Bible Commentary

Job 12:8

The Pulpit Commentary on Job 12:8

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee. If the material earth be intended, the appeal must be to its orderly course, its summers and winters, its seedtime and harvest, its former and latter rains, its constant productivity, which, no less than animal instincts, speak of a single ruling power directing and ordering all things.

If the creeping things of the earth, the reptile creation, be meant, then the argument is merely an expansion of that in the preceding verse. The instincts of reptiles are to be ascribed, no less than those of beasts and birds, to the constant superintending action and providence of the Almighty.

And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. The testimony will be unanimous—beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes will unite in it.

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