JOB 38-41

Job: Lesson 7

God's Reply (chs. 38-41)

The Book of Job is a book of questions, especially from Job to God. Now the tables will be turned.

Job 38: “The brewing storm turns out to be God clearing his throat like a person of authority would to get the attention of those who hadn't noticed him yet.” God comes down and does two unexpected things:

a. He addresses himself to Job, not his friends. “God feels no need to counter the arguments of the debaters, focusing rather on the real issue of who is running the show.”

b. He doesn't give any answers, but only more questions. And He gets rather sarcastic in His remarks (38:21).

God is the God of creation (vv. 1-11), of light (vv. 12-15), of the ocean (v. 16) and of nature (38:39-39:30). Many of the wonders of nature mentioned are still a wonder to us today.

Job 40:15-24: We now are treated to a description of Behemoth. This mysterious beast is mentioned nine times in the OT. In those he is described as a beast or cattle, and the description fits a hippo or perhaps an elephant. Other suggestions are that it is equivalent to the “bull of heaven” from Canaanite religions or even a dinosaur.

Job 41: An equally strange beast is featured in this chapter: Leviathan. It has been variously identified with a whale, a crocodile or a mythical sea dragon that causes eclipses of the sun. It appears several times in the Psalms and Ezekiel. A more usual explanation is that it represents the forces of chaos in the sea.

The purpose of God in these chapters seems to be the humiliation of Job. Why would God want to do that?

Read 40:1-2,7-8. Job had been trying to put God on trial. When we demand answers of God we are doing the same thing – putting ourselves up as being superior to Him. C. S. Lewis dealt with this issue in his essay “God in the Dock.”