Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 7. He sealeth up the hand of every man ] After all that has been said, and much of it most learnedly, on this verse, I think that the act of freezing is probably intended; that when the earth is bound up by intense frost, the hand, dy yad, labour, of every man is sealed up; he can do no more labour in the field, till the south wind blow, by which a thaw takes place. While the earth is in this state of rigidity, the beasts go into their dens, and remain in their places, ver. 8, some of them sleeping out the winter in a state of torpor, and others of them feeding on the stores which they had collected in autumn. However, the passage may mean no more than by the severity of the rains beasts are drawn to their covers; and man is obliged to intermit all his labours. The mighty rains are past. Who would have thought that on this verse, as its Scriptural foundation, the doctrine of chiromancy is built! God has so marked the hand of every man by the lines thereon exhibited, that they tell all the good or bad fortune they shall have during life; and he has done this that all men, by a judicious examination of their hands, may know his work! On this John Taisnier, a famous mathematician, lawyer, musician, and poet laureate of Cologne, has written a large folio volume, with more hands in it than fell to the lot of Briareus: - printed at Cologne, 1683.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-13 - The changes of the weather are the subject of a great deal of ou thoughts and common talk; but how seldom do we think and speak of thes things, as Elihu, with a regard to God, the director of them! We mus notice the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common and less awful changes of the weather; as the snow an rain. Nature directs all creatures to shelter themselves from a storm and shall man only be unprovided with a refuge? Oh that men woul listen to the voice of God, who in many ways warns them to flee from the wrath to come; and invites them to accept his salvation, and to be happy. The ill opinion which men entertain of the Divine direction peculiarly appears in their murmurs about the weather, though the whol result of the year proves the folly of their complaints. Believer should avoid this; no days are bad as God makes them, though we make many bad by our sins. (Job 37:14-20)
Original Hebrew ביד3027 כל3605 אדם120 יחתום2856 לדעת3045 כל3605 אנשׁי376 מעשׂהו׃4639
