The Book of Job

Word Study

"soul," Hebrew nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ), the life, the living self. Job points to creation itself as his teacher, "ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee" (v7), for all created things declare "that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this" (v9). Then he states the great truth: "in whose hand is the soul of every living thing." The word here is not some detachable inner part but the life itself, the living self of a creature, and Job says that this is what rests in God's hand. This is one of the clearest statements of God's sovereign sustaining of all life.

"every living thing," kol-chai (כָּל־חָי). Job draws the circle as wide as it will go: not merely man, but every living thing, exactly the beasts and fowls and fishes he had just told his friends to go and ask. Not a bird falls, not a breath is drawn, apart from Him. "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created... thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust" (Psalm 104:29-30).

"breath," ruach (רוּחַ), breath, spirit, the breath of life. "And the breath of all mankind." The word covers both breath and spirit, the animating life that God gives and God withdraws. Paul preached the same to the philosophers of Athens: "in him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Every human breath is held, moment by moment, in the hand of God.

"all mankind," literally, all flesh of man. Having swept in every living creature, Job now narrows to humanity, and the phrase is a humbling one: all flesh of man, the whole race in its frailty. Job's grasp of God is not the problem. He sees that God holds all life, including his own, in His hand. That very truth is what makes his suffering so bewildering to him, for the God who holds his breath is the God who seems to be crushing him. Yet the truth stands, and it is meant for comfort as well as awe: our lives are not at the mercy of chance or of our enemies, but in the hand of God, and no hand is safer.

Explanation

Job points to the created world as his teacher, and states the great truth: "in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." Every creature's life and every human breath rests in God's hand (Psalm 104:29-30; Acts 17:28). Job's view of God is not lacking; he sees clearly that God sustains all life, including his own. That is precisely what bewilders him, that the God who holds his breath is the God who seems to be crushing him. Yet the truth is meant to comfort as well as awe: our lives rest not in chance but in the hand of God.

Gospel Focus

"In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind", the hand that holds all life is the hand of the LORD Jesus Christ, "by whom also he made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:2), "and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). The One who upholds "all things by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3) is the very One who took a human breath in Bethlehem and, on the cross, "yielded up the ghost" (Matthew 27:50), laying down for us the very life that all lives depend upon. And risen, He holds His people not merely by creation but by redemption: "my sheep hear my voice... and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:27-28). Job knew his breath was in God's hand and trembled at the mystery; the believer knows his soul is in the pierced hand of the Redeemer and rests in it. The same hand that sustains every living thing was nailed to a tree to save us, and now holds us fast for ever. There is no safer place in all the universe than the hand of the God who both made us and bought us with His own blood.

Word Study

"wisdom," Hebrew chokmah (חָכְמָה). Against Zophar's boast that wisdom lived with the friends, Job answers that wisdom belongs supremely to God: "with him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding." He repeats it in verse 16, "with him is strength and wisdom", framing the whole passage. All the wisdom of the wise is nothing before Him. Job knows that true wisdom is found in God alone, not in the confident formulas of his friends, and his theology here is soaring and correct.

"strength," geburah (גְּבוּרָה), might, power. And Job proves the claim not by naming God's kindnesses but by cataloguing God's overturning of every human power: He "looseth the bond of kings" (v18); He "poureth contempt upon princes" (v21); He "increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them" (v23). All the strength of the strong is nothing before Him; He undoes it at will. This is a sweeping declaration of God's supremacy over every earthly authority, echoed later in Daniel: "he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings" (Daniel 2:21).

"counsel," etsah (עֵצָה), purpose, plan. With God is the settled purpose that carries the day, and Job shows it by pointing to the men whose whole trade is counsel: He "leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools" (v17). The advisers of kings are led off stripped, and those who sat to give right rulings are made to look like fools. Human planning stands only so long as God permits it.

"understanding," tebunah (תְּבוּנָה), discernment, insight. The last of the four completes Job's answer to his friends: the discernment to see a case rightly is with God, not with them. What Job lacks is not knowledge of God's greatness but the sight of how that greatness, in his own case, is working not against him but, unseen, for him.

Explanation

Against Zophar's boast of wisdom, Job answers that wisdom and strength belong to God supremely: "with him is wisdom and strength." He proves it by listing how God overturns every human power, spoiling counsellors, loosing kings, pouring contempt on princes, raising and destroying nations. All human wisdom and might are nothing before Him (Daniel 2:21). Job's theology is soaring and true. He knows real wisdom and power are God's alone. What he lacks is not knowledge of God's greatness but sight of how that greatness is, unseen, working for him and not against him.

Gospel Focus

"With him is wisdom and strength", and the New Testament tells us where that wisdom and strength are supremely revealed: in Christ crucified. "We preach Christ crucified... Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). In Him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). Job saw God's wisdom and strength in the toppling of kings and the confounding of the wise; but the deepest display of both was the cross, where God's wisdom out-thought all human wisdom and God's strength was made perfect in apparent weakness. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25). The rulers of this world, in all their counsel and might, crucified the Lord of glory, and God used their very act to accomplish salvation, spoiling principalities and powers and "triumphing over them" in the cross (Colossians 2:15). Here is the answer Job could not yet see: the God with whom is wisdom and strength was working, through the darkest evil, the greatest good. If God can bring the salvation of the world out of the murder of His Son, He can be trusted to work wisely and mightily even through our darkest trials. With Him is wisdom and strength, and He has spent both, at Calvary, to save us.

Word Study

"discovereth," Hebrew megalleh (מְגַלֶּה) from galah, to uncover, reveal, disclose. Job declares that nothing is hidden from God: "he discovereth deep things out of darkness." The verb means to uncover and disclose, to pull the covering off a thing. God reveals what is concealed; He drags the deepest secrets of darkness into the day. "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known" (Matthew 10:26).

"deep things," amuqoth (עֲמֻקוֹת), profundities, hidden depths. What God uncovers is not what lies near the surface but the profundities, the things sunk out of sight. This is both a warning, for the hidden sins of men will be uncovered, and a comfort, for the God who penetrates all darkness is at work in Job's own dark night. In the fullest sense this is the Gospel pattern, God bringing light out of the deepest darkness and revealing His hidden wisdom.

"the shadow of death," tzalmaveth (צַלְמָוֶת), deep darkness, gloom. Job adds that God "bringeth out to light the shadow of death", tzalmaveth, the very word of the darkest valley (Psalm 23:4). Job cannot yet see it, but this is exactly what God will do in his story: bring light and vindication out of the shadow of death, turning that deepest gloom into the dawn of resurrection. The God who discovers deep things out of darkness has not lost sight of His servant in the dark.

Explanation

Job declares that nothing is hidden from God, who "discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death." God uncovers the deepest secrets and brings them into day (Matthew 10:26), a warning that hidden sin will be exposed, and a comfort that God is at work even in the darkest night. The word for "shadow of death", tzalmaveth, is the darkest valley of Psalm 23. Job cannot yet see it, but this is what God will do in his own story: bring light and vindication out of his darkness, the very pattern the Gospel fulfils.

Gospel Focus

"He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death", this is the Gospel in a sentence. The God who brings light out of darkness is the God who at creation said, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), and who "hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). In Christ, God has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10), revealing the mystery "which hath been hid from ages and from generations" (Colossians 1:26). And most gloriously, He has brought light out of "the shadow of death" itself: the people "which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (Matthew 4:16). At the resurrection of Jesus, the shadow of death was pierced for ever, and life and light came flooding out of the tomb. Whatever deep darkness we walk through, the God who "discovereth deep things out of darkness" is with us, and He has already turned death's shadow into the doorway of life in Christ. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me" (Psalm 23:4). The God who brings hidden light out of darkness has shone, once and for all, in the face of Jesus Christ.