The text tells us that the Lord, vis-à-vis YHWH, answered Job by speaking out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1). In other words, it wasn’t an angel who was sent to speak to Job, but it was the covenant God, YHWH, the Word of John 1:1 and the God, through whom all things were created (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:16). The Lord came to Job and the friends in a tempest or a hurricane. Therefore, as we try to visualize that meeting, we can understand that it wasn’t a calm, quiet event (cp. Revelation 4:5; 11:19; 16:17-18; Exodus 19:16; 20:18). It was, rather, a terrible and, indeed, a frightening affair. Job had asked to come into the Lord’s presence (Job 13:19-24; 31:35-37), so that he could defend his integrity, and God answered his prayer by showing up and calling out to him from the whirlwind (Job 38:1).
The Lord began his discourse by asking: “Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge” (Job 38:2)? The phrase is a figure of speech, not a question for which one expects an answer. An example of this would be the Psalmist’s prayer, “Oh Lord, who can compare to you?” (Psalm 35:10). Job and the friends, including Elihu, had completed their discourses without convincing anyone of error. Each of them was righteous in his own eyes (cp. Job 32:1), so the Lord came and spoke out of the tempest/hurricane, and he would convince Job of error, as well as the friends.
Notice that the Lord rebukes Job by saying he darkens counsel with words without knowledge (H1847). However, the Lord doesn’t accuse Job of lying about him, nor did the Lord claim Job said things that weren’t true of God (cp. Job 42:7). Rather, Job had dishonored the Lord unwittingly. In Job 38:2 God accuses Job of darkening counsel. In other words, Job withheld light, while he defended his own integrity. In doing so, that is, because he didn’t offer a full explanation in those things that he said about God, he unwittingly (H1847) justified himself by putting the Lord in a bad light.
Indeed, the Lord doesn’t always judge the wicked according to their works, and often delays judgment. That is, his judgment falls upon the children of the evil doers (cp. Job 21:7-21). Moreover, neither does the Lord always visit the oppressed in mercy, which may seem like their prayers go unanswered (Job 16:6-14), and Job pointed this out in his own defense, while leaving the Lord’s name tarnished in the process. The Lord’s contention with Job wasn’t with what he said as much as it had to do with what he didn’t say. Job was so interested in proving he was righteous, that he caused the friends to contend with him over what they believed was an accusation against God!
What Job did was similar to Paul’s complaint of brethren seeking justice against brethren and going before the unjust for satisfaction (cp. 1Corinthians 6:1, 6-7). It would have been better for Job to endure the wrong committed against him by the friends, than to justify himself at the expense of making it seem like the Lord was unjust or unmerciful. Isn’t that what the Lord did for us? Wasn’t he called the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19)? Didn’t he identify with us (Isaiah 53:3-6)? He didn’t cry out against what he had to endure. Rather, he embraced it all quietly, and he accepted his fate as a Lamb about to be slaughtered (Isaiah 53:7).
Finally, the Lord told Job to stand up and prepare himself like a man, because he (God) intended to inquire of him certain things, and he demands an answer (Job 38:3). Job had desired to speak to God (Job 31:35), and he had set in order what he would say to him (Job 13:3, 18-22), and he expected he would be acquitted (Job 23:5-6). Now he had the opportunity he sought. The Lord was here, announcing himself out of the terrible whirlwind (Job 38:1) and demanded Job to give an account of himself.
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