This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
Job 38:37-38
37 Who can number [caphar] the clouds [shachaq] in wisdom [chokmah]? or who can stay [shakab] the bottles [nebel] of heaven [shamayim],
38 When the dust [`aphar] groweth [yatsaq] into hardness [muwtsaq], and the clods [regeb] cleave fast together [dabaq]? KJV-Interlinear
37 'Who can count the clouds by wisdom, Or tip the water jars of the heavens, 38 When the dust hardens into a mass, And the clods stick together? NASB
If nature were inanimate, or simply occurred by random chance, then its cycle should repeat itself overt and over, again and again, thus becoming predictable.
Water should simply evaporate, rise up in the atmosphere, condense and rain. And it should follow that process over and over again. But, it does not.
Weather has times of famine, and times of torrential rains. Weather has times of inconsistent, seemingly, occurrences. And weather often has times of great timing in history.
We have reviewed history and the weather earlier in this chapter. For example, did you know that just a day prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, that the Enterprise carrier group was due into Pearl, but was delayed because of an unusual storm. That delay had a huge impact on the war.
Anyway, the numbering of the clouds is a reference to the numbers of small particles, which are contained within the clouds. The tiny water particles make up the vastness of the clouds. Can anyone count those tiny particle components in any cloud, even a small one? And of course, no one can do that. Even in our current day of advanced technology.
The bottles of heaven, represents the vast water resources in heaven, that when tipped over, spill out their contents, thus causing rain. This is symbolic of course. But it is God who counts the particles to their exact number, and then causes the rain when the number He desires, is reached.
Continuing from the previous verses, nature operates from an intelligent state, not from a haphazard or inanimate routine. God is of course the intelligence behind the function of nature, but also remember the lightning being summoned, 'You called for me Sir?' back in verse 35.
The dust hardening and clods sticking together, is a famine, or a region that lacks rain.
This occurs repeatedly throughout history. What does man do? He usually prays. And why? Because it is God who brings the rain.
This idea of God controlling weather is not new. It is still believed today, although most folks who pray, pray out of distress. They may not actually believe that God will bring the rain, but prayer is often used as a last resort, or out of helplessness. And, that is exactly what man is - helpless.
And that is exactly the point of all of these verses. God controls everything. So where is mans trust?
