Job 38:36

δ . Job is plied with questions as to the source of wisdom and understanding, on which man ( Job) prides himself so highly; and whether, with all his wisdom, he can even number the clouds, or make them to incline, that they may empty themselves upon the earth, Job 38:36-38.

36. The inward parts שׂחות : a word which appears once besides, Psalms 51:6. Its root meaning, covered, hidden, points to the seat of affections, or moral nature, which, of all the elements of our being, is the most concealed. According to the Rabbis, whom Gesenius follows, it means the reins or kidneys, in Hebrew physiology regarded as the abode of instinctive yearnings, and which also were deemed so Delitzsch thinks to be the organs of the faculty of foreboding. See note on Job 16:13. These and similar functions were, according to Plato, discharged by the liver a fancy which probably gave rise to the prophetic inspection of the liver among the ancient Babylonians, (Ezekiel 21:21,) Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans. See Diodorus Siculus, ii, ch. iii, Booth ed., 1:125. Recent German commentators for the most part regard tuhhoth as phenomenal, in like manner with the corresponding word of the next clause, ( sekvi,) and render it “dark clouds,” (Zockler, Dillmann, Hitzig,) on the assumption that it is demanded by the context.

The heart Sekvi. Another rare word, whose meaning also is difficult to determine. Its radical idea, of insight, some of the best critics associate with mind or heart, and it is thus rendered. The context induces others to seek a meaning in the phenomena or powers of nature. The derivation of the word שׂכוי , heart, from שׂכה , “to see,” figuratively “to understand,” is now generally admitted, and yet it has led to weak and insipid interpretations: such as, “phenomena caused by light,” (Hahn, Ewald;) “the full moon,” (Dillmann;) “atmospheric phenomena,” (Zockler, Hitzig;) while Conant, Schlottmann, Renan, Hengstenberg, and others, properly render as in the Authorized Version. The word is evidently cognate with משׂכיות , (Psalms 73:7,) “thoughts,” and seemingly justifies the view of Gesenius, ( Thes. 1329,) that it signifies that which sees rather than that which is seen. The mention of the subtle lightning not unnaturally suggests the subtler spiritual nature of man. If the wonderful endowments of a mental and moral being powers infinitely superior to the brute forces of nature are not alluded to in this verse, the discourse altogether ignores them; an omission simply incredible. The connexion of thought Schlottmann finds in the mention of the celestial laws and their ruling in the earth, which suggests most naturally that greater work of God, the making and implanting of the faculties which may comprehend his works. Hengstenberg finds the pivot of thought in wisdom, ( hhokmah, Job 38:36-37,) of which man is the great embodiment. To say the least, the “putting wisdom ( hhokmah) into ” the dark clouds, and “the giving intelligence ( binah, see note on Job 28:12,) to ” fiery meteors, full moons, or atmospheric phenomena of any kind, involves a medley which is no more to be tolerated in the Hebrew use of words or their modes of thought than in our own. The interpretation of the Septuagint, from an apparently corrupted text. “And who has given woman skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery,” may be mentioned as one of the many vagaries to which this text has given occasion.