What is the meaning of Job 38:28? Does the rain have a father? “Does the rain have a father?” (Job 38:28) • God’s question highlights His personal authorship of something as common—and essential—as rain. In Job 37:6, Elihu already declared, “He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out.’” Now God Himself confirms that no created being can claim paternity over precipitation. • Scripture consistently credits the LORD alone with sending rain: “He covers the sky with clouds; He prepares rain for the earth” (Psalm 147:8); “Are there any among the idols of the nations that can bring rain? … Is it not You, O LORD our God?” (Jeremiah 14:22). • By asking if rain has a human father, the Lord confronts every impulse toward human self-sufficiency. We may seed clouds or study weather patterns, yet “He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain to the earth” (Job 5:9-10). • The literalness of the rain’s divine origin underscores God’s sovereignty. Just as Genesis 1 presents Him as Creator of land and sea, Job 38 presents Him as ongoing Governor of rain cycles. • Practical implication: because He fathers the rain, we can trust Him for daily needs (Matthew 5:45, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”). Who has begotten the drops of dew? “Who has begotten the drops of dew?” (Job 38:28) • Dew is gentle, silent, and often unnoticed, yet God claims even these minute droplets as His offspring. Proverbs 3:20 affirms, “By His knowledge the depths were broken up and the clouds drip with dew.” • Dew pictures God’s faithful, refreshing provision. In Hosea 14:5 He promises, “I will be like the dew to Israel,” linking the physical phenomenon to spiritual renewal. • Just as no human midwife assists the dawn in delivering dew, so no other deity or natural force can claim authorship. Zechariah 8:12 credits “the heavens” that “will give their dew,” but only because God ordains it. • The question exposes human limitation. Job cannot begin to explain how dew forms, let alone generate it. Similarly, Jesus used dew-like manna in John 6:31-35 to point Israel to the Father as the sole source of life-sustaining grace. • Each morning’s dew testifies that “His compassions never fail; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). The drops are literal mercies, fresh evidence of the Creator’s steadfast love. summary Job 38:28 teaches that both the forceful rain and the delicate dew originate with God alone. By asking who fathered rain and who begot dew, the Lord lovingly exposes human inability while magnifying His unrivaled power and care. Every storm cloud and every dawn-kissed blade of grass declares that the Creator is actively, personally sustaining His world—and inviting us to rest in His sovereign, faithful provision. |
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