Job 42:7-9 comments: God's sovereignty made plain

7 ¶  And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 8  Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. 9  So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.

God accepts Job’s repentance for his speaking out of ignorance and tells his friends that only a sacrifice and prayer from this innocent man will prevent God’s judgment on them. In type Job here takes the place of Christ, offering up Himself for a sacrifice and praying for mercy for mankind’s ignorance and arrogance. Types are imperfect analogies and always break down at some point but they point you in a direction. Notice it is not Job who is called to forgive God for what Job has lost. God did not deem to explain to Job the conversation He had with Satan. It is Job who needs God’s acceptance, His approval.

This brings us to the obvious point of this book, what is considered the oldest book in the Bible by many. We are talking about God’s sovereignty and the evil that can come into your life and how you are called simply to trust God, that He has it under control.

First, let’s look at one definition of evil. Evil is not always simply sin. It is trouble, disaster, tribulation, pain, and suffering as well. It is a malicious event that hurts you physically and emotionally. For those who don’t believe that God can have any hand in evil events, as if He is some kind of absentee landlord whom you must call to let Him know the plumbing has burst or a big brother who is ignorant of your suffering at the hands of a bully but will rise up when you tell him, read this;

Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Do you dare deny the word of God? Even Job, in his self-righteousness, acknowledged this truth.

Job 2:10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

God doesn’t tell Job that Satan was the author of Job’s problems. As far as Job is concerned God was the author of His trouble and, as He permitted those troubles to happen within specific limits that He set, God was the author. When David wanted to perform a census of his people it is difficult to determine who was the cause. Here are the contrasting accounts of the ultimate reason for that census.

2Samuel 24:1 ¶  And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

1Chronicles 21:1 ¶  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Now, you who believe that there is a good God and a devil, who is kind of bad god, and that God is waiting on the sidelines to deliver us from the devil’s shenanigans which He knew nothing about and was incapable of preventing him from performing have a problem. The problem is the Bible. The book of Job has taught us very clearly that there is no event, from the tiniest unseen to the most majestic, that God doesn’t either cause to happen or permit to happen, usually for reasons we know nothing about in this life. Why do bad things happen to so-called good people? Outside of our obvious reaping what we sow we often don’t know and misrepresent God when we pretend to know why suffering has come to someone’s life.

“Oh,” you say, “he was in a bad car wreck and died because he was called to the ministry and rejected the calling.” You liar. You misrepresent God like Eliphaz and his friends. You have no idea why that young person died at an early age. He didn’t smoke. He didn’t drink. He didn’t curse. He tithed. He was faithful to church. He was a soul-winner. He was all the things that you respect.  He was saved. God says things will happen that are evil events in our lives and we may never know in our lives why they happened, whether He caused them directly or allowed them to happen. The physical result is the same. We are to trust Him, even if He takes our lives and the lives of those we love. Eternity, a time a lot longer than our finite biological life, awaits us.

We are to trust God one day at a time. The trouble, the calamity of each day is enough to be concerned with. Jesus said;

Matthew 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

And what our response to tribulation should be is clearly laid out.

Romans 5:1 ¶  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

He comforts us by His word, if we believe His promises.

2Corinthians 1:3 ¶  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

We are not promised a trouble or pain-free life but we are promised something that most faith traditions have never read in their sacred scriptures; God’s love and eternal life with Him.

Romans 8:26 ¶  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

29 ¶  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

    31 ¶  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s sovereignty is, however, a bitter pill to swallow for those of us who are not submitted to Him.

Job, chapter 42:1-6 comments: Job's acknowledgement

1 ¶  Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 4  Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5  I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6  Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

God did not explain the circumstances by which Job had suffered his great losses. He did not relate the events before the throne of the first part of this book directly. Job acknowledges here that there is nothing that God cannot do and no thought that is hid from Him. We are told;

2Corinthians 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

The fact that God knows our thoughts is expressed throughout the Bible. Before the Flood in Genesis 6:5, under the Law in 1Chronicles 28:9, with Jesus, because He is God, in Luke 5:22, and the Scriptures themselves in Hebrews 4:12.

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

There is no such thing as a human mind-reader and Satan does not know your thoughts. However, astute persons and Satan are great judges of human character or lack thereof and can anticipate how we will respond to temptation because we are so predictable.

Job also acknowledges that he has spoken about things of which he did not understand. We really don’t understand God’s sovereignty or the deeper doctrines of the Bible like the resurrection of the dead. Paul admitted that and that he hoped to know and understand Jesus as Jesus knew and understood him. Keep in mind in the next verses that, “attain unto,” is to wrap your mind around, to comprehend, defined in Psalm 139:6 and Proverbs 1:5, and although apprehend is only used in the next verses one of the early meanings of that word was, to understand or to know, which you can confirm by Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary or the Early Modern English Database cited previously. “To attain unto,” and to, “apprehend,” then have similar or synonymous meanings as evidenced by how they are used in contrast to each other in the following with, “know,” as the foundation for interpreting the passage;

9 ¶  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect*: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 Job finishes this passage by declaring that he abhors himself and repents of his self-righteous ignorance in dust and ashes, the statement of any understanding sinner saved by grace. We cannot stand before a holy God except by virtue of our faith and trust in Christ’s resurrection and in His deity. That is the fundamental proposition of Christianity.

The comparison we must make is not between ourselves and another person. We aren’t judged by our relative goodness or evil. We are judged purely by Christ’s righteousness and our faith in and acknowledgement of it, His resurrection, and His deity. Compare yourself to God and you will fall flat on your face.

*Perfect does not always mean to be without sin or taint. It means to be complete, finished, entire, lacking nothing you should know or possess. See 2Chronicles 8:16; Galatians 3:3; James 1:4; and Colossians 4:12.

Job, chapter 41: a description of Satan's appearance

1 ¶  Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? 2  Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 3  Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 4  Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 5  Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 6  Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? 7  Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? 8  Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. 9  Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10  None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

The word, leviathan, is found elsewhere in the Bible. First, in what appears to be a mysterious reference to the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea and possibly spiritual events that accompanied the physical.

Psalm 74:12 ¶  For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13  Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.14  Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

A reference to a large sea creature, great fish, or whale.

Psalm 104:26  There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

And a connection to the Devil in Revelation, chapter 12, by cross reference.

Isaiah 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Revelation 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The leviathan in chapter 41 of Job here is huge, untamable, and unconquerable, at least by man. On one level this, too, as behemoth, appears to be a reference to a dinosaur, a dragon. If this creature is so great and fearful and God created him, then who can stand before God? In the next verses we can see how this is the example, the beginning, of all of the great legends over the earth, from China to Europe of the dragon. The dragon is a common memory of man celebrated in folklore and mythology, almost universally. The Greek, drakon, refers to a huge serpent.

But, as this next passage moves forward the description travels from the view of a fearsome creature to something more. At no time has God revealed to Job who has initiated the awful terrors that have visited him, but here we have, perhaps, a description of Job’s true adversary, Satan.

First, a picture of Satan, or Lucifer, is painted in the Bible. Beginning in the Garden of Eden. Keep in mind that serpent is also an historical name for a dragon.

Genesis 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

It is confirmed later that this was indeed Satan in the Garden of Eden as God pronounces judgment on him as he likens the King of Tyre to him.

Ezekiel 28:11 ¶  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

What iniquity was it that was found in Satan? He questioned God’s words. Why? We have our clue as to that here as God has the prophet, Isaiah, cast a prophecy against the king of Babylon which includes a reference likening him to Satan. Lucifer is a title which means light-bearer.

Isaiah 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Satan, as we saw in Ezekiel is a cherub, the anointed cherub. Cherubs are creatures that have the appearance of animals in Ezekiel, chapters 1 and 10, and appear around the throne in Revelation, chapter 4. Satan can appear as an angel of light to deceive, as in 2Corinthians 11:14, but is not one of that number. He leads or led fallen sons of God, angels, in rebellion but is not one of them.

Satan is the fire-breathing dragon of human mythology and literature. Mankind remembers Satan physically but has marginalized him as simply a force of evil and not having an individual identity. Satan appears to be preoccupied in history with keeping himself out of sight and making human beings think they are serving God by serving him. Such is most of the history of Christianity, particularly state-church combinations, the list of wrongs and egregious sins committed in the service of Satan, but in the name of God. It is no coincidence why the dragon featured prominently in medieval heraldry and symbol and as a cultural icon as a link to mankind’s true motivations and with whom his heart really lies.

    11 ¶  Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 12  I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. 13  Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? 14  Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. 15  His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. 16  One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 17  They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. 18  By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19  Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. 20  Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 21  His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. 22  In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. 23  The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. 24  His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. 25  When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. 26  The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. 27  He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 28  The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 29  Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. 30  Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. 31  He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 32  He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. 33  Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 34  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

God has described the appearance of the individual who came before God along with the sons of God in the beginning of this book. He capped off his physical description with the statement that shows that this is more than just an ordinary dinosaur. “He is a king over all the children of pride.”

Satan tempts us with questioning God’s word and with the same three things with which he tempted Eve.

Genesis 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

1John 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Paul showed us to whom we belonged before we came to Christ.

Ephesians 2:1 ¶  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

As Jesus noted a fact about the paternity of the men of His time on earth.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Perhaps a reference to Cain’s true paternity, whether the reference is spiritually, physically, or both.

1John 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

And so, chapter 41 ends with a physical description of man’s great adversary, who usually goes unnamed, but works behind the scenes, anonymously, to ruin everything we would try to accomplish for ourselves or for God, working through our flesh, but who can do nothing to us without God’s permission. This is a being who works through natural events and wicked people to achieve his ends as well as craft and subterfuge. There is no one more subtle and clever.

Job 40:15-24 comments: behemoth

15 ¶  Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. 16  Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. 17  He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. 18  His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. 19  He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. 20  Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. 21  He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. 22  The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. 23  Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. 24  He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

Unlike modern Bibles, the King James Version translators relied on what modern Bible translators call Formal Equivalence. A term coined by the Bible translator, Eugene Nida, Formal Equivalence refers to a word-for-word translation. Today, translators use Dynamic Equivalence, based on what they think the original writer meant to say rather than on what he did say, although the phrase preferred now is Functional Equivalence. The modern translator views himself as the gatekeeper not only of the word of God but of its meaning, this purpose being outlined in a series of essays entitled The Challenge of Bible Translation edited by Scorgie, Strauss, and Voth.  The KJV translators, in effect, translated the word faithfully and left it up to the Holy Spirit and you to discover its meaning based on context, cross-referencing, etc.

The King James translators not only translated word-for-word but also, typically, the Hebrew syntax, or the order of words. At its height, the English of the translator’s day, was very similar to Hebrew in construction, as noted by Tyndale and other translators, and as even critics of the King James Bible have noted. (46)

Here, in this short section God speaks of a very large creature, by the description of it, which is called here Behemoth. The Hebrew word and the English word are only used once in the Bible. Before the word, dinosaur, was coined in the early 1800’s, the word dragon was used to specify the large reptiles of mythology. Other words were used, as well, in secular writings and in the Bible, referring to these large reptiles, such as serpent and worm. I take the view that this is a description of a type of dinosaur. After all, traces of blood have been found in dinosaur remains, which is clearly evidence of their more recent existence, not the fantastic 80 million years of the atheist’s guess. (47) In addition, dinosaurs were traditionally dated to the estimated layer of dirt or rock in which they were found, not by the scientist’s dating methods, as it was assumed by them that those dates were accurate. However, recent Carbon 14 dating has suggested that dinosaurs lived as recently as 30,000 years ago, well within the atheist’s guess of mankind’s walk on the earth. (48) I do not accept the authority of the dating method, though. It has been calibrated to certain supposed known historical events, for instance, of Egypt, whose corroborating dates are also based on assumptions that have been challenged.(49)

For modern Bible translators who use words like hippopotamus to insert here for behemoth, the description alone renders that an absurdity. Hippos don’t have tales they move like a cedar tree nor could he imagine, if given the understanding, that he could drink up a river. God challenges Job to consider this magnificent creation of which many artifacts of archeology show existed along with mankind. Rock art, sculptures and engravings, as well as written accounts, show what we think of as dinosaurs co-existing with mankind.

(46) Walter R. Betteridge, “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament,” The Biblical World, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Apr., 1911), pp. 262-270. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3141576. (accessed 1.22.2015).

(47) Helen Field, “Dinosaur Shocker,” Smithsonian Magazine, May 2006, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dinosaur-shocker-115306469/?no-ist=&page=1 (accessed 1.21.2015).

(48) Socio-Economics History Blog, https://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/did-humans-walk-the-earth-with-dinosaurs-triceratops-horn-dated-to-33500-years/ (accessed 1.21.2015).

(49) Immanuel Velikovsky, a Russian Jew, a psychiatrist, and co-founder of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, challenged traditional dating methods for the ancient world as based on presumptions and willful distortion of evidence. He wrote Worlds in Collison, Ages in Chaos, and Earth in Upheaval, among other books. Although most scientists discount his sometimes wild theories he, at least, serves to show that there may be inconsistencies with traditional dating methods.

Job 40:6-14 comments: God's challenge to Job

6 ¶  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 9  Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? 10  Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty. 11  Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. 12  Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place. 13  Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. 14  Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

Here, in essence is God saying, “get a grip, Job.” God has used commonly understood terms and sarcasm in other places and venues talking to man directly and not in some spiritual-speak so prevalent among Christians. Look at the following passage from Isaiah and see how God expresses amazement at how stupid idolatrous man is. Your skilled craftsmen make a molten image or cut down a tree, make a fire with it, warm your hands, bake your bread, and then you worship what’s left as your god? What gives? Are you nuts?

Isaiah 44:9 ¶  They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10  Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11  Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 12  The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13  The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14  He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15  Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17  And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18  They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19  And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20  He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Here is another example of God speaking plainly to rebellious and foolish human beings.

2Kings 21:13  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.

God tells Job, very clearly, to do what God does and express the power that God expresses, and then, and only then will God acknowledge Job’s power as equal. Of course, this is an absurdity. Job knows he can’t save himself. If he could he wouldn’t be in the situation that he is. God is teaching Job about His sovereignty, His dominion, His rule over Job which Job has been questioning.

The Bible teaches God’s sovereignty in great detail and shows man that he is very weak and powerless in comparison and that mankind needs to lean on God’s wisdom, depend on His power, and seek His mercy and grace to survive and prosper. Christians try to resolve their problem with God’s sovereignty by limiting that dominion in saying that this or that was a matter of good or bad luck, this or that was a random event, or that God set up natural processes which basically function on their own without His direct intervention. These are all blasphemous insults against God and a denial of what the Bible is clearly teaching.

The Book of Job teaches that there is not a breeze, not a cloud in the sky, not a nova exploding a million light-years away that God has not been intimately involved with in its manifestation. Every process of so-called nature and the physical universe, in every moment of time, is an act of God. People have defined miracles as God interrupting the, “natural order.” However, the Bible teaches us that existence itself and every function of it is a miracle, a singular act of God, while a miracle is an event caused by God as a sign, a warning, for a specific purpose out of what we ordinarily expect that shows God’s power over that process to us. The reality of God’s sovereignty is disturbing and, indeed, staggering to ponder.

Job 40:1-5 comments: Job acknowledges his standing

1 ¶  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, 2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. 3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

God asks Job if Job thinks he can give God instruction, if he can critique God. We, today, often challenge God with our statements and questions. “How can a just God allow [name the event] happen?” Of course, the age-old, “why do bad things happen to good people?” comes to mind. When a terrible typhoon or hurricane makes landfall Christians are curious as to how many Christians suffered or died because in our business bargain with God we want assurances that bad things won’t happen to His people. Atheists and agnostics will say they can’t believe in God that would let [name the event] happen. We are always trying to tell God what He should or shouldn’t do, should or shouldn’t allow. Even when we pray we not only ask God for something but we want to tell Him how to give it to us, what color wrapping paper and how to fold the ribbon.

Job acknowledges in his awe that he is vile. Vile is trash and unworthy in 1Samuel 15:9. It is base in 2Samuel 6:22. A vile person in Isaiah 32:5,6 is a churl, speaks villainy, his heart works iniquity, he practices hypocrisy, speaks error against God, and does not relieve the suffering of the hungry and thirsty. To be vile is to be rotten in Jeremiah 29:17, like bad fruit.

Job is going to put his hand over his mouth and shut up. He realizes there is nothing he can say against God and that he has already said too much. He’s done. Job, like you and me, is a wicked sinner with imperfect knowledge and finite understanding. There are things we must understand about our natural condition, apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Jeremiah 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Without Christ, the believer is absolutely incapable of getting past these barriers.

John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

We have no basis with which to challenge or question God. In the 20^th century alone mankind killed more than a hundred million of his own, let countless millions more die because of greed, and drove millions from their homes. If a person wanted to ask God why He allowed such things, God would be justified in asking the person the same question. Mankind is utterly vile without Christ as his Lord, His teacher, His example, His Saviour, and His reason for being. One of the problems with much of Christianity is that rather than follow Christ, live with His attitude, and pay heed to His words we have opted to talk a lot about Him and accuse other people of not doing what we’re not doing.

Christians would do well to talk less about how holy they are and act like Christ more.

Job 39:13-30 comments: Ostriches, horses of war, and eagles and hawks

13 ¶  Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? 14  Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, 15  And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. 16  She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear; 17  Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding. 18  What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

God goes on to challenge Job as to who designed these creatures, who gave them their features. Obviously, God did, not Job. Ostriches lay their eggs in a common pit, dug into the ground by the male. Eggs from many females go into the pit and the more dominant females remove the weaker females’ eggs. Less than 1 in 10 nests survive the “care” they receive and very few Ostriches survive to adulthood.

God here underscores that animals aren’t given the wisdom and understanding of human beings. Although Ostriches will run away and feign injury, they have been known to put up a fierce fight and even to kill larger predators such as lions. Here the Ostrich is said to not have fear of the horse and his rider. Obviously, there must have been instances where a hunted Ostrich turned and fought against the mounted hunter. It is known that one kick from an Ostrich can disembowel a human.

19 ¶  Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? 20  Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. 21  He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. 22  He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. 23  The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 24  He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. 25  He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

I remember reading an article about someone who had witnessed retired war horses on a farm in England who, of their own accord, would assemble and then simulate a cavalry charge, without riders. I can’t cite it now but it was something I found very curious at the time. It was what they were used to doing and apparently found it comforting. Who can say?

Here is clearly a statement that makes it sound that, as I have read that racehorses love to race, that war horses were excited by the battle, and in my own thoughts, probably not understanding the danger. A thunderous cavalry charge could be a terror to inexperienced infantry.

    26 ¶  Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? 27  Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? 28  She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. 29  From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. 30  Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

Here God asks Job if birds of prey, specifically hawks and eagles, get their behavior and the understanding they have from Job or from God. This underscores man’s inherent lack of authority over the basic functions of nature and God’s sovereignty.

For verse 30, notice;

Matthew 24:28  For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Eagles are known to eat carrion, dead and decaying flesh. At the end of human history it is said;

Revelation 19:17  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18  That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.