Job 38:8 Commentary and Bible Study

The creation of the sea is spoken of in terms of a birth. Here is the sea; God created it. It burst forth like a baby, a precocious child. This child has great potential for glory, but also great potential for harm. God curtails our potential to do harm. Imagine the period from birth to three years old. The child rushes about here, there, and everywhere, so it is locked in a playpen. God shut the sea in and limited it. It is a compound illustration. God’s creation of the sea is an illustration; the life of Christian is illustrated in this entire world order and God’s thoughtful direction of it. But then picture of the child is added as a further illustration on top of this. A baby born with all this care shows how God deals with a believer. God has at times to put up strong barriers. You have got out of hand, Job. Don’t thrash about. You have had to be taken in hand. It illustrates how God deals with us. The sea illustration is added because we are more powerful than the baby and are contained with more difficulty. God tells Job he has got out of hand, but God is still dealing with him.‘Or who shut up the sea with doors?’ – the word ‘who’ is implied from verse 5. Who tamed the sea when it was first created as a turbulent mass of water, threatening to destroy all in its path, including the creature about to be made in the image of God? Who held its titanic powers in his hand and made the world a safe habitation for mankind, so that there was a sphere for him to dwell in as an air-breathing creature, and from which he could observe the ferocity of the waters but know that they would not encroach on his domain?The waters at first broke forth as if they came fresh from the womb like Perez (Gill), whose name indicated the suddenness of his birth in preceding his brother. So the sea came forth suddenly from the womb of creation and covered the earth, and its power needed to be subdued by the Lord. Only he could have puts doors on it – metaphorical of course – which kept it in its place, for from the start every aspect of creation was obedient to him and served the purpose for which he had created it. The evidence of its power is still seen by those who dwell on the land when great storms arise, and by those who venture out into the great deep when they are caught in the midst of its raging waves. Man sees enough to know what he has been protected from, as the Lord holds the seas in check. Did the Lord do all this, and then forget to care for his servant Job, and allow forces to overwhelm him, or become careless in looking after him. Of course Job must conclude that this could not have happened, and that what experiences is measured out and under the close scrutiny of the Lord.Continuing the metaphor of birth, God describes how he took this wild child and clothed it with clouds which encircle the earth and look down upon its disturbances. This beautiful imagery comes from the perspective of the Lord, as he relates to man, in terms that he can understand and is familiar with, the Lord’s masterful supremacy over all the forces of nature that cannot be controlled by man. For him they are nothing but the strivings of a little babe that is wrapped up by its mother with ease. The darkness spoken of in the verse was the darkness which was upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2) when the heavens and earth were first created. It was a suitable covering for so violent and mysterious a child, and one which matched its nature. But it all presented man with a frightening and alien scene; he could not inhabit the earth until further work had been done by the Lord.God must next set limits on where this unruly child could go, as he did when he said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so’ (Genesis 1:9). Was Job at work with the Lord at such a time as this, and where did he find the strength to help with a task which all men know is totally beyond their ability? Yet God set bars on the waters and doors, and the sea obeyed him when he said, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.’ The evidence of this is the relative stability of the coasts, which is disturbed only when man needs a reminder of how much he depends on God’s restraining hand. At times a tsunami strikes and the Lord allows it to overwhelm the land again. Scripture also tells us that this restraint will be removed just prior to the return of Christ as a judgment on the human race, which is happy to accept all the benefits God sends without returning any of the honour, thanks, or praise he deserves. ‘And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken’ (Luke 21:25-26). Yet for the majority of earth’s history, its proud waves are stopped and it obediently respects the creature for whom the earth was prepared.