Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
Job 38:23 belongs to a poetic account of God's rule over the natural world, in which snow and hail are kept in His treasuries alongside His command of light, wind, rain, and the earth. Its specific point about hail being reserved for a time of trouble and battle is part of that larger picture of divine government over creation.
God has reserved hail as a force of nature to use at the appointed time of trouble and the day of battle and war. He summons nature to carry out His purposes, as when great stones fell upon the Amorites. The reserved hail is connected with the great final destruction in earth's history.
The verse is one of the questions God asks that men of greatest intellect cannot understand and the most profound scholar cannot answer. It shows that human wisdom is limited and that in the surroundings of daily life there are many things beyond the comprehension of finite beings. The question was asked not to be answered but to call attention to the deep mysteries of God. God is to be acknowledged as much from what He does not reveal of Himself as from what is open to limited comprehension, and in both divine revelation and nature He has given mysteries to command faith, so that men are ever searching, ever inquiring, and ever learning, yet an infinity lies beyond.
Job 38:23 belongs to a poetic account of God's rule over the natural world, in which snow and hail are kept in His treasuries alongside His command of light, wind, rain, and the earth. Its specific point about hail being reserved for a time of trouble and battle is part of that larger picture of divine government over creation.
God has reserved hail as a force of nature to use at the appointed time of trouble and the day of battle and war. He summons nature to carry out His purposes, as when great stones fell upon the Amorites. The reserved hail is connected with the great final destruction in earth's history.
The verse is one of the questions God asks that men of greatest intellect cannot understand and the most profound scholar cannot answer. It shows that human wisdom is limited and that in the surroundings of daily life there are many things beyond the comprehension of finite beings. The question was asked not to be answered but to call attention to the deep mysteries of God. God is to be acknowledged as much from what He does not reveal of Himself as from what is open to limited comprehension, and in both divine revelation and nature He has given mysteries to command faith, so that men are ever searching, ever inquiring, and ever learning, yet an infinity lies beyond.