Job 39:1

JOB 39

A CONTINUATION OF THE WORDS OF JEHOVAH

As already noted, the details of God's multiple questions addressed to Job do not appear to follow any pattern. Moreover it seems that the questions themselves are not nearly so important as the simple fact that Almighty God is here carrying on a conversation with a mortal man. This is at once, the glory of Job, and of mankind. The questions do not solve any of the mysteries of Job's suffering; the questions he has so eagerly asked remain unanswered; but in spite of all this, the questions achieve their intended effect in the heart of Job. As we learn later in Job 41:6, Job repents in dust and ashes. And of what does he repent? It was not of that gross wickedness imagined in the accusations of his friends, for of that he was not guilty. Nevertheless, he was by no means sinless; and his innocent notion that he could plead his worthiness even before God was profoundly in error.

Job accepted for himself the guilt and unworthiness which, in the very nature of our sinful mortality, pertains to all mankind. And it is in that sublime fact that the wise man must, at last, find the explanation of all the mysteries of our earthly existence, and, "Trust our Creator in all areas, even those in which we cannot see; for we walk by faith and not by sight." It was the surpassing honor of Job that God enabled him to do that very thing.

Job 39:1-4

JOB'S IGNORANCE OF WILD GOATS; DEER; AND OTHER WILD LIFE

"Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rocks bring forth?

Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

Canst thou number the months that they fulfill?

Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,

They cast forth their pain.

Their young ones become strong,

They grow up in the open field:

They go forth, and return not again."

Men have learned much about the beasts of the earth since the times of Job; and by capturing and breeding animals in menageries and zoological gardens, some of the questions God asked of Job in this paragraph men are now able to answer; but by no means do men know the whole story of the instinctive traits God created in all animals. There are inexplicable mysteries regarding any animal that the wisest men on earth cannot explain.