13 Who gave him a charge over the earth? Or who has appointed him over the whole world?
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. Who determined the measures of it, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? Whereupon were the foundations of it fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? "Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it broke forth from the womb, When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, Marked out for it my bound, Set bars and doors, And said, 'Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud waves be stayed?' "Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it? It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment. From the wicked, their light is withheld, The high arm is broken. "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all. "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is the place of it, That you should take it to the bound of it, That you should discern the paths to the house of it? Surely you know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great! Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, Or have you seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war? By what way is the lightning distributed, Or the east wind scattered on the earth? Who has cut a channel for the flood water, Or the path for the thunderstorm; To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; On the wilderness, in which there is no man; To satisfy the waste and desolate ground, To cause the tender grass to spring forth? Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? The waters become hard like stone, When the surface of the deep is frozen. "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loosen the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish the dominion of it over the earth? "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?' Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, When the dust runs into a mass, And the clods of earth stick together? "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket? Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food?
Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified? Or have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? "Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty. Pour forth the fury of your anger. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, Before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; When he set a circle on the surface of the deep, When he established the clouds above, When the springs of the deep became strong, When he gave to the sea its boundary, That the waters should not violate his commandment, When he marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, Always rejoicing before him,
Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or being his counselor has taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shown to him the way of understanding?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 34
Commentary on Job 34 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 34
Job 34:1-37.
1. answered—proceeded.
2. This chapter is addressed also to the "friends" as the thirty-third chapter to Job alone.
3. palate—(See on Job 12:11; Job 33:2).
4. judgment—Let us select among the conflicting sentiments advanced, what will stand the test of examination.
5. judgment—my right. Job's own words (Job 13:18; 27:2).
6. Were I to renounce my right (that is, confess myself guilty), I should die. Job virtually had said so (Job 27:4, 5; 6:28). Maurer, not so well, "Notwithstanding my right (innocence) I am treated as a liar," by God, by His afflicting me.
my wound—literally, "mine arrow," namely, by which I am pierced. So "my stroke" ("hand," Job 23:2, Margin). My sickness (Job 6:4; 16:13).
without transgression—without fault of mine to deserve it (Job 16:17).
7. (Job 15:16). Image from the camel.
scorning—against God (Job 15:4).
8. Job virtually goes in company (makes common cause) with the wicked, by taking up their sentiments (Job 9:22, 23, 30; 21:7-15), or at least by saying, that those who act on such sentiments are unpunished (Mal 3:14). To deny God's righteous government because we do not see the reasons of His acts, is virtually to take part with the ungodly.
9. with God—in intimacy (Ps 50:18, Margin).
10. The true answer to Job, which God follows up (Job 38:1-41). Man is to believe God's ways are right, because they are His, not because we fully see they are so (Ro 9:14; De 32:4; Ge 18:25).
11. Partly here; fully, hereafter (Jer 32:19; Ro 2:6; 1Pe 1:17; Re 22:12).
12. (Job 8:3). In opposition to Job, Job 34:5, will not—cannot.
13. If the world were not God's property, as having been made by Him, but committed to His charge by some superior, it might be possible for Him to act unjustly, as He would not thereby be injuring Himself; but as it is, for God to act unjustly would undermine the whole order of the world, and so would injure God's own property (Job 36:23).
disposed—hath founded (Isa 44:7), established the circle of the globe.
14, 15. "If He were to set His heart on man," either to injure him, or to take strict account of his sins. The connection supports rather [Umbreit], "If He had regard to himself (only), and were to gather unto Himself (Ps 104:29) man's spirit, &c. (which he sends forth, Ps 104:30; Ec 12:7), all flesh must perish together," &c. (Ge 3:19). God's loving preservation of His creatures proves He cannot be selfish, and therefore cannot be unjust.
16. In Job 34:2, Elihu had spoken to all in general, now he calls Job's special attention.
17. "Can even He who (in thy view) hateth right (justice) govern?" The government of the world would be impossible if injustice were sanctioned. God must be just, because He governs (2Sa 23:3).
govern—literally, "bind," namely, by authority (so "reign," 1Sa 9:17, Margin). Umbreit translates for "govern, repress wrath, namely, against Job for his accusations.
most just—rather, "Him who is at once mighty and just" (in His government of the world).
18. Literally, (Is it fit) to be said to a king? It would be a gross outrage to reproach thus an earthly monarch, much more the King of kings (Ex 22:28). But Maurer with the Septuagint and Vulgate reads, (It is not fit to accuse of injustice Him) who says to a king, Thou art wicked; to princes, Ye are ungodly; that is, who punishes impartially the great, as the small. This accords with Job 34:19.
19. (Ac 10:34; 2Ch 19:7; Pr 22:2; Job 31:15).
20. they—"the rich" and "princes" who offend God.
the people—namely, of the guilty princes: guilty also themselves.
at midnight—image from a night attack of an enemy on a camp, which becomes an easy prey (Ex 12:29, 30).
without hand—without visible agency, by the mere word of God (so Job 20:26; Zec 4:6; Da 2:34).
21. God's omniscience and omnipotence enable Him to execute immediate justice. He needs not to be long on the "watch," as Job thought (Job 7:12; 2Ch 16:9; Jer 32:19).
22. shadow of death—thick darkness (Am 9:2, 3; Ps 139:12).
23. (1Co 10:13; La 3:32; Isa 27:8). Better, as Umbreit, "He does not (needs not to) regard (as in Job 34:14; Isa 41:20) man long (so Hebrew, Ge 46:29) in order that he may go (be brought by God) into judgment." Literally, "lest his (attention) upon men" (Job 11:10, 11). So Job 34:24, "without number" ought to be translated, "without [needing any] searching out," such as has to be made in human judgments.
24. break in pieces—(Ps 2:9; Job 12:18; Da 2:21).
25. Therefore—because He knows all things (Job 34:21). He knows their works, without a formal investigation (Job 34:24).
in the night—suddenly, unexpectedly (Job 34:20). Fitly in the night, as it was in it that the godless hid themselves (Job 34:22). Umbreit, less simply, for "overturneth," translates, "walketh"; that is, God is ever on the alert, discovering all wickedness.
26. He striketh them—chasteneth.
as—that is, because they are wicked.
sight of others—Sinners hid themselves in darkness; therefore they are punished before all, in open day. Image from the place of public execution (Job 40:12; Ex 14:30; 2Sa 12:12).
27, 28. The grounds of their punishment in Job 34:26. Job 34:28 states in what respect they "considered not God's ways," namely, by oppression, whereby "they caused the cry," &c.
29. (Pr 16:7; Isa 26:3).
make trouble—rather, "condemn" (Ro 8:33, 34). Maurer, from the reference being only to the godless, in the next clause, and Job 34:20 translates, "When God keeps quiet" (leaves men to perish) Ps 83:1; [Umbreit] from the Arabic (strikes to the earth), "who shall condemn Him as unjust?" Job 34:17.
hideth … face—(Job 23:8, 9; Ps 13:1).
it be done—Whether it be against a guilty nation (2Ki 18:9-12) or an individual, that God acts so.
30. Ensnared—into sin (1Ki 12:28, 30). Or rather, "enthralled by further oppression," Job 34:26-28.
31. Job accordingly says so (Job 40:3-5; Mic 7:9; Le 26:41). It was to lead him to this that Elihu was sent. Though no hypocrite, Job, like all, had sin; therefore through affliction he was to be brought to humble himself under God. All sorrow is a proof of the common heritage of sin, in which the godly shares; and therefore he ought to regard it as a merciful correction. Umbreit and Maurer lose this by translating, as the Hebrew will bear, "Has any a right to say to God, I have borne chastisement and yet have not sinned?" (so Job 34:6).
borne—namely, the penalty of sin, as in Le 5:1, 17.
offend—literally, "to deal destructively or corruptly" (Ne 1:7).
32. (Job 10:2; Ps 32:8; 19:12; 139:23, 24).
no more—(Pr 28:13; Eph 4:22).
33. Rather, "should God recompense (sinners) according to thy mind? Then it is for thee to reject and to choose, and not me" [Umbreit]; or as Maurer, "For thou hast rejected God's way of recompensing; state therefore thy way, for thou must choose, not I," that is, it is thy part, not mine, to show a better way than God's.
34, 35. Rather, "men … will say to me, and the wise man (Job 34:2, 10) who hearkens to me (will say), 'Job hath spoken,'" &c.
36. Margin, not so well, "My father," Elihu addressing God. This title does not elsewhere occur in Job.
tried—by calamities.
answers for wicked men—(See on Job 34:8). Trials of the godly are not removed until they produce the effect designed.
37. clappeth … hands—in scorn (Job 27:23; Eze 21:17).
multiplieth … words—(Job 11:2; 35:16). To his original "sin" to correct which trials have been sent, "he adds rebellion," that is, words arraigning God's justice.