Isaías 40:12

Who can vie with Jehovah in power?The point of these questions lies in the smallness of the measures figured as being used by Jehovah in creating the universe, the hollow of the hand, the span, etc. Logically, the questions are not quite on the same line as those in Isaías 40:13 f. There the answer required is a simple negative: "No one"; here the meaning is, "What sort of Being must He be who actually measured" etc.

meted out Lit. "weighed out" (as Job 28:25); see on "directed," (Isaías 40:13). The word for comprehendedhas in New Hebr. and Aram. the sense of "measure" and is probably so used here, the only instance in the O.T.

a measure means "a third part," a tierce, but obviously a small measure, probably a third of an ephah.

scalesand balancemight be better transposed; the first word denotes probably a "steelyard," the second the ordinary pair of scales.

The conception of the universe as measured out by its Creator appears to include two things. There is first the idea of order, adjustment and proportion in Nature, suggesting intelligence at work in the making of the world. But the more important thought is that of the infinite power which has carried through these vast operations as easily as man handles his smallest instruments of precision. The passage is not a demonstration of the existence of God, but assuming that He exists and is the Creator of all things, the prophet seeks to convey to his readers some impression of His Omnipotence, which is so conspicuously displayed in the accurate determination of the great masses and expanses of the material world.