_THEN THE LORD ANSWERED JOB OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND, AND SAID,_ Yahweh appears unexpectedly in a whirlwind (already gathering, Job 37:1), the symbol of "judgment" (Psalms 50:3, etc.), to which Job had challenged Him. He asks him now to get himself ready for the contest. Can he explain the phenomena of... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO IS THIS THAT DARKENETH COUNSEL BY WORDS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE?_ This - Job. COUNSEL - impugning my divine wisdom in the providential arrangements of the universe. Such "words" (including those of the friends) rather obscure than throw light on my ways. God is about to be Job's vindicator; but mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_GIRD UP NOW THY LOINS LIKE A MAN; FOR I WILL DEMAND OF THEE, AND ANSWER THOU ME._ A man, х_ GEBER_ (H1397)] - hero, ready for battle (1 Corinthians 16:13, "Quit you like men, be strong"), as he had wished (Job 9:35; Job 13:22; Job 31:37). The robe, usually worn flowing, was girt up by a girdle whe... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH? DECLARE, IF THOU HAST UNDERSTANDING._ To understand the cause of things, man should have been present at their origin. The finite creature cannot fathom the infinite wisdom of the Creator (Job 28:12; Job 15:7). HAST (KNOWEST) UNDERSTANDIN... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF, IF THOU KNOWEST? OR WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE UPON IT?_ Measures - of its proportions. Image from an architect's plans of a building. LINE - of measurement (Isaiah 28:17). The earth is formed on an all-wise plan.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEREUPON ARE THE FOUNDATIONS THEREOF FASTENED? OR WHO LAID THE CORNER STONE THEREOF;_ Foundations - not sockets, as margin. FASTENED - literally, made to sink, as a foundation-stone let down until it settles firmly in the clay (Job 26:7). Gravitation makes and keeps the earth a sphere. In Job 3... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN THE MORNING STARS SANG TOGETHER, AND ALL THE SONS OF GOD SHOUTED FOR JOY?_ MORNING STARS - especially beautiful. The creation-morn is appropriately associated with these, it being the commencement of this world's day. The stars are figuratively said to sing God's praises, as in Psalms 19:1; Ps... [ Continue Reading ]
_OR WHO SHUT UP THE SEA WITH DOORS, WHEN IT BRAKE FORTH, AS IF IT HAD ISSUED OUT OF THE WOMB?_ Doors - flood-gates; these when opened caused the flood (Genesis 7:11); or else the shores. WOMB - of chaos. The bowels of the earth. Image from child-birth (Job 38:8). Ocean at its birth was wrapped in... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN I MADE THE CLOUD THE GARMENT THEREOF, AND THICK DARKNESS A SWADDLINGBAND FOR IT,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND BRAKE UP FOR IT MY DECREED PLACE, AND SET BARS AND DOORS,_ Brake up for - i:e., appointed it. Shores are generally broken and abrupt cliffs. The Greek [aktee, from agnumi] for shore means a broken place. I broke off or measured off for it my limit - i:e., the limit which I thought fit (Job 26:... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND SAID, HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER: AND HERE SHALL THY PROUD WAVES BE STAYED?_ Stayed - Hebrew, a (limit) shall be set to.... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAST THOU COMMANDED THE MORNING SINCE THY DAYS; AND CAUSED THE DAYSPRING TO KNOW HIS PLACE;_ Passing from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world. Verse 12. HAST THOU - as God daily does. COMMANDED THE MORNING - to rise. SINCE THY DAYS - since thou hast come into being. ITS PL... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE SPRINGS OF THE SEA? OR HAST THOU WALKED IN THE SEARCH OF THE DEPTH?_ Springs - fountains beneath the sea (Psalms 95:4). SEARCH, х_ CHEEQER_ (H2714)] - rather, the inmost recesses: literally, that which is only found by searching the deep caverns of ocean.... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAVE THE GATES OF DEATH BEEN OPENED UNTO THEE? OR HAST THOU SEEN THE DOORS OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH?_ Seen. The second clause heightens the thought in the first. Man during life does not even "see" the gates of the realm of the dead ("death," Job 10:21), much less are they 'opened' to him. But those... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAST THOU PERCEIVED THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH? DECLARE IF THOU KNOWEST IT ALL._ Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? - as God doth (Job 28:24).... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHERE IS THE WAY WHERE LIGHT DWELLETH? AND AS FOR DARKNESS, WHERE IS THE PLACE THEREOF,_ 'What is the way (to the place wherein) light dwelleth?' The origin of light and darkness. In Genesis 1:1 "light" is created distinct from and previous to light-emitting bodies, the luminaries of heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE IT TO THE BOUND THEREOF, AND THAT THOU SHOULDEST KNOW THE PATHS TO THE HOUSE THEREOF?_ Dost thou know their place (the place of darkness and light) so well as to be able to guide ("take" х_ LAAQACH _ (H3947)], as in Isaiah 36:17) them to (but Umbreit, 'reach it in') their... [ Continue Reading ]
_KNOWEST THOU IT, BECAUSE THOU WAST THEN BORN? OR BECAUSE THE NUMBER OF THY DAYS IS GREAT?_ Or, without the interrogation, in an ironical sense (Umbreit). THEN - when I created light and darkness (Job 15:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW? OR HAST THOU SEEN THE TREASURES OF THE HAIL,_ Treasures - storehouses, from which God draws forth snow and hail. Snow is vapour congealed in the air, before it is collected in drops large enough to form hail. Its shape is that of a crystal in endle... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHICH I HAVE RESERVED AGAINST THE TIME OF TROUBLE, AGAINST THE DAY OF BATTLE AND WAR?_ Against the time of trouble - the time when I design to chastise men (Exodus 9:18; Joshua 10:11; Revelation 16:21; Isaiah 28:17; Psalms 18:12; Haggai 2:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
_BY WHAT WAY IS THE LIGHT PARTED, WHICH SCATTERETH THE EAST WIND UPON THE EARTH?_ Is ... parted - parts, so as to diffuse itself over the whole earth, though seeming to come from one point. Light travels from the sun to the earth, ninety millions of miles, in eight minutes. WHICH SCATTERETH - rat... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO HATH DIVIDED A WATERCOURSE FOR THE OVERFLOWING OF WATERS, OR A WAY FOR THE LIGHTNING OF THUNDER;_ Waters. Rain falls, not in a mass on one spot, but in countless separate canals in the air marked out for them. WAY FOR THE LIGHTNING - (Job 28:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
_TO CAUSE IT TO RAIN ON THE EARTH, WHERE NO MAN IS; ON THE WILDERNESS, WHEREIN THERE IS NO MAN;_ Since rain falls also on places uninhabited by man, it cannot be that man guides its course. Such rain, though man cannot explain the reason for it, is not lost. God has some wise design in it. The love... [ Continue Reading ]
_TO SATISFY THE DESOLATE AND WASTE GROUND; AND TO CAUSE THE BUD OF THE TENDER HERB TO SPRING FORTH?_ As though the desolate ground thirsted for God's showers. Personification. The beauty imparted to the uninhabited desert pleases God, for whom primarily all things exist, and He has ulterior designs... [ Continue Reading ]
_HATH THE RAIN A FATHER? OR WHO HATH BEGOTTEN THE DROPS OF DEW?_ Can any visible origin of rain and dew be assigned by man? Is man their author and creator? Dew is moisture which was suspended in the air, but becomes condensed on reaching the-in the night-lower temperature of objects on the earth.... [ Continue Reading ]
_OUT OF WHOSE WOMB CAME THE ICE? AND THE HOARY FROST OF HEAVEN, WHO HATH GENDERED IT?_ (Job 37:10.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE WATERS ARE HID AS WITH A STONE, AND THE FACE OF THE DEEP IS FROZEN._ The unfrozen waters are hidden under the frozen, as with a covering of stone. FROZEN - literally, is taken: the particles х_ YITLAKAADUW_ (H3920), from _ LAAKAD_ (H3920), to take hold] take hold of one another so as to cohe... [ Continue Reading ]
_CANST THOU BIND THE SWEET INFLUENCES OF PLEIADES, OR LOOSE THE BANDS OF ORION?_ Sweet influences, х_ MA`ªDANOWT_ (H4575), from _ `AADAN_ (H6029), to be delightful; whence comes Eden] - the joy diffused by spring, the time when the Pleiades х_ KIYMAAH_ (H3598)] appear. The Eastern poets Hafiz, Sadi... [ Continue Reading ]
_CANST THOU BRING FORTH MAZZAROTH IN HIS SEASON? OR CANST THOU GUIDE ARCTURUS WITH HIS SONS?_ Canst thou bring forth (into the sky) the signs of the Zodiac at their respective seasons-the twelve lodgings [Mazalowt, in the Hebrew, 2 Kings 23:5, mazaalowt, being equivalent to _ MAZAAROWT_ (H4216), Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_KNOWEST THOU THE ORDINANCES OF HEAVEN? CANST THOU SET THE DOMINION THEREOF IN THE EARTH?_ Ordinances - which regulate the alternations of seasons, etc. (Genesis 8:22). DOMINION - the controlling influence of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, etc., on the earth (on the tides, weather) (Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
_CANST THOU LIFT UP THY VOICE TO THE CLOUDS, THAT ABUNDANCE OF WATERS MAY COVER THEE?_ Canst thou at will command the clouds to send down abundance of rain? (Jeremiah 14:22; above, Job 22:11, "abundance of waters," metaphorically.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_CANST THOU SEND LIGHTNINGS, THAT THEY MAY GO, AND SAY UNTO THEE, HERE WE ARE?_ Here we are - at thy disposal (Isaiah 6:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO HATH PUT WISDOM IN THE INWARD PARTS? OR WHO HATH GIVEN UNDERSTANDING TO THE HEART?_ Inward parts ... heart - but Umbreit, 'dark clouds' [muchowt]; 'shining phenomena;' (Maurer) 'meteor' х_ SEKWIY _ (H7907)], referring to the consultation of these as signs of weather by the farmer (Ecclesiastes... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM? OR WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN,_ _ WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM? OR WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN,_ Who appoints by his wisdom the due measure of the clouds, accurately numbering the sum of vaporous particles (like so many grains of dust) of... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN THE DUST GROWETH INTO HARDNESS, AND THE CLODS CLEAVE FAST TOGETHER?_ Groweth ... - rather, pours itself into a mass by the rain, like molten metal; then translate Job 38:38 'Who is it that empties, etc., when,' etc.? The English version, however, is tenable: 'Is caked into a mass' by heat, li... [ Continue Reading ]
_WILT THOU HUNT THE PREY FOR THE LION? OR FILL THE APPETITE OF THE YOUNG LIONS,_ From this verse to Job 39:30 the instincts of animals are discussed. Is it thou that givest it the instinct to hunt its prey? (Psalms 104:21.) APPETITE - literally, life; which depends on the appetite (Job 33:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN THEY COUCH IN THEIR DENS, AND ABIDE IN THE COVERT TO LIE IN WAIT?_ Lie in wait - for their prey (Psalms 10:9).... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO PROVIDETH FOR THE RAVEN HIS FOOD? WHEN HIS YOUNG ONES CRY UNTO GOD, THEY WANDER FOR LACK OF MEAT._ (Luke 12:24.) Transition from the noble lioness to the croaking raven. Though man dislikes it, as of ill-omen, God cares for it, as for all His creatures. "He giveth (his food) to the young raven... [ Continue Reading ]