Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:7
Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
7. The reference may be to days when from storm and darkness the sun seems not to rise, or to eclipses and sudden obscurations of the heavenly bodies.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not – Schultens supposes that all this is a description of the deluge – when the mountains were removed, when the fountains of the deep were broken up, and when the sun was obscured and seemed not to rise. Others have supposed that it refers to the fact that the sun is darkened by clouds and tempests, and appears not to rise and shine upon the earth. Others suppose that the allusion is to an eclipse; and others, that it is to the power of God, and means that the rising of the sun depends on him, and that if he should choose to give the command, the heavenly bodies would rise and give light no more. It seems probable that the meaning is, that God has power to do this; that the rising of the sun depends on him; and that he could delay it, or prevent it, at his pleasure. His power over the sun was shown in the time of Joshua, when, at his command, it stood still; but it is not necessary to suppose that there is any reference to this fact here. The whole meaning of the language is met by the supposition that it refers to the power of God, and affirms what he could do, or if it refer to any fact that had been observed, that the allusion is to the darkening of the sun by an eclipse or a tempest. No argument can be derived, therefore, from the expression, in regard to the age of the book.
And sealeth up the stars – The word seal in the Scriptures ( chatham) is used with considerable latitude of signification. It is employed in the sense of shutting, closing, making fast – as when anything was sealed, it was shut up or made fast. The Hebrews often used a seal, where we would use a lock, and depended on the protection derived from the belief that one would not break open that which was sealed, where we are obliged to rely on the security of the lock against force. If there were honor and honesty among people everywhere, a seal would be as secure as a lock – as in a virtuous community a sealed letter is as secure as a merchants iron safe. To seal up the stars, means so to shut them up in the heavens, as to prevent their shining; to hide them from the view. They are concealed, hidden, made close – as the contents of a letter, a package, or a room are by a seal, indicating that no one is to examine them, and concealing them from the view. So God hides from our view the stars by the interposition of clouds.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Which commandeth the sun] Obscures it either with clouds, with thick darkness, or with an eclipse.
Sealeth up the stars.] Like the contents of a letter, wrapped up and sealed, so that it cannot be read. Sometimes the heavens become as black as ebony, and no star, figure, or character, in this great book of God can be read.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He speaks either,
1. Of that which God can do; or rather, (as he doth in the foregoing and following instances,)
2. Of what God actually doth; and that either,
1. Ordinarily; and so he gives laws to the sun that it shall not rise, but at such times, and to such places, and in such manner as he hath appointed; as that it shall rise constantly at its set time, and never disorderly; that it shall not rise for divers months together in some parts of the world, &c. Or rather,
2. Extraordinarily; (for of such works of God he discourseth in this place;) and so it may note either some stop given to the sun for a small season, like that in Joshuas time; which might have been, though it be not recorded; or some extraordinary tempest or dark season, wherein the morning is made darkness, as the phrase is, Amo 4:13; compare Amo 5:8; wherein the sun doth not at all appear, (as it was for many days together, Act 27:20) and consequently is to those places and persons as if he were not risen. For things in Scripture are oft said to be, or not to be, when they appear or disappear; of which some instances have been formerly given, and more we shall have hereafter, in their proper places. Sealeth up the stars, i.e. as it were, covereth and shutteth them up that they may not shine, as in dark and dismal tempests, like that now mentioned, Act 27:20, when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. The sun, at His command, doesnot rise; namely, in an eclipse, or the darkness that accompaniesearthquakes (Job 9:6).
sealeth up the starsthatis, totally covers as one would seal up a room, that its contents maynot be seen.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Jos 10:13, and caused the shadow to return ten degrees it had gone back in the dial of Ahaz, in the times of Hezekiah, 2Ki 20:11; 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, Ex 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, Ge 7:12, during which time the sun appeared not, and so seemed as if it was not risen; see Am 8:9; Herodotus b 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, Ac 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, Ge 7:4; 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.
b Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 149.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) And sealeth up the starsComp. Job. 41:15. The idea of shutting up, taking away the power of, &c., is contained in the expression sealing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Commandeth Rather, speaketh. God has but to speak to the sun, and it shall cease to rise. The rising of the sun and the shining of the stars, day and night, alike depend upon Him.
Sealeth up the stars An set expressive of their total covering; for who would dare to break the seal of God? (Umbreit.) Job may mean the disappearance of stars an astronomical event that may have been noted at a very early day. Schultens explains the entire verse by the flood; Warburton by the plague of darkness in Egypt; and others by the staying of the sun in its course at the command of Joshua. The text, however, speaks of the general exercise of the power of God. God can, if he will, reverse the action of nature as easily as overrule it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:7. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not Bishop Warburton supposes that this alludes to the miraculous history of the people of God; such as the Egyptian darkness, and the stopping of the sun’s course by Joshua. But surely there is no necessity, from the words themselves, to suppose any allusion of this kind, or, indeed, any thing miraculous, since God, by throwing a cloud over the sun and stars, can and does obscure them when he pleases; and thus it is that the Chaldee paraphrast understands it; and seals up the stars with clouds: or, if we will take Bishop Patrick’s exposition, it is thus, that the heavens are subject to the power of God, and neither sun nor stars can shine if he forbid it. There is a beautiful fragment of Pindar preserved to us by Clemens Alexandrinus; where he gives it as an instance of the “power of God,” that he can, when he will, cause the pure light to spring out of thick darkness, or cover with a gloomy cloud the clear lustre of the day.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 9:7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
Ver. 7. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not ] God, in framing the world, began above, and wrought downward; but Job, in describing the great works of God here, began below; and now goes upward from earth to heaven. It is as natural to the heaven to move as to the earth to stand still. Copernicus’s opinion, that the earth turns round, and heaven stands still, is worthily exploded. Round the earth is, indeed, notwithstanding the hills and valleys (as an apple is round, notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it), and being round, it is naturally apt for motion (the Pythagoreans held that the earth was natura sua mobilis, as the heavens are), but God hath fixed and made it immoveable, while the heavenly bodies are restless in their courses. The sun (the glistering sun, as the word here signifieth) rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race, Psa 19:5 . Bellarmine saith, that in the eighth part of an hour the sun runneth 700 miles (De ascens. mentis in Deum, grad. 7); but God, the sovereign of the sun, can speak to it, and it riseth not. If he do but give the word of command to the sun not to rise, the morning shall be made darkness, Amo 4:13 , and the day dark with night, Amo 5:8 . Was it not so in that three days’ darkness in Egypt? Exo 12:21 , in that miraculous standing still of the sun in Joshua’s days, when the sun rose not with the antipodes one morning, and the stars were sealed up part of the night? Jos 10:13 , in that dismal darkness (mentioned by Lavater upon this text), March 12, 1585, lasting for a quarter of an hour, and being so like the night, that the fowls went to roost at noon, and many fell to their prayers for pardon of their sins, as thinking verily that the day of judgment was come. There was no solar eclipse for this date. St Paul in the tempest at sea saw neither sun nor stars for many days, Act 27:20 . And I have read of a foreigner, who having been in these parts in the deep of winter, and returning home again, desired one that was then bound for England to commend him to the sun when he next saw him, for I have not seen him there, said he, of a whole fortnight together, Eze 32:7 . I will cover the sun with a cloud; and, in that sense, speak to it that it rise not.
And sealeth up the stars
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
commandeth: Exo 10:21, Exo 10:22, Jos 10:12, Dan 4:35, Amo 4:13, Amo 8:9, Mat 24:29
sealeth: Job 37:7, Job 38:12-15, Job 38:19, Job 38:20, Isa 13:10, Eze 32:7, Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:7. Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not Nor are the heavens less subject to his power; for neither sun nor stars can shine if he forbid them. Bishop Warburton supposes, that this alludes to the miraculous history of the people of God, such as the Egyptian darkness, and the stopping the suns course by Joshua. But surely there is no necessity, from the words themselves, to suppose any allusion of this kind, or, indeed, any thing miraculous, since God, by throwing a thick cloud over the sun and stars, can and does obscure them when he pleases. Dodd. And things in the Scriptures are often said to be or not to be, when they appear or disappear; of which some instances have been given in the former part of this work, and we shall have more hereafter in their proper places. Thus it is that the Chaldee Paraphrast understands the passage. And sealeth up the stars That is, covereth and shutteth them up, that they may not shine, as in dark and dismal tempests, like that mentioned Act 27:20, when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days.