Job 40:11 Kommentar

Many humbling confounding questions God had put to Job, in the foregoing chapter; now, in this chapter, I. He demands an answer to them (Job 40:1, Job 40:2). II. Job submits in a humble silence (Job 40:3-5). III. God proceeds to reason with him, for his conviction, concerning the infinite distance and disproportion between him and God, showing that he was by no means an equal match for God. He challenges him (Job 40:6, Job 40:7) to vie with him, if he durst, for justice (Job 40:8), power (Job 40:9), majesty (Job 40:10), and dominion over the proud (Job 40:11-14), and he gives an instance of his power in one particular animal, here called "Behemoth," (Job 40:15-24).

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 40 In this chapter Job is called upon to give in his answer, Job 40:1, which he does in the most humble manner, acknowledging his vileness and folly, Job 40:3; and then the Lord proceeds to give him further conviction of his superior justice and power, Job 40:6; and one thing he proposes to him, to humble the proud, if he could, and then he would own his own right hand could save him, Job 40:10; and observes to him another instance of his power in a creature called behemoth, which he had made, and gives a description of, Job 40:15.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath,.... Work thyself up into a passion, at least seemingly; put on all the airs of a wrathful and enraged king on a throne of state, whose wrath is like the roaring of a lion, and as messengers of death; pour out menaces plentifully, threatening what thou wilt do; and try if by such means thou canst humble the spirit of a proud man, as follows; and behold everyone that is proud, and abase him; look sternly at him, put on a fierce, furious, and menacing countenance, and see if thou canst dash a proud man out of countenance, and humble him before thee, as I am able; among the many instances of divine power the Lord settles upon this one, and proposes it to Job to try his skill and power upon, the humbling of a proud man.

A slanderer conspired against you. Sometimes he said to me, “Stretch out your hand now.” He said to me, “Touch all that he has,” and he added about you that “you would have cursed me to my face.” But, on the contrary, you were victorious. Therefore I say to you, “Clothe yourself with glory. Abase the slanderer completely. Humiliate his angels. He was arrogant against you, but you destroy the arrogant. He was impious against you, but you strike him by lightning.”

The thunder and all the rest exist not in order to impress but so that God may be known. See with how many arguments he convinces him that his nature is small. He does not say to him, “You are small, but, I am great, and you cannot do what I do.”

Scatter the proud in thy wrath. 9. Thou understandest, As I, Who in the season of tranquillity bear with them united against Me, and when I come at last with severity, I scatter them in My wrath. But we must carefully observe on these subjects, that a grievous error of misbelief is admitted, if any one perchance thinks, that in that Substance of the Godhead, wrath and tranquillity are variable. For the Creator of all is supremely immortal, in that He is not changeable, like a creature. Hence it is said of Him by James, With Whom is no variableness, nor shadow of change. [James 1, 17] Hence again it is written, But Thou, O Lord, judgest, with tranquillity. [Wisd. 12, 18] Hence the Prophet says, The land is made desert from the face of the anger of the Dove, from the face of the fury of the Lord. [Jer. 25, 38] For that which he had first called the anger of the dove, he afterwards called the fury of the Lord. For the dove is a very simple animal; and because no inequality of fury steals in upon God, He called the fury of the Lord the anger of the dove. For to point out the inalterable might of the Divine severity, he termed it both 'anger,' and that of 'the Dove.' As if he were saying more plainly; He Who still continuing gentle punishes the unrighteous, inflicts unmoved a severe judgment. Whence also in the last Judgment, remaining immutable in Himself, He is not altered by any vicissitude or change; but yet He is not manifested to the Elect and reprobate under the same appearance of unchangeableness, because He will appear calm to the righteous, but wrathful to the unrighteous. For by the witness of conscience within they bring themselves to a point, from which their minds behold alike One Person, but are not alike affected, because to the one their former righteousness represents Him as gentle, and to the others their sin represents Him as terrible. But who can explain their dread, when it falls to the lot of these wretched men, both to discern faults within themselves, and to see the righteous Judge before themselves? And it is doubtless the case in the daily course of the present life, that the hearts of men are being instructed in the character of the coming Judge. For when two persons are going to trial, the one conscious of his innocence, the other of his fault, even before the sentence is passed, they both look at the judge when still silent, and yet the guilty one suspects that this very silence of the judge is heavy wrath against him. Which wrath, his remembrance of his wickedness, and not the passion of the Judge, denounces against him: for though the sentence does not as yet outwardly proclaim him guilty, yet his conscience heavily accuses him within. But, on the other hand, the friend of justice beholds the countenance of him who is giving sentence, but rejoices within from the testimony of a good conscience, and as he has had nothing to fear in himself, he looks on every thing which is done to him as kind. In this place then the wrath of God means not any agitation of the Substance of the Godhead, but the enquiry of righteous vengeance upon sinners conscious of their guilt. For though they see Him to be calm in judgment, yet, from not doubting that they will be smitten by Him, they think that He is agitated in their emotions. It follows; And behold every one that is arrogant, and abase him. 10. As if He said, As I. But as to the order of punishment, the sin of the proud is fitly mentioned before the arrogant; because in truth pride is not generated by arrogance, but arrogance by pride. But every sinner is looked upon in two ways by the Lord, when he is either converted from sin, or punished for sin. Of looking in order to conversion it is said, that the Lord looked upon Peter; and Peter, remembering the word of Jesus, wept bitterly. [Luke 22, 61] With regard to punishment it is said again; The countenance of the Lord is upon them that do evil, to destroy the remembrance of them from the earth. [Ps. 34, 16] But in both ways is the arrogant brought down in humility, because he either acknowledges his fault with penitence, or by perishing suffers punishment.

Then he shows the effects of divine justice which he causes in the wicked in a more extensive way. First he does this as to men. Know that every evil of men has its beginning in pride, as Ecclesiastes says, "Pride is the beginning of all sin." (10:15) Among all the vices God detests pride most of all, and so the Epistle of James says, "God resists the proud." (4:6) This is so because the proud rebel against God in a certain sense when they do not want to humbly submit to him, and from this they fall into every sin when they have scorned divine precepts. Earthly princes detest rebels most and so the Lord specifically refers to the effect of his power which he exercises against the proud. There are two types of proud men. Some exalt themselves above others on the basis of the goods which they have, like the man who said in Luke, "I am not like the rest of men." (18:11) These men are properly called the proud (superbi), as the name itself shows. The specific punishment of the proud is discord, because when one man strives to be higher than the other and refuses to be subject to another, they cannot have peace with each other; and so Proverbs says, "There is always quarrelling among the proud." (13:10) He shows this saying, "Scatter the proud in your fury," as if to say: Exercise the office of God which is to disperse the proud so that they cannot band together, for the fury of God here means grave punishment. Another type of proud men are those who presumptuously claim for themselves what is above them. These are properly called the arrogant (arrogantes), and so Jeremiah says, "I know his arrogance and haughty character of heart, says the Lord, and his power is not up to it." (48:29) The proper punishment of these men is dejection. For since they wanted to be able to lift themselves up, the consequence is that they fall down into peril, as Psalm 72 says, "You laid them low when they were lifted up," (v.18) and so he says, "and regarding every arrogant man humble him," i.e., you should cast him down from the point of view of your providence.

Job humbles himself before the Lord, Job 40:1-5. And God again challenges him by a display of his power and judgments, Job 40:6-14. A description of behemoth, Job 40:15-24.

GOD'S SECOND ADDRESS. (Job 40:1-24) the Lord--Hebrew, "JEHOVAH."

rage--rather, pour out the redundant floods of, &c. behold--Try, canst thou, as God, by a mere glance abase the proud (Isa 2:12, &c.)?