Job 39 Commentary
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 as an example: poor nesting and poor parenting. Yet it outruns many! God deliberately denied it ‘a share of good sense’!
Job should be learning something from ultimate sovereignty. 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; the ability to outrun the ostrich; the ability to outfly the hawk; the ability to outmuscle the horse; and the ability to feed millions from farm produce.
I have created the earth; let humanity go ahead and create the world! It takes 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. Of course, an egg is not properly round to function as a good ball. The child could focus on improving the shape of the egg for his own purpose. But the child’s mum’s lecture to the child won’t be about tools for shaping the egg, or how to shape the egg.
The LORD won’t bother answering questions that don’t exist, or which shouldn’t exist!
While Chapter 38 underlined mortals’ ignorance (limited knowledge), Chapter 39 seems to focus on mortals’ lack of sufficient intelligence – it’s weightless when weighed on the scale of eternity!
These chapters about the responses of the LORD are a rare beauty. Let’s enjoy them!
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