The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 416

nrth ,q,ou nothing. "T&kee," i.e., "the reverberations of f,be tlmnder, whioh shake lmge ball of the P&rih, and euapends it in the air, seem to shake the oorth also. Auel vacancy, with nothing to support it but hie &n1 a■toni1hed at hi■ reproof. To the mind own fixed will, bis own firm laws." This ill of the poet ihis "trembling" la et.preseive an idea l!CRroely reached by aetronomere in of aetoniihment and oonaternation. He Ii!" general, at nny mte till the time of Hippar- garde the mountains 1111 bearing the voioe chns; and il bas, not without reason, boon of God in the storm, recorizing it ae raised regarded as "a very remarkable instance of in anger, and so trelllbling and oo~el"ing anticipntion of the discoveries of lloience" before him. (StRnlc..- Loothes). Ver. 12.-B:e divideth the 1ea with hie Ver. 8.-He bindeth up the watera in his power. "Dividet.h " is certainly a wrong thiot cloud& ; i.e. he makes the clouds, that translation. The verb used (Jl]'j mean& we s<>e floating in the atmosphere, contain either "stirreth up " or "stilleth." In end hold the watel'll on which the prodnctive- favour of the former rendering e.re Rosen- B81!1l of the eerth depends, and which he miillcr, Sohultens, Delitzsch, Merx, and: 1"8Btraina., or allows to f1tll in fertilizing rain, Canon Cook; in favour of tho latter, the at his pleasure (comp. 1 Kings xvii. 1). And LXX., Dil\mann, and Dr. Stanley Leathes. the alowl is not rent under them. The In either oase the general seuUment is that metaphor is, no doubt, drawn from those God has full mastery over the sea, and oan ...-e.ter-skins, so well known in the East, and regulate its movements at his pleasure. And especially in Arabia, in which men stored by his understanding he sm.iteth through the wnter for their journeys and other needs, the proud; literally, he smiteth Uirough Rahab. which were liable to be ":rent" by the (On Rabab, BB the great power of evil, see weight of the liquid within them. the oomment on eh. iL IS.) God is said to Ver. 9.-lle holdeth back the faoe of his have "smitten him through by hia u~- throne; rather, he em,ereth up. He makes at.a:riding," since .in the contest between good the clouds to gather in the vaolt of heaven, and evil it is rather intelligence tho.n mere above which is bis throne, and in this way force that carries tbe do.y. Power alone is conceals it and covers it up. And sprea.deth sufficient to control the sea. • bi& cloud upon it ; or, or,~ it, so blotting it Ver. IS.-By his spirit he bath ga.miahed out from sight. Behind the more obvious the heavena; or, by his spirit t116 heavens are meaning lies one which is deeper and more brightflUB; i.e. at a breath from his mouth spiritual. God withdraws himseUfrom sight, the heavens, lately all cloud and storm gathers clouds and darkness a.round him to (vere. 8-11), recover their serenity, are be the habitation of his eeat, hides from men co.Im and clear and bright. Our experi- the principles of his government and ad- ence says, "After a storm comes a calm." ministration, makes himself unapproachable Job notes that both alike e.re from God, and inscrutable, is a mystery and an enigma J!is he.nd ha.th formed the crooked serpent ; whici, man cannot hope to nndeNtand or rather, his hand hath pierced the swift Se1'pent l!Ol ve ( comp. l Kings viii. 12; Ps. xvi.ii: 11; (1100 the Revised Yereion). The referencE xcvii. 2). is probably to" the war in heaven," already Ver. 10.-Jle bath compa.ued the W&tera suggested by the mention of" Bahab" (ver. with bo1lll.ds. God restrains within limits 12). In that war, eccording to the tradition alike the " waters that are above the :fi.rma- that had reached Job, a great serpent, like ment" and those that e.re beneat.h it ( eh. the Egyptian Apepi (Apophis), had born€ :uxv.i.ii. 11 ). The boundary is placed, some- a part. what V&.,,"'llely, "at the confines of light and Ver. 14.-Lo, these &re parts of his ways; darkness.'' U:ntil the day and night come l.it.erally, end,a of his ways; i.e. the mere. out- to an end is a mistranslation. skirts and friuge of his doings, But how Ver. 11.-The pilla.r& of heaven tremble. IDll&ll a pertion is heard of him 1 rather, The" pillars of heaven" e.re the mountains, 1ww small a whisper 1 But the thDllder ol on which the sky seems to rest. These his power who can understand 1 or,- flu "tremble," or B6em to trewLle, at the thundM of his ·mighty <Lwu. Job implie1 presence of God (Ps. xvi.ii. 7; cxiv. 4; Isa. that he hae uot enumerated ooe-half o1 v. 25) when he visits the earth in storm God's great works-be hos just hinted al and tempest, either because the whole at'?o• them, just whispered of them. If they wer( sphere is foll of disturbance, and the outli.1;1e all thnndered out in the e&rS of mortal of the monnt&ins sh.ift.s and changes BB ra.10 man, who could receive them or compre, and storm neep over them, or beca.uae the , head tbemP OH, XXVI, 1-14,) THE BOOK OF JOB. 481