Job 40:3

JOB'S MEEK AND HUMBLE REPLY

"Then Job answered Jehovah, and said,

Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?

I lay my hand upon my mouth.

Once have I spoken, and I will not answer;

Yea, twice, but I will proceed no further."

"Here we have a classical illustration of the results which must always follow when the silence of heaven is broken, when there is a revelation of God himself, to which men must listen in the posture of faith without which it is impossible to please God; and at such times the speech of earth is stilled."[8] Hearing the Word of God has changed the defiant critic into an humble worshipper; and, today, it will do the same for all who hear God's Word. "Job here confessed his insignificance,"[9] but said nothing of repentance. "He admits that he cannot answer, but he still does not admit any sin."[10] Kelly called this response, "Partial and relatively noncommittal."[11] It is in this very fact that we have the reason and the explanation of why these additional matters which are spoken of in these two chapters (Job 40-41) were required to be said. This also makes it impossible to accept the postulations of some critics that these two chapters are unnecessary interpolations.

In this we see the reason for these chapters in which God spoke to mankind out of the whirlwind. "They were written to combat the pride and egotism of men."[12] The inordinate pride and arrogant egotism of the human race are the most prevalent and the most dangerous of human failures and sins. It was this sin that led to the expulsion of Satan and his angels from heaven, that led to the Fall of Mankind and resulted in his Paradise Lost. This sin leads the procession of the seven deadly sins of Proverbs 6:16-19.