Job 38:4

_WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH? DECLARE, IF THOU HAST UNDERSTANDING._ To understand the cause of things, man should have been present at their origin. The finite creature cannot fathom the infinite wisdom of the Creator (Job 28:12; Job 15:7). HAST (KNOWEST) UNDERSTANDING - (Proverbs 4:1). If thou hast all the knowledge and understanding that thou thinkest thou hast....

4-11 For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance, even concerning the earth and the sea. As we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not fear concerning it. The works of his providence, as well as the work of creation, never can 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 firm as the earth....

Verse Job 38:4. _WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE_ _EARTH?_] Thou hast a limited and derived being; thou art only of _yesterday_; what canst thou know? Didst thou see me create the world?...

WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH? - The first appeal is to the creation. The question here, “Where wast thou?” implies that Job was not present. He had not then an existence. He could not, therefore, have aided God, or counselled him, or understood what he was doing. How presumptuous, therefore, it was in one so short-lived to sit in judgment on the doings of him who had formed the world! How little could he expect to be able to know of him! The expression, “laid the foundations of the earth,” is taken from building an edifice. The foundations are first laid, and the super-structure is then reared. It is a poetic image, and is not designed to give any intimation about the actual process by which the earth was made, or the manner in which it is sustained. IF THOU HAST UNDERSTANDING - Margin, as in Hebrew “if thou knowest.” That is, “Declare how it was done. Explain...

CLOSE OF THE CONTROVERSY BY THE INTERFERENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY. EXPOSITION The discourse, by which the Almighty answers Job and rebukes his "friends," occupies four chapters (ch. 38-41.). It is broken into two parts by the interposition of a-short confession on Job's part (Job 40:3). Job 38:1 and Job 39:1 are closely connected, and form a single appeal—a sort of _argumentum ad verecundiam—_to_ _Job's profound ignorance of God's natural government, which incapacitates him from passing judgment upon what is far more incomprehensible and myste

WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH?.... The earth has foundations, and such firm ones that it cannot be moved; but what are they, since it is hung in the air on nothing! No other than the power and will of God, who laid these foundations, and the Son of God, who has created and upholds all things by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3. Where was Job then? In a state of nothingness, a mere nonentity: he was not present when this amazing work of nature was done, and saw not how the Lord went about it; and yet takes upon him to dive into the secret works and ways of Providence, for which he is rebuked by this question and the following; DECLARE, IF THOU HAST UNDERSTANDING: Job had the understanding of a man in things natural and civil, and of a good man in things spiritual and divine; but he had no understanding of this, of what he is questioned about; could

V. THE LORD'S TESTIMONY TO JOB AND CONTROVERSY WITH HIM CHAPTER 38:1-38 _ 1. The Lord speaks to Job (Job 38:1)_ 2. The questions of the Lord (Job 38:4) Job 38:1. The voice of man is hushed; the voice of the Lord begins to speak. The Almighty, the Creator, the Lord of All comes now upon the scene. He too, like Elihu, had been the silent listener; He heard Job's complaint and wailing and the babblings of his friends. Elihu's wonderful utterance, inspired by the Lord, was ended. The thunderstorm is on, no doubt a literal storm, the dark clouds gather-- _ Then from the North there comes a golden light._ God appears in wondrous Majesty ...

Yahweh, speaking to Job out of the storm, challenges him to the contest, which he has so often demanded....

HAST UNDERSTANDING. knowest....

Was Job present, possibly taking part in the operation, when Jehovah laid the foundations of the earth? Let him then "declare" how all was done. The word _declare_of course refers to the queries in Job 38:5....