Job 37:18

18 Can you, like him, ¹spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal ²mirror?

Job 37:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 37:18

Hast thou with him spread out the sky?
&c.] Wast thou concerned with him at the first spreading out of the sky? wast thou an assistant to him in it? did he not spread it as a curtain or canopy about himself, without the help of another? verily he did; see ( Job 9:8 ) ( Isaiah 44:24 ) ;

[which] is strong:
for though it seems a fluid and thin, is very firm and strong, as appears by what it bears, and are contained in it; and therefore is called "the firmament of his power", ( Psalms 150:1 ) ;

[and] as a molten looking glass;
clear and transparent, like the looking glasses of the women, made of molten brass, ( Exodus 38:8 ) ; and firm and permanent ^F21; and a glass this is in which the glory of God, and his divine perfections, is to be seen; and is one of the wondrous works of God, made for the display of his own glory, and the benefit of men, ( Psalms 19:1 ) . Or this may respect the spreading out a clear serene sky, and smoothing it after it has been covered and ruffled with storms and tempests; which is such a wonderful work of God, that man has no hand in.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 (calkeov ouranov) . Pindar. Nem. Ode 6.

Job 37:18 In-Context

16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,

17 you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?

18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?

19 Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.

20 Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24; [Genesis 1:6]
• 2. [Exodus 38:8]