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Job 26:13
Verse
Context
Job: Who Can Understand God’s Majesty?
12By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab. 13By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
Sermons
G. Campbell MorganSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens - See the observations below.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
UMBREIT less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive": namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy the ark by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed crescent-shape like a boat (Job 3:8, Margin). But better as English Version (Psa 33:6). crooked--implying the oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. "Fleeing" or "swift" [UMBREIT] (Isa 27:1). This particular constellation is made to represent the splendor of all the stars.
John Gill Bible Commentary
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens,.... The visible heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, with which they are studded and bespangled, and look exceeding beautiful; and the invisible heavens, with angels, the morning stars, and glorified saints, who especially in the resurrection morn will shine not only like stars, but as the sun in the firmament of heaven; and the church, which is the heaven below, is garnished with Gospel ministers, adorned with the gifts and graces of the spirit of God: his hand hath formed the crooked serpent; because Job in the preceding clause has respect to the heavens and the ornament of them, this has led many to think that some constellation in the heavens is meant by the crooked serpent, either the galaxy, or milky way, as Ben Gersom and others; or the dragon star, as some in Aben Ezra (c): but rather Job descends again to the sea, and concludes with taking notice of the wonderful work of God, the leviathan, with which God himself concludes his discourse with him in the close of this book, which is called as here the crooked or "bar serpent", Isa 27:1; and so the Targum understands it, "his hand hath created leviathan, which is like unto a biting serpent.'' Some understand it of the crocodile, and the epithet agrees with it, whether it be rendered a "bar serpent", as some (d); that is, straight, stretched out, long, as a bar, the reverse of our version; or "fleeing" (e), as others; the crocodile being, as Pliny (f) says, terrible to those that flee from it, but flees from those that pursue it. Jarchi interprets it of Pharaoh, or leviathan, both an emblem of Satan, the old serpent, the devil, who is God's creature, made by him as a creature, though not made a serpent, or a devil, by him, which was of himself. Some have observed the trinity of persons in these words, and who doubtless were concerned in the creation of all things; here is "Jehovah", of whom the whole context is; and "his Spirit", who, as he moved upon the face of the waters at the first creation, is here said to beautify and adorn the heavens; "and his hand"; his Son, the power and wisdom of God, by whom he made all things. (c) So Dickinson. Physic. Vet. & Vera, c. 9. sect. 23. p. 137. (d) "serpentem vectem", Pagninus, Cocceius; "oblongum instar vectis", Schmidt; "oblongum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "longa trabe rectior". Vide Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 1. ver. 78. (e) "Fugacem", Montanus, Vatablus; "fugiens", Codurcus. (f) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
26:13 His Spirit (or wind): God’s authority clears the skies after a storm (26:12). • The gliding serpent corresponds to Yam and Rahab (see study note on 7:12); it provides background for the image of Satan as a dragon (Isa 27:1; also Ps 74:13-14; see Gen 3:15; Rom 16:20; Rev 12:9; 20:2).
Job 26:13
Job: Who Can Understand God’s Majesty?
12By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab. 13By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens - See the observations below.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
UMBREIT less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive": namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy the ark by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed crescent-shape like a boat (Job 3:8, Margin). But better as English Version (Psa 33:6). crooked--implying the oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. "Fleeing" or "swift" [UMBREIT] (Isa 27:1). This particular constellation is made to represent the splendor of all the stars.
John Gill Bible Commentary
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens,.... The visible heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, with which they are studded and bespangled, and look exceeding beautiful; and the invisible heavens, with angels, the morning stars, and glorified saints, who especially in the resurrection morn will shine not only like stars, but as the sun in the firmament of heaven; and the church, which is the heaven below, is garnished with Gospel ministers, adorned with the gifts and graces of the spirit of God: his hand hath formed the crooked serpent; because Job in the preceding clause has respect to the heavens and the ornament of them, this has led many to think that some constellation in the heavens is meant by the crooked serpent, either the galaxy, or milky way, as Ben Gersom and others; or the dragon star, as some in Aben Ezra (c): but rather Job descends again to the sea, and concludes with taking notice of the wonderful work of God, the leviathan, with which God himself concludes his discourse with him in the close of this book, which is called as here the crooked or "bar serpent", Isa 27:1; and so the Targum understands it, "his hand hath created leviathan, which is like unto a biting serpent.'' Some understand it of the crocodile, and the epithet agrees with it, whether it be rendered a "bar serpent", as some (d); that is, straight, stretched out, long, as a bar, the reverse of our version; or "fleeing" (e), as others; the crocodile being, as Pliny (f) says, terrible to those that flee from it, but flees from those that pursue it. Jarchi interprets it of Pharaoh, or leviathan, both an emblem of Satan, the old serpent, the devil, who is God's creature, made by him as a creature, though not made a serpent, or a devil, by him, which was of himself. Some have observed the trinity of persons in these words, and who doubtless were concerned in the creation of all things; here is "Jehovah", of whom the whole context is; and "his Spirit", who, as he moved upon the face of the waters at the first creation, is here said to beautify and adorn the heavens; "and his hand"; his Son, the power and wisdom of God, by whom he made all things. (c) So Dickinson. Physic. Vet. & Vera, c. 9. sect. 23. p. 137. (d) "serpentem vectem", Pagninus, Cocceius; "oblongum instar vectis", Schmidt; "oblongum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "longa trabe rectior". Vide Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 1. ver. 78. (e) "Fugacem", Montanus, Vatablus; "fugiens", Codurcus. (f) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
26:13 His Spirit (or wind): God’s authority clears the skies after a storm (26:12). • The gliding serpent corresponds to Yam and Rahab (see study note on 7:12); it provides background for the image of Satan as a dragon (Isa 27:1; also Ps 74:13-14; see Gen 3:15; Rom 16:20; Rev 12:9; 20:2).