job 40 and 41

Read Job 40 and 41 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for each speech are like the divisions in the Psalms that we studied in 2014. There is an understood {s} division at the end of each numbered line, unless marked otherwise, with an {n} division where a new line begins within a numbered line.

Job 40:1 Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: {s}
Job 40:2 “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” {p}
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the Lord and said: {s}
Job 40:4 “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. {s}
Job 40:5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” {p}
Job 40:6-41:33 {s} Division at the end of each numbered line;
Job 41:34, He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the children of pride. {p}

Outline of the Lord’s answer to Job, Job 38-42:6:

Job 38:1-40:2 {p+p} The Lord’s first speech:

Job 38:1-3, Who darkens counsel without knowledge? I will question you, and you shall answer Me;
Job 38:4-38, The glory of God revealed in the creation/ hidden wisdom of the universe;
Job 38:39-39:18 {p} The glory of God revealed in the ways of the wild animals;
Job 39:19-25, The glory of God revealed in the strength of the horse;
Job 39:26-30, The glory of God revealed in the flight of the birds of prey;
Job 40:1-2 {p} He who rebukes God, let him answer it.

Job 40:3-5 {p} Job: I cannot answer, I will not speak.

Job 40:6-41:34 {p} The Lord’s second speech:

Job 40:6-7, Prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me;
Job 40:8-14, Will you indeed justify yourself before Me?
Job 40:15-24, The glory of God revealed in behemoth;
Job 41:1-34 {p} The glory of God revealed in leviathan.

Job 42:1-6 {p} Job: Truly, I didn’t know what I was speaking of/ I repent in dust and ashes.

Notice that in all the Lord’s answer to Job, He never explained to him what happened, and why he had endured affliction. Job repeatedly asked the question, Why? And God did not answer it. His friends assumed it was because Job had sinned, but God does not confirm their reasoning but rebukes it as counsel darkened without knowledge. Something similar happened to Jesus:

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luk 13:1-5

He does not explain why the evil trouble and suffering happened, but He denies that it was because they sinned worse than anyone else. In this life on this side of heaven, we are all living under a sentence of death, and mortality is the end of this physical body. But for those who have repented and turned from sin, the death of the physical body is not the end, but merely a threshold we cross into everlasting life where death has no power forever.

And here is the same gospel of grace preached in the Lord’s speech:

Job 40:8 “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
9 Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, And array yourself with glory and beauty.
11 Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.
12 Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place.
13 Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.
14 Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.”

Job proclaimed his righteousness and innocence all through his answers to his friends. The Lord never denied that this is true. But even if our hands are as clean as we can make them, as Job’s were, it is not possible for us to justify ourselves or to save ourselves by our own right hand (our own works). We need the Mediator that Job cries out for – and this is the gospel preached from the book of Job.

The book of Job chiastic structure

For further reading:

Could Behemoth have been a dinosaur? (analysis from Hebrew, academic paper)
Kids’ Feedback: Why was Behemoth first among the works of God? – Answers in Genesis
Dragon Legends – Truths behind the Tales – Answers in Genesis
Leviathan found? – Answers in Genesis
Sea monsters – more than a legend? – Answers in Genesis