Job 26:7

7. The north Delitzsch shows satisfactorily that we are not to understand by this the northern portion of the earth, as is held by Dillmann, etc., but the northern sky, which, with the ancients, was of more consideration than the southern. In the northern hemisphere were the great constellations mentioned by Job the Bear, the Serpent, Orion, etc. Among the ancient poets the north pole was used synonymously for the heavens, and in this sense the north may be employed here. The arctic desolation disclosed by modern exploration singularly corresponds to the tohu, “desolateness,” over which Job in figure spreads out “the north.”

Empty place Hebrew, tohu. Same word as in Genesis 1:2. That the sky should overarch the immeasurable void without visible supports was always a marvel to the Oriental mind. Hence the poetical invention of pillars. See Job 9:6. Thus the Koran, Sur. xiii, “It is Allah who has built the heavens on high, without the support of visible pillars.” Nothing The Hebrew word is a compound, בלימה , literally, not what, that is, nothing, (no-thing,) and is found in the Scriptures only here. This disclosure, which for so many ages preceded its scientific confirmation, stands out in yet more bold relief when compared with the mythologies of other ancient nations. The father of modern science, Lord Bacon, incidentally speaks of this among other passages: “The book of Job, likewise, will be found, if examined with care, pregnant with the secrets of natural philosophy. For example, when it says, ‘he stretcheth out the north,’ etc., the suspension of the earth and the convexity of the heavens are manifestly alluded to.… So in another place, ‘who maketh Arcturus,’ etc., Job 9:9; he again refers to the depression of the south pole in the expression, ‘interiora austri,’ ‘chambers of the south,’ because the southern stars are not seen in our hemisphere.” Advancement of Learning, book 1. Kepler, the great astronomer, treating of the yet unsolved problems of science, thus reverently speaks of the disclosures made in the book of Job: “These, and other similar things, lie hidden in the pandects of coming times, and are not to be understood until God, the arbiter of the ages, shall have unfolded this book (Job) to mortals.” Cited by Delitzsch. The Jerusalem Gemara says, that Alexander the Great is sometimes represented as holding a ball in his hand, because he had ascertained that the earth, which he had traversed to conquer, had the figure of a sphere. ( Avoda Sara, chap. 3.) For a brief sketch of the conflicting opinions of the ancients upon this subject the reader is referred to Etheridge’s “Hebrew Literature,” p. 272.