John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. [It is] he that buildeth his stories in the heaven , etc.] The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered “his chambers”, which are the clouds, ( <19A403> Psalm 104:3,13); perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, ( 2 Corinthians 12:2); and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the “ascents” to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is, “who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:” and hath founded his troop in the earth ; this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are translated in the Bishops’ Bible in Queen Elizabeth’s time, “he buildeth his spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth.”
Aben Ezra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compass of created beings on earth; so Jarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; though he takes notice of another sense given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth, and for whose sake all things stand. Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it of his congregation or church on earth: he beautifies his elect, which are “his bundle” f240 , as it may be rendered; who are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are closely knit and united, as to God and Christ, so to one another; and perhaps is the best sense of the words f241 : he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord [is] his name ; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea, and then letting it down in plentiful showers upon the earth; (see Gill on “ Amos 5:8”); now all these things are observed to show the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping out of his hands.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - The prophet, in vision, saw the Lord standing upon the idolatrous alta at Bethel. Wherever sinners flee from God's justice, it will overtak them. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace, shall never be cas down; but those who seek to climb thither by vain confidence i themselves, will be cast down and filled with shame. That which make escape impossible and ruin sure, is, that God will set his eyes upo them for evil, not for good. Wretched must those be on whom the Lor looks for evil, and not for good. The Lord would scatter the Jews, an visit them with calamities, as the corn is shaken in a sieve; but he would save some from among them. The astonishing preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, seems here foretold. If professors make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their professio will not protect them.
Original Hebrew הבונה1129 בשׁמים8064 מעלותו4609 ואגדתו92 על5921 ארץ776 יסדה3245 הקרא7121 למי4325 הים3220 וישׁפכם8210 על5921 פני6440 הארץ776 יהוה3068 שׁמו׃8034
