Job 38 commentary

Job had silenced, but had not convinced his friends. Elihu had silenced Job, but had not brought him to admit his guilt before God. It pleased the Lord to interpose. The Lord, in this discourse, humbles Job, and brings him to repent of his passionate expressions concerning God's providential dealings with him; and this he does, by calling upon Job to compare God's being from everlasting to everlasting, with his own time; God's knowledge of all things, with his own ignorance; and God's almighty power, with his own weakness. Our darkening the counsels of God's wisdom with our folly, is a great provocation to God. Humble faith and sincere obedience see farthest and best into the will of the Lord.

For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance, even concerning the earth and the sea. As we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not fear concerning it. The works of his providence, as well as the work of creation, never can be broken; and the work of redemption is no less firm, of which Christ himself is both the Foundation and the Corner-stone. The church stands as firm as the earth.

The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2Co 4:6. God's way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea; this means, that it is hid from us. Let us make sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side of death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death. It is presumptuous for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God's counsels. We should neither in the brightest noon count upon perpetual day, nor in the darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning; and this applies to our inward as well as to our outward condition. What folly it is to strive against God! How much is it our interest to seek peace with him, and to keep in his love!

Hitherto God had put questions to Job to show him his ignorance; now God shows his weakness. As it is but little that he knows, he ought not to arraign the Divine counsels; it is but little he can do, therefore he ought not to oppose the ways of Providence. See the all-sufficiency of the Divine Providence; it has wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every living thing. And he that takes care of the young ravens, certainly will not be wanting to his people. This being but one instance of the Divine compassion out of many, gives us occasion to think how much good our God does, every day, beyond what we are aware of. Every view we take of his infinite perfections, should remind us of his right to our love, the evil of sinning against him, and our need of his mercy and salvation.

CHAPTER 38

Job 38:1-41.

1. Jehovah appears unexpectedly in a whirlwind (already gathering Job 37:1, 2), the symbol of "judgment" (Psa 50:3, 4, &c.), to which Job had challenged Him. He asks him now to get himself ready for the contest. Can he explain the phenomena of God's natural government? How can he, then, hope to understand the principles of His moral government? God thus confirms Elihu's sentiment, that submission to, not reasonings on, God's ways is man's part. This and the disciplinary design of trial to the godly is the great lesson of this book. He does not solve the difficulty by reference to future retribution: for this was not the immediate question; glimpses of that truth were already given in the fourteenth and nineteenth chapters, the full revelation of it being reserved for Gospel times. Yet even now we need to learn the lesson taught by Elihu and God in Job.

2. 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 must first bring him to a right state of mind for receiving relief.

3. a man--hero, ready for battle (1Co 16:13), as he had wished (Job 9:35; 13:22; 31:37). The robe, usually worn flowing, was girt up by a girdle when men ran, labored, or fought (1Pe 1:13).

4. 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; 15:7, 8).

hast--"knowest."

understanding--(Pr 4:1).

5. measures--of its proportions. Image from an architect's plans of a building.

line--of measurement (Is 28:17). The earth is formed on an all-wise plan.

6. foundations--not "sockets," as Margin.

fastened--literally, "made to sink," as a foundation-stone let down till it settles firmly in the clay (Job 26:7). Gravitation makes and keeps the earth a sphere.

7. So at the founding of Zerubbabel's temple (Ezr 3:10-13). So hereafter at the completion of the Church, the temple of the Holy Ghost (Zec 4:7); as at its foundation (Lu 2:13, 14).

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 Psa 19:1; 148:3. They are symbols of the angels, bearing the same relation to our earth, as angels do to us. Therefore they answer to "sons of God," or angels, in the parallel. See on Job 25:5.

8. doors--floodgates; these when opened caused the flood (Ge 8:2); or else, the shores.

womb--of chaos. The bowels of the earth. Image from childbirth (Job 38:8, 9; Eze 32:2; Mi 4:10). Ocean at its birth was wrapped in clouds as its swaddling bands.

10. brake up for--that is, appointed it. Shores are generally broken and abrupt cliffs. The Greek for "shore" means "a broken place." I broke off or measured off for it my limit, that is, the limit which I thought fit (Job 26:10).

11. stayed--Hebrew, "a limit shall be set to."

12-15. Passing from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world.

Hast thou--as God daily does.

commanded the morning--to rise.

since thy days--since thou hast come into being.

his place--It varies in its place of rising from day to day, and yet it has its place each day according to fixed laws.

16. springs--fountains beneath the sea (Psa 95:4, 5).

search--Rather, "the inmost recesses"; literally, "that which is only found by searching," the deep caverns of ocean.

17. 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 are "naked before God" (Job 26:6).

18. Hast thou--as God doth (Job 28:24).

19-38. The marvels in heaven. "What is the way (to the place wherein) light dwelleth?" The origin of light and darkness. In Ge 1:3-5, 14-18, "light" is created distinct from, and previous to, light-emitting bodies, the luminaries of heaven.

39. At Job 38:39-39:30, the instincts of animals. Is it thou that givest it the instinct to hunt its prey? (Psa 104:21).

appetite--literally, "life," which depends on the appetite" (Job 33:20).

40. lie in wait?--for their prey (Psa 10:9).

41. Lu 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.

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind - It is not סופה suphah, as in the preceding chapter, Job 37:9; but סורה searah, which signifies something turbulent, tumultuous, or violently agitated; and here may signify what we call a tempest, and was intended to fill Job's mind with solemnity, and an awful sense of the majesty of God. The Chaldee has, a whirlwind of grief, making the whole rather allegorical than real; impressing the scene on Job's imagination.

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?

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 than those which thou hast affected to discuss already; and then thou shalt have the opportunity of answering for thyself. The most impressive and convincing manner of arguing is allowed to be that by interrogation, which the Almighty here adopts. The best orations delivered by the ancients were formed after this manner. That celebrated oration of Cicero against Catiline, which is allowed to be his masterpiece, begins with a multitude of short questions, closely pressed upon each other. See the end of the chapter, Job 38:40 (note).

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?

Who hath laid the measures thereof - Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the center?

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, as well as its distance from that great center about which it was to revolve? These questions show the difficulty of the subject; and that there was an unfathomable depth of counsel and design in the formation of the earth.

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?

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, the angelic host is meant; as they are supposed to be first, though perhaps not chief, in the order of creation. For the latter clause the Chaldee has, "All the troops of angels." Perhaps their creation may be included in the term heavens, Gen 1:1 : "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." These witnessed the progress of the creation; and, when God had finished his work, celebrated his wisdom and power in the highest strains.

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 represented as a newly born infant issuing from the womb of the void and formless chaos; and the delicate circumstance of the liquor amnii, which bursts out previously to the birth of the foetus, alluded to. The allusion to the birth of a child is carried on in the next verse.

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 vapor, as the above recipient to the new-born child.

And thick darkness a swaddlingband for it - Here is also an allusion to the first dressings of the new-born child: it is swathed in order to support the body, too tender to bear even careful handling without some medium between the hand of the nurse and the flesh of the child. "The image," says Mr. Good, "is exquisitely maintained: the new-born ocean is represented as issuing from the womb of chaos; and its dress is that of the new-born infant." There is here an allusion also to the creation, as described in Gen 1:1, Gen 1:2. Darkness is there said to be on the face of the Deep. Here it is said, the thick darkness was a swaddlingband for the new-born Sea.

And brake up for it my decreed place - This refers to the decree, Gen 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 a barrier against the encroachments and inundations of the sea; and great rivers, bays, creeks, etc., the doors by which it passes into the interior of continents, etc.

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 immediate attractive influence of the sun and moon. And this regulation takes place by means of the rotation of the earth round its own axis, which causes one thousand and forty-two miles of its equator to pass from under any given point in the heavens in one hour; and about five hundred and eighty miles in the latitude of London: so that the attracted fluid parts are every moment passing from under the direct attractive influence, and thus the tides cannot generally be raised to any extraordinary height. The attraction of the sun and moon, and the gravitation of its own parts to its own center, which prevent too great a flux on the one hand, and too great a reflux on the other; or, in other words, too high a tide, and too deep an ebb, are also some of those bars and doors by which its proud waves are stayed, and prevented from coming farther; all being regulated by these laws of attraction by the sun and moon, the gravitation of its own parts from the sun and moon, and the diurnal motion round its own axis, by which the fluid parts, easily yielding to the above attraction, are continually moving from under the direct attractive influence. Here a world of wisdom and management was necessary, in order to proportion all these things to each other, so as to procure the great benefits which result from the flux and reflux of the sea, and prevent the evils that must take place, at least occasionally, were not those bars and doors provided. It is well known that the spring-tides happen at the change and full of the moon, at which time she is in conjunction with and opposition to the sun. As these retire from their conjunction, the tides neap till about three days after the first quadrature, when the tides begin again to be more and more elevated, and arrive at their maximum about the third day after the opposition. From this time the tides neap as before till the third day after the last quadrature; and afterwards their daily elevations are continually increased till about the third day after the conjunction, when they recommence their neaping; the principal phenomena of the tides always taking place at or near the some points of every lunar synodic revolution.

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, our sight; and by which even the body of the sun himself becomes evident several minutes before he rises above the horizon.

Caused the dayspring to know his place - This seems to refer to the different points in which daybreak appears during the course of the earth's revolution in its orbit; and which variety of points of appearing depends on this annual revolution. For, as the earth goes round the sun every year in the ecliptic, one half of which is on the north side of the equinoctial, and the other half on its south side, the sun appears to change his place every day. These are matters which the wisdom of God alone could plan, and which his power alone could execute. It may be just necessary to observe that the dawn does not appear, nor the sun rise exactly in the same point of the horizon, two successive days in the whole year, as he declines forty-three degrees north, and forty-three degrees south, of east; beginning on the 21st of March, and ending on the 22d of December; which variations not only produce the places of rising and setting, but also the length of day and night. And by this declination north and south, or approach to and recession from the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the solar light takes hold of the ends of the earth, Job 38:13, enlightens the arctic and antarctic circles in such a way as it would not do were it always on the equinoctial line; these tropics taking the sun twenty-three and a half degrees north, and as many south, of this line.

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 such do not dare to come to the light, lest their works be manifest, which are not wrought in God. To this verse the fifteenth appears to belong, as it connects immediately with it, which connection the introduction of the fourteenth verse disturbs. "And from the wicked," such as are mentioned above "their light is withholden;" they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; and as they prowl after their prey in the night-season, they are obliged to sleep in the day, and thus its "light is withholden" from them. "And the high arm shall be broken;" or, as Mr. Good translates, "The roving of wickedness is broken off." They can no longer pursue their predatory and injurious excursions.

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, consistency, and properties, of its vegetable productions. There seems to be an allusion here to the sealing of clay, which I believe has been, and is now, frequent in the East. Six of those Eastern seals for sealing clay, made of brass, the figures and characters all in relief, the interstices being entirely perforated and cut out, so that the upper side of the seal is the same as the lower, now lie before me. They seem to have been used for stamping pottery, as some of the fine clay still appears in the interstices.

And they stand as a garment - The earth receiving these impressions from the solar light and heat, plants and flowers spring up, and decorate its surface as the most beautiful stamped garment does the person of the most sumptuously dressed female. Mr. Good translates the whole verse thus: - "Canst thou cause them to bend round as clay to the mould, so that they are made to sit like a garment?" He supposes that reference is here made to the rays of light; but take his own words: "The image, as it appears to me, is taken directly from the art of pottery, an image of very frequent recurrence in Scripture; and in the present instance admirably forcible in painting the ductility with which the new light of the morning bends round like clay to the mould, and accompanies the earth in every part of its shape so as to fit it, as we are expressly told in the ensuing metaphor, like a garment, as the clay fits the mould itself." Mr. Good supposes that a mould in which the pottery is formed, not a seal by which it is impressed, is referred to here. In this sense I do not see the metaphor consistent, nor the allusion happy. It is well known that the rays of light never bend. They may be reflected at particular angles, but they never go out of a straight course. A gun might as well be expected to shoot round a corner, as a ray of light to go out of a straight line, or to follow the sinuous or angular windings of a tube, canal, or adit. But if we take in the sun as he advances in his diurnal voyage, or rather the earth, as it turns round its axis from west to east, the metaphor of Mr. Good will be correct enough; but we must leave out bending and ductility, as every part of the earth's surface will be at least successively invested with the light.

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 new materials. But through such pores these materials might as well ooze out as ooze in.

Walked in the search of the depth? - Hast thou walked from the shallow beach through the great ocean's bed, till thou hast arrived at its profoundest depths? In other words, Dost thou know the depths of the sea? Job, we may presume, did not. No man since him has found them out. In multitudes of places they are unfathomed by any means hitherto used by man.

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 of separate spirits. Here two places are distinguished: מות maveth, death, and צלמות tsalmaveth, the shadow of death. It will not do to say, death is the privation of life, for what then would be the shadow of that privation?

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.

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 philosophical to say, it is the mere privation of light? I shall think philosophy has made some advances to general accuracy and perfection when it proves to us what cold is, and what darkness is, leaving mere privations out of the question.

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 light are personified, each as a real intelligent being, having a separate existence and local dwelling. But poetry animates everything. It is the region of fictitious existence. I believe this verse should be translated thus: - "For thou canst take Us to its boundary; for thou knowest the paths to its house." This is a strong irony, and there are several others in this Divine speech. Job had valued himself too much on his knowledge; and a chief object of this august speech is to humble his "knowing pride," and to cause him to seek true wisdom and humility where they are to be found.

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.

The treasures of the snow - The places where snow is formed, and the cause of that formation. See on Job 37:6 (note).

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 their passage through cold regions of the air; and the hail is always in proportion to the size of the raindrop from which it was formed. But this meteor does not appear to be formed from a single drop of water, as it is found to be composed of many small spherules frozen together, the center sometimes soft like snow, and at other times formed of a hard nucleus, which in some cases has been of a brown color, capable of ignition and explosion. In the description given of snow, Job 37:6, it has been stated that both snow and hail owe their formation to electricity; the hail being formed in the higher regions of the air, where the cold is intense, and the electric matter abundant. By this agency it is supposed that a great number of aqueous particles are brought together and frozen, and in their descent collect other particles, so that the density of the substance of the hailstone grows less and less from the center, this being formed first in the higher regions, and the surface being collected in the lower. This theory is not in all cases supported by fact, as in some instances the center has been found soft and snow-like, when the surface has been hard. Hail is the only meteor of this kind, from which no apparent good is derived. Rain and dew invigorate and give life to the whole vegetable world; frost, by expanding the water contained in the earth, pulverizes and renders the soil fertile; snow covers and defends vegetables from being destroyed by too severe a frost; but hail does none of these. It not only does no good, but often much harm - always some. It has a chilling, blasting effect in spring and summer, and cuts the tender plants so as to injure or totally destroy them. In short, the treasures of hail are not well known; and its use in the creation has not yet been ascertained. But frost is God's universal plough, by which he cultivates the whole earth.

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 his enemies, and the enemies of his people. There is probably an allusion here to the plague of hail sent on the Egyptians. See Exo 9:23 (note), and the notes there, for more particulars concerning hailstones, remarkable showers of them, etc. There may be also a reference to Jos 10:10-11 (note), where a destructive shower of what are called hailstones fell upon the Canaanitish kings who fought against Israel. See the note there also.

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 every kind of substance, as it is known to exist in all, and, indeed, to be diffused through every portion of nature? How is it parted? How does it take its zigzag form? this is the curious, indescribable, and unknown parting. Are all the causes of positive and negative electricity found out? What are its particles, and how do they cohere, and in what order are they propagated? Much has been said on all these points, and how little of that much satisfactorily!

Scattereth the east wind upon the earth? - קדים kadim, the eastern storm, euroclydon, or levanter.

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 evaporation; and it is by this Divine contrivance that the earth is not only irrigated, but even dried; and by this means too much moisture is not permitted to lie upon the ground, which would not only be injurious to vegetation, but even destroy it. But query, may not a waterspout be intended?

A way for the lightning of thunder - "A path for the bolt of thunder." God is represented as directing the course even of the lightning; he launches the bolt, and makes the path in which it is to run. To grasp, manage, and dart the thunderbolt or lightning, was a work which heathenism gave to Jupiter, its supreme god. None of the inferior deities were capable of this. But who can thunder with a voice like the Almighty? He is The Thunderer.

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 at the rate of 1142 feet in a second. Rain travels still more slowly, and will be seen sooner or later according to the weight of the drops, and the distance of the cloud from the place of the spectator. Now the flash, the clap, and the rain, take place all in the same moment, but are discernible by us in the succession already mentioned, and for the reasons given above; and more at large in the note on Job 36:29, etc. But how are these things formed? The lightning is represented as coming immediately from the hand of God. The clap is the effect of the lightning, which causes a vacuum in that part of the atmosphere through which it passes; the air rushing in to restore the equilibrium may cause much of the noise that is heard in the clap. An easy experiment on the airpump illustrates this: Take a glass receiver open at both ends, over one end tie a piece of sheep's bladder wet, and let it stand till thoroughly dry. Then place the open end on the plate of the airpump, and exhaust the air slowly from under it. The bladder soon becomes concave, owing to the pressure of the atmospheric air on it, the supporting air in the receiver being partly thrown out. Carry on the exhaustion, and the air presses at the rate of fifteen pounds on every square inch; see on Job 28:28 (note). The fibres of the bladder, being no longer capable of bearing the pressure of the atmospheric column upon the receiver, are torn to pieces, with a noise equal to the report of a musket, which is occasioned by the air rushing in to restore the equilibrium. Imagine a rapid succession of such experiments, and you have the peal of thunder, the rupture of the first bladder being the clap. But the explosion of the gases (oxygen and hydrogen) of which water is composed will also account for the noise. See below. But how does the thunder cause rain? By the most accurate and incontestable experiments it is proved that water is a composition of two elastic airs or gases as they are called, oxygen and hydrogen. In 100 parts of water there are 88 1/4 of oxygen, and 11 3/4 of hydrogen. Pass a succession of electric sparks through water by means of a proper apparatus, and the two gases are produced in the proportions mentioned above. To decompose water by galvanism: - Take a narrow glass tube three or four inches long; fit each end with a cork penetrated by a piece of slender iron wire, and fill the tube with water. Let the ends of the two wires within the tube be distant from each other about three quarters of an inch, and let one be made to communicate with the top, the other with the bottom of a galvanic pile in action. On making this communication, bubbles of air will be formed, and ascend to the top of the tube, the water decreasing as it is decomposed. The oxygen and hydrogen formed by this experiment may be recomposed into the same weight of water. Take any quantity of the oxygen and hydrogen gases in the proportions already mentioned; ignite them by the electric spark, and they produce a quantity of water equal in weight to the gases employed. Thus, then, we can convert water into air, and reconvert this air into water; and the proportions hold as above. I have repeatedly seen this done, and assisted in doing it, but cannot, in this place, describe every thing in detail. Now to the purpose of this note: the rain descending after the flash and the peal. The electric spark or matter of lightning, passing through the atmosphere, ignites and decomposes the oxygen and hydrogen, which explode, and the water which was formed of these two falls down in the form of rain. The explosion of the gases, as well as the rushing in of the circumambient air to restore the equilibrium, will account for the clap and peal: as the decomposition and ignition of them will account for the water or rain which is the attendant of a thunder storm. Thus by the lightning of thunder God causes it to rain on the earth. How marvellous and instructive are his ways!

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 tender herb to spring forth: for there are beasts, fowls, and insects, that inhabit the desert and the wilderness, and must be nourished by the productions of the ground. Every tribe of animals was made by the hand of God, and even the lowest of them is supported by his kind providence.

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, etc.

The drops of dew? - אגלי egley, the sphericles, the small round drops or globules. Dew is a dense moist vapor, found on the earth in spring and summer mornings, in the form of a mizzling rain. Dr. Hutton defines it, "a thin, light, insensible mist or rain, descending with a slow motion, and falling while the sun is below the horizon. It appears to differ from rain as less from more. Its origin and matter are doubtless from the vapours and exhalations that rise from the earth and water." Various experiments have been instituted to ascertain whether dew arises from the earth, or descends from the atmosphere; and those pro and con have alternately preponderated. The question is not yet decided; and we cannot yet tell any more than Job which hath begotten the drops of dew, the atmosphere or the earth. Is it water deposited from the atmosphere, when the surface of the ground is colder than the air?

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-establishment; and that the fluidity of water is a real fusion, like that of metals exposed to the action of fire; and differing only in this, that a greater portion of fire is necessary to one than the other. Ice, therefore, is supposed to be the natural state of water; so that in its natural state water is solid, and becomes fluid only by the action of fire, as solid metallic bodies are brought into a state of fusion by the same means. Ice is lighter than water, its specific gravity being to that of water as eight to nine. This rarefaction of ice is supposed to be owing to the air-bubbles produced in water by freezing, and which, being considerably larger in proportion to the water frozen, render the body so much specifically lighter; hence ice always floats on water. The air-bubbles, during their production, acquire a great expansive power, so as to burst the containing vessels, be they ever so strong. See examples in the note on Job 37:10 (note).

The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? - Hoar-frost is the congelation of dew, in frosty mornings, on the grass. It consists of an assemblage of little crystals of ice, which are of various figures, according to the different disposition of the vapours when met and condensed by the cold. Its production is owing to some laws with which we are not yet acquainted. Of this subject, after the lapse and experience of between two and three thousand years, we know about as much as Job did. And the question, What hath engendered the hoar-frost of heaven! is, to this hour, nearly as inexplicable to us as it was to him! Is it enough to say that hoar-frost is water deposited from the atmosphere at a low temperature, so as to produce congelation?

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 implying hardening or congelation; and we know in some intense frosts the ice becomes as hard as a stone; and even the face of the deep - the very seas themselves, not only in the polar circles, but even in northern countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and parts of Germany, are really frozen, and locked up from all the purposes of navigation for several months in winter.

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 counted. They make their appearance in the spring. Orion may be seen in the morning, towards the end of October, and is visible through November, December, and January; and hence, says Mr. Good, it becomes a correct and elegant synecdoche for the winter at large. The Pleiades are elegantly opposed to Orion, as the vernal renovation of nature is opposed to its wintry destruction; the mild and open benignity of spring, to the severe and icy inactivity of winter. I have already expressed my mind on these supposed constellations, and must refer to my notes on Job 9:9, etc., and to the learned notes of Doctor Hales and Mr. Mason Good on these texts. They appear certain, where I am obliged to doubt; and, from their view of the subject, make very useful and important deductions. I find reluctance in departing from the ancient versions. In this case, these learned men follow them; I cannot, because I do not see the evidence of the groundwork; and I dare not draw conclusions from premises which seem to me precarious, or which I do not understand. I wish, therefore, the reader to examine and judge for himself.

Coverdale renders the Job 38:31 and Job 38:32 verses thus:

Hast thou brought the VII starres together? Or, Art thou able to breake the circle of heaven? Canst thou bringe forth the morynge starre, or the evenynge starre, at convenient tyme, and conveye them home agayne?

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 summer heats.

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 tell what influence or dominion they exercise on the earth? Sir Isaac Newton has given us much light on many of these things; but to his system, which is most probably the true one, gravity is essential; and yet what this gravity is he could neither explain nor comprehend; and his followers are not one whit wiser than he. No man has ever yet fully found out the ordinances of heaven, and the dominion thereof on the earth.

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 the voice of Jehovah!

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 to grasp the bickering flame that, though it struggles for liberty, it cannot escape from his hold. Lightnings - How much like the sound of thunder is the original word: ברכים Berakim! Here are both sense and sound.

Here we are? - Will the winged lightnings be thy messengers, as they are mine?

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, which alone can give understanding. But who has given man the power to conceive and understand? A power which he knows he has, but which he cannot comprehend. Man knows nothing of his own mind, nor of the mode of its operations. This mind we possess, these operations we perform; - and of either do we know any thing? If we know not our own spirit, how can we comprehend that Spirit which is infinite and eternal? Mr. Good thinks that this verse is a continuation of the subject above, relative to the lightnings, and therefore translates thus: -

Who putteth understanding into the vollies?

And who giveth to the shafts discernment?

All the versions, except the Septuagint, which trifles here, understand the place as we do. Either makes a good sense. The Septuagint has, "Who hath given the knowledge of weaving to women; or the science of embroidery?" Instead of understanding to the heart, the Vulgate has, understanding to the cock; that it might be able to distinguish and proclaim the watches of the night.

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 - The clouds: it is an allusion to the girbahs, or bottles made of skin, in which they are accustomed to carry their water from wells and tanks.

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 all metals and minerals? Even water, in a solid form, constitutes a part of several gems, called thence water of crystallization. Who can solve this question? How is it that 90 parts of alumine, 7 of silex, and 1.2 of oxide of iron, constitute the oriental ruby? and that 90 parts of silex and 19 of water, form the precious opal? And how can 46 parts of silex, 14 of alumine, 28 of carbonate of lime, 6.5 of sulphate of lime, 3 of oxide of iron, and 2 of water, enter into the constitution, and form the substance, of the lapis lazuli? How do these solids and fluids of such differing natures grow into hardness, and form this curious mineral? Take another example from that beautiful precious stone, the emerald. Its analysis shows it to be composed of glucine 13, silex 64.5, alumine 16, lime 1.6, and oxide of chrome 3.25. Now how can these dusts, utterly worthless in themselves, grow into hardness, combine, and form one of the most beautiful, and, next to the diamond, the most precious, of all the gems? The almighty and infinitely wise God has done this in a way only known to and comprehensible by himself.

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, the thirty-ninth chapter begins with this verse, and begins properly, as a new subject now commences, relating to the natural history of the earth, or the animal kingdom; as the preceding chapter does to astronomy and meteorology.

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, in order to surprise those animals which they have not fleetness enough to overtake in the forest; and from this circumstance the כפירים kephirim, "young lions, or lions' whelps," have their name: the root is כפר caphar, to cover or hide. See the note on Job 4:11, where six different names are given to the lion, all expressing some distinct quality or state.

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 omen, and hated by all. This verse is finely paraphrased by Dr. Young: - "Fond man! the vision of a moment made!

Dream of a dream, and shadow of a shade!

What worlds hast thou produced, what creatures framed,

What insects cherish'd, that thy God is blamed?

When pain'd with hunger, the wild raven's brood

Calls upon God, importunate for food,

Who hears their cry? Who grants their hoarse request,

And stills the glamours of the craving nest?"

On which he has this note: - "The reason given why the raven is particularly mentioned as the care of Providence is, because by her clamorous and importunate voice she particularly seems always calling upon it; thence κορασσω, α κοραξ, is to ask earnestly - Aelian. lib. ii., c. 48. And since there were ravens on the banks of the Nile, more clamorous than the rest of that species, those probably are meant in this place."

The commencement of Cicero's oration against Catiline, to which I have referred on Job 38:3, is the following: -

Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quamdiu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium palatii-nihil urbis vigiliae, - nihil timor popuii, - nihii concursus bonorum omnium, - nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus-nihil horum ora, vultusque moverunt? Patere tua consilia nan sentis? Constrictam jam omnium horum conscientia teneri conjurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, - ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, - quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris? O tempora! O mores! Senatus haec intelligit, - consul videt; hic tamen vivit! Vivit? immo vero eitam in senatum venit; fit publici consilii particeps; notat et designat oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrum! Nos autem, viri fortes, satisfacere reipublicae videmur, si istius furorem ac tela vitemus! "How long wilt thou, O Catiline, abuse our patience? How long shall thy madness out-brave our justice? To what extremities art thou resolved to push thy unbridled insolence of guilt? Canst thou behold the nocturnal arms that watch the palatium, - the guards of the city, - the consternation of the citizens, - all the wise and worthy clustering into consultation, - the impregnable situation of the seat of the senate, - and the reproachful looks of the fathers of Rome? Canst thou behold all this, and yet remain undaunted and unabashed? Art thou insensible that thy measures are detected? Art thou insensible that this senate, now thoroughly informed, comprehend the whole extent of thy guilt? Show me the senator ignorant of thy practices during the last and preceding night, of the place where you met, the company you summoned, and the crime you concerted. The senate is conscious, - the consul is witness to all this; yet, O how mean and degenerate! the traitor lives! Lives? he mixes with the senate; he shares in our counsels; with a steady eye he surveys us; he anticipates his guilt; he enjoys the murderous thought, and coolly marks us to bleed! Yet we, boldly passive in our country's cause, think we act like Romans, if we can escape his frantic rage!"

The reader will perceive how finely Cicero rushes into this invective, as if the danger had been too immediate to give him leisure for the formality of address and introduction. See Guthrie's Orations of Cicero. Here is eloquence! Here is nature! And in thus speaking her language, the true orator pierces with his lightnings the deepest recesses of the heart. The success of this species of oratory is infallible in the pulpit, when the preacher understands how to manage it.

Lord - The eternal word, Jehovah, the same who spake from mount Sinai. Answered - Out of a dark and thick cloud, from which he sent a tempestuous wind, as the harbinger of his presence. In this manner God appears and speaks to awaken Job and his friends, to the more serious attention to his words; and to testify his displeasure both against Job, and them, that all of them might be more deeply humbled and prepared to receive, and retain the instructions which God was about to give them.

Counsel - God's counsel. For the great matter of the dispute between Job and his friends, was concerning God's counsel and providence in afflicting Job; which Job had endeavoured to obscure and misrepresent. This first word which God spoke, struck Job to the heart. This he repeats and echoes to, chap.42:3, as the arrow that stuck fast in him.

Gird up - As warriors then did for the battle.

Where - Thou art but of yesterday; and dost thou presume to judge of my eternal counsels! When - When I settled it as firm upon its own center as if it had been built upon the surest foundations.

Measures - Who hath prescribed how long and broad and deep it should be. Line - the measuring line to regulate all its dimensions.

Foundations - This strong and durable building hath no foundations but God's power, which hath marvelously established it upon itself. Cornerstone - By which the several walls are joined and fastened together, and in which, next to the foundations, the stability of a building consists. The sense is, who was it that built this goodly fabrick, and established it so firmly that it cannot be moved.

Stars - The angels, who may well be called morning - stars, because of their excellent lustre and glory. Sons of God - The angels called the sons of God, because they had their whole being from him, and because they were made partakers of his Divine and glorious image. Shouted - Rejoiced in and blessed God for his works, whereby he intimates, that they neither did advise or any way assist him, nor dislike or censure any of his works, as Job had presumed to do.

Doors - Who was it, that set bounds to the vast and raging ocean, and shut it up, as it were with doors within its proper place, that it might not overflow the earth? Break forth - From the womb or bowels of the earth, within which the waters were for the most part contained, and out of which they were by God's command brought forth into the channel which God had appointed for them.

The cloud - When I covered it with vapours and clouds which rise out of the sea, and hover above it, and cover it like a garment. Darkness - Black and dark clouds. Swaddling band - Having compared the sea to a new - born infant, he continues the metaphor, and makes the clouds as swaddling - bands, to keep it within its bounds: though indeed neither clouds, nor air, nor sands, nor shores, can bound the sea, but God alone.

Break up - Made those hollow places in the earth, which might serve for a cradle to receive and hold this great and goodly infant when it came out of the womb. And set - Fixed its bounds as strongly as if they were fortified with bars and doors.

Morning - Didst thou create the sun, and appoint the order and succession of day and night. Since - Since thou wast born: this work was done long before thou wast born. To know - To observe the punctual time when, and the point of the heavens where it should arise; which varies every day.

That - That this morning light should in a moment spread itself, from one end of the hemisphere to the other. Shaken - From the face of the earth. And this effect the morning - light hath upon the wicked, because it discovers them, whereas darkness hides them; and because it brings them to condign punishment, the morning being the usual time for executing judgment.

It - The earth. Turned - Is changed in its appearance. By the seal - The seal makes a beautiful impression upon the clay, which in itself hath no form, or comeliness. So the earth, which in the darkness of night lies like a confused heap without either form or beauty, when the light arises and shines upon it, appears in excellent order and glory. They - The men and things of the earth, whether natural, as living creatures, herbs and trees; or artificial, as houses or other buildings. Stand - Present themselves to our view. Garment - Wherewith the earth is in a manner clothed and adorned.

Withheld - That light which enjoyed by others is withholden from them, either by their own choice, because they chuse darkness rather than light; or by the judgment of God, or the magistrate, by whom they are cut off from the light of the living. Arms - Their great strength which they used to the oppression of others.

Springs - Heb. the tears; the several springs out of which the waters of the sea flow as tears do from the eyes. Walked - Hast thou found out the utmost depth of the sea, which in divers places could never be reached by the wisest mariner? And how then canst thou fathom the depths of my counsels?

Death - Hast thou seen, or dost thou know the place and state of the dead; the depths and bowels of that earth in which the generality of dead men are buried. Death is a grand secret? We know not when or by what means we shall be brought to death: by what road we must go the way, whence we shall not return. We cannot describe what death is; how the knot is untied between soul and body, or how the spirit goes "To be we know not what, and live we know not how." With what dreadful curiosity does the soul launch out into an untried abyss? We have no correspondence with separate souls, nor any acquaintance with their state. It is an unknown, undiscovered region, to which they are removed. While we are here in a world of sense, we speak of the world of spirits, as blind men do of colours, and when we remove thither, shall be amazed to find how much we were mistaken.

Breadth - The whole compass and all the parts of it?

Dwelleth - Hath its constant and settled abode. Whether goes the sun when it departs from this hemisphere? Where is the tabernacle and the chamber in which he is supposed to rest? And seeing there was a time when there was nothing but gross darkness upon the face of the earth, what way came light into the world? Which was the place where light dwelt at that time, and whence was it fetched? And whence came that orderly constitution and constant succession of light and darkness? Was this thy work? Or wast thou privy to it, or a counsellor, or assistant in it?

Take it - Bring or lead it: and this it refers principally to the light, and to darkness, as the consequent of the other. Bound - Its whole course from the place of its abode whence it is supposed to come, to the end of its journey. Know - Where thou mayst find it, and whence thou mayst fetch it.

Treasures - Dost thou know where I have laid up those vast quantities of snow and hail which I draw forth when I see fit?

Trouble - When I intend to bring trouble upon any people for their sins.

Distributed - In the air, and upon the face of the earth. This is variously distributed in the world, shining in one place and time, when it doth not shine in another, or for a longer time, or with greater brightness and power than it doth in another. All which are the effects of God's infinite wisdom and power, and such as were out of Job's reach to understand. Which - Which light scattereth, raises the east - wind, and causes it to blow hither and thither upon the earth? For as the sun is called by the poets, the father of the winds, because he draws up those exhalations which give matter to the winds, so in particular the east - wind is often observed to rise together with the sun.

Overflowing - For the showers of rain which come down orderly, and gradually, as if they were conveyed in pipes or channels; which, without the care of God's providence, would fall confusedly, and overwhelm the earth. Lightning - For lightning and thunder? Who opened a passage for them out of the cloud in which they were imprisoned? And these are joined with the rain, because they are commonly accompanied with great showers of rain.

To cause - That the clouds being broken by lightning and thunder might pour down rain. No man - To water those parts by art and industry, as is usual in cultivated places.

To bring forth - Hitherto God has put such questions to Job, as were proper to convince him of his ignorance. Now he comes to convince him of his impotence. As it is but little that he can know, and therefore he ought not to arraign the Divine counsels, so it is but little he can do; and therefore he ought not to oppose Divine providence.

Father - Is there any man that can beget or produce rain at his pleasure?

Bind - Restrain or hinder them. Pleiades - The seven stars, which bring in the spring. Bands - By which it binds up the air and earth, by bringing storms of rain and hail or frost and snow. Orion - This constellation rises in November, and brings in winter. Both summer and winter will have their course? God indeed can change them when he pleases, can make the spring cold, and so bind the influences of Pleiades, and the winter warm, and so loose the bands of Orion; but we cannot.

Bring forth - Canst thou make the stars in the southern signs arise and appear? Arcturus - Those in the northern. His sons - The lesser stars, which are placed round about them; and attend upon them, as children upon their parents.

Ordinances - The laws which are firmly established concerning their order, motion, or rest, and their powerful influences upon this lower world. Didst thou give these laws? Or dost thou perfectly know them? Canst thou - Manage and over rule their influences.

Cover thee - Thy land when it needs rain.

Mire - By reason of much rain.

Hunt - Is it by thy care that the lions who live in desert places are furnished with necessary provisions? This is another wonderful work of God.

Raven - Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures, he now mentions one of the most contemptible; to shew the care of God's providence over all creatures, both great and small. Their young ones are so soon forsaken by their dams, that if God did not provide for them in a more than ordinary manner, they would be starved to death. And will he that provides for the young ravens, fail to provide for his own children.

1. THen the LORD answered Iob out of the whirlwind , and said,

i. e. Began to debate the matter with him as Iob had desired.

i. e. Out of a dark and thick Cloud, from which he sent a terrible and tempestuous Wind as the harbinger of his presence. In this manner God appears and speaks to him, partly because this was his usual method in those times, as we see, Exod. 19. 18. Numb. 9. 15, 16. See also 1 Kings 19. 11. Ezek. 1. 4. partly to awaken Iob and his Friends, to the more serious and reverend attention to his words; partly to [illegible: 1+ letters]estifie his displeasure both against Iob and against his three Friends, and partly that all of them might be more deeply and throughly humbled and abased within themselves, and prepared the better to receive and longer to retain the instructions which God was about to give them.

Marginal references: Nah. 1. 3.

2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ?

It is a question of admiration and reprehension, What and where is he that presumeth to talk at this rate? This Language becomes not a Creature, much less a Professour of Religion. The Person here designed is not Elihu who spoke last, but Iob who had spoken most, as is apparent from v. 1. and from Chap. 42. 3. where Job takes the following reproof to himself, and from the following Discourse wherein God convinceth Job by divers of the same kind of arguments which Elihu had used against him.

Either 1▪ his own counsel; i. e. that expresseth his own mind darkly and doubtfully. But that was not Job's fault. He spake his mind too plainly and freely. Or rather 2. God's counsel, which is called simply counsel by way of eminency, as the word and the commandment are oft put for the word and command of God. For the great matter of the dispute between Job, and his Friends, was concerning God's counsel, and purpose, and providence in afflicting Job; which being a wise, and just, and glorious action of God, Job had endeavoured to obscure and misrepresent and censure. And God's decrees and judgments are frequently called his counsels, as Psal. 33. 11. Prov. 19. 21. Isa. 28. 29. Act. 2. 23.

God doth not charge Job, as his three Friends had done, with hypocrisie and wickedness in the course of life, [illegible: 1+ letters]or with atheistical opinions of God, or his providence, as some of the Hebrew Writers do, but confines, his reproof to his hard speeches.

Proceeding from ignorance, and mistake, and inconsiderateness; not from malice or rage against God, as his Friends accused him.

3. Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee and answer thou me.

As Warriours then did for the Battle. Prepare thy self for the Combate with me, which thou hast oft desired. I accept of thy Challenge, Ch. 13. 22. and elsewhere.

Or, I will ask thee Questions; which he doth in the following Verses.

Marginal references: Chap. 40. 7.; Heb. make me know.

4. Where wast thou , when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare, if thou hast understanding .

Then thou wast no where, thou hadst no being; thou art but of yesterday; and dost thou presume to judge of my eternal Counsels! I made the World without thy help, and therefore can govern it without thy counsel, and I do not need thee to be the Controller or Censu[illegible: 1+ letters]er of my works.

When I made the Earth, which is as the Foundation or lower part of the whole World, and settled it as firm and fast upon its own Center as if it had been built upon the surest Foundations.

But if thou art ignorant of these manifest and visible works, do not pretend to the exact knowledge of my secret Counsels and mysterious Providences.

Marginal references: Psal. 104. 5. Prov. 8. 29, & 30. 4.; Heb. if thou knowest understanding.

5. Who hath laid the measures thereof , if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Who hath prescribed how long and broad and deep it should be.

To wit, the measuring line to regulate all its dimensions, so as might be most convenient▪ both for beauty and use.

6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner stone thereof ?

This strong and durable Building hath no Foundations but in God's power and word which hath marvellously established it upon it self.

By which the several walls and parts of the Building are joyned and fastened together, and in which, next to the Foundations, the stability of any Building does consist. The sense is, Who was it that did build this goodly Fabrick, and establish[illegible: 1+ letters] it so firmly that it cannot be moved without a Miracle.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. made to si[illegible: 1+ letters]k.

7. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy

Either 1. the Stars properly so called, who are said to sing and praise God, objectively, because they give men ample occasion to do it in regard of their glorious light and stupendious motions, &c. Compare Psal. 19. 1. & 148, 1, &c. But, 1. there stars are not here the objects or matter, but the authors or instruments of God's praises for the founding of the Earth. 2. the Stars were not created when the Earth was founded, but upon the fourth day. 3. there is no satisfactory reason given why all the Stars should be called Morningstars, especially when there is but one Star known by that Name. Or rather 2. the Sons of God, as it here follows, the latter Clause of the Verse being explicatory of the former, as is most frequent in this and some other Books of Scripture, to wit, the Angels, who may well be called Stars as even men of eminent note, and particu [illegible: 1+ letters]ly Ministers of God's Word are called. Dan. 8. 10. & 12. 3. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 16, 20. and Morning-stars, because of their excellent lustre and glory, for which they are called Angels of Light, 2 Cor. 11. 14. and Christ for the same reason is called the Morning-star, Revel. 22. 16.

The blessed Angels; for man not being yet made, God had then no other Sons; and these are called the Sons of God, partly because they had their whole being from him, and partly because they were made partakers of his divine and glorious Image. And all these are said to join in this work of praising God, probably because none of the Angels were as yet fallen from their first estate, though they did [illegible: 1+ letters]all within a very little time after.

Rejoyced in and blessed God for his works. Whereby he intimates, that they neither did advise or any way assist him in his works, nor dislike or censure any of his works, as Iob had presumed to do with the works of his Providence, which are not inferior to those of Creation.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word], so Or.

8. Or who shut up the sea with doors , when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb.

Who was it, thou or I, that did set bounds to the vast and raging Ocean, and shut it up as it were with Doors within its proper place and store-house that it might not overflow the Earth; which without God's powerful restraint it would do? See Psal. 33. 7. & 104. 9. This sense seems most proper and to be confirmed by the following Verses.

Or, after it had broken forth, to it, from the womb or bowels of the Earth, within which the Waters were for the most part contained, Gen. 1. 2. Compare 2 Pet. 3. 5. and out of which they were by God's command brought forth into the proper place or channel which God had appointed for them.

Marginal references: Gen. 1. 9.

9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof , and thick darkness a swadling band for it :

When I covered it with Vapours and Clouds which arise out of the Sea, and by God's appointment hover above it and cover it like a garment.

i. e. Black and dark Clouds, called Darkness by an usual Metonymy of the Adjunct. So the same thing is repeated in other words after the manner.

Having compared the Sea to a New-born Infant he continues in the same Metaphor, and makes the Clouds as swadling-bands to keep the Sea within its bounds: though indeed neither Clouds, nor Air, nor Sands, and shores, can bound the Sea, but it is God alone who doth it in and with these things.

10. And brake up for it my decreed place , and set bars, and doors ,

i. e. Made those vallies or channels, and hollow-places in the Earth, which might serve for a Cradle to receive and hold this great and goodly Infant when it came out of the Womb. See Gen. 1. 9, 10. Psal. 33. 7. Or, ordained or established my Decree upon or concerning it.

i. e. Fixed its bounds as strongly as if they were fortified with Bars and Doors.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; Ch. 26. 10.

11. And said, Hitherto shall thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.

To wit, at the Sand and Shore of the Sea, Ier. 5. 22.

Which rage and swell as if they would over-whelm all the Earth.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] pride [illegible: 1 word] waves.

12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days ? and caused the day-spring to know his place ?

i. e. The Morning-light, or the Sun which is the cause of it. Didst thou create the Sun and appoint the order and succession of Day and Night?

Since thou wast born. This work was not done by thee but my me, and that long before thou wast born.

To observe the punctual time when and the point of the Heavens where it should arise; which varies every day. Was this thy contrivance or mine?

13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth , that the wicked might be shaken out of it ?

That this Morning-light should in a moment spread it self over the face of the whole Earth, from one end of the Hemisphear to the other.

From the face of the Earth. And this effect the Morning light hath upon the wicked, partly because it discovers them and drives them into their lurking-holes whereas the darkness hides them and draws them forth and gives them opportunity to execute their villanies without observation, Iob 24. 15, 16, 17. and partly because it brings them to condign punishment, the Morning being the most fit and the m[illegible: 1+ letters]st usual time for executing judgment: of which▪see Psal. 101. 8. Ier. 21. 12.

Marginal references: Heb wings▪ [illegible: 1 word]. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 3.

14. It is turned as clay to the seal , and they stand as a garment .

To wit, the Earth mentioned in the next foregoing Verse▪

Is transformed and changed in its shape and appearance.

Or, by the seal, which makes a beautiful or valuable impression upon that Clay, which in it self hath no form, nor worth, nor comliness in it. So the Earth, which in the darkness of the night lies like a confused heap without either form or beauty, when the light ariseth and shineth upon it appears, in excellent order and great glory.

Either 1. the Inhabitants of the Earth, and particularly the wicked, mentioned both in the foregoing and following Verses. Or 2. More generally, the men and things of the Earth, whether Natural, as living Creatures, Herbs and Trees, &c. Or artificial, as Houses or other Buildings.

i. e. Present themselves to our view, for which that posture of standing is most convenient. Or, consist, or abide, or are constituted.

Wherewith the Earth is in a manner clothed and adorned as with a garment, as the blessed God himself is said to cover himself with light as with a garment, Psal. 104. 2.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].

15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arms shall be broken.

Or, But, for the following words seem to be added by way of opposition to what went before. The Earth and the men and the things in it have the comfort and benefit of the light, but so have not the wicked.

i. e. Their portion of Light: That Light which is enjoyed by others is with-holden from them, either by their own choice, because they love and choose darkness rather than light; o[illegible: 1+ letters] by the judgment of God, or the Magistrate, by whom they are cut off from the light of the living, as it is called, Iob 33. 30. or at least deprived of their peace, and comfort, and Prosperity, which frequently goes under the name of Light in Scripture, and may be so called here by an elegant allusion to the Natural Light of the Sun mentioned before.

Their great strength which they used tyrannically to the oppression and crushing of others.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 10. 15.

16. Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth ?

Heb. the Tears, i. e. the several Springs out of which the Waters of the Sea flow as tears do from the eyes.

Hast thou sound out the utmost depth and bottom of the Sea which in divers places could never be reached by the wisest Mariner, or the longest Cables? And how then canst thou fathom the depths of my Counsels?

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].

17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee ? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death ?

Hast thou [illegible: 1+ letters]een, or dost thou perfectly know the place and state of the Dead; the depths and bowels of that Earth in which the generality of dead men are buried; or the several ways and methods of Death; or the various states and conditions of men after death?

The same thing repeated.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 9. 13.

18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the Earth . declare , if thou knowest it all.

Dost thou exactly know the whole compass and all the parts of the Earth, and the state and quality of all Countreys and of the men and things in them?

Give me an answer to these Questions which is far more easie to do than to answer me to many other Questions which I could put to thee about my secret Counsels and Providences, and the reasons of my dealing with thee as I do.

19. Where is the way where light dwelleth ? and as for darkness where is the place thereof?

Or rather, the place, as the next Clause explains it, and the Hebrew Phrase will bear.

i. e. Hath its constant and settled abode For in the place where Iob lived, and in most other parts of the inhabited World, it is like [illegible: 1+ letters] Traveller that cometh and goeth continually every day. This may be referred, eith [illegible: 1+ letters], 1. to the places under the two Poles, where first the light, and then the darkness continues for six Months together. Or rather 2. to the Sun the Fountain of Light. And as this is a Poetical Book, so this may be [illegible: 1+ letters] Poetical Expression and Question, Whither goes the Sun when it departs from this Hemisphear? Where is the Tabernacle and the Chamber in which both sacred, as Psal. 19. 4. 5. and profane Poets suppose the Sun to rest? Dost thou know the place where the Sun when it sets may be found, and whence thou canst fetch it back again. For it is to be carefully observed that he speaks not here of a bare and simple knowledge of this matter, which was plain and easie to Iob and many others, who were not ignorant that the Sun was the Fountain of Light from whose approach light comes▪ and by whose departure darkness is caused, but of an operative knowledge, even such as could and did enable him to take it to the bound thereof, as it follows, v. 20. And withal he seems here to speak not onely of the daily course and motion of the Sun, and the vicissitude of Day and Night, but also and especially of the first production of the light which was before Iob was born, as is evident from v. 21. And this makes the Question more difficult and more considerable, the sense whereof may be this▪ Seeing there was a time when there was nothing but gross and comfortless darkness upon the face of the Earth, what way came light into the World? Which was the place where light dwelt at that time, and whence it was fetched? and whence came that orderly constitution and constant succession of Light and Darkness? Was this thy work? Or wast thou privy to it, or a Counsellor, or Assistant in it? Or was it not done by me alone long before thou hadst a being?

20. That thou shouldst take it , to the bound thereof , and that thou shouldst know the paths to the house thereof ?

i. e. Taking, bring or lead it, as this Verb is oft used, as Exod. 25. 2. Psal. 68. 29. compared with Eph. 4. 11. 1 Kings 3. 24. & 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 10. Hosea 14. 2. And many other such pregnant Verbs there are in the Hebrew Language having the signification of two Verbs included in one. And this it refers principally to the Light, and secondarily to Darkness, as the consequent of the other.

i. e. Its whole course from the place of its abode whence it is supposed to come to the end of its journey which it is to go. Didst thou direct or guide the Light or the Sun that he should at first take and afterward constantly continue in that course which now it holds, that it should go from East to West, and rise sometimes in one point or part of the Heaven, and sometimes in another, and that its days journey should be longer in one season of the Year, and shorter in another? This regular and excellent course must needs be the effect of great Wisdom. And whose wisdom was it? thine or mine?

To wit, practically, so as to direct or lead it in the manner now expressed.

Where thou mayest find it, and whence thou mayest fetch it.

Marginal references: Or▪ a[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

21. Knowest thou it because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great ?

An ironical Question, If thou pretendest that thou knowest these things and ca[illegible: 1+ letters]t readily answer these Questions▪ how ▪comest thou by this knowledge? Was it from hence because thou wast born when I made the World, and that first constitution of the Light and Darkness in that order and succession which continues to this day, and thereby hadst the opportunity of inspecting my works and seeing whence the Light came, and because thou hast gained this knowledge by long experience as having lived ever since the Creation of the World until this time? Whereas in truth thou art but of yesterday, and knowest [illegible: 1+ letters]othing, as was said, Ch. 8. 9. But the words are and may be otherwise rendred, dost or didst thou know, either by thy own remembrance, or by the information of others, that thou wa[illegible: 1+ letters]t then born (to wit, when I made the World? Or, didst thou know that thou shouldst then be born, then, to wit, when thou wast born? Or, didst thou then know, the two Hebrew Particles being transplaced, as is not unusual in that Language, that thou shouldst be born? How couldst thou know this when thou hadst no being?) and that the number of thy days should be great? That thou shouldst live so long as thou hast lived. Thou couldest neither foreknow the time of thy Birth, nor the length of thy Life. Or, and is the number of thy days great? i. e. So great that it reacheth to the time of the Worlds Creation.

22. Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail .

Dost thou know where I have laid up those vast quantitys of Snow and Hail which I draw forth when I see fit? dost thou know the causes of them, and the way to produce them? But if thou art unacquainted with these treasures, it is intolerable presumption in thee to pretend that thou knowest those treasures of Wisdom which lye hid in my own Breast.

23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble , against the day of battle and war?

i. e. Which Snow, and especially hail.

i. e. When I intend to bring trouble or calamity upon a Countrey or People for their sins, or for their trial. Or, against the time of the enemy, i. e. when I intend to punish mine or my Peoples enemies, and to fight against them with these weapons. Of which see instances, Exod. 9. 14. Ios. 10. 11. Compare 1 Sam 7. 10. Iob 36. 31. Isa▪ 30. 30.

24. By what way is the light parted , which scattereth the east-wind upon the earth ?

Dost thou know all the causes, means, methods and circumstance[illegible: 1+ letters] of this work of God?

Or, dispersed, or distributed, to wit, in the Air or upon the face of the Earth. By light he understands either, 1. the Lightning, which breaks forth suddenly out of a Cloud, and with strange swistness disperseth it self and Heeth from East to West, as is noted, Mat. 24. 27. But this word light put by it self, and being understood properly, is constantly used in this Book for the light of the Sun, and never for the Lightning, and where it is meant of the Lightning, there is some other word added to it, as Chap. 37. 15. where it is called the light of his Cloud. And besides, he speaks of the Lightning in the next Verse; which were superfluous if it were here mentioned. Or rather, 2. of the light of the Sun, which is commonly called light without any other word added to it, as Iob 3. 4, 9, 16. & 24. 14. & 25. 3. &c. And this light of the Sun is variously parted or distributed in the World, shining in one place and time, when it doth not shine in another, or for a longer time, or with greater brightness and power and vertue than it doth in another. All which are the effects of God's infinite Wisdom and Power, and such as were out of Iob's reach to understand, or at least to effect▪

i. e. Which light scattereth, &c. i. e. raiseth the East-wind and causeth it to blow hither and thither upon the Earth. For as the Sun is justly called by the Poets and others, the Father of the Winds, because he draws up those exhalations which give matter to the Winds, and for other reasons; so in particular the East-wind is oft observed to rise together with the Sun, from which also it hath both its Latin and Greek Name. But some make this a distinct Question from the former, and render the words thus, and (repeat, by which way) the East-wind (under which all the other Winds may be comprehended) scattereth it self upon the Earth, i. e. Whence the Winds come and whither they go, which is mentioned as a secret in Nature, Ioh. 3. 8. and how it comes to pass that they blow in such several manners, and with such various and even contrary effects. Or thus, and by which way, the East-wind scattereth (to wit, the Clouds, or other light things: for this is noted in Scripture to be a most vehement Wind and to scatter the Clouds, Exod. 14. 21. Ionah, 4. 8.) upon the Earth; i. e. whence it comes to pass that the East-wind was so violent and furious. But the words may be rendred thus, Which (i. e. which light of the Sun, or when it, to wit, this light) scattereth it self (as divers here render this word, that conjugation being often used reciprocally, as is confessed) from (the prefix Mem being understood, as it is very frequently in the Hebrew Text) the East (for this Hebrew word doth not onely signifie the Eastern Wind, but also the East, or the Eastern part of the Heavens or Earth, as Ezek. 40. 19. & 42. 16. Habakk. 1. 9. & in many other places,) and Kedem the root of this word is constantly so used) upon or over the Earth, all over the Earth▪ and this is justly mentioned as a wonderful work of God that as soon as ever the Sun ariseth, it parteth or scattereth its light in an instant from one end of the Hemisphear to another; But this I propose with submission.

25. Who hath divided a water-course for the overflowing of waters ? or a way for the lightning of thunder ,

For the showers of Rain which come down out of the Clouds, orderly, moderately and gradually, as if they were conveyed in Pipes or Channels; which without the care of God's Providence would fall confusedly and all together, and instead of refreshing would overwhelm the Earth.

i. e. For that Lightning which breaking out of the Cloud with violence, causeth Thunder. Or, for Lightning and Thunder. Who opened a passage for them out of the Cloud in which they were imprisoned? And these are here joyned with the Rain, because they are commonly accompanied with great showers of Rain: which is here noted as a wonderful work of God that Fire and Water should come out of the same Cloud?

26. To cause it to rain on the earth where no man is; on the wilderness wherein there is no man !

That the Clouds being broken by Lightning and Thunder might pour down Rain.

To wit, to water those parts by art and industry, as is usual in cultivated and inhabited places. Which makes this work of Divine providence more necessary and more remarkable in providing for the relief of the wild Beasts and Plants and other fruits of these forsaken Lands, which otherwise would perish with drought.

27. To satisfie the desolate and wast ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth .

By raining not sparingly, but liberally and abundantly upon it.

There being many excellent and useful Herbs found in desert places, which otherwise would be utterly neglected and despised.

Marginal references: Psal. 107. 35.

28. Hath the rain a father ? or who hath begotten the drops of the dew?

To wit, besides me. Is there any Man upon Earth that can beget or produce Rain at his pleasure? No, this is my peculiar work. And therefore seeing thou knowest and canst do nothing as to the government of these ordinary effects of Nature, how great presumption is it to arrogate to thy self the knowledge and management of the secret and mysterious affairs of my Providence in the disposal of men.

29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven who hath gendred it ?

What Man either can produce them, or doth fully understand where or how they are engendred? For Philosophers speak of these things onely by guess, and the reasons which some assign for them are confuted by others, and so they will confute one another to the end of the World and prove nothing solidly, but their own ignorance and the reasonableness of these Questions.

30. The waters are hid as with a stone , and the face of the deep is frozen.

i. e. With Ice as hard as a stone.

i. e. The great Sea, which is oft called the deep, as Gen. 7. 11. Psal 107. 24. Isa. 51. 10. & 63. 13. 2 Cor. 11. 25. which in some parts is frozen, which is a wonderful work of God.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] takes

31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades , or loose the bands of Orion ?

i. e Restrain or hinder them. Canst thou bind or shut up the Earth when they open it?

Or the delights, because this Constellation by its benign and opening influences brings in the Spring, the Herbs and Flowers, and other delights of the Earth.

Called, also the Seven Stars. Of this and the following Constellation, see Iob 9. 9.

By which it binds up the Air and Earth by bringing storms of Rain or hail, or Frost and Snow, and withal binds or seals the hands of Workmen, as is noted, Iob 37. 7.

This is another Constellation which riseth in November and brings in Winter. So the sense of the Verse is, Thou canst not bind the Earth when the one looseth or openeth it, nor loose or open it when the other binds or shutteth it up.

Marginal references: Or, the [illegible: 1 word] Stars.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons ?

To wit, into view. Canst thou make him to arise and appear in thy Hemisphear?

By which he designs either 1. all the Constellations, and especially the Twelve Signs of the Zodiack: or rather 2. some particular Constellation, as all the rest here mentioned are understood. But whether this be that which is called the Chambers of the South, Chap. 9. 7. Or the Dog-star, or some other visible in Iob's Countrey, but not in ours, we may be safely and contentedly ignorant, seeing even the Hebrew Doctors are not agreed therein.

A Northern Constellation, of which see on Iob 9. 9.

To wit, the lesser Stars which belong to it, and are placed round about it, and attend upon it as Children upon their Parents.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] ▪ Signs.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] them.

33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth ?

Either 1. simply and by speculation dost thou understand them. Or 2. practically or operatively so as to establish or rule them, as the next Clause implies.

The Laws which are firmly established concerning their order, motion or rest, and their powerful influences upon this lower World. Didst thou give these Laws? Or dost thou perfectly know them?

Canst thou manage and over-rule their influences that they shall bring such Seasons and such Weather as thou wouldst have?

Marginal references: Jer. 31. 35.

34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds , that abundance of waters may cover thee ?

Either thundering in them: or calling to them with a loud voice commanding them to rain.

i. e. Thy land when it needs and requires rain.

35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are ?

At thy pleasure and upon thy errand.

An expression of Servants declaring their readiness to obey their Masters commands; of which see Gen. 22. 1. Isa. 6. 8.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] us.

36. * Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts , or who hath given understanding to the heart ?

To wit, of a Man. Comp. Iob 19. 27. Psal. 51. 6. Who gave thee that wit and understanding which thou hast, and which thou now usest so arrogantly and wickedly to contend with me, and to censure my actions?

So he limits the former general expression of the inward parts. The heart is made by the Hebrews the seat of the understanding, and is commonly put for it in Scripture.

Marginal references: † Chap. 32. 8. Eccles. 2. 26.

37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom ? or who can stay the bottles of heaven ?

Who can wisely search out and exactly find the number of the Clouds? They are numberless and filled with Water, as the next Clause implies.

To wit, the Clouds, in which the Rain is kept as in Bottles, [illegible: 1+ letters]out of which God poureth them when he sees sit.

Marginal references: Or, declare the Skies.; Heb. who can cause to lie down.

38. When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clouds cleave fast together ?

This Verse containeth a description, either 1. of a great drought, when the Earth grows very hard and close and compact: Or 2▪ of the condition of the Earth presently after the fall of Rain, when the Earth, which in time of drought was much of it dissolved into dust, is now by the Rain cemented or united together. In either of these cases it is the work of God alone to keep the Clouds from pouring down more Rain upon the Earth.

Marginal references: Or, when the dust is turned into mire.; Heb. is [illegible: 1+ letters] ed.

39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion ? or fill the appetite of the young Lions.

Is it by thy care and providence that the Lions who live in desert places are furnished with necessary provisions? This is justly mentioned as another wonderful work of God.

Marginal references: Psal. 104. [illegible: 1+ letters]1.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪

40. When they couch in their dens , and abide in the covert to lie in wait ?

When through age and infirmity they cannot range abroad for Prey, as the young Lions do but [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] in their Dens, as it were expecting their food from God, from whom also they receive it.

Watching till some Beast comes that way upon which they may Prey.

41. Who provideth for the Raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

Having mentioned the noblest of Brute-creatures, he now mentions one of the most contemptible and loathsome to shew the care of God's Providence over all Creatures both great and small. Which is more remarkable in Ravens because 1. they devour flesh, which it is not easie for them to find. 2 they are greedy and eat very much. 3. they are generally neglected and forsaken by Mankind. 4. their young ones are so soon forsaken by their Dams, that if God did not provide for them in a more than ordinary manner they would be starved to death.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 147. 9. [illegible: 1 word]. 6. 26.

Job 38:1-3   1  Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm, and said:   2  Who then darkeneth counsel

With words without knowledge?   3  Gird up now thy loins as a man:

I will question thee, and inform thou me! “May the Almighty answer me!” Job has said, Job 31:35; He now really answers, and indeed out of the storm (Chethib, according to a mode of writing occurring only here and Job 40:6, מנהסערה, arranged in two words by the Keri), which is generally the forerunner of His self-manifestation in the world, of that at least by which He reveals Himself in His absolute awe-inspiring greatness and judicial grandeur. The art. is to be understood generically, but, with respect to Elihu’s speeches, refers to the storm which has risen up in the meanwhile. It is not to be translated: Who is he who ... , which ought to be המחשׁיך, but: Who then is darkening; זה makes the interrogative מי more vivid and demonstrative, Ges. §122, 2; the part. מחשׁיך (instead of which it might also be יחשׁיך) favours the assumption that Job has uttered such words immediately before, and is interrupted by Jehovah, without an intervening speaker having come forward. It is intentionally עצה for עצתי (comp. עם for עמי, Isa 26:11), to describe that which is spoken of according to its quality: it is nothing less than a decree or plan full of purpose and connection which Job darkness, i.e., distorts by judging it falsely, or, as we say: places in a false light, and in fact by meaningless words.The correct accentuation is מחשׁיך with Mercha, עצה with Athnach, במלין with Rebia mugrasch, bly (without Makkeph) with Munach.

When now Jehovah condescends to negotiate with Job by question and answer, He does not do exactly what Job wished (Job 13:22), but something different, of which Job never thought. He surprises him with questions which are intended to bring him indirectly to the consciousness of the wrong and absurdity of his challenge - questions among which “there are many which the natural philosophy of the present day can frame more scientifically, but cannot satisfactorily solve.”Alex. v. Humboldt, Kosmos, ii. 48 (1st edition), comp. Tholuck, Vermischte Schriften, i. 354.

Instead of כגבר (the received reading of Ben-Ascher), Ben-Naphtali’s text offered כּג (as Eze 17:10), in order not to allow two so similar, aspirated mutae to come together.

Job 38:4-7   4  Where wast thou when I established the earth?

Say, if thou art capable of judging!   5  Who hath determined its measure, if thou knowest it,

Or who hath stretched the measuring line over it?   6  Upon what are the bases of its pillars sunk in,

Or who hath laid its corner-stone,   7  When the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The examination begins similarly to Job 15:7. In opposition to the censurer of God as such the friends were right, although only negatively, since their conduct was based on self-delusion, as though they were in possession of the key to the mystery of the divine government of the world. ידע בּינה signifies to understand how to judge, to possess a competent understanding, 1Ch 12:32; 2Ch 2:12, or (ידע taken not in the sense of novisse, but cognoscere) to appropriate to one’s self, Pro 4:1; Isa 29:24. כּי, Job 38:5, interchanges with אם (comp. Job 38:18), for כּי תדע signifies: suppose that thou knowest it, and this si forte scias is almost equivalent to an forte scis, Pro 30:4. The founding of the earth is likened altogether to that of a building constructed by man. The question: upon what are the bases of its pillars or foundations sunk (טבע, Arab. ṭb‛, according to its radical signification, to press with something flat upon something, comp. Arab. ṭbq, to lay two flat things on one another, then both to form or stamp by pressure, and to press into soft pliant stuff, or let down into, immergere, or to sink into, immergi), points to the fact of the earth hanging free in space, Job 26:7. Then no human being was present, for man was not yet created; the angels, however, beheld with rejoicing the founding of the place of the future human family, and the mighty acts of God in accordance with the decree of His love (as at the building of the temple, the laying of the foundation, Ezr 3:10, and the setting of the head-stone, Zec 4:7, were celebrated), for the angels were created before the visible world (Psychol. S. 63; Genesis, S. 105), as is indeed not taught here, but still (vid., on the other hand, Hofmann, Schriftbew. i. 400) is assumed. For בּני אלהים are, as in Job 1-2, the angels, who proceeded from God by a mode of creation which is likened to begetting, and who with Him form one πατριά (Genesis, S. 121). The “morning stars,” however, are mentioned in connection with them, because between the stars and the angels, which are both comprehended in צבא השׁמים (Genesis, S. 128), a mysterious connection exists, which is manifoldly attested in Holy Scripture (vid., on the other hand, Hofm. ib. S. 318). כּוכב בּקר is the morning star which in Isa 14:12 is called הילל (as extra-bibl. נגהּ) from its dazzling light, which exceeds all other stars in brightness, and בּן־שׁחר, son of the dawn, because it swims in the dawn as though it were born from it. It was just the dawn of the world coming into being, which is the subject spoken of, that gave rise to the mention of the morning star; the plur., however, does not mean the stars which came into being on that morning of the world collectively (Hofm., Schlottm.), but Lucifer with the stars his peers, as כּסילים, Isa 13:10, Orion and the stars his peers. Arab. suhayl (Canopus) is used similarly as a generic name for stars of remarkable brilliancy, and in general suhêl is to the nomads and the Hauranites the symbol of what is brilliant, glorious, and beautiful;A man or woman of great beauty is called suhêli , suhelı̂je. Thus I heard a Hauranitish woman say to her companion: nahâr el - jôm nedâ , shuft ledsch (Arab. lk) wâhid Suhêli , To-day is dew, I saw a Suhêli , i.e., a very handsome man, for thee. - Wetzst. so that even the beings of light of the first rank among the celestial spirits might be understood by כוכבי בקר. But if this ought to be the meaning, Job 38:7 and Job 38:7 would be in an inverted order. They are actual stars, whether it is intended of the sphere belonging to the earth or to the higher sphere comprehended in השׁמים, Gen 1:1. Joy and light are reciprocal notions, and the scale of the tones of joy is likened to the scale of light and colours; therefore the fulness of light, in which the morning stars shone forth all together at the founding of the earth, may symbolize one grandly harmonious song of joy.

Job 38:8-11   8  And who shut up the sea with doors,

When it broke through, issued from the womb,   9  When I put clouds round it as a garment,

And thick mist as its swaddling clothes, 10  And I broke for it my bound,

And set bars and doors, 11  And said: Hitherto come, and no further,

And here be thy proud waves stayed!?

The state of תהו ובהו was the first half, and the state of תהום the second half of the primeval condition of the forming earth. The question does not, however, refer to the תהום, in which the waters of the sky and the waters of the earth were as yet not separated, but, passing over this intermediate condition of the forming earth, to the sea, the waters of which God shut up as by means of a door and bolt, when, first enshrouded in thick mist (which has remained from that time one of its natural peculiarities), and again and again manifesting its individuality, it broke forth (גּיח of the foetus, as Psa 22:10) from the bowels of the, as yet, chaotic earth. That the sea, in spite of the flatness of its banks, does not flow over the land, is a work of omnipotence which broke over it, i.e., restraining it, a fixed bound (חק as Job 26:10; Pro 8:29; Jer 5:22, = גּבוּל, Psa 104:9), viz., the steep and rugged walls of the basin of the sea, and which thereby established a firm barrier behind which it should be kept. Instead of וּפה, Jos 18:8, Job 38:11 has the Chethib וּפא. חק is to be understood with ישׁית, and “one set” is equivalent to the passive (Ges. §137*): let a bound be set (comp. שׁת, Hos 6:11, which is used directly so) against the proud rising of thy waves.

Job 38:12-15 12  Hast thou in thy life commanded a morning,

Caused the dawn to know its place, 13  That it may take hold of the ends of the earth,

So that the evil-doers are shaken under it? 14  That it changeth like the clay of a signet-ring,

And everything fashioneth itself as a garment. 15  Their light is removed from the evil-doers,

And the out-stretched arm is broken.

The dawn of the morning, spreading out from one point, takes hold of the carpet of the earth as it were by the edges, and shakes off from it the evil-doers, who had laid themselves to rest upon it the night before. נער, combining in itself the significations to thrust and to shake, has the latter here, as in the Arab. nâ‛ûra , a water-wheel, which fills its compartments below in the river, to empty them out above. Instead of ידּעתּה שׁחר with He otians, the Keri substitutes ידּעתּ השׁחר. The earth is the subj. to Job 38:14: the dawn is like the signet-ring, which stamps a definite impress on the earth as the clay, the forms which floated in the darkness of the night become visible and distinguishable. The subj. to Job 38:14 are not morning and dawn (Schult.), still less the ends of the earth (Ew. with the conjecture: יתיבצו, "they become dazzlingly white”), but the single objects on the earth: the light of morning gives to everything its peculiar garb of light, so that, hitherto overlaid by a uniform darkness, they now come forth independently, they gradually appear in their variegated diversity of form and hue. In כּמו לבוּשׁ, לבוש is conceived as accusative (Arab. kemâ libâsan , or thauban), while in כלבושׁ (Psa 104:6, instar vestis) it would be genitive. To the end of the strophe everything is under the logical government of the ל of purpose in Job 38:13. The light of the evil-doers is, according to Job 24:17, the darkness of the night, which is for them in connection with their works what the light of day is for other men. The sunrise deprives them, the enemies of light in the true sense (Job 24:13), of this light per antiphrasin, and the carrying out of their evil work, already prepared for, is frustrated. The ע of רשׁעים, Job 38:13 and Job 38:15, is תלויה עין [Ayin suspensum,] which is explained according to the Midrash thus: the רשׁעים, now עשׁירים (rich), become at a future time רשׁים (poor); or: God deprives them of the עין (light of the eye), by abandoning them to the darkness which they loved.

Job 38:16-21 16  Hast thou reached the fountains of the sea,

And hast thou gone into the foundation of the deep? 17  Were the gates of death unveiled to thee,

And didst thou see the gates of the realm of shades? 18  Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?

Speak, in so far as thou knowest all this! 19  Which is the way to where the light dwelleth,

And darkness, where is its place, 20  That thou mightest bring it to its bound,

And that thou mightest know the paths of its house? 21  Thou knowest it, for then wast thou born,

And the number of thy days is great! -

The root נב has the primary notion of obtruding itself upon the senses (vid., Genesis, S. 635), whence נבך in Arabic of a rising country that pleases the eye (nabaka, a hill, a hillside), and here (cognate in root and meaning נבע, Syr. Talmud. נבג, Arab. nbg , nbṭ , scatuirire) of gushing and bubbling water. Hitzig’s conjecture, approved by Olsh., נבלי, sets aside a word that is perfectly clear so far as the language is concerned. On חקר vid., on Job 11:7. The question put to Job in Job 38:17, he must, according to his own confession, Job 26:6, answer in the negative. In order to avoid the collision of two aspirates, the interrogative ה is wanting before התבּננתּ, Ew. §324, b; התבנן עד signifies, according to Job 32:12, to observe anything carefully; the meaning of the question therefore is, whether Job has given special attention to the breadth of the earth, and whether he consequently has a comprehensive and thorough knowledge of it. כּלּהּ refers not to the earth (Hahn, Olsh., and others), but, as neuter, to the preceding points of interrogation. The questions, Job 38:19, refer to the principles of light and darkness, i.e., their final causes, whence they come forth as cosmical phenomena. ישׁכּן־אור is a relative clause, Ges. §123, 3, c; the noun that governs (the Regens) this virtual genitive, which ought in Arabic to be without the art. as being determined by the regens, is, according to the Hebrew syntax, which is freer in this respect, הדּרך (comp. Ges. §110, 2). That which is said of the bound of darkness, i.e., the furthest point at which darkness passes away, and the paths to its house, applies also to the light, which the poet perhaps has even prominently (comp. Job 24:13) before his mind: light and darkness have a first cause which is inaccessible to man, and beyond his power of searching out. The admission in Job 38:21 is ironical: Verily! thou art as old as the beginning of creation, when light and darkness, as powers of nature which are distinguished and bounded the one by the other (vid., Job 26:10), were introduced into the rising world; thou art as old as the world, so that thou hast an exact knowledge of its and thine own contemporaneous origin (vid., Job 15:7). On the fut. joined with אז htiw denioj . regularly in the signification of the aorist, vid., Ew. §134, b. The attraction in connection with מספּר is like Job 15:20; Job 21:21.

Job 38:22-27 22  Hast thou reached the treasures of the snow,

And didst thou see the treasures of the hail, 23  Which I have reserved for a time of trouble,

For the day of battle and war? 24  Which is the way where the light is divided,

Where the east wind is scattered over the earth? 25  Who divideth a course for the rain-flood

And the way of the lightning of thunder, 26  That it raineth on the land where no one dwelleth,

On the tenantless steppe, 27  To satisfy the desolate and the waste,

And to cause the tender shoot of the grass to spring forth?

The idea in Job 38:22 is not that - as for instance the peasants of Menîn, four hours’ journey from Damascus, garner up the winter snow in a cleft of the rock, in order to convey it to Damascus and the towns of the coast in the hot months - God treasures up the snow and hail above to cause it to descend according to opportunity. אצרות (comp. Psa 135:7) are the final causes of these phenomena which God has created - the form of the question, the design of which (which must not be forgotten) is ethical, not scientific, is regulated according to the infancy of the perception of natural phenomena among the ancients; but at the same time in accordance with the poet’s task, and even, as here, in the choice of the agents of destruction, not merely hail, but also snow, according to the scene of the incident. Wetzstein has in his possession a writing of Muhammed el-Chatîb el-Bosrâwi, in which he describes a fearful fall of snow in Hauran, by which, in February 1860, innumerable herds of sheep, goats, and camels, and also many human beings perished.Since the Hauranites say of snow as of fire: jahrik, it burns (brûlant in French is also used of extreme cold), Job 1:16 might also be understood of a fall of snow; but the tenor of the words there requires it to be understood of actual fire. עת־צר might, according to Job 24:1; Job 19:11, signify a time of judgment for the oppressor, i.e., adversary; but it is better to be understood according to Job 36:16; Job 21:30, a time of distress: heavy falls of snow and tempestuous hail-storms bring hard times for men and cattle, and sometimes decide a war as by a divine decree (Jos 10:11, comp. Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:13).

In Job 38:24 it is not, as in Job 38:19, the place whence light issues, but the mode of the distribution of light over the earth, that is intended; as in Job 38:24, the laws according to which the east wind flows forth, i.e., spreads over the earth. אור is not lightning (Schlottm.), but light in general: light and wind (instead of which the east wind is particularized, vid., p. 533) stand together as being alike untraceable in their courses. הפיץ, se diffundere, as Exo 5:12; 1Sa 13:8, Ges. §53, 2. In Job 38:25 the descent of torrents of rain inundating certain regions of the earth is intended - this earthward direction assigned to the water-spouts is likened to an aqueduct coming downwards from the sky - and it is only in Job 38:25, as in Job 28:26, that the words have reference to the lightning, which to man is untraceable, flashing now here, now there. This guiding of the rain to chosen parts of the earth extends also to the tenantless steppe. לא־אישׁ (for בּלא) is virtually an adj. (vid., on Job 12:24). The superlative combination שׁאה וּמשׁאה (from שׁוא = שׁאה, to be desolate, and to give forth a heavy dull sound, i.e., to sound desolate, vid., on Job 37:6), as Job 30:3 (which see). Not merely for the purposes of His rule among men does God direct the changes of the weather contrary to human foresight; His care extends also to regions where no human habitations are found.

Job 38:28-30 28  Hath the rain a father,

Or who begetteth the drops of dew? 29  Out of whose womb cometh the ice forth,

And who bringeth forth the hoar-frost of heaven? 30  The waters become hard like stone,

And the face of the deep is rolled together.

Rain and dew have no created father, ice and hoar-frost no created mother. The parallelism in both instances shows that מי הוליד asks after the one who begets, and מי ילדו the one who bears (vid., Hupfeld on Psa 2:7). בּטן is uterus, and meton. (at least in Arabic) progenies uteri; ex utero cujus is מבטן מי, in distinction from מאי־זה בטן, ex quo utero. אגלי־טל is excellently translated by the lxx, Codd. Vat. and Sin., βώλους (with Omega) δρόσου; Ges. and Schlottm. correct to βόλους, but βῶλος signifies not merely a clod, but also a lump and a ball. It is the particles of the dew holding together (lxx, Cod. Alex.: συνοχὰς καὶ βω. δρ.) in a globular form, from אגל, which does not belong to גּלל, but to Arab. 'jil , retinere, II colligere (whence agı̂l, standing water, ma'‛gal, a pool, pond); אגלי is constr., like עגלי from עגל. The waters “hide themselves,” by vanishing as fluid, therefore: freeze. The surface of the deep (lxx ἀσεβοῦς, for which Zwingli has in marg. ἀβύσσου) “takes hold of itself,” or presses together (comp. Arab. lekda, crowding, synon. hugûm, a striking against) by forming itself into a firm solid mass (continuum, Job 41:9, comp. Job 37:10). Moreover, the questions all refer not merely to the analysis of the visible origin of the phenomena, but to their final causes.

Job 38:31-33 31  Canst thou join the twistings of the Pleiades,

Or loose the bands of Orion? 32  Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac at the right time,

And canst thou guide the Bear with its children? 33  Knowest thou the laws of heaven,

Or dost thou define its influence on the earth?

That מעדגּות here signifies bindings or twistings (from עדן = ענד, Job 31:36) is placed beyond question by the unanimous translations of the lxx (δεσμόν) and the Targ. (שׁירי = σειράς), the testimony of the Masora, according to which the word here has a different signification from 1Sa 15:32, and the language of the Talmud, in which מעדנין, Kêlim, c. 20, signifies the knots at the end of a mat, by loosing which it comes to pieces, and Succa, 13 b, the bands (formed of rushes) with which willow-branches are fastened together above in order to form a booth (succa); but מדאני, Sabbat, 33 a, signifies a bunch of myrtle (to smell on the Sabbath). מעדנות כּימה is therefore explained according to the Persian comparison of the Pleiades with a bouquet of jewels, mentioned on Job 9:9, and according to the comparison with a necklace (‛ipd - eth - thurajja), e.g., in Sadi in his Gulistan, p. 8 of Graf’s translation: “as though the tops of the trees were encircled by the necklace of the Pleiades.” The Arabic name thurajja (diminutive feminine of tharwân) probably signifies the richly-adorned, clustered constellation. But כּימה signifies without doubt the clustered group,The verb כום is still in general use in the Piel (to heap up, form a heap, part. mukauwam, heaped up) and Hithpa. (to accumulate) in Syria, and kôm is any village desolated in days of yore whose stones form a desolate heap comp. Fleischer, De Glossis Habichtianis, p. 41f.]. If, according to Kamus, in old Jemanic kı̂m in the sense of mukâwim signifies a confederate (synon. chilt , gils), the כּימה would be a confederation, or a heap, assemblage (coetus) of confederates. Perhaps the כימה was regarded as a troop of camels; the Beduins at least call the star directly before the seven-starred constellation of the Pleiades the hâdi, i.e., the singer riding before the procession, who cheers the camels by the sound of the hadwa (חדוה, and thereby urges them on. - Wetzst.

On πλειάδες, which perhaps also bear this name as a compressed group (figuratively γότρυς) of several stars (ὅτι πλείους ὁμοῦ κατὰ συναγωγήν εἰσι), vid., Kuhn’s Zeitschr. vi. 282-285.) and Beigel (in Ideler, Sternnamen, S. 147) does not translate badly: ”Canst thou not arrange together the rosette of diamonds (chain would be better) of the Pleiades?”

As to כּסיל, we firmly hold that it denotes Orion (according to which the Greek versions translate Ὠρίων, the Syriac gaboro, the Targ. נפלא or נפילא, the Giant). Orion and the Pleiades are visible in the Syrian sky longer in the year than with us, and there they come about 17º higher above the horizon than with us. Nevertheless the figure of a giant chained to the heavens cannot be rightly shown to be Semitic, and it is questionable whether כסיל is not rather, with Saad., Gecat., Abulwalid, and others, to be regarded as the Suhêl, i.e., Canopus, especially as this is placed as a sluggish helper (כסיל, Hebr. a fool, Arab. the slothful one, ignavus) in mythical relation to the constellation of the Bear, which here is called עישׁ, as Job 9:9 עשׁ, and is regarded as a bier, נעשׁ (even in the present day this is the name in the towns and villages of Syria), which the sons and daughters forming the attendants upon the corpse of their father, slain by Gedî, the Pole-star. Understood of Orion, משׁכות (with which Arab. msk , tenere, detinere, is certainly to be compared) are the chains (Arab. masakat , compes), with which he is chained to the sky; understood of Suhêl, the restraints which prevent his breaking away too soon and reaching the goal.In June 1860 I witnessed a quarrel in an encampment of Mo'gil-Beduins, in which one accused the others of having rendered it possible for the enemy to carry off his camels through their negligence; and when the accused assured him they had gone forth in pursuit of the marauders soon after the raid, and only turned back at sunset, the man exclaimed: Ye came indeed to my assistance as Suhêl to Gedî (פזעתם לי פזע סהיל ללגדי). I asked my neighbour what the words meant, and was informed they are a proverb which is very often used, and has its origin as follows: The Gedî (i.e., the Pole-star, called mismâr, משׂמר, in Damascus) slew the Na‛sh (נעשׁ), and is accordingly encompassed every night by the children of the slain Na‛sh, who are determined to take vengeance on the murderer. The sons (on which account poets usually say benı̂ instead of benât Na‛sh) go first with the corpse of their father, and the daughters follow. One of the latter is called waldâne, a lying-in woman; she has only recently given birth to a child, and carries her child in her bosom, and she is still pale from her lying-in. (The clear atmosphere of the Syrian sky admits of the child in the bosom of the waldâne being distinctly seen. In order to give help to the Gedî in this danger, the Suhêl appears in the south, and struggles towards the north with a twinkling brightness, but he has risen too late; the night passes away ere he reaches his goal. Later I frequently heard this story, which is generally known among the Hauranites. - Wetzst.

We add the following by way of explanation. The Pleiades encircle the Pole-star as do all stars, since it stands at the axis of the sky, but they are nearer to it than to Canopus by more than half the distance. This star of the first magnitude culminates about three hours later than the Pleiades, and rises, at the highest, only ten moon’s diameters above the horizon of Damascusa significant figure, therefore, of ineffectual endeavour.) מזּרות is not distinct from מזּלות,   2Ki 23:5 (comp. מזּרך, “Thy star of fortune,” on Cilician coins), and denotes not the twenty-eight menâzil (from Arab. nzl, to descend, turn in, lodge) of the moon,Thus A. Weber in his Abh. über die vedischen Nachrichten von den naxatra (halting-places of the moon), 1860 (comp. Lit. Centralbl. 1859, col. 665), refuted by Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibliographie, 1861, Nr. 22, S. 93f. but the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which were likewise imagined as menâzil, i.e., lodging-houses or burûg, strongholds, in which one after another the sun lodges as it describes the circle of the year.The names “the Ram, the Bull,” etc., are, according to Epiphanius, Opp. i. p. 34f. (ed. Petav.), transferred from the Greek into the Jewish astrology, vid., Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum, S. 220f.

The usage of the language transferred lzm also to the planets, which, because they lie in the equatorial plane of the sun, as the sun (although more irregularly), run through the constellations of the Zodiac. The question in Job 38:32 therefore means: canst thou bring forth the appointed zodiacal sign for each month, so that (of course with the variation which is limited to about two moon’s diameters by the daily progress of the sun through the Zodiac) it becomes visible after sunset and is visible before sunset? On Job 38:33 vid., on Gen 1:14-19. משׁטר is construed after the analogy of רדה בּ, עצר, משׁל; and שׁמים, as sing. (Ew. §318, b).

Job 38:34-38 34  Dost thou raise thy voice to the clouds

That an overflow of waters may cover thee? 35  Dost thou send forth lightnings, and they go,

And say to thee: Here we are? 36  Who hath put wisdom in the reins,

Or who hath given understanding to the cock? 37  Who numbereth the strata of the clouds with wisdom

And the bottles of heaven, who emptieth them, 38  When the dust flows together into a mass,

And the clods cleave together?

As Job 38:25 was worded like Job 28:26, so Job 38:34 is worded like Job 22:11; the ך of תכסך is dageshed in both passages, as Job 36:2, Job 36:18, Hab 2:17. What Jehovah here denies to the natural power of man is possible to the power which man has by faith, as the history of Elijah shows: this, however, does not come under consideration here. In proof of divine omnipotence and human feebleness, Elihu constantly recurs to the rain and the thunder-storm with the lightning, which is at the bidding of God. Most moderns since Schultens therefore endeavour, with great violence, to make טחות and שׂכרי mean meteors and celestial phenomena. Eichh. (Hirz., Hahn) compares the Arabic name for the clouds, tachâ (tachwa), Ew. Arab. ḍiḥḥ , sunshine, with the former; the latter, whose root is שׂכה (סכה), spectare, is meant to be something that is remarkable in the heavens: an atmospheric phenomenon, a meteor (Hirz.), or a phenomenon caused by light (Ew., Hahn), so that e.g., Umbr. translates: “Who hath put wisdom in the dark clouds, and given understanding to the meteor?” But the meaning which is thus extorted from the words in favour of the connection borders closely upon absurdity. Why, then, shall טחות, from טוּח, Arab. ṭı̂ych , oblinere, adipe obducere, not signify here, as in Psa 51:8, the reins (embedded in a cushion of fat), and in fact as the seat of the predictive faculty, like כּליות, Job 19:27, as the seat of the innermost longing for the future; and particularly since here, after the constellations and the influences of the stars have just been spoken of, the mention of the gift of divination is not devoid of connection; and, moreover, as a glance at the next strophe shows, the connection which has been hitherto firmly kept to is already in process of being resolved?

If טחות signifies the reins, it is natural to interpret שׂכוי also psychologically, and to translate the intellect (Targ. I, Syr., Arab.), or similarly (Saad., Gecat.), as Ges., Carey, Renan, Schlottm. But there is another rendering handed down which is worthy of attention, although not once mentioned by Rosenm., Hirz., Schlottm., or Hahn, according to which שׂכוי signifies a cock, gallum. We read in b. Rosch ha-Schana, 26 a: ”When I came to Techûm-Kên-Nishraja, R. Simeon b. Lakish relates, the bride was there called נינפי and the cock שׂכוי, according to which Job 38:36 is to be interpreted: שׂכוי = תרנגול.” The Midrash interprets in the same way, Jalkut, §905, beginning: “R. Levi says: In Arabic the cock is called סכוא.” We compare with this, Wajikra rabba, c. 1: “סוכו is Arabic; in Arabia a prophet is called סכוא;” whence it is to be inferred that שׂכוי, as is assumed, describes the cock as a seer, as a prophet.

As to the formation of the word, it would certainly be without parallel (Ew., Olsh.) if the word had the tone on the penult., but Codd. and the best old editions have the Munach by the final syllable; Norzi, who has overlooked this, at least notes שׂכוי with the accent on the ult. as a various reading. It is a secondary noun, Ges. §86, 5, a so-called relative noun (De Sacy, Gramm. Arabe, §768): שׂכרי, speculator, from שׂכו (שׂכוּ, שׂכה), speculatio, as פּלאי, Jdg 13:18 (comp. Psa 139:6), miraculosus, from פּלא, a cognate form to the Chald. סכוי (סכואה), of similar meaning. In connection with this primary signification, speculator, it is intelligible how סכוי in Samaritan (vid., Lagarde on Proverbs, S. 62) can signify the eye; here, however, in a Hebrew poet, the cock, of which e.g., Gregory says: Speculator semper in altitudine stat, ut quidquid venturum sit longe prospiciat. That this signification speculator = gallusNo Arab. word offers itself here for comparison: tuchaj, a cock, has different consonants, and if Arab. škâ in the sense of Arab. šâk , fortem esse, were to be supposed, שׂכוי would be a synon. of גּבר, which is likewise a name of the cock. was generally accepted at least in the Talmudic age, the Beracha prescribed to him who hears the cock crow: “Blessed be He who giveth the cock (שׂכוי) knowledge to distinguish between day and night!” shows. In accordance with this, Targ. II translates: who has given understanding לתרנגול בּרא, gallo sylvestri (whereas Targ. I ללבּא, cordi, scil. hominis), to praise his Lord? and Jer.: (quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam) et quis dedit gallo intelligentiam. This traditional rendering, condemned as talmudicum commentum (Ges.), we follow rather than the ”phenomenon” of the moderns who guess at a meaning. What is questioned in Cicero, de divin. ii. 26: Quid in mentem venit Callistheni dicere, Deos gallis signum dedisse cantandi, quum id vel natura vel casus efficere potuisset, Jehovah here claims for Himself. The weather-prophet κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν among animals appropriately appears in this astrologico-meteorological connection by the side of the reins as, according to the Semitic view, a medium of augury (Psychol. S. 268f.). The Koran also makes the cock the watchman who wakes up the heavenly hosts to their duty; and Masius, in his Studies of Nature, has shown how high the cock is placed as being prophetically (for divination) gifted, Moreover, the worship of cocks in the idolatry of the Semites was a service rendered to the stars: the Sabians offered cocks, probably (vid., Chwolsohn, ii. 87) as the white cock of Jezides, regarded by them as a symbol of the sun (Deutsch. Morgenländ. Zeitschr. 1862, S. 365f.).

In Job 38:37 Jerome translates: et concentum coelorum quis dormire faciet; נבלי, however, does not here signify harps, but bottles; and השׁכּיב is not: to lay to rest, but to lay down = to empty, pour out, which the Kal also, like the Arab. sakaba, directly signifies. בּצקת might be taken actively: when it pours, but according to 1Ki 22:35 the intransitive rendering is also possible: when the dust pours forth, i.e., flows together, למוּצק, to what is poured out, i.e., not: to the fluid, but in contrast: to a molten mass, i.e., as cast metal (to be explained not according to Job 22:16, but according to Job 37:18), for the dry, sandy, dusty earth is made firm by the downfall of the rain (Arab. ruṣidat , firmata est terra imbre, comp. Arab. lbbd , pluviam emisit donec arena cohaereret). רגבים, glebae, as Job 21:33, from רגב, Arab. rjb, in the primary signification, which as it seems must be supposed: to bring together, from which the significations branch off, to thicken, become firm (muraggab, supported), and to be seized with terror.

Job 38:39-41 39  Dost thou hunt for the prey of the lioness

And still the desire of the young lions, 40  When they couch in the dens,

Sit in the thicket lying in wait for prey? 41  Who provideth for the raven its food,

When its young ones cry to God,

They wander about without food?

On the wealth of the Old Testament language in names for the lion, vid., on Job 4:10. לביא can be used of the lioness; the more exact name of the lioness is לביּה, for לביא is = לבי, whence לבאים, lions, and לבאות, lionesses. The lioness is mentioned first, because she has to provide for her young ones (גּוּרים); then the lions that are still young, but yet are left to themselves, כּפירים. The phrase מלּא חיּה (comp. חיּה of life that needs nourishment, Job 33:20) is equivalent to מלּא נפשׁ, Pro 6:30 (Psychol. S. 204 ad fin.). The book of Psalms here furnishes parallels to every word: comp. on Job 38:39, Psa 104:21; on ישׁחוּ, Psa 10:10;The Semitic is rich in such words as describe the couching posture of beasts of prey lying in wait for their prey, which then in general signify to lie in wait, lurk, wait (רצד, רבץ, Arab. rbṣ , lbd , wkkd); Arab. q‛d lh , subsedit ei, i.e., insidiatus est ei, which corresponds to ישׁבו, Job 38:40, also belongs here, comp. Psalter, i. 500 note. on מעונות, lustra, Psa 104:22 (compared on Job 37:8 already); on סכּה, סך, which is used just in the same way, Psa 10:9; Jer 25:38. The picture of the crying ravens has its parallel in Psa 147:9. כּי, quum, is followed by the fut. in the signif. of the praes., as Psa 11:3. As here, in the Sermon on the Mount in Luk 12:24 the ravens, which by their hoarse croaking make themselves most observed everywhere among birds that seek their food, are mentioned instead of the fowls of heaven.

God Answers Out of the Whirlwind. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

Let us observe here, 1. Who speaks—The Lord, Jehovah, not a created angel, but the eternal Word himself, the second person in the blessed Trinity, for it is he by whom the worlds were made, and that was no other than the Son of God. The same speaks here that afterwards spoke from Mount Sinai. Here he begins with the creation of the world, there with the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and from both is inferred the necessity of our subjection to him. Elihu had said, God speaks to men and they do not perceive it (ch. xxxiii. 14); but this they could not but perceive, and yet we have a more sure word of prophecy, 2 Pet. i. 19. 2. When he spoke—Then. When they had all had their saying, and yet had not gained their point, then it was time for God to interpose, whose judgment is according to truth. When we know not who is in the right, and perhaps are doubtful whether we ourselves are, this may satisfy us, That God will determine shortly in the valley of decision, Joel iii. 14. Job had silenced his three friends, and yet could not convince them of his integrity in the main. Elihu had silenced Job, and yet could not bring him to acknowledge his mismanagement of this dispute. But now God comes, and does both, convinces Job first of his unadvised speaking and makes him cry, Peccavi—I have done wrong; and, having humbled him, he puts honour upon him, by convincing his three friends that they had done him wrong. These two things God will, sooner or later, do for his people: he will show them their faults, that they may be themselves ashamed of them, and he will show others their righteousness, and bring it forth as the light, that they may be ashamed of their unjust censures of them. 3. How he spoke—Out of the whirlwind, the rolling and involving cloud, which Elihu took notice of, ch. xxxvii. 1, 2, 9. A whirlwind prefaced Ezekiel's vision (Ezek. i. 4), and Elijah's, 1 Kings xix. 11. God is said to have his way in the whirlwind (Nah. i. 3), and, to show that even the stormy wind fulfils his word, here it was made the vehicle of it. This shows what a mighty voice God's is, that is was not lost, but perfectly audible, even in the noise of a whirlwind. Thus God designed to startled Job, and to command his attention. Sometimes God answers his own people in terrible corrections, as out of the whirlwind, but always in righteousness. 4. To whom he spoke: He answered Job, directed his speech to him, to convince him of what was amiss, before he cleared him from the unjust aspersions cast upon him. It is God only that can effectually convince of sin, and those shall so be humbled whom he designs to exalt. Those that desire to hear from God, as Job did, shall certainly hear from him at length. 5. What he said. We may conjecture that Elihu, or some other of the auditory, wrote down verbatim what was delivered out of the whirlwind, for we find (Rev. x. 4) that, when the thunders uttered their voices, John was prepared to write. Or, if it was not written then, yet, the penman of the book being inspired by the Holy Ghost, we are sure that we have here a very true and exact report of what was said. The Spirit (says Christ) shall bring to your remembrance, as he did here, what I have said to you. The preface is very searching. (1.) God charges him with ignorance and presumption in what he had said (v. 2): "Who is this that talks at this rate? Is it Job? What! a man? That weak, foolish, despicable, creature—shall he pretend to prescribe to me what I must do or to quarrel with me for what I have done? Is it Job? What! my servant Job, a perfect and an upright man? Can he so far forget himself, and act unlike himself? Who, where, is he that darkens counsel thus by words without knowledge? Let him show his face if he dare, and stand to what he has said." Note, Darkening the counsels of God's wisdom with our folly is a great affront and provocation to God. Concerning God's counsels we must own that we are without knowledge. They are a deep which we cannot fathom; we are quite out of our element, out of our aim, when we pretend to account for them. Yet we are too apt to talk of them as if we understood them, with a great deal of niceness and boldness; but, alas! we do but darken them, instead of explaining them. We confound and perplex ourselves and one another when we dispute of the order of God's decrees, and the designs, and reasons, and methods, of his operations of providence and grace. A humble faith and sincere obedience shall see further and better into the secret of the Lord than all the philosophy of the schools, and the searches of science, so called. This first word which God spoke is the more observable because Job, in his repentance, fastens upon it as that which silenced and humbled him, ch. xlii. 3. This he repeated and echoed as the arrow that stuck fast in him: "I am the fool that has darkened counsel." There was some colour to have turned it upon Elihu, as if God meant him, for he spoke last, and was speaking when the whirlwind began; but Job applied it to himself, as it becomes us to do when faithful reproofs are given, and not (as most do) to billet them upon other people. (2.) He challenges him to give such proofs of his knowledge as would serve to justify his enquiries into the divine counsels (v. 3): "Gird up now thy loins like a stout man; prepare thyself for the encounter; I will demand of thee, will put some questions to thee, and answer me if thou canst, before I answer thine." Those that go about to call God to an account must expect to be catechised and called to an account themselves, that they may be made sensible of their ignorance and arrogance. God here puts Job in mind of what he had said, ch. xiii. 22. Call thou, and I will answer. "Now make thy words good."

The Creation of the World. (b. c. 1520.)

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance even concerning the earth and the sea. Though so near, though so bulky, yet he could give no account of their origination, much less of heaven above or hell beneath, which are at such a distance, or of the several parts of matter which are so minute, and then, least of all, of the divine counsels.

I. Concerning the founding of the earth. "If he have such a mighty insight, as he pretends to have, into the counsels of God, let him give some account of the earth he goes upon, which is given to the children of men."

1. Let him tell where he was when this lower world was made, and whether he was advising of assisting in that wonderful work (v. 4): "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Thy pretensions are high; canst thou pretend to his? Wast thou present when the world was made?" See here, (1.) The greatness and glory of God: I laid the foundations of the earth. This proves him to be the only living and true God, and a God of power (Isa. xl. 21, Jer. x. 11, 12), and encourages us to trust in him at all times, Isa. li. 13, 16. (2.) The meanness and contemptibleness of man: "Where wast thou then? Thou that hast made such a figure among the children of the east, and settest up for an oracle, and a judge of the divine counsels, where was thou when the foundations of the earth were laid?" So far were we from having any hand in the creation of the world, which might entitle us to a dominion in it, or so much as being witnesses of it, by which we might have gained an insight into it, that we were not then in being. The first man was not, much less were we. It is the honour of Christ that he was present when this was done (Prov. viii. 22, &c., John i. 1, 2); but we are of yesterday and know nothing. Let us not therefore find fault with the works of God, nor prescribe to him. He did not consult us in making the world, and yet it is well made; why should we expect then that he should take his measures from us in governing it?

2. Let him describe how this world was made, and give a particular account of the manner in which this strong and stately edifice was formed and erected: "Declare, if thou hast so much understanding as thou fanciest thyself to have, what were the advances of that work." Those that pretend to have understanding above others ought to give proof of it. Show me thy faith by thy works, thy knowledge by thy words. Let Job declare it if he can, (1.) How the world came to be so finely framed, with so much exactness, and such an admirable symmetry and proportion of all the parts of it (v. 5): "Stand forth, and tell who laid the measures thereof and stretched out the line upon it." Wast thou the architect that formed the model and then drew the dimensions by rule according to it? The vast bulk of the earth is moulded as regularly as if it had been done by line and measure; but who can describe how it was cast into this figure? Who can determine its circumference and diameter, and all the lines that are drawn on the terrestrial globe? It is to this day a dispute whether the earth stands still or turns round; how then can we determine by what measures it was first formed? (2.) How it came to be so firmly fixed. Though it is hung upon nothing, yet it is established, that it cannot be moved; but who can tell upon what the foundations of it are fastened, that it may not sink with its own weight, or who laid the corner-stone thereof, that the parts of it may not fall asunder? v. 6. What God does, it shall be for ever (Eccl. iii. 14); and therefore, as we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not be in fear concerning it; it will last, and answer the end, the works of his providence as well as the work of creation; the measures of neither can never be broken; and the work of redemption is no less firm, of which Christ himself is both the foundation and the corner-stone. The church stands as fast as the earth.

3. Let him repeat, if he can, the songs of praise which were sung at that solemnity (v. 7), when the morning-stars sang together, the blessed angels (the first-born of the Father of light), who, in the morning of time, shone as brightly as the morning star, going immediately before the light which God commanded to shine out of darkness upon the seeds of this lower world, the earth, which was without form and void. They were the sons of God, who shouted for joy when they saw the foundations of the earth laid, because, though it was not made for them, but for the children of men, and though it would increase their work and service, yet they knew that the eternal Wisdom and Word, whom they were to worship (Heb. i. 6), would rejoice in the habitable parts of the earth, and that much of his delight would be in the sons of men, Prov. viii. 31. The angels are called the sons of God because they bear much of his image, are with him in his house above, and serve him as a son does his father. Now observe here, (1.) The glory of God, as the Creator of the world, is to be celebrated with joy and triumph by all his reasonable creatures; for they are qualified and appointed to be the collectors of his praises from the inferior creatures, who can praise him merely as objects that exemplify his workmanship. (2.) The work of angels is to praise God. The more we abound in holy, humble, thankful, joyful praise, the more we do the will of God as they do it; and, whereas we are so barren and defective in praising God, it is a comfort to think that they are doing it in a better manner. (3.) They were unanimous in singing God's praises; they sang together with one accord, and there was no jar in their harmony. The sweetest concerts are in praising God. (4.) They all did it, even those who afterwards fell and left their first estate. Even those who have praised God may, by the deceitful power of sin, be brought to blaspheme him, and yet God will be eternally praised.

II. Concerning the limiting of the sea to the place appointed for it, v. 8, &c. This refers to the third day's work, when God said (Gen. i. 9), Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and it was so. 1. Out of the great deep or chaos, in which earth and water were intermixed, in obedience to the divine command the waters broke forth like a child out of the teeming womb, v. 8. Then the waters that had covered the deep, and stood above the mountains, retired with precipitation. At God's rebuke they fled, Ps. civ. 6, 7. 2. This newborn babe is clothed and swaddled, v. 9. The cloud is made the garment thereof, with which it is covered, and thick darkness (that is, shores vastly remote and distant from one another and quite in the dark one to another) is a swaddling-band for it. See with what ease the great God manages the raging sea; notwithstanding the violence of its tides, and the strength of its billows, he manages it as the nurse does the child in swaddling clothes. It is not said, He made rocks and mountains its swaddling bands, but clouds and darkness, something that we are not aware of and should think least likely for such a purpose. 3. There is a cradle too provided for this babe: I broke up for it my decreed place, v. 10. Valleys were sunk for it in the earth, capacious enough to receive it, and there it is laid to sleep; and, if it be sometimes tossed with winds, that (as bishop Patrick observes) is but the rocking of the cradle, which makes it sleep the faster. As for the sea, so for every one of us, there is a decreed place; for he that determined the times before appointed determined also the bounds of our habitation. 4. This babe being made unruly and dangerous by the sin of man, which was the original of all unquietness and danger in this lower world, there is also a prison provided for it; bars and doors are set, v. 10. And it is said to it, by way of check to its insolence, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. The sea is God's for he made it, he restrains it; he says to it, Here shall thy proud waves be stayed, v. 11. This may be considered as an act of God's power over the sea. Though it is so vast a body, and though its motion is sometimes extremely violent, yet God has it under check. Its waves rise no higher, its tides roll no further, than God permits; and this is mentioned as a reason why we should stand in awe of God (Jer. v. 22), and yet why we should encourage ourselves in him, for he that stops the noise of the sea, even the noise of her waves, can, when he pleases, still the tumult of the people, Ps. lxv. 7. It is also to be looked upon as an act of God's mercy to the world of mankind and an instance of his patience towards that provoking grace. Though he could easily cover the earth again with the waters of the sea (and, methinks, every flowing tide twice a day threatens us, and shows what the sea could do, and would do, if God would give it leave), yet he restrains them, being not willing that any should perish, and having reserved the world that now is unto fire, 2 Pet. iii. 7.

Works of God. (b. c. 1520.)

12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. 15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken. 16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? 17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. 19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? 21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great? 22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

The Lord here proceeds to ask Job many puzzling questions, to convince him of his ignorance, and so to shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we will but try ourselves with such interrogatories as these, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. Job is here challenged to give an account of six things:—

I. Of the springs of the morning, the day-spring from on high, v. 12-15. As there is no visible being of which we may be more firmly assured that it is, so there is none which we are more puzzled in describing, nor more doubtful in determining what it is, than the light. We welcome the morning, and are glad of the day-spring; but, 1. It is not commanded since our days, but what it is it was long before we were born, so that it was neither made by us nor designed primarily for us, but we take it as we find it and as the many generations had it that went before us. The day-spring knew its place before we knew ours, for we are but of yesterday. 2. It was not we, it was not any man that commanded the morning-light at first, or appointed the place of its springing up and shining forth, or the time of it. The constant and regular succession of day and night was no contrivance of ours; it is the glory of God that it shows, and his handy work, not ours, Ps. xix. 1, 2. 3. It is quite out of our power to alter this course: "Hast thou countermanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou at any time raised the morning light sooner than its appointed time, to serve thy purpose when thou hast waited for the morning, or ordered the day-spring for thy convenience to any other place than its own? No, never. Why then wilt thou pretend to direct the divine counsels, or expect to have the methods of Providence altered in favour of thee?" We may as soon break the covenant of the day and of the night as any part of God's covenant with his people, and particularly this, I will chasten them with the rod of men. 4. It is God that has appointed the day-spring to visit the earth, and diffuses the morning light through the air, which receives it as readily as the clay does the seal (v. 14), immediately admitting the impressions of it, so as of a sudden to be all over enlightened by it, as the seal stamps its image on the wax; and they stand as a garment, or as if they were clothed with a garment. The earth puts on a new face every morning, and dresses itself as we do, puts on light as a garment, and is then to be seen. 5. This is made a terror to evil-doers. Nothing is more comfortable to mankind than the light of the morning; it is pleasant to the eyes, it is serviceable to life and the business of it, and the favour of it is universally extended, for it takes hold of the ends of the earth (v. 13), and we should dwell, in our hymns to the light, on its advantages to the earth. But God here observes how unwelcome it is to those that do evil, and therefore hate the light. God makes the light a minister of his justice as well as of his mercy. It is designed to shake the wicked out of the earth, and for that purpose it takes hold of the ends of it, as we take hold of the ends of a garment to shake the dust and moths out of it. Job had observed what a terror the morning light is to criminals, because it discovers them (ch. xxiv. 13, &c.), and God here seconds the observation, and asks him whether the world was indebted to him for that kindness? No, the great Judge of the world sends forth the beams of the morning light as his messengers to detect criminals, that they may not only be defeated in their purposes and put to shame, but that they may be brought to condign punishment (v. 15), that their light may be withholden from them (that is, that they may lose their comfort, their confidence, their liberties, their lives) and that their high arm, which they have lifted up against God and man, may be broken, and they deprived of their power to do mischief. Whether what is here said of the morning light was designed to represent, as in a figure, the light of the gospel of Christ, and to give a type of it, I will not say; but I am sure it may serve to put us in mind of the encomiums given to the gospel just at the rising of its morning-star by Zecharias in his Benedictus (Luke i. 78, By the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2 Cor. iv. 6), and by the virgin Mary in her Magnificat (Luke i. 51), showing that God, in his gospel, has shown strength with his arm, scattered the proud, and put down the mighty, by that light by which he designed to shake the wicked, to shake wickedness itself out of the earth, and break its high arm.

II. Of the springs of the sea (v. 16): "Hast thou entered into them, or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Knowest thou what lies in the bottom of the sea, the treasures there hidden in the sands? Or canst thou give an account of the rise and original of the waters of the sea? Vapours are continually exhaled out of the sea. Dost thou know how the recruits are raised by which it is continually supplied? Rivers are constantly poured into the sea. Dost thou know how they are continually discharged, so as not to overflow the earth? Art thou acquainted with the secret subterraneous passages by which the waters circulate?" God's way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea, and in the great waters (Ps. lxxvii. 19), intimating that it is hidden from us and not to be pried into by us.

III. Of the gates of death: Have these been open to thee? v. 16. Death is a grand secret. 1. We know not beforehand when, and how, and by what means, we or others shall be brought to death, by what road we must go the way whence we shall not return, what disease or what disaster will be the door to let us into the house appointed for all living. Man knows not his time. 2. We cannot describe what death is, how the knot is untied between body and soul, nor how the spirit of a man goes upward (Eccl. iii. 21), to be we know not what and live we know not how, as Mr. Norris expresses; with what dreadful curiosity (says he) does the soul launch out into the vast ocean of eternity and resign to an untried abyss! Let us make it sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death, though it is a way we are to go but once. 3. We have no correspondence at all with separate souls, nor any acquaintance with their state. It is an unknown undiscovered region to which they are removed; we can neither hear from them nor send to them. While we are here, in a world of sense, we speak of the world of spirits as blind men do of colours, and when we remove thither we shall be amazed to find how much we are mistaken.

IV. Of the breadth of the earth (v. 18): Hast thou perceived that? The knowledge of this might seem most level to him and within his reach; yet he is challenged to declare this if he can. We have our residence on the earth, God has given it to the children of men. But who ever surveyed it, or could give an account of the number of its acres? It is but a point to the universe? yet, small as it is, we cannot be exact in declaring the dimensions of it. Job had never sailed round the world, nor any before him; so little did men know the breadth of the earth that it was but a few ages ago that the vast continent of America was discovered, which had, time out of mind, lain hidden. The divine perfection is longer than the earth and broader than the sea; it is therefore presumption for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God's counsels.

V. Of the place and way of light and darkness. Of the day-spring he had spoken before (v. 12) and he returns to speak of it again (v. 19): Where is the way where light dwells? And again (v. 24): By what way is the light parted? He challenges him to describe, 1. How the light and darkness were at first made. When God, in the beginning, first spread darkness upon the face of the deep, and afterwards commanded the light to shine out of darkness, by that mighty word, Let there be light, was Job a witness to the order, to the operation? can he tell where the fountains of light and darkness are, and where those mighty princes keep their courts distance, while in one world they rule alternately? Though we long ever so much either for the shining forth of the morning or the shadows of the evening, we know not whither to send, or go, to fetch them, nor can tell the paths to the house thereof, v. 20. We were not then born, nor is the number of our days so great that we can describe the birth of that first-born of the visible creation, v. 21. Shall we then undertake to discourse of God's counsels, which were from eternity, or to find out the paths to the house thereof, to solicit for the alteration of them? God glories in it that he forms the light and creates the darkness; and if we must take those as we find them, take those as they come, and quarrel with neither, but make the best of both, then we must, in like manner, accommodate ourselves to the peace and the evil which God likewise created. Isa. xlv. 7. 2. How they still keep their turns interchangeably. It is God that makes the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice (Ps. lxv. 8); for it is his order, and no order of ours, that is executed by the outgoings of the morning light and the darkness of the night. We cannot so much as tell whence they come nor whither they go (v. 24): By what way is the light parted in the morning, when, in an instant, it shoots itself into all the parts of the air above the horizon, as if the morning light flew upon the wings of an east wind, so swiftly, so strongly, is it carried, scattering the darkness of the night, as the east wind does the clouds? Hence we read of the wings of the morning (Ps. cxxxix. 9), on which the light is conveyed to the uttermost parts of the sea, and scattered like an east wind upon the earth. It is a marvellous change that passes over us every morning by the return of the light and every evening by the return of the darkness; but we expect them, and so they are no surprise nor uneasiness to us. If we would, in like manner, reckon upon changes in our outward condition, we should neither in the brightest noon expect perpetual day nor in the darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning. God has set the one over against the other, like the day and night; and so must we, Eccl. vii. 14.

VI. Of the treasures of the snow and hail (v. 22, 23): "Hast thou entered into these and taken a view of them?" In the clouds the snow and hail are generated, and thence they come in such abundance that one would think there were treasures of them laid up in store there, whereas indeed they are produced extempore—suddenly, as I may say, and pro re nata—for the occasion. Sometimes they come so opportunely, to serve the purposes of Providence, in God's fighting for his people and against his and their enemies, that one would think they were laid up as magazines, or stores of arms, ammunition, and provisions, against the time of trouble, the day of battle and war, when God will either contend with the world in general (as in the deluge, when the windows of heaven were opened, and the waters fetched out of these treasures to drown a wicked world, that waged war with Heaven) or with some particular persons or parties, as when God out of these treasures fetched great hail-stones wherewith to fight against the Canaanites, Josh. x. 11. See what folly it is to strive against God, who is thus prepared for battle and war, and how much it is our interest to make our peace with him and to keep ourselves in his love. God can fight as effectually with snow and hail, if he please, as with thunder and lightning or the sword of an angel!

God's Sovereign Dominion and Goodness. (b. c. 1520.)

25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; 26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; 27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? 35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? 36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? 37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, 38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, 40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? 41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

Hitherto God had put such questions to Job as were proper to convince him of his ignorance and short-sightedness. Now he comes, in the same manner, to show his impotency and weakness. As it is but little that he knows, and therefore he ought not to arraign the divine counsels, so it is but little that he can do, and therefore he ought not to oppose the proceedings of Providence. Let him consider what great things God does, and try whether he can do the like, or whether he thinks himself an equal match for him.

I. God has thunder, and lightning, and rain, and frost, at command, but Job has not, and therefore let him not dare to compare himself with God, or to contend with him. Nothing is more uncertain than what weather it shall be, nor more out of our reach to appoint; it shall be what weather pleases God, not what pleases us, unless, as becomes us, whatever pleases God pleases us. Concerning this observe here,

1. How great God is.

(1.) He has a sovereign dominion over the waters, has appointed them their course, even then when they seem to overflow and to be from under his check, v. 25. He has divided a water-course, directs the rain where to fall, even when the shower is most violent, with as much certainty as if it were conveyed by canals or conduit-pipes. Thus the hearts of kings are said to be in God's hand; and as the rains, those rivers of God, he turns them whithersoever he will. Every drop goes as it is directed. God has sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more return to cover the earth; and we see that he is able to make good what he has promised, for he has the rain in a water-course.

(2.) He has dominion over the lightning and the thunder, which go not at random, but in the way that he directs them. They are mentioned here because he prepares the lightnings for the rain, Ps. cxxxv. 7. Let not those that fear God be afraid of the lightning or the thunder, for they are not blind bullets, but go the way that God himself, who means no hurt to them, directs.

(3.) In directing the course of the rain he does not neglect the wilderness, the desert land (v. 26, 27), where no man is. [1.] Where there is no man to be employed in taking care of the productions. God's providence reaches further than man's industry. If he had not more kindness for many of the inferior creatures than man has, it would go ill with them. God can make the earth fruitful without any art or pains of ours, Gen. ii. 5, 6. When there was not a man to till the ground, yet there went up a mist and watered it. But we cannot make it fruitful without God; it is he that gives the increase. [2.] Where there is no man to be provided for nor to take the benefit of the fruits that are produced. Though God does with very peculiar favour visit and regard man, yet he does not overlook the inferior creatures, but causes the bud of the tender herb to spring forth for food for all flesh, as well as for the service of man. Even the wild asses shall have their thirst quenched, Ps. civ. 11. God has enough for all, and wonderfully provides even for those creatures that man neither has service from nor makes provision for.

(4.) He is, in a sense, the Father of the rain, v. 28. It has no other father. He produces it by his power; he governs and directs it, and makes what use he pleases of it. Even the small drops of the dew he distils upon the earth, as the God of nature; and, as the God of grace, he rains righteousness upon us and is himself as the dew unto Israel. See Hos. xiv. 5, 6; Mic. v. 7.

(5.) The ice and the frost, by which the waters are congealed and the earth incrustrated, are produced by his providence, v. 29, 30. These are very common things, which lessens the strangeness of them. But, considering what a vast change is made by them in a very little time, how the waters are hid as with a stone, as with a grave-stone, laid upon them (so thick, so strong, is the ice that covers them), and the face even of the deep is sometimes frozen, we may well ask, "Out of whose womb came the ice? What created power could produce such a wonderful work?" No power but that of the Creator himself. Frost and snow come from him, and therefore should lead our thoughts and meditations to him who does such great things, past finding out. And we shall the more easily bear the inconveniences of winter-weather if we learn to make this good use of it.

2. How weak man is. Can he do such things as these? Could Job? No, v. 34, 35. (1.) He cannot command one shower of rain for the relief of himself or his friends: "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, those bottles of heaven, that abundance of waters may cover thee, to water thy fields when they are dry and parched?" If we lift up our voice to God, to pray for rain, we may have it (Zech. x. 1); but if we lift up our voice to the clouds, to demand it, they will soon tell us they are not at our beck, and we shall go without it, Jer. xiv. 22. The heavens will not hear the earth unless God hear them, Hos. ii. 21. See what poor, indigent, depending creatures we are; we cannot do without rain, nor can we have it when we will. (2.) He cannot commission one flash of lightning, if he had a mind to make use of it for the terror of his enemies (v. 35): "Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go on thy errand, and do the execution thou desirest? Will they come at thy call, and say unto thee, Here we are?" No, the ministers of God's wrath will not be ministers of ours. Why should they, since the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God? See Luke ix. 55.

II. God has the stars of heaven under his command and cognizance, but we have them not under ours. Our meditations are now to rise higher, far above the clouds, to the glorious lights above. God mentions particularly, not the planets, which move in lower orbs, but the fixed stars, which are much higher. It is supposed that they have an influence upon this earth, notwithstanding their vast distance, not upon the minds of men or the events of providence (men's fate is not determined by their stars), but upon the ordinary course of nature; they are set for signs and seasons, for days and years, Gen. i. 14. And if the stars have such a dominion over this earth (v. 33), though they have their place in the heavens and are but mere matter, much more has he who is their Maker and ours, and who is an Eternal Mind. Now see how weak we are. 1. We cannot alter the influences of the stars (v. 31), not theirs that are instrumental to produce the pleasures of the spring: Canst thou loose the bands of Orion?—that magnificent constellation which makes so great a figure (none greater), and dispenses rough and unpleasing influences, which we cannot control nor repel. Both summer and winter will have their course. God can change them when he pleases, can make the spring cold, and so bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, and the winter warm, and so loose the bands of Orion; but we cannot. 2. It is not in our power to order the motions of the stars, nor are we entrusted with the guidance of them. God, who calls the stars by their names (Ps. cxlvii. 4), calls them forth in their respective seasons, appointing them the time of their rising and setting. But this is not our province; we cannot bring forth Mazzaroth—the stars in the southern signs, nor guide Arcturus—those in the northern, v. 32. God can bring forth the stars to battle (as he did when in their courses they fought against Sisera) and guide them in the attacks they are ordered to make; but man cannot do so. 3. We are not only unconcerned in the government of the stars (the government they are under, and the government they are entrusted with, for they both rule and are ruled), but utterly unacquainted with it; we know not the ordinances of heaven, v. 33. So far are we from being able to change them that we can give no account of them; they are a secret to us. Shall we then pretend to know God's counsels, and the reasons of them? If it were left to us to set the dominion of the stars upon the earth, we should soon be at a loss. Shall we then teach God how to govern the world?

III. God is the author and giver, the father and fountain, of all wisdom and understanding, v. 36. The souls of men are nobler and more excellent beings than the stars of heaven themselves, and shine more brightly. The powers and faculties of reason with which man is endued, and the wonderful performances of thought, bring him into some alliance to the blessed angels; and whence comes this light, but from the Father of lights? Who else has put wisdom into the inner parts of man, and given understanding to the heart? 1. The rational soul itself, and its capacities, come from him as the God of nature; for he forms the spirit of man within him. We did not make our own souls, nor can we describe how they act, nor how they are united to our bodies. He only that made them knows them, and knows how to manage them. He fashioneth men's hearts alike in some things, and yet unlike in others. 2. True wisdom, with its furniture and improvement, comes from him as the God of grace and the Father of every good and perfect gift. Shall we pretend to be wiser than God, when we have all our wisdom from him? Nay, shall we pretend to be wise above our sphere, and beyond the limits which he that gave us our understanding sets to it? He designed we should with it serve God and do our duty, but never intended we should with it set up for directors of the stars or the lightning.

IV. God has the clouds under his cognizance and government, but so have not we, v. 37. Can any man, with all his wisdom, undertake to number the clouds, or (as it may be read) to declare and describe the nature of them? Though they are near us, in our own atmosphere, yet we know little more of them than of the stars which are at so great a distance. And when the clouds have poured down rain in abundance, so that the dust grows into solid mire and the clods cleave fast together (v. 38), who can stay the bottles of heaven? Who can stop them, that it may not always rain? The power and goodness of God are herein to be acknowledged, that he gives the earth rain enough, but does not surfeit it, softens it, but does not drown it, makes it fit for the plough, but not unfit for the seed. As we cannot command a shower of rain, so we cannot command a fair day, without God; so necessary, so constant, is our dependence upon him.

V. God provides food for the inferior creatures, and it is by his providence, not by any care or pains of ours, that they are fed. The following chapter is wholly taken up with the instances of God's power and goodness about animals, and therefore some transfer to it the last three verses of this chapter, which speak of the provision made, 1. For the lions, v. 39, 40. "Thou dost not pretend that the clouds and stars have any dependence upon thee, for they are above thee; but on the earth thou thinkest thyself paramount; let us try that then: Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? Thou valuest thyself upon thy possessions of cattle which thou wast once owner of, the oxen, and asses, and camels, that were fed at thy crib; but wilt thou undertake the maintenance of the lions, and the young lions, when they couch in their dens, waiting for a prey? No, needest not do it, they can shift for themselves without thee: thou canst not do it, for thou hast not wherewithal to satisfy them: thou darest not do it; shouldst thou come to feed them, they would seize upon thee. But I do it." See the all-sufficiency of the divine providence: it has wherewithal to satisfy the desire of every living thing, even the most ravenous. See the bounty of the divine Providence, that, wherever it has given life, it will give livelihood, even to those creatures that are not only not serviceable, but dangerous, to man. And see its sovereignty, that it suffers some creatures to be killed for the support of other creatures. The harmless sheep are torn to pieces, to fill the appetite of the young lions, who yet sometimes are made to lack and suffer hunger, to punish them for their cruelty, while those that fear God want no good thing. 2. For the young ravens, v. 41. As ravenous beasts, so ravenous birds, are fed by the divine Providence. Who but God provides for the raven his food? Man does not; he takes care only of those creatures that are, or may be, useful to him. But God has a regard to all the works of his hands, even the meanest and least valuable. The ravens' young ones are in a special manner necessitous, and God supplies them, Ps. cxlvii. 9. God's feeding the fowls, especially these fowls (Matt. vi. 26), is an encouragement to us to trust him for our daily bread. See here, (1.) What distress the young ravens are often in: They wander for lack of meat. The old ones, they say, neglect them, and do not provide for them as other birds do for their young: and indeed those that are ravenous to others are commonly barbarous to their own, and unnatural. (2.) What they are supposed to do in that distress: They cry, for they are noisy clamorous creatures, and this is interpreted as crying to God. It being the cry of nature, it is looked upon as directed to the God of nature. The putting of so favourable a construction as this upon the cries of the young ravens may encourage us in our prayers, though we can but cry, Abba, Father. (3.) What God does for them. Some way or other he provides for them, so that they grow up, and come to maturity. And he that takes this care of the young ravens certainly will not be wanting to his people or theirs. This, being but one instance of many of the divine compassion, may give us occasion to think how much good our God does, every day, beyond what we are aware of.

CHAP. XXXVIII. Verſe 1. Then the Lord anſwered Job.]

GOD himſelf taking the word out of Elihu's mouth, (who had ſpoken well, but wanted Majeſty to ſet it forth) became his owne Patron, et hujus diſputationis ſequeſter, and Decider of this long Controverſie, vindicating his own Authority, and teaching that truth in the four following Chapters, which Saint Paul briefly comprizeth in theſe words, Rom. 11.33, 34. O the depth of the riches both of the wiſdome and knowledge of God! How unſearchable are his judgements, and his wayes paſt finding out! For who hath knowne the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his Counſellor? Why then ſhould any one require an account of his proceedings, or queſtion his Juſtice? Job had often deſired that God would take knowledg of his Cauſe. His friends alſo had deſired the ſame, chap. 11.5. Here therefore He appeareth in perſon, not as out of an Engine deviſed for that purpoſe, after the manner of ſome partial Tragedy, for the whole narration teſtifieth, that this is a true ſtory of things done indeed,Beza. and afterwards faithfully recorded. Which hiſtory is highly to be eſteemed as an incomparable Treaſure, if it were for nothing elſe, yet for the right knowledge of natural Phyſophy here laid open, in theſe four following Chapters, together with the chief and principal end thereof, which is, that in theſe viſible creatures, we may behold the inviſible things of God.

Out of the whirle-wind] That is, Out of a cloud whence iſſued a whirle-wind or a ſtorm, as a teſtimony of his heavenly Majeſty, and to procure attention. See the like Deuter. 4.12. 1 King, 19.11. &c. Ezek 1.4. &c. Nah. 1.3. Heb. 12.18. God loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience, yet he takes ſtate upon him in his Ordinances, and will be trembled at in his word and judgments.

And ſaid] With much more mildneſs and moderation then Elihu or any of them had uſed in reprehending Job, and yet with ſuch plenty and efficacy of words and arguments, Ʋt facillimè omnes omnium orationes ſuperet, That no ſuch Oration can any where elſe be read. Well might Lavater ſay, Hoc poſtramum colloquium eſt admodum ſuave & utile, this conference of God with Job, is very ſweet and profitable; for it teacheth us, among other things, how gently God dealeth with his offending ſervants, and how hardly the beſt are brought to confeſſe their ſins, and truly to repent of them.

Verſ. 2. Who is this that darkneth counſel?] Who's this that talketh thus, (ſaith God, ſtepping forth, as it were from behind the hangings) how now? What's to do here? Some Ancients think it meant of Elihu; but Job is the man, ſee chap. 42.3. where he takes it to himſelf; and it may be God here pointed to him with a Quis eſt iſte Job?

That darkneth counſel] My Counſel, by miſconſtructions, his own, by raſh and unskilful expreſſions: for which Elihu alſo rightly blamed him, and his other friends took great offence at him; who ſhould rather have ſaid as Cruciger did of Luther, Eum commodiùs ſentire quàm loquitur, dum efferveſcit, that he thought not ſo ill, as he ſpoke in his heat.

By words without knowledge] This is the worſt that God chargeth Job with; words of folly and ignorance: not with malice, falſhood, blaſphemy, &c. Counſel alſo he attributeth to him, though not wiſely managed. If there be any good in us, he noteth and noticeth it; paſſing by our defects and failings: as when Sarah called her husband Lord, ſhe is much commended for it; though there was never another good word in all that ſentence, Gen. 18.12. 1 Pet. 3.6. See on chap. 35. verſ. 16.

Verſe 3. Gird up now thy loins like a man] As men did uſe to do when they went to fight, 1 King. 20.11. Stand to thy ward, and ſee to thy ſelf: for I mean to aſſail thee, and to try thy manhood. Plato hath obſerved, that the beſt Fencers are the worſt Souldiers. Many can brave it afore-hand, as that Thraſonical Gaal did, Judg. 9.29. who yet cannot look their enemy in the face with blood in their cheeks.

For I will demand of thee, and anſwer thou me] I will be thy opponent (ſith thou haſt challenged me into the ſchooles, as it were, and given me my choice) and prove thee with hard queſtions; whereunto if thou canſt give no good anſwer, ſee thine own folly, and be ſatisfied.

Verſe 4. Where waſt thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?] q. d. Thou waſt no where, a meer Non-ens: thou waſt no companion or counſellour of mine; nay, not ſo much as a looker on, for thou art but of yeſterday. Thou underſtandeſt not the reaſon of this fair fabrick: much leſſe of my dark and deep counſels.

Declare if thou haſt underſtinding] Heb. If thou knoweſt underſtanding. An irony, but friendly, and free from all bitterneſſe; the better to convince Job of his folly and faultineſſe: for which end alſo, multis eum interrogationibus onerat, Mercer. God loadeth him with many deep queſtions, the leaſt whereof he could not anſwer.

Verſe 5. Who hath laid the meaſures thereof] In that circumference and diameter that it holdeth?

If thou knoweſt] Or, For thou knoweſt; quandoquidem ſcitus es, a tart irony. Geometricians take upon them to know the ſeveral dimenſions of the earth: and Archimedes boaſted, that if he had but where to ſet his foot from off the earth, he could ſhake the whole body of it. As alſo, that he could number all the ſands that were in the whole World, habitable and inhabitable: But theſe were vain brags.

Or who hath ſtretcht the line upon it?] A metaphor from Maſons and other Maſter-builders, who work by line and by rule. Vitruvius in his 7th. Book ſaith thus, Longitudines ad regulam & lineam, altitudines ad perpendiculum, anguli ad normam reſponde[illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter]s exigantur.

Verſe 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof faſtened?] Surely, upon nothing, but the word of Gods power. The Philoſophers diſpute many things concerning the foundations of the earth; but without any ſound foundation of good reaſon. Some Jew-Doctors make the mountains to be them: but theſe bear not up the earth, but the contrary. The Pſalmiſt ſaith, that God hath founded the ſolid earth upon the liquid waters, Pſal. 24. wherein appeareth the infinite wiſedom and power of God the founder. Vitruvius ſaith, In ſolido extruendum, foundations muſt be laid in ſolid places. But God is not tyed to rules: his works are in oppoſitis mediis, as was above noted.

Or who [illegible: 1 letter]aid the corner-ſtone thereof?] i. e. The Center (ſay ſome Jew-Doctors) whither all heavie things are carried, and about which the whole world hangeth: the elements and heavenly orbs ſurrounding it in their motions. Others fetch this corner-ſtone out of the middle of the ſea. But all this diſcourſe is metaphorical, to ſhew the firmneſſe of the work, wherein none had any hand but only the eſſential wiſdom of God, Prov. 8. who did it with more eaſe than men can build an houſe.

Verſe 7. When the morning ſtars ſang together] There is but one morning ſtar properly ſo called, viz. Phoſphorus, Lucifer, or Venus, the Suns fore-runner. But, for their brightneſſe, they are all called here, Stars of the morning, and ſaid to ſing together, as birds uſe to do at break of day: ſo did theſe in the morning of the Creation, when firſt thoſe heavenly torches began to ſhine, and joyfully to dance, as it were, in number and meaſure. This they do ſtill in their kind, Pſalm 19. verſ. 1. beckening alſo, as it were, to us to do the like, Pſal. 145.3.

And all the ſons of God ſhouted for joy] i. e. All the Angels, as chap. 1.6. meant alſo by thoſe morning ſtars, as Piſcator and others will have it. Theſe being created together with the higheſt heavens, on the firſt day (as it is probable) like as Chriſts ſoul was created in and with his body in the Virgins womb the ſame moment) were preſent at a great part of the Creation, if not at all: and were rapt with admiration at the great wiſdom and power of their Creator, ſinging, Holy, holy, holy, &c. Shall the ſtars ſing, the Angels ſhout, and ſhall we be ſo dull? This was all they did, at the Creation. Note this againſt thoſe, who held that God made the ſuperior creatures himſelf, but the inferior by his Angels. A great hand they have, as Gods inſtruments, in governing the world, Ezek. 1.5, 6, 7, &c. (whence alſo they are called Watchmen and Keepers, Dan. 4.13.) but not any had they in making the world: for in that work, God was alone, and by himſelf, Iſai. 44. verſ. 24.

Verſe 8. Or who ſhut up the ſea with doors] i. e. With bounds and banks: the Sea God ſhut up in the hollow parts of the earth, as in a great houſe, that the dry land (naturally overwhelmed thereby) might appear, and become fit, both to bear grain, graſſe, plants, &c. and to yield an habitation for men and beaſts. Piſcator thinks it is a Metaphor from Flood-gates at Mill-ponds.

When it brake forth as if it had iſſued out of the womb] The Sea is here ſet forth in lively colours, as an incomprehenſible work of Gods wiſdom. Out of Nothing God produced it at firſt, as an infant out of the mothers womb. How great is God then, to whom the great Sea is but as a little infant? It brake out of the womb, when it was ſevered from the Abyſſe; which lay covered with darkneſſe, till the waters below were ſeparated from thoſe above, Gen. 1.10.

Verſe 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof] When I clothed this new born child with a cloud;Elegans allegovia. Jun. commanding the vapors which environ it, to ſerve it for garments. Clouds are begotten of the waters, of the ſea eſpecially, and appear daily upon it.

And thick darkneſſe, a ſwadling band for it] This thick darkneſſe is well interpreted to be thoſe fogs and miſts which ariſe upon the ſea, and are between the clouds and the ſea; as the ſwadling bands between the upper garment and the child. Interim ſignificat, ſaith Mercer here; Meanwhile here is ſignified, that God can as eaſily rule and repreſſe the ſea, as the mother, or nurſe, can her ſuckling, when it is ſwathed up.

Verſe 10. And brake up for is my decreed place] That great houſe in the hollows of the earth, verſ. 8. gathering it together by a perpetual and powerful decree, into that place and pit. Tremellius rendreth it, Quum diffregi pro eo terram decreto mea; When I brake up for it the earth by my decree. Others, And laid upon it my Statute: for ſhabhar ſignifieth alſo ſtatuere, decernere, ſay they: but that's more than I know.

And ſet bars and doors] Vectes & valvas: See verſ. 8. This is a work of Gods great power: and is therefore much inſtanced and inſiſted upon in Scripture, Pſ. 109. Jer. 5.22, &c. God could have put many other hard queſtions to Job about the ſea[illegible: 1 letter] as, why it ſwelleth not by the inflowing of ſo many great Rivers? why the waters of it are ſo ſalt? whence it is that it ſo ebbeth and floweth, &c? Ariſtotle ſheweth himſelf no very wiſe man in anſwering theſe queſtions; whom yet Averr[illegible: 1 letter]es ſo madly admireth, that he ſaith, there is no errour at all to be found in him; and that his doctrine is the chiefeſt truth, &c.

Verſe 11. And ſaid, Hitherto ſhalt thou come and no further] This God commanded, and it is done. If the ſea at any time break its bounds, and over-flow countries (as in Holland, Zealand, and other parts it hath done) that is to declare the power of God, and his juſt anger againſt ſin.

And here ſhall thy proud waves be ſtayed] Canutus commanded ſuch a thing: but the ſea regarded him not. Xerxes beat the ſea, and caſt a pair of fetters into it to make it his priſoner, but to no purpoſe. God here chides it by an elegant Eclipſis or Apoſiopeſis, Illic ponet (ſc. ventus) elationem fluctuum tu[illegible: 1 letter]rum, and it is quieted immediately, as Jon. 1. Matth. 8. Think the ſame of the waters of Afflictions.

Verſe 12. Haſt thou commanded the morning, ſince thy dayes?] It may be thou wilt ſay, Theſe are ancient things, done long before I was born: but ask me of things within my reach, and remembrance. Well then, what ſaieſt thou to the Sun-riſing? Haſt thou either lengthened or haſtened it at any time, ſince thou wert born, cauſing it to riſe at ſuch or ſuch an hour, in ſuch or ſuch a point of heaven according to the divers degrees and ſituations of the Zodiak? No: this is more than ever any man could do: The day is thine, the night alſo is thine, ſaith David, Thou haſt prepared the light and the Sun, Thou haſt ſet all the borders of the earth, thou haſt made ſummer and winter, Pſal. 74.16, 17. If all the Emperours and Potentates of the earth ſhould conjoyn their forces to hinder or haſten the riſing of the Sun, they could never do it. Joſhua did indeed ſtop the courſe of the Sun: but that was by the power of God ſet a work by his faithful prayer; Whence One cryeth out, O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac potentiam, quibus etiam coeleſtia cedunt! O the admirable power of Prayer, force of Faith, which is ſuch as the viſible heavens are ſenſible of, and giveth way to! how then ſhould earth or hell ſtand before it?

And cauſe the day-ſpring to know his place] The word day-ſpring comes from blackneſſe; for it is not [non-Latin text not transcribed] clear light at firſt: but [non-Latin text not transcribed],Auroraſic à nigrore dicta qui eam comitatur. rather dark, than light.

Verſe 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth] That is ſuddenly illighten the whole Horizon: for which cauſe alſo David aſcribeth wings to the morning, Pſal. 139. ſo that the light is not a body, nor (as ſome will have it) a ſubſtance, but an accident. The truth is, no man can tell what it is, of any certainty: an admirable creature it is, ſurely a divine and heavenly thing, than which nothing is more deſirable, nothing more profitable. Two excellent uſes of it are here ſet forth, 1. To refreſh men by the ſight of the earth, and the things thereon. 2. To ſet us upon ſerious employments, ſuch as is the puniſhment of evil doers, for ſo ſome interpret thoſe next words.

That the wicked might be ſhaken out of it] ſc. By baniſhment, or rather by death, inflicted upon them in the light, for their deeds of darkneſſe. Or at leaſt, that thoſe Lucifugae, tenebriones, thoſe inauſpicate night-birds, who hate the light, becauſe their works are evil, might be ſhamed and ſhunned. Their Motto is, Jam lux inimica propinquat. See chap. 24. verſ. Virg. 13, 17.

Verſe 14. It is turned as clay to the ſeal] That is, The earth now diſcerned, by reaſon of the aire inlightened. The ſenſe is this, Like as clay in the lump that hath no figure ſtamped upon it, is changed by a ſeal impreſſed,Piſcator. and receiveth the figure of the ſeal upon it ſelf: ſo the earth, which by night was without form by reaſon of darkneſſe, when once the Sun is up, is figured as it were: that is, it ſhewes the ſeveral figures ſtamped upon it.

And they ſtand as a garment] All the ſeveral fruits, flowers, and various workmanſhip of God in her produced creatures that grow thereupon,Abbot. appear as a ſtately garment or ornament on a man, Mat. 6.28, 29. the Sun-beams ſhining upon it as lace.

Verſe 15. And from the wicked, their light is with-holden] They have no ſuch joy of thoſe comforts which the light affordeth: but as it diſcovereth their dark practiſes, Epheſ. 5.13. ſo it b[illegible: 1 letter]ingeth them forth to condigne puniſhment; Ʋtpote indignos, qui hac luce fruantur.

And his high arm ſhall be broken] i. e. His ſtrength, tyranny, and power, whereby he oppreſſed others as with an out-ſtretched arm lifted up to ſtrike with violence, this ſhall be broken, as Moabs was, Jer. 48. and as all the wickeds ſhall be; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous, Pſal. 37.17. It is well noted, that this verſe is an Expoſition of the latter part of verſ. 13. as the former verſe was of the former part. And well might Mercer ſay of this, and the three following Chapters, Sunt hac alta & inſignia, & munulla difficilia; theſe are things high, and excellent, and ſomthing dark, and difficult.

Verſe 16. Haſt thou entred into the ſprings of the ſea?] Heb. Into the teares of the ſea; Ʋſque ad ploratamaris. Job. 28.11. for ſprings poure out water as eyes do teares: and the ſame Hebrew word ſignifieth an eye, and a ſpring; becauſe, ſaith One, the eye is of a watery conſtitution: or to ſhew, that from it, as from a ſpring or fountain, did flow both ſin it ſelf, the cauſe of ſin, and miſery the puniſhment of both: and becauſe by it came the greateſt hurt; therefore God hath placed in it the greateſt tokens of ſorrow: iiſdem quibus videmus oculis, flemus. Now if Job cannot fathom the Sea, much leſſe can he the deep counſels of God.

Or haſt thou walked in the ſearch of the deep?] Et in vado voraginis ambulaſti? No: that's Gods walk alone, Pſal. 77.19. whatever the Papiſts legend of their St. Chriſtopher.

Verſe 17. Have the gates of Death been opened unto thee?] ſc. That thou ſhouldeſt know when, how, and of what Diſeaſe every man ſhall die: together with the ſtate and condition of the dead.

Or haſt thou ſeen the doers of the ſhadow of death?] No, nor any man living hath ever ſeen thoſe dark and diſmal receptacles of the dead, called here, the ſhadow of death; that is, ſo dreadful, that they were enough to ſtrike a man dead.

Verſe 18. Haſt thou perceived the breadth of the earth?] Heb. The bredths, i. e. the length alſo and circumference thereof. Geographers define the length of the earth from Eaſt to Weſt, the bredth from North to South; and they have their ſupputations and conjectures.Frigidae ſunt et leves conjecturae. Mercer. Pencer, and others, tell us, that if there were a path made round the earth, an able foot-man might eaſily go it in 900. dayes. Which if he could, yet what mortal man, though he ſhould live 900. years, could ever viſit and view the whole face, nature, and dimenſion of the earth, wherein are ſo many deſerts and bogs unpaſſable? Or, what Job can give a reaſon why God made the earth of ſuch a length and bredth, and no more, when he could ſo eaſily have done it? How much leſſe can he of Gods ſecret and unſearchable judgements? and why ſhould he ſo deſire to know the cauſe wherefore he is Afflicted?

Declare if thou knoweſt it all] Sith a great part of it is uninhabited: and the ſea ſurroundeth it as a girdle.

Verſe 19.Diod. Where is the way where light dwelleth?] Theſe are Poëtical terms likewiſe: which ſignifie, or mean nothing elſe, but that God alone without any help or work of any man, appointed the divers points of Sun-riſing, and Sun-ſetting.

And as for darkneſſe, where is the place thereof?] i. e. Little canſt thou tell what is become of it, or where the Sun ſetteth: by the abſence whereof cometh darkneſs. The truth is, our reaſon is by original ſin ſo darkened, that we underſtand not theſe leſſer and common matters. Thoſe that are more high and hard we learn not, but with much labour, and long experience. As for the Myſteries of God, and things pertaining to Salvation, we cannot at all attain unto them by humane reaſon, as is to be ſeen in Nicodemus, Job 3. & 1. Cor. 2.

Verſe 20. That thou ſhouldeſt take it to the bound thereof] That thou ſhouldeſt take light and darkneſſe by the hand as it were, and lead them to the place of their abode.

And that thou ſhouldeſt know the paths, &c.] That is, Which way to go to bring them out of their retiring-rooms: and to reduce them into our Hemiſphere.

Verſe 21. Knoweſt thou it beacuſe thou waſt then born?] Beza readeth it thus, Theſe things, forſooth, thou knoweſt, becauſe thou waſt then born (viz. when I made them, and appointed what order and courſe they ſhould keep) and the number of thy dayes is great, thou are uery far grown in yeares, as having lived ever ſince the Creation. Es a[illegible: 1 letter] noſiſſimus & antiquiſſimus, &c. Ironicè omnia.

Verſe 22. Haſt thou entered into the treaſures of the ſnow?] i, e. Into the clouds where theſe Meteors (whereof before chap. 37.) are ingendred: and from whence God, when he pleaſes, bringeth ſuch great ſtore, as if he had them treaſured up by him of a long ſeaſon. See the like ſaid of the winds, Pſal 135.7. Quaſi parata haberet horum penuaria. Gregory allegorizing theſe words, ſheweth, that earthly treaſures are treaſures of Snow. We ſee little children what paines they take to rake and ſcrape together ſnow to make a Snow-ball: Right ſo, they that ſcrape together the Treaſure of this world; have but a ſnow-ball of it: ſo ſoone as the Sun ſhineth, and God breatheth upon it, and ſo entreth into it, by and by it cometh to nothing.

Or haſt thou ſeen the treaſures of hail?] Another Metaphor from Officers of the Exchequer, or publick Treaſury; q.d. Haſt thou the inſpection or adminiſtration of theſe Meteors?

Verſe 23. Which I have reſerved againſt the time of trouble] Or, Againſt the time of the enemy to puniſh him, as Exod. 9.24. Joſh. 10.11. Iſai. 30.30. By deep Snowes men are ſometimes withered and deſtroyed: by violent hail-ſtones and coales of fire (as Pſal. 18.13, 14, 15.) What an overthrow was procured againſt the Quades by the prayers of the thundring Legion, as they were afterwards called in the dayes of Aurelius the Emperour? Ingens grando compluraque fulmina in hoſtes ceciderunt; Dio in vit. &c. Ant. Phil. Huge hail-ſtones and many light-bolts fell upon the enemy ſaith the Heathen Hiſtorian.

Againſt the day of battle and war] When God is pleaſed to bring forth his upper and lower troops ready preſt, as the Rabbins phraſe it.

Verſe 24. By what way is the light parted] ſcil. From the clouds by lightning, or from darkneſs by the Sun-riſing? Knoweſt thou that? Or the cauſe of it? Nothing leſſe. Something Phyloſophers have to ſay here, but upon no great certainty.

Which ſcattereth the Eaſt wind upon the earth] Eurus eſt ventus urens exiccans, the Eaſt wind hath its name in Hebrew from the Sun-riſing; the Latines call it, Ventum ſubſolanum, as that which uſually followeth the riſing-Sun, but whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, is more then Job or any other can tell.

Verſe 25. Who hath divided (or derived) a water courſe for the over-flowing of waters?] That is, the water-clouds for the powring out of raine, Velut per canales & tubulos; as by Pipes and conveyances whereſoever God pleaſeth, men being amazed at thoſe miracles of Nature, Is it not the Lord alone? He it is who divideth the Deluge of waters; as it were draining them into certain furrowes which would otherwiſe fall down from heaven all at once, and make great ſpoil here below.

Or a way for the lightning of thunder] Nimbo ſonoro, ſaith Tremellius. See chap 28.6. with the Note.

Verſe 26. To cauſe it to rain on the earth where no man is] But wild beaſts only. Theſe alſo are Gods Creatures and he provideth food for them. How much more will he do ſo for us, though ſmall faiths.

On the wilderneſs wherein there is no man] Repetitio ad varietatem & elegantiam, as alſo to ſhew the certainty of the thing.

Verſe 27. To ſatisfie the deſolate and waſte ground] The waſte and waſte ground ſaith Broughton elegantly; and the Hebrew ſounds alike.

And to cauſe the bud of the tender herb to ſpring forth] For the uſe of wild Creatures, whereof there are great ſtore in the Deſert of Arabia, not farre from Job; for the which, and the reſt of his living Creatures, this great Houſe-keeper of the world provideth food, ſutable to their ſeveral appetites.

Verſe 28 Hath the rain a father?] Subandi, praeter me, faith Vatablus? Hath it any father but me? Can any of the Heathen Deities give raine? Or can the Heavens give ſhowres? Art not thou He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait upon thee, for thou haſt made all theſe things, Jerem. 14.22.

Or who hath begotten the drops of the dew?] Thoſe round orient Pearls, that falling from heaven in a clear night, do ſweetly refreſh whatſoever groweth in fields and Meadowes. The natural cauſes hereof, and of raine are knowne, but we muſt riſe higher to God, the firſt Authour and Father of theſe and other things, before and after mentioned, who bringeth them out of his Treaſuries, and doth wonderfully both make and manage them. It is remarkable that Chriſt ſaith, Hoſ. 14.5. I will be as the dew unto Iſrael, He ſhall grow as the Lilly, &c. (See the Note on that Text) Chriſt is unto them as a cloud of dew in the heat of harveſt, Iſai. 18.4. Making their hearts to be as ſo many watered gardens, Jer. 31.12.

Verſe 29. Out of whoſe womb came the ice?] Indeed of ice and water is ſaid in a ſenſe, Mater me genuit: eadem mox gignitur ex me. But theſe creatures are not produced by cauſes which are conſtant and invariable in Nature, as humane generation is, but they proceed from Gods pure and ſimple free-wil.

And the hoary froſt of heaven, who hath gendred it?] Out of the heaven; that is, Out of the lower Region of the Aire cometh the matter of it, but God maketh it. Naturaliſts ſay, that the hoar froſt is a vapour congealed by a cold wind in cold places of the lower Region of the Aire; as in Winter we ſee the breath that cometh out of the mouth, to congeal and hang upon the beard and haires. This hoare froſt is anſwerable in the counter-point to the dew, but laſteth much longer.

Verſe 30.Quae aquae magno & diuturno frigore congelaſcunt, velut per 10 vel 20 annos continuos appeilantur chryſtallus, velut in Alpibus. —Et glacialem Oceanum— The waters are hid at with a ſtone] This is a further deſcription of ice, which is hard as a ſtone, and clear as chryſtal; ſo great is the force of froſt, how much more then of God to do whatſoever he pleaſeth.

And the face of the deep is frozen] Some deep Rivers are ice to the bottom, ſo that loaden car[illegible: 1 letter]s are driven over, fires made upon them, meat dreſſed, &c. as was here upon the Thames in the great Eroſt, ſome forty five years ſince. Yea, ſome ſeas are over-frozen (Juvenal ſpeaks of the icy Ocean) in the Northern part of the world, the ice thereof when once thawed, floteth in the waters like huge mountaines, as in Greenland, &c.

Verſe 31 Canſt thou bind the ſweet influences of the Pleiades?] That is, Reſtrain the pleaſantneſſe of the Spring, or aſſwage the ſharpneſſe of winter, that cold and comfortleſſe Quarter? There is none beſide God, who can either forbid flowers to break forth in the Spring tide,Averni temporis ſignificatione or elſe cauſe them to flouriſh in winter. The Pleiades (otherwiſe called Virgiliae and the Hens) are the ſeven Stars in the end of Aries. They are in Hebrew called, Chimah, of Chamah to love ardently, becauſe of the fellowſhip and working together that appeareth in them. They have all one name, becauſe they all help one another in the work, which is, to bring the Spring; and like ſeven Siſters or Lovers, ſo are they joyned together in one Conſtellation, and in one company. We ſee (ſaith One) that God will have the ſweeteſt works in Nature to be perfected by mutual help. The beſt time of the year cometh with theſe Pleiades, and the beſt time of our life cometh, when we enter into true love and fellowſhip:

Or loſe the bands of Orion?] Which is a Star that ariſeth in the beginning of Winter,Nimboſus Orion. Virg. [non-Latin text not transcribed] turbare & concitare. and draweth foul weather after him as with bands: theſe can no man [illegible: 3 letters]e, for Winter never rotteth in the Aire (as the Proverb hath it) nor is it fit it ſhould, for it is of very great uſe for mellowing of the earth, killing of worms and [illegible: 1 word], &c. Neither can the Spring come kindly, till Orion have prepared the way. God will have us ſuffer, before we reigne. The word Cheſil here uſed, ſig [illegible: 3 letters] [illegible: 1 word] the [illegible: 1 word] to perfect; becauſe (ſaith One) by ſuffering and offering violence to our ſelves, we enter into perfection, Luke 13, 32. If we would have a pleaſant Spring of graces in our hearts, we muſt firſt have a nipping winter. The Spirit of Mortification muſt be like the cold Star Orion, to nip our quick motions in the head, and to bind all our unclean deſires and burning luſts, that they ſtir not in us; and unleſs we do thus the delights of Pleiades, or the ſeven Stars of comfort ſhal never appear to us.

Verſe 32 Canſt thou bring forth Mazzaroth?] Or, the Twelve Signes; or the Southern Stars that bring in Summer. Lucifer ſome render it; others, the Hyades and others again every one of the ſtars or ſigns. It is like it was ſome one ſtar very well known in thoſe dayes, as were likewiſe the reſt here mentioned, and put for the four ſeaſons of the year.

Or canſt thou guide Arcturus with his ſons] Or, Bootes with his waine, (thoſe Northern ſtars) or, Autumne with his yearly fruits, the gift and work of God alone Of Arcturus, Hierome obſerveth, that ſemper verſatur nunquam mergitur; this is moſt true of Chriſts Church much toſſed, never drowned.

Verſe 33. Kn[illegible: 1 letter]weſt thou the Ordinances of heaven?] Either how to order them, as Maſter over them,Diod. or to comprehend what they are certainly and perfectly

Canſt thou ſet the dominion thereof in the earth?] As well in regard of the motion of the heavens, which varieth the ſeaſons of the year, as of the influences and vertue which cometh from thence. For they who think that the ſuperior bodies have no power at all upon theſe inferiour, do go againſt common ſenſe and experience, yea, this and many other texts of Scriptures; which yet make nothing at all for that Judiciary Aſtrology ſo much cryed up, in theſe laſt and worſt dayes of the world, by ſome who would have the manners, ſtudies and events of every man to depend upon the ſtars, yea, the riſe and ruine of Kingdomes, Arts, Religion, &c.

Verſe 34 Canſt thou lift up thy voice to the clouds?] Thy commanding voice, as Numb. 9 23. Some render it, Thy thunder. Will the clouds obey thee, and rain upon thee at thy pleaſure? Something thou maiſt get by thy prayers as Elias did, James 5 17. and the thundering Legion in the Eccleſiaſtical hiſtory, but nothing by command or compulſion. The Monarch of Mexico is a mad man to take an Oath at his Coronation,Lopez de Gomara. that it ſhall be what weather ſoever he pleaſeth all the time of his Raigne.

Verſe 35 Canſt thou ſend lightnings?] Nunquid emittes. Canſt thou ſend forth lightnings and thunder-bolts, as hurtful Creatures out of the Cave wherein they are kept? Or as ſo many ſouldiers or ſervants to do as thou commandeſt them? The Poets faine that Mercury had once a mind to ſteal Jupiters thunder-bolts, but durſt not leſt they ſhould burn his fingers. Hiſtories tell us of a King of Egypt, and of Caligula the Roman Emperor, that they attempttd to thunder and lighten,Admirari duntaxat poteſt, efficere non poteſt. Brent. but with very ill ſucceſs. Job is here told, that that is too hard a work for any creature to do.

Verſe 36. Who hath put wiſdome in the inward parts?] Hitherto God hath ſet forth his own admirable Power, Wiſdome and providence in making and governing the life-leſs creatures the Meteors eſpecially. Now he comes to declare the ſame in things endued with life; and firſt with man his Maſter-piece: who hath given him wiſdom (ſaith God) in the inward parts, or reines? where the reaſonable ſoul ſitteth and ſoveraigneth. The Hebrewes ſay, That the heart underſtandeth, and the raines deliberate. They haue their name here from plaiſtering over, or covering; becauſe they are over-covered with fat and fleſh; howbeit the Lord tryeth them, Jer. 17.10. and hath given wiſdome to man to moderate his affections and concupiſcences which are here ſeated, and to get truth into theſe inward parts, Pſalm 51.6. that this hidden man of the heart may be highly accepted in heaven, 1 Pet. 3.4.

Or who hath given underſtanding to the heart?] To the Cock, ſaith the Vulgar Latine, after the Talmudiſts and Jew-Doctors, who teach their Diſciples whenſoever they hear the Cock crow by night, to ſay this Benediction, The Lord be praiſed, who giveth underſtanding to the Cock; ſcil. to awaken men, and to announce day. The Septuagint render it, Who hath given to women skill to weave, and art to embroyder? But they do beſt that take the word (though found only in this place) for the Heart, Mens quaſi imaginatrix & figuratrix dicta quod omnia pervide[illegible: 1 letter]t & cognoſcat. as that wherein are painted and imprinted the imaginations and repreſentations of things, as the word ſeemeth to import.

Verſe 37. Who can number the clouds in wiſdome?] Quis ſapphirinas efficit nubes? Who can make the clouds like Sapphire, that is bright and clear? ſo ſome read it. Others, Who can declare the clouds? ſcil. their number, nature and uſes?

Or who can ſtay the bottle of heaven?] i.e. the clouds, fitly compared to bottle[illegible: 1 letter], as thoſe veſſels that hold the rain, and powre it out on the earth, when God pleaſeth to turn the mouths of thoſe bottles downward. This is a great Miracle, ſaith Lavater, that whereas water is fluid, and beareth downward, yet it abideth in the lofty and ſoft aire, nor can fall, but where and when God appointeth.

Verſe 38 When the duſt groweth into hardneſſe, &c.] When the ground hath had its fill, ſo that the light duſt is turned into lumps of earth: and that which was toſſed with every wind, is clodded and agglutinated by water into an heavy ſubſtance. Hic enim ſimplex eſt & nativus hujus loci ſenſus, ſaith Merlin. Danaeus diſcourſing of ſtones,Phyſic. Chriſt. l. 2. c. 31. how they are made of earth, ſaith, That this Text is a compendium of all the large Diſcourſes of the natural Philoſophers concerning that Subject.

Verſe 39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion?] Heb. For the old Lion, (as Neh. 2.9.) that cannot hunt for himſelf.Plin. & Ariſtot. ſcribunt, Leones multa ſolida fine diſſectu devorare. Prey he muſt have, as being a very ravenous creature: but wilt thou provide it him? With what great charge do Princes maintain a few Lions? But God maintaineth all, and all other creatures, Pſal. 104.27, 28. and 145.15. putting it into the young Lions, to provide prey for the old; and cauſing theſe creatures to keep for moſt part in the Deſerts, where they feed upon Camels, and ſuch as they can light upon. Ammianus Marcellinus writeth, That in Chaldaea there are an huge number of Lions, which were like enough to devour up both men and beaſts throughout the Country. But withal he ſaith, That by reaſon of the ſtore of water and mud thereof, there breed yeerly an innumerable company of Gnats, whoſe property is to flye into the eye of the Lion, as being a bright and Orient thing, where biting and ſtinging the Lion, he teareth ſo fie[illegible: 1 letter]cely with his clawes, that he puts out his own eyes: and by that means many are drowned in the Rivers, others ſtarve for want of prey, and many the more eaſily killed by the Inhabitants.

Or fill the appetite of the young Lion?] Which is very greedy and inſatiate. Some render it, Catervam, the Troop or company of young Lions. But God in mercy to mankind hath ſo diſpoſed it, that as devouring Creatures are more rare (the Lioneſs ſeldome brings [illegible: 1 letter]orth more then one in all her life) ſo they go not often by troops, but range alone ſeeking their prey.

Verſe 40. When they couch in their dens, &c.] When both by might and ſlight they provide for themſelves. Hunters with all their paines and means cannot catch a beaſt ſo ſoon as the Lion can. An Ape he hateth in a ſpecial manner, as being too crafty for him: And yet he feareth man (although as the Poet ſaith, Simia quam ſimilis turpiſſima beſtia nobis.)Ennius. Whereof no other probable reaſon can be given, but the ſmall remnant of Gods Image left as yet in man, who once had dominion over all the Creatures, and is ſtill fearred by the fierceſt of them.

And abide in the covert to lye in wait] Where they crouch, counterfeit themſelves aſleep, lye quiet and cloſe, as Cats that would catch Mice, or Foxes birds. But if this way they ſpeed not, Baſil ſaith they ſet up a loud roar, whereby the Beaſts are ſo amated, that they have no power to ſtir out of the place they ſtand in, till the Lions have taken them.

Verſe 41 Who provideth for the Raven his food?] Though the Raven be a moſt vile creature, and hated almoſt of all: in ſome places there is a reward appointed for thoſe that ſhall kill them up. Though an unclean creature, and therefore abominable, Lev. 11.13, 15. Though unmerciful to her own, and pitileſſe to other birds, though an inauſpicate creature, a ſign both of mans puniſhment, and Gods curſe, Iſai. 34 11. Though he cryeth with a hoarſe and harſh voice (whence alſo he hath his name in the Original) and ſo unfit to move pity; yet God provideth food for him: What then will he do for his faithful ſervants, Matth. 6.26? Where our Saviour fetcheth not an example from the Iſraelites miraculouſly fed in the wilderneſſe, or Elias in the Deſert, but from Fowles of the Aire; and among them,Corvus incuba 20 diebus & pullos nido expellit. Plin. Ariſ[illegible: 1 letter] Ariſt. hiſt. Animal. l 9. c. 31. not from Eagles, Hawks, Nightingales, but Ravens, &c. Conſider the Ravens, Luke 12.24.

When his young ones cry to God] Though by implication only they cry, and not directly, being forſaken by the old ones, and left bare, they are fed by God with flies and wormes bred in the neſt out of their excrements; till able to flye, and leave the neſt, they wander for lack of meat to take it where-ever they can meet with it.