Albert Barnes Commentary Job 40

Moreover, the Lord answered Job - The word “answered” is used here as it is often in the Scriptures, not to denote a reply to what had been immediately said, but to take up or continue an argument. What God said here was designed as a reply to the spirit which Job had so frequently manifested.

Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? - Gesenius renders this, “Contending shall the reprover of God contend with the Almighty?” Prof. Lee, “Shall one by contending with the Almighty correct this?” On the grammatical construction, see Gesenius on the word יסור yissôr — and Rosenmuller and Lee, in loc. The meaning seems to be this: “Will he who would enter into a controversy with the Almighty now presume to instruct him? He who was so desirous of arguing his cause with God, will he now answer?” All the language used here is taken from courts, and is such as I have had frequent occasion to explain in these notes. The reference is to the fact that Job had so often expressed a wish to carry his cause, as before a judicial tribunal, directly up to God.

He had felt that if he could get it there, he could so argue it as to secure a verdict in his favor; that he could set arguments before the Almighty which would secure a reversal of the fearful sentence which had gone out against him, and which had caused him to be held as a guilty man. God now asks whether he who had been so anxious to have a legal argument, and to carry his cause himself before God—a man disposed to litigation before God (רוב rûb)—was still of the same mind, and felt himself qualified to take upon himself the office of an instructor, a corrector, an admonisher (יסור yissôr) of God?

He had the opportunity now, and God here paused, after the sublime exhibition of his majesty and power in the previous chapters, to give him an opportunity, as he wished, to carry his cause directly before him. The result is stated in (Job 40:3–4). Job had now nothing to say.

He that reproves God - Or rather, “He who is disposed to carry his cause before God,” as Job had often expressed a wish to do. The word used here (יכח yâkach) is often employed, especially in the Hiphil, in a “forensic sense,” and means “to argue, to show, to prove” anything; then “to argue down, to confute, to convict;” see (Job 6:25; Job 13:15; Job 19:5; Job 32:12; Proverbs 9:7–8; Proverbs 15:12; Proverbs 19:25). It is evidently used in that sense here—a Hiphil participle מוכיח môkiyach—and refers, not to any man in general who reproves God, but to Job in particular, as having expressed a wish to carry his cause before him, and to argue it there.

let him answer it. - Or rather, “Let him answer him.” That is, is he now ready to answer? There is now an opportunity for him to carry his cause, as he wished, directly before God. Is he ready to embrace the opportunity, and to answer now what the Almighty has said? This does not mean, then, as the common version would seem to imply, that the man who reproves God must be held responsible for it, but that Job, who had expressed the wish to carry his cause before God, had now an opportunity to do so. That this is the meaning, is apparent from the next verses, where Job says that he was confounded, and had nothing to say.

Behold, I am vile: what shall I answer you? – “Instead of being able to argue my cause, and to vindicate myself as I had expected, I now see that I am guilty, and I have nothing to say.” He had argued boldly with his friends. He had, before them, maintained his innocence of the charges which they brought against him, and had supposed that he would be able to maintain the same argument before God.

But when the opportunity was given, he felt that he was a poor, weak man; a guilty and miserable offender. It is a very different thing to maintain our cause before God, from what it is to maintain it before people; and though we may attempt to vindicate our own righteousness when we argue with our fellow human beings, yet when we come to maintain it before God we shall be speechless.

On earth, people vindicate themselves; what will they do when they come to stand before God in the judgment?

I will lay my hand upon my mouth – an expression of silence. Catlin, in his account of the Mandan Indians, says that this is a common custom with them when anything wonderful occurs. Some of them laid their hands on their mouths and remained in this posture by the hour, as an expression of astonishment at the wonders produced by the brush in the art of painting. Compare Job 21:5 and Job 29:9.

Once I have spoken — That is, in vindicating myself. He had once spoken of God in an irreverent and improper manner, and he now saw it.

But I will not answer — I will not now answer, as I had expressed the wish to do. Job now saw that he had spoken in an improper manner, and he says that he would not repeat what he had said.

Yes, twice — He had not only offended once, as if in a thoughtless and hasty manner, but he had repeated it, showing deliberation, and thus aggravating his guilt. When a man is brought to a willingness to confess that he has done wrong once, he will be very likely to see that he has been guilty of more than one offence. One sin will draw on the remembrance of another; and the gate once open, a flood of sins will rush to the recollection. It is not common that a man can so isolate a sin as to repent of that alone, or so look at one offence against God as not to feel that he has been often guilty of the same crimes.

But I will proceed no further — Job doubtless felt that if he should allow himself to speak again, or to attempt now to vindicate himself, he would be in danger of committing the same error again. He now saw that God was right; that he had himself repeatedly indulged in an improper spirit, and that all that was appropriate for him was a penitent confession in the fewest words possible. We may learn here:

1. A view of God is suited to produce in us a deep sense of our own sins. No one can feel himself to be in the presence of God, or regard the Almighty as speaking to him, without saying, “Lo I am vile.” There is nothing so well suited to produce a sense of sinfulness and nothingness as a view of God.
2. The world will be mute at the day of judgment. Those who have been most loud and bold in vindicating themselves will then be silent, and will confess that they are vile, and the whole world “will become guilty before God.” If the presence and the voice of God produced such an effect on so good a man as Job, what will it not do on a wicked world?
3. A true penitent is disposed to use but few words; “God be merciful to me a sinner,” or, “lo, I am vile,” is about all the language which the penitent employs. He does not go into long arguments, into metaphysical distinctions, into apologies and vindications, but uses the simplest language of confession, and then leaves the soul, and the cause, in the hands of God.
4. Repentance consists in stopping where we are, and in resolving to add no more sin. “I have erred,” is its language. “I will not add to it, I will do so no more,” is the immediate response of the soul. A readiness to go into a vindication, or to expose oneself to the danger of sinning again in the same way, is an evidence that there is no true repentance. Job, a true penitent, would not allow himself even to speak again on the subject, lest he should be guilty of the sin which he had already committed.
5. In repentance we must be willing to retract our errors, and confess that we were wrong—no matter what favorite opinions we have had, or how tenaciously and zealously we have defended and held them. Job had constructed many beautiful and eloquent arguments in defense of his opinions; he had brought to bear on the subject all the results of his observation, all his attainments in science, all the adages and maxims that he had derived from the ancients, and from a long contact with mankind, but he was now brought to a willingness to confess that his arguments were not solid, and that the opinions which he had cherished were erroneous. It is often more difficult to abandon opinions than vices; and the proud philosopher when he exercises repentance has a more difficult task than the victim of low and debasing sensuality.

His opinions are his idols. They embody the results of his reading, his reflections, his conversation, his observation, and they become a part of himself. Hence it is that so many abandoned sinners are converted, and so few philosophers; that religion spreads often with so much success among the obscure and the openly wicked, while so few of the “wise men of the world” are called and saved.

Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind - See the notes at (Job 38:1). God here resumes the argument which had been interrupted in order to give Job an opportunity to speak and to carry his cause before the Almighty, as he had desired, see (Job 40:2). Since Job had nothing to say, the argument, which had been suspended, is resumed and completed.