Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?
&c.] That has been thither to fetch knowledge of God and
divine things, and has returned to communicate it. Enoch was
taken up to heaven before this time: and Elijah, as is very
probable, after; but neither of them returned again, to inform
mortals what was to be seen, known, and enjoyed there: since, the
Apostle Paul was caught up into the third heaven, and came back
again; but then the things he heard were such as it was not
lawful for a man to utter: and indeed, since the coming of Christ
there is no need of any further revelation to be made nor of any
such expedition, in order to obtain it, ( Romans
10:6-8 ) . And, properly speaking, there never was any
besides him, whose names are Ithiel and Ucal, that ever did this:
he lay in the bosom of the Father, and was privy to his whole
mind and will; he descended from heaven to earth not by local
motion, but, by assumption of nature; and when he had made known
his Father's will, and done his work, he ascended far above all
heavens, and received gifts for men; to fill his churches and
ministers with them, in order to communicate and improve
spiritual and divine knowledge; and therefore, with great
propriety and pertinence, he applies these words to himself, (
John 3:13 ) ;
who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
not any mere creature; not any man or set of men; it is not in
the power of any, either men or angels, to restrain or let loose
the winds at pleasure; nor has Satan, though called the prince of
the power of the air, that is, of the devils in the air, any such
command of them; none but he that made them can command them to
blow, or be still; even he who brings them out of his treasures,
and his own son, whom the wind and seas obeyed; see ( Psalms 135:7
) ( Matthew
8:26 Matthew 8:27
) ( 14:32
) ; The Heathens F23 themselves are so sensible of this,
that the power of the winds only belongs to God, that they have
framed a deity they call Aeolus; whom the supreme Being has made
a kind of steward or store keeper of the winds, and given him a
power to still or raise them as he pleases F24;
who hath bound the waters in a garment?
either the waters above, which are bound in the thick clouds as
in a garment which hold them from pouring out; or the waters of
the sea, which are as easily managed by the Lord as an infant by
its parent, and is wrapped about with a swaddling band, (
Job 26:8 ) (
Job 37:8 Job 37:9 ) . But can any
creature do this? none but the mighty God; and his almighty Son
the Ithiel and Ucal, who clothes the heavens with blackness, and
makes sackcloth their covering: even he who is the Redeemer of
this people, and has the tongue of the learned, to speak a word
in season to them ( Isaiah
50:2-4 ) ; who hath established all the ends of the
earth?
fixed the boundaries of the several parts of the world, Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America, and the several countries in them?
settled the foundations of the earth, and secured the banks and
borders of it from the raging of the sea? None but these next
mentioned; see ( Job 38:4 Job 38:5 ) ; what
[is] his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst
tell?
if thou surest it is a mere man that does all these things tell
his name; or, if he be dead, say what is the name of his son or
of any of his family; so Jarchi and others interpret it: or
rather, since it is the Lord alone and his own proper Son, to
whom these things can he ascribed say what is his name; that is,
his nature and perfections which are incomprehensible and
ineffable; otherwise he is known by his name Jehovah and
especially as his name is proclaimed in Christ and manifested by
him and in his Gospel: and seeing he has a son of the same nature
with him, and possessed of the same perfections, co-essential,
and co-existent, and every way equal to him, and a distinct
person from him, say what is his nature and perfections also;
declare his generation and the manner of it; his divine
filiation, and in what class it is; things which are out of the
reach of human capacity, and not to be expressed by the tongue of
men and angels; see ( Matthew
11:27 ) ( 16:15-17
) . Otherwise, though his name for a while was a secret, and he
was only called the seed of the woman and of Abraham, ( Genesis 3:15
) ( 22:18
) ( 32:29
) ( Judges
13:17 Judges 13:18
) ; yet he had many names given him under the Old Testament; as
Shiloh, Immanuel, the Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, and Prince of peace; the Lord our
righteousness, and the Man, the Branch: and under the New
Testament, Jesus the Saviour, Christ the Anointed; the Head of
the church, the Judge of the world; the Word of God, and King of
kings, and Lord of lords. This Scripture is a proof of Christ's
being the eternal Son of God; of his equality with his divine
Father as such, their name and nature being alike ineffable; of
his co-existence with his Father as such; and of his omnipresence
and omnipotence, expressed by the phrases here used of ascending
and of his distinct personality from the Father; the same
question being distinctly put of him as of the Father. Some
render the last clause, "dost thou know?"