Job 37:18

18. Molten looking-glass Septuagint, Vision of Melting. The mirrors of the ancients were made of metal, whose power of reflection depended upon their being highly burnished. Such a mirror might stand as an image of brightness or effulgence, as well as of strength or stability. The dazzling effulgence of an eastern sky, too great for the eye to bear, may have been really the point of comparison in the mind of Elihu. The apostle alludes to the comparatively imperfect reflection of mirrors made of metal, (1 Corinthians 13:12;) but this divine mirror, notwithstanding all the storms which pass over it, is as bright now as in the morn of creation. In speaking of the strength of the sky, there is no evidence that Elihu regarded it as solid. On the contrary, as Petavius long ago suggested, though but thin and vaporous expanse, ( rakia’h,) it separates and holds up the waters. “ as if it were a most solid wall.” Comp. Genesis 1:6-7. Our own word firmament, from the Latin word firmus, (strong,) corresponds to the Greek στερεωμα , a word once used in the New Testament, and then applied by the apostle to faith, (Colossians 2:5,) which our translators have rendered by steadfastness, that is, “firm in its place,” the old Danish word sted signifying “place.” For Scripture views of the sky, compare Exodus 24:10, (transparent sapphire;) Psalms 102:26, (vesture;) Psalms 104:2, (a curtain;) Isaiah 40:22, (“as a curtain,” or, “like gauze.”)