Job 9:9

Which maketh Arcturus,.... By which is meant not a single star, but a collection of stars, as Bar Tzemach and Ben Melech, a constellation; hence we read of Arcturus and his sons, Job 38:32.

Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Maketh. Umbreit translates, from the Arabic, covereth up.

Maketh; either, 1. Created them; or rather, 2. Ordereth and disposeth them, as the word making is sometimes used in Scripture; governeth their rising and setting, and all their influences. Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south: these he names as stars or constellations of greatest note and eminency; for so they are both in Scripture and other authors, and such as have, or are thought to have, a special influence in raising storms and tempests; but under them lie seems to comprehend all the stars, which as they were created by God, so are under his government. Arcturus is a northern constellation, near that called the Bear, which riseth to us about the beginning of September, and by its rising produceth (as Pliny affirms) horrible storms and tempests. Orion is a more southerly constellation, that ariseth to us in December, and is noted by astronomers for raising fearful winds and tempests, both by sea and land. The Pleiades is a constellation not far from Orion, and near that called the Bull, which we call the Seven Stars: to us it riseth at the beginning of the spring, and by its rising causeth rains and tempests, and therefore is unwelcome to mariners at sea. By the chambers (or inmost and secret chambers, as the word signifies) of the south, he seems to understand those stars and constellations which are towards the southern pole, which are fitly called inward chambers, because they are for the most part hid and shut up (as chambers commonly are) from these parts of the world, and do not rise or appear to us till the beginning of summer, when they also raise southerly winds and tempests, as astronomers observe.

Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.Ver. 9. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades] Those glorious constellations, which do, after a sort, govern the four seasons of the year; but are governed by God, from whose power all their influence and virtue is borrowed, even that which they exercise upon the raging seas. The learned interpreters have not unfitly translated - Has Arcturus, Chesil Orion, Chimah Pleiades, or the seven stars, and the climates of the South, the summer signs; altogether neglecting the toys of the unlearned Rabbis; which stars or signs are answerable to autumn and winter, the spring time and summer. But I had rather (saith Rev. Mr Beza) retain still the Hebrew words than use the other; which have been so much abused with glosure and impure tales and devices of the wicked and profane poets. And the chambers of the south] Interiora Austri, the most remote, hidden, and secret parts of the south; so called, because the stars which are under the southern pole are hidden from us, and are enclosed and lodged as in a chamber. Those stars (and so all the rest) God maketh, that is, he maketh them to appear and do their office for the use and good of man. It is he alone that telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them by their names; neither can they do anything but as they receive order and commission from him (Mr Caryl, Psalms 147:4). That was an idle brag of Aratus, the astrologer, that he had found out and set down the whole number of the stars (Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. 16); and that is a strange arrogance of the kings of Mexico, who when they are consecrated, are reported to take this oath, I swear that the sun, during my life, shall hold on his course; and that the clouds shall send down rain, the rivers shall run, and the earth bring forth all manner of fruit, &c. (Lopez de Gomara).

(9) Which maketh Arcturus . . .—This shows us that in the time of this writer, whoever he was, his fellow-countrymen had attained to such knowledge of astronomy as is here implied in the specific names of definite constellations. The Great Bear is the glory of the northern hemisphere, Orion of the southern sky, and the Pleiades of the east; the chambers of the north are the unknown and unexplored regions, of which the speaker has no personal experience.

Verse 9. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.] For this translation the original words are עשה עש כסיל וכימה והדרי תמן oseh ash, kesil, vechimah vehadrey theman, which are thus rendered by the SEPTUAGINT: ὉποιωνΠλειαδα, καιἙσπερον, καιΑρκτουρον, καιταμειανοτου; "Who makes the Pleiades, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and Orion, and the chambers of the south." The VULGATE, Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora Austri; "Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the innermost chambers of the south." The TARGUM follows the Hebrew, but paraphrases the latter clause thus: "and the chambers or houses of the planetary domination in the southern hemisphere." The SYRIAC and ARABIC, "Who maketh the Pleiades, and Arcturus, and the giant, (Orion or Hercules,) and the boundaries of the south." COVERDALE has, He maketh the waynes of heaven, the Orions, the vii starres and the secrete places of the south. And on the vii starres he has this marginal note: some call these seven starres, the clock henne with hir chickens. See below. Edmund Becke, in his edition, 1549, follows Coverdale, but puts VAYNES of heaven for waynes, which Carmarden, in his Bible, Rouen, 1566, mistaking, changes into WAVES of heaven. Barker's Bible, 1615, reads, "He maketh the starres Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the climates of the south." On which he has this note, "These are the names of certain starres, whereby he meaneth that all starres, both knowen and unknowen, are at His appointment." Our early translators seem to agree much with the German and Dutch: Er machet, den wagen am himmel, und Orion, und die Gluken, und die Sterne gegen mittag; "He maketh the wagon of heaven, (Charles's wain,) and Orion, and the clucking hen, (the Pleiades,) and the stars of the mid-day region." See above, under Coverdale. The Dutch version is not much unlike the German, from which it is taken: Die den wagen maecht, den Orion, ende het sevengesternte, end de binnenkameren ban't Zuyden. The European versions, in general, copy one or other of the above, or make a compound translation from the whole; but all are derived ultimately from the Septuagint and Vulgate. As to the Hebrew words, they might as well have been applied to any of the other constellations of heaven: indeed, it does not appear that constellations are at all meant. Parkhurst and Bate have given, perhaps, the best interpretation of the words, which is as follows:- "כימה kimah, from כמה camah, to be hot or warm, denotes genial heat or warmth, as opposed to עש ash, a parching, biting air, on the one side; and כסיל kesil, the rigid, contracting cold, on the other; and the chambers (thick clouds) of the south." See more in Parkhurst, under כמה. I need scarcely add that these words have been variously translated by critics and commentators. Dr. Hales translates kimah and kesil by Taurus and Scorpio; and, if this translation were indubitably correct, we might follow him to his conclusions, viz., that Job lived 2337 years before Christ!

9. The Hebrew names are ‘âsh (‘ayish ch. Job 38:32), keseel, and keemah. These names may possibly denote the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades or seven stars; there is, however, considerable uncertainty. The word keseel means “fool,” which is to be interpreted as the Syr. and Chal. in this place, giant, cf. Genesis 6:4, that is, some heaven-daring rebel, who was chained to the sky for his impiety. Such mythological ideas belong to a time anterior to authentic history, though as still lingering in the popular mind they are alluded to in such poems as Job. In Isaiah 13:10 the word is used in the general sense of constellations. Keemah perhaps means heap, and is a natural name for the Pleiades. Others have interpreted the expressions differently (see Delitzsch Comment. p. 127). the chambers of the south] are probably the great spaces and deep recesses of the southern hemisphere of the heavens, with the constellations which they contain. These being known to exist, but only suggested to the eye, are alluded to generally.

Which maketh Arcturus - This verse, with others of the same description in the book of Job, is of special importance, as they furnish an illustration of the views which prevailed among the patriarchs on the subject of astronomy.

9. Arcturus — ςωׁ, ‘hash. Furst derives it from ‘housh, to group together. Probably the constellation of the Great Bear, (Ursa Major,) which the Jews of Bagdad and the Arabs of the Persian Gulf still call by the name of Ash.