Job 38:24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

By what way is the light parted Or dispersed, or distributed, namely, in the air, or upon the face of the earth. This is variously distributed in the world, shining in one place and time, when it doth not shine in another, or for a longer time, or with greater brightness and power than it doth in another; all which are the effects of God's infinite wisdom and power, and such as were out of Job's reach to understand. Which scattereth the east wind Which light scattereth, or raises the east wind, and causes it to blow hither and thither upon the earth? For as the sun is called by the poets, the father of the winds, because he rarefies the atmosphere by his heat, or condenses it by drawing up and loading it with vapours, and thereby destroys the equilibrium of it which produces winds; so, in particular, the east wind is often observed to rise together with the sun. But as there is no Hebrew for which, the words יפצ קדים, japhetz kadim, would, perhaps, be better translated, By what way does the east wind scatter itself? continuing the interrogation, and making this a distinct question. That is, whence do the winds come, and whither do they go? And how comes it to pass, that they blow in so many manners, and with such various and contrary effects?