John Trapp on Job 12:15

Verſe 15. Behold he with-holdeth the waters, and they dry up] He not only when he pleaſeth, impriſoneth men, but waters alſo, that they cannot get out of the clouds, thoſe bottles of rain, thoſe airy ſponges, veſſels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them: it is from the power of God that they diſſolve not upon us at once, and overwhelm us. Bartholinus reports that in the year of grace 1551. a great number of men and cattle were drowned by the ſudden breaking of a cloud, divers vine-yeards,De meteor. li. 2. ſtone walls, ſtrong houſes, were deſtroyed and ruined. At ſea ſometimes, ſhips are by the ſame means ſunk, ſea-men call it a ſpo[illegible: 1 letter]t. Again, it is by the anger and judgments of God that the clouds are ſometimes ſo cloſed up, that they yeild no more water then iron or adamant: If I ſhut up heaven, ſaith he, that there the no rain, 2 Chron. 7.13. and Deut. 28.23, 24. God threateneth, as a puniſhment of mens ſin, that the heavens over their heads ſhall be braſſe, and the earth under them ſhall be iron; that the rain of their land ſhall be made powder and duſt: from heaven ſhall it come down upon them &c. by exceeding great drought, grains of duſt ſhall aſcend into the air with the wind, and come down as the drops of rain in a ſhower when it is kindly weather. Thus it was in A[illegible: 1 letter]obe dayes 1 King. 18. See Joel 1.20. with the Note.

And they dry up] The rivers, fruits of the earth, roots of trees, all dry up, languiſh, and periſh, feavers alſo, and other acute diſeaſes abound.

Alſo he ſendeth them out, and they overturn the earth] They did ſo with an accent in the general deluge, and in Deucalious flood in Theſſaly, beſides many other great tracts and parts of the earth over-turned by water. Pliny and Seneca give us ſundry inſtances of towns and countries laid waſte by water. What great hurt was lately done about Amſterdam by water, and what breaking down of bridges, mills, and other houſes,Prin. Nat. hiſt. lib. 2. cap. 90.92. Sen. Nat. quaſt. lib. 6. cap. 23. by exceſſive rain, and floods thereupon, beſides marring of grounds, and rotting of cattle in many places amongſt us, needeth not here to be related.