Job 38:5

_WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF, IF THOU KNOWEST? OR WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE UPON IT?_ Measures - of its proportions. Image from an architect's plans of a building. LINE - of measurement (Isaiah 28:17). The earth is formed on an all-wise plan....

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 38:5. _WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF_] Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the centre? _WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE_] Who hath formed its zones and its great circles, and adjusted the whole of its _magnitude_ and _gravity_ to the _orbit_ in which it was to move, as well as its _distance_ from that great centre about which it was to revolve? These questions show the difficulty of the subject; and that there was an unfathomable depth of counsel and design in the formation of the earth....

WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF - That is, as an architect applies his measures when he rears a house. IF THOU KNOWEST - Or rather, “for thou knowest.” The expression is wholly ironical, and is designed to rebuke Job’s pretensions of being able to explain the divine administration. OR WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE UPON IT - As a carpenter uses a line to mark out his work; see the notes at Isaiah 28:17. The earth is represented as a building, the plan of which was laid out beforehand, and which was then made according to the sketch of the architect. It is not, therefore, the work of chance or fate. It is laid out and constructed according to a wise plan, and in a method evincing infinite skill....

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

WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF, IF THOU KNOWEST?.... Did God or a creature? The Lord, no doubt. He laid them out in his divine mind, and laid them forth by his divine power; who does all things by weight and measure. He fixed the dimensions of the earth, how long, how thick, and how broad it should be; he settled the borders and boundaries of it. This Job might know that the Lord did; but he laid them, and what they are that are laid, he knew not. Mathematicians pretend to give us the circumference and diameter of the earth; but in their accounts are not agreed, but widely differ; which shows they are at no certainty about them e; and Job and the men of his age might be still less knowing: though the words may be rendered, "for thou knowest" f; surely such a knowing man as thou art must needs know this and so are a severe sarcasm upon him; OR WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE UPON IT? The...

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....

Earth and sea....

WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF— See 2 Samuel 8:2....