In Job chapter 38, the Lord speaks in divine council language and asks a series of questions. Job cannot answer any of them. The Lord answers Job “out of the whirlwind,” demonstrating His power and majesty. But for me, the whirlwind is like a veil, separating God’s glory from our mortal fallen state. It represents liminal space, as it divides heaven and earth. Elijah was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1).
In verse 3, the Lord speaks in divine council language saying, “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” Phrases like this that initiate a discussion are divine council language. We see this in Isaiah 41:21 where the Lord asks the people, “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons” (see also D&C 71:8). The Lord is asking them to present their evidence before the court, or the divine council.
The Lord addresses the premortal divine council in verse 7: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Stars represent members of the divine council. In Abraham 3, the Lord compares the greatness of stars with spirits and then reveals to Abraham, “thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.” Lehi sees a theophany with God sitting on His throne surrounded with numberless concourses of angels. Then he sees “One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament” (1 Nephi 1:8-10). Verse 31 mentions two constellations—the Pleiades and Orion. These are personified in Greek mythology as Zeus turned the Pleiades (the “Seven Sisters) into stars to save them from the hunter Orion.
The Lord asks about the Creation. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof” (Job 38:4-6). Foundations in verse 6 is a different Hebrew word than in verse 4, and it means “foundation of the earth or the base and sockets on which the Tabernacle stood.” The Creation of the Earth is likened to the building of the Tabernacle. The temple can be seen as a model for the cosmos.
Measuring tools would be used during the Creation and for building the temple. The line in verse 5 is a measuring-line, and the same Hebrew word (qav) is used in Ezekiel 47 to measure the water issuing from the temple.
The Lord asks, “Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? … And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?” (verses 8,11). Here, God subdues and controls the waters of chaos. Psalm 29:10 states, “The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.” God has control over the waters.
In Job 38:8, the sea is shut up like a womb. During the Creation in Genesis 1:20, the waters brought forth “abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” The sea, like a womb, is bringing forth new life.
The Lord said, “I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it.” Here, sacred clothing is a symbol of the Creation. The swaddling band is a navel band in Hebrew and reminds us of the Jewish tradition of the Foundation Stone, which was on the top of the Temple Mount and was the first spot of earth to emerge from the waters of chaos, according to the tradition. Jewish tradition holds that this was where God began the Creation process and this spot is considered the navel of the Earth.
The swaddling band points to Jesus, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger.