«You know! for you were born then» (Jb 38:1–38): some remarks of composition and meaning

In Jb 38:1-42,6 God’s answer occurs as a complete overturning of Job’s expectations, frustrating Job’s initial desire for an explicit reply. In fact, the words God address to Job seem apparently to avoid the problem of innocent suffering in general and Job’s case in particular. God seems also to escape the simplistic replies of Job’s friends, who have limited themselves to defend the traditional and mechanical application of the law of reward and retribution. Instead, God takes challenges Job directly to consider his case in the light of the total cosmic design of his creator. Rather than indulging Job’s obsession with his own integrity, he compels Job to come to terms with God’s integrity as Creator of an astounding and complex world and from there to achieve an understanding of the limited knowledge about himself and the sense of his own life. It is in this context, that we will consider Jb 38:1-38 as a unity centered in the integrity and power of God has as a Creator.