God (Jehovah) speaks now to Job after hearing the many addresses of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar and listening to a new friend, Elihu who speaks on behalf of GOD.
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. He said, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (In other words, you’re saying things and you really don’t have the knowledge to speak on it; therefore you darken counsel and can speak only words; but look at my ministry of what I do and have done).
“Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! (Be strong and I will ask you some questions. How will you answer?) Your counsel is dark because you don’t have knowledge.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who sets the measurements of the earth? Since you know. Or who stretched the measurement line on the earth?
On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid the earth’s cornerstone when the morning stars sang together (sung harmoniously with the divine beings, the angels and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, and I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop?’
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal. And they stand forth like a garment. Their light is withheld, From the wicked And the uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep? (I frequently hear oceanographers and others talk of getting to the bottom of the depths of the seas: LoL don’t believe it) “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
“Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home? You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great!
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle? Where is the way that the light is divided, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
“Who has cleft a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land without people, (or rain about three months of rain in the desert within a 24 hour period as in Nevada recently?) On a desert without a man in it, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the seeds of grass to sprout?
“Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion (the Redeemer breaking forth as Light? ”Can you lead forth the Zodiac’s monthly Signs?—can you guide Arcturus and his sons? (There are twelve signs of the Zodiac, called “the stars” (Genesis 37.9 (eleven of which bowed down to Joseph’s, the twelfth). The Zodiac marks the stages of the sun’s path through the heavens, corresponding with the twelve months. God named the stars which are not to be worshipped (Ps. 147.4). The constellation in its season, and guides the Bear with her satellites.
“Do you know the statutes (ordinances) of the heavens, or fix their rule (dominion) over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of plenteousness of water will cover you? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, ‘Here we are?’
“Who has put wisdom in the innermost being or given understanding to the mind? Who can count the clouds by wisdom or tip the water jars of the heavens when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods stick together?
“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens? And lie in wait in their lair? Who prepares for the raven its nourishment when its young cry to God and wander about without food?
The book of Job Chapters 38 through chapter 42.6 are Jehovah’s Two Addresses to Job.
Writing for the Lord and loving it! Thanks for reading! Jeanette Grattan Parker is the founder-superintendent of Today’s Fresh Start Charter School, 4514 Crenshaw Boulevard, L.A. 90043, 323-293-9826, www.todaysfreshstart.org, (Ask Dr. Jeanette TM) “Inquiring Minds Want to Know.” All articles are copyright. All rights reserved © [email protected]. References: The Holy Bible. StudyLight.org; Henry’s and Kelly’s Commentaries (public domain). Companion Bible. Any errors? Please let me know.