The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 603

Vers. 12-15.-Jehovah f,o Joo : the first answer-the examination: 3. Conffling the light. I. THE LIGHT oF THE MoR:i.-mo THE RERV ANT OF Gon. 1. The light of the morning i.s a servant to some 011e, It is under the commandment of a Superior. , Ji:;very movement that it makes proclaims it to be under law. Modem science is• evep .able with much precision to formulate the laws to which it renders obedience, And these operate with such unfailing re,,,"111.arity and such irresistible potency, that even ;this subtlest, nimblest, and most powerful of creatures is unable to elude their grasp or repel their sway. Morning after morning ~ioes the dawn appear like a sentin~ returning, to his place. Day after day does the golden sun posh hie disc above the horizon, never mistaking the time when or the exact spot where he should first begin to tip the mountain-tops with roseate hues. From whatever source the laws emanate it js clear that the sun yields them submission. 2. Tli£ light of the morning is not the servant of man. "Hast thon commanded the morning since thy days ? hast thou caused the day- t'pring to know its place?" inquires Jehovah of Job, as if he meant ironically to suggest that, although Job could have had no hand in either the first formation of the globe or the production of the sea, inasmuch as he was not then in existence, perhaps si)lce he had arrived on earth he had been the lord paramount, to whom j;hc powerful king of day did obeisance, and from whom the roseate dawn received its daily charge. At the same time, the interrogation is so phrased a.s to point t.o the appropriate reply that not only was Job not the director-general of the solar movements, but throughout the entire course cl his career he had not been able to impose his authority on the morning light for so wuch as a sinale day. And, of course, what was trne of Job is likewise true of all. The student ol' the heavens may contemplate the beauty and investigate the lawa of the solar beam ; bnt he cannot hinder it on its mission or tum it aside from its path. He can neither instruct nor direct it as to when, 'l'l"here, or how it is t.o shine. It may serve him in obedience to the Divine command which haa made all creatures wait 011 man ; but man cannot make of it his servant in the sense of subjecting it to hia ordinances. Hence the inference that follows is inevitable. 8, TM light of the 'T/'WNl,fflU u exdtuJivdy the servant of God. The voice it obeys is that which .addressed Job from the whirlwind. The rule it follows is that prescribed for it by him who at tht ful!t said, on. xxxvm. 1-41.J THE noo:K OF JOB. 619