Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:28
Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
28. the rain a father ] That is, a human father; does any man, Job perhaps, beget the rain or the drops of dew? They are marvels of God’s creative power.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
28 30. Rain, dew, frost and ice.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hath the rain a father? – That is, it is produced by God and not by man. No one among men can claim that he causes it, or can regard it as his offspring. The idea is, that the production of rain is among the proofs of the wisdom and agency of God, and that it is caused in a way that demonstrates his own agency. It is not by any power of man; and it is not in such a way as to constitute a relation like that between a father and a son. The rain is often appealed to in this book as something whose cause man could not explain, and as demonstrating the wisdom and supremacy of God. Among philosophic and contemplative minds it would early excite inquiry, and give occasion for wonder. What caused it? Whence came the water which fell? How was it suspended? How was it borne from place to place? How was it made to descend in drops, and why was it not poured down at once in floods?
Questions like these would early excite inquiry, and we are not to suppose that in the time of Job science was so far advanced that they could be answered; see the notes at Job 26:8; compare Job 38:37 notes. The laws of the production of rain are now better understood, but like all other laws discovered by science, they are adapted to elevate, not to diminish, our conceptions of the wisdom of God. It may be of interest, and may serve to explain the passages in this book which refer to rain, as illustrating the wisdom of God, to state what is now the commonly received theory of its cause. That theory is the one proposed by Dr. James Hutton, and first published in the Philosophical Transactions of Edinburgh, in 1784. In this theory it is supposed that the cause consists in the vapor that is held dissolved in the air, and is based on this principle – that the capacity of the air for holding water in a state of vapor increases in a greater ratio than its temperature; that is, that if there are two portions of air which would contain a certain quantity of water in solution if both were heated in an equal degree, the capacity for holding water would be alike; but if one of them be heated more than the other, the amount of water which it would hold in solution is not exactly in proportion to the heat applied, but increases much more rapidly than the heat.
It will hold much more water when the temperature is raised than is proportionate to the amount of heat applied. From the experiments which were made by Sanssure and others, it was found that while the temperature of the air rises in arithmetical progression, the dissolving power of the air increases nearly in geometrical progression; that is, if the temperature be represented by the figures 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc., the capacity for holding moisture will be nearly represented by the figures 2, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. Rain is caused in the following manner. When two portions of air of different temperature, and each saturated with moisture, are intermixed, the quantity of moisture in the air thus intermixed, in consequence of the decrease of temperature, will be greater than the air will contain in solution, and will be condensed in a cloud or precipitated to the earth. This law of nature was of course unknown to Job, and is an arrangement which could have been formed only by the all-wise Author of nature; see Edin. Ency., Art. Meteorology, p. 181.
Or who hath begotten the drops of the dew? – Who has produced them – implying that they were caused only by the agency of God. No one among mortals could claim that he had caused the dew to fall. God appeals to the dew here, the causes of which were then unknown, as an evidence of his wisdom and supremacy. Dew is the moisture condensed from the atmosphere, and that settles on the earth. It usually falls in clear and calm nights, and is caused by a reduction of the temperature of that on which the dew falls. Objects on the surface of the earth become colder than the atmosphere above them, and the consequence is, that the moisture that was suspended in the atmosphere near the surface of the earth is condensed – in the same way as in a hot day moisture will form on the outside of a tumbler or pitcher that is filled with water. The coldness of the vessel containing the water condenses the moisture that was suspended in the surrounding atmosphere.
The cold, therefore, which accompanies dew, precedes instead of following it. The reason why the surface of the earth becomes cooler than the surrounding atmosphere at night, so as to form dew, has been a subject of considerable inquiry. The theory of Dr. Wells, which is now commonly adopted, is, that the earth is continually radiating its heat to the high and colder regions of the atmosphere; that in the day-time the effects of this radiation are not sensible, being more than counterbalanced by the greater influx of heat from the direct influence of the sun; but that during the night, when the counteracting cause is removed, these effects become sensible, and produce the reduction of temperature which causes dew. The surface of the earth becomes cool by the heat which is radiated to the upper regions of the atmosphere, and the moisture in the air adjacent to the surface of the earth is condensed. This occurs only in a clear and calm night. When the sky is cloudy, the clouds operate as a screen, and the radiation of the heat to the higher regions of the atmosphere is prevented, and the surface of the earth and the surrounding atmosphere are kept at the same temperature; see the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Meteorology, pp. 185-188. Of course, these laws were unknown to Job, but now that they are known to us, they constitute no less properly a proof of the wisdom of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 38:28-29
Hath the rain a father?
The weather provider
Two ships meet mid-Atlantic. The one is going to Southampton and the other is coming to New York. Provide weather that, while it is abaft for one ship, it is not a head wind for the other. There is a farm that is dried up for the lack of rain, and here is a pleasure party going out for a field excursion. Provide weather that will suit the dry farm and the pleasure excursion. No, sirs, I will not take one dollar of stock in your weather company. There is only one Being in the universe who knows enough to provide the right kind of weather for this world. Hath the rain a father? (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Who hath begotten the drops of dew?–
Dewdrops
Dew is moisture dropped from the atmosphere upon the earth. During the daytime the earth both receives and returns heat; but after sunset it no longer receives, and yet it continues for a time to throw off the heat it has received. In a little while the grass, flowers, and foliage are quite cool; yet the atmosphere still retains the heat of the day, which, as the evening grows cooler, it gradually deposits on the earth beneath. This deposit is dew. How wise and wonderful are the ways of God! The effects of dew are like the influence we exert over one another.
1. Dew is powerful. There are some countries, or parts of them, whose vegetation almost entirely depends on the dew. Ahab was heavily punished when told that for three years there should be no rain, and the punishment was greatly increased by the withdrawal of the dew as well. Similarly the power we exert over one another is very great.
2. The dew is perfectly silent. So is influence. You cannot hear the sun rise, the snow fall, or the corn grow. The greatest powers in nature are silent. Our influence, be it sweet or sour, is slipping out from us every hour, and we are all making the world a better or a worse place for living in every day.
3. The dew is very precious. When Isaac gave his dying blessing to his boys, he prayed, God give thee of the dew of heaven. Even so influence, good influence, is very precious. I believe more good is wrought by quiet influence than by all the talking.
4. Last of all, let us remember, the dew soon passes away. Hoses complains that the goodness of Israel goeth away as the early dew. That is to say, the dew is quickly dried up unless absorbed by the flowers and grass, just as influence is soon forgotten unless obeyed. (J. C. Adlard.)
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath tendered it?–In the 38th chapter of that inspired drama the Book of Job, God says to the inspired dramatist, with ecstatic interrogation, The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? God there asks Job if he knows the parentage of the frost. He inquires about its pedigree. He suggests that Job study up the frosts genealogical line. A minute before God had asked about the parentage of a raindrop in words that years ago gave me a suggestive text for a sermon: Hath the rain a father? But now the Lord Almighty is catechising Job about the frost. He practically says, Do you know its father? Do you know its mother In what cradle of the leaves did the wind reek it? The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? He is a stupid Christian who thinks so much of the printed and bound Bible that he neglects the Old Testament of the fields, nor reads the wisdom and kindness and beauty of God written in blossoms on the orchard, in sparkles on the lake, in stars on the sky, in frost on the meadows. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. Hath the rain a father?] Or, Who is the father of the rain? We have seen above one part of the apparatus by which God produces it; other causes have been mentioned on Job 36:27, c.
The drops of dew?] egley, the sphericles, the small round drops or globules. Dew is a dense moist vapour, found on the earth in spring and summer mornings, in the form of a mizzling rain. Dr. Hutton defines it, “a thin, light, insensible mist or rain, descending with a slow motion, and falling while the sun is below the horizon. It appears to differ from rain as less from more. Its origin and matter are doubtless from the vapours and exhalations that rise from the earth and water.” Various experiments have been instituted to ascertain whether dew arises from the earth, or descends from the atmosphere and those pro and con have alternately preponderated. The question is not yet decided; and we cannot yet tell any more than Job which hath begotten the drops of dew, the atmosphere or the earth. Is it water deposited from the atmosphere, when the surface of the ground is colder than the air?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To wit, besides me. Is there any man upon earth than can beget or produce rain at his pleasure? No, this is my peculiar work. And therefore seeing thou knowest and canst do nothing as to the government of these ordinary effects of nature, how great presumption is it to arrogate to thyself the knowledge and management of the secret and mysterious affairs of my providence in the disposal of men!
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. Can any visible origin ofrain and dew be assigned by man? Dew is moisture, which was suspendedin the air, but becomes condensed on reaching thein thenightlower temperature of objects on the earth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hath the rain a father?…. None but God; hence the Heathens themselves call God y, and z; see
Jer 14:22; he that is our Father in heaven is the Father of rain, and him only; whatever secondary causes there be, God only is the efficient cause, parent, and producer of it: so the Gospel is not of men but of God, is a gift of his, comes down from heaven, tarries not for men, and is a great blessing, as rain is;
or who hath begotten the drops of the dew? which are innumerable; he that is the parent of the rain is of the dew also, and he only a; to which sometimes not only the word of God, and his free favour and good will, but the people of God themselves are compared for their number, influence, and use; see Ps 110:3; and their new birth is similar to the generation of dew, it being not of the will of man, but of God, according to his abundant mercy, free favour, and good will, is from above, from heaven, and is effected silently, secretly, suddenly, at an unawares; Joh 1:13.
y Aristot. de Mundo, c. 7. z Pausan. Attica, sive, l. 1. p. 60. a Though a certain poet (Alcman Lyricus apud Macrob. Saturnal. l. 7. c. 16.) says that dew is the offspring of the air and of the moon; but these can only at most be reckoned but secondary causes. The Arabs speak of an angel over dew. Abulpharag, Hist. Dynast. p. 75.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
28 Hath the rain a father,
Or who begetteth the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb cometh the ice forth,
And who bringeth forth the hoar-frost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
And the face of the deep is rolled together.
Rain and dew have no created father, ice and hoar-frost no created mother. The parallelism in both instances shows that asks after the one who begets, and the one who bears (vid., Hupfeld on Psa 2:7). is uterus , and meton. (at least in Arabic) progenies uteri; ex utero cujus is , in distinction from , ex quo utero . is excellently translated by the lxx, Codd. Vat. and Sin., (with Omega) ; Ges. and Schlottm. correct to , but signifies not merely a clod, but also a lump and a ball. It is the particles of the dew holding together (lxx, Cod. Alex.: . . ) in a globular form, from , which does not belong to , but to Arab. ‘jil , retinere , II colligere (whence agl , standing water, ma’gal , a pool, pond); is constr., like from . The waters “hide themselves,” by vanishing as fluid, therefore: freeze. The surface of the deep (lxx , for which Zwingli has in marg. ) “takes hold of itself,” or presses together (comp. Arab. lekda , crowding, synon. hugum , a striking against) by forming itself into a firm solid mass ( continuum , Job 41:9, comp. Job 37:10). Moreover, the questions all refer not merely to the analysis of the visible origin of the phenomena, but to their final causes.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Third long strophe MORTIFYING QUESTIONS AS TO THE ORIGIN OF METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA, THE CONSTITUTION AND CONTROL OF MIGHTY CONSTELLATIONS, AND THE CREATIVE COMMAND OF SO INSIGNIFICANT PHENOMENA AS THE CLOUDS OF JOB’S OWN SKY, Job 38:28-38. Predominant in this strophe is the twofold conception of power and wisdom which leads more particularly to questions as to the source of wisdom in man, ( Job 5:36,) the boasted counterpart of God.
. Perhaps a human parentage may be found for the rain, the dew, the ice, and the hoar frost, and Job may be able to produce them at pleasure! Job 38:28-30.
28. The rain the drops of dew The parentage of the rain and the dew is not with man, but with God. Jablonski declares that the enlightened Egyptian considered the moon to be the parent of dew a fact which gives emphasis to the question of the Almighty.
Begotten “The figure of generation, ” as Dr. T. Lewis remarks, “is kept up in , ‘ begotten.’
There has been a great lack of attention to the momentous fact that so much of this language of generation, or of evolution, or production by birth, (one thing coming out of another,) is employed in Scripture, not only in the poetical parts, such as Psa 90:2; Psalms 104, Pro 8:22, and here in Job; but in the prose account of Genesis 1, ‘ The earth bringing forth; ’ ‘ the waters swarming with life;’ ‘ the Spirit brooding upon them;’ ‘the generations, , of the heavens and the earth.’” The questions of these two verses intimate that nature has within herself no life, or potency of life, except such as God himself imparts. Nor is matter the universal mother “who brings forth all things as the fruit of her own womb,” as Bruno (cited by Prof. Tyndall) would say, but rather a capacity for the evolving of life, and the various forms and qualities of life, either directly, by the creative will of God, or indirectly, according to divinely-devised laws, to which God originally imparted, or continues still to impart, life-giving power. The questions of these verses spring from the remarkable generalization, which true science now justifies, that there can be no life without semination. This thought the text transfers in figure to the formation of the rain and the dew, the ice and the hoar frost; even these dead forms or products of nature must have had an author.
Job 38:29 is an enlargement of the thought of the preceding verse. The variation in gender is accommodated to the idea that the ice and frost come forth from the earth, (see note, Job 1:21,) while the rain and drops of dew take their rise in heaven.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s Majesty in the Wonders above the Earth
v. 28. Hath the rain a father, v. 29. Out of whose womb came the ice? v. 30. The waters are hid as with a stone, v. 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, v. 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth, v. 33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven, v. 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, v. 35. Canst thou send lightnings that they may go, v. 36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts, v. 37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom, v. 38. when the dust groweth into hardness,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Job 38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Ver. 28. Hath the rain a father? ] Subaudi, praeter me? saith Vatablus. Hath it any father but me? Can any of the heathen deities give rain? Or can the heavens give showers? “Art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things,” Jer 14:22 .
Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
dew = night mist. See note on Psa 133:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Hath the: Job 38:8, Job 5:9, Job 5:10, 1Sa 12:17, 1Sa 12:18, Psa 65:9, Psa 65:10, Jer 5:24, Jer 10:13, Jer 14:22, Joe 2:23, Amo 4:7, Mat 5:45
dew: Job 29:19, Gen 27:28, Gen 27:39, Deu 33:13, Deu 33:28, 2Sa 1:21, 1Ki 17:1, Pro 3:20, Hos 14:5
Reciprocal: Gen 2:4 – the generations Psa 90:2 – Before
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 38:28-30. Hath the rain a father? Is there any man that can beget or produce rain at his pleasure? No; this is my peculiar work. The hoary frost, who hath gendered it? What man can either produce, or doth fully understand where or how it is generated? The waters are hid as with a stone That is, with ice as hard as a stone. And the face of the deep is frozen Of the great sea, which is often called the deep, and which in some parts is frozen, so that its surface grows solid. The ice and the frost are very common things, and therefore do not appear to us remarkable; but considering what a mighty change is made by them in a little time, and how the waters of rivers, lakes, and oceans, are hid by them, as though a grave- stone were laid upon them, we may well ask, Out of whose womb came the ice? What created power could produce such a wonderful work?