Job 38:19 Commentary and Bible Study

In poetic language God plies Job with further unanswerable questions. As Barnes says, the language is not to be understood literally. It is the language of appearance, for it seems that during the day the light stream constantly down upon us and then withdraws at night. Where has it gone? What is its source? Where does it dwell? Does it have a house? Can you, Job, take us to its house? Where did you acquire this knowledge? Do you know it because you were born at the time light first burst into the world? Are you so old and so wise that you understand all these things? Thesa last questions are deeply ironic. Of course Job does not know and cannot answer any of these questions. The question is not implying that light comes from one place in the universe, as if it was all drawn from a common source. The idea is that when the light withdraws at the end of the day, it is as if it has gone to its secret dwelling? It is the language of poetry. The difference between day and night which God created from the start is so marked. Who can explain the mysteries of light: what it is, the rules by which it is propagated, how fast it travels, the colours of which it is composed. The study of light has fascinated man and been a particular subject of interest to him. Many of its secrets have been revealed and it is indeed a remarkable phenomenon, yet even now there are still profound mysteries surrounding it. But to Job it was a great wonder and so much was still hidden. And yet the world depends so greatly on light and how could we operate without it. From the start when God said ‘Let there be light’, he understood its workings perfectly, for he designed all that it is. God also questions Job about the darkness, which seems to have a tangible presence of its own. Where does it live and where does it come forth from? It is to the glory of God that he has made man a creature capable of investigating and to some extent understanding the world in which he finds himself, for he alone has the gift of reason and a mind to seek out answers.The question takes Job back to the origin of the world. In speaking of the light, God has in view the creation of light described in Genesis 1:3. No, Job does not know it at all, and this long list of things that he does not know underlines his foolishness in daring to speak of what was far beyond him. He was not born then, for he did not even exist then. He came into a world in which all these phenomena were in place, a world prepared for him by the forethought of God. He should have concluded that if God so skilfully put in place all these great features of our world, he would not then overlook the details of individual lives and start treating man unfairly.