An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

Yet before the Lord proceeded any further to question Job about this great work of Creation, he requires or calls for his answer in the close of this fourth verse, to the question propounded in the former part of it; Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the Earth?

Declare, if thou hast understanding.

God challengeth Job to answer: The Hebrew is, If thou knowest understanding. And so the word is used (Isa. 29.24.) where we render, They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, or (as the Margin hath it) shall know understanding. Again, Huram said (2 Chron. 2.12.) Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth; who hath given to David the King a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding; The Original is thus strictly read, Knowing prudence and understanding. Daniel spake in the same form (chap. 2.21.) He giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. To know is a work of the understanding: No man knoweth any thing, but by the help of his understanding. The understanding is the first or Master-wheel in that noble engine the soul of man; and when rightly informed and enlightened, all the other wheels or faculties of the soul move aright, unless over-poised ⟨p. 58⟩by passions and self-ends. Every rational creature hath an understanding, yet every rational creature doth not know understanding, that is, doth not, is not able to speak knowingly, or to use and act his understanding knowingly about every matter. The Lord supposeth Job might be defective here, and therefore bespeaks him thus, Declare, if thou hast understanding, or knowest understanding: As if he had said, The things which I question thee about, may possibly be too high or too big for thy understanding,