Job 40 commentary

JOB 40 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 The Lord said to Job:
BAR ES,"Moreover, the Lord answered Job - The word “answered” is used
here as it is often in the Scriptures, not to denote a reply to what had been immediately
said, but to take up or continue an argument. What God said here was designed as a
reply to the spirit which Job had so frequently manifested.
CLARKE, "Moreover the Lord answered - That is, the Lord continued his
discourse with Job. Answered does not refer to any thing said by Job, or any question
asked. I think it very likely that this whole piece, from the beginning of this first verse to
the end of the fourteenth, was originally the ending of the poem. Mr. Heath has noticed
this, and I shall lay his words before the reader: “The former part of this chapter is
evidently the conclusion of the poem; the latter part whereof seems to be in great
disorder; whether it has happened from the carelessness of the transcriber, or, which
appears most probable, from the skins of parchment composing the roll having by some
accident changed their places. It is plain from the seventh verse of the forty-second
chapter {Job_42:7} that Jehovah is the last speaker in the poem. If, then, immediately
after the end of the thirty-ninth chapter, we subjoin the fifteenth verse of the forty-
second chapter, and place the fourteen first verses of the fortieth chapter immediately
after the sixth verse of the forty-second chapter, and by that means make them the
conclusion of the poem, all will be right; and this seventh verse of the forty-second
chapter will be in its natural order. The action will be complete by the judgment of the
Almighty; and the catastrophe of the poem will be grand and solemn.” To these reasons
of Mr. Heath, Dr. Kennicott has added others, which the reader may find at the end of
the chapter. {Job_40:24} Without taking any farther notice of the transposition in this
place, I will continue the notes in the present order of the verses.
GILL, "Moreover the Lord answered Job,.... The Lord having discoursed largely
of the works of nature, in order to reconcile the mind of Job to his works of providence,
stopped and made a pause for a little space, that Job might answer if he thought fit; but
he being entirely silent, the Lord began again:
HE RY 1-5, "Here is, I. A humbling challenge which God gave to Job. After he had
heaped up many hard questions upon him, to show him, by his manifest ignorance in
the works of nature, what an incompetent judge he was of the methods and designs of

Providence, he clenches the nail with one demand more, which stands by itself here as
the application of the whole. It should seem, God paused awhile, as Elihu had done, to
give Job time to say what he had to say, or to think of what God had said; but Job was in
such confusion that he remained silent, and therefore God here put him upon replying,
Job_40:1, Job_40:2. This is not said to be spoken out of the whirlwind, as before; and
therefore some think God said it in a still small voice, which wrought more upon Job
than the whirlwind did, as upon Elijah, 1Ki_19:12, 1Ki_19:13. My doctrine shall drop as
the rain, and then it does wonders. Though Job had not spoken any thing, yet God is
said to answer him; for he knows men's thoughts, and can return a suitable answer to
their silence. Here, 1. God puts a convincing question to him: “Shall he that contendeth
with the Almighty instruct him? Shall he pretend to dictate to God's wisdom or
prescribe to his will? Shall God receive instruction from every peevish complainer, and
change the measures he has taken to please him?” It is a question with disdain. Shall
any teach God knowledge? Job_21:22. It is intimated that those who quarrel with God
do, in effect, go about to teach him how to mend his work. For if we contend with men
like ourselves, as not having done well, we ought to instruct them how to do better; but
is it a thing to be suffered that any man should teach his Maker? He that contends with
God is justly looked upon as his enemy; and shall he pretend so far to have prevailed in
the contest as to prescribe to him? We are ignorant and short-sighted, but before him all
things are naked and open; we are depending creatures, but he is the sovereign Creator;
and shall we pretend to instruct him? Some read it, Is it any wisdom to contend with the
Almighty? The answer is easy. No; it is the greatest folly in the world. Is it wisdom to
contend with him whom it will certainly be our ruin to oppose and unspeakably our
interest to submit to? 2. He demands a speedy reply to it: “He that reproaches God let
him answer this question to his own conscience, and answer it thus, Far be it from me
to contend with the Almighty or to instruct him. Let him answer all those questions
which I have put, if he can. Let him answer for his presumption and insolence, answer it
at God's bar, to his confusion.” Those have high thoughts of themselves, and mean
thoughts of God, who reprove any thing he says or does.
II. Job's humble submission thereupon. Now Job came to himself, and began to melt
into godly sorrow. When his friends reasoned with him he did not yield; but the voice of
the Lord is powerful. When the Spirit of truth shall come, he shall convince. They had
condemned him for a wicked man; Elihu himself had been very sharp upon him (Job_
34:7, Job_34:8, Job_34:37); but God had not given him such hard words. We may
sometimes have reason to expect better treatment from God, and a more candid
construction of what we do, than we meet with from our friends. This the good man is
here overcome by, and yields himself a conquered captive to the grace of God. 1. He
owns himself an offender, and has nothing to say in his own justification (Job_40:4):
“Behold, I am vile, not only mean and contemptible, but vile and abominable, in my own
eyes.” He is now sensible that he has sinned, and therefore calls himself vile. Sin debases
us, and penitents abase themselves, reproach themselves, are ashamed, yea, even
confounded. “I have acted undutifully to my Father, ungratefully to my benefactor,
unwisely for myself; and therefore I am vile.” Job now vilifies himself as much as ever he
had justified and magnified himself. Repentance changes men's opinion of themselves.
Job had been too bold in demanding a conference with God, and thought he could make
his part good with him: but now he is convinced of his error, and owns himself utterly
unable to stand before God or to produce any thing worth his notice, the veriest
dunghill-worm that ever crawled upon God's ground. While his friends talked with him,
he answered them, for he thought himself as good as they; but, when God talked with
him, he had nothing to say, for, in comparison with him, he sees himself nothing, less
than nothing, worse than nothing, vanity and vileness itself; and therefore, What shall I

answer thee? God demanded an answer, Job_40:2. Here he gives the reason of his
silence; it was not because he was sullen, but because he was convinced he had been in
the wrong. Those that are truly sensible of their own sinfulness and vileness dare not
justify themselves before God, but are ashamed that ever they entertained such a
thought, and, in token of their shame, lay their hand upon their mouth. 2. He promises
not to offend any more as he had done; for Elihu had told him that this was meet to be
said unto God. When we have spoken amiss we must repent of it and not repeat it nor
stand to it. He enjoins himself silence (Job_40:4): “I will lay my hand upon my mouth,
will keep that as with a bridle, to suppress all passionate thoughts which may arise in my
mind, and keep them from breaking out in intemperate speeches.” It is bad to think
amiss, but it is much worse to speak amiss, for that is an allowance of the evil thought
and gives it an imprimatur - a sanction; it is publishing the seditious libel; and
therefore, if thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth and let it go no further
(Pro_30:32) and that will be an evidence for thee that that which thou thoughtest thou
allowest not. Job had suffered his evil thoughts to vent themselves: “Once have I spoken
amiss, yea, twice,” that is, “divers times, in one discourse and in another; but I have
done: I will not answer; I will not stand to what I have said, nor say it again; I will
proceed no further.” Observe here what true repentance is. (1.) It is to rectify our errors,
and the false principles we went upon in doing as we did. What we have long, and often,
and vigorously maintained, once, yea, twice, we must retract as soon as we are convinced
that it is a mistake, not adhere to it any longer, but take shame to ourselves for holding it
so long. (2.) It is to return from every by-path and to proceed not one step further in it:
“I will not add” (so the word is); “I will never indulge my passion so much again, nor
give myself such a liberty of speech, will never say as I have said nor do as I have done.”
Till it comes to this, we come short of repentance. Further observe, Those who dispute
with God will be silenced at last. Job had been very bold and forward in demanding a
conference with God, and talked very boldly, how plain he would make his case, and how
sure he was that he should be justified. As a prince he would go near unto him (Job_
31:37); he would come even to his seat (Job_23:3); but he has soon enough of it; he lets
fall his plea and will not answer. “Lord, the wisdom and right are all on thy side, and I
have done foolishly and wickedly in questioning them.”
JAMISO , "Job_40:1-24. God’s second address.
He had paused for a reply, but Job was silent.
the Lord — Hebrew, “Jehovah.”
K&D, "With Job_40:1; Job_38:1 is again taken up, because the speech of Jehovah
has now in some measure attained the end which was assigned to it as an answer to
Job's outburst of censure. ‫ּב‬‫ר‬ is inf. abs., as Jdg_11:25; it is left to the hearer to give to
the simple verbal notion its syntactic relation in accordance with the connection; here it
stands in the sense of the fut. (comp. 2Ki_4:43): num litigabit, Ges. §131, 4, b. The inf.
abs. is followed by ‫ּור‬ ִ‫י‬ as subj., which (after the form ‫ּור‬ⅴ ִ‫)שׁ‬ signifies a censurer and fault-
finder, moomeetee's. The question means, will Job persist in this contending with God?
He who sets God right, as though he knew everything better than He, shall answer the
questions put before him.

BE SO , "Job 40:1. Moreover the Lord answered Job — Having first made a little
pause to try what Job had to allege in his own defence, or could answer to his
questions; and he continuing silent, as being, it seems, astonished at God’s rebukes,
or expecting what he would further say, the Lord proceeded with his questions and
rebukes. What follows is not said to be spoken out of the whirlwind, and therefore
some think God said it in a still, small voice, which wrought more upon Job (as upon
Elijah) than the whirlwind did. Though Job had not spoken any thing, yet God is
said to answer him: for he knows men’s thoughts, and can return a fit answer to
their silence.
COFFMA 1-2, "GOD CO CLUDES HIS SPEECH TO JOB (JOB 40-41)
"This concluding speech of God to Job falls into three parts: (1) Job is (ironically)
invited to assume the throne of the universe (Job 40:7-14). (2) There is the
description of Behemoth (Job 40:15-24), and (3) the description of Leviathan (Job
41:1-34)."[1]
In the Genesis account of Jacob's wrestling with `a man' until the breaking of day,
some respected writers find a similar thing revealed in the Book of Job, Job
`wrestling with God.' Kline, depending upon some of the ancient versions which
support that analogy, noted that, "The `first fall' of the wrestling ordeal is about to
be decided."[2]
Job 40:1-2
"Moreover Jehovah answered Job, and said,
Shall he that cavilleth contend with the Almighty?
He that argueth with God, let him answer it."
Kline interpreted this to mean, "Will the contender with the Almighty yield"?[3]
There is evidence here of God's disapproval of things that Job has spoken; but it
appears to be somewhat a mild disapproval. Certainly, God's Words to Job are far
more contradictory of the arrogant over-confidence of Job's friends, "Who believed
that they had arrived at a definition of God's righteousness on the basis of human
experience."[4]
God's disapproval of Job's complaint appears to have centered, "In the spirit which
Job had manifested, and especially for his presumption,"[5] in supposing that he
could even carry his case before God Himself (Job 13:3,21,22). But now, having
considered the immeasurable greatness and wonder of God's power as exhibited in
the natural and sidereal creations, the contender with God is greatly subdued, but
not yet repentant. "Actually (whether or not Job realized it), his many complaints
were the equivalent of his `contending with God.'"[6]

Driver's paraphrase of these first two verses is, "Will Job still carry on the dispute?
If so, he must answer the questions Jehovah has put to him, and explain the marvels
of creation that God has brought before him; and if he cannot do so, he has no right
to criticize and reprove."[7]
COKE, "Job humbleth himself before God; who further challengeth him by a
display of the works of his power. A description of the Behemoth.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 40:1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said— Houbigant subjoins the first
five verses of this chapter to the 39th, after the Hebrew, and many of the versions.
See the Polyglot.
GUZIK 1-2, "A. God’s challenge and Job’s response.
1. (Job 40:1-2) God asks Job: “Will you now challenge Me?”
Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said:
“Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?
He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”
a. Moreover the Lord answered Job: This continued God’s challenge to Job, where
God answered Job’s heart without specifically answering Job’s questions. It came
after the extended time of fellowship, wonder, and teaching described in Job 38:1-
41; Job 39:1-30.
b. Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Job, speaking from
what he felt to be his God-absent agony, longed to contend with God. Yet after God
appeared in His love and glory, Job now felt humbled about his previous demand.
He rightly felt he was in no place to contend with the Almighty, much less to correct
Him or rebuke Him.
i. We might say that Job and God had a wonderful time together in Job chapters 38
and 39; God taught Job all about His greatness using the whole world as His
classroom. Yet in it all God remained God and Job remained a man.
ISBET, "THE DIVI E A SWER
‘The Lord answered Job.’
Job 40:1
I. Again Jehovah proceeds, and as at the commencement of the last, so now He
charges Job to ‘gird up’ his ‘loins like a man.’—In each case there is in this

introductory word the suggestion of God’s consciousness of man’s dignity. The
things which He has been describing cannot hear or answer this Divine wisdom. Job
can, and he is called upon to exercise these distinctive powers of his humanity. The
present address of God deals with the one respect in which Job has manifested his
folly. In the midst of all his suffering he has by inference flung blame upon the
method of God. This God now challenges, not to explain it, but first to suggest to
Job that he attempts to occupy God’s place in the universe. There is a fine and
tender satire in Jehovah’s call to Job to assume the reins of government. Let him
deck himself, and array himself, and exercise his power. Let him do it in the moral
realm, in which his criticism has been at work. Let him abase and humble the proud
and lofty, and evil and wicked ones. When Job can do this, then Jehovah will
acknowledge that his own right hand can save him.
II. Having challenged Job to assume the government of the world, and that in the
moral realm, Jehovah now suggests two experiments.—It has been objected by some
that the descriptions of behemoth and leviathan are interpolations, as they do not
seem to fit in with the general argument at this point. This surely, however, misses
the real thought. Having, as we have seen, called upon Job to exercise government,
and that in the moral realm, Jehovah brings before him two animals, non-moral;
and, moreover, suggests that Job should exercise his authority and power over them.
This is a much easier thing than governing men. The material always yields itself to
man’s government with greater ease than the moral. If this man can be made to feel
his absolute weakness in the lower sphere, he will naturally deduce therefrom his
impotence in the higher. If he cannot govern these, how can he assume the functions
of the One who made them, and perfectly governs them? The description of
behemoth leaves very little room for doubt that the animal we know as the
hippopotamus is intended. Let all the description be carefully noted, and
correspondence will be discovered.
Illustration
‘The reasoning is from the less to the greater, and is, therefore, in this case
conclusive. The lower animals exercise their instincts and find what is suited to their
needs. And shall it not be so with man? Shall he, able to observe the signs of an all-
embracing plan, not confess and trust the sublime justice it reveals? The slightness
of human power is certainly contrasted with the omnipotence of God, and the
ignorance of man with the omniscience of God; but always the Divine faithfulness,
glowing behind, shines through the veil of nature, and it is this Job is called to
recognise.’
PULPIT, "Job 40:1-5
Between the first and the second part of the Divine discourse, at the end of which
Job wholly humbles himself (Job 42:1-6), is interposed a short appeal on the part of
tile Almighty, and a short reply on Job's part, which, however, is insufficient. God
calls upon Job to make good his charges (verses 1, 2). Job declines, acknowledges

himself to be of no account, and promises silence and submission for the future
(verses 3-5). But something more is needed; and therefore the discourse is further
prolonged.
Job 40:1, Job 40:2
Moreover the Lord. Jehovah' as in Job 38:1 and in the opening chapters (see the
comment on Job 12:9). Answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the
Almighty instruct him? rather, Can he that reproveth contend with the Almighty?
(see the Revised Version). Does Job, the reprover, think that he can really contend
with the Almighty? If so, then he that reproveth God, let him answer it; or, let him
answer this; let him answer, that is, what has been urged in Job 38:1-41 and Job
39:1-30.
PULPIT 1-5, "Job 40:1-5
Jehovah to Job: the first answer-the application.
I. JEHOVAH'S CO DESCE SIO TOWARDS JOB.
1. In listening with patient silence to Job's censures and complaints. "Shall he that
contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?" literally, "Shall the reprover [i.e. of
God] contend in contending with the Almighty?" This is the first formal notice
taken by Jehovah of the fact that Job had indulged in censorious reflections against
the Divine character and administration. They had all been heard by that ever-
listening ear which no sound can escape. But no sign or indication had been given
that the Deity was cognizant of the reflections cast upon him by his angry servant.
Patiently he had suffered Job to proceed against him as far as he thought good. And
the like meek, uncomplaining attitude does he still preserve towards them, whether
ungodly unbelievers or backsliding professors, who cast reproaches on his ame
(Psalms 50:21). The Divine patience in the face of man's provocations to wrath is a
sublime miracle of condescension.
2. In seeking rather to remove Job's censures by instruction than to silence them by
chastisement. When at length Job had ended his long arraignment of the Divine
government of the world, it would not have been surprising had God descended on
him by way of punishment, calling him to account for his over-bold behaviour.
Instead of that, the Almighty causes an ambassador, Elihu, to deal with him by way
of education, imparting to him such views of God's character and ways as might
serve to correct his misapprehensions. ay, himself, the supreme Jehovah, stoops to
become his own Ambassador for the selfsame purpose, that he might set before the
mind of his servant such an image and presentment of himself that the
misconceptions which gave rise to his censures might be removed. What God gave to
Job out of the whirlwind he has in the Person of Jesus Christ given to the world—a
manifestation of himself—and for a like purpose, not condemnation, but salvation
(John 3:17), through the removal of those erroneous ideas which hinder men from

giving him their confidence and love (2 Corinthians 4:6).
3. In submitting to discuss the question of his own character with his creature. "He
that reproveth God, let him answer it;" i.e. if Job had anything to urge in reply to
the representation which God had given of himself, God was ready to attend to it.
Surely here was a depth of self-abasement to which only a God of love and grace
could stoop! A prefigurement, may it not be said, of the stupendous condescension
of the Incarnation, when God, not arrayed in majesty, but clothed in the lowly garb
of humanity, stooped to talk with sinful man, as a man talketh with his friend!
II. JOB'S SUBMISSIO TO JEHOVAH.
1. An acknowledgment of insignificance. "Behold, I am vile;" literally, "I am mean,
small, of no account, a being to be despised in comparison with thee." It is not yet a
sense of moral imperfection that fills the breast of Job, as afterwards, when the
second Divine remonstrance ends (Job 42:6), but simply a vivid realization of his
utter feebleness and contemptibleness before a God of such incomparable majesty as
Jehovah, of such far-reaching power and wide-ranging wisdom. Man never knows
his real littleness until he understands the greatness of God.
2. A confession of ignorance. "What shall I answer thee?" Job meant that he felt
utterly unable to reply to the arguments which God had adduced in support of his
right to govern the world on principles of his own without taking Job or any other
creature into his confidence. Hence the resolution, "I will lay my hand upon my
mouth," was designed to intimate both his resolution to be silent and his inability to
reply. The less men attempt to answer God the better. When God brings his
heavenly teachings home to the spirit, the proper attitude is silent admiration and
submission. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth."
3. An admission of error. "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer [literally. and I
will not answer,' i.e. I will not reply again]; yea, twice; but [literally, 'and'] I will
proceed no further." Whether Job intended to say that he had twice, or only once,
answered God, he certainly meant that he had spoken wrongly in his previous
utterances. It was much that he had now arrived at a clear perception of his error. It
was a good preparation for his ultimate complete withdrawal from the false position
which all throughout the controversy with God he had maintained.
4. A profession of amendment. He had done wrong in the past; he would do so no
more—at least in this respect. This becoming resolution was "a fruit meet for
repentance," a promise of the final soul-surrender which was drawing nigh.
Learn:
1. That God deals with men on the principles of grace, even when they richly
deserve to receive only justice.
2. That for a puny creature to find fault with God is an amazing act of presumption.

3. That the first sign of goodness in a human soul is a perception, however faint, of
its own insignificance.
4. That they who have fallen into sin once should, like Job, endeavour to do so no
more.
Job 40:6-14
Jehovah to Job: the second answer: 1. A sublime challenge.
I. A SUMMO S ISSUED. "Gird up thy loins like a man: I will demand of thee, and
declare thou unto me." Here again appears a series of gracious wonders.
1. That Jehovah should propose to continue further the instruction of his servant.
But so God deals with all whom he undertakes to educate, teaching them with
patience, perseverance, minuteness, giving them line upon line, and desisting not
until their spiritual enlightenment is complete.
2. That Jehovah should advise his servant of the searching character of the
examination to which he was about to be subjected. He had done so on the first
occasion. But after Job's partial submission it might have been expected that the
second ordeal would be easier than the first. In order to prevent the rise of any such
misunderstanding, Job is a second time advised that the forthcoming inter. view,
like the first, wilt require on his part the most strenuous resolution and endeavour.
God seldom takes his people unawares except with mercy.
3. That Jehovah should a second time invite his servant to become his instructor.
This is practically what he does in giving Job another opportunity to reply to his
interrogations. But there is no limit to God's grace in stooping to help his creature
man.
II. A QUESTIO ASKED. "Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou
condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" Jehovah means by this to say that
Job's conduct, in maintaining as he had done his own righteousness, really involved
two tremendous assumptions.
1. That he (Job) could govern the world better (i.e. more justly) than God. Hence
Jehovah inquires if Job proposed to disannul the Divine judgment, and take upon
himself the task of administering mundane affairs. Even good men do not always
understand how much is involved in the statements they rashly utter. or can any
interpreter so clearly tell them as God.
2. That he (Job) was a more righteous being than his Maker. o doubt Job would
have shrunk from any such deification of himself, had be clearly foreseen how much
his utterances meant. Job's example should teach saints to keep the door of their
lips. That Jehovah still urged these interrogations on his servant was a proof that

the work of reducing him to complete subjection was not yet accomplished.
III. A PROPOSAL MADE. That Job should for once take God's place, and show
what he could do in the way of governing the world. "Hast thou an arm like God?
or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?" On the supposition that Job is
competent to exchange places with the Supreme, he is invited:
1. To array himself in the royal robes of Deity. "Deck thyself now with majesty and
excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty." Whatever glory man possesses
is not inherent, but derived, and is really as no glory by the reason of the glory that
excelleth, viz. the glory of the supreme Creator. "The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." God "covereth himself with light
as with a garment," and is "clothed with honour and with majesty." Jehovah means
that Job should similarly array himself in splendours like those of the material
creation, or that he should occupy the throne of which these constituted, as it were,
the external trappings and visible decorations.
2. To display the righteous wrath of Deity. "Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath;"
literally, "Let the overflowings of thy wrath pour themselves forth." A
characteristic attribute of Deity to manifest holy indigtation against evildoers
(Isaiah 2:10-21), it is here suggested to Job for imitation. This, however, does not
warrant good men to usurp the place and function of him who says, "Vengeance is
mine: I will repay, saith the Lord." God's people may pour forth their righteous
indignation against iniquity; upon the evil-doer they are only warranted to pour
forth pity.
3. To exercise the judicial functions of Deity. "Behold every one that is proud, and
abase him;" or, "Behold all pride and abase it; behold all pride and bring it low;
and tread," or cast down, "the wicked in their place." The language sets forth
IV. A RESULT STIPULATED. "Then will I also confess unto thee [or, 'extol thee']
that thine own hand can save thee [or, 'bring to thee help']." The words imply:
1. That man cannot save' or even effectually help, himself. The human heart is
prone to think it can effect its own deliverance from misery and sin; but the utter
helplessness of man to escape condemnation and free himself from the moral
pollution in which he naturally lies, or even to surmount the calamities of life, is not
only declared by Scripture, but confirmed by all experience. "Without me," said
Christ, "ye can do nothing."
2. That nothing short of Divine power is required to accomplish man's salvation.
Only on the hypothesis that Job was possessed of powers and attributes that were
Divine does Jehovah admit that he might achieve his own emancipation from either
the afflictions that assailed his body or the fears that disturbed his mind. This
thought lays the axe to the root of the doctrine of the self-regenerative power of
human nature. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

3. That such power belongs exclusively to Jehovah. Hence he alone is a God of
salvation. "I am a just God and a Saviour, and there is none beside me." Hence also
he alone is the quarter to which man should look for succour. "O Israel, thou hast
destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help."
4. That, as a consequence' to God alone belongs the praise of man's salvation.
Jehovah admits that to save a man like Job would be a creditable achievement, an
extremely praiseworthy deed, and offers, moreover, to extol him if he can perform
it. But to God alone pertains the power that is able to redeem. Hence also to God
alone pertains the glory (1 Chronicles 29:11; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 5:9,
Revelation 5:12).
Learn:
1. That the proper subject of man's judgment is not God, but himself.
2. That he who thinks to rival Goat is self-deceived.
3. That the visible part of God's glory is as nothing in comparison to what is yet to
be revealed.
4. That God's government of the world is always in the interests of meekness, truth,
and righteousness.
5. That man should not stint the praise of him who hath brought salvation nigh to a
fallen world.
BI 1-24, "Moreover, the Lord answered Job, and said.
Jehovah’s answer
Its language has reached, at times, the “high-water mark” of poetry and beauty. Nothing
can exceed its dignity, its force, its majesty, the freshness and vigour of some of its
pictures of nature and of life. But what shall we say next? It is no answer, we may say, to
Job’s agonised pleadings. It is no answer to the riddle and problem which the experience
and history of human life suggests, even to ourselves. Quite true. There is no direct
answer at all. Even those partial answers, partial yet instructive, which have been
touched on from time to time by speaker after speaker, are not glanced at or included in
these final words. It is as though the voice of God did not deign to repeat that He works
“on the side of righteousness.” He only hints at it. Job is not even told the purpose of the
fiery trial through which he himself has passed, of those in other worlds than his own
who have watched his pangs. No! God reveals to him His glory, makes him feel where he
had, gone wrong, how presumptuous he had been. That is all. He does not say, “All this
has been a trial of thy righteousness: thou hast been fighting a battle against Satan for
Me, and hast received many sore wounds.” Nothing is said of the truth, already mooted
and enforced in this Book, that suffering does its perfect work when it purifies and
elevates the human soul, and draws it nearer to the God who sends or permits the
suffering. Nor is any light thrown on that faint and feeble glimmer of a hope not yet fully

born into the world, of a life beyond the grave; of a life where there shall be no more
sorrow or sighing, where Job and his lost sons and daughters shall be reunited. The
thoughts that we should have looked for, perhaps longed for, are not here. Those who
tell us that the one great lesson of the whole book is to hold up the patriarch Job as the
pattern of mere submission, mere resignation—those who search in it for a full Thodice,
a final vindication, that is, and explanation of God’s mode of governing the world—those,
lastly, who find ill it a revelation of the sure and certain hope of a blessed immortality,
can scarcely have studied either Job’s language or the chapters before us today. One
thought, and one only, is brought into the foreground. The world is full of mysteries,
strange, unapproachable mysteries, that you cannot read. Trust, trust in the power, and
in the wisdom, and in the goodness of Him, the Almighty One, who rules it. “Turn from
the insoluble problems of your own destiny,” the voice says to Job, and says to us. “Good
men have said their best, wise men have said their wisest. Man is still left to bear the
discipline of some questions too hard for him to answer. We cannot solve them. We
must rest, if we are to rest at all, in the belief that He whom we believe to be our Father
in heaven, whom we believe to have been revealed in His Son, is good, and wise, and
merciful; that one day, not here, the riddle will be solved; that behind the veil which you
cannot pierce, lies the solution in the hand of God.” (Dean Bradley.)
The Lord’s answer
I. A Divine reproof that was effectual.
1. Observe the reproof. “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him?”
(1) What is thy intellect to His? The glimmering of a glow worm to the brilliancy
of a million suns.
(2) What is thy sphere of observation to Mine? Thou art a mere speck in space. I
have immensity under My eye.
(3) What is thy experience to Mine? Thou art the mere creature of a day,
observing and thinking for a few hours. I am from everlasting to everlasting.
2. Observe the effect. What was the effect of this appeal? Here it is. “Then Job
answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee?” etc.
(1) A sense of moral unworthiness. “I am vile.”
(2) A resolution to retract. “I will proceed no further.” He regrets the past, and
resolves to improve in the future. This is what every sinner should do, what every
sinner must do, in order to rise into purity, freedom, and blessedness.
II. A Divine comparison that was silencing.
1. It is a comparison between himself and the Great Creator. “Gird up thy loins now
like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto Me.” What is thy power to
Mine? “Hast thou an arm like God?” What is thy voice to Mine? Canst thou speak in
a voice of thunder? What is thy greatness to Mine? “Deck thyself with majesty,” etc.
What is thy wrath to Mine? “Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath.” What art thou in My
presence? The only effective way of hushing the murmurings of men in relation to
the Divine procedure, is an impression of the infinite disparity between man and his
Maker.
2. It is a comparison between himself and the brute creation. “Behold now

behemoth.” Study this huge creature, and thou wilt find in many respects thou art
inferior to him. Therefore be humble, and cease to contend with Me. (Homilist.)
2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty
correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”
BAR ES,"Shall he that contendeth with the A mighty instruct him? -
Gesenius renders this, “Contending shall the reprover of God contend with the
Almighty?” Prof. Lee, “Shall one by contending with the Almighty correct this?” On the
grammatical construction, see Gesenius on the word ‫יסור‬ yissôr, and Rosenmuller and
Lee, in loc. The meaning seems to be this: “Will he who would enter into a controversy
with the Almighty now presume to instruct him? He that was so desirous of arguing his
cause with God, will he now answer?” All the language used here is taken from courts,
and is such as I have had frequent occasion to explain in these notes. The reference is to
the fact that Job had so often expressed a wish to carry his cause, as before a judicial
tribunal, directly up to God. He had felt that if he could get it there, he could so argue it
as to secure a verdict in his favor; that he could set arguments before the Almighty which
would secure a reversal of the fearful sentence which had gone out against him, and
which had caused him to be held as a guilty man. God now asks whether he who had
been so anxious to have a legal argument, and to carry his cause himself before God - a
man disposed to litigation before God (‫רוב‬ rûb) - was still of the same mind, and felt
himself qualified to take upon himself the office of an instructor, a corrector, an
admonisher (‫יסור‬ yissôr) of God? He had the opportunity now, and God here paused,
after the sublime exhibition of his majesty and power in the previous chapters, to give
him an opportunity, as he wished, to carry his cause directly before him. The result is
stated in Job_40:3-4. Job had now nothing to say.
He that reproveth God - Or rather, “He that is disposed to carry his cause before
God,” as Job had often expressed a wish to do. The word used here (‫יכח‬ yâkach) is often
employed, especially in the Hiphil, in a “forensic sense,” and means “to argue, to show,
to prove” anything; then “to argue down, to confute, to convict;” see Job_6:25; Job_
13:15; Job_19:5; Job_32:12; Pro_9:7-8; Pro_15:12; Pro_19:25. It is evidently used in
that sense here - a Hiphil participle ‫מוכיח‬ môkiyach - and refers, not to any man in
general who reproves God, but to Job in particular, as having expressed a wish to carry
his cause before him, and to argue it there.

Let him answer it - Or rather, “Let him answer him.” That is, Is he now ready to
answer? There is now an opportunity for him to carry his cause, as he wished, directly
before God. Is he ready to embrace the opportunity, and to answer now what the
Almighty has said? This does not mean, then, as the common version would seem to
imply, that the man who reproves God must be held responsible for it, but that Job, who
had expressed the wish to carry his cause before God, had now an opportunity to do so.
That this is the meaning, is apparent from the next verses, where Job says that he was
confounded, and had nothing to say.
CLARKE, "He that reproveth God, let him answer it - Let the man who has
made so free with God and his government, answer to what he has now heard.
GILL, "Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?.... Is he
capable of it? He ought to be that takes upon him to dispute with God, to object or reply
to him; that brings a charge against him, enters the debate, and litigates a point with
him; which Job wanted to do. But could he or any other instruct him, who is the God of
knowledge, the all wise and only wise God; who gives man wisdom, and teaches him
knowledge? What folly is it to pretend to instruct him! Or can such an one be
"instructed?" as the Targum: he is not in the way of instruction; he that submits to the
chastising hand of God may be instructed thereby, but not he that contends with him;
see Psa_94:12. Or should he be one that is instructed? no, he ought to be an instructor,
and not one instructed; a teacher, and not one that is taught; he should be above all
instruction from God or man that will dispute with the Almighty, The word for instruct
has the signification of chastisement, because instruction sometimes comes that way;
and then the sense either is, shall a man contend with the Almighty that chastises him?
Does it become a son or a servant to strive against a parent or a master that corrects
him? Or does not he deserve to be chastised that acts such a part? Some derive the word
from one that signifies to remove or depart, and give the sense, shall the abundance, the
all sufficiency of God, go from him to another, to a man; and so he, instead of God, be
the all sufficient one? Or rather the meaning of the clause is, has there not been much,
enough, and more than enough said, Job, to chastise thee, and convince thee of thy
mistakes? must more be said? is there any need of it?
he that reproveth God, let him answer it; he that reproves God, for his words, or
works, or ways, finding fault with either of them, ought to answer to the question now
put; or to any or all of those in the preceding chapters, and not be silent as Job now was.
JAMISO , "he that contendeth — as Job had so often expressed a wish to do. Or,
rebuketh. Does Job now still (after seeing and hearing of God’s majesty and wisdom)
wish to set God right?
answer it — namely, the questions I have asked.
BE SO , "Job 40:2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? —
Shall Job, who presumeth to contend with me in judgment, and to dispute the
reasonableness and equity of my proceedings, give me instructions or directions how

to govern my creatures? The Hebrew, however, may be rendered, Is it instruction,
or learning, or does it indicate instruction or erudition, to contend with the
Almighty? An eruditi est? Buxtorf. Is it the part of a well-instructed and wise man?
This agrees with Ab. Ezra’s comment, which is, Is it the way of instruction for a
man to contend with the Almighty? The words are also capable of being translated,
He that disputeth with the Almighty shall be chastised: thus Heath. God’s
almightiness is fitly mentioned as an argument of his justice. For how can he be
unjust, who, having boundless power and every other perfection in an infinite
degree, must necessarily be all-sufficient within himself, and therefore can neither
have any inclination to unrighteousness, which is an imperfection, nor any
temptation to it, from any need he can have of it to accomplish his designs, which his
own omnipotence is sufficient to accomplish, or from any advantage that can accrue
to him by it? He that reproveth God — That boldly censureth his ways or works; let
him answer it — Or, answer for it; or, he shall answer for it, that is, it is at his peril.
COKE, "Job 40:2. Shall he that contendeth, &c.— He who disputeth with the
Almighty shall be chastised; he that will argue the point with God ought to answer
for it: Heath: who, subjoining this after Job's confession, chap. 42: takes the
argument to be this: "It is not sufficient that thou repentest in dust and ashes: the
contending with God is a crime which deserves chastisement; and, according to
strict justice, thou oughtest to answer for it." The latter clause of the verse refers to
chap. Job 13:3.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?—
Rather, Can he that reproveth (e. g., Job) contend with the Almighty? or, Can the
contending with the Almighty instruct Him? “Art thou prepared still to dispute and
contend with God? or, if thou dost, is there any hope that thou wilt instruct (i.e.,
convince) Him in argument? Let him that argueth with God (i.e., Job) answer this
question.” It might, perhaps, tend to make these verses (Job 40:4-5) more effective if
we transposed them after Job 42:6, and regarded them as the very climax of the
poem, as some have done. But this is not necessary, and is an arrangement that has
no support from external evidence. If, however, it were adopted, Job’s resolution,
“Once have I spoken; but I will speak no more: yea, twice; but I will not again” (Job
40:5), would not be literally inconsistent, as it now is, with what he says in Job 42:1-
6.
SIMEO , "SI OF REPROVI G GOD
Job 40:2. He that reproveth God, let him answer it.
JOB’S friends had failed of convincing his mind. And no wonder; for they adopted
not any line of argument fitted to that end. Job was faulty, exceeding faulty, before
God, though not in the way that his friends imagined. He had complained of God in
very irreverent and unhallowed terms. He had complained of God as “multiplying

his wounds without cause [ ote: Job 9:17.].” He had even condemned God as an
oppressor: “I will say unto God, Do not condemn me: shew me wherefore thou
contendest with me. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldst oppress, that thou
shouldst despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin. Thou knowest I am
not wicked [ ote: Job 10:2-3; Job 10:6-7.].” He even challenges God to a dispute
respecting the equity of his own proceedings, not doubting but that, if God will only
give him leave to plead his own cause, without oppressing him by his power, he shall
prove God himself to be in error concerning him: “Withdraw thine hand far from
me; and let not thy dread make me afraid: then call thou, and I will answer; or let
me speak, and answer thou me [ ote: Job 13:21-22.].” In reply to all this, God takes
up the cause: and, with an immediate reference to such expressions as I have
already cited, he says, “He that reproveth God, let him answer it.”
ow, as it may be thought that there are none at this day so presumptuous as to
“reprove God,” I will inquire,
I. Who they are that are obnoxious to this charge—
Impious as such conduct is, there are multitudes who are guilty of it.
1. Those who dispute his word—
[ one but the truly humble either do or will receive the word of God without
gainsaying. To some it is too sublime, containing doctrines which human reason
cannot comprehend: to others it is too simple, offering salvation by faith alone,
without any deeds of the Law. To others, again, its precepts are too strict, requiring
more than man can perform; whilst, on the other hand, its promises are too free,
seeing that a man has nothing to do but to rest upon them, and they shall all be
fulfilled to him.
But, of all people under heaven, there are none who so systematically and openly
blaspheme the word of God as the Papists do. They deny its sufficiency for the
instruction of men in the way of life, and put on a footing of equality with it their
own unwritten traditions. And even its suitableness, also, do their deny; affirming
that, if indiscriminately read by the laity, “it will do more harm than good.” If it be
in any translation of the Protestants, they denounce it as “a deadly pasture,” that
will destroy the flock; and as “the devil’s gospel,” which, whosoever has “the
presumption to read without the permission of the priest, he shall never receive
absolution from the priest; and, as far as the priest can prevail, he shall perish for
ever under the guilt of all his sins [ ote: All this is affirmed by the present Pope, in
his charge to all the Popish Bishops and Clergy throughout the world, given in
1824.]. What is all this, but to “reprove God,” and to say to him, “Thou hast
revealed thy word in away unsuitable to the necessities of thy people, and unfit for
their perusal?” This the priests declare, even respecting their own translations of
the Bible: and they accordingly take the Bible out of the hands of the laity, and
suffer none to read it without their special permission. I marvel that there can be

found upon the face of the whole earth persons that will submit to such impious,
such deadly, tyranny as this. But this whole Church shall answer for it, ere long.]
2. Those who arraign his providence—
[Here, again, will every man be found guilty before God. It is no uncommon thing to
hear even persons who bear the Christian name speaking of luck, and fortune, and
chance, exactly as if there were no God in heaven, or as if there were things beyond
his reach and control. And, when afflictions are multiplied upon us, how commonly
do we repine and murmur against God, instead of saying, as we ought, “The cup
which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” Perhaps it will be said, that
our complaints are not so much made against God as against those who are the
immediate instruments of our affliction. But the creature, whoever he may be, is
only a “rod,” a “staff,” a “sword,” in Jehovah’s hands: and, though God leaves men
to the unrestrained operation of their own corrupt hearts, he overrules every thing
they do for the accomplishment of his own will. Even the crucifixion of our blessed
Lord was “in accordance with God’s determinate counsel and will [ ote: Acts 2:23;
Acts 4:28.];” “nor is there evil in the city, but it must be traced to God as the doer of
it [ ote: Amos 3:6.],” so far, at least, at the sufferer is concerned. And us Moses,
when the people murmured against him and Aaron, told them that their
murmurings were in reality against God himself [ ote: Exodus 16:7-8.], so must I
say, that murmuring of every kind, against whomsoever or whatsoever it be
directed, is,” in fact, a reproving of God himself, without whom not a sparrow falls
to the ground, nor does so much as a hair fall from our heads.]
3. Those who condemn his grace—
[The sovereignty of God, in the disposal of his blessings, is more especially offensive
to the proud heart of man. We arrogate to ourselves a right to dispense our favours
to whomsoever we will: but we deny that right to God. St. Paul places this in a very
striking point of view. God had said by the Prophet, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated,” St. Paul, then, arguing with a proud objector, replies, “What shall we
say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I
will have compassion. So, then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this
same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on
whom he will have mercy; and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt say, then,
unto me, Why, then, doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? ay but,
O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him
that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour
[ ote: Romans 9:13-21.]?” Here is the very point both stated and answered. Man’s
proneness to call in question the grace of God is here affirmed, and is plainly
declared to be a reproving of God himself.]

Seeing, then, that so many are obnoxious to the charge here exhibited, I will shew,
II. What is meant by the warning here given them—
I have before noticed Job’s challenge to Jehovah to answer him. ow God, in reply,
bids the offender, if he can, to answer him. But there are only two ways in which
any answer can be given: it must either be in a way of self-approving vindication, or
in a way of self-abasing humiliation. Let the answer, then, be heard,
1. In a way of self-approving vindication—
[To return such an answer as this, a man must maintain these three points: God is
bound to consult me in what he does—I am competent to sit in judgment on his
proceedings—I know, better than God himself does, what it becomes him to do. But
who can maintain these points, and make them good against God? Let the two
preceding chapters be read, and it will soon appear what claim man has upon God:
from whom he derived his very existence, and who keeps him in existence every
breath he draws — — — As to judging of God’s ways, as well might a peasant sit in
judgment on the works of the greatest statesman or philosopher. Who amongst us
would submit to have all his views and pursuits criticised by a child that has just
learned to speak? Yet, that were wise and commendable in comparison of our
presuming to sit in judgment upon God. And, when a taper can add to the light of
the meridian sun, then may we hope to counsel God, how best to govern the world,
and how most effectually to advance his own glory.
If, then, we cannot make good our own cause against God, then must we answer
him,]
2. In a way of self-abasing humiliation—
[It was in this way that Job replied. “Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Once have I spoken; but I will not answer; yea, twice; but I will proceed no further
[ ote: ver. 3, 4.].” So again, afterwards; “I have uttered that I understood not;
things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Wherefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes [ ote: Job 42:3; Job 42:6.].” O Brethren! this is the answer
for every one of us to give: for “God will assuredly be justified in all that he has
done, and will be clear when he is judged [ ote: Psalms 51:4.].” He will vindicate his
own honour, and put to silence every proud objector — — —
Instead of reproving God, therefore, in future, let this be the habit of our minds: let
us, under all circumstances, maintain an humble affiance in his goodness, and a
meek submission to his will. This is our duty, our interest, our happiness. We expect
as much as this from our own children: and shall we manifest less regard for God,
than we, poor fallible creatures, exact from them? Let us lie as clay in the hands of
our all-wise, all-gracious God, and leave him to perfect his work in his own way;
having no anxiety in our minds, but to fulfil his will and to glorify his name. It was

by a very circuitous route that he brought the Israelites to Canaan: but we are told,
“He led them by the right way.” And we, whatever trials we may meet with in this
wilderness, shall, in “the end,” have the same reason to glorify our God as Job
himself had [ ote: James 5:11.], and as all the saints have had from the beginning of
the world.]
3 Then Job answered the Lord:
GILL, "Then Job answered the Lord,.... Finding that he was obliged to answer, he
did, but with some reluctance:
and said; as follows:
BE SO , "Job 40:3-5. Then Job answered — Job, whose confusion had made him
silent, at length answered with great humility, and said, Behold I am vile — I am a
mean, sinful, and wretched creature, and not worthy to speak unto thy majesty; nor
do I know what to answer. I will lay my hand upon my mouth — I will, for the
future, check and suppress all passionate thoughts that may arise in my mind, and,
by keeping my mouth, as it were, with a bridle, will prevent them from breaking out
in intemperate speeches. I will humbly and willingly submit myself to thee. Once
have I spoken, but I will not answer — Or speak again. I confess my fault and folly,
and will contend no more with thee. Yea, twice — That is, oft-times, or again and
again, the definite number being used indefinitely. I will proceed no further — In
such bold and presumptuous expressions, and accusations of thy providence toward
me. Vain, therefore, are the excuses which some interpreters make for Job, as if he
were faultless in his foregoing speeches, when both God charges him with blame
therein, and Job himself confesses that he was blameable.
COFFMA , ""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.
GUZIK 3-5, "2. (Job 40:3-5) Job is speechless before God.
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“Behold, I am vile;
What shall I answer You?
I lay my hand over my mouth.
Once I have spoken, but I will not answer;
Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”
a. Then Job answered the Lord: Job had prayed often throughout the dialogue with
his friends; he was the only one of the five to speak to God. Yet now Job spoke after
God’s great revelation of Himself, and will speak with a quite different tone than he
had before.
i. The different tone was not because Job’s circumstances had substantially
changed. He was still in misery and had lost virtually everything. The tone changed
because while he once felt that God had forsaken him, now he felt and knew that
God was with Him.
ii. Job also spoke with a completely different tone than he had with his companions.
“It was Job’s turn to speak again. But there would be no long speeches, no more
rage, no more challenging his Creator.” (Smick)
iii. “What a different tone is here! . . . The Master is come, and the servant who had
contended with his fellows takes a lowly place of humility and silence.” (Meyer)
b. Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? Job once wanted to question God and
with great passion demanded to be brought into God’s court (Job 31:35-37). ow,

after the revelation of God and the restoration of a sense of relationship with Him,
Job sensed his own relative position before God, and that he could not answer God.
i. Behold, I am vile: This “was a perfectly correct translation in the time of King
James, because then vile did not mean what it has come to mean in the process of
the years. In the Hebrew word there is no suggestion of moral failure. Quite literally
it means, of no weight. Job did not here in the presence of the majesty of God
confess moral perversity, but comparative insignificance.” (Morgan)
ii. We must all be caused to see our “lightness” next to God. “Surely, if any man had
a right to say I am not vile, it was Job; for, according to the testimony of God
himself, he was ‘a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed
evil.’ Yet we find even this eminent saint when by his nearness to God he had
received light enough to discover his own condition, exclaiming, ‘Behold I am vile.’”
(Spurgeon)
iii. “Job said, ‘Behold, I am vile.’ That word ‘behold’ implies that he was
astonished. The discovery was unexpected. There are special times with the Lord’s
people, when they learn by experience that they are vile.” (Spurgeon)
iv. All of the arguing of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu could not bring Job to
this place. Only the revelation of God could so humble Job and set him in his right
place before the LORD. Job made his strong and sometimes outrageous statements
when he felt, to the core of his soul, that the LORD had forsaken him. ow with his
sense of the presence of the LORD restored, Job could better see his proper place
before God.
v. It is important to remember that God never did forsake Job; that while He
withdrew the sense of His presence (and this was the cause of profound misery to
Job), God was present with Job all along, strengthening Him with His unseen hand.
Job could have never survived this ordeal without that unseen, unsensed hand of
God supporting him.
vi. To bring Job to this place, we need not think that God was angry and harsh with
Job in chapters 38 and 39. It is still entirely possible – likely, indeed – that God’s
manner with Job in those chapters was marked by warm and loving fellowship
more than harsh rebuke. We remember that it is the goodness of God that leads
man to repentance (Romans 2:4).
vii. “Standing in the midst of the universe, a being conscious of the majesty and the
might of the wisdom and power of God, I say with perfect honesty and accuracy, ‘I
am of small account.’ Standing in the presence of the Son of God, and listening to
His teaching, I find that I am of greater value than the whole world, and to the heart
of God of such value, that in order to my recovery He gave His only begotten Son.”
(Morgan)
c. I lay my hand over my mouth: Job was now ashamed at the way he spoke about

God and his situation. He would use his hand to stop his mouth, and he would
proceed no further.
i. “Perhaps one of the most worshipful gestures of all is the uncommon one that Job
here performs: covering the mouth with the hand. The act is a demonstration of
total submission. One can fall on one’s face and yet continue to blubber and babble.
But to yield the tongue is to yield everything.” (Mason)
PULPIT, "Job 40:3, Job 40:4
Then Job answered, the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; literally, I am light; i.e. I
am of small account (see the Revised Version). It would be absurd for one so weak
and contemptible to attempt to argue with the Almighty. What shall I answer thee?
or, What should I answer thee! What should I say, if I were to attempt a reply? I
will lay mine hand upon my mouth (see the comment on Job 21:5).
4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
BAR ES,"Behold, I am vile: what shall I answer thee? - “Instead of being able
to argue my cause, and to vindicate myself as I had expected, I now see that I am guilty,
and I have nothing to say.” He had argued boldly with his friends. He had, before them,
maintained his innocence of the charges which they brought against him, and had
supposed that he would be able to maintain the same argument before God. But when
the opportunity was given, he felt that he was a poor, weak man; a guilty and miserable
offender. It is a very different thing to maintain our cause before God, from what it is to
maintain it before people; and though we may attempt to vindicate our own
righteousness when we argue with our fellow-creatures, yet when we come to maintain it
before God we shall be dumb. On earth, people vindicate themselves; what will they do
when they come to stand before God in the judgment?
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth - An expression of silence. Catlin, in his
account of the Mandan Indians, says that this is a common custom with them when
anything wonderful occurs. Some of them laid their hands on their mouths and
remained in this posture by the hour, as an expression of astonishment at the wonders
produced by the brush in the art of painting; compare Job_21:5, note; Job_29:9, note.
CLARKE, "Behold, I am vile - I acknowledge my inward defilement. I cannot

answer thee.
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth - I cannot excuse myself, and I must be
dumb before thee.
GILL, "Behold, I am vile,.... Or "light" (a); which may have respect either to his
words and arguments, which he thought had force in them, but now he saw they had
none; or to his works and actions, the integrity of his life, and the uprightness of his
ways, which he imagined were weighty and of great importance, but now being weighed
in the balances of justice were found wanting; or it may refer to his original meanness
and distance from God, being dust and ashes, and nothing in comparison of him; and so
the Septuagint version is, "I am nothing"; see Isa_40:17; or rather to the original
vileness and sinfulness of his nature he had now a sight of, and saw how he had been
breaking forth in unbecoming expressions concerning God and his providence: the
nature of man is exceeding vile and sinful; his heart desperately wicked; his thoughts,
and the imaginations of them, evil, and that continually; his mind and conscience are
defiled; his affections inordinate, and his understanding and will sadly depraved; he is
vile in soul and body; of all which an enlightened man is convinced, and will
acknowledge;
what shall I answer thee? I am not able to answer thee, who am but dust and ashes;
what more can I say than to acknowledge my levity, vanity, and vileness? he that talked
so big, and in such a blustering manner of answering God, as in Job_13:22; now has
nothing to say for himself;
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth; impose silence upon himself, and as it were
lay a restraint upon himself from speaking: it looks as if there were some workings in
Job's heart; he thought he could say something, and make some reply, but durst not, for
fear of offending yet more and more, and therefore curbed it in; see Psa_39:1.
JAMISO , "I am (too) vile (to reply). It is a very different thing to vindicate
ourselves before God, from what it is before men. Job could do the latter, not the former.
lay ... hand ... upon ... mouth — I have no plea to offer (Job_21:5; Jdg_18:19).
K&D 4-5, "He is small, i.e., not equal to the task imposed, therefore he keeps his
mouth firmly closed (comp. Job_21:5; Job_29:9), for whatever he might say would still
not be to the point. Once he has dared to criticise God's doings; a second time (‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ְ‫שׁ‬ =
‫ית‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫,שׁ‬ Ges. §120, 5) he ventures it no more, for God's wondrous wisdom and all-careful
love dazzle him, and he gladly bows.
But how? Is not the divine speech altogether different from what one ought to expect?
One expects to hear from the mouth of Jehovah something unheard of in the previous
course of the drama, and in this expectation we find ourselves disappointed at the
outset. For one need only look back and read Job_9:4-10, where Job acknowledges and
describes God as a wise and mighty Lord over the natural world, especially as an
irresistible Ruler over everything great in it; Job_12:7-10, where he refers to the
creatures of the sky and deep as proofs of God's creative power; Job_12:11-25, where he
sketches the grandest picture of God's terrible doings in nature and among men; Job_

26:5-14, where he praises God as the Creator and Lord of all things, and describes what
he says concerning Him as only a faint echo of the thunder of His might; Job_28:23,
where he ascribes absolute wisdom to Him as the Creator of and Ruler of the world. If
one ponders these passages of Job's speeches, he will not be able to say that the speech
of Jehovah, in the exhibition of the creative power and wisdom of God, which is its
theme, would make Job conscious of anything which was previously unknown to him;
and it is accordingly asked, What, then, is there that is new in the speech of Jehovah by
which the great effect is brought about, that Job humbles himself in penitence, and
becomes ready for the act of redemption which follows?
It has indeed never occurred to Job to desire to enter into a controversy with God
concerning the works of creation; he is far from the delusion of being able to stand such
a test; he knows in general, that if God were willing to contend with him, he would not
be able to answer God one in a thousand, Job_9:3. And yet God closely questioned him,
and thereby Job comes to the perception of his sin - how comes it to pass? Has the plot
of the drama perhaps failed in this point? Has the poet made use of means unsuited to
the connection of the whole, to bring about the needful effect, viz., the repentance of Job,
- because, perhaps, the store of his thoughts was exhausted? But this poet is not so poor,
and we shall therefore be obliged to try and understand the disposition of the speech of
Jehovah before we censure it.
When one of Job's last words before the appearing of Jehovah was the word ‫יענני‬ ‫,שׁדי‬
Job thereby desired God's decision concerning the testimony of his innocence. This wish
is in itself not sinful; yea, it is even a fruit of his hidden faith, when he casts the look of
hope away from his affliction and the accusation of the friends, into the future to God as
his Vindicator and Redeemer. But that wish becomes sinful when he looks upon his
affliction as a de facto accusation on the part of God, because he cannot think of
suffering and sin as separable, and because he is conscious of his innocence, looks upon
it as a decree of God, his opponent and his enemy, which is irreconcilable with the divine
justice. This Job's condition of conflict and temptation is the prevailing one; his faith is
beclouded, and breaks through the night which hangs over him only in single rays. The
result of this condition of conflict is the sinful character which that wish assumes: it
becomes a challenge to God, since Job directs against God Himself the accusation which
the friends have directed against him, and asserts his ability to carry through his good
cause even if God would enter with him into a judicial contention; he becomes a ‫יסור‬ and
‫אלוה‬ ‫,מוכיח‬ and raises himself above God, because he thinks he has Him for an enemy
who is his best friend. This defiance is, however, not common godlessness; on the
contrary, Job is really the innocent servant of God, and his defiant tone is only the result
of a false conception which the tempted one indulges respecting the Author of his
affliction. So, then, this defiance has not taken full possession of Job's mind; on the
contrary, the faith which lays firm hold on confidence in the God whom he does not
comprehend, is in conflict against it; and this conflict tends in the course of the drama,
the nearer it comes to the catastrophe, still nearer to the victory, which only awaits a
decisive stroke in order to be complete. Therefore Jehovah yields to Job's longing ‫שׁדי‬
‫,יענני‬ in as far as He really answers Job; and even that this takes place, and that, although
out of the storm, it nevertheless takes place, not in a way to crush and destroy, but to
instruct and convince, and displaying a loving condescension, is an indirect
manifestation that Job is not regarded by God as an evil-doer mature for judgment. But
that folly and temerity by which the servant of God is become unlike himself must
notwithstanding be destroyed; and before Job can realize God as his Witness and

Redeemer, in which character his faith in the brighter moments has foreseen Him, his
sinful censuring and blaming of God must be blotted out by penitence; and with it at the
same time his foolish imagination, by which his faith has been almost overwhelmed,
must be destroyed, viz., the imagination that his affliction is a hostile dispensation of
God.
And by what means is Job brought to the penitent recognition of his gloomy judgment
concerning the divine decree, and of his contending with God? Is it, perhaps, by God's
admitting to him what really is the case: that he does not suffer as a sinner the
punishment of his sin, but showing at the same time that the decree of suffering is not an
unjust one, because its design is not hostile? No, indeed, for Job is not worthy that his
cause should be acknowledged on the part of God before he has come to a penitent
recognition of the wrong by which he has sinned against God. God would be encouraging
self-righteousness if He should give Job the testimony of his innocence, before the sin of
vainglory, into which Job has fallen in the consciousness of his innocence, is changed to
humility, by which all uprightness that is acceptable with God is tested. Therefore,
contrary to expectation, God begins to speak with Job about totally different matters
from His justice or injustice in reference to his affliction. Therein already lies a deep
humiliation for Job. But a still deeper one in God's turning, as it were, to the
abecedarium naturae, and putting the censurer of His doings to the blush. That God is
the almighty and all-wise Creator and Ruler of the world, that the natural world is
exalted above human knowledge and power, and is full of marvellous divine creations
and arrangements, full of things mysterious and incomprehensible to ignorant and
feeble man, Job knows even before God speaks, and yet he must now hear it, because he
does not know it rightly; for the nature with which he is acquainted as the herald of the
creative and governing power of God, is also the preacher of humility; and exalted as
God the Creator and Ruler of the natural world is above Job's censure, so is He also as
the Author of his affliction. That which is new, therefore, in the speech of Jehovah, is not
the proof of God's exaltation in itself, but the relation to the mystery of his affliction, and
to his conduct towards God in this his affliction, in which Job is necessitated to place
perceptions not in themselves strange to him. He who cannot answer a single one of
those questions taken from the natural kingdom, but, on the contrary, must everywhere
admire and adore the power and wisdom of God-he must appear as an insignificant fool,
if he applies them to his limited judgment concerning the Author of his affliction.
The fundamental tone of the divine speech is the thought, that the divine working in
nature is infinitely exalted above human knowledge and power, and that consequently
man must renounce all claim to better knowledge and right of contention in the presence
of the divine dispensations. But at the same time, within the range of this general
thought, it is also in particular shown how nature reflects the goodness of God as well as
His wisdom (He has restrained the destructive power of the waters, He also sendeth rain
upon the steppe, though untenanted by man); how that which accomplishes the
purposes for which it was in itself designed, serves higher purposes in the moral order of
the world (the dawn of day puts an end to the works of darkness, snow and hail serve as
instruments of divine judgments); how divine providence extends to all creatures, and
always according to their need (He provides the lion its prey, He satisfies the ravens that
cry to Him); and how He has distributed His manifold gifts in a way often paradoxical to
man, but in truth worthy of admiration (to the steinbock ease in bringing forth and
growth without toil, to the wild ass freedom, to the antelope untameable fleetness, to the
ostrich freedom from anxiety about its young and swiftness, to the horse heroic and
proud lust for the battle, to the hawk the instinct of migration, to the eagle a lofty nest
and a piercing sight). Everywhere the wonders of God's power and wisdom, and in fact

of His goodness abounding in power, and His providence abounding in wisdom,
infinitely transcend Job's knowledge and capacity. Job cannot answer one of all these
questions, but yet he feels to what end they are put to him. The God who sets bounds to
the sea, who refreshes the desert, who feeds the ravens, who cares for the gazelle in the
wilderness and the eagle in its eyrie, is the same God who now causes him seemingly
thus unjustly to suffer. But if the former is worthy of adoration, the latter will also be so.
Therefore Job confesses that he will henceforth keep silence, and solemnly promises that
he will now no longer contend with Him. From the marvellous in nature he divines that
which is marvellous in his affliction. His humiliation under the mysteries of nature is at
the same time humiliation under the mystery of his affliction; and only now, when he
penitently reveres the mystery he has hitherto censured, is it time that its inner glory
should be unveiled to him. The bud is mature, and can now burst forth, in order to
disclose the blended colours of its matured beauty.
SIMEO , "TRUE HUMILIATIO
Job 40:4. Behold, I am vile!
THESE are the words of a man whom God had pronounced “perfect and upright.”
As a fallen descendant of Adam, he partook of the corruption of our common
nature: but as a child of God, he was one of the most eminent of all the human race.
It may be thought, indeed, that this confession of his proved him to have been guilty
of some enormous crime; but it evinced rather his great advancement in the divine
life, and his utter abhorrence of all evil. Doubtless there was just occasion for this
acknowledgment, because he had transgressed with his lips in arraigning the
conduct of Providence towards him: but, if they were suited to his case, much more
are they so to all those who possess not his high attainments.
We shall consider the words as expressing,
I. A discovery then made—
Job had certainly low views of himself upon the whole [ ote: Job 9:20; Job 9:30-
31.]: yet he had spoken in too unqualified terms in vindication of his own character
[ ote: Job 10:6-7; Job 16:17.]. Instances of this Elihu had brought to his
remembrance [ ote: Job 32:2; Job 33:8-12; Job 35:2.]; and God himself testified
against him in this respect [ ote: Job 38:2; Job 40:2-8.]. Job had repeatedly
expressed his wish, that God would admit him, as it were, to a conference; and had
expressed his confidence that he could maintain his cause before him [ ote: Job
23:1-5; Job 31:35-37.]: but now that God did interpose, he saw how much he had
erred, and that all his former confidence was presumption. He now saw,
1. That his conduct had been sinful—
[Being conscious of the integrity of his heart, in relation to the things which his
friends had laid to his charge, he had done right in maintaining his innocence before

them: but he had erred in maintaining it to the extent he did; he had erred in
imagining that he had not merited at God’s hands the calamities inflicted on him;
and, above all, in complaining of God as acting unjustly and cruelly towards him.
These workings of his heart he now saw to be exceeding sinful, as betraying too high
thoughts of himself, and great irreverence towards the God of heaven and earth, “in
whose sight the very heavens are not clean, and who chargeth his angels with folly.”
This sin therefore he now bitterly bewailed.]
2. That his whole heart was sinful—
[He did not view his conduct as a mere insulated act; but took occasion, from the
fruit which had been produced, to examine the root from which it sprang. He now
traced the bitter waters to their fountain-head, and discovered thereby the
bitterness of the spring from whence they flowed. This was altogether a new
discovery to him: he had no conception how desperately wicked his heart was, and
that the evils he had committed would have broke forth with ten thousand times
greater violence, if they had not been restrained by the grace of God. The rebellion
of which he had been guilty now proved indisputably to him, that he was of himself
as prone to sin as any of the human race, and that, if he differed from the vilest of
mankind, he had nothing to boast of, since he had not made himself to differ, nor
did he possess any thing which he had not received as the free gift of God [ ote: 1
Corinthians 4:7.]. This is the true way of estimating any individual sin [ ote: Psalms
51:3; Psalms 51:5. Mark 7:21; Mark 7:23.] — — — and in this way alone shall we
ever attain a just knowledge of ourselves.]
But we must further view his words as expressing,
II. An acknowledgment of the truth then discovered—
“Out of the abundance of his heart his mouth spake.” Feeling his sinfulness, it was
an ease, rather than a pain, to him to confess it before God and man. Behold here,
1. The ingenuousness of his confession—
[Here were no excuses made, nor any suggestions offered to extenuate his guilt. He
might have pleaded the weight of his sufferings, and the falseness of the accusations
brought against him: but he saw that nothing can excuse sin; and that, whatever
palliatives may be adduced to lessen its enormity in the sight of man, it is most
hateful in the sight of God, and ought to abase us in the dust before him. That his
sin on this occasion was an exception to his general conduct, did not at all change, in
his estimation, the malignity of it: on the contrary, the enormity of it would appear
in proportion to the mercies he had before received, and to the profession of piety he
had before maintained.
ow thus it is that we also should acknowledge our vileness before God. Doubtless
there may be circumstances which may greatly aggravate our transgressions; and
these it will be at all times proper to notice: but it is never wise to look on the side

that leads to a palliation of sin: self-love is so rooted in our hearts, that we shall
always be in danger of forming too favourable a judgment of ourselves: the
humiliation of the publican is that which at all times befits us: nor can we ever be in
a more becoming state than when, with Job, we “repent and abhor ourselves in dust
and ashes.”]
2. The dispositions with which it was accompanied—
[He submitted to reproof, and acknowledged himself guilty in relation to the very
thing that was laid to hit charge. This is a good test of true and genuine repentance.
It is easy to acknowledge the sinfulness of our nature; but for a man, after long and
strenuously maintaining his integrity, to confess his fault before the very people who
have vehemently accused him, is no small attainment: yet did Job confess, that he
had repeatedly offended, both in justifying himself, and in condemning God.
Moreover, he declared his resolution, with God’s help, to offend no more [ ote: ver.
5.]: and by this he manifested beyond a doubt the reality and depth of his
repentance. Of what use is that penitence that does not inspire us with a fixed
purpose to sin no more? Humiliation without amendment is of no avail: “the
repentance which is not to be repented of” produces such an indignation against sin,
as will never leave us under the power of it any more [ ote: 2 Corinthians 7:10-11.].
May we all bear this in remembrance, and, by the entire change in our conduct,
“approve ourselves in all things to be clear in this matter [ ote: 2 Corinthians 7:10-
11.]!”]
Address—
1. Those who entertain a good opinion of themselves—
[How is it possible that you should be right? Are you better than Job, who is
represented by the prophet as one of the most perfect characters that ever existed
upon earth [ ote: Ezekiel 14:14; Ezekiel 14:20.]? or if you were subjected to the
same trials, would you endure them with more patience than he, of whom an
Apostle speaks with admiration, saying, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job?”
Know, then, that whilst you are indulging a self-righteous, self-complacent spirit,
you betray an utter ignorance of your real state and character, and are altogether
destitute of true repentance. Moreover, to you the Gospel is of no avail: for, what do
you want of a Physician when you are not sick; or what of a Saviour, when you are
not lost? O put away from you your Laodicean pride, lest you be rejected by God
with indignation and abhorrence [ ote: Revelation 3:17-18.]. But if,
notwithstanding this warning, you are determined to hold fast your confidence, then
think whether “you will be strong in the day that God shall deal with you,” or be
able to stand before him as your Accuser and your Judge? Be assured, that if Job
could not answer his God in this world, much less will you be able to do it in the
world to come.]
2. Those who are humbled under a sense of their vileness—

[We bless God if you have been brought with sincerity of heart to say, “Behold, I am
vile.” If you feel your vileness as you ought, then will all the promises of the Gospel
appear to you exactly suited to your state, and Christ be truly precious to your
souls. Whom does he invite to come unto him, but the weary and heavy laden? What
was the end for which he died upon the cross? Was it not to save sinners, even the
chief? Yes, verily; “it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation [ ote: 1
Timothy 1:15.]” — — — But whilst we would encourage all to come and wash away
their sins in the fountain of his blood, we would caution all against turning the grace
of God into licentiousness. Many, in acknowledging the depravity of their nature,
make it almost an excuse for their sins. Their acknowledgments may be strong; but
they are attended with no tenderness of spirit, no deep contrition, no real self-
lothing and self-abhorrence. Brethren, above all things guard against such a state as
this. Whilst you are ignorant of your vileness there is hope that your eyes may be
opened to see it, and your heart be humbled under a sense of it: but to acknowledge
it and yet remain obdurate, is a fearful presage of final impenitence, and everlasting
ruin [ ote: Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21.]. If you would be
right, you must stand equally remote from presumption and despondency: your
vileness must drive you, not from Christ, but to him; and when you are most
confident of your acceptance with him, you must walk softly before him all the days
of your life.]
5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I will say no more.”
BAR ES,"Once have I spoken - That is, in vindicating myself. He had once
spoken of God in an irreverent and improper manner, and he now saw it.
But I will not answer - I will not now answer, as I had expressed the wish to do. Job
now saw that he had spoken in an improper manner, and he says that he would not
repeat what he had said.
Yea, twice - He had not only offended once, as if in a thoughtless and hasty manner,
but he had repeated it, showing deliberation, and thus aggravating his guilt. When a man
is brought to a willingness to confess that he has done wrong once, he will be very likely
to see that he has been guilty of more than one offence. One sin will draw on the
remembrance of another; and the gate once open, a flood of sins will rush to the
recollection. It is not common that a man can so isolate a sin as to repent of that alone,
or so look at one offence against God as not to feel that he has been often guilty of the
same crimes.
But I will proceed no further - Job felt doubtless that if he should allow himself to
speak again, or to attempt now to vindicate himself, he would be in danger of

committing the same error again. He now saw that God was right; that he had himself
repeatedly indulged in an improper spirit, and that all that became him was a penitent
confession in the fewest words possible. We may learn here:
(1) That a view of God is fitted to produce in us a deep sense of our own sins. No one
can feel himself to be in the presence of God, or regard the Almighty as speaking to him,
without saying, “Lo I am vile? There is nothing so much fitted to produce a sense of
sinfulness and nothingness as a view of God.
(2) The world will be mute at the day of judgment. They who have been most loud and
bold in vindicating themselves will then be silent, and will confess that they are vile, and
the whole world “will become guilty before God.” If the presence and the voice of God
produced such an effect on so good a man as Job, what will it not do on a wicked world?
(3) A true penitent is disposed to use but few words; “God be merciful to me a sinner,”
or, “lo, I am vile,” is about all the language which the penitent employs. He does not go
into long arguments, into metaphysical distinctions, into apologies and vindications, but
uses the simplest language of confession, and then leaves the soul, and the cause, in the
hands of God.
(4) Repentance consists in stopping where we are, and in resolving to add no more sin.
“I have erred,” is its language. “I will not add to it, I will do so no more,” is the
immediate response of the soul. A readiness to go into a vindication, or to expose oneself
to the danger of sinning again in the same way, is an evidence that there is no true
repentance. Job, a true penitent, would not allow himself even to speak again on the
subject, lest he should be guilty of the sin which he had already committed.
(5) In repentance we must be willing to retract our errors, and confess that we were
wrong - no matter what favorite opinions we have had, or how tenaciously and zealously
we have defended and held them. Job had constructed many beautiful and eloquent
arguments in defense of his opinions; he had brought to bear on the subject all the
results of his observation, all his attainments in science, all the adages and maxims that
he had derived from the ancients, and from a long contact with mankind, but he was
now brought to a willingness to confess that his arguments were not solid, and that the
opinions which he had cherished were erroneous. It is often more difficult to abandon
opinions than vices; and the proud philosopher when he exercises repentance has a
more difficult task than the victim of low and debasing sensuality. His opinions are his
idols. They embody the results of his reading, his reflections, his conversation, his
observation, and they become a part of himself. Hence, it is, that so many abandoned
sinners are converted, and so few philosophers; that religion spreads often with so much
success among the obscure and the openly wicked, while so few of the “wise men of the
world” are called and saved.
CLARKE, "Once have I spoken - See on Job_42:3 (note), etc.
I will proceed no farther - I shall attempt to justify myself no longer; I have
spoken repeatedly; and am confounded at my want of respect for my Maker, and at the
high thoughts which I have entertained of my own righteousness. All is impurity in the
presence of thy Majesty.
GILL, "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer,.... Some think this refers to
what he had just now said of his vileness, he had owned that, and that was all he had to

say, or would say, he would give no other answer; Jarchi says, some suppose he has
respect to his words in Job_9:22;
yea, twice; but I will proceed no further; the meaning seems to be, that he who
had once and again, or very often, at least in some instances, spoken very imprudently
and indecently, for the future would take care not to speak in such a manner: for this
confession was not quite free and full; and therefore the Lord takes him in hand again, to
bring him to make a more full and ingenuous one, as he does in Job_42:1.
JAMISO , "Once ... twice — oftentimes, more than once (Job_33:14, compare
with Job_33:29; Psa_62:11):
I have spoken — namely, against God.
not answer — not plead against Thee.
PULPIT, "Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but l will proceed
no further. The meaning is, "I have already spoken, not once, but more than once.
ow I will be silent; I will say no more.' There is a sort of recognition that the
arguments used were futile, but not a full and complete confession, as in Job 42:3.
6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm:
BAR ES,"Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind - See the
notes at Job_38:1. God here resumes the argument which had been interrupted in order
to give Job an opportunity to speak and to carry his cause before the Almighty, as he had
desired, see Job_40:2. Since Job had nothing to say, the argument, which had been
suspended, is resumed and completed.
GILL, "Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind,.... Some think
that the whirlwind ceased while the Lord spake the words in Job_40:2; which
encouraged Job to make the answer he did; but others are of opinion that it continued,
and now increased, and was more boisterous than before. The Targum calls it the
whirlwind of tribulation: comfort does not always follow immediately on first
convictions; Job, though humbled, was not yet humbled enough: God will have a fuller
confession of sin from him: it was not sufficient to say he was vile, he must declare his
sorrow for his sin, his abhorrence of it, and of himself for it, and his repentance of it; and
that he had said things of God he ought not to have said, and which he understood not;

and though he had said he would answer no more, God will make him say more, and
therefore continued the whirlwind, and to speak out of it; for he had more to say to him,
and give him further proof of his power to his full conviction;
HE RY, "Job was greatly humbled for what God had already said, but not
sufficiently; he was brought low, but not low enough; and therefore God here proceeds
to reason with him in the same manner and to the same purport as before, Job_40:6.
Observe, 1. Those who duly receive what they have heard from God, and profit by it,
shall hear more from him. 2. Those who are truly convinced of sin, and penitent for it,
yet have need to be more thoroughly convinced and to be made more deeply penitent.
Those who are under convictions, who have their sins set in order before their eyes and
their hearts broken for them, must learn from this instance not to catch at comfort too
soon; it will be everlasting when it comes, and therefore it is necessary that we be
prepared for it by deep humiliation, that the wound be searched to the bottom and not
skinned over, and that we do not make more haste out of our convictions than good
speed. When our hearts begin to melt and relent within us, let those considerations be
dwelt upon and pursued which will help to make a thorough effectual thaw of it.
K&D, "This second time also Jehovah speaks to Job out of the storm; not, however,
in wrath, but in the profound condescension of His majesty, in order to deliver His
servant from dark imaginings, and to bring him to free and joyous knowledge. He does
not demand blind subjection, but free submission; He does not extort an
acknowledgement of His greatness, but it is effected by persuasion. It becomes manifest
that God is much more forbearing and compassionate than men. Observe the friends,
the defenders of the divine honour, these sticklers for their own orthodoxy, how they
rave against Job! How much better is it to fall into the hands of the living God, than into
the hands of man! For God is truth and love; but men have at one time love without
truth, at another truth without love, since they either connive at one or anathematize
him. When a man who, moreover, like Job, is a servant of God, fails in one point, or sins,
men at once condemn him altogether, and admit nothing good in him; God, however,
discerns between good and evil, and makes the good a means of freeing the man from
the evil. He also does not go rashly to work, but waits, like an instructor, until the time of
action arrives. How long He listens to Job's bold challenging, and keeps silence! And
then, when He does begin to speak, He does not cast Job to the ground by His
authoritative utterances, but deals with him as a child; He examines him from the
catechism of nature, and allows him to say for himself that he fails in this examination.
In this second speech He acts with him as in the well-known poem of Hans Sachs with
St. Peter: He offers him to take the government of the world for once instead of Himself.
Here also He produces conviction; here also His mode of action is a deep lowering of
Himself. It is Jehovah, the God, who at length begets Himself in humanity, in order to
convince men of His love.
BE SO , "Job 40:6. Then answered the Lord out of the whirlwind — Which was
renewed when God renewed his charge upon Job, whom he intended to humble
more thoroughly than he had yet done. This and the next verse are repeated out of
Job 38:1; Job 38:3, where the reader will find them explained.
COFFMA , "OK, mankind! Here God challenges you to take over the universe.

The humanistic idiots of our own generation need to read this. Their manifesto in
1933 declared that, " ever again shall we seek to build a society upon the principles
of the Judeo-Christian scriptures." And the sorrows that have overwhelmed all
nations since then have demonstrated conclusively that "It is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).
In these verses, we have the revelation of Job's sin, namely, pride. Although his
manifold sufferings were not the visitation of God upon him for gross and reprobate
wickedness (as his friends erroneously concluded); nevertheless, Job had imagined
that God was acting as his enemy, and had even wished for an `umpire' who might
plead against that imagined hostility on the part of God.
"Job's criticism of God's judgment, especially his boast that he will overcome the
Lord's imagined opposition to his justification was, in principle, a usurpation of the
divine prerogative of world government, a lusting after God-like knowledge of good
and evil (Genesis 3:5)."[13] See under Job 40:8, below.
"Gird up thy loins ... declare thou unto me" (Job 40:7). Some critics have resented
what they interpret as God's efforts to "browbeat Job into a more abject
submission." Has he not admitted that he is silenced? Why go any further? This is
to miss the whole point that Job is indeed a sinner (not as the friends imagined), but
in his conception of God.
"Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be justified" (Job 40:8)? To paraphrase
this, "Do you think it necessary to accuse me of injustice and to condemn me in
order to establish thine own innocence"?[14] There was no need whatever for such a
viewpoint. God's justice and Job's innocence were perfectly compatible. In order to
see this, it was only necessary to get rid of the false theory, held by Job's friends and
unconsciously supported by Job's own suppositions (i.e., that God was his enemy),
that earthly sorrows and afflictions are necessarily punitive. In these verses, Job
would come to see that, "The things that had been, and still were, a puzzle to men
were no puzzle at all to God.[15]
"Hast thou an arm like God? And canst thou thunder with a voice like him" (Job
40:9)? The argument here is that, "The world is so large, and the circumstances and
situations of individual life are so infinitely varied, that none but an omnipotent
Ruler could govern them with perfect justice. Therefore, one who does not possess
God's might must refrain from passing judgment upon God's justice."[16]
"Deck thyself with excellency ... dignity ... honor ... majesty" (Job 40:10). Such
language as this is ironical and sarcastic. If Job is really going to take over
management of the universe, "He would need to be as splendid and majestic as
God."[17] By his imagining that, if he had an umpire, he might even dispute the
judgments of God (as he understood his sufferings) with the Lord himself, Job had
presumed to question the infinite wisdom and justice of God; and, if he were indeed
to succeed in such a role, he would have to look the part! As Franks understood the
implication of God's Words here, "If Job cannot put himself in the place of God,

Job 40 commentary

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Job 40 commentary