Job 40:1-5: God invites Job to speak, to show Him what knowledge or action He lacks. Job answers appropriately, “I can’t talk back to you. I’m nothing. I’ll be quiet.”
In Job 40:1-5, God asks Job for his response and Job says that he has nothing to say. God pauses His tour of creation that began in Job 38 to allow Job an opportunity to speak: Then the LORD said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it” (vv. 1-2).
God calls Job a faultfinder. In Job 23:3-4, Job had longed to present his case before God, confident that if he could, then God would alter His ways and lift the hardships being endured by Job. Job had actually requested to contend with the Almighty (Job 23:4, 7). Many translations render God’s first question along the lines of, “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?”
It is true that Job’s aim was to correct God. He felt God was missing information. God needed his perspective in order to judge rightly. He did, in fact, desire to be one who reproves God. But after having his perspective reoriented to see a glimpse of what God sees, Job realizes he was in complete error:
Then Job answered the LORD and said, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. “Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more” (vv. 3-5).
In light of the contemplation of God’s creation of the universe and the living creatures on the earth which God walked him through in Job 38-39, Job appropriately resets his own perspective saying: Behold, I am insignificant.
The Hebrew word translated I am insignificant is elsewhere rendered “despised,” “cursed,” “trivial,” and “lightly esteemed.” The idea is, “When I compare myself to You, I’m not much.” So it must be that anything finite, no matter how substantial, is but a speck when compared to the infinite.
Job thought God needed his perspective in order to do His job properly. Now Job is realizing that the opposite is true; he needs his own perspective reoriented. He has now been challenged to see things from God’s perspective and realized that he cannot even begin to comprehend it.
Thus, how preposterous it is to offer correction to God. When Job says I lay my hand on my mouth he means that he should be listening and learning from God rather than speaking and offering his own insight. Job has realized he has already said too much, so will add nothing more.
Paradoxically, at the end of this saga, God will ask Job to pray for Eliphaz and his two friends, and only then will God forgive them for speaking wrongly of Him. So, while humans have no station to correct God, He desires their active engagement with Him. God created humans to do good works (Psalm 8). Even after the Fall, God makes a new creation of those who believe, and creates good works for them to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). His purpose for humans is vast, desiring to prove a point that ruling through serving is superior to ruling through power (for more information, read our article “Why Did God Create Humanity, and What is Our Divine Purpose?”).
Job 40:1-5
Job: What Can I Say?
1 Then the LORD said to Job,
2 “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who reproves God answer it.”
3 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
4 “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
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Job 40:1-5 meaning
In Job 40:1-5, God asks Job for his response and Job says that he has nothing to say. God pauses His tour of creation that began in Job 38 to allow Job an opportunity to speak: Then the LORD said to Job, “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it” (vv. 1-2).
God calls Job a faultfinder. In Job 23:3-4, Job had longed to present his case before God, confident that if he could, then God would alter His ways and lift the hardships being endured by Job. Job had actually requested to contend with the Almighty (Job 23:4, 7). Many translations render God’s first question along the lines of, “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?”
It is true that Job’s aim was to correct God. He felt God was missing information. God needed his perspective in order to judge rightly. He did, in fact, desire to be one who reproves God. But after having his perspective reoriented to see a glimpse of what God sees, Job realizes he was in complete error:
Then Job answered the LORD and said, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. “Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more” (vv. 3-5).
In light of the contemplation of God’s creation of the universe and the living creatures on the earth which God walked him through in Job 38-39, Job appropriately resets his own perspective saying: Behold, I am insignificant.
The Hebrew word translated I am insignificant is elsewhere rendered “despised,” “cursed,” “trivial,” and “lightly esteemed.” The idea is, “When I compare myself to You, I’m not much.” So it must be that anything finite, no matter how substantial, is but a speck when compared to the infinite.
Job thought God needed his perspective in order to do His job properly. Now Job is realizing that the opposite is true; he needs his own perspective reoriented. He has now been challenged to see things from God’s perspective and realized that he cannot even begin to comprehend it.
Thus, how preposterous it is to offer correction to God. When Job says I lay my hand on my mouth he means that he should be listening and learning from God rather than speaking and offering his own insight. Job has realized he has already said too much, so will add nothing more.
Paradoxically, at the end of this saga, God will ask Job to pray for Eliphaz and his two friends, and only then will God forgive them for speaking wrongly of Him. So, while humans have no station to correct God, He desires their active engagement with Him. God created humans to do good works (Psalm 8). Even after the Fall, God makes a new creation of those who believe, and creates good works for them to accomplish (Ephesians 2:10). His purpose for humans is vast, desiring to prove a point that ruling through serving is superior to ruling through power (for more information, read our article “Why Did God Create Humanity, and What is Our Divine Purpose?”).