternal Word
himself, the second person in the blessed Trinity, for it is he by
whom the worlds were made, and that was no other than the Son of
God. The same speaks here that afterwards spoke from Mount Sinai.
Here he begins with the creation of the world, there with the
redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and from both is inferred the
necessity of our subjection to him. Elihu had said, <i>God speaks
to men and they do not perceive it</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.14" parsed="|Job|33|14|0|0" passage="Job 33:14"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 14</scripRef>); but this they could
not but perceive, and yet we have <i>a more sure word of
prophecy,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.19" parsed="|2Pet|1|19|0|0" passage="2Pe 1:19">2 Pet. i. 19</scripRef>.
2. When he spoke—<i>Then.</i> When they had all had their saying,
and yet had not gained their point, then it was time for God to
interpose, whose judgment is according to truth. When we know not
who is in the right, and perhaps are doubtful whether we ourselves
are, this may satisfy us, That God will determine shortly <i>in the
valley of decision,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Joel.3.14" parsed="|Joel|3|14|0|0" passage="Joe 3:14">Joel iii.
14</scripRef>. Job had silenced his three friends, and yet could
not convince them of his integrity in the main. Elihu had silenced
Job, and yet could not bring him to acknowledge his mismanagement
of this dispute. But now God comes, and does both, convinces Job
first of his unadvised speaking and makes him cry, <i>Peccavi—I
have done wrong;</i> and, having humbled him, he puts honour upon
him, by convincing his three friends that they had done him wrong.
These two things God will, sooner or later, do for his people: he
will show them their faults, that they may be themselves ashamed of
them, and he will show others their righteousness, and bring it
forth as the light, that they may be ashamed of their unjust
censures of them. 3. How he spoke—<i>Out of the whirlwind,</i> the
rolling and involving cloud, which Elihu took notice of, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.1-Job.37.2 Bible:Job.37.9" parsed="|Job|37|1|37|2;|Job|37|9|0|0" passage="Job 37:1,2,9"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 1, 2, 9</scripRef>. A
whirlwind prefaced Ezekiel's vision (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.1.4" parsed="|Ezek|1|4|0|0" passage="Eze 1:4">Ezek. i. 4</scripRef>), and Elijah's, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.19.11" parsed="|1Kgs|19|11|0|0" passage="1Ki 19:11">1 Kings xix. 11</scripRef>. God is said to have <i>his
way in the whirlwind</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Nah.1.3" parsed="|Nah|1|3|0|0" passage="Nah 1:3">Nah. i.
3</scripRef>), and, to show that even the stormy wind fulfils his
word, here it was made the vehicle of it. This shows what a mighty
voice God's is, that is was not lost, but perfectly audible, even
in the noise of a whirlwind. Thus God designed to startled Job, and
to command his attention. Sometimes God answers his own people in
terrible corrections, as out of the whirlwind, but always in
righteousness. 4. To whom he spoke: He <i>answered Job,</i>
directed his speech to him, to convince him of what was amiss,
before he cleared him from the unjust aspersions cast upon him. It
is God only that can effectually convince of sin, and those shall
so be humbled whom he designs to exalt. Those that desire to hear
from God, as Job did, shall certainly hear from him at length. 5.
What he said. We may conjecture that Elihu, or some other of the
auditory, wrote down <i>verbatim</i> what was delivered out of the
whirlwind, for we find (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.4" parsed="|Rev|10|4|0|0" passage="Re 10:4">Rev. x.
4</scripRef>) that, when the thunders uttered their voices, John
was prepared to write. Or, if it was not written then, yet, the
penman of the book being inspired by the Holy Ghost, we are sure
that we have here a very true and exact report of what was said.
<i>The Spirit</i> (says Christ) <i>shall bring to your
remembrance,</i> as he did here, <i>what I have said to you.</i>
The preface is very searching. (1.) God charges him with ignorance
and presumption in what he had said (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.2" parsed="|Job|38|2|0|0" passage="Job 38:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): "<i>Who is this</i> that talks
at this rate? Is it Job? What! a man? That weak, foolish,
despicable, creature—shall he pretend to prescribe to me what I
must do or to quarrel with me for what I have done? Is it Job?
What! my servant Job, a perfect and an upright man? Can he so far
forget himself, and act unlike himself? Who, where, is he <i>that
darkens counsel thus by words without knowledge?</i> Let him show
his face if he dare, and stand to what he has said." Note,
Darkening the counsels of God's wisdom with our folly is a great
affront and provocation to God. Concerning God's counsels we must
own that we are without knowledge. They are a deep which we cannot
fathom; we are quite out of our element, out of our aim, when we
pretend to account for them. Yet we are too apt to talk of them as
if we understood them, with a great deal of niceness and boldness;
but, alas! we do but darken them, instead of explaining them. We
confound and perplex ourselves and one another when we dispute of
the order of God's decrees, and the designs, and reasons, and
methods, of his operations of providence and grace. A humble faith
and sincere obedience shall see further and better into the secret
of the Lord than all the philosophy of the schools, and the
searches of science, so called. This first word which God spoke is
the more observable because Job, in his repentance, fastens upon it
as that which silenced and humbled him, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.3" parsed="|Job|42|3|0|0" passage="Job 42:3"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 3</scripRef>. This he repeated and
echoed as the arrow that stuck fast in him: "I am the fool that has
darkened counsel." There was some colour to have turned it upon
<i>Elihu,</i> as if God meant <i>him,</i> for he spoke last, and
was speaking when the whirlwind began; but Job applied it to
himself, as it becomes us to do when faithful reproofs are given,
and not (as most do) to billet them upon other people. (2.) He
challenges him to give such proofs of his knowledge as would serve
to justify his enquiries into the divine counsels (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.11" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.3" parsed="|Job|38|3|0|0" passage="Job 38:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>Gird up now thy
loins like a</i> stout <i>man;</i> prepare thyself for the
encounter; <i>I will demand of thee,</i> will put some questions to
thee, <i>and answer me</i> if thou canst, before I answer thine."
Those that go about to call God to an account must expect to be
catechised and called to an account themselves, that they may be
made sensible of their ignorance and arrogance. God here puts Job
in mind of what he had said, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p3.12" osisRef="Bible:Job.13.22" parsed="|Job|13|22|0|0" passage="Job 13:22"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 22</scripRef>. <i>Call thou, and I
will answer.</i> "Now make thy words good."</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxxix-p3.13" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.4-Job.38.11" parsed="|Job|38|4|38|11" passage="Job 38:4-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.38.4-Job.38.11">
<h4 id="Job.xxxix-p3.14">The Creation of the World. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxxix-p3.15">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxxix-p4">4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of
the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.   5 Who hath
laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched
the line upon it?   6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof
fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;   7 When the
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?   8 Or <i>who</i> shut up the sea with doors, when it
brake forth, <i>as if</i> it had issued out of the womb?   9
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a
swaddlingband for it,   10 And brake up for it my decreed
<i>place,</i> and set bars and doors,   11 And said, Hitherto
shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p5">For the humbling of Job, God here shows him
his ignorance even concerning the earth and the sea. Though so
near, though so bulky, yet he could give no account of their
origination, much less of heaven above or hell beneath, which are
at such a distance, or of the several parts of matter which are so
minute, and then, least of all, of the divine counsels.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p6">I. Concerning the founding of the earth.
"If he have such a mighty insight, as he pretends to have, into the
counsels of God, let him give some account of the earth he goes
upon, which is given to the children of men."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p7">1. Let him tell where he was when this
lower world was made, and whether he was advising of assisting in
that wonderful work (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.4" parsed="|Job|38|4|0|0" passage="Job 38:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): "<i>Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of
the earth?</i> Thy pretensions are high; canst thou pretend to his?
Wast thou present when the world was made?" See here, (1.) The
greatness and glory of God: <i>I laid the foundations of the
earth.</i> This proves him to be the only living and true God, and
a God of power (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.21 Bible:Jer.10.11-Jer.10.12" parsed="|Isa|40|21|0|0;|Jer|10|11|10|12" passage="Isa 40:21,Jer 10:11,12">Isa. xl.
21, Jer. x. 11, 12</scripRef>), and encourages us to trust in him
at all times, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.13 Bible:Isa.51.16" parsed="|Isa|51|13|0|0;|Isa|51|16|0|0" passage="Isa 51:13,16">Isa. li. 13,
16</scripRef>. (2.) The meanness and contemptibleness of man:
"<i>Where wast thou</i> then? Thou that hast made such a figure
among the children of the east, and settest up for an oracle, and a
judge of the divine counsels, where was thou when the foundations
of the earth were laid?" So far were we from having any hand in the
creation of the world, which might entitle us to a dominion in it,
or so much as being witnesses of it, by which we might have gained
an insight into it, that we were not then in being. The first man
was not, much less were we. It is the honour of Christ that he was
present when this was done (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.22-Prov.8.31 Bible:John.1.1-John.1.2" parsed="|Prov|8|22|8|31;|John|1|1|1|2" passage="Pr 8:22-31,Joh 1:1,2">Prov. viii. 22, &amp;c., John i. 1,
2</scripRef>); but <i>we are of yesterday and know nothing.</i> Let
us not therefore find fault with the works of God, nor prescribe to
him. He did not consult us in making the world, and yet it is well
made; why should we expect then that he should take his measures
from us in governing it?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p8">2. Let him describe how this world was
made, and give a particular account of the manner in which this
strong and stately edifice was formed and erected: "<i>Declare, if
thou hast</i> so much <i>understanding</i> as thou fanciest thyself
to have, what were the advances of that work." Those that pretend
to have understanding above others ought to give proof of it. Show
me thy faith by thy works, thy knowledge by thy words. Let Job
declare it if he can, (1.) How the world came to be so finely
framed, with so much exactness, and such an admirable symmetry and
proportion of all the parts of it (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.5" parsed="|Job|38|5|0|0" passage="Job 38:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "Stand forth, and <i>tell who
laid the measures thereof</i> and <i>stretched out the line upon
it.</i>" Wast thou the architect that formed the model and then
drew the dimensions by rule according to it? The vast bulk of the
earth is moulded as regularly as if it had been done by line and
measure; but who can describe how it was cast into this figure? Who
can determine its circumference and diameter, and all the lines
that are drawn on the terrestrial globe? It is to this day a
dispute whether the earth stands still or turns round; how then can
we determine by what measures it was first formed? (2.) How it came
to be so firmly fixed. Though it is hung upon nothing, yet it is
established, that it cannot be moved; but who can tell <i>upon what
the foundations of it are fastened,</i> that it may not sink with
its own weight, or <i>who laid the corner-stone thereof,</i> that
the parts of it may not fall asunder? <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.6" parsed="|Job|38|6|0|0" passage="Job 38:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. <i>What God does, it shall be
for ever</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" passage="Ec 3:14">Eccl. iii.
14</scripRef>); and therefore, as we cannot find fault with God's
work, so we need not be in fear concerning it; it will last, and
answer the end, the works of his providence as well as the work of
creation; the measures of neither can never 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 fast as the
earth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p9">3. Let him repeat, if he can, the songs of
praise which were sung at that solemnity (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.7" parsed="|Job|38|7|0|0" passage="Job 38:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>when the morning-stars sang
together,</i> the blessed angels (the first-born of the Father of
light), who, in the morning of time, shone as brightly as the
morning star, going immediately before the light which God
commanded to shine out of darkness upon the seeds of this lower
world, the earth, which was without form and void. They were <i>the
sons of God,</i> who <i>shouted for joy</i> when they saw the
foundations of the earth laid, because, though it was not made for
them, but for the children of men, and though it would increase
their work and service, yet they knew that the eternal Wisdom and
Word, whom they were to worship (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.6" parsed="|Heb|1|6|0|0" passage="Heb 1:6">Heb.
i. 6</scripRef>), would <i>rejoice in the habitable parts of the
earth,</i> and that much of his <i>delight would be in the sons of
men,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.31" parsed="|Prov|8|31|0|0" passage="Pr 8:31">Prov. viii. 31</scripRef>. The
angels are called <i>the sons of God</i> because they bear much of
his image, are with him in his house above, and serve him as a son
does his father. Now observe here, (1.) The glory of God, as the
Creator of the world, is to be celebrated with joy and triumph by
all his reasonable creatures; for they are qualified and appointed
to be the collectors of his praises from the inferior creatures,
who can praise him merely as objects that exemplify his
workmanship. (2.) The work of angels is to praise God. The more we
abound in holy, humble, thankful, joyful praise, the more we do the
will of God as they do it; and, whereas we are so barren and
defective in praising God, it is a comfort to think that they are
doing it in a better manner. (3.) They were unanimous in singing
God's praises; they sang together with one accord, and there was no
jar in their harmony. The sweetest concerts are in praising God.
(4.) They all did it, even those who afterwards fell and left their
first estate. Even those who have praised God may, by the deceitful
power of sin, be brought to blaspheme him, and yet God will be
eternally praised.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p10">II. Concerning the limiting of the sea to
the place appointed for it, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.8" parsed="|Job|38|8|0|0" passage="Job 38:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>, &amp;c. This refers to the third day's work, when God
said (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9" parsed="|Gen|1|9|0|0" passage="Ge 1:9">Gen. i. 9</scripRef>), <i>Let the
waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and it
was so.</i> 1. Out of the great deep or chaos, in which earth and
water were intermixed, in obedience to the divine command the
waters <i>broke forth like a child out of the</i> teeming
<i>womb,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.8" parsed="|Job|38|8|0|0" passage="Job 38:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
Then the waters that had covered the deep, and stood above the
mountains, retired with precipitation. At <i>God's rebuke they
fled,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.6-Ps.104.7" parsed="|Ps|104|6|104|7" passage="Ps 104:6,7">Ps. civ. 6, 7</scripRef>.
2. This newborn babe is clothed and swaddled, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.9" parsed="|Job|38|9|0|0" passage="Job 38:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. <i>The cloud</i> is made <i>the
garment thereof,</i> with which it is covered, and <i>thick
darkness</i> (that is, shores vastly remote and distant from one
another and quite in the dark one to another) <i>is a
swaddling-band for it.</i> See with what ease the great God manages
the raging sea; notwithstanding the violence of its tides, and the
strength of its billows, he manages it as the nurse does the child
in swaddling clothes. It is not said, He made <i>rocks and
mountains</i> its swaddling bands, but <i>clouds and darkness,</i>
something that we are not aware of and should think least likely
for such a purpose. 3. There is a cradle too provided for this
babe: <i>I broke up for it my decreed place,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.10" parsed="|Job|38|10|0|0" passage="Job 38:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Valleys were sunk for it in
the earth, capacious enough to receive it, and there it is laid to
sleep; and, if it be sometimes tossed with winds, that (as bishop
Patrick observes) is but the rocking of the cradle, which makes it
sleep the faster. As for the sea, so for every one of us, there is
a decreed place; for he that determined the times before appointed
determined also the bounds of our habitation. 4. This babe being
made unruly and dangerous by the sin of man, which was the original
of all unquietness and danger in this lower world, there is also a
prison provided for it; <i>bars and doors are set,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.10" parsed="|Job|38|10|0|0" passage="Job 38:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. And it is said to it,
by way of check to its insolence, <i>Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further.</i> The sea is God's for he made it, he restrains it;
he says to it, <i>Here shall thy proud waves be stayed,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.11" parsed="|Job|38|11|0|0" passage="Job 38:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. This may be
considered as an act of God's power over the sea. Though it is so
vast a body, and though its motion is sometimes extremely violent,
yet God has it under check. Its waves rise no higher, its tides
roll no further, than God permits; and this is mentioned as a
reason why we should stand in awe of God (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.22" parsed="|Jer|5|22|0|0" passage="Jer 5:22">Jer. v. 22</scripRef>), and yet why we should encourage
ourselves in him, for he that stops the noise of the sea, even the
noise of her waves, can, when he pleases, still the tumult of the
people, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.7" parsed="|Ps|65|7|0|0" passage="Ps 65:7">Ps. lxv. 7</scripRef>. It is
also to be looked upon as an act of God's mercy to the world of
mankind and an instance of his patience towards that provoking
grace. Though he could easily cover the earth again with the waters
of the sea (and, methinks, every flowing tide twice a day threatens
us, and shows what the sea could do, and would do, if God would
give it leave), yet he restrains them, being not willing that any
should perish, and having <i>reserved the world that now is unto
fire,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p10.11" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.7" parsed="|2Pet|3|7|0|0" passage="2Pe 3:7">2 Pet. iii. 7</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxxix-p10.12" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.12-Job.38.24" parsed="|Job|38|12|38|24" passage="Job 38:12-24" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.38.12-Job.38.24">
<h4 id="Job.xxxix-p10.13">Works of God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxxix-p10.14">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxxix-p11">12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy
days; <i>and</i> caused the dayspring to know his place;   13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked
might be shaken out of it?   14 It is turned as clay <i>to</i>
the seal; and they stand as a garment.   15 And from the
wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
  16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast
thou walked in the search of the depth?   17 Have the gates of
death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the
shadow of death?   18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the
earth? declare if thou knowest it all.   19 Where <i>is</i>
the way <i>where</i> light dwelleth? and <i>as for</i> darkness,
where <i>is</i> the place thereof,   20 That thou shouldest
take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the
paths <i>to</i> the house thereof?   21 Knowest thou
<i>it,</i> because thou wast then born? or <i>because</i> the
number of thy days <i>is</i> great?   22 Hast thou entered
into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of
the hail,   23 Which I have reserved against the time of
trouble, against the day of battle and war?   24 By what way
is the light parted, <i>which</i> scattereth the east wind upon the
earth?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p12">The Lord here proceeds to ask Job many
puzzling questions, to convince him of his ignorance, and so to
shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we will but try
ourselves with such interrogatories as these, we shall soon be
brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what
we know not. Job is here challenged to give an account of six
things:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p13">I. Of the springs of the morning, the
day-spring from on high, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.12-Job.38.15" parsed="|Job|38|12|38|15" passage="Job 38:12-15"><i>v.</i>
12-15</scripRef>. As there is no visible being of which we may be
more firmly assured that it is, so there is none which we are more
puzzled in describing, nor more doubtful in determining what it is,
than the light. We welcome the morning, and are glad of the
day-spring; but, 1. It is not commanded since our days, but what it
is it was long before we were born, so that it was neither made by
us nor designed primarily for us, but we take it as we find it and
as the many generations had it that went before us. The day-spring
knew its place before we knew ours, for we are but of yesterday. 2.
It was not we, it was not any man that commanded the morning-light
at first, or appointed the place of its springing up and shining
forth, or the time of it. The constant and regular succession of
day and night was no contrivance of ours; it is the glory of God
that it shows, and his handy work, not ours, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.1-Ps.19.2" parsed="|Ps|19|1|19|2" passage="Ps 19:1,2">Ps. xix. 1, 2</scripRef>. 3. It is quite out of our
power to alter this course: "<i>Hast thou countermanded the morning
since thy days?</i> Hast thou at any time raised the morning light
sooner than its appointed time, to serve thy purpose when thou hast
waited for the morning, or ordered the day-spring for thy
convenience to any other place than its own? No, never. Why then
wilt thou pretend to direct the divine counsels, or expect to have
the methods of Providence altered in favour of thee?" We may as
soon break the covenant of the day and of the night as any part of
God's covenant with his people, and particularly this, <i>I will
chasten them with the rod of men.</i> 4. It is God that has
appointed the day-spring to visit the earth, and diffuses the
morning light through the air, which receives it as readily as the
clay does the seal (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.14" parsed="|Job|38|14|0|0" passage="Job 38:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>), immediately admitting the impressions of it, so as
of a sudden to be all over enlightened by it, as the seal stamps
its image on the wax; <i>and they stand as a garment,</i> or as if
they were clothed with a garment. The earth puts on a new face
every morning, and dresses itself as we do, puts on light as a
garment, and is then to be seen. 5. This is made a terror to
evil-doers. Nothing is more comfortable to mankind than the light
of the morning; it is pleasant to the eyes, it is serviceable to
life and the business of it, and the favour of it is universally
extended, for <i>it takes hold of the ends of the earth</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.13" parsed="|Job|38|13|0|0" passage="Job 38:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and we
should dwell, in our hymns to the light, on its advantages to the
earth. But God here observes how unwelcome it is to those that do
evil, and therefore hate the light. God makes the light a minister
of his justice as well as of his mercy. It is designed <i>to shake
the wicked out of the earth,</i> and for that purpose <i>it takes
hold of the ends of it,</i> as we take hold of the ends of a
garment to shake the dust and moths out of it. Job had observed
what a terror the morning light is to criminals, because it
discovers them (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.13-Job.24.16" parsed="|Job|24|13|24|16" passage="Job 24:13-16"><i>ch.</i> xxiv.
13</scripRef>, &amp;c.), and God here seconds the observation, and
asks him whether the world was indebted to him for that kindness?
No, the great Judge of the world sends forth the beams of the
morning light as his messengers to detect criminals, that they may
not only be defeated in their purposes and put to shame, but that
they may be brought to condign punishment (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.15" parsed="|Job|38|15|0|0" passage="Job 38:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), that their light may be
<i>withholden</i> from them (that is, that they may lose their
comfort, their confidence, their liberties, their lives) and that
their <i>high arm,</i> which they have lifted up against God and
man, may be <i>broken,</i> and they deprived of their power to do
mischief. Whether what is here said of the morning light was
designed to represent, as in a figure, the light of the gospel of
Christ, and to give a type of it, I will not say; but I am sure it
may serve to put us in mind of the encomiums given to the gospel
just at the rising of its morning-star by Zecharias in his
<i>Benedictus</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.78" parsed="|Luke|1|78|0|0" passage="Lu 1:78">Luke i.
78</scripRef>, By the <i>tender mercy of our God the day-spring
from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in
darkness,</i> whose hearts are turned to it <i>as clay to the
seal,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.8" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.6" parsed="|2Cor|4|6|0|0" passage="2Co 4:6">2 Cor. iv. 6</scripRef>), and
by the virgin Mary in her <i>Magnificat</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p13.9" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.51" parsed="|Luke|1|51|0|0" passage="Lu 1:51">Luke i. 51</scripRef>), showing that God, in his gospel,
has <i>shown strength with his arm, scattered the proud, and put
down the mighty,</i> by that light by which he designed to shake
the wicked, to shake wickedness itself out of the earth, and break
its high arm.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p14">II. Of the springs of the sea (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.16" parsed="|Job|38|16|0|0" passage="Job 38:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>Hast thou entered
into</i> them, or <i>hast thou walked in the search of the
depth?</i> Knowest thou what lies in the bottom of the sea, the
treasures there hidden in the sands? Or canst thou give an account
of the rise and original of the waters of the sea? Vapours are
continually exhaled out of the sea. Dost thou know how the recruits
are raised by which it is continually supplied? Rivers are
constantly poured into the sea. Dost thou know how they are
continually discharged, so as not to overflow the earth? Art thou
acquainted with the secret subterraneous passages by which the
waters circulate?" God's way in the government of the world is said
to be <i>in the sea,</i> and <i>in the great waters</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.19" parsed="|Ps|77|19|0|0" passage="Ps 77:19">Ps. lxxvii. 19</scripRef>), intimating that it
is hidden from us and not to be pried into by us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p15">III. Of the gates of death: <i>Have</i>
these <i>been open to thee?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.16" parsed="|Job|38|16|0|0" passage="Job 38:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Death is a grand secret. 1. We
know not beforehand when, and how, and by what means, we or others
shall be brought to death, by what road we must go the way whence
we shall not return, what disease or what disaster will be the door
to let us into the house appointed for all living. <i>Man knows not
his time.</i> 2. We cannot describe what death is, how the knot is
untied between body and soul, nor how the <i>spirit of a man goes
upward</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.21" parsed="|Eccl|3|21|0|0" passage="Ec 3:21">Eccl. iii. 21</scripRef>),
to be we know not what and live we know not how, as Mr. Norris
expresses; with what dreadful curiosity (says he) does the soul
launch out into the vast ocean of eternity and resign to an untried
abyss! Let us make it sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened
to us on the other side death, and then we need not fear the
opening of the gates of death, though it is a way we are to go but
once. 3. We have no correspondence at all with separate souls, nor
any acquaintance with their state. It is an unknown undiscovered
region to which they are removed; we can neither hear from them nor
send to them. While we are here, in a world of sense, we speak of
the world of spirits as blind men do of colours, and when we remove
thither we shall be amazed to find how much we are mistaken.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p16">IV. Of the breadth of the earth (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.18" parsed="|Job|38|18|0|0" passage="Job 38:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>Hast thou
perceived</i> that? The knowledge of this might seem most level to
him and within his reach; yet he is challenged to declare this if
he can. We have our residence on the earth, God has given it to the
children of men. But who ever surveyed it, or could give an account
of the number of its acres? It is but a point to the universe? yet,
small as it is, we cannot be exact in declaring the dimensions of
it. Job had never sailed round the world, nor any before him; so
little did men know the breadth of the earth that it was but a few
ages ago that the vast continent of America was discovered, which
had, time out of mind, lain hidden. The divine perfection is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea; it is therefore
presumption for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to
dive into the depth of God's counsels.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p17">V. Of the place and way of light and
darkness. Of the day-spring he had spoken before (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.12" parsed="|Job|38|12|0|0" passage="Job 38:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>) and he returns to
speak of it again (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.19" parsed="|Job|38|19|0|0" passage="Job 38:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>Where is the way where light dwells?</i> And
again (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.24" parsed="|Job|38|24|0|0" passage="Job 38:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>):
<i>By what way is the light parted?</i> He challenges him to
describe, 1. How the light and darkness were at first made. When
God, in the beginning, first spread darkness upon the face of the
deep, and afterwards commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
by that mighty word, <i>Let there be light,</i> was Job a witness
to the order, to the operation? can he tell where the fountains of
light and darkness are, and where those mighty princes keep their
courts distance, while in one world they rule alternately? Though
we long ever so much either for the shining forth of the morning or
the shadows of the evening, we know not whither to send, or go, to
fetch them, nor can tell <i>the paths to the house thereof,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.20" parsed="|Job|38|20|0|0" passage="Job 38:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. We were not
then born, nor is the number of our days so great that we can
describe the birth of that first-born of the visible creation,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.21" parsed="|Job|38|21|0|0" passage="Job 38:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Shall we
then undertake to discourse of God's counsels, which were from
eternity, or to find out the paths to the house thereof, to solicit
for the alteration of them? God glories in it that he forms the
light and creates the darkness; and if we must take those as we
find them, take those as they come, and quarrel with neither, but
make the best of both, then we must, in like manner, accommodate
ourselves to the peace and the evil which God likewise created.
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0" passage="Isa 45:7">Isa. xlv. 7</scripRef>. 2. How they
still keep their turns interchangeably. It is God that <i>makes the
outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.8" parsed="|Ps|65|8|0|0" passage="Ps 65:8">Ps. lxv. 8</scripRef>); for it is his
order, and no order of ours, that is executed by the outgoings of
the morning light and the darkness of the night. We cannot so much
as tell whence they come nor whither they go (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.24" parsed="|Job|38|24|0|0" passage="Job 38:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>By what way is the light
parted</i> in the morning, when, in an instant, it shoots itself
into all the parts of the air above the horizon, as if the morning
light flew upon the wings of an east wind, so swiftly, so strongly,
is it carried, scattering the darkness of the night, as the east
wind does the clouds? Hence we read of the <i>wings of the
morning</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.9" parsed="|Ps|139|9|0|0" passage="Ps 139:9">Ps. cxxxix.
9</scripRef>), on which the light is conveyed <i>to the uttermost
parts of the sea,</i> and <i>scattered like an east wind upon the
earth.</i> It is a marvellous change that passes over us every
morning by the return of the light and every evening by the return
of the darkness; but we expect them, and so they are no surprise
nor uneasiness to us. If we would, in like manner, reckon upon
changes in our outward condition, we should neither in the
brightest noon expect perpetual day nor in the darkest midnight
despair of the return of the morning. God has set the one over
against the other, like the day and night; and so must we,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p17.10" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.14" parsed="|Eccl|7|14|0|0" passage="Ec 7:14">Eccl. vii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p18">VI. Of the <i>treasures of the snow and
hail</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.22-Job.38.23" parsed="|Job|38|22|38|23" passage="Job 38:22,23"><i>v.</i> 22,
23</scripRef>): "<i>Hast thou entered</i> into these and taken a
view of them?" In the clouds the snow and hail are generated, and
thence they come in such abundance that one would think there were
treasures of them laid up in store there, whereas indeed they are
produced <i>extempore</i>—<i>suddenly,</i> as I may say, and
<i>pro re nata</i>—<i>for the occasion.</i> Sometimes they come so
opportunely, to serve the purposes of Providence, in God's fighting
for his people and against his and their enemies, that one would
think they were laid up as magazines, or stores of arms,
ammunition, and provisions, against the time of trouble, <i>the day
of battle and war,</i> when God will either contend with the world
in general (as in the deluge, when the windows of heaven were
opened, and the waters fetched out of these treasures to drown a
wicked world, that waged war with Heaven) or with some particular
persons or parties, as when God out of these treasures fetched
great hail-stones wherewith to fight against the Canaanites,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.10.11" parsed="|Josh|10|11|0|0" passage="Jos 10:11">Josh. x. 11</scripRef>. See what
folly it is to strive against God, who is thus prepared for battle
and war, and how much it is our interest to make our peace with him
and to keep ourselves in his love. God can fight as effectually
with snow and hail, if he please, as with thunder and lightning or
the sword of an angel!</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxxix-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.25-Job.38.41" parsed="|Job|38|25|38|41" passage="Job 38:25-41" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.38.25-Job.38.41">
<h4 id="Job.xxxix-p18.4">God's Sovereign Dominion and
Goodness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxxix-p18.5">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxxix-p19">25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the
overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
  26 To cause it to rain on the earth, <i>where</i> no man
<i>is; on</i> the wilderness, wherein <i>there is</i> no man;
  27 To satisfy the desolate and waste <i>ground;</i> and to
cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?   28 Hath
the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?   29
Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who
hath gendered it?   30 The waters are hid as <i>with</i> a
stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.   31 Canst thou
bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
  32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst
thou guide Arcturus with his sons?   33 Knowest thou the
ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the
earth?   34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that
abundance of waters may cover thee?   35 Canst thou send
lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we
<i>are?</i>   36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or
who hath given understanding to the heart?   37 Who can number
the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,  
38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast
together?   39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill
the appetite of the young lions,   40 When they couch in
<i>their</i> dens, <i>and</i> abide in the covert to lie in wait?
  41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones
cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p20">Hitherto God had put such questions to Job
as were proper to convince him of his ignorance and
short-sightedness. Now he comes, in the same manner, to show his
impotency and weakness. As it is but little that he knows, and
therefore he ought not to arraign the divine counsels, so it is but
little that he can do, and therefore he ought not to oppose the
proceedings of Providence. Let him consider what great things God
does, and try whether he can do the like, or whether he thinks
himself an equal match for him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p21">I. God has thunder, and lightning, and
rain, and frost, at command, but Job has not, and therefore let him
not dare to compare himself with God, or to contend with him.
Nothing is more uncertain than what weather it shall be, nor more
out of our reach to appoint; it shall be what weather pleases God,
not what pleases us, unless, as becomes us, whatever pleases God
pleases us. Concerning this observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p22">1. How great God is.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p23">(1.) He has a sovereign dominion over the
waters, has appointed them their course, even then when they seem
to overflow and to be from under his check, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.25" parsed="|Job|38|25|0|0" passage="Job 38:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. He has <i>divided a
water-course,</i> directs the rain where to fall, even when the
shower is most violent, with as much certainty as if it were
conveyed by canals or conduit-pipes. Thus the hearts of kings are
said to be <i>in God's hand;</i> and as the rains, those rivers of
God, he turns them whithersoever he will. Every drop goes as it is
directed. God has <i>sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more
return to cover the earth;</i> and we see that he is able to make
good what he has promised, for he has the rain in a
water-course.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p24">(2.) He has dominion over the lightning and
the thunder, which go not at random, but in the way that he directs
them. They are mentioned here because he <i>prepares the lightnings
for the rain,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.135.7" parsed="|Ps|135|7|0|0" passage="Ps 135:7">Ps. cxxxv.
7</scripRef>. Let not those that fear God be afraid of the
lightning or the thunder, for they are not blind bullets, but go
the way that God himself, who means no hurt to them, directs.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p25">(3.) In directing the course of the rain he
does not neglect the wilderness, the desert land (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.26-Job.38.27" parsed="|Job|38|26|38|27" passage="Job 38:26,27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>), <i>where no
man is.</i> [1.] Where there is no man to be employed in taking
care of the productions. God's providence reaches further than
man's industry. If he had not more kindness for many of the
inferior creatures than man has, it would go ill with them. God can
make the earth fruitful without any art or pains of ours, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.5-Gen.2.6" parsed="|Gen|2|5|2|6" passage="Ge 2:5,6">Gen. ii. 5, 6</scripRef>. When <i>there was not
a man to till the ground,</i> yet there went up a mist and watered
it. But we cannot make it fruitful without God; it is he that gives
the increase. [2.] Where there is no man to be provided for nor to
take the benefit of the fruits that are produced. Though God does
with very peculiar favour visit and regard man, yet he does not
overlook the inferior creatures, but causes <i>the bud of the
tender herb to spring forth for food for all flesh,</i> as well as
<i>for the service of man.</i> Even the wild asses shall have their
thirst quenched, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.11" parsed="|Ps|104|11|0|0" passage="Ps 104:11">Ps. civ.
11</scripRef>. God has enough for all, and wonderfully provides
even for those creatures that man neither has service from nor
makes provision for.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p26">(4.) He is, in a sense, <i>the Father of
the rain,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.28" parsed="|Job|38|28|0|0" passage="Job 38:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>. It has no other father. He produces it by his power;
he governs and directs it, and makes what use he pleases of it.
Even the small drops of the dew he distils upon the earth, as the
God of nature; and, as the God of grace, he rains righteousness
upon us and is himself as the dew unto Israel. See <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.5 Bible:Mic.5.7" parsed="|Hos|14|5|0|0;|Mic|5|7|0|0" passage="Ho 14:5,Mic 5:7">Hos. xiv. 5, 6; Mic. v. 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p27">(5.) The ice and the frost, by which the
waters are congealed and the earth incrustrated, are produced by
his providence, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.29-Job.38.30" parsed="|Job|38|29|38|30" passage="Job 38:29,30"><i>v.</i> 29,
30</scripRef>. These are very common things, which lessens the
strangeness of them. But, considering what a vast change is made by
them in a very little time, how the waters are hid as with a stone,
as with a grave-stone, laid upon them (so thick, so strong, is the
ice that covers them), and the face even of the deep is sometimes
frozen, we may well ask, "<i>Out of whose womb came the ice?</i>
What created power could produce such a wonderful work?" No power
but that of the Creator himself. Frost and snow come from him, and
therefore should lead our thoughts and meditations to him who does
such great things, past finding out. And we shall the more easily
bear the inconveniences of winter-weather if we learn to make this
good use of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p28">2. How weak man is. Can he do such things
as these? Could Job? No, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.34-Job.38.35" parsed="|Job|38|34|38|35" passage="Job 38:34,35"><i>v.</i>
34, 35</scripRef>. (1.) He cannot command one shower of rain for
the relief of himself or his friends: "<i>Canst thou lift up thy
voice to the clouds,</i> those bottles of heaven, <i>that abundance
of waters may cover thee,</i> to water thy fields when they are dry
and parched?" If we lift up our voice to God, to pray for rain, we
may have it (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.10.1" parsed="|Zech|10|1|0|0" passage="Zec 10:1">Zech. x. 1</scripRef>);
but if we lift up our voice to the clouds, to demand it, they will
soon tell us they are not at our beck, and we shall go without it,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.22" parsed="|Jer|14|22|0|0" passage="Jer 14:22">Jer. xiv. 22</scripRef>. The heavens
will not hear the earth unless God hear them, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.21" parsed="|Hos|2|21|0|0" passage="Ho 2:21">Hos. ii. 21</scripRef>. See what poor, indigent,
depending creatures we are; we cannot do without rain, nor can we
have it when we will. (2.) He cannot commission one flash of
lightning, if he had a mind to make use of it for the terror of his
enemies (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.35" parsed="|Job|38|35|0|0" passage="Job 38:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>):
"<i>Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go</i> on thy errand,
and do the execution thou desirest? Will they come at thy call, and
say unto thee, <i>Here we are?</i>" No, the ministers of God's
wrath will not be ministers of ours. Why should they, since the
<i>wrath of man works not the righteousness of God?</i> See
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p28.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.55" parsed="|Luke|9|55|0|0" passage="Lu 9:55">Luke ix. 55</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p29">II. God has the stars of heaven under his
command and cognizance, but we have them not under ours. Our
meditations are now to rise higher, far above the clouds, to the
glorious lights above. God mentions particularly, not the planets,
which move in lower orbs, but the fixed stars, which are much
higher. It is supposed that they have an influence upon this earth,
notwithstanding their vast distance, not upon the minds of men or
the events of providence (men's fate is not determined by their
stars), but upon the ordinary course of nature; they are set for
signs and seasons, for days and years, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14" parsed="|Gen|1|14|0|0" passage="Ge 1:14">Gen. i. 14</scripRef>. And if the stars have such a
dominion over this earth (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.33" parsed="|Job|38|33|0|0" passage="Job 38:33"><i>v.</i>
33</scripRef>), though they have their place in the heavens and are
but mere matter, much more has he who is their Maker and ours, and
who is an Eternal Mind. Now see how weak we are. 1. We cannot alter
the influences of the stars (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.31" parsed="|Job|38|31|0|0" passage="Job 38:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), not theirs that are
instrumental to produce the pleasures of the spring: <i>Canst thou
loose the bands of Orion?</i>—that magnificent constellation which
makes so great a figure (none greater), and dispenses rough and
unpleasing influences, which we cannot control nor repel. Both
summer and winter will have their course. God can change them when
he pleases, can make the spring cold, and so bind the sweet
influences of Pleiades, and the winter warm, and so loose the bands
of Orion; but we cannot. 2. It is not in our power to order the
motions of the stars, nor are we entrusted with the guidance of
them. God, who <i>calls the stars by their names</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.4" parsed="|Ps|147|4|0|0" passage="Ps 147:4">Ps. cxlvii. 4</scripRef>), calls them forth in
their respective seasons, appointing them the time of their rising
and setting. But this is not our province; we cannot <i>bring forth
Mazzaroth</i>—the stars in the southern signs, nor <i>guide
Arcturus</i>—those in the northern, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.32" parsed="|Job|38|32|0|0" passage="Job 38:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. God can bring forth the stars
to battle (as he did when in their courses they fought against
Sisera) and guide them in the attacks they are ordered to make; but
man cannot do so. 3. We are not only unconcerned in the government
of the stars (the government they are under, and the government
they are entrusted with, for they both rule and are ruled), but
utterly unacquainted with it; we <i>know not the ordinances of
heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p29.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.33" parsed="|Job|38|33|0|0" passage="Job 38:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>.
So far are we from being able to change them that we can give no
account of them; they are a secret to us. Shall we then pretend to
know God's counsels, and the reasons of them? If it were left to us
to set the dominion of the stars upon the earth, we should soon be
at a loss. Shall we then teach God how to govern the world?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p30">III. God is the author and giver, the
father and fountain, of all wisdom and understanding, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.36" parsed="|Job|38|36|0|0" passage="Job 38:36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. The souls of men are
nobler and more excellent beings than the stars of heaven
themselves, and shine more brightly. The powers and faculties of
reason with which man is endued, and the wonderful performances of
thought, bring him into some alliance to the blessed angels; and
whence comes this light, but from the Father of lights? <i>Who</i>
else <i>has put wisdom into the inner parts</i> of man, and
<i>given understanding to the heart?</i> 1. The rational soul
itself, and its capacities, come from him as the God of nature; for
he forms the spirit of man within him. We did not make our own
souls, nor can we describe how they act, nor how they are united to
our bodies. He only that made them knows them, and knows how to
manage them. He fashioneth men's hearts alike in some things, and
yet unlike in others. 2. True wisdom, with its furniture and
improvement, comes from him as the God of grace and the Father of
every good and perfect gift. Shall we pretend to be wiser than God,
when we have all our wisdom from him? Nay, shall we pretend to be
wise above our sphere, and beyond the limits which he that gave us
our understanding sets to it? He designed we should with it serve
God and do our duty, but never intended we should with it set up
for directors of the stars or the lightning.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p31">IV. God has the clouds under his cognizance
and government, but so have not we, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.37" parsed="|Job|38|37|0|0" passage="Job 38:37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. Can any man, with all his
wisdom, undertake to <i>number the clouds,</i> or (as it may be
read) to <i>declare and describe the nature of them?</i> Though
they are near us, in our own atmosphere, yet we know little more of
them than of the stars which are at so great a distance. And when
the clouds have poured down rain in abundance, so that <i>the dust
grows into</i> solid mire and <i>the clods cleave fast together</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.38" parsed="|Job|38|38|0|0" passage="Job 38:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>), <i>who can
stay the bottles of heaven?</i> Who can stop them, that it may not
always rain? The power and goodness of God are herein to be
acknowledged, that he gives the earth rain enough, but does not
surfeit it, softens it, but does not drown it, makes it fit for the
plough, but not unfit for the seed. As we cannot command a shower
of rain, so we cannot command a fair day, without God; so
necessary, so constant, is our dependence upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxxix-p32">V. God provides food for the inferior
creatures, and it is by his providence, not by any care or pains of
ours, that they are fed. The following chapter is wholly taken up
with the instances of God's power and goodness about animals, and
therefore some transfer to it the last three verses of this
chapter, which speak of the provision made, 1. For the lions,
<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.39-Job.38.40" parsed="|Job|38|39|38|40" passage="Job 38:39,40"><i>v.</i> 39, 40</scripRef>. "Thou
dost not pretend that the clouds and stars have any dependence upon
thee, for they are above thee; but on the earth thou thinkest
thyself paramount; let us try that then: <i>Wilt thou hunt the prey
for the lion?</i> Thou valuest thyself upon thy possessions of
cattle which thou wast once owner of, the oxen, and asses, and
camels, that were fed at thy crib; but wilt thou undertake the
maintenance of the lions, and <i>the young lions, when they couch
in their dens,</i> waiting for a prey? No, needest not do it, they
can shift for themselves without thee: thou canst not do it, for
thou hast not wherewithal to satisfy them: thou darest not do it;
shouldst thou come to feed them, they would seize upon thee. But I
do it." See the all-sufficiency of the divine providence: it has
wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every living thing, even the
most ravenous. See the bounty of the divine Providence, that,
wherever it has given life, it will give livelihood, even to those
creatures that are not only not serviceable, but dangerous, to man.
And see its sovereignty, that it suffers some creatures to be
killed for the support of other creatures. The harmless sheep are
torn to pieces, to <i>fill the appetite of the young lions,</i> who
yet sometimes are made to lack and suffer hunger, to punish them
for their cruelty, while those that fear God want no good thing. 2.
For the young ravens, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.41" parsed="|Job|38|41|0|0" passage="Job 38:41"><i>v.</i>
41</scripRef>. As ravenous beasts, so ravenous birds, are fed by
the divine Providence. <i>Who</i> but God <i>provides for the raven
his food?</i> Man does not; he takes care only of those creatures
that are, or may be, useful to him. But God has a regard to all the
works of his hands, even the meanest and least valuable. The
ravens' <i>young ones</i> are in a special manner necessitous, and
God supplies them, <scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p32.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.9" parsed="|Ps|147|9|0|0" passage="Ps 147:9">Ps. cxlvii.
9</scripRef>. God's feeding the fowls, especially these fowls
(<scripRef id="Job.xxxix-p32.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.26" parsed="|Matt|6|26|0|0" passage="Mt 6:26">Matt. vi. 26</scripRef>), is an
encouragement to us to trust him for our daily bread. See here,
(1.) What distress the young ravens are often in: <i>They wander
for lack of meat.</i> The old ones, they say, neglect them, and do
not provide for them as other birds do for their young: and indeed
those that are ravenous to others are commonly barbarous to their
own, and unnatural. (2.) What they are supposed to do in that
distress: They <i>cry,</i> for they are noisy clamorous creatures,
and this is interpreted as crying to God. It being the cry of
nature, it is looked upon as directed to the God of nature. The
putting of so favourable a construction as this upon the cries of
the young ravens may encourage us in our prayers, though we can but
cry, <i>Abba, Father.</i> (3.) What God does for them. Some way or
other he provides for them, so that they grow up, and come to
maturity. And he that takes this care of the young ravens certainly
will not be wanting to his people or theirs. This, being but one
instance of many of the divine compassion, may give us occasion to
think how much good our God does, every day, beyond what we are
aware of.</p>
</div></div2>