Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:31
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
31. canst thou bind ] Rather, dost thou bind? The questions addressed to Job, throughout the chapter, mean in general, Is it he that effects what is observed to be done? not, Can he undo what is done, or do what is not done? Hence the questions here imply that the Pleiades are bound and that Orion is loosed, and Job is asked whether it be he that binds in the one case and looses in the other.
the sweet influences ] The idea suggested by “influences” is that man’s life on the earth is ruled by the stars, as Shakespeare calls the moon
the moist star,
Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire hangs.
There is, however, no trace of this idea in the original word. Those who retain this translation suppose the reference to be to the genial influence of spring, of which this cluster of stars, when appearing before the sun in the east, was a joyful herald. Such a reference is too remote; neither does it allow any just meaning to “bind.” Besides, the exegetical tradition is that the word rendered “sweet influences “has the same sense as “bands” in the second clause (so Sept. ), as the parallelism requires. The verse rather means,
Dost thou bind the bands of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
It is not certain that these are the stars meant, and the allusions are obscure. As “loosing the cords” or bands of Orion cannot mean dissolving the constellation and separating its stars from one another, so, if the parallelism is exact, “binding the bands” of the Pleiades ought not to refer to the fact that the stars of this constellation always appear as a group in the same form, although this is the idea which most writers consider to be expressed. The word in the second clause, being from a root always meaning to draw (ch. Job 41:1, Isa 5:18, Hos 11:4), ought to have some such sense as cords, that by which anything is drawn, rather than that by which it is bound. The reference is probably to the motion of the constellation in the heavens. An Arabic poet, bewailing the slowness of the hours of a night of sorrow, says that, in their immobility and tardiness to turn towards their setting-place, “its stars seem bound by cords to a rock.” The same poet, however, compares the Pleiades, including perhaps Orion under the name, when it appears upon the horizon, to a girdle studded with jewels; and some have supposed that the sense in the present passage is similar, rendering, Dost thou bind into a band (or fillet) the Pleiades? This is an improbable conceit. So far as the mere language is concerned, the first clause most naturally refers to some star or constellation which appears bound to one place, whether it be that it stands always high in the heavens or is unable to rise much above the horizon; and the second clause to some star or group whose motion in the heavens is free, whether it be that it is able to rise high or that it sets and disappears.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
31 38. The direction of the regular movements of the heavens, and their influence upon the earth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? – The seven stars. On the meaning of the word used here ( kymah), see the notes at Job 9:9. In regard to the meaning of the word rendered sweet influences, there has been considerable variety of interpretation. The Septuagint renders it, Dost thou understand the band ( desmon) of Pleiades? The Hebrew word ( maadannah) is naturally derived from a word signifying pleasures, or delights ( maadan, from adan, to be soft, or pliant; to enjoy pleasure or delight; hence, the word Eden), and then it would mean, as in our translation, the delightful influences of the Pleiades; or the influences supposed to be produced by this constellation in imparting happiness, particularly the pleasures enjoyed in the spring time, when that constellation makes its appearance. But Gesenius supposes that the word is derived from anad, to bind, and that it is used by transposition for manadoth.
It would then refer to the bands of Pleiades, and the question would be whether Job had created the band which united the stars composing that constellation in so close union; whether he had bound them together in a cluster or bundle. This idea is adopted by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes. Herder renders it, the brilliant Pleiades. The word bands applied to the Pleiades is not unfrequently used in Persian poetry. They were spoken of as a band or ornament for the forehead – or compared with a headband made up of diamonds or pearls. Thus, Sadi, in his Gullstan, p. 22, (Amsterdam, 1651), speaking of a garden, says, The earth is strewed, as it were, with emeralds, and the bands of Pleiades appear upon the boughs of the trees. So Hafiz, another Persian poet, says, in one of his odes, Over thy songs heaven has strewed the bands of the Pleiades as a seal of immortality. The Greenlanders call the Pleiades killukturset, a name given to them because they appear to be bound together.
Egedes Account of the Greenland Mission, p. 57; see Rosenmuller, Alte u. neue Morgenland, No. 768. There seems, however, no good reason for departing from the usual meaning of the word, and then the reference will be to the time when the Pleiades or the seven stars make their appearance – the season of spring. Then the winter disappears; the streams are unlocked; the earth is covered with grass and flowers; the air is sweet and balmy; and a happy influence seems to set in upon the world. There may be some allusion here to the influence which the stars were supposed to exert over the seasons and the affairs of this world, but it is not necessary to suppose this. All that is required in the interpretation of the passage is, that the appearance of certain constellations was connected with certain changes in the seasons; as with spring, summer, or winter. It was not unnatural to infer from that fact, that the constellations exerted an influence in causing those changes, and hence, arose the pretended science of astrology. But there is no necessary connection between the two. The Pleiades appear in the spring, and seem to lead on that joyous season. These stars, so closely set together, seem to be bound to one another in a sisterly union (Herder), and thus joyously usher in the spring. God asks Job whether he were the author of that band, and had thus united them for the purpose of ushering in happy influences on the world.
Or loose the bands of Orion – In regard to this constellation, see the notes at Job 9:9. The word bands here has been supposed to refer to the girdle with which it is usually represented. Orion is here described as a man girded for action, and is the pioneer of winter. It made its appearance early in the winter, and was regarded as the precursor of storms and tempests; see the quotations in the notes at Job 9:9. Thus appearing in the autumn, this constellation seems to lead on the winter. It comes with strength. It spreads its influence over the air, the earth, the waters, and binds everything at its pleasure. God here asks Job whether he had power to disarm this giant; to unloose his girdle; to divest him of strength; to control the seasons? Had he power over summer and winter, so as to cause them to go or come at his bidding, and to control all those laws which produced them?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 38:31
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Light unrestrainable
Who can bind or restrain the light? The subject before us is the self-revealing power of the Gospel. Men may love darkness, but they cannot hide the advent of light, and can never be, in conscience and accountability, as if they had not seen the light. Evil men may wish the Christ out of the world, but they cannot hide His glory. All Christian light, whether its medium be teaching, or character, or life, or conversation, cannot be restrained. We cannot tell where influence reaches. It may leap forth long after we have finished our course. Men being dead, yet speak to us; facts in their history are disentombed, and we receive the light of their fidelity and heroism.
I. The light of Pleiades in a human sense. What the world wants is more light–the light of love. That sweetens all relationships, and is the only cement of all classes in our crowded communities. Love is the light of the universe. Let the rosy beams of affection shine in the character, its potent charm will be as irresistible as is the health-giving, gladdening light.
II. The light of the Pleiades in a Divine sense. Love is never impotent–never doubtful of its triumph. Our Saviour never distrusted the issues of the Cross. While men are questioning about Him, His influences are going forth. Sin, grief, and death are still here. But men cannot take Christ out of the world.
III. The light of the Pleiades in a historic sense. Light does not die. The great influence of the reformers will never be lost. You cart bind mere opinion; you can bind mere ecclesiasticism; you cannot bind the renewed Christlike soul.
IV. The light of the Pleiades in a personal influence sense. Words live long after their authors have uttered them. Deeds are vital long after great empires have passed away. Words and deeds go through the electric chain of schools, and families, and churches. None can bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades at home or abroad. (W. M. Statham.)
Spring
The Pleiades are a constellation, or group of seven stars, seen in the astronomical sign Taurus, making their appearance in the spring, and thence called spring signs, or tokens. The Hebrew term is expressive of beauty. In the text, the word translated bind signifies to compel or constrain. Canst thou compel the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loosen the bands of Orion? (winter). Canst thou force forward the spring, and abruptly break up the rigidity of winter?
I. How absolute is the rule of the most high in the natural world. Can man alter the Divine dispensations, or so much as either hasten or delay them? Let us mark our absolute dependence, and humble ourselves before the Almighty Ruler.
II. He who rules in the kingdom of nature rules also in that of providence. The events of life are no less under His control than are the stars in their courses. Canst thou compel or retain the sweet influences of prosperity; or canst thou loosen the bands of adversity? All our comfort and satisfaction, whether of a bodily or mental kind, is received from Him; and, when He pleases, is in a moment wrested from us. Joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, come and go at His command. It is true that men themselves, being free and intelligent creatures, do by their character and conduct modify and influence their fate and fortune; but this they do only in accordance with the laws of providence, How important it is that we should be earnest and faithful in improving the varying dispensations of providence which are successively appointed for our trial.
III. He who rules in nature and providence rules also in the kingdom of grace. If we look within, we shall find new proofs of our ignorance and weakness, and absolute dependence on the Author of our being. Can you loose the bands of guilt, or compel the sweet influences of pardoning mercy? God only can remit our offences; and the means He has employed for this end, in the incarnation, sufferings, and death of His own dear Son, afford the clearest demonstration of the foolishness of human wisdom, and the impotence of human power in this high concern. (H. Grey, D. D.)
Delightful influences of spring tide
The Pleiades are a well-known cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus. The ancients were in the habit of determining their seasons by the rising and setting of certain constellations. The Pleiades were regarded as the cardinal constellations of spring. These seven stars appear about the middle of April, and hence are associated with the return of spring, the season of sweet influences. The Hebrew word is derived from a word signifying delights. The influences of spring are delightful in many ways–
I. As temporal ministries. These influences come to bring great blessings to man, as a tenant of the earth.
1. Supplies of food. They come to mollify the earth, fertilise the soil, germinate the seed out of which come the material provisions for man and beast.
2. Pleasures to the senses. Spring mantles the world with a thousand robes of beauty, all with endless variety of hue and shape.
3. Exhilarates the spirit. The influences of spring are delightful–
II. As Divine manifestations. Spring tide is a new revelation of God. It reveals–
1. The profusion of His vital energy. Every spot teems with a new existence, and every new life is from Him.
2. The wonderful tastefulness of God. Spring brings a universe of fresh beauties to the eye.
3. The calm ease with which He works. How quietly He pours forth those oceans of new life that are now rolling over the earth.
4. The regularity of His procedure. For 6000 years spring has never failed to come.
III. As instructive emblems.
1. Spring is an emblem of human life. Both have vast capabilities of improvement. Both are remarkably changeable. Both are fraught with fallacious promises.
2. Spring is an emblem of spiritual renovation.
(1) The new spiritual life is like the spring in the season from which it has emerged.
(2) In the tenacity with which the past strives to keep its hold.
(3) It tends to a perfect future. The power of winter will gradually give way; summer will come, and then the golden autumn.
3. Spring is an emblem of the general resurrection, The Bible looks at it in this light (1Co 15:36; 1Co 15:41).
(1) Spring life is a resuscitation; it is not properly a new creation, it grows out of the past.
(2) Spring life is a resuscitation from an apparently extinct life. That which thou sowest is not quickened unless it die.
(3) Spring life is a resuscitation against which many antecedent objections might have been raised. So with the resurrection of the body. (Homilist.)
Influence and power
The Pleiades was looked upon as the constellation of spring; Orion, of winter. The sweet influences of the Pleiades were the life forces which caused the grass to spring, the plant to grow, and the flower to bloom. The bands of Orion were made of ice. They only could bind the sweet influences of spring; spring only, at its return, could loose them. Nothing but silent influence is strong enough to overcome silent influence. The greatest forces in this world are those which work, like the warmth of spring and the cold of winter, in silence. There is, in every mans life, spring and winter; and there is war between them. In this world good influence has all the time to do battle with bad influence. A legend says that after the battle of Chalons the spirits of the slain soldiers continued the conflict for several days. And after we are dead, the silent, invisible influences we have brought into being will continue their battle for good or evil. Theodore Parker spoke a great truth when, dying in Italy, he said, There are two Theodore Parkers; one of them is dying in Italy; the other I have planted in America, and it will continue to live. We have, in spite of ourselves, an immortality upon earth. So far from blotting us out, death often intensifies our personality. But in Christianity there is more than influence. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Influence is the sum total of all the forces in our lives–mental, moral, financial, social. Power is God at work. All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples, and lo, I am with you. God does not delegate power. He goes along with us, and exerts that power Himself. Christian influences are not sufficient for the needs of the Church. The success of the Gospel at first did not depend upon influence. The only time the word is used in the Bible is in this text from Job. The apostles were not men of influence. Few disciples were made from the influential classes, and as soon as made, they lost by their faithfulness most of the influence they had before. Christ did not choose to become a man of influence. God hath chosen power rather than influence. Mere influence never converted a soul. The Spirit can, of course, use influences. Influence without the Spirit never saved anybody. We should seek power even at the expense of influence. There is such a thing as gaining and retaining influence over a person in such a way as to lose all power with God. And there is such a thing as losing influence while we gain power. Paul had a good opportunity for gaining influence with Felix by flattering him in his sins, and could have made a splendid impression for himself by such a course. But as he gained influence with Felix, he would have lost power with God. He chose power before influence, and reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come till Felix trembled under the hand of God. Paul and Silas did not have influence enough to keep them out of jail, but there was power enough with them to shake the old jail open. By a compromising course they might have pleased the authorities, and kept out of prison, but they would have lost all power. The disciples at Pentecost had little influence. They were the followers of One who had been crucified as a malefactor. The doctrines He preached were very unpopular. But they had power, and Christians with power can get along without much influence. If they had depended upon influence they would have set about the building of such houses and the establishment of such institutions as would have promoted it. All this would have taken time. Influences, like the forces of spring, work slowly. Power works suddenly. Not evolution, but revolution, was the effect of power at Pentecost. Not a word have I to say, let me repeat, against the use of all influences for good. What I insist upon is, that this world is not going to be converted by influences. (A. G. Dixon, D. D.)
Pleiades
The isolated group of the Seven Stars, from the singularity of its appearance, has been distinguished and designated by an appropriate name from the earliest ages. The learned priests of Belus carefully observed its risings and settings nearly two thousand years before the Christian era. By the Greeks it was called Pleiades, from the word pleein, to sail, because it indicated the time when the sailor might hope to undertake a voyage with safety. It was also called Vergiliae, from ver, the spring, because it ushered in the mild vernal weather, favourable to farming and pastoral employments. The Greek poets associated it with that beautiful mythology which, in its purest form, peopled the air, the woods, and the waters with imaginary beings, and made the sky itself a concave mirror, from which came back exaggerated ideal reflections of humanity. The seven stars were supposed to be the seven daughters of Atlas, by Pleione, one of the Oceanides–placed in the heavens after death. Their names are Alcyone, Merope, Main, Electra, Taygeta, Asterope, and Celaeno. They were all united to the immortal gods, with the exception of Merope, who married Sisyphus, King of Corinth, and whose star, therefore, is dim and obscure among her sisters. The lost Pleiad, the sorrowing Merope, has long been a favourite shadowy creation of the poetic dream. But an interest deeper than any derived from mythical association or classical allusion, is connected with this group of stars by the use made of it in Scripture. I believe that in the apparently simple and passing allusion to it in Job, lies hid the germ of one of the greatest of physical truths–a germ lying dormant and concealed in the pages of Scripture for ages, but now brought into air and sunlight by the discoveries of science, and developing flowers and fruit of rare value and beauty. If our translators have correctly identified the group of stars to which they have given the familiar name of Pleiades–and we have every reason to confide in their fidelity–we have a striking proof here afforded to us of the perfect harmony that exists between the revelations of science and those of the Bible–the one illustrating and confirming the other. So far as Job was concerned, the question, Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? might have referred solely to what was then the common belief–namely, that the genial weather of spring was somehow caused by the peculiar position of the Pleiades in the sky at that season; as if God had simply said, Canst thou hinder or retard the spring? It remained for modern science to make a grander and wider application of it, and to show in this, as in other instances, that the Bible is so framed as to expand its horizon with the march of discovery–that the requisite stability of a moral rule is, in it, most admirably combined with the capability of movement and progress. If we examine the text in the original, we find that the Chaldaic word translated in our version Pleiades is Chimah, meaning literally a hinge, pivot, or axle, which turns round and moves other bodies along with it. Now, strange to say, the group of stars thus characterised has recently been ascertained by a series of independent calculations–in utter ignorance of the meaning of the text–to be actually the hinge or axle round which the solar system revolves. It was long known as one of the most elementary truths of astronomy, that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun; but the question recently began to be raised among astronomers, Does the sun stand still, or does it move round some other object in space, carrying its train of planets and their satellites along with it in its orbit? Attention being thus specially directed to this subject, it was soon found that the sun had an appreciable motion, which tended in the direction of a lily-shaped group of small stars, called the constellation of Hercules. Towards this constellation the stars seem to be opening out; while at the opposite point of the sky their mutual distances are apparently diminishing–as if they were drifting away, like the foaming wake of a ship, from the suns course. When this great physical truth was established beyond doubt, the next subject of investigation was the point or centre round which the sun performed this marvellous revolution: and after a series of elaborate observations, and most ingenious calculations, this intricate problem was also satisfactorily solved–one of the greatest triumphs of human genius. M. Madler, of Dorpat, found that Alcyone, the brightest star of the Pleiades, is the centre of gravity of our vast solar system–the luminous hinge in the heavens, round which our sun and his attendant planets are moving through space. The very complexity and isolation of the system of the Pleiades, exhibiting seven distinct orbs closely compressed to the naked eye, but nine or ten times that number when seen through a telescope–forming a grand cluster, whose individuals are united to each other more closely than to the general mass of stars–indicate the amazing attractive energy that must be concentrated in that spot. Vast as is the distance which separates our sun from this central group–a distance thirty-four millions of times greater than the distance between the sun and our earth–yet so tremendous is the force exerted by Alcyone, that it draws our system irresistibly around it at the rate of 422,000 miles a day, in an orbit which it will take many thousands of years to complete. With this new explanation, how remarkably striking and appropriate does the original word for Pleiades appear! What a lofty significance does the question of the Almighty receive from this interpretation! Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? Canst thou arrest, or in any degree modify, that attractive influence which it exerts upon our sun and all its planetary worlds, whirling them round its pivot in an orbit of such inconceivable dimensions, and with a velocity so utterly bewildering? Silence the most profound can be the only answer to such a question. Man can but stand afar off, and in awful astonishment and profound humility exclaim with the Psalmist, O Lord my God, Thou art very great! (Hugh Macmillan, D. D.)
Orion
This cluster of stars–the Kesil of the ancient Chaldeans–is by far the most magnificent constellation in the heavens. Its form must be familiar to everyone who has attentively considered the nocturnal sky. It resembles the rude outline of a gigantic human figure. By the Greek mythologists, Orion was supposed to be a celebrated hunter, superior to the rest of mankind in strength and stature, whose mighty deeds entitled him after death to the honours of an apotheosis. The Orientals imagined him to be a huge giant who, Titan-like, had warred against God, and was therefore bound in chains to the firmament of heaven; and some authors have conjectured that this notion is the origin of the history of Nimrod, who, according to Jewish tradition, instigated the descendants of Noah to build the Tower of Babel. The constellation of Orion is composed of four very bright stars, forming a quadrilateral, higher than it is broad, with three equidistant stars in a diagonal line in the middle. The two upper stars, called Betelgeux and Bellatrix, form the shoulders; in the middle, immediately above these, are three small, dim stars, close to each other, forming the cheek or head. These stars are distinctly visible only on a very clear night; and this circumstance may have given rise to the old fable that (Enopion, King of Chios,–whose daughter Orion demanded in marriage,–put out his eyes as he lay asleep on the seashore, and that he recovered his sight by gazing upon the rising sun from the summit of a neighbouring hill. The constellation is therefore represented by the poets, as groping with blinded eyes all round the heavens in search of the sun. The feet are composed of two very bright stars, called Rigel and Saiph; the three stars in the middle are called the belt or girdle, and from them depends a stripe of smaller stars, forming the hunters sword. The whole constellation, containing seventeen stars to the naked eye, but exhibiting seventy-eight in an ordinary telescope, occupies a large and conspicuous position in the southern heavens, below the Pleiades; and is often visible, owing to the brightness and magnitude of its stars, when all other constellations, with the exception of the Plough, are lost in the mistiness of night. In this country it is seen only a short space above the horizon, along whose ragged outline of dark hills its starry feet may be observed for many nights in the winter, walking in solitary grandeur. It attains its greatest elevation in January and February, and disappears altogether during the summer and autumn months. In Mesopotamia it occupies a position nearer the zenith, and therefore is more brilliant and striking in appearance. Night after night it sheds down its rays with mystical splendour over the lonely solitudes through which the Euphrates flows, and where the tents of the patriarch of Uz once stood. Orion is not only the most striking and splendid constellation in the heavens, it is also one of the few clusters that are visible in all parts of the habitable world. The equator passes through the middle of it; the glittering stars of its belt being strung, like diamonds, on its invisible line. In the beginning of January, when it is about the meridian, we obtain the grandest display of stars which the sidereal heavens in this country can exhibit. The ubiquity of this constellation may have been one of the reasons why it was chosen to illustrate Gods argument with Job, in a book intended to be read universally. When the Bible reader of every clime and country can go out in the appropriate season, and find in his own sky the very constellation and direct his gaze to the very peculiarity in it, to which the Creator alluded in His mysterious converse with Job, he has no longer a vague, indefinite idea in his mind, but is powerfully convinced of the reality of the whole circumstance, while his feelings of devotion are deepened and intensified. The three bright stars which constitute the girdle or bands of Orion never change their form; they preserve the same relative position to each other, and to the rest of the constellation, from year to year, and age to age. They afford to us one of the highest types of immutability in the midst of ceaseless changes. (Hugh Macmillan, D. D.)
Interrogations humble pride
The probability is that Job had been tempted to arrogance by his vast attainments. He was a metallurgist, a zoologist, a poet, and shows by his writings he had knowledge of hunting, of music, of husbandry, of medicine, of mining, of astronomy, and perhaps was so far ahead of the scholars and scientists of his time, that he may have been somewhat puffed up. Hence this interrogation of my text. And there is nothing that so soon takes down human pride as an interrogation point rightly thrust. Christ used it mightily. Paul mounted the parapet of his great arguments with such a battery. Men of the world understand it. Demosthenes began his speech on the crown, and Cicero his oration against Catiline, and Lord Chatham his most famous orations with a question. The empire of ignorance is so much vaster than the empire of knowledge that after the most learned and elaborate disquisition upon any subject of sociology or theology the plainest man may ask a question that will make the wisest speechless. After the profoundest assault upon Christianity the humblest disciple may make an inquiry that would silence a Voltaire. Called upon, as we all are at times, to defend our holy religion, instead of argument that can always be answered by argument, let us try the power of interrogation. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The sweet influences of life
My text called Job and calls us to consider the sweet influences. We put too much emphasis upon the acidities of life, upon the irritations of life, upon the disappointments of life. Ammianus Marcellinus said that Chaldea was, in olden times, overrun with lions, but many of them lost their power because the great swamps produced many gnats, that would get into the eyes of the lions, and the lions, to free themselves of the gnats, would claw their own eyes out, and then starve. And in our time many a lion has been overcome by a gnat. The little, stinging annoyances of life keep us from appreciating the sweet influences. And how many of these last there are t Sweet influences of home, sweet influences of the wife of friendship, of our holy religion. Of all the sweet influences that have ever blessed the earth those that radiate from Christ are the sweetest. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Influence cannot be restrained
You are in no danger of overestimating your influence upon others. The real danger lies in the other direction. You influence others and mould their characters and destinies for time and for eternity far more extensively than you imagine. The whole truth in this matter might flatter you; it would certainly astonish you if you could once grasp it in its full proportions. It was a remark of Samuel J. Mills that No young man should live in the nineteenth century without making his influence felt around the globe. At first thought that seems a heavy contract for any young man to take. As we come to apprehend more clearly the immutable laws of Gods moral universe, we find that this belting of the globe by His influence is just what every responsible being does–too often, alas, unconsciously. You have seen the telephone, that wonderful instrument which so accurately transmits the sound of the human voice so many miles. How true it is that all these wonderful modern inventions are only faint reflections of some grand and eternal law of the moral universe of God! Gods great telephone–I say it reverently–is everywhere, filling earth and air and sea, and sending round the world with unerring accuracy, and for a blessing or a curse, every thought of your heart, every word that falls thoughtfully or thoughtlessly from your lips, and every act you do. It is time you awoke to the conviction that, whether you would have it so or not, your influence is worldwide for good or for evil. Which? (Peter Pounder.)
Moral gravitation
is as powerful as material gravitation, and if, as my text teaches, and science confirms, the Pleiades, which are 422,000 miles from our earth, influence the earth, we ought to be impressed with how we may be influenced by others far away back, and how we may influence others far down the future. That rill away up amongst the Alleghenies, so thin that you think it will hardly find its way down the rocks, becomes the mighty Ohio rolling into the Mississippi and roiling into the sea. That word you utter, that deed you do, may augment itself as the years go by, until rivers cease to roll, and the ocean itself shall be dried up in the burning of the world. Paul, who was all the time saying important things, said nothing more startlingly suggestive than when he declared, None of us liveth or dieth to himself. Words, thoughts, actions, have an eternity of flight. As Job could not bind the sweet influences of the Seven Stars, as they were called, so we cannot arrest or turn aside the good projected long ago. Those influences were started centuries before our cradle was rocked, and will reign centuries after our graves are dug. Oh, it is a tremendous thing to live. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades] The Pleiades are a constellation in the sign Taurus. They consist of six stars visible to the naked eye; to a good eye, in a clear night, seven are discernible; but with a telescope ten times the number may be readily counted. They make their appearance in the spring. Orion may be seen in the morning, towards the end of October, and is visible through November, December, and January; and hence, says Mr. Good, it becomes a correct and elegant synecdoche for the winter at large. The Pleiades are elegantly opposed to Orion, as the vernal renovation of nature is opposed to its wintry destruction; the mild and open benignity of spring, to the severe and icy inactivity of winter.
I have already expressed my mind on these supposed constellations, and must refer to my notes on Job 9:9, c., and to the learned notes of Doctor Hales and Mr. Mason Good on these texts. They appear certain, where I am obliged to doubt and, from their view of the subject, make very useful and important deductions. I find reluctance in departing from the ancient versions. In this case, these learned men follow them; I cannot, because I do not see the evidence of the groundwork; and I dare not draw conclusions from premises which seem to me precarious, or which I do not understand. I wish, therefore, the reader to examine and judge for himself.
Coverdale renders the 31st and 32d verses Job 38:31-32 thus:
Hast thou brought the VII starres together? Or, Art thou able to breake the circle of heaven? Canst thou bringe forth the morynge starre, or the evenynge starre, at convenient tyme, and conveye them home agayne?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Bind, i.e. restrain or hinder them. Canst thou bind or shut up the earth when they open it?
The sweet influences; or, the delights; because this constellation by its benign and opening influences brings in the spring, the herbs and flowers, and other delights of the earth.
Pleiades, called also the Seven Stars. Of this and the following constellation, see Job 9:9.
The bands; by which it binds up the air and earth, by bringing storms of rain or hail, or frost and snow; and withal binds or seals the hands of workmen, as is noted, Job 37:7.
Orion: this is another constellation, which riseth in November, and brings in winter. So the sense of the verse is, Thou canst not bind the earth when the one looseth or openeth it, nor loose or open it when the other binds or shutteth it up.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. sweet influencesthe joydiffused by spring, the time when the Pleiades appear. The Easternpoets, Hafiz, Sadi, &c., describe them as “brilliantrosettes.” GESENIUStranslates: “bands” or “knot,” which answersbetter the parallelism. But English Version agrees better withthe Hebrew. The seven stars are closely “bound”together (see on Job 9:9).”Canst thou bind or loose the tie?” “Canst thou loosethe bonds by which the constellation Orion (represented in the Eastas an impious giant chained to the sky) is held fast?” (See onJob 9:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,…. Of which [See comments on Job 9:9]; and this constellation of the seven stars which is meant, rising in the spring, the pleasantnesses of the season, as the word may be rendered, may be intended here; which cannot be restrained or hindered from taking place in the proper course of the year; which is beautifully described in So 2:12; and may in a spiritual sense relate to the effects of powerful and efficacious grace, the influences of which are irresistible, and cause a springtime in the souls of men, where it was before winter, a state of darkness, deadness, coldness, hardness, and unfruitfulness, but now the reverse. Some versions read, “the bands of the Pleiades” l, as if the sense was, canst thou gather and bind, or cluster together, such a constellation as the seven stars be, as I have done? thou canst not; and so not stop their rising or hinder their influences, according to the other versions:
or loose the bands of Orion? of which [See comments on Job 9:9] and Am 5:8. This constellation appears in the winter, and brings with it stormy winds, rain, snow, and frost, which latter binds up the earth, that seeds and roots in it cannot spring up; and binds the hands of men from working, by benumbing them, or rendering their materials or utensils useless; for which reasons bands are ascribed to Orion, and are such strong ones that it is not in the power of men to loose: the seasons are not to be altered by men; and, Job might be taught by this that it was not in his power to make any change in the dispensations of Providence; to turn the winter of adversity into the spring of prosperity; and therefore it was best silently to submit to the sovereignty of God, and wait his time for a change of circumstances.
l , Sept. “nexus stellarum”, Schmidt; so Jarchi and Targum.–According to the Talmud, the word signifies an hundred stars. Vid. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 58. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
31 Canst thou join the twistings of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac at the right time,
And canst thou guide the Bear with its children?
33 Knowest thou the laws of heaven,
Or dost thou define its influence on the earth?
That here signifies bindings or twistings (from = , Job 31:36) is placed beyond question by the unanimous translations of the lxx ( ) and the Targ. ( = ), the testimony of the Masora, according to which the word here has a different signification from 1Sa 15:32, and the language of the Talmud, in which , Klim, c. 20, signifies the knots at the end of a mat, by loosing which it comes to pieces, and Succa, 13 b, the bands (formed of rushes) with which willow-branches are fastened together above in order to form a booth ( succa); but , Sabbat, 33 a, signifies a bunch of myrtle (to smell on the Sabbath). is therefore explained according to the Persian comparison of the Pleiades with a bouquet of jewels, mentioned on Job 9:9, and according to the comparison with a necklace ( ipd – eth – thurajja ), e.g., in Sadi in his Gulistan, p. 8 of Graf’s translation: “as though the tops of the trees were encircled by the necklace of the Pleiades.” The Arabic name thurajja (diminutive feminine of tharwan ) probably signifies the richly-adorned, clustered constellation. But signifies without doubt the clustered group,
(Note: The verb is still in general use in the Piel (to heap up, form a heap, part. mukauwam , heaped up) and Hithpa. (to accumulate) in Syria, and kom is any village desolated in days of yore whose stones form a desolate heap comp. Fleischer, De Glossis Habichtianis, p. 41f.]. If, according to Kamus, in old Jemanic km in the sense of mukawim signifies a confederate (synon. chilt , gils ), the would be a confederation, or a heap, assemblage (coetus) of confederates. Perhaps the was regarded as a troop of camels; the Beduins at least call the star directly before the seven-starred constellation of the Pleiades the hadi , i.e., the singer riding before the procession, who cheers the camels by the sound of the hadwa ( ), and thereby urges them on. – Wetzst.
On , which perhaps also bear this name as a compressed group (figuratively ) of several stars ( ), vid., Kuhn’s Zeitschr. vi. 282-285.)
and Beigel (in Ideler, Sternnamen, S. 147) does not translate badly: ”Canst thou not arrange together the rosette of diamonds (chain would be better) of the Pleiades?”
As to , we firmly hold that it denotes Orion (according to which the Greek versions translate , the Syriac gaboro , the Targ. or , the Giant). Orion and the Pleiades are visible in the Syrian sky longer in the year than with us, and there they come about 17 higher above the horizon than with us. Nevertheless the figure of a giant chained to the heavens cannot be rightly shown to be Semitic, and it is questionable whether is not rather, with Saad., Gecat., Abulwalid, and others, to be regarded as the Suhl, i.e., Canopus, especially as this is placed as a sluggish helper ( , Hebr. a fool, Arab. the slothful one, ignavus ) in mythical relation to the constellation of the Bear, which here is called , as Job 9:9 , and is regarded as a bier, (even in the present day this is the name in the towns and villages of Syria), which the sons and daughters forming the attendants upon the corpse of their father, slain by Ged, the Pole-star. Understood of Orion, (with which Arab. msk , tenere , detinere , is certainly to be compared) are the chains (Arab. masakat , compes ), with which he is chained to the sky; understood of Suhl, the restraints which prevent his breaking away too soon and reaching the goal.
(Note: In June 1860 I witnessed a quarrel in an encampment of Mo’gil -Beduins, in which one accused the others of having rendered it possible for the enemy to carry off his camels through their negligence; and when the accused assured him they had gone forth in pursuit of the marauders soon after the raid, and only turned back at sunset, the man exclaimed: Ye came indeed to my assistance as Suhl to Ged ( ). I asked my neighbour what the words meant, and was informed they are a proverb which is very often used, and has its origin as follows: The Ged (i.e., the Pole-star, called mismar , , in Damascus) slew the Nash ( ), and is accordingly encompassed every night by the children of the slain Nash , who are determined to take vengeance on the murderer. The sons (on which account poets usually say ben instead of benat Nash ) go first with the corpse of their father, and the daughters follow. One of the latter is called waldane , a lying-in woman; she has only recently given birth to a child, and carries her child in her bosom, and she is still pale from her lying-in. (The clear atmosphere of the Syrian sky admits of the child in the bosom of the waldane being distinctly seen.) In order to give help to the Ged in this danger, the Suhl appears in the south, and struggles towards the north with a twinkling brightness, but he has risen too late; the night passes away ere he reaches his goal. Later I frequently heard this story, which is generally known among the Hauranites. – Wetzst.
We add the following by way of explanation. The Pleiades encircle the Pole-star as do all stars, since it stands at the axis of the sky, but they are nearer to it than to Canopus by more than half the distance. This star of the first magnitude culminates about three hours later than the Pleiades, and rises, at the highest, only ten moon’s diameters above the horizon of Damascusa significant figure, therefore, of ineffectual endeavour.)
is not distinct from , 2Ki 23:5 (comp. , “Thy star of fortune,” on Cilician coins), and denotes not the twenty-eight menzil (from Arab. nzl, to descend, turn in, lodge) of the moon,
(Note: Thus A. Weber in his Abh. ber die vedischen Nachrichten von den naxatra (halting-places of the moon), 1860 (comp. Lit. Centralbl. 1859, col. 665), refuted by Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibliographie, 1861, Nr. 22, S. 93f.)
but the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which were likewise imagined as menazil , i.e., lodging-houses or burug , strongholds, in which one after another the sun lodges as it describes the circle of the year.
(Note: The names “the Ram, the Bull,” etc., are, according to Epiphanius, Opp. i. p. 34f. ( ed. Petav.), transferred from the Greek into the Jewish astrology, vid., Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum, S. 220f.)
The usage of the language transferred lzm also to the planets, which, because they lie in the equatorial plane of the sun, as the sun (although more irregularly), run through the constellations of the Zodiac. The question in Job 38:32 therefore means: canst thou bring forth the appointed zodiacal sign for each month, so that (of course with the variation which is limited to about two moon’s diameters by the daily progress of the sun through the Zodiac) it becomes visible after sunset and is visible before sunset? On Job 38:33 vid., on Gen 1:14-19. is construed after the analogy of , , ; and , as sing. (Ew. 318, b).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(31) The sweet influences.With reference to their supposed effect on weather and the like, or perhaps the word means chain or band, with allusion to their groupGlitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. The context, however, of the bands of Orion seems rather to favour the other view. Canst thou regulate the influences exerted by these several constellations in either direction of increase or diminution?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
. Perhaps Job can tell who formed the constellations, “Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the South,” upon which he descanted so sublimely, (Job 9:9,) and who set them in their lofty places, and ordained and confirmed their influences upon the earth! Job 38:31-33.
31. Sweet influences Our Authorized Version is based on the natural derivation of from , “to be soft” or “tender,” the root idea of the word Eden. According to this rendering the meaning is, as given by Patrick, “Canst thou forbid the sweet flowers to come forth, when the ‘seven stars’ arise in the spring; or open the earth for the husbandman’s labour, when the winter season, at the rising of Orion, ties up their hands;” an interpretation fanciful and weak. The word is now generally supposed to be, by metathesis, from , “to bind;” hence bands. Furst, Gesenius, etc., follow the Septuagint and Targum in this rendering. The word kimah, rendered PLEIADES, (the seven stars,) signifies heap or group, and naturally suggests the ties that bind it together into its beautiful order, which leads Persian poets to compare it to a bouquet formed of jewels, (see note, Job 9:9,) and one of the Moallakat to say, “It was the hour when the Pleiades appeared in the firmament, like the folds of a silken sash, variously decked with gems.” With Oriental poets “the bands of the Pleiades” is a frequent figure. It will illustrate the Authorized Version to add that Madlar reached the conclusion that Alcyone, the principal star in the group of the Pleiades, now occupies the centre of gravity, and is at present the sun or great centre about which our universe of stars is revolving. This “focal point,” it is proper to add, was conjectured by Struve to lie between and , in the group Hercules; while Argelander fixed upon Perseus as “the empire constellation of our astral system.” These “seven stars,” which in unspeakable beauty shine conspicuously forth from a vast throng ( heap) of apparently minor stars, out of a distance perhaps forty million times as great as that of our own earth from the sun, send forth tender and as yet unestimated powerful influences, some of which our own earth is not too small to gather up and to feel.
The bands of Orion (See Job 9:9.) , signifies also fetters, or its belt of three stars. (Hitzig.) These are the stars by which the giant form seems to be fastened to the heaven. (Hirtzel.) These mighty stars canst thou move from the places God has assigned them? Job can neither place in order the clustering Pleiades nor displace the stars of Orion. There is, possibly, an allusion to the wonderful nebula within this constellation. “Orion and the Pleiades are visible in the Syrian sky longer in the year than with us, and there they come about 17 higher above the horizon than with us.” Delitzsch.
Job 38:31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades See the note on chap. Job 9:9.
Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Ver. 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades ] That is, restrain the pleasantness of the spring, or assuage the sharpness of winter, that cold and comfortless quarter? There is none beside God who can either forbid flowers to break forth in the springtime or else cause them to flourish in winter. The Pleiades (otherwise called Virgiliae and the hens, a verni temporis significatione ) are the seven stars in the end of Aries. They are in Hebrew called Chimah, or Chamah, to love ardently, because of the fellowship and working together that appeareth in them. They have all one name, because they all help one another in the work, which is to bring the spring; and like seven sisters or lovers, so are they joined together in one constellation, and in one company. We see, saith one, that God will have the sweetest works in nature to be perfected by mutual help. The best time of the year cometh with these Pleiades, and the best time of our life cometh when we enter into true love and fellowship.
Or loose the bands of Orion? Pleiades. Hebrew. kimah. See App-12.
Orion. Hebrew kesil. App-12.
Job 38:31-33
Job 38:31-33
QUESTIONS REGARDING THE CONSTELLATIONS
“Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou lead forth the Mazaroth in their season?
Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?
Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?”
Four of the stellations that adorn the heavens are mentioned here: (1) The Pleiades, always prominent in the Spring; (2) Orion which dominates the wintry skies; (3) Ursa Major (The Bear, or Great Dipper) prominent in the northern skies; and (4) the Mazaroth, “The meaning is obscure, but it is possibly the twelve Zodiacal signs, or those that dominate the southern skies.” Significantly, the entire expanse of the starry heavens is brought into view here: the skies of summer and winter, and those of the northern and southern hemispheres.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 38:31. The Pleiades are called the “seven sisters” in popular folklore. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says this: “The Pleiades are a group of stars situated on the shoulder of the constellation Taurus. The rendering ‘sweet influences’ of the A. V., Job 38:31, is a relic of the lingering belief in the power which stars exerted over human destiny.” Regardless of its being a fanciful belief, it challenges man’s power over the cluster of stars.
Job 38:32. Mazzaroth is called the zodiac today, and Arcturus is the name of another constellation that figures in our almanacs. We are not especially concerned with all the notions that may be had of these heavenly bodies. The point is that unbelieving man will look to them for results and influences over which he knows he has no power. Until man can show some control over these bodies he must admit they were made by a power higher than man.
Job 38:33-38. This whole paragraph is practically on the same line of thought as much of the preceding verses. It challenges man to show his control over nature.
Pleiades: or, the seven stars, Heb. Cimah, Job 9:9, *marg. Amo 5:8
Orion: or, Cesil
Reciprocal: Gen 1:14 – and let Job 37:17 – he
Job 38:31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? Generally understood of the seven stars, which, rising about the time of the vernal equinox, bring in the spring. Canst thou restrain or hinder their influences? Or loose the bands of Orion? By which it binds up the air and earth, rising in November, and bringing in the winter, attended with storms of rain and hail, or frost and snow. See note on Job 9:9. Whatever be the meaning of the words rendered Pleiades and Orion, the sense of which is disputed among the learned; by the former, , chimah, we are to understand the sign which appears in the heavens at the spring of the year: and by the latter, , chesil, the sign which presents itself when the season is cold and severe: and the plain interpretation of the passage is, Is it in thy power to hinder either the mild or the rigid seasons of the year from making their regular appearance? Both summer and winter will have their course; God indeed can change them when he pleases, can make the spring cold, and so bind the influences of Pleiades and the winter warm, and so loose the bands of Orion, but we cannot.
38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences {q} of Pleiades, or loose the bands of {r} Orion?
(q) Which rise when the sun is in Taurus, which is the spring, and brings flowers.
(r) Which comes in winter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes