Job 38:8-11 - Homiletics

Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the examination: 2. Concerning the sea.

I. THE PRODUCTION OF THE SEA .

1 . The place whence it issued. The sea, by a bold metaphor, is represented as a child proceeding from its mother's womb. The allusion apparently is to the third day's creative work, when the terrestrial waters were collected into seas by "the upheaval of the land through the action of subterranean fires, or the subsidence of the earth's crust in consequence of the cooling and shrinking of the interior mass" ('Pulpit Commentary: Genesis,' Genesis 1:9 ). The hitherto quiet surface of the deep being thrown into violent commotion, on the one hand the upward rush of waters occasioned by the sinking of the solid particles would seem like an irruption from the interior of the earth, while on the other hand the backward sweep produced by the sudden upheaval of mountain-peaks would appear as if effected by the superior restraint of some mighty hand. Hence, the whole is depicted as the birth of a young giant, who is no sooner ushered into life than he requires to be restrained and confined.

2 . The violence of its irruption . The word employed by Jehovah to describe its evolution from the still chaotic mass of the globe is the same which Scripture writers use to represent the bursting forth of a river from its source ( Job 40:23 ), the emerging of a child from its mother's womb ( Psalms 22:10 ), the rushing of a soldier into battle ( Ezekiel 32:2 ), the springing of a warrior from ambush ( 20:33 ). The language conveys a vivid picture of the vehement and sudden manner in which the land and water of our globe were separated, which, according to both revelation ( Psalms 104:7 ) and science, was most probably effected by volcanic agency.

3 . The appearance it presented. Still adhering to the metaphor of a new-born infant, which the nurse wraps in swaddling-bands and baby-clothes, Jehovah tells the patriarch that he too had provided suitable apparel for the new-born sea, giving it clouds for a garment and darkness for a band, meaning that at its first separation from the solid earth it was overhung by heavy vapours and thick mists which served to enshroud it like a pall.

II. THE DISPOSITION OF THE SEA .

1 . The preparation of its place. The received translation, which is clearly inspired by Genesis 1:9 and Psalms 104:8 , understands God to say that the newly formed sea was not left to roll its waters at will across the surface of the globe, but was withdrawn into the ocean beds in which at the present time it rests, and that these beds, besides being constructed by Divine agency, acting, no doubt, through natural means, had also been definitely prearranged by Divine wisdom, which had "broken up for it my decreed place ," and were permanently fixed by Divine power, which had "strictly measured its boundary" (Umbreit), or broken over it a Divine decree (Delitzsch), i.e. imposing upon it a statute of limitation.

2 . The restraining of its waters. This again is represented as the imprisoning within strongly built walls and firmly barred doors of the aforesaid young and vigorous giant, who cannot be permitted unchecked liberty, but must be kept within bounds, being afforded so much freedom and no more—freedom, that is to say, within the precincts of his prison, but not beyond. In the case of the sea, the imprisoning walls and doors are the rocks and sands and beaches which line the coasts of the great ocean waters. And yet it is not these that repel the sea from overflowing its banks, but the voice of God who says, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;' as it is not the prison walls that really confine the young giant, but the sovereign will of him, the Parent or Nurse, by whom they have been constructed and the infant monster has been immured.

Learn:

1 . That God is the Maker of the sea as well as of the dry land.

2 . That God can control the sea even in its fiercest moods.

3 . That the sea, no less than other creatures, cannot overstep the bounds assigned it by its Maker.

4 . That God's hand upon the sea , and God's voice to the sea, are all that keep its waters from overflowing the earth.