Job 39 Commentary
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The LORD draws Job’s attention to God’s care in nature. Childbearing in humans is tightly controlled with experienced midwives in attendance. But who takes care of these processes in nature? Does Job know? While humans take about 1 year on average to start walking, baby goats are able to stand within 10 minutes of birth. These are design parameters by Heaven. Importantly, these are spaces for decision-making by heaven on a case-by-case basis. The mountain goat, the wild donkey, and the wild-ox; are all different. They serve different purposes.
Take an ostrich for an example: poor nesting and parenting. Yet it outruns many! God deliberately denied it ‘a share of good sense’. Job should be learning something from the ultimate sovereign throne. By the time of writing this volume, it would take millennia before humanity finally began to take to the air. In nature, creatures have always done so with ease and beauty. This advanced technology existed in nature long before humans began to formulate ideas.
Let Job understand this: God’s special gift to humanity is wisdom and a share of good sense. With this comes the ability to preserve life; ability to outrun the ostrich; ability to outfly the hawk; ability to outmuscle the horse; and ability to feed millions from farm produce. I have created the earth; let humanity go ahead and create the world. It has taken very advanced technology. But let humanity work backward; this technology lay hidden in nature long before man began to discover it. The LORD put it there in animals without ‘a share of good sense’.
Let not ignorance kill you. You are a man of a share of good sense. See all around you. It is in black and white. The LORD is sovereign; the LORD is above all. He is the LORD of creation. His job description covers all creation. The words of the LORD should prompt and inspire a detailed reflection.
The journey into the Book of Job has generated a lot of questions. Is the LORD doing justice to these questions? Suppose a child picks up an egg and wants to play with it as a ball. “Mum, how do I improve the shape of this ball so that it runs smoothly?” The mother will not bother answering the question but rather grab the egg, put it back on the tray, and then lecture the child. Unfortunately for the child, the lecture will be nothing about changing the shape of an egg.
These chapters about the responses of the LORD are a rare beauty. Let’s enjoy them!
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