translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JOB

label: NET study note

text: This is the culmination of it all, the revelation of the Lord to Job. Most interpreters see here the style and content of the author of the book, a return to the beginning of the book. Here the Lord speaks to Job and displays his sovereign power and glory. Job has lived through the suffering – without cursing God. He has held to his integrity, and nowhere regretted it. But he was unaware of the real reason for the suffering, and will remain unaware throughout these speeches. God intervenes to resolve the spiritual issues that surfaced. Job was not punished for sin. And Job’s suffering had not cut him off from God. In the end the point is that Job cannot have the knowledge to make the assessments he made. It is wiser to bow in submission and adoration of God than to try to judge him. The first speech of God has these sections: the challenge ( 38:1-3 ), the surpassing mysteries of earth and sky beyond Job’s understanding (4-38), and the mysteries of animal and bird life that surpassed his understanding ( 38:39 – 39:30 ).


text: This is not the storm described by Elihu – in fact, the Lord ignores Elihu. The storm is a common accompaniment for a theophany (see Ezek 1:4 ; Nah 1:3 ; Zech 9:14 ).


text: The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10 ; Prov 19:21 ; Isa 19:17 ). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”


text: The world was conceived of as having bases and pillars, but these poetic descriptions should not be pressed too far (e.g., see Ps 24:2 , which may be worded as much for its polemics against Canaanite mythology as anything).


text: The expression “morning stars” ( Heb “stars of the morning”) is here placed in parallelism to the angels, “the sons of God.” It may refer to the angels under the imagery of the stars, or, as some prefer, it may poetically include all creation. There is a parallel also with the foundation of the temple which was accompanied by song (see Ezra 3:10,11 ). But then the account of the building of the original tabernacle was designed to mirror creation (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture ).


text: The poetic image is that darkness or night is like a blanket that covers the earth, and at dawn it is taken by the edges and shaken out. Since the wicked function under the cover of night, they are included in the shaking when the dawn comes up.


text: The verse needs to be understood in the context: as the light shines in the dawn, the features of the earth take on a recognizable shape or form. The language is phenomenological.


text: What is active at night, the violence symbolized by the raised arm, is broken with the dawn. G. R. Driver thought the whole verse referred to stars, and that the arm is the navigator’s term for the line of stars (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 208-12).


text: Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11 ; Exod 9:2 ff.; Isa 28:17 ; Isa 30:30 ; and Ps 18:12 [13]).


text: The terms translated war and battle are different Hebrew words, but both may be translated “war” or “battle” depending on the context.


text: See Job 9:9 .