Job 15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.. Ver. Hangs my salvation on the simple Word in Jesus Christ, and there is the vital truth for you and for me. Francis I. Andersen — Job (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 1976). - It has nothing to support it. The greatness of this work of God appeareth hereby, saith Merlin, that men cannot spread aloft the thinnest curtain, absque fulcris, without some solid thing to uphold it. Show content in: English Both Hebrew. You go to the physiologist and ask him where physical life, animal life comes from? Now find another illustration of the text in society. That is the startling and sublime conception of the sacred poet, that the earth is sustained by impalpable and spiritual energies. Etymologie, ii. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. "He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing. Indeed, as has been already remarked, this poem, apart from every other consideration, is of great value for disclosing to us the prevailing views on the subject of astronomy, geography, and many of the arts, at a much earlier period than we have an account of them elsewhere. See Job 9:6. 4. p. 724. xiii, “It is Allah who has built the heavens on high, without the support of visible pillars.”. Job 26:9. 602: Hanc, veteres Grajum docti cecinere poetae. It occurs also in Lucretius: Terraque ut in media mundi regionne quieseat, Evallescere paullatim, et decrescere, pondus. Solomon speaketh of perverse lips, as if the upper lip stood where the nether should, Proverbs 4:24. To wit, from our view, so … Job 26:7 “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.” King James Version (KJV) Job 26:7, NIV: "He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing." How hast thou helped him that is without power? He divided light from darkness by a circle drawn on the face of the sea. north. Job 26:9 - He covers … Fast. The following partt., Job 26:7, depending logically upon the chief subject which precedes, are to be determined according to Job 25:2; they are conceived as present, and indeed of God's primeval act of creation, but intended of the acts which continue by virtue of His creative power. Job 12:7 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] Job 12:7, NIV: "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;" Job 12:7, ESV: "“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;" Job 12:7, KJV: "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:" 8:29; Jer. In addition to outward troubles, the inward sense of God's wrath took away all his courage and resolution. "He hangeth the earth מיא עלוי upon the waters, with no one to sustain it." (14-30) Commentary on Job 6:1-7 (Read Job 6:1-7) Job still justifies himself in his complaints. l. 1. And what great insight you have displayed! According to Elihu, the new element is that he is inspired to speak the wisdom Job’s friends lacked. 16 # Short Commentary and Lesson from Job 38.39-42.6. And hangeth the earth upon nothing — Upon its own centre, which is but an imaginary thing, and, in truth, nothing; or, he means, upon no props, or pillars, but his own power and providence. "He stretches out the north over empty space": "God"s creation of the skies was likened by Job to His stretching out a tent on a pole. Job 26:7. The word used seems to come from a root, which in the Syriac and Chaldee languages signifies to "bind and restrain"; and may design the expanse or atmosphere, so called from its binding and compressing nature, על, "in" or "within" which the earth is hung; see Psalm 32:9. 1. 6, Fasti). John Trapp Complete Commentary. How you have saved the arm that is feeble! When Satan attacks Job's possessions, ruins them all, and then takes the lives of all ten of his children, we learn how terrible Satan can be. We have none of the forces of bread and gold. I never see the splendour of the sunset, except a stray gleam in a window pane. Job 26:8. Job 26:5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Fasten yourself to the same thread and you shall not find that you will be confounded. John Trapp Complete Commentary. The north, i.e. And in Job 26:12-13 Job drew attention to God’s awe-inspiring power over the domain of Yam (the stormy sea-god).” (Smick) v. There is another great word that moves and sanctifies society. And they all hang upon the topmost star. I must show you how the text is illustrated in the Church. That rests upon the Devonian.” “Very good; and what does that rest on?” He says, “That rests on the Silurian.” “And what does that rest on?” “That rests on the cosmical dust.” A lively tortoise! Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place - תהו על al tohu, to the hollow waste. And whose spirit came from you? Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase is, “By his wonderful power and wisdom he stretches out the whole world from the one pole to the other, which he alone sustains; as he doth this globe of earth hanging in the air, without any thing to support it.”, North pole, which alone was visible in Idumea, and continued unmoved, while all the stars performed their revolutions. And now the only glimpse I get of the violet sky is in a puddle in the street. Man a Maggot? Job 26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.. Ver. If he had made me pay for all that, he would have wanted a fine fee. Job 38-41 contain the statements of God to the participants in the discussion; these witness to the futility of man's trying to comprehend the actions of God. Of this great wonder the philosophers, after much study, can give no good reason, because ignorant of this, that God hath appointed it so to be, even from the first creation, Psalms 104:5 Hebrews 1:2. It occurs also in Lucretius: Terraque ut in media mundi regionne quieseat, Evallescere paullatim, et decrescere, pondus. (5-14) Commentary on Job 26:1-4 (Read Job 26:1-4) Job derided Bildad's answer; his words were a mixture of peevishness and self-preference. 7 [ He/God] [ stretcheth/spreads] out the [ north/northern skies] over [ the empty place/empty space ], Rashi 's Commentary: Show Hide. Scripture quoted by permission. "He holdeth back the face of his throne, [and] spreadeth his cloud upon it." That is, without anything to support it. Job was well-received by the young and old alike (Job 29:8), and treated with unusual respect by the chiefs and nobles (Job 29:10). This disclosure, which for so many ages preceded its scientific confirmation, stands out in yet more bold relief when compared with the mythologies of other ancient nations. lâ or mâ and šâ, a thing, e.g., bilâs, for nothing, ragul mâsh, useless men). 13. 33:7; 104:9; Prov. If you go far enough back! The policeman’s handcuffs, that is it. Society does not rest there. 2, c. 13); and it is here fitly alleged as an argument of his Almightiness. Job 26:7, KJV: "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Well, they say, if you go back far enough, you go back to a meteor stone which brought from other planets the germs of vegetable life and beauty. Click a verse to see commentary Select a resource above Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable. It is proof of amazing power and greatness that he has thus “hung” the earth, the planets, the vast sun himself, upon nothing, and that by his own power he sustains and governs all. In this passage the sense is, that the earth is self-sustained; that it is no burden, or that no one part is burdensome to another - as in man the limbs are not burdensome, the head is not heavy, nor the whole frame burdensome to the feet. Convenit; atque aliam naturam subter habere, Et ineunte aevo conjunctam atque uniter aptam, Partibus aeriis mundi, quibus insita vivit. The earth was viewed by Job as being supported by nothing material and therefore as being sustained only by God" (Zuck p. 117). Job justifies his complaints. And the writer says that Job did not sin in this statement. Chapter 9. “Liberty, equality, fraternity?” Let us drop that legend and take up these which come nearer co the point--sympathy, righteousness, hope. When these men say that everything is to be explained by natural laws, natural causes, natural sequences, we believe in natural laws, natural causes, natural sequences. That the sky should overarch the immeasurable void without visible supports was always a marvel to the Oriental mind. Job 26:7, KJV: "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." Bildad ought to have laid before Job the consolations, rather than the terrors of the Almighty. You go to some sceptical men today and ask them, What holds this earth up? Religion means a bond, a spiritual bond, between my soul and my Maker, and my salvation hangs where the earth hangeth and where salvation hangs, on the Word of God in Jesus Christ; there and only there. I had the sky, and the sunrise, and the sunset, and the procession of the clouds, and the colours of the spring, and the glory of the summer. To whom have you uttered words? Commentary > Job. Job 26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. I believe God h… And therefore in the Church, you know, we seem really nobody. In the northern hemisphere were the great constellations mentioned by Job — the Bear, the Serpent, Orion, etc. My salvation does not hang upon a connection with the ceremonial Church. Kepler, the great astronomer, treating of the yet unsolved problems of science, thus reverently speaks of the disclosures made in the book of Job: “These, and other similar things, lie hidden in the pandects of coming times, and are not to be understood until God, the arbiter of the ages, shall have unfolded this book (Job) to mortals.” — Cited by, The Jerusalem Gemara says, that Alexander the Great is sometimes represented as holding a, in his hand, because he had ascertained that the earth, which he had traversed to conquer, had the figure of a sphere. (8-13) Job reproves his friends as unkind. “The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them. therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. The word north here denotes the heavens as they appear to revolve around the pole, and which seem to be stretched out as a curtain. 7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. The word used seems to come from a root, which in the Syriac and Chaldee languages signifies to "bind and restrain"; and may design the expanse or atmosphere, so called from its binding and compressing nature, "in" or "within" which the earth is hung; see Psalm 32:9. 26:7 no†eh tzäfôn al-Tohû Toleh eretz al-B'liy-mäh 26:7 He stretcheth out 5186 z8802 the north 6828 over x5921 the empty place, 8414 [and] hangeth 8518 z8802 the earth 776 upon x5921 nothing. Through Job 37, Job has listened to three “friends” and Elihu speak to him about why he is suffering so badly. That the sky should overarch the immeasurable void without visible supports was always a marvel to the Oriental mind. The north must here mean the north pole, or northern hemisphere; and perhaps what is here stated may refer to the opinion that the earth was a vast extended plain, and the heavens poised upon it, resting on this plain all round the horizon. Anderson is a renowned scholar, and the commentary reflects his learning without becoming overly technical. You can never find rest for the intelligent soul, until at the back of the physical universe, with its interdependencies and its evolutions, you find the God who made and ruled it, and is bringing it through the ages to some wise and magnificent consummation. The "north" is the celestial pole around which the universe appears to revolve. Fab. Over Tohu. Job 26:8. Commentary Commentary Commentary: On the contrary, low-skilled jobs aren’t going anywhere The pandemic has revealed just how essential … So, again, Lucretius says, ii. Matthew Henry :: Commentary on Job 9 ← Back to Matthew Henry's Bio & Resources. 26. 3. interpret "nothing" of the centre of the earth, and which is nothing but "ens rationis", a figment and imagination of the mind; or rather the earth is held together, and in the position it is, by its own magnetic virtue, it being a loadstone itself; and as the above learned writer observes, "the globe consisteth by a magnetic dependency, from which the parts cannot possibly start aside; but which, howsoever thus strongly seated on its centre and poles, is yet said to hang upon nothing; because the Creator in the beginning thus placed it within the "tohu", as it now also hangeth in the air; which itself also is nothing as to any regard of base or sustentation.'. Here we find Job, more than three thousand years ago, describing in language of scientific accuracy the condition of our globe, and holding it forth as a proof of Divine power. Empty place — Hebrew, tohu. There they fix me up with the visible, mechanical, ceremonial Church. But today they break their silence and start to do their comforting work on Job. We won’t stay here, but we will go with the sublime philosophy of the text, to the living God. 1. How you have assisted the arm that has no strength! Job 26:7. Convenit; atque aliam naturam subter habere, Et ineunte aevo conjunctam atque uniter aptam, Partibus aeriis mundi, quibus insita vivit. So Milton: "And earth self-balaneed from her center hung.". 4 To whom hast thou uttered words? Job 26:7-14 NIV. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. - It has nothing to support it. Thy crooked, wry disposition, that standeth across to God and goodness, Psalms 51:5, Homo est inversus decalogus. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, He stretcheth out the north over the empty place -, He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, — Delitzsch shows satisfactorily that we are not to understand by this the northern portion of the earth, as is held by Dillmann, etc., but the northern sky, which, with the ancients, was of more consideration than the southern. (It should be kept in mind that Job is … But it is clear that he regarded it as not resting on any foundation or support; as lying on the vacant air, and kept there by the power of God. The animals listed by God all have a love for freedom. He hangeth civilisation upon the fine silken thread we call love. What are they? Isaiah 14:13, Isaiah 14:14. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. Mitchell Wardrop wrote the following statement in an article in Science magazine. The north is stretched out and sustained by the mere power of God. If you come to look at them, they are all metaphysical. Who has helped you utter these words? He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. The heavens are oft and fitly said to be spread or stretched out like a curtain or tent, to which they are resembled. And hangeth the earth upon nothing. (Ovid, Fast, vi.) The Jerusalem Gemara says, that Alexander the Great is sometimes represented as holding a ball in his hand, because he had ascertained that the earth, which he had traversed to conquer, had the figure of a sphere. Some scholars find all kinds of references in this section to Babylonian mythology; but Job's statement in Job 26:7 absolutely contradicts the Babylonian Creation myth. 26 Job said in reply: 2 “How you have helped the one with no power! Cousurgit; premitur Libyae devexus ad austros. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. Chapter 26 This is Job’s short reply to Bildad’s short discourse, in which he is so far from contradicting him that he confirms what he had said, and out-does him in magnifying God and setting forth his power, to show what reason he had still to say, as he did ch. Job 26:7 Context. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads Job to submit so humbly to God at the end. Corporus in pedibus pondus sentimus inesse. Now what I want yon to see is this: that just as the bricks and mortar have shut out nature, so nature herself may become so much dead brick and mortar to shut out the greater world that is back of it. Oh, says the utilitarian, righteousness is a coarse fibre,--self-interest. 5:22 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. xiii, “It is Allah who has built the heavens on high, without the support of visible pillars.” Nothing — The Hebrew word is a compound, , literally, not what, that is, nothing, (no-thing,) and is found in the Scriptures only here. My salvation depends upon my personal fellowship with my living Lord. When we lay down a law, we cannot call in the policeman. Looking to help your church and family stay connected to the Word while social distancing? Hence the poetical invention of pillars. Among the ancient poets the north pole was used synonymously for the heavens, and in this sense, may be employed here. You go to a sceptical astronomer and ask what keeps the universe up. We hold the tortoise and the elephant are very good as far as they go; but they do not go far enough. 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