Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 39:1 onwards. Indeed, remaining silent on the subject of the great phenomena of nature, then on that of the laws that maintain the balance of the worlds, Job, ignorant student, is now questioned in zoology, by the Master of all knowledge. His score in this matter will not be better. Since the ancient times when our patriarch lived, and despite all man’s efforts to probe them, how many mysteries remain in Creation, mysteries that human science, often blinded by its theories, has come up against. Starting with that of the origin of life!
God speaks of many things in these four chapters, smallas well as large. But all of them are things that He did. On the other hand, we will not find a single word of Job’s works. Of all his merits of which the patriarch had nevertheless taken the trouble to make the long enumeration, Jehovah cannot retain a single one. Without the cross, on which God already looked (Rom. 3:21-26), yes, without the cross, such a man was lost. Friend who may still trust in your own efforts and abilities, look to the Lord. He himself has accomplished great things that exalt his wisdom… but, above all, the work of your salvation which magnifies his love.
Job confesses no sin, his friends and Elihu, who are all striving to find evil in his life, are entirely at fault. Repentance does not come from moral guilt, but from the hasty and adventurous speech that escaped him at the time of trial. After all the defense of Job, it must be admitted that he does not avoid the appearance of evil at every moment. He had to repent and find a new life in a new humility. The discovery he made does not degrade a man. Job sees God as great, true, and faithful as he had thought Him to be, yes, far greater and more faithful. He sees himself as a creature of this great God and is exalted, an ignorant creature and is reprobate. The wider horizon he demanded being open to him, he finds himself much less than he had seemed. In the microcosm of his past dream life and narrow religion, he appeared tall, perfect, worthy of all that he enjoyed from God; But now, in the macrocosm, he is small, reckless, and weak.
God and the soul are sure as before; but God’s justice toward the soul that he has done is looked at from another angle. Not like a powerful sheikh, Job cannot now debate with the Almighty he has invoked. The vast expanses of the being are unfolded, and among the subjects of the Creator, he is one, – bound to praise the Almighty for existence and all that it means. His new birth is small, but cared for in the great universe of God. The writer is undoubtedly struggling with an idea that he cannot fully express; and in fact he gives only the pictorial sketch. But, without attributing sin to Job, he points out, in the confession of ignorance, the germ of a doctrine of sin: Man, even standing, must be stung to dissatisfaction, to a feeling of imperfection to achieve his fall as a new birth in spiritual evolution. The moral ideal is indicated, the infinity of duty and the need for an awakening of man to his place in the universe. The dream life now appears as a troubled partial existence, a time of lost opportunity and vain sterile glory. Now the greatest life opens to the light of God.
And finally, the Almighty’s challenge to Satan with which the poem began is justified. The adversary cannot say: – The hedge erected around your broken servant, his flesh afflicted, now he has cursed you in the face. From trial comes Job, always on God’s side, more than ever on God’s side, with a nobler faith and more solidly grounded on the rock of truth. It is, we may say, a prophetic parable of the great trial to which religion is exposed in the world, its difficulties and dangers and its final triumph. To limit the reference to Israel is to miss the great significance of the poem. In the last as in the first, we are beyond Israel, in a universal problem of the nature and experience of man. By his wonderful gift of inspiration, painting the sufferings and victory of Job, the author is a herald of the great coming. He is one of those who prepared the way not for a Jewish Messiah, the redeemer of a small people, but for the Christ of God, the Son of man, the Saviour of the world.
He is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Job’s honest life finally emerges from a narrow range of trials to personal reconciliation and redemption by God’s grace. The pure heavenly life of Christ advances in the Spirit through the whole range of spiritual trials, bearing every need of the misguided man, confirming every melancholy hope of the race, yet revealing with striking force man’s immemorial quarrel with the light, and condemning him to the hour that he saves him. The animal kingdom is of unimaginable beauty and complexity that makes Job our patriarch mute.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
God, master of the animal world:
- Buffaloes (Aurochs)
Num. 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt, He is to them like the vigor of the buffalo. Deut 33:17 From his firstborn bull he has majesty; Its horns are the horns of the buffalo; With them he will strike all peoples, To the ends of the earth: They are the myriads of Ephraim, They are the thousands of Manasseh. John 39:9 I have made the desert my dwelling, the salt earth my home. Psalm 29:6 He makes them leap like calves, and Lebanon and Sirion like young buffaloes.
- Eggs
Deut 22:6 If you encounter in your way a bird’s nest, on a tree or on the earth, with young or eggs, and the mother lying on the young or on the eggs, you will not take the mother and the young, Job 39:14 Do you rely on him, because his strength is great? Do you leave him to take care of your labors? Isaiah 59:5 They incubate basil eggs, and they weave cobwebs. He who eats of their eggs dies; And, if one breaks, a viper comes out. Luke 11:12 Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
- Eagles, symbol of speed
Ex 19:4 You have seen what I have done to Egypt, and how I have carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to me. 2 Sam. 1:23 Saul and Jonathan, lovable and cherished during their lives, were not separated in their deaths; They were lighter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Job 9:26 They pass like rush ships, like the eagle that melts on its prey. Isaiah 40:31 But those who trust in the Lord renew their strength. They take flight like eagles; They run, and do not get weary, they walk, and do not get tired.
- Hawks
Lev 11:16 ostrich, owl, gull, sparrowhawk and its species; Job 39:26 On him resounded the quiver, Shining the spear and the javelin.
From all of the above, we note thatGod’s own wisdom and power in nature, as Himself testifies, is followed by His testimony as to the sustenance of His creatures, with what mercy He provides for their needs. Thissection begins with the query “Do you know?” Could it hunt the lion’s prey, or satisfy the voracious appetite of their young? God regards the young, even as unclean as a bird, as the raven has its food provided by God. It is wonderful to read that young crows in their helplessness cry out to God. Beasts recognize the Creator by their instincts and turn to Him for food, although it is not the sweet song of a lark, but only the croaking of a raven. How it reminds us of the testimony of the same Creator who speaks here, while he was clothed in the form of a creature. “Consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap; who have no warehouse or barn; and God feeds them. The unicorn (aurochs, buffaloes) with its strength is also known to God. He has the power to make him the voluntary slave; Man cannot do it. And the peacock with its beautiful wings and the ostrich, which leaves its eggs in the earth, and warms them in the dust. Who takes care of these hidden eggs, which the foot can crush and wild beasts break? It would be amusing, if not so sad, if critics were to declare that the author of the “poem” was wrong when talking about ostrich eggs. But it is not an “author” who speaks, but the Creator Himself and He knows more about His creatures than all the “scientists” of the world. Did Job give strength to the war horse or did he put on the neck of the rustling mane, or did he make it leap like the grasshopper? The photo of the war horse in battle is sublime too. God shows Job a glimpse of His works and the wisdom that created them, as well as His concern to keep them. Such a God is the one whom Job has slandered. The falcon can also teach him a lesson. Is it by Job’s instructions that the falcon ascends high into the air, and is it by his order that the eagle ascends and builds its nest in the vertiginous heights, from where it spies on its prey? No answer could be given. His silence is an assent. God is great and unfathomable, and Job is just the rebellious worm of dust. We see all the great care that God takes of his animal world: Mysteries that completely escape man. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and for ever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job’s First Response to God: God evokes the hippopotamus and the crocodile.” (Jb 40)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.