SUMMARY
Chapter 39 presents a series of vignettes that show God’s loving care even for wild animals that are of no direct value to human beings. God takes great delight in the animals and provides them with the nourishment that they need.
ANALYSIS
In chapter 39, God speaks of a variety of wild animals: the mountain goat, the ostrich, the wild ox and the wild donkey, the hawk and eagle, and the war horse (though not technically ‘wild,’ it delights in human battle). With the exception of the horse, these creatures are outside the realm of human control and are of no use to human beings. God makes exactly that point in 39:9-12, a passage about the wild ox. Unlike their domestic cousins (cf. 1:3), the wild ox and the wild donkey will not serve Job; they will not work in Job’s fields or bring in the harvest. Neither will the other animals listed in the whirlwind speeches.
God’s speeches depict a created order that is radically non-anthropocentric (that is, not centered on human beings). They invite Job to a place of humility; he is just one among many creatures. But they also invite Job to wonder at the beauty of creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More, as God describes with pride the places and creatures God has made. Job is the only passenger on this tour of the cosmos. So while he is not the center of the world, he does have a place in it, invited to delight in the world as God does.
While these speeches may not at first glance seem helpful as an answer to Job’s suffering, they do take his eyes off himself and expand his vision beyond his suffering to see that the world is a bigger place than he ever imagined. These speeches also answer Job’s curse on the day of his birth back in chapter 3. Job had cursed what God declared ‘good’ and he tried to undo creation, if only imaginatively. In the whirlwind speeches, creation is reestablished and life continues despite Job’s suffering and despite Job’s maledictions.
In these speeches, God also implies that there are limits to human understanding and control. Given that, one might be tempted to despair and dread about what the future might bring. In this chapter, however, God also assures us that we can trust our Creator. God loves the creation, and God will provide for the needs of all creatures. If even the baby mountain goat is watched and loved by God, then surely the same is true of human beings who are made in God’s own image. JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More once spoke in a similar way about a God who has his eye on even the sparrow ( Luke 12:6-7).
