THEOSISIreneus (Orda)
During Elisha's final address, the skies were filled with clouds and the sound of thunder resonated. This provided Elisha with the opportunity to proclaim the majesty and might of God as expressed in thunder and storms. Following this display and the ensuing tempest, the voice of the Lord was heard. God did not come to clarify to Job and his companions the mysteries of His Providence regarding human fate, nor to address the concerns of Job's friends related to the nature of happiness and suffering. Rather, He intended to reveal to Job and his friends the futility of human attempts to comprehend such questions and to delve into the divine mysteries of His ways.
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The Lord directs His attention to Job, who had presumed to unravel these matters, and prompts him with questions drawn from the natural world. Through the challenge of understanding simple phenomena in the physical realm, He seeks to illustrate the far greater challenge of addressing issues from the moral domain (38: 1-3).
The Lord's first inquiry concerns the inception and primordial condition of the earth, seemingly aimed at demonstrating to Job the limitations of human understanding and the vast unknown surrounding him, especially if he cannot resolve this singular inquiry (4-6). By contrast, God created the earth with such ease akin to a builder constructing a commonplace structure—so magnificent and glorious was the act of creation that the heavenly beings sang praises to Him with great joy (7). Equally awe-inspiring is the Creator's power and wisdom in confining the waters of the deep (8-11) and in distinguishing between light and darkness (12-15). However, these depths and boundaries of light and shadow are not beyond human observation (16-20). Common earthly occurrences—snow, hail, rain, and frost—evade human mastery (21-30), and even more so are the celestial movements and various weather phenomena independent of human influence (31-38). Transitioning then to the wondrous aspects of the world, notably the remarkable instincts of creatures, the Lord illustrates to Job that it is solely through His paternal guidance that carnivorous animals and birds are nourished (39-41).