Job 9:8

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Waves of the sea.—Literally, high place of the sea: the sea when and where it runs mountains high. The various physical phenomena of earthquake, eclipse, and hurricane are here described as the field of Divine action and the operations of His hands.

Benson Commentary

Job 9:8. Which alone — That is, by his own single power, without any other help. Spreadeth out the heavens — He spread them out like a curtain, Psalm 104:2, when he first created them, and he, in a manner, spreads them again every day; that is, keeps them spread for the comfort and benefit of this lower world, and does not roll and fold them up as he will do in due time. Or, as the same Hebrew word, נשׂה, natah, is rendered, Psalm 18:9, boweth down the heavens; and so it is a further description of a black and tempestuous season, wherein the heavens seem to be brought down nearer to the earth. And treadeth upon the waves of the sea — That is, represseth and ruleth them, when they rage and are tempestuous: for treading upon any thing signifies, in the Scriptures, exercising power and dominion over it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-13 In this answer Job declared that he did not doubt the justice of God, when he denied himself to be a hypocrite; for how should man be just with God? Before him he pleaded guilty of sins more than could be counted; and if God should contend with him in judgment, he could not justify one out of a thousand, of all the thoughts, words, and actions of his life; therefore he deserved worse than all his present sufferings. When Job mentions the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints. We are unfit to judge of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does, or what he designs. God acts with power which no creature can resist. Those who think they have strength enough to help others, will not be able to help themselves against it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens - As an expanse, or a curtain; see the notes at Isaiah 40:22.

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea - Margin, "Heights." So it is in the Hebrew. It means the "high waves;" that is, he walks upon the waves of the ocean when lifted up by a storm. This is spoken of here as a proof of the greatness of God; and the meaning of all is, that he is seen in the storm, in the heaving ocean, when the heavens are black with tempest, and when the earth is convulsed. It may be added here, that the Lord Jesus walked amidst the howling winds on the lake, and thus gave evidence that he was God; Matthew 14:25. "The Egyptian hieroglyphic for what was not possible to be done, was a man walking on the water." Burder. Dr. Good, and some others, render this, "on the mountains." But the more correct rendering is given in the common version. The Hebrew word rendered "waves" (במה bâmâh) indeed properly means a height, a lofty place, a mountain; but the comparison of waves with a mountain, is common in all languages. So we speak of waves "mountain-high," or as high as mountains. So Virgil, Aeneid i.105,

Insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.

Similar to this, is the expression occurring in Homer, κύματα ἶσα ὄρεσσιν kumata isa oressin; and so Apollonius, i. 521 - ἅλὸς ἄκρον chalos akron. The Septuagint renders it, "who walketh upon the sea as upon a pavement."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. spreadeth out—(Isa 40:22; Ps 104:2). But throughout it is not so much God's creating, as His governing, power over nature that is set forth. A storm seems a struggle between Nature and her Lord! Better, therefore, "Who boweth the heavens alone," without help of any other. God descends from the bowed-down heaven to the earth (Ps 18:9). The storm, wherein the clouds descend, suggests this image. In the descent of the vault of heaven, God has come down from His high throne and walks majestically over the mountain waves (Hebrew, "heights"), as a conqueror taming their violence. So "tread upon" (De 33:29; Am 4:13; Mt 14:26). The Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility is a man walking on waves.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Alone, i.e. by his own single power, without any other: help.

Spreadeth out the heavens: he spread them out like a curtain, Psalm 104:1,2; and he in a manner spreads them again every day, i.e. keeps them spread for the comfort and benefit of this lower world, and doth not roll and fold them up, as he will do in due time: see Isaiah 34:4 2 Peter 3:10 Revelation 6:14. Or, boweth down the heavens, as the same Hebrew verb is rendered, Psalm 18:9. So it is a further description of a black-and tempestuous season, wherein the heavens seem to be brought down and nearer to the earth.

Treadeth upon the waves of the sea, i.e. represseth and ruleth them when they rage and are tempestuous; for treading upon any thing signifies in Scripture use power and dominion over it; as Deu 33:29 Job 40:12 Psalm 60:12 Psalm 91:13 Luke 10:19

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens,.... The expanse, or what we commonly translate "firmament"; but has its name in the Hebrew language from its being expanded, spread, and stretched out, over the earth and all around it; and seems chiefly to design the ether or atmosphere, which is a fine thin matter and substance spread around us, and which is sometimes spread with clouds; this is said to be stretched out like a curtain and a tent to dwell in, tents being made of curtains spread out, Isaiah 40:21; and the allusion may be to a military tent, the pavilion of a general of an army, as Pineda observes, from whence Jehovah plays his artillery upon his enemies, thunder, lightning, hailstones, and coals of fire; see Psalm 18:11; this respects not so much the first creation, or spreading of the air or the heavens, as the continuance thereof; God continues to spread them, or to keep them spread, that they may not be rolled up as a scroll; or folded up as a garment, as they will be, Hebrews 1:12; and this he does alone, without the help of any creature, angels or men; any piece of tapestry or carpet, that is large, is not easily spread alone; but what power must the vast expanse of the heavens require, to be spread alone and continued so? nothing less than infinite; see Isaiah 44:24; some render it, "which boweth the heavens" (c), as the same word is rendered in Psalm 18:9; which he does when he fills them with clouds, so that they seem to hang low, and to be inclined towards the earth:

and treadeth upon the waves of the sea (d); which he did at the first creation, when the waters that covered the face of the earth were, by his order, collected into one place, and there shut up, and restrained from overflowing the earth; and which restraint, as it is an act of power over them, is designed by treading upon them, and a continued act may be the rather meant here; see Genesis 1:8; and when the waves of it are lifted up as high as they sometimes are, by strong and stormy winds, the Lord on high is mightier than they, he treads upon them and represses them; he rules their raging, stills their noise, and makes them smooth, calm, and quiet, Psalm 65:7; this none but God can do: the Egyptian hieroglyphic of doing a thing impossible was a man's walking upon water (e); the Heathens chose not to describe even their god of the sea, Neptune, by walking on it, as being too great for him, but by swimming (f); of Christ's walking upon the sea, see Matthew 14:25; it may be rendered, "the high places of the sea": the waves of it, when mounted to a great height by the wind; so Mr. Broughton, "the high waves of the sea", see Psalm 107:25; there is a copy, as the lesser Massorah observes, which reads, "upon the high places of the cloud" (g), see Isaiah 14:14; and Gersom interprets these high places, of the heavens, and of God's giving rain from thence.

(c) "inclinat coelum", Piscator. (d) "super excelsa maris", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "summitates maris", Tigurine version; "celsos vertices maris", Schultens. (e) Orus Apollo, apud Bolduc. (f) Cicero de Natura Deorum, l. 2.((g) "Legitur et" "pro" i.e. "super excelsas nubes", Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. The point lies in the gigantic power of God who “alone” and of Himself stretched out the heavens; cf. the expression of the same idea of power, Isaiah 40:12; Isaiah 44:24. In Isaiah 40:22 it is said that God stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Our “firmament” is a relic of a false astronomy for which scripture is not responsible.

waves of the sea] lit. heights of the sea, cf. heights of the earth, Amos 4:13. The “sea” here is scarcely the celestial waters, Psalm 29:3. God is represented as walking on the sea when its waves mount up to heaven, and His voice may be heard in the thunder.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Which alone spreadeth out the heavens (comp. Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 40:22). The heavens are regarded as spread out over the whole earth, like a curtain or awning over a tent, everywhere overshadowing and promoting it. This "stretching" or "spreading out" is felt to be one of the mightiest and most marvellous of the Creater's works, and is constantly put forward in Scripture as a special evidence of his omnipotence (see, besides the pasages above quoted, Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12; It. 13; Jeremiah 10:12). It adds to the marvellousness that God did it all "alone," or "by himself" (comp. Isaiah 44:24). And treadeth upon the waves of the sea; literally, the heights of the sea; i.e. the waves, which run mountains-high. God plants his feet upon these, to crush them in their proud might (comp. Psalm 93:5). Job 9:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens,

And walketh upon the heights of the sea;

9 Who made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south;

10 Who doeth great things past finding out,

And wondrous things without number.

Ewald, Hirzel, and others, understand נטה (Job 9:8) according to Psalm 18:10 : He letteth down the clouds of heaven, and walketh on the heights of the sea of clouds, i.e., high above the towering thunder-clouds. But parallel passages, such as Isaiah 40:22; Psalm 104:2, and especially Isaiah 44:24, show that Job 9:8 is to be understood as referring to the creation of the firmament of heaven; and consequently נטה is to be taken in the sense of expandere, and is a form of expression naturally occurring in connection with the mention of the waters which are separated by means of the רקיע. The question arises, whether ים here means the sea of waters above the firmament or upon the earth. According to the idea of the ancients, the waters which descend as rain have their habitation far away in the infinite expanse of the sky; the ocean of the sky (Egyptian Nun-pa), through which the sun-god Ra sails every day, is there. It is possible that "the heights of the sea" here, and perhaps also "the roots of the sea" (Job 36:30), may mean this ocean of the sky, as Hahn and Schlottmann suppose. But it is not necessary to adopt such an explanation, and it is moreover hazardous, since this conception of the celestial θάλασσα is not found elsewhere (apart from Revelation 4:6; Revelation 15:2; Revelation 22:1). Why may not בּמתי, which is used of the heights of the clouds (Isaiah 14:14), be used also of the waves of the sea which mount up towards heaven (Psalm 107:26)? God walks over them as man walks on level ground (lxx περιπατῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσης ὡς ἐπ ̓ ἐδάφους); they rise or lie calmly beneath His feel according to His almighty will (comp. Habakkuk 3:15).

Job next describes God as the Creator of the stars, by introducing a constellation of the northern (the Bear), one of the southern (Orion), and one of the eastern sky (the Pleiades). עשׁ, contracted from נעשׁ, Arabic na‛š, a bier, is the constellation of seven stars (septentrio or septentriones) in the northern sky. The Greater and the Lesser Bear form a square, which the Arabs regarded as a bier; the three other stars, benâth n‛asch, i.e., daughters of the bier (comp. Job 38:32), seem to be the mourners. כּסיל is Orion chained to the sky, which the ancients regarded as a powerful giant, and also as an insolent, foolish fellow

(Note: The Arabic jâhil is similar, which combines the significations, an ignorant, foolhardy, and passionate man (vid., Fleischer, Ali's hundert Sprche, S. 115f.).)

(K. O. Mller, Kleine deutsche Schriften, ii. 125). כּימה is the Pleiades, a constellation consisting of seven large and other smaller stars, Arabic turayyâ, which, like the Hebrew (comp. Arab. kûmat, cumulus), signifies the heap, cluster (vid., Job 38:31), and is compared by the Persian poets to a bouquet formed of jewels. It is the constellation of seven stars, whose rising and setting determined the commencement and end of their voyages (πλειάς, probably equals constellation of navigation), and is to be distinguished from the northern septentriones. תּימן חדרי are, according to the Targ., the chambers of the constellations on the south side of the heavens, as also most expositors explain them (Mercier: sidera quae sunt in altero hemisphaerio versus alterum polum antarcticum), according to which תּימן, or written defectively תּמן, would therefore be equivalent to תמן כוכבי; or perhaps, in a more general meaning, the regions of the southern sky (penetralia), which are veiled, or altogether lost to view (Hirzel). In v. 10, Job says, almost verbatim, what Eliphaz had said (Job 5:10). Job agrees with the friends in the recognition of the power of God, and intentionally describes those phases of it which display its terrible majesty. But while the friends deduce from this doctrine the duty of a humble deportment on the part of the sufferer, Job uses it to support the cheerless truth that human right can never be maintained in opposition to the absolute God.