Job 9:7

7 That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, And sealeth up the stars;

Job 9:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 9:7

Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not
Either he could do it if he would, by a word speaking, as he ordered it to stand still in the times of Joshua, ( Joshua 10:13 ) , and caused the shadow to return ten degrees it had gone back in the dial of Ahaz, in the times of Hezekiah, ( 2 Kings 20:11 ) ( Isaiah 38:8 ) ; or else the sense is, it rises not at any other time and place but when and where he commands it; or he commands it not to rise in the same place at one time of the year as at another, and it rises not; or this may be understood of eclipses, or of its being covered with clouds in tempestuous weather for a considerable time together, when it seems as if it was not risen: some think this respects the three days' darkness in Egypt, when the Israelites were there, ( Exodus 10:22 ) , which was a little before, or about the time of Job; or rather it refers to the general flood, in the times of Noah, when it rained forty days and forty nights, ( Genesis 7:12 ) , during which time the sun appeared not, and so seemed as if it was not risen; see ( Amos 8:9 ) ; Herodotus ^F2 relates, from the memoirs of the Egyptians, that the sun rose four times out of its usual course; twice it rose where it now sets, and twice it set where it now rises:

and sealeth up the stars:
either by the light of the sun in the daytime, which hides them that they are not visible, or by dark clouds and tempestuous weather in the night; such a season as that was in which the Apostle Paul and the mariners with him were, when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, ( Acts 27:20 ) , and so the Targum paraphrases it, and

``sealeth up the stars with clouds;''

this may also refer to the time of the flood, during the rain of forty days and nights, ( Genesis 7:4-12 ) ; or to the annual motion of the sun through the ecliptic, which makes the point of the sun's rising and setting vary, and is the reason why some stars appear in summer and are sealed up in winter, and others that are seen in winter are not visible in summer; and so Cocceius interprets it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 149.

Job 9:7 In-Context

5 [Him] that removeth the mountains, and they know it not, When he overturneth them in his anger;

6 That shaketh the earth out of its place, And the pillars thereof tremble;

7 That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, And sealeth up the stars;

8 That alone stretcheth out the heavens, And treadeth upon the waves of the sea;

9 That maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south;