Job 38:20 | KingComments | STEP | After an earlier question about the light ( ) God now asks Job if he knows where the light is when it retreats because of the incursion of darkness ( ). Where does the light dwell? Can he show the way that leads to that dwelling place? And can he also show the dwelling place of darkness? When it becomes light again, darkness retreats. If Job knows the abode, then he can guide the light to his area ( ). God uses beautiful imagery here. He presents the light as on a journey. Light is always in motion and has no fixed abode, but is on its way. In contrast, darkness, the absence of light, is limited to one place, “its place”. By the way God speaks about this, it becomes clear how impossible it is for man to point out where light abides when it is night and where darkness abides when it is day. “But”, God says ironically to Job, “of course you know, for you were there when they were created ( ). After all, you have been on earth for so long that you remember that light and darkness were separated” ( ). God thus says in a gentle and at the same time clear way that Job knows nothing about it at all. Here too we hear no reaction from Job. His silence tells a lot. We know by faith that God is the source of light and that He created light and darkness ( ). We know the difference between light and darkness through experience, through the laws we observe every day. But how one replaces the other, the cause of it, we do not know. That cause is God Himself, and He is unfathomable. That awareness leads us to adoration ( ).

‏ Job 38:20

Where Does the Light Come From?

After an earlier question about the light (Job 38:12) God now asks Job if he knows where the light is when it retreats because of the incursion of darkness (Job 38:19). Where does the light dwell? Can he show the way that leads to that dwelling place? And can he also show the dwelling place of darkness? When it becomes light again, darkness retreats. If Job knows the abode, then he can guide the light to his area (Job 38:20).

God uses beautiful imagery here. He presents the light as on a journey. Light is always in motion and has no fixed abode, but is on its way. In contrast, darkness, the absence of light, is limited to one place, “its place”. By the way God speaks about this, it becomes clear how impossible it is for man to point out where light abides when it is night and where darkness abides when it is day.

“But”, God says ironically to Job, “of course you know, for you were there when they were created (Job 38:21). After all, you have been on earth for so long that you remember that light and darkness were separated” (Gen 1:4). God thus says in a gentle and at the same time clear way that Job knows nothing about it at all. Here too we hear no reaction from Job. His silence tells a lot.

We know by faith that God is the source of light and that He created light and darkness (Gen 1:3-5). We know the difference between light and darkness through experience, through the laws we observe every day. But how one replaces the other, the cause of it, we do not know. That cause is God Himself, and He is unfathomable. That awareness leads us to adoration (Rom 11:33-36).