to be dark (as withholding light) · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
counsel
עֵצָ֥ה'e.Tzah
H6098
advice · noun, common feminine singular absolute
words
בְמִלִּ֗יןve.mi.Lin
H4405
a word · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
knowledge
דָֽעַתDa.'at
H1847
knowledge · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew n…
Job 35:16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
1 Timothy 1:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
Job 34:35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
Job 27:11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Job 23:4-5 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 38:1-3
Let us observe here, 1. Who speaks - The Lord, Jehovah, not a created angel, but the eternal Word himself, the second person in the blessed Trinity, for it is he by whom the worlds were made, and that was no other than the Son of God. The same speaks here that afterwards spoke from Mount Sinai. Here he begins with the creation of the world, there with the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and from both is inferred the necessity of our subjection to him. Elihu had said, God speaks to men and they do not perceive it (Job 33:14); but this they could not but perceive, and yet we have a more sure word of prophecy, Pe2 1:19. 2. When he spoke - Then. When they had all had their saying, and yet had…
this--Job.
counsel--impugning My divine wisdom in the providential arrangements of the universe. Such "words" (including those of the friends) rather obscure, than throw light on My ways. God is about to be Job's Vindicator, but must first bring him to a right state of mind for receiving relief.
Adam Clarke on Job 38:2
Who is this that darkeneth counsel - As if he had said, Who art thou who pretendest to speak on the deep things of God, and the administration of his justice and providence, which thou canst not comprehend; and leavest my counsels and designs the darker for thy explanation?
John Gill on Job 38:2
Who is this,.... Meaning not Elihu the last speaker, as some think; and there are some who suppose not only that these words are directed to him, but all that is said in this and the following chapter: but it was Job the Lord spoke to and answered, as expressed in Job 38:1; and these words are taken by Job to himself, Job 42:3. Concerning whom the Lord inquires, not as ignorant of him, who he was; but wondering that such a man as he should talk as he did; and as angry with him, and rebuking him for it;
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? either his own counsel, his sense and sentiments of things, which were delivered in such an obscure manner as not to be intelligible by thos…
The Church Fathers
"Who claims to rob me of the secret of his thoughts, to hide them in his heart, and to believe that I do not know them? Nobody must think himself struck by misfortune without having deserved it. If it is not in action, it is in words that he has sinned: if it is not in words, at least has there been too much presumption in his heart, in his thoughts too much temerity.; and since nothing escapes from God, let no one complain of the blows of adversity, as if it could not be profitable to him. Let us know it well, if at the beginning of this book God has praised Job for the devil, if in the end he renews it in the presence of his three friends, it is not because he does not know how much he lacks in his perfection, to that perfection to which men worthy of praise in this world and agreeable to the heart of God, are led by the blows of his paternal hand. The Apostle himself was not exempt from it, for it was said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you; virtue is strengthened in weakness." "
Who is this that involves sentences in unskilful words? As we have said also in the former part, an interrogative of this kind, in which it is said, Who is this? is the beginning of a reproof. For Eliu had spoken arrogantly. And we say not, Who is this, excepting expressly of him whom we know not. But knowledge on God's part is approval; His not knowing is rejection. Whence He says to certain whom He rejects, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. [Luke 13, 27] What then is the enquiring about this haughty man, Who is this? except saying openly, I know not the arrogant: that is, I approve not of their life in the loftiness of My wisdom. Because while they are puffed up by human praise, they are deprived of the true glory of eternal retribution. But in that He said sentences, and added not of what kind, we certainly understand them to be good. And He asserts that these were involved in unskilful words, because they had been brought forward with language of boasting. For it is a fault of unskilfulness, to hold what is right in a wrong way, that is, to pervert the heavenly gift to a desire for earthly praise. For as it often happens that good things are stated badly and bad things properly, so the arrogant Eliu brought forward right truths not rightly, because, in defence of God he uttered humble sentiments unhumbly. Whence he deservedly serves as a type of those who within the Catholic Church are studious of vain-glory: for while they believe themselves to be skilful beyond others, they are in the Divine judgment convicted of unskilfulness; because, as the Apostle said, If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. [1 Cor. 8, 2] For since the original folly of the Angel was pride of heart, humility in his own estimation becomes the true wisdom of man. And whoever abandons this by even thinking great things, is the more outrageously foolish, the more he knows not himself. Whence Eliu both uttered sentences, and those involved in unskilful words, because he both knew the truth which he was speaking about God, and yet his silly pride was making foolish the things he said of himself. Having then glanced with contempt on this man, His words are directed to the instruction of Job.
Dictionary and topics
Speaking · FOLLY IN — FOLLY IN
Words · Without knowledge, darken advice — Without knowledge, darken advice
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
1 Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm, and said:
2 Who then darkeneth counsel
With words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins as a man:
I will question thee, and inform thou me!
"May the Almighty answer me!" Job has said, Job 31:35; He now really answers, and indeed out of the storm (Chethib, according to a mode of writing occurring only here and Job 40:6, מנהסערה, arranged in two words by the Keri), which is generally the forerunner of His self-manifestation in the world, of that at least by which He reveals Himself in His absolute awe-inspiring greatness and judicial grandeur. The art. is to be understood generically, but, with respect to Elihu's speeches, refers to the storm…
questions my wisdom: God’s accusation sounds like a charge made by Eliphaz (15:2) and Elihu (34:35; 35:16) to which Job eventually admitted guilt (42:3).
Rashi on Job 38:2
who gives dark counsel Dark and foolish counsel. Another explanation: Who is this who gives dark counsel...without knowledge? Said the Holy One, blessed be He: Who is this who darkens counsel, frustrates words, i.e., with a multiplicity of words; for I wrote: “and that man was sincere and upright,” at the beginning of the Book, in order that My name should rest on Him, but he came and darkened and frustrated what I counseled with his many words. Whereupon Job replies to Him (below 42:3): “Who is this Who hides counsel?” Had I known Your counsel, I would not have spoken so much. Then the Holy One blessed be He, answers him, “Neither did Abraham know; yet he passed ten” [tests]. So I found.
