Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Thursday August 20 2026
More Bible Studies Available @ http://www.marktabata.com. To Receive Free Bible Studies And Updates Via Email, Contact Mark Tabata @ 606-216-1757 (SMS Only) or mailto:markatabata@gmail.com (Email). Follow me on Substack: http://substack.com/@marktabata. Also please visit my author page: http://amazon.com/author/marktabata
Job 38:8-11-Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; 9 When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; 10 When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; 11 When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’
To the Jewish student of the Old Testament, the sea and ocean represented the embodiment of chaos and danger. Many believe that this stems all the way back from the first chapter of Genesis, when the seas covered the Earth as a punishment from God before the creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:1-2). Several Scriptures seem to describe a world that existed before the events of Genesis 1:3-31, and the raging ocean was used as an instrument of God for cleansing and defeating evil. As such, the Jews often looked upon the ocean with fear and trepidation.
The watery abyss is the ordinary starting point for creation accounts in the ancient world. In Gen 1, we find sea and earth reduced to their true state: they are no longer feared, let alone worshiped, as primeval deities. Most ancient religions had a goddess of the earth as well as a goddess of the sea. Sea and earth are prepared for the benefit of humanity, not to rule over us, terrorize us, or prevent us from attaining happiness. Against the teaching of the pagan myths, the watery chaos of Gen 1 constitutes no ultimate threat. 74 In ancient Hebrew thought, the sea was a dangerous place. 75 Among Israel’s neighbors, Yam was the terrifying sea-god. Unlike their neighbors the Phoenicians (modern Lebanon), the Israelites were not especially fond of boats. The primeval waters of Gen 1 are frightening and chaotic. During “de-creation” (the flood), the primeval waters deluge the earth while Noah’s family is rescued (1 Pet 3: 20; Ex 14: 22). The Red (or Reed) Sea is another scene of divine rescue, although the waters flood back once the Hebrews cross over to dry land, killing the pursuing Egyptians. Joshua, too, crosses the water (near Jericho), a similar miracle preparing the way for the Israelites to enter the promised land; and the parting of the waters takes place yet again in the lives of Elijah and Elisha (Josh 3: 16; 2 Kings 2: 8, 14). (Paul Copan & Douglas Jacoby, Origins: The Ancient Impact and Modern Implications of Genesis 1-11, 71 (Kindle Edition): New York, NY: Morgan James Publishing)
That is one reason that God’s statement in Job 38:8-11 is so fascinating.
Job had been accusing God of being cruel and capricious towards the creation that He had made, demanding an opportunity to put God Himself on trial. When the Lord finally shows up to reason with Job, He begins asking the patriarch several questions about the creation itself. These questions are not designed to intimidate Job by showing his ignorance. Instead, they are brought forth to demonstrate to Job that God’s goodness in creation is shown in numerous ways. In point of fact, God’s goodness is illustrated in His subduing and patiently dealing with the oceans that so frighten humankind.
In Job 38: 9, however, when this baby is ‘born’–a metaphor for the creation of the waters–God puts a swaddling cloth on the sea! Not unfairly, Norman Habel calls the image ‘deliberately absurd’. 32 Are we to imagine the Almighty cooing and singing to this newborn as he cradles it in his arms? Even if this goes too far, the gentleness of the image against the background of the normal biblical portrayal of yhwh’s thunderous defeat of the waters is very striking, and speaks strongly to the gentleness of the God whom Job has maligned as amoral and violent. If God is this gentle with the raging waters, surely he is a much kinder person than Job has imagined? 33 A second surprising dimension of this passage is the implication that God’s care for the sea endures even as the sea continues to resist him. That the sea resists God in this passage is not universally agreed upon; in the light of the unexpected maternal imagery used for God’s care of the sea in this passage, some conclude that the ocean does not here take on the full significance of a great chaotic power over which God triumphs in battle, as it does elsewhere in the Old Testament. 34 But we should probably understand the sea to play the same hostile role described elsewhere in the Old Testament, and only God’s action to be portrayed differently. This is the case because of the limit God places upon the sea: Why else would bars and doors be needed, except that the waters are trying to overwhelm creation? The reference to the ‘proud waves’ ending verse 11 substantiates this. The word suitably translated ‘proud’ (gāʾôn) literally means ‘exaltation’, in either a positive or negative sense, either describing God’s exaltation (Exod. 15: 7; Job 37: 4; Isa. 2: 10; cf. Mic. 5: 3) or negatively for human pride (Lev. 26: 12; Job 35: 12; Ps. 59: 13; Prov. 8: 13). A different noun from the same root describes the raging, rebellious sea in Psalm 89: 9 (gēʾût instead of gāʾôn), and even though the word is not repeated, the same image is used in Psalm 93: 3. This implies that the ocean continues (but unsuccessfully!) to defy God proudly even after being ‘swaddled’. This ‘absurd’ image demonstrates God’s goodness like no other: if God nurtures even the chaos and evil present in his creation, and if he does so even as it (unsuccessfully) strikes out against him, then his goodness truly knows no bounds. 35 This is God’s ʿēṣâ, his plan or counsel or strategy, for how he administers his realm, a plan Job has obscured. (Eric Ortlund, Piercing Leviathan: God’s Defeat of Evil in the Book of Job (New Studies in Biblical Theology 56), 72-73 (Kindle Edition): Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press)
The imagery is of God continually holding back the seas from unleashing continual destruction upon the world of man. God knows what terrifies and terrorizes humanity, and He in kindness and mercy continues to nurture us with sweet victory and salvation. Job learned that he could trust in the goodness and provision of God, and so can we!
Far from being the hostile witness to God that Job envisioned in his times of pain and anguish, the creation itself is one of the Almighty’s greatest supporters to demonstrate the Lord’s goodness.
This knowledge comforts and supports us when we face the raging storms in our own lives. We can trust in the God who swaddles even the fiercest seas for the wellbeing of His people.
Father, we thank You for Your goodness shown throughout the creation. Comfort our hearts with this knowledge as we face the uncertainties of life. Amen.