---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Job 38:1. 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 signifie"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/job/38"
---

Verse [Job 38:1](../../../kjv/job/38/1). ***The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind*** — It is not סופה *suphah*, as in the preceding chapter, [Job 37:9](../../../kjv/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*.

Verse [Job 38:2](../../../kjv/job/38/2). ***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?

Verse [Job 38:3](../../../kjv/job/38/3). ***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 38:41](../../../kjv/job/38/41).

Verse [Job 38:4](../../../kjv/job/38/4). ***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?

Verse [Job 38:5](../../../kjv/job/38/5). ***Who hath laid the measures thereof*** — Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the centre?
***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 centre 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.

Verse [Job 38:6](../../../kjv/job/38/6). ***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?

Verse [Job 38:7](../../../kjv/job/38/7). ***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*, [Genesis 1:1](../../../kjv/genesis/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.

Verse [Job 38:8](../../../kjv/job/38/8). **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.

Verse [Job 38:9](../../../kjv/job/38/9). ***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 *vapour*, 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 [Genesis 1:1-2](../../../kjv/genesis/1/1-2). *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.

Verse [Job 38:10](../../../kjv/job/38/10). ***And brake up for it my decreed*****place**] This refers to the decree, [Genesis 1:9](../../../kjv/genesis/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, &c., the doors by which it passes into the interior of continents, &c.

Verse [Job 38:11](../../../kjv/job/38/11). ***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 centre, 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.

Verse [Job 38:12](../../../kjv/job/38/12). ***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](../../../kjv/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.

Verse [Job 38:13](../../../kjv/job/38/13). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:14](../../../kjv/job/38/14). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:16](../../../kjv/job/38/16). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:17](../../../kjv/job/38/17). ***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*?

Verse [Job 38:18](../../../kjv/job/38/18). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:19](../../../kjv/job/38/19). **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.

Verse [Job 38:20](../../../kjv/job/38/20). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:21](../../../kjv/job/38/21). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:22](../../../kjv/job/38/22). ***The treasures of the snow*** — The places where *snow* is formed, and the cause of that formation. See on [Job 37:6](../../../kjv/job/37/6).
***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 centre sometimes *soft* like snow, and at other times formed of a *hard nucleus*, which in some cases has been of a *brown* colour, capable of ignition and explosion. In the description given of snow, [Job 37:6](../../../kjv/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 centre, 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 *centre* 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.

Verse [Job 38:23](../../../kjv/job/38/23). ***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 [Exodus 9:23](../../../kjv/exodus/9/23), and the notes there, for more particulars concerning *hailstones*, remarkable showers of them, c. There may be also a reference to [Joshua 10:10-11](../../../kjv/joshua/10/10-11), where a destructive shower of what are called *hailstones* fell upon the Canaanitish kings who fought against Israel. See the note there also.

Verse [Job 38:24](../../../kjv/job/38/24). ***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*.

Verse [Job 38:25](../../../kjv/job/38/25). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:26](../../../kjv/job/38/26). ***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 *Clarke's note on "*[Job 36:29](../../../kjv/job/36/29)*"*, c.
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](../../../kjv/job/28/28). 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!

Verse [Job 38:27](../../../kjv/job/38/27). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:28](../../../kjv/job/38/28). ***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](../../../kjv/job/36/27), c.
***The drops of dew?*** — אגלי *egley*, the sphericles, the small round drops or *globules*. *Dew* is a dense moist vapour, 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*?

Verse [Job 38:29](../../../kjv/job/38/29). ***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 Clarke's note on "*[Job 37:10](../../../kjv/job/37/10)*"*.
***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*?

Verse [Job 38:30](../../../kjv/job/38/30). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:31](../../../kjv/job/38/31). ***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](../../../kjv/job/9/9), c., 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 31st and 32d verses [Job 38:31-32](../../../kjv/job/38/31-32) 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*?

Verse [Job 38:32](../../../kjv/job/38/32). ***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*.

Verse [Job 38:33](../../../kjv/job/38/33). ***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*.

Verse [Job 38:34](../../../kjv/job/38/34). ***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!

Verse [Job 38:35](../../../kjv/job/38/35). ***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?

Verse [Job 38:36](../../../kjv/job/38/36). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:37](../../../kjv/job/38/37). ***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*.

Verse [Job 38:38](../../../kjv/job/38/38). ***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.

Verse [Job 38:39](../../../kjv/job/38/39). ***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*.

Verse [Job 38:40](../../../kjv/job/38/40). ***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*. [Job 4:11](../../../kjv/job/4/11), where *six* different names are given to the lion, all expressing some distinct quality or state.

Verse [Job 38:41](../../../kjv/job/38/41). ***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.
THE commencement of Cicero's oration against Catiline, to which I have referred on [Job 38:3](../../../kjv/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.

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