The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 153

• xiv. 4, 6; Matt xxiv. 7. Josephus epeake spe?ie.l evidenr,e of biB omnipotenr,e (see, of one which desolated Jndma m the reign l,es"les the passe.ges above quoted, I,n. xiii. of Herod the Greo.t, e.nd destroyed ten 5; xliv. 24; xlv. 12; Ii. 13; Jer. x. 12). It thous11,nd people (' Ant. Jud.,' xv. 5. § 2). e.dde to the mr.rvelloumess that God did it 'fhere wo.s another in ll81, which wae felt e.11 "a.lone," or "by himself" (comp. ls!I. over the whole of the Ho.uran, and did great xliv. 24). And treadeth upon the waves of dnmnge. A still more violent convuleion the see.; literally, the height3 of the sea; i.e occurred in 1837, when the area affected the waves, which run mounte.in-high. Goc extended five hundred milee from north to ple.nte his feet upon these, to crush them in south, nnd from eighty to a hundred milee their proud might (comp. Ps. xciii. 5). eBSt and west. Tiberiae and Safed were Ver. 9.-Which maketh Arctnrna, Orion, overthrown. The earth gaped in various and l'leiades; literally, which maketh 'Ash, placee, and closed e.gain. Fearful oscille.- Ki!ail,andKimah. Therenderingofthe LXX. tione were felt. The hot springs of Tibe- ( 6 ,ro,iov IT>..eu!Ba, ,cala£,r,repov, ,cal 'Ap,c-roupov ), rias mounted up to a temperature that supported, as it is, by most of the other ordinary thermometers could not mark, and ancient versions e.nd by the 1'argum3, has the loss of life was considerable ( see the caused the stellar character of these names account given by Dr. Cunningham Geikie, to be generally recognized; but the exact in 'The Holy Le.ml e.nd the Bible,' vol. ii. meaning of each term is, to some extent, still pp. 317,318). The phrases used by Job are, e. me.tter of dispute. On the whole, it seems of course, poetical. Earthquakes do not most probable that' Ash, or 'Aish (eh. xxxviii. literally "remove" mountains, nor "over- 32), designates" the Great Bear," called by turn " them. They produce fissures, eleva- the Arabs Nahih, while Kesil is the name tions, depressions, and the like; but they of the constellation of Orion, and Kimak of mrelv much alter local features or the that of the Pleiadee. The word 'A,h means general configuration of a district. "a litter," e.ud may be compared with the Ver. 6.-Which shaketh the earth out of Greek liµ,a~a and our own" Charles's ,vain." her place. Tuia is a still more startling figure both of them names given to the Great of speech; but comp. Pa. xlvi. 2; lxviii. 16; Bear, from e. fe.ncied resemblance of its form cxiv. 4, 6, And the pillars thereof tremble. to that of a vehicle. Kesil means "an in- The earth is conceived of, poetically, as a solent, rich man" (Lee); and is often trans- huge edifice, supported on pillars (comp. lated by "fool" in the Book of Proverbs Ps. lxxv. 8), which in au earthquake are (xiv. 16; xv. 20; xix. 1; xxi. 20, etc.), It she.ken, and impart their motion to the seems to have been au epitheton usitatum of entire building. Rosenmiiller's quotation of Nimrod, who, according to Oriental tradition, Seneca, 'Nat. Qumst.,' vi. 20-" Forte.see ex made war upon the gods, e.nd was bonnet aliqua parte terra veluti columnia quibusdam in the sky for his impiety-the constella- et pilis sustinetur, quibus vitie.tis et rece- tion being thenceforth called " the Gia.at " deutibus tremit poudus impositum" - is (Gibbor), or "the insolent one" (Kesil), and apposite. later by the Greeks "Orion" (comp. Amos Ver. 7.-Which commandeth the Bllll, and v. 8; and infra, cl,. :uxviii. Sl). Kimah un- it riseth not. A magnificent idea of God's doubtedly designates "the Pleiades." It , power, aud, of course, quite true. All the occurs again, in connection with Kesil, in eh. movements of the earth and of the hee.veuly xxxviii. 31, and in Amos v. S. The meaning bodies nre movements which God causes, and is probably "e. heap," "a cluster" (Lee); could at e.ny moment suspend. The sun which was o.lso the Greek idea: rnrn,Bes, only rises upon the earth each de.y because 3-n ,ri\ffovs dµoii KaTO. t,J,ia.J1 rrvva:yrryf,v €l,n God ea uses it to rise. If he were once to (Eustath., • Comment. in Horn. 11.,' xviiL intermit his he.ad, the whole universe would 488); and which has been also inimitably fall into confusion. And see.lath up the ste.rs. expressed by Tennyson in the line, "Like Either covers them with e. thick de.rkness, o. swarm of de.zzling fireflies tangled in a which their rays cannot penetrate, or other- silver bmid." And the chambers of the wise renders them in visible. The idea is that south. The Chaldeo.us called the zodie.cal God, if he pleases, ce.n remove the stars out constellations "mansians of the sun " and ofmau's sight, bide them away, seal them up. "of the moon" (' Aucfout Mone.rchies,' vol. Ver. 8.-Which alone spreadeth out the ii. p. 575); but these do not seem to be here heavens (comp. Ps. civ. 2; Isa. xl. 22). The intended. Rather Job has in his mind tliose heavens are regarded as spread out over the immense spaces of tl1e sky which He behind whole earth, like e. curtain or nwuing over his southern horizon; how for extvndin~. ]i., a tent, everywhere overshadowing and pro- knows not. Though the circuru1rnvi~atiou tecting it. This "stretching" or" sprending of Africa we.snot effected until about B.c. 600, out" is felt to be one of the mightiest nud yet it is not improbe.ble the.t he may have most marvellous of the Orentor'e works, nod derived from travellers or merchants BODl6 i11 constnntiy put forward in Scripture ns a knowledge of the Southern hemisphere. 156 THE BOOK OF JOB. [ou, Ix, 1--86,