Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:5
Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
5 10. Description of God’s omnipotent power as it displays itself in the material world.
they know not ] Suddenly and unexpectedly, Psa 35:8; Jer 50:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which removeth the mountains – In order to show how vain it was to contend with God, Job refers to some exhibitions of his power and greatness. The removal of the mountains here denotes the changes which occur in earthquakes and other violent convulsions of nature. This illustration of the power of God is often referred to in the Scriptures; compare Jdg 5:5; 1Ki 19:11; Psa 65:6; Psa 114:4; Psa 144:5; Isa 40:12; Jer 4:24.
And they know not – This is evidently a Hebraism, meaning suddenly, or unexpectedly. He does it, as it were, before they are aware of it. A similar expression occurs in the Koran, God overturns them, and they do not know it; that is, he does it without their suspecting any such thing; compare Psa 35:8. Let destruction come upon him at unawares, or, as it is in the Hebrew and in the margin, which he knoweth not of. Tindal renders this, He translatethe the mountaynes or ever they be aware.
Which overturneth them in his anger – As if he were enraged. There could scarcely be any more terrific exhibition of the wrath of God than the sudden and tremendous violence of an earthquake.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 9:5-9
Which removeth the mountains.
God in nature
I. Its almightiness is overwhelmingly grand in its manifestations. Removeth the mountains, etc. The whole passage impresses one with the unbounded energy of God.
1. His almightiness should impress all with a sense of their utter insignificance.
2. His almightiness should impress the sinner with his impious hardihood.
II. Its almightiness is co-extensive with the universe. Job here touches every part of material nature–the earth, the sea, the heavens–and sees God working in all.
1. His universal agency explains all material phenomena.
2. His universal agency binds men practically to recognise Him in every part of nature. He is the Force of all forces, the Pulse of all life, the Spirit of all forms. (Homilist.)
Religious interest in nature
There are some who feel no interest in nature, others feel a mere commercial interest in it, others feel an artistic or scientific interest in it, but how few feel a religious interest in it–regard it as the product, the mirror, the organ, of the Infinite Mind. If I fear an artist, I care not for his pictures; if I fear an author, I feel no interest in his work. If men loved, instead of feared God, how beautiful nature would appear to them. The painting and poem of a father, how interesting to his child! (R. Venting.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Removeth the mountains, and they know not] This seems to refer to earthquakes. By those strong convulsions, mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an instant; and to this latter circumstance the words, they know not, most probably refer. The work is done in the twinkling of an eye; no warning is given; the mountain, that seemed to be as firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both visible and invisible; so suddenly was it swallowed up.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He proccedeth to give particular evidences of the Divine power and wisdom, which he mentioned Job 9:4.
And they know not, i.e. suddenly and unexpectedly, ere they were aware of it. They, i.e. the mountains, to which he ascribes sense and knowledge figuratively, as hath been oft noted. In his anger; in token of his displeasure with men that lived upon them, or near them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. and they know notHebrewfor “suddenly, unexpectedly, before they are aware of it”(Ps 35:8); “at unawares”;Hebrew, which “he knoweth not of” (Joe 2:14;Pro 5:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Which removeth the mountains,…. This and what follow are instances of the power of God, and are full proofs of his being mighty in strength; and may be understood, either literally, not only of what God is able to do if he will, but of what he has done; and history y furnishes us with instances of mountains being removed from one place to another; and Scheuchzer z makes mention of a village in Helvetia, called Plurium, which, in 1618, was covered with the sudden fall of a mountain, and swallowed up in the earth, with 1800 inhabitants, and not the least trace of it to be seen any more; and in the sacred Scriptures is a prediction of the mount of Olives being removed from its place, one half to the north and the other to the south,
Zec 14:4; and Josephus a gives a relation much like it, as in fact; besides, Job may have respect to what had been done in his times, or before them, and particularly at the universal deluge, which covered the tops of the highest mountains and hills, and very probably washed away some from their places: or else it may be understood proverbially, of the Lord’s doing things marvellous and surprising, and which are impossible and impracticable with men; see Mt 17:20; or rather figuratively, of kingdoms and mighty kings, as the Targum, comparable to mountains for their height and strength, who yet are removed by God at his pleasure; see Zec 4:7;
and they know not; when they are removed, and how it is done; it is imperceptible; either the mountains are not sensible of it, or the inhabitants of the mountains, as Bar Tzemach; or men, the common sort of men, the multitude, as Gersom: R. Saadiah Gaon interprets it of removing the men of the mountains, and they know it not:
which overturneth them in his anger; for the sins or men, which was the case of the old world: Mr. Broughton renders it, “that men cannot mark how he hath removed them out of their place in his anger”.
y Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 83. Wernerus, Palmerius, Theophanes “a aurus”, in Bolduc. in loc. z Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 673. a Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Who removeth mountains without their knowing,
That He hath overturned them in His wrath;
6 Who causeth the earth to shake out of its place,
And its pillars to tremble;
7 Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,
And sealeth up the stars.
( Job 9:5) may also be translated: without one’s perceiving it or knowing why; but it is more natural to take the mountains as the subject. , quod , that (not “as,” Ewald, 333, a), after , as Eze 20:26; Ecc 8:12. Even the lofty mountains are quite unconscious of the change which He effects on them in a moment. Before they are aware that it is being done, it is over, as the praet. implies; the destructive power of His anger is irresistible, and effects its purpose suddenly. He causes the earth to start up from its place (comp. Isa 13:13) which it occupies in space (Job 26:7); and by being thus set in motion by Him, its pillars tremble, i.e., its internal foundations ( Psa 104:5), which are removed from human perception (Job 38:6). It is not the highest mountains, which are rather called the pillars, as it were the supports, of heaven (Job 26:11), that are meant. By the same almighty will He disposes of the sun and stars. The sun is here called (as in Jdg 14:18 with unaccented ah, and as Isa 19:18 Ir ha – Heres is a play upon , ), perhaps from the same root as , one of the poetical names of gold. At His command the sun rises not, and He seals up the stars, i.e., conceals them behind thick clouds, so that the day becomes dark, and the night is not made bright. One may with Schultens think of the Flood, or with Warburton of the Egyptian darkness, and the standing still of the sun at the word of Joshua; but these are only single historical instances of a fact here affirmed as a universal experience of the divine power.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Strophes b and c, three verses each Job, having once conceived the power of God, becomes fascinated by the very tremendousness of it; the invincible might of his and man’s adversary charms his eye, and compels him to gaze and shudder, and run over it, feature after feature, unable to withdraw his look from it, (Davidson,) Job 9:5-10.
5. And they know not A Hebraism for suddenly, in a moment. Tyndale thus renders it: “He translate the the mountaynes or ever they be aware.” The unjustifiable translation of the Targum, “They know not that He hath overturned them in his wrath,” is adopted by the Vulgate, Ewald, etc. Chalmers pronounces this description of God’s power one of the finest sketches of natural theology to be found in Scripture, and, of course, far excelling all that any uninspired writer of antiquity has left behind him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:5. And they know not And they are not broken to pieces: an instance of the power of the Almighty, who can remove whole mountains as easily as the least pebble. See Heath, and Jdg 8:16. Schultens and Houbigant render it, on a sudden, unawares. See Psa 35:8.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(5) Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. (6) Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. (7) Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. (8) Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. (9) Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. (10) Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. (11) Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. (12) Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
Now let the Reader follow the footsteps of the HOLY GHOST, and mark, as he goeth on through Job’s history, how Satan is baffled, and the poor sufferer is helped forward by grace. Satan was confident that Job would curse GOD, but behold how he blesseth him: how highly doth he talk of GOD’S perfections. The poor afflicted mourner seems to forget, for the moment, his own sorrows, while discoursing of GOD’S glory. Observe how Job follows GOD in the world of nature; removing mountains, shaking the earth, controlling the heavenly bodies and governing the sea. Then he prosecutes the subject into the world of providence; going by unperceived, taking away and none can hinder him, or say unto him, what doest thou? And had Job lived under the gospel of JESUS, how would his soul have expatiated on JESUS works in the world of grace? Reader! think what blessed privileges you are called to, before whom light and immortality is so fully brought to light in the gospel.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
Ver. 5. Which removeth the mountains, and they know not ] For further proof of God’s power first (and then afterwards of his wisdom) Job produceth divers particular acts of his upon the creatures, both unreasonable and reasonable. Eliphaz had said somewhat to this purpose, Job 4:1-21 , sed hic admirandus est Iob, saith Mercer, Job doth it admirably; his tongue, like a silver trumpet, sets forth the high praises of God far more plainly, plentifully, and magnificently than any of his friends, who yet have done it very well too. God, to show his power, removeth the mountains, saith Job, sc. by stupendous earthquakes, and otherwise, at his pleasure, Nah 1:5 Psa 97:4-5 Isa 40:15 , he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, he can remove mountains with a wet finger, as we say, though so mighty in bulk, and strongly founded. Dionysius thinketh, that in thus speaking, Job aimeth at that which was done in the time of Noah’s flood, when the waters with their mighty force galled and bare down many great mountains, but that is uncertain. Great things God will do by the fire of the last day, when mountains shall melt, rocks rend, and the earth, with the works therein, shall be all burnt up, 2Pe 3:10 . And what desolations he hath made in sundry parts of the earth by terrible earthquakes, as at Antioch often (which was therehence called Y , because so visited by God), in divers places of Italy, Sicily, Burgundy, Helvetia, and here in Herefordshire, mention is made in Pliny, Stumpfius, Jovius, and other historians, all making good this of Job, and that of the psalmist, The mountains will skip like rams, and the little hills like lambs, when the Lord is displeased, Psa 114:4 .
And they know it not
Which overturneth them in his anger
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they know. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
removeth: Job 28:9, Psa 46:2, Psa 68:8, Psa 114:6, Isa 40:12, Hab 3:6, Hab 3:10, Zec 4:7, Mat 21:21, 1Co 13:2, Rev 6:14, Rev 11:13
which overturneth: Num 1:5, Num 1:6, Zec 14:4, Zec 14:5, Mat 27:51, Luk 21:11, Rev 16:18-20
Reciprocal: Deu 32:22 – foundations Psa 46:3 – mountains Psa 95:4 – the strength of the hills is his also
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:5-6. Which removeth the mountains He proceeds to give particular evidences of the divine power and wisdom, which he mentioned Job 9:4. And they That is, the mountains, to which he figuratively ascribes sense and knowledge; know not He removes them suddenly and unexpectedly ere they are aware of it. Which overturneth them in his anger In token of his displeasure with men, that lived upon or near them. Which shaketh the earth Great portions of it by earthquakes, or by removing islands. And the pillars thereof tremble The deep and inward parts of it, which, like pillars, support those parts which appear to our view.