Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
The verse is beautiful poetry belonging to God's questions to Job about the works of creation, forming part of the divine questioning in Job 38:4-27. It is to be read for beauty of expression together with Balaam's blessing of Israel and the springtime description in the Song of Songs. It asks about knowing because one was then born or because one's days are many, showing that Job was not present when the world's order was established and that even a long life does not give such knowledge.
It shows that humanity was not yet born when God made the world and everything that has the breath of life, because humanity was made last, so no person can claim to have taken any part in creation. It upholds that humanity was created after the image of God and Christ, against human fallacies.
It shows that even people of the greatest intellect cannot understand the mysteries of God revealed in nature, and that even the most profound scholar cannot answer this divinely inspired question. The questions were not asked in order to be answered, but to draw attention to God's deep mysteries and to teach that human wisdom is limited and that much in everyday surroundings lies beyond the comprehension of finite beings. In both revelation and nature God has given such mysteries to command faith, so He is to be acknowledged as much for what He does not reveal as for what is open to limited understanding, and beyond all searching, inquiring, and learning there still remains an infinity beyond.
The verse is beautiful poetry belonging to God's questions to Job about the works of creation, forming part of the divine questioning in Job 38:4-27. It is to be read for beauty of expression together with Balaam's blessing of Israel and the springtime description in the Song of Songs. It asks about knowing because one was then born or because one's days are many, showing that Job was not present when the world's order was established and that even a long life does not give such knowledge.
It shows that humanity was not yet born when God made the world and everything that has the breath of life, because humanity was made last, so no person can claim to have taken any part in creation. It upholds that humanity was created after the image of God and Christ, against human fallacies.
It shows that even people of the greatest intellect cannot understand the mysteries of God revealed in nature, and that even the most profound scholar cannot answer this divinely inspired question. The questions were not asked in order to be answered, but to draw attention to God's deep mysteries and to teach that human wisdom is limited and that much in everyday surroundings lies beyond the comprehension of finite beings. In both revelation and nature God has given such mysteries to command faith, so He is to be acknowledged as much for what He does not reveal as for what is open to limited understanding, and beyond all searching, inquiring, and learning there still remains an infinity beyond.