Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 38:33

Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

33. canst thou set ] Rather, as before, dost thou set? The idea is that the heavens and the stars exercise an influence over the earth and the destinies of man.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? – The laws or statutes by which the motions of the heavenly bodies are governed. These were wholly unknown in the time of Job, and the discovery of some of those laws – for only a few of them are yet known – was reserved to be the glory of the modern system of astronomy. The suggestion of the great principles of the system gave immortality to the name Copernicus; and the discovery of those laws in modern times has conferred immortality on the names of Brahe, Kepler, and Newton. The laws which control the heavenly bodies are the most sublime that are known to man, and have done more to impress the human mind with a sense of the majesty of God than any other: discoveries made in the material universe. Of course, all those laws were known to God himself, and he appeals to them in proof of his greatness and majesty. The grand and beautiful movements of the heavenly bodies in the time of Job were fitted to produce admiration; and one of the chief delights of those that dwelt under the splendor of an Oriental sky was to contemplate those movements, and to give names to those moving lights. The discoveries of science have enlarged the conceptions of man in regard to the starry heavens far toward immensity; have shown that these twinkling lights are vast worlds and systems, and at the same time have so disclosed the laws by which they are governed as to promote, where the heart is right, intelligent piety, and elevate the mind to more glorious views of the Creator.

Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? – That is, dost thou assign the dominion of the heavens over the earth? The reference is, undoubtedly, to the influence of the heavenly bodies upon sublunary objects. The exact extent of that cannot be supposed to have been known in the days of Job, and it is probable that much more was ascribed to the influence of the stars on human affairs than the truth would justify. Nor is its extent now known. It is known that the moon has an influence over the tides of the ocean; it may be that it has to some extent over the weather; and it is not impossible that the other heavenly bodies may have some effect on the changes observed in the earth which is not understood. Whatever it is, it was and is all known to God, and the idea here is, that it was a proof of his immense superiority over man.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?] Art thou a thorough astronomer? Art thou acquainted with all the laws of the planetary system? Canst thou account for the difference of their motions, and the influence by which they are retained and revolve in their orbits? And canst thou tell what influence or dominion they exercise on the earth? Sir Isaac Newton has given us much light on many of these things; but to his system, which is most probably the true one, gravity is essential; and yet what this gravity is he could neither explain nor comprehend; and his followers are not one whit wiser than he. No man has ever yet fully found out the ordinances of heaven, and the dominion thereof on the earth.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Knowest thou? either,

1. Simply, and by speculation, dost thou understand them? Or,

2. Practically, or operatively, so as to establish or rule them, as the next clause implies.

The ordinances of heaven; the laws, which are firmly established concerning their order, motion, or rest and their powerful influences upon this lower world. Didst thou give these laws? or dost thou perfectly know them?

Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? canst manage and overrule their influences, that they shall bring such seasons and such weather as thou wouldst have?

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

33. ordinanceswhich regulatethe alternations of seasons, c. (Ge8:22).

dominioncontrollinginfluence of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, &c., on theearth (on the tides, weather) (Gen 1:16Psa 136:7-9).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?…. Settled by the decree, purpose, and will of God, and are firm and stable; see

Ps 148:6; the laws and statutes respecting their situation, motion, operation, influence, and use, which are constantly observed; these are so far from being made by men, and at their direction, that they are not known by them, at least not fully and perfectly;

canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? or over it; of the heavens over the earth; not such an one as judicial astrologers ascribe unto them, as to influence the bodies of men, especially the tempers and dispositions of their minds; to affect their wills and moral actions, the events and occurrences of their lives, and the fate of nations and kingdoms; their dominion is not moral and civil, but physical or natural, as to make the revolutions of night and day, and of the several seasons of the year; and to affect and influence the fruits of the earth, c. see Ge 1:16 but this dominion is solely under God, and at his direction, and is not of men’s fixing.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(33) The ordinances of heaven.Comp. Job. 28:26. That is, the recurring seasons and their power of influencing the earth.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

33. The ordinances : meaning here the laws that guide the stars, and control the seasons, etc. The intimate and commanding relationships of the heavenly bodies to our earth are those of a king to his subjects. Hence the immediate reference to “dominion,” a thought that modern science illustrates and confirms.

Dominion thereof , used only here, is a more significant word than the preceding one, (ordinances;) it is derived from shatar, “to cut into,” “write,” metaphorically administer; the art of writing being used in ancient times almost exclusively for legislative and judicial purposes, (Furst;) in accordance with which the word shoter signifies “an overseer,” “an administrator.” This pregnant question of the Almighty, Delitzsch reads, “Dost thou define its influence on the earth?” Hitzig, “Dost thou determine its relation to the earth?” a question which will ever task to the utmost the resources of science to answer.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 38:33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Dost thou know the laws of the heavens? hast thou appointed their dominion over the earth? Houb.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Job 38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

Ver. 33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? ] Either how to order them, as master over them, or to comprehend what they are certainly and perfectly.

Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? ] As well in regard to the motion of the heavens, which varieth the seasons of the year, as of the influences and virtue which cometh from thence. For they who think that the superior bodies have no power at all upon these inferior do go against common sense and experience, yea, this and many other texts of Scriptures; which yet make nothing at all for that judiciary astrology so much cried up in these last and worst days of the world, by some who would have the manners, studies, and events of every man to depend upon the stars, yea, the rise and ruin of kingdoms, arts, religion, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

ordinances = statutes.

the = his.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

the ordinances: Gen 1:16, Gen 8:22, Psa 119:90, Psa 119:91, Jer 31:35, Jer 31:36, Jer 33:25

canst: Job 38:12, Job 38:13

Reciprocal: Psa 148:6 – He hath also

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the {u} dominion thereof in the earth?

(u) Can you cause the heavenly bodies to have any power over the earthly bodies?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes