“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Job 38:4
God Speaks
38:2,3 The theme of the first speech of the Lord is given here: Job darkens the counsel of the Lord – that is, God’s plan or design for the universe. Ironically, God challenges Job to teach Him. These challenges are designed to alert Job to the consequences of his complaints and demands. Job’s defiant attempt to meet God on equal footing in a law court (see 31:35-37)amounts to a rival claim to His throne (40:10-14).
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
38:4-7 Perhaps partially in reply to Job’s words about the Lord shaking the pillars of the earth, the Lord asks Job if he was an eyewitness when He laid the earth’s foundations.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8-11 The Lord emphasizes His control of the sea and its proud waves. These forces, which ancient society considered to be chaotic and threatening, were allowed to exist only within divinely set limits (v. 10). Though Job knew this in theory (see 26:12,13), he needed to apply this truth to his life.
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; 9 When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; 10 When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; 11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’
38:12-15 The Lord answers Job’s complaints that wickedness is rampant at night (24:13-17). Using personification, the Lord 
describes how He alone commands the morning to get out of bed and the dawn to pull off the covers of the night in order to shake out the wicked like bedbugs. God implies that only because of His control of the darkness are the activities of the wicked curbed at all. The Lord grants some freedom to humanity, but the wicked cannot go beyond His set limits. This section may be compared with the more familiar words of David in Ps. 19.
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place, 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It takes on form like clay under a seal, And stands out like a garment. 15 From the wicked their light is withheld, And the upraised arm is broken.
⇒ Like the name of my site, Morning Hope, the Lord instituted Morning and Dawn to set limits to darkness so that the wicked be shaken out of darkness. It takes on form like clay under a seal and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken. We should make sure that we will not be counted as one of the wicked from whom light will be withheld forever!
38:19-21 Since Job had spoken intelligently about the distant horizons (26:10), the Lord exposes Job’s limited knowledge by asking him to lead a guided tour to abode of light and darkness. Since Job had stated that the wicked “do not know the light” or “abide in its paths” (see 24:13, 16), the Lord reveals the deficiencies of Job’s secondhand knowledge. Had Job been there in person, he would have understood that the Lord has a place for both darkness and dawn, as well as for good and evil.
21 Do you know it, because you were born then, Or because the number of your days is great? 22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
38:22-30 By asking if Job understands the seemingly unpredictable weather phenomena, the Lord reveals that His designs are not centered on humanity alone. Though God utilizes meteorological elements to intervene in human affairs (vv.25-30) that lie outside the human realm.
22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 “Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, 26 To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; 27 To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? 28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? 30 The waters harden like stone, And the surface of the deep is frozen.
38:22, 23 The graphic metaphor of the treasury for sknow and hail portrays these elements are weapons in the arsenal of God. He uses hail as slingstones (see Josh. 10:11). He prepares other weapons, including snow (see Ps. 68:14), thunderstorms, lightning (see v. 24), and winds (see 37:9).
22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, 23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
38:29 frost of heaven: Since frost is water vapor from the atmosphere that has condensed on cold surfaces, the word heaven may refer here to the atmospheric heavens.
29 From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth
41 Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?
⇒ What amazes me the most is the fact that God speaks to us.
