INTRODUCTION TO JOB 38 In this chapter the Lord takes up the controversy with Job; calls upon him to prepare to engage with him in it, and demands an answer to posing questions he puts to him, concerning the earth and the fabric of it, Job 38:1; concerning the sea, compared to an infant in embryo,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE LORD ANSWERED JOB OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND,.... As soon as Elihu had done speaking, who saw the tempest rising, and gave hints of it, Job 37:2; and hastened to finish his discourse. This was raised to give notice of the Lord being about to appear, and to display his majesty, and to command reve... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO [IS] THIS,.... Meaning not Elihu the last speaker, as some think; and there are some who suppose not only that these words are directed to him, but all that is said in this and the following chapter: but it was Job the Lord spoke to and answered, as expressed in Job 38:1; and these words are ta... [ Continue Reading ]
GIRD UP NOW THY LOINS LIKE A MAN,.... Like a man of valour that girds on his harness for battle: Job is bid to prepare for the controversy the Lord was entering into with him; and bring forth his strong reasons and most powerful arguments in his own defence. The allusion is to the custom in the east... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH?.... The earth has foundations, and such firm ones that it cannot be moved; but what are they, since it is hung in the air on nothing! No other than the power and will of God, who laid these foundations, and the Son of God, who has created and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF, IF THOU KNOWEST?.... Did God or a creature? The Lord, no doubt. He laid them out in his divine mind, and laid them forth by his divine power; who does all things by weight and measure. He fixed the dimensions of the earth, how long, how thick, and how broad it sho... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREUPON ARE THE FOUNDATIONS THEREOF FASTENED?.... Or the pillars of it, as Ben Gersom interprets it; see Psalms 75:3; and which Aben Ezra understands of the mountains: but be they what they may, on what can they be fastened or sunk into, when the earth hangs on nothing, and there is nothing visibl... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE MORNING STARS SANG TOGETHER,.... Either all the stars in a literal sense; for though, strictly speaking, there is but one morning star, yet all may be called so, because early created in the morning of the world; and are all stars of light, shine till the morning; and it is observed by some... [ Continue Reading ]
OR [WHO] SHUT UP THE SEA WITH DOORS,.... From the earth the transition is to the sea, according to the order of the creation; and this refers not to the state and case of the sea as at the flood, of which some interpret it, but as at its first creation; and it is throughout this account represented... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I MADE THE CLOUD THE GARMENT THEREOF,.... For this newborn babe, the sea; AND THICK DARKNESS A SWADDLING BAND FOR IT; which was the case of the sea when it burst out of the bowels of the earth and covered it, for then darkness was upon the face of the deep, a dark, foggy, misty air, Genesis 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BRAKE UP FOR IT MY DECREED [PLACE],.... Or, as Mr. Broughton translates it, "and brake the earth for it by my decree": made a vast chasm in the earth to hold the waters of the sea, which was provided as a sort of cradle to put this swaddled infant in; God cleaved the earth, raised the hills and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAID, HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME, BUT NO FURTHER,.... The waters of the sea shall spread themselves to such and such shores, and wash them, but go no further; its rolling tides shall go up so far in rivers that go out of it, and then return, keeping exactly to time and place; this is said by Jehov... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU COMMANDED THE MORNING SINCE THY DAYS;.... Job had lived to see many a morning, but it never was in his power to command one; he had been in such circumstances as to wish for morning light before it was, but was obliged to wait for it, could not hasten it, or cause it to spring before its t... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IT MIGHT TAKE HOLD OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH,.... As when the morning light springs forth, it quickly does, reaching in a short time the extreme part of the hemisphere; which, and what goes before, may be applied to the light of the Gospel, and the direction of that under divine Providence in th... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS TURNED AS CLAY [TO] THE SEAL,.... As the clay receives a different form by the impress of the seal upon it, so the earth appears in a different manner by the spring of morning light upon it; in the darkness of the night nothing of its form and beauty is to be seen; it is a mere "tohu" and "boh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM THE WICKED THEIR LIGHT IS WITHHOLDEN,.... Whose light is darkness, and whose day is the night, of which they are deprived when the morning light breaks forth; see Job 24:17; it may be figuratively understood of the light of prosperity being removed from them, or the light of life, when they... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE SPRINGS OF THE SEA?.... The subterraneous passages through which the waters flow into the sea and supply it; or the springs and fountains that rise up at the bottom of it i; and some tell us of springs of sweet water that rise there, even though the water at the bottom of... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE THE GATES OF DEATH BEEN OPENED UNTO THEE?.... Meaning not by which death has entered into the world, and which have been the causes and occasion of it; as the sin of man, the appointment of God, and various providences, calamities and diseases; but by which men enter into the state of the dead.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU PERCEIVED THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH?.... Which may be put for all the dimensions of it, length, breadth, diameter, and circumference, but especially it regards the surface of it, and the measurement of that; hast thou gone over the whole face of the earth and measured it, all its parts, its... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE [IS] THE WAY [WHERE] LIGHT DWELLETH?.... Or the way to the place where it dwells, and what that is; AND [AS FOR] DARKNESS, WHERE [IS] THE PLACE THEREOF? where these were placed when they were first separated at the creation? where light goes and dwells, when it departs from us at sun setting?... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE IT TO THE BOUND THEREOF,.... Either darkness, or rather the light; take it as it were by the hand, and guide and direct its course to its utmost bound. This only the Lord can do and does: he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which goes forth at his command as a strong man to... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWEST THOU [IT], BECAUSE THOU WAST THEN BORN?.... When light and darkness were first separated, and had their several apartments assigned them; their laws and rules given them, and their bounds and limits set them? No; he was not: and, had he been the first man, could not have been early enough to... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW? OR HAST THOU SEEN THE TREASURES OF THE HAIL?] The vapours raised, and clouds formed in the atmosphere, which is the storehouse of those meteors; and may be called treasures, because hidden in the clouds, and not seen by man until the fall of them; an... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH I HAVE RESERVED AGAINST THE TIME OF TROUBLE,.... For the punishment or affliction of men; and is explained as follows, AGAINST THE DAY OF BATTLE AND WAR? as his artillery and ammunition to light his enemies with. Of hail we have instances in Scripture, as employed against the Egyptians and Ca... [ Continue Reading ]
BY WHAT WAY IS THE LIGHT PARTED,.... That is, dost thou know by what way it is parted or divided? as at the first creation, when God divided the light from darkness, Genesis 1:4; or at sun rising and sun setting; and so in the two hemispheres, when there is darkness on the one, and light on the othe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH DIVIDED A WATERCOURSE FOR THE OVERFLOWING OF WATERS,.... For a very large shower of rain, as the Vulgate Latin version: for this is not to be understood of an aqueduct, channel, or canal made on earth, either for the draining of waters off of land overflowed thereby, or for the conveyance o... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CAUSE IT TO RAIN ON THE EARTH, [WHERE] NO MAN [IS]; [ON] THE WILDERNESS, WHEREIN [THERE IS] NO MAN. Which is uninhabited by men, being so dry and barren; where there is no man to cultivate and water it, as gardens are; and where is no man to receive any advantage by the rain that comes upon it; a... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SATISFY THE DESOLATE AND WASTE [GROUND],.... Which is exceeding desolate, and therefore two such words are used to express it; which is so dry and thirsty that it is one of the four things that say not it is enough, Proverbs 30:16; and yet God can and does give it rain to its full satisfaction, P... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH THE RAIN A FATHER?.... None but God; hence the Heathens themselves call God γετιος y, and ομβριος z; see Jeremiah 14:22; he that is our Father in heaven is the Father of rain, and him only; whatever secondary causes there be, God only is the efficient cause, parent, and producer of it: so the... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF WHOSE WOMB CAME THE ICE?.... The parent of the rain and dew is the parent of the ice also, and he only; it is therefore called "his ice", his child, his offspring, Psalms 147:17. Here the Lord is represented as a mother, and so he is by Orpheus b called "metropator", or "mother-father"; AND... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATERS ARE HID AS [WITH] A STONE,.... The surface of the waters by frost become as hard as a stone, and will bear great burdens, and admit of carriages to pass over them c where ships went before; so that the waters under them are hid and quite out of sight: an emblem of the hard heart of man, w... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU BIND THE SWEET INFLUENCES OF PLEIADES,.... Of which Job 9:9; and this constellation of the seven stars which is meant, rising in the spring, the pleasantnesses of the season, as the word may be rendered, may be intended here; which cannot be restrained or hindered from taking place in the... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU BRING FORTH MAZZAROTH IN HIS SEASON?.... Which are thought to be the same with "the chambers of the south", Job 9:9; the southern pole m with its stars, signified by chambers, because hidden from our sight in this part of the globe; and here by Mazzaroth, from, "nazar", to separate, becau... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWEST THOU THE ORDINANCES OF HEAVEN?.... Settled by the decree, purpose, and will of God, and are firm and stable; see Psalms 148:6; the laws and statutes respecting their situation, motion, operation, influence, and use, which are constantly observed; these are so far from being made by men, and... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU LIFT UP THY VOICE TO THE CLOUDS, THAT ABUNDANCE OF WATERS MAY COVER THEE?] Thy gardens, fields, and farms; canst thou, in a magisterial way, call to and demand of the clouds to let down rain in large quantities, sufficient to water them and make them fruitful? no, thou canst not: thou may... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU SEND LIGHTNINGS, THAT THEY MAY GO, AND SAY UNTO THEE, HERE WE [ARE]?] Thy humble servants; we have been where thou didst send us, and have executed what we were bid to do, and are returned, and here we are waiting further orders; see Matthew 8:9; no; lightnings are only at the command of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH PUT WISDOM IN THE INWARD PARTS?.... That is, of man, in his heart, as explained in the next clause; such wisdom as to guide the stars, know the ordinances of heaven, set their dominion on earth, manage and direct the clouds and lightning; no such wisdom is put in man: OR WHO HATH, GIVEN UN... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM?.... Or has such wisdom as to be able to count them when the heavens are full of them; hence they are used to denote a great multitude, Isaiah 55:8; or "declare" them t, set forth and explain the nature of them, their matter, motion, and use; none can do this perf... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE DUST GROWETH INTO HARDNESS, AND THE CLODS CLEAVE FAST TOGETHER?] When the dust is attenuated, and ground, as it were, into powder; and the clods cleave together, as if glued, as in a drought for want of rain: or the bottles of heaven being unstopped and poured out; or "sprinkling the dust... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU HUNT THE PREY FOR THE LION?.... From meteors the Lord passes to animals, beasts, and birds, wherefore some here begin the thirty ninth chapter, which only treats of such; and he begins with the lion, the strongest among beasts, and most fierce; cruel, and voracious; and asks, who hunts his... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY COUCH IN [THEIR] DENS, [AND] ABIDE IN THE COVERT TO LIE IN WAIT?] Which some understand of old lions, who, for want of strength, lie couchant in their dens, or in some covert place, waiting for any prey that passes by, to seize upon it. But the same pasture and places are used by younger l... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO PROVIDETH FOR THE RAVEN HIS FOOD?.... Not man, but God; he feeds the ravens, creatures very voracious, mean, and useless, Luke 12:24; WHEN HIS YOUNG ONES CRY UNTO GOD; cry for want of food; which is interpreted by the Lord as a cry unto him, and he relieves them, Psalms 147:9; when deserted b... [ Continue Reading ]