Job 38

Job 38:1

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

answered. See note on Job 4:1. We now have Jehovah’s own ministry, and the theme is Himself. Elihu’s ministry furnishes the text: “God is greater than man “(Job 33:12). This leads up to “the end of the Lord” (James 5:11). “How should mortal man be just with God? “See Job 4:17; Job 9:2; Job 15:14; Job 33:9; Job 34:5. How different from the ministry of the three friends, which, like most ministries of to-day, consists in the effort to make men “good” by persuasion.

Job 38:2

Who is this . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.

darkeneth. Hebrew. hashak. See note on Job 3:6.

Job 38:3

man. Hebrew. geber. App-14.

answer thou Me = cause Me to know.

Job 38:4

hast understanding = knowest.

Job 38:6

foundations = sockets.

fastened = sunk.

Job 38:7

stars sang. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6. See App-12.

sons of God = angels. See note on Genesis 6:2, and the eight occurrences of the expression in O.T. See also App-23and App-25.

Job 38:9

thick darkness. Hebrew. ’araphel. See note on Job 3:6.

Job 38:10

brake up = assigned.

Job 38:12

the morning. See the Alternation below, verses: Job 38:12-14.

Job 38:13

the wicked = lawless. All the ancient versions and early printed editions read “the lawless”

Job 38:16

search = secret.

Job 38:17

doors = gates.

Job 38:19

way. Supply Ellipsis: “Where is the way [to the place where] light”, &c.

Job 38:22

treasures = treasuries.

Job 38:23

against the day, &c. . - e.g. as in Joshua 10:10.

Job 38:24

part = divide up into parts: as the rays of light in a prism.

Job 38:26

man. Hebrew ’ish. App-14.

man. Hebrew. ’adam. App-14.

Job 38:28

dew = night mist. See note on Psalms 133:3.

Job 38:31

Pleiades. Hebrew. kimah. See App-12.

Orion. Hebrew kesil. App-12.

Job 38:32

Mazzarotli = the twelve signs of the Zodiac marking the path of the sun in the heavens. App-12. Arcturus. Hebrew. ’ayishthe greater sheepfold: known to day as “the great bear”. See App-12.

Job 38:33

ordinances = statutes.

the = his.

Job 38:36

in the inward parts. Hebrew. tuchoth: Occurs only here and Psalms 51:6. See note on Job 28:28 and Proverbs 1:7.