THE SECOND ESTABLISHED (4)
[p. 276] THE SECOND ESTABLISHED (4)
Job 38:1-11; Job 39:13-30; Job 40:1-5
JT It has already been remarked that this chapter shows how God follows up His work in souls, identifying Himself with approved servants and reaching the desired end. That is, “the end of the Lord”, as James 5:11 says. Elihu’s ministry was clearly of God, and now Jehovah answers Job out of the whirlwind. Job is addressed as a man; as if the instruction so far has been to that end, that Job should reach manhood. “Gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will demand of thee, and inform thou me”. Then follows a series of questions in which God mentions thirty or more of His creatures. And Job answers according to the verses read in chapter 40: “Behold, I am nought: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, and I will not answer; yea twice, but I will proceed no further”. The remaining part of chapter forty and chapter forty-one, however, show that the work in Job was not complete. While he makes a remarkable statement in chapter forty it requires the remaining two chapters to complete the work in Job. All this shows that the end of the Lord requires that we go the whole way in self-judgment.
LES What do you understand by the references to behemoth?
JT Behemoth is introduced in chapter 40, verse 15, and in verse 19 he is spoken of as “the chief of God’s ways”. In the next chapter we have leviathan, suggesting a different feature of the government of God, more warlike. Behemoth is more docile. It seems as if the last beast, alluded to as leviathan, has more power. God created him for a certain purpose. “He is king over all the proud beasts” (verse 34). That would be a clue to what he represents. These two great creatures complete the instruction, so Job finally reaches, in chapter 42,
the divine end, saying “Therefore have I uttered what I did not understand: things too wonderful for me, which I knew not” (Job 42:3).
Jehovah starts in chapter 38, and “out of the whirlwind” He challenges Job to answer “like a man”. Paul says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child ... when I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child” (1 Corinthians 13:11). God addresses Job here as a man. At the outset God did not create a child, but a man.
DR In the beginning when God created man He saw that His work was good. “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
JT Here God looks to Job to be a man according to what a man should be. In the beginning God created man. Adam and Eve were full grown. All others were born.
FR The thought of God here is that man should be able to address himself to God.
JT He says, “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1); this would be in view of man answering to God in full manhood. It is a question of being a man. As the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Quit yourselves like men”. They were like children, using their gifts as toys. Christianity involves manhood; the full-grown thought. “A man in Christ” (2 Corinthians 12:2) suggests one outside the range of the flesh and all its pretensions. It is in effect complete deliverance of man according to God. “Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
JD The ministry of Elihu has respect to that. The three friends fail to bring out manhood in Job whereas the ministry of Elihu leads him to it.
JT I think so; that is, by representing the idea before him. Manhood was there in Elihu; it came out in this [p. 278] young man. John the baptist was a young man when beheaded, but what great things come out in him! The Lord Himself began His ministry, “beginning to be about thirty years old” (Luke 3:23). His great ministry was in comparative youthfulness. He was taken away in the midst of His days. He said, “My God, take me not away in the midst of my days!” (Psalm 102:24); having said, “He weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days”. The idea of youth has a great place in this book. God takes it up when elders fail. Elihu represents manhood, a young man, but a mature man. We get the idea stressed in the early books of the Old Testament. Joseph and Joshua are two striking examples of youth standing for God.
JD Paul selects Timothy as a companion in the Acts because he had spiritual features.
JT He had a good report from the brethren in his district. That is important! A man may make a good show in a meeting, but be very poor in the estimate of the brethren in his own town.
WFK It is the young men who are the overcomers in 1 John 2.
JT Yes; they overcame the wicked one, but they were, in danger of the world. “Love not the world, nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). If a man has a family he has to go to business to support them. He may have a grasp of the truth, but the world may get him. It is there that John contemplates the believer overcoming. We are to overcome the world, as well as the devil. “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). It involves the full thought of manhood. You arrive at it according to Ephesians 4.
JD Moses recognises the features of manhood in Joshua, in Exodus 17.
JT He had great confidence in Joshua. In Exodus 17 Moses allows him to choose the warriors whom he designates men, although Joshua was only a young man [p. 279] and not mentioned earlier. He is certainly regarded by Moses as reliable. Later, God says of him, “a man in whom is the Spirit” (Numbers 27:18). He was a man in whom the Holy Spirit had scope. That is what God had in mind; and the book of Job would show the way to it. We are coming to the thought in chapter 42. God first brings before Job a selection of His creatures. There are about thirty of them, animate and inanimate. In chapter 39 the references are to many living creatures. In chapters 40 and 41 two prominent living creatures are brought forward. The inanimate things of the earth and heaven are in mind first. They would convey to Job that he is limited. As to the sea God says, “Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed”. It indicates the limitation of a great power; however great, it is limited! Job is told to answer for himself, but he does not say a word: it is God who speaks throughout chapters 38 and 39. Job’s silence was an appropriate answer, meaning, I am not like that! Every time Job answered a question inwardly, he would say, I do not know these things. He finds out he is very limited.
JD Elihu did not speak of himself, but sought to impress Job with the mightiness of God.
JT Yes, he was like the apostles assuming no awe-inspiring attitude, but as Peter, who, when Cornelius would have fallen down to worship him, said, “Rise up: I myself also am a man” (Acts 10:26). Peter made him rise up, and they walked into the house together; yet Peter was a great apostle. The apostles bring into view the greatness of God in Christ; the things stated by them bring out deity in a Man down here. That is what subdues us, and yet we are drawn to that Man. As we follow the line of the apostles we see God in that humble Person; Deity operating in manhood. It is the overwhelming testimony to divine power in Man. It would be well for us to put ourselves in the position of being inquired of by God, as Job was. Every question [p. 280] and every truthful answer would bring out how limited I am, and how great God is. Our chapters, however, do not present God in Christ, but God in His creation. It is the testimony through which He was then operating. God is dealing with the foundations of the earth on which Job was; it was but a part of the great universe, for we read that “he made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2). We are not told how many. “Of old hast thou founded the earth” (Psalm 102:25). As Asaph says, too, “like the earth which he hath founded for ever” (Psalm 78:69). All this enters into what Job is challenged about. “Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who set the measures thereof — if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it? Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”. What could Job say? Where was he when these great things happened? Angels were there, but not he. He was unborn: and even now that he exists, what tenure of life had he? In verse 21, Jehovah refers to this ironically: “Thou knowest, for thou wast then born, and the number of thy days is great!”. How well off believers are to have a God and Father who has recourse to such effective methods to bring us down! Job could not say anything in the presence of these things.
WFK The sons of God are again spoken of in verse 7.
JT That is in keeping with what we have in chapters 1 and 2; they are in the background which God has in this book. He has not yet secured representation of Himself in Job, but He has it in angels. Their creation was much earlier than that of man. Man may be called a recent creation of God.
LES Proverbs 30:1,3 says, “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh; the prophecy uttered by the man unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal: ... [p. 281] I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy”.
JT Well, they are the words of a man who has learned to judge himself. He had learned something of what Jehovah is seeking to teach Job here.
LES Further he says, “Every word of God is pure” (verse 5). Yet he had to say, “Truly I am more stupid than any one; and I have not a man’s intelligence” (verse 2).
JT Yet he was a man of remarkable intelligence. You wonder how he could say that, and how Paul could say that he was “less than the least of all saints” (Ephesians 3:8). The greatest wonder of all is that the Lord Jesus could say prophetically, “I am a worm, and no man” (Psalm 22:6). These expressions imply great compression of thought. They were written for our learning, and true self-judgment in us brings us into correspondence with them. In the presence of these things we are helped of the Lord to realise our nothingness as in the flesh. In the discourses of Job and his three friends each sought to show how much he knew; Agur stressed how little he knew.
Ques Would correspondence be brought about in us by obeying the word, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5)?
JT Quite so; the descending mind of Christ, “who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). This descending mind is to be in us.
JD “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”. How different to Paul’s word, “I desire to speak five words with my understanding, that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19).
[p. 282] We might be using words to darken counsel. God reproves the words of Job.
JT Yes, he says about two-thirds of the words that were spoken by him and his friends. In the assembly, brevity is important in its place; five words with the understanding rather than ten thousand words. Ten thousand is a term of Paul’s, expressing what is valueless because of its quantity; he speaks also of ten thousand instructors. The speeches, the many words, are ended after Elihu comes in, and then there is this long service of Jehovah Himself to reach His own end. James speaks of the patience of Job; that would refer to the first two chapters; but there is the patience of God throughout the whole book; especially seen in chapters 38 to 42. Chapter 40 brings out that God is not satisfied with half measures in working with His people. Job makes an acknowledgment, but not enough for God; He would have us go all the way to a full confession; this is seen in chapter 42. Paul laboured to “present every man perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
WJT Would all this exercise lead us to manhood?
JT I think so. That is peculiarly brought about in Job. He says in chapter 42:3-6, “Who is he that obscureth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and inform me. I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes”. Job has thus come to the end of the matter from his side. God is no longer seen as speaking in the whirlwind. In chapter 40:6, He retained His position in the whirlwind after Job made confession; showing that He was not satisfied with it, but now the whirlwind is not mentioned.
DR What impresses you is the foundation that is laid in [p. 283] Job.
JT That is a most important matter. You get foundation suggestions in Matthew and Luke — the man digs so as to have his foundation on the rock; and the apostle says, “the firm foundation of God stands” (2 Timothy 2:19). Paul also says he laid the foundation at Corinth: “According to the grace of God which has been given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation” (1 Corinthians 3:10). The Lord Jesus laid the foundation of the assembly in a general sense (Matthew 16). “Solomon’s foundation” referred to in 2 Chronicles 3:3 typified this. God says to Job, “Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who set the measures thereof — if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it? Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”. That could only be answered in the negative by Job. What could he say to it? He knew nothing. The morning stars knew, they were before him; the sons of God were before him too. They “sang together”; they celebrated what God was doing. The sons of God thus learned wisdom. Solomon tells us that wisdom was there. “Jehovah possessed me [wisdom] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old” (Proverbs 8:22). Job was not there, so that he is not even equal to angels, or the stars, on this point. How humbling, sobering and yet instructive are the questions Jehovah asks of Job!
JD Creation has its part here in bringing Job to the desired end — “the end of the Lord”.
JT That is what I thought. Job would have to admit that he had no part there. The three friends would remind Job that with them there were men older than his father. God is not talking of men older than Job, but of angels who were living long before Job. It might have been millions of years before; we are not told. Job was not there. He has to learn the limitations of [p. 284] the creature — of man. The creature must learn from God if he is to know anything. Man is not God; man is but a creature; such sobering thoughts are needed for our souls.
LES Wisdom had freedom to operate and her “delights were with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:31).
JT Things were worked out by her. Proverbs helps greatly in regard of wisdom. She had part in the joyous time when God appointed the foundations of the earth; “the habitable part” was in view, when “the sons of men” would be there.
JC Would the morning stars represent the inanimate creation, and the sons of God the intelligent part?
JT Yes. Everything praises God in one sense. The psalmist calls upon everything that has breath to praise God (Psalm 150:6). Inanimate creation praises Him too.
JC “The sons of God shouted for joy”. Would that be before the fall of Satan?
JT I think it would be the angels before their fall; Satan had no status as a son after. He is seen earlier in the book of Job, as coming up with the sons of God, but he is not one of them. The sons of God would be the angels with that recognised status. God would enlarge our view. Faith helps us in this. “By faith we apprehend that the worlds [p. 288] were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3). Our minds are enlarged in this way by faith.
LES There would be greater buoyancy of spirit as observing all this.
JT It would help in the service of God. It is a question of service here. The first singing we get in Scripture is in Exodus 15. There is a leader there, but there is no leader here. I suppose the allusion in Exodus 15 is to Christ having become Man. In view of Christ’s manhood there is leadership, but here the sons of God have [p. 285] no leader.
Ques Does Proverbs 8:22-31 refer to the Lord?
JT No. I think wisdom is a quality, and it is personified in that chapter. The Creator was Jesus — Jehovah. Everything was made by Him. Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22-31 is not doing anything, but is in the fullest sympathy with what Jehovah was doing; the Person who was creating was Christ (John 1:3).
JD That is important. In the past we wrongly viewed wisdom in Proverbs 8 as typifying Christ personally; and attempted by it to prove Christ’s sonship before time.
JT That is derogatory, because wisdom is there spoken of as being “brought forth” and as brought forth she was beside Jehovah; but according to John 1:1, “the Word was God”. Wisdom is a quality from God. Christ, as Man, is wisdom. He is spoken of as our wisdom in Corinthians. Then wisdom is justified of all her children. He was wisdom manifested on earth. Wisdom in Proverbs is a quality personified like other qualities in that book.
We must keep this matter of limitation before us as God brought it before Job. We are so apt to go beyond our measure. God is a God of measure. How could He have made the universe without being a God of measure? The spiritual universe is on the same principle; each has his niche which does not allow for inflation; we must learn our limitations. In Romans 12:3 we get the thought, “as God has dealt to each a measure of faith”.
LES Paul refers to the measure God had given to him.
JT That measure reached to the Corinthians, as he said, “according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to us, to reach to you also” (2 Corinthians 10:13). The Corinthians, we may say, had no measure at all; they were “comparing themselves with themselves”. The point raised was, how far a man can reach in his ministry. In this day things [p. 286] are small and limited, yet God would help us so that each may understand his measure.
JD God takes up Job as assuming to have knowledge as to His operations. “Where is the way to where light dwelleth? and the darkness, where is its place, that thou shouldest take it to its bound, and that thou shouldest know the paths to its house? Thou knowest, for thou wast then born, and the number of thy days is great!” (Job 38:19-21).
JT The lesson is of the great limitation characterising man as he is. God is calling attention to these features of creation to bring this out. Elihu had already called attention to some of them; but there are greater thoughts in regard of them as spoken of by God. Elihu speaks of the rain and the snow. “For he saith to the snow, Fall on the earth! and to the ... pouring rains of his might” (chapter 37:6). God speaks further, “Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war? By what way is the light parted, and the east wind scattered upon the earth? Who hath divided a channel for the rain-flood, and a way for the thunder’s flash; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no one is; on the wilderness wherein there is not a man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the sprout of the grass to spring forth? Hath the rain a father? or who begetteth the drops of dew? Out of whose womb cometh the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who bringeth it forth?” (chapter 38:22-29). Then in verse 31, “Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?”.
These are great things above. They are wonderful features of the heavens, and they affect the earth. Job is asked for information about these things. This clearly is to impress him with his ignorance, so as to humble him, that he might judge himself and get right with his Maker; but, on the other hand there is the [p. 287] need now of believers understanding the things that are made, for there is light from God in them. Thus it is said “the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). These things are intended to be in our minds in a spiritual way. Could Job fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? What could he say about the constellations? They have influence on the earth. There is spiritual meaning in these great creations. Thus David says, “The heavens declare the glory of God ... In them hath he set a tent for the sun, and he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he rejoiceth as a strong man to run the race. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it” (Psalm 19:1-6). How much spiritual truth enters into this! In Genesis 1 we are informed of the sun, moon and stars, and the purposes for which they were made, but in the psalms they are the occasion of thanksgiving in the service of God. “To him that made great lights, ... the sun to rule by day ... the moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 136:7-9). The rule is not the determining of seasons here, but just to afford light during day and night. They are the occasion of thanksgiving. You cannot say you love God if you are not interested in what He is doing in His creation; we are to be worshipful in regard to it. He is known in it. “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all” (Ephesians 4:6). If I love God I am interested in the worlds, for He made them, and sustains them; He keeps them in operation. It is by faith that this is understood. The inner side of our position is in the power of the one Spirit — “one body and one Spirit”; the outer circle is “one God and Father of all, who is over all”. In the present economy, as seen in Ephesians 4:4-6, the Father is over all things — over the universe. If we love Him we are interested in all His worlds. “By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that that which is seen should not take its origin from things which appear” (Hebrews 11:3). The last clause of that verse sets the doctrine of evolution aside as false: the origin of what is seen is not in itself, but in God.
LES In Job 38:28 we get an inquiry as to fatherhood.
JT “Hath the rain a father? or who begetteth the drops of dew? Out of whose womb cometh the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who bringeth it forth?”. The family thought is introduced metaphorically. In Joseph’s dreams regarding his father and mother and eleven brethren, the family thought is linked with the physical universe. These questions are asked as a challenge to us, and we are to be learners. It has a humbling but wholesome effect, but what Job came into through this process is open to us. The education of this book is most important.
TD Paul tells us that “what is known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them, — for from the world’s creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity, — so as to render them inexcusable” (Romans 1:19,20).
JT It is thus in Job 38:31-33 that the heavens in their influences are strikingly introduced. “Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? Dost thou bring forth the constellations each in his season? or dost thou guide the Bear with her sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? dost thou determine their rule over the earth?”. Every question presses home on Job the thought of his own littleness and of God’s greatness. Besides this, there is instruction as to the things themselves, the invisible things of God being hidden there; they are “perceived ... through the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). “For of him [p. 289] and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever, Amen”. (Romans 11:36).
JD The Roman epistle brings out the mightiness of God.
JT It results in a worshipping people; the writer at least was affected in this way. Speaking of God as Creator, he says, “who is blessed for ever. Amen” (chapter 1:25).
LES Our worship takes on a greater character as we take in the great thoughts made known about God. They enter into our worship as we proceed in our measure in the service of God.
JT He is before men constantly in the immensity of His creation. He is behind all, causing the universe to function continuously and all beings subsist through Him. Thus there is in God’s creation a steady testimony before men; those who have faith apprehend this, and it causes us to fall down and worship God. The heathen worship the creature, but believers in God worship the Creator. We do not worship the creation, we worship the Creator of the universe, while, as knowing Him through redemption, we worship Him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ques Does a man worship God because of what He is?
JT Yes, but we worship Him also because of what He has effected: what He has effected in creation, and in redemption. The man in John 9 says, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?”. Then he worships the Lord Jesus as He makes Himself known to him as the Son of God.
Now, to come to Job 39, where the questions bring forward life — living creatures. The section begins at chapter 38:39; the lion and raven are mentioned first, and then Jehovah inquires, “Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds?”. Then it mentions certain other creatures; the wild ass, the buffalo, the [p. 290] ostrich. What can we learn from the ostrich? It is a creature of God void of wisdom. “For God hath deprived her of wisdom”. A very solemn thing! “For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may trample them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were, not hers; her labour is in vain, without her concern”. God is now speaking to Job about wisdom appearing in the creature. We should be different from her for we should have wisdom. “If any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all freely and reproaches not, and it shall be given to him” (James 1:5). Christians, characteristically, are the children of wisdom, and therefore should know how to look after their children. The care of children is regarded in Scripture as very important, calling for much wisdom. “The wing of the ostrich beats joyously — but is it the stork’s pinion and plumage?”. She is not like the stork whose affection for her young is proverbial; who uses her pinion and plumage in wisdom for the care of her young. The wing of the ostrich testifies to power, “she scorneth the horse and his rider”, but her feathers are not used according to wisdom like the plumage of the stork. “For God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding”. All this is to emphasise the great need of wisdom more than power, in an external way, and to show that wisdom comes from God; we are dependent on Him for it.
Ques Job was to learn from the ostrich regarding his children.
JT That is right. She lacks wisdom and its resulting feelings for her young. Parents allowing their young people to order their ways by themselves, to have too much latitude, results in disaster. Job allowed his children to carry on by themselves, as we have noted.
Rem These are different from those of the woman whose children rise up and call her blessed ([p. 291] Proverbs 31).
JT Proverbs was written by the son of the father’s love. It is the instruction of wisdom, intended for God’s family. Solomon says, “I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother” (Proverbs 4:3). He learned much from David, his father, and also from his mother; thus he was qualified to instruct and admonish others, especially the young, using terms of parental affection.
JD This all impresses the soul with the wisdom of God.
JT The purpose of the inquiry is that we should understand all this. What comes out in the chapters we are considering impresses us with the greatness of God in creation, and we are to carry that into the spiritual world. The New Testament teaches us how to do so. In the physical creation, God impresses things upon us so that we may learn from them. Wisdom as to created things is one of the remarkable features of Scripture. Their use in conveying spiritual and moral instruction is particularly impressive. Creation is stressed in the book of Job, as involving the testimony God provided for men outside of Israel.
JF As pondering and understanding these things, we shall be brought to worship God. As humbly owning our lack we say, We do not know. Thus we shall get true knowledge through inquiry, and worship the true God.
JT Exactly. Job came to this; he had previously darkened counsel without knowledge. There are about thirty creatures, animate and inanimate, brought to our attention in chapters 38 to 41. As to each of them we must answer with the admission of our impotence and ignorance. It makes us humble, and God gives grace to such and exalts them. He can use them. When we accept our limitations, the Spirit of God can use us. All this enters into christianity. Romans teaches us not to have high thoughts above what we should think; “but to think so as to be wise, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith” (chapter 12:3). God allows even physical weakness to teach us our limitations.
Rem We get the masculine and the feminine in these creatures.
JT Yes. You have the feminine side here in the opening verses. “Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds? Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth? They bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains; their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them” (Job 39:1-4). Such inquiry is intended to induce sympathetic feeling, in which males are prone to be deficient.
Then we come to the horse, verse 19 — a very fine beast, not like the ostrich, deprived of wisdom. The war-horse answers to the description given. We get an allusion to it in Proverbs 30. “There are three things which have a stately step, and four are comely in going: The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any; a horse girt in the loins; or the he-goat; and a king, against whom none can rise up”. God says to Job, “Hast thou given strength to the horse? hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane? Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host. He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from before the sword. The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear and the javelin. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet: at the noise of the trumpets he saith, Aha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting”. We may surely use this to illustrate the spiritual military instinct, power and courage of the christian in his heavenly [p. 293] warfare. There is courage in the horse, he despises fear. Such is a true christian in contending for the truth; he does not cower before the enemy, for God is with him. David overthrew the giant, he did not cower before him; he said to the Philistine, “Thou comest to me with sword, and with spear, and with javelin; but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Samuel 17:45).
Rem Would Paul before Agrippa be an example?
JT Yes; and the Lord Jesus supremely so as He battled with Satan and defeated him by the word of God.
Rem Paul says, “For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength. Put on the panoply of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10,11).
JT That is a good scripture to bring in here, in connection with the war-horse, for Paul goes on to say, “Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies”. What are we to do? Take the whole armour of God, “and, having accomplished all things, to stand”. It is not simply having done all you can, but, as the footnote to the passage says, Carry through and put in execution all that is purposed and called for in spite of opposition. Ephesians 6 furnishes light as to the all things needed for this heavenly conflict.
JD Isaiah 28:5,6 says, “In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of his people; and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate”.
JT “Turn the battle to the gate” is the point. That is to say, bring it to the assembly; recognise the assembly as to any conflict. The real warrior pursues [p. 294] this line; he gets wisdom in the assembly. The full thought of conflict is collective; so we have to turn the battle to the gate, if there is to be victory. The Lord says of the assembly, “hades’ gates shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
JD The gates are the place of administration and judgment according to the mind of God. God would teach us how to war according to Himself, by these features seen in the war-horse.
JT What a fine, capable animal he is! Proverbs 30 says it is stately in its step and comely in going. “There are three things which have a stately step, and four are comely in going: ... a horse girt in the loins”. “Girt in the loins” is indicative of the war-horse. Paul says, “having girt about your loins with truth” (Ephesians 6:14). Solomon speaks of its stateliness and comeliness; and this is written that we might be stately in our going. Ephesians 6 also speaks of praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The Lord Jesus was stately indeed in His conflict with Satan. This is seen in the word: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). He said, It is written — that is the sword of the Spirit. Conflict reaches conclusion in the assembly, therefore the battle must be turned to the gate.
JD The four living creatures in Revelation would suggest a link with the creatures in Job; they have intelligence.
JT Yes; they have eyes everywhere and they praise, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come” (Revelation 4:8). Their character is seraphic and they witness to God’s holiness in what they say. They are living and are suggestive, in this sense particularly, of what should mark the younger element among the saints. They give glory and honour and thanksgiving to God, referring to Him “who was and who is, and who is to come”.
[p. 295] The twenty-four elders would suggest experience with God; they wait until the living creatures celebrate the holiness of God and then they “fall before him that sits upon the throne, and do homage to him that lives ... saying, Thou art worthy, O our Lord and our God”. The elders fall down and worship, as the living creatures celebrate the holiness and power of God.
WFK Would there be a suggestion of government in the horse?
JT Yes; the horses in Zechariah allude to the four monarchies of Daniel. They stand before the Lord of all the earth. They represent governing powers.
Ques Would the three friends of Job suggest typically the disregard of authority in the assembly? they move independently.
JT Yes; each comes from his own place, having no doubt, local characteristics. Those of the assembly are taught of God, and are marked by subjection and the unity of the Spirit.
God proceeds instructing Job and brings out further thoughts bearing on wisdom. “Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, and stretch his wings toward the south?”. This bird has its own governing characteristics, it seeks change of climate, and hence is migratory and would by instinct “stretch his wings toward the south”. He does not move by man’s intelligence, but by what God has given. “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make his nest on high?”. That reminds us of our prayer meeting, and of what Isaiah 40:31 says, “they shall mount up with wings as eagles”. “He inhabiteth the rock and maketh his dwelling on the point of the cliff, and the fastness: from thence he spieth out the prey, his eyes look into the distance; and his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he”. The Lord’s words in Matthew 24:28 confirm this last sentence, “wherever the carcase is, there will be gathered the eagles”. The eagle is also much used in Scripture [p. 296] as typical of the features of spiritual life. It appears among the living creatures in Ezekiel and Revelation. In Job 39 the first feature mentioned of the eagle is that he mounts up. The point in Jehovah’s question to Job is that he should learn that the eagle does not move at man’s command.
It does not appear that God is satisfied with Job’s confession in the beginning of chapter 40, so that He proceeds further, and in chapters 40 and 41 brings forward two great creatures and uses them for final instruction. If we have been away from God, He is not satisfied until we are thoroughly restored.
JD It is very touching that God should come near to us in this way.
JT God comes near to restore us and to complete His work. The gospels show how God finishes things. Everything the Lord does in the gospels is done perfectly. “He does all things well” (Mark 7:37). Peter speaks of the “complete soundness” of the man healed at the gate of the temple (Acts 3:16).