William Vaughn

Job 38:31-33; Job 39:9

Finally, God speaks. Thirty-eight chapters of Job’s misery and bad advice from his friends. God sure is patient. First order of business from God, is to establish who He is. Chapters 38 and 39 are really just God expounding on His glory and reminding Job and his friends who they are in relation to Him. He is the God that binds everything together, and sets all things in their order. One thing I find remarkable about these chapters is that they’ve stood the test of like 3000 years of discovery. All of the things God lists in these chapters that are his doing, are still things that with all our science and discovery, we still don’t fully understand. We have better understandings of them perhaps, and in some cases we’ve actually validated some of what God says in this chapter. But, mostly these were deep mysteries then, and they remain deep mysteries now.

31 "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
     or loose the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
     or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
     Can you establish their rule on the earth?

ESV Job 38:31-33

Whoa. “Hey you, little human, did you set all this up? Did you create all these constellations and this whole universe, and work out exactly how it would all fit together and establish order from where you look upon them on earth?” The “Mazzaroth” is a Hebrew word, but from context it must be a constellation. Most Northern Hemisphere dwellers know the Pleiades, Orion, and The Bear (Ursa Major). I find it fascinating how human civilization has used the night sky for orientation, time keeping, navigation, myths, stories, and so much more. Here is God saying He, His Son, and His spirit worked out all that before time even began. God is big! I don’t want a God who is any less marvelous and mysterious. If we could understand the ways of God, He wouldn’t be worth worshipping. But, He is.

"Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
   Will he spend the night at your manger?"

ESV Job 39:9

God continues in chapter 39, but now he’s covering the greatness of his command of all living creatures. He’s talking about knowing when and how the mountain goats give birth, and some stuff about sustaining wild donkeys in the salt lands. Then he puts in this little bit about how a wild ox would serve Him and spend the night by his manger. Do you know anyone born in a manger amongst barn animals? Yeah, maybe just maybe, in this book provably written thousands of years before it happened, God is giving a little hint at who He is, and what was to come. That Jesus, the living God would become human, be born in a manger to live a life we could never live, sacrificing himself for us so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

I really liked reading Job. This was my first time through it. Can’t wait to come back around to it next year! Perhaps in the time of the Pleiades.