CHAPTER XXXVIII _The Lord answers Job out of a whirlwind, and challenges him to_ _answer_, 1-3. _He convinces him of ignorance and weakness, by an enumeration_ _of some of his mighty works; particularly of the creation of_ _the earth_, 4-7. _The sea and the deeps_, 8-18. _The light_, 19-21.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:2. _WHO_ IS _THIS THAT DARKENETH COUNSEL_] As if he had said, Who art _thou_ who pretendest to speak on the deep things of God, and the administration of his justice and providence, which thou canst not comprehend; and leavest my counsels and designs the darker for thy explanation?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:3. _GIRD UP NOW THY LOINS_] I will not confound thee with my terrors; dismiss all fearful apprehensions from thy mind; now act like a man, כגבר _kegeber_, like a hero: stand and vindicate thyself. _For I will demand of thee _- I will ask thee a series of questions more easy of solution... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:4. _WHERE WAST THOU WHEN I LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE_ _EARTH?_] Thou hast a limited and derived being; thou art only of _yesterday_; what canst thou know? Didst thou see me create the world?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:5. _WHO HATH LAID THE MEASURES THEREOF_] Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the centre? _WHO HATH STRETCHED THE LINE_] Who hath formed its zones and its great circles, and adjusted the whole of its _magnitude_ and _gravity_ to the _orbit_ in which it was to move,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:6. _WHEREUPON ARE THE FOUNDATIONS THEREOF FASTENED?_] How does it continue to revolve in the immensity of space? What _supports_ it? Has it foundations like a _building_, and is it fastened with a _key-stone_, to keep the mighty fabric in union?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:7. _WHEN THE MORNING STARS SANG TOGETHER_] This must refer to some intelligent beings who existed before the creation of the visible heavens and earth: and it is supposed that this and the following clause refer to the same beings; that by the _sons of_ _God_, and the _morning stars_, t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:8. WHO _SHUT UP THE SEA WITH DOORS_] Who _gathered the waters_ _together into one place_, and fixed the sea its limits, so that it cannot overpass them to inundate the earth? _WHEN IT BRAKE FORTH_, AS IF _IT HAD ISSUED OUT OF THE WOMB?_] This is a very fine metaphor. The sea is represe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:9. _WHEN I MAKE THE CLOUD THE GARMENT_] Alluding to the cloth in which the new-born infant is first received. The _cloud_ was the same to the newly raised _vapour_, as the above recipient to the new-born child. _AND THICK DARKNESS A SWADDLINGBAND FOR IT_] Here is also an allusion to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:10. _AND BRAKE UP FOR IT MY DECREED_ PLACE] This refers to the decree, Genesis 1:9: "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place." _AND SET BARS AND DOORS_] _And let the dry land appear_. This formed the _bars_ and _doors_ of the sea; the land being everywhere... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:11. _HITHERTO SHALT THOU COME_] Thus far shall thy flux and reflux extend. The _tides_ are marvellously limited and regulated, not only by the _lunar_ and _solar attractions_, but by the quantum of _time_ also which is required to remove any part of the earth's surface from under the i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:12. _HAST THOU COMMANDED THE MORNING_] This refers to _dawn_ or _morning twilight_, occasioned by the _refraction_ of the _solar_ _rays_ by means of the _atmosphere_; so that we receive the light by _degrees_, which would otherwise burst at once upon our eyes, and injure, if not destroy... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:13. _THAT THE WICKED MIGHT BE SHAKEN OUT OF IT?_] The meaning appears to be this: as soon as the light begins to dawn upon the earth, thieves, assassins, murderers, and adulterers, who all hate and shun the light, fly like ferocious beasts to their several dens and hiding places; for s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:14. _IT IS TURNED AS CLAY_ TO _THE SEAL_] The earth, like _soft_ _clay_, is capable of modifying itself in endless ways, and assuming infinite forms. As a proof of this, see the astonishing variety of plants, flowers, and fruits, and the infinitely diversified hues, odours, tastes, cons... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:16. _HAST THOU ENTERED INTO THE SPRINGS OF THE SEA_?] Of these _springs, inlets_, or _outlets_ of the sea, we know just as much as Job. There was prevalent among philosophers an opinion, that through a _porous bottom_ fresh matter was constantly oozing by which the sea was supplied with... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:17. _HAVE THE GATES OF DEATH BEEN OPENED UNTO THEE?_] Dost thou know in what the article of _death_ consists? This is as inexplicable as the question, What is animal _life_? _THE DOORS OF THE SHALLOW OF DEATH?_] צלמות _tsalmaveth, the_ _intermediate state, the openings into the place o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:18. _THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH?_] At that time the circumference of the globe was not known, because the earth itself was supposed to be a vast _extended plain_, bordered all round with the ocean and the sky.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:19. WHERE _LIGHT DWELLETH_] What is the _source of light_? Yea, what is _light_ itself? It is not in the _sun_, for _light_ was before the _sun_; but _what_ is _light_? It is no doubt a _substance;_ but of what kind? and of what are its _particles_? As to _darkness_, what is IT? Is it p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:20. _SHOULDEST TAKE IT TO THE BOUND THEREOF?_] Or, as Mr. _Good_, translates, "That thou shouldest lay hold of it in its boundary." That thou shouldest go to the very spot where _light_ commences, and where _darkness_ ends; and see the _house_ where each dwells. Here _darkness_ and _lig... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:21. _KNOWEST THOU_] This is another strong and biting irony, and the literal translation proves it: "Thou knowest, because thou was then born; and the number of thy days is great," or _multitudinous_, רבים rabbim, multitudes.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:22. _THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW_] The places where _snow_ is formed, and the cause of that formation. See on Job 37:6. _TREASURES OF THE HAIL_] It is more easy to account for the formation of _snow_ than of _hail_. Hail, however, is generally supposed to be drops of rain frozen in thei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:23. _RESERVED AGAINST THE TIME OF TROUBLE_] לעת צר _leeth_ _tsar_, "to the season of strictness," i.e., the season when the earth is _constringed_ or _bound_ by the frost. _AGAINST THE DAY OF BATTLE AND WAR?_] Hailstones being often employed as instruments of God's displeasure against... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:24. _BY WHAT WAY IS THE LIGHT PARTED_] Who can accurately describe the _cause_ and _operation_ of a _thunder cloud_, the cause, nature, and mode of operation of the _lightning_ itself? Is it a _simple element_ or _compound substance_? What is its _velocity_? and why not _conductible_ by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:25. _DIVIDED A WATER-COURSE_] The original תעלה _tealah_, from עלה _alah, to ascend_, may signify rather a _cloud_, or _clouds_ in general, where the waters are _stored up_. I cannot see how the _overflowings_ or _torrents_ of water can be said to _ascend_ any other way than by _evapora... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:26. _TO CAUSE IT TO RAIN ON THE EARTH_] It is well known that _rain_ falls copiously in thunder-storms. The _flash_ is first seen, the _clap_ is next heard, and last the _rain_ descends. The _lightning_ travels all lengths in no perceivable _succession_ of time. _Sound_ is propagated a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:27. _TO SATISFY THE DESOLATE AND WASTE_] The thunder cloud not only explodes over _inhabited_ countries, that the air may be purified and the rain sent down to fertilize the earth, but it is conducted over _deserts_ where there is no human inhabitant; and this to _cause the bud of the t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:28. _HATH THE RAIN A FATHER?_] Or, _Who is the father of the_ _rain_? We have seen above one part of the apparatus by which God produces it; other causes have been mentioned on Job 36:27, c. _THE DROPS OF DEW?_] אגלי _egley_, the sphericles, the small round drops or _globules_. _Dew_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:29. _OUT OF WHOSE WOMB CAME THE ICE?_] ICE is a solid, transparent, and brittle body, formed of water by means of cold. Some philosophers suppose that ice is only the re-establishment of water in its _natural state_; that the mere absence of _fire_ is sufficient to account for this re-e... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:30. _THE WATERS ARE HID AS_ WITH _A STONE_] Here is a reference to _freezing_ in the winter, as we may learn from some of the constellations mentioned below, which arise above our horizon, in the winter months. The word יתחבאו _yithchabbau_ is understood by the versions in general as i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:31. _CANST THOU BIND THE SWEET INFLUENCES OF PLEIADES_] The _Pleiades_ are a constellation in the sign _Taurus_. They consist of _six stars_ visible to the naked eye; to a good eye, in a clear night, _seven_ are discernible; but with a _telescope_ ten times the number may be readily cou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:32. _MAZZAROTH IN HIS SEASON?_] This is generally understood to mean the _signs of the zodiac_. מזרות Mazzaroth, according to Parkhurst, comes from מזר _mazar_, to _corrupt_; and he supposes it to mean that _pestilential_ wind in Arabia, called _simoom_, the _season_ of which is the _su... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:33. _KNOWEST THOU THE ORDINANCES OF HEAVEN?_] Art thou a thorough astronomer? Art thou acquainted with all the laws of the planetary system? Canst thou account for the difference of their motions, and the influence by which they are retained and revolve in their orbits? And canst thou t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:34. _CANST THOU LIFT UP THY VOICE TO THE CLOUDS_] Canst thou produce _lightning_ and _thunder_, that water may be formed, and poured down upon the earth? Thunder is called קלות _koloth_, voices; for it is considered the voice of God: here then _Job's voice_, קולך kolecha, is opposed to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:35. _CANST THOU SEND LIGHTNINGS_] We have already seen that the lightning is supposed to be immediately in the _hand_ and under the _management_ of God. The great god of the heathen, _Jupiter_ _Brontes_, is represented with the forked lightnings and thunderbolt in his hand. He seems so... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:36. _WHO HATH PUT WISDOM IN THE IN WARD PARTS?_] Who has given לשכוי _lasechvi_, to the _contemplative_ person, _understanding_? Even the most sedulous attention to a subject, and the deepest contemplation, are not sufficient to investigate truth, without the inspiration of the Almighty... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:37. _WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS_] Perhaps the word ספר _saphar_, which is commonly rendered to _number_, may here mean, as in Arabic, to _irradiate_, as Mr. _Good_ contends; and may refer to those celestial and inimitable tinges which we sometimes behold in the sky. _BOTTLES OF HEAVEN_]... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:38. _WHEN THE DUST GROWETH INTO HARDNESS_] That is, Who knows how the _dust _- the _elementary particles_ of matter, were concreted; and how the _clods_-the several parts of the earth, continue to cohere? What is the principle of _cohesion_ among the different particles of matter, in a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:39. _WILT THOU HUNT THE PREY FOR THE LION?_] Rather the _lioness_, or _strong lion_. Hast thou his instinct? Dost thou know the _habits_ and _haunts_ of such animals as he seeks for his food? Thou hast neither his _strength_, his _instinct_ nor his _cunning_. In the best Hebrew Bibles,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:40. _WHEN THEY COUCH IN_ THEIR _DENS_] Before they are capable of trusting themselves abroad. _ABIDE IN THE COVERT_] Before they are able to hunt down the prey by running. It is a fact that the _young lions_, before they have acquired sufficient strength and swiftness, _lie under cover... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 38:41. _WHO PROVIDETH FOR THE RAVEN_] This bird is chosen, perhaps, for his voracious appetite, and general hunger for prey, beyond most other fowls. He makes a continual cry, and the cry is that of hunger. He dares not frequent the habitations of men, as he is considered a bird of ill ome... [ Continue Reading ]