And his brightness was as the light— Green renders this verse thus:
His brightness was as the brightness of the sun; He had rays of light beaming from his hand.
(See Deuteronomy 33:2.)
And there was the hiding-place of his power.
As the cloud was a hiding-place or veil to the glory of Jehovah, when it did not shine forth; so was it considered as the hiding-place of his power, when not manifested in act. See Numbers 16:42; Numbers 16:46. Dr. Kennicott would render the verse, His brightness was as the sun; the splendours issuing from his hand; for there was the manifestation of his power. As the Hebrew word אור our, here rendered light, is rendered in Job 31:26 the sun; (which being the principal source of light, through this system, may be properly called light, or the light, by way of eminence;) that rendering seems to improve the sense here. As קרנים karnaim, is derived from קרן karan, to shine, or emit rays of light, it is much better rendered splendours than horns: see Parkhurst on the word. And as the hand, right-hand, and arm, are expressions applied to God upon any signal display of the divine power; perhaps the hand of God cannot so properly be said to hide and conceal, as to exert and manifest his power and majesty: and that the verb whence the noun חביון chebion, is derived, gives this idea of shewing forth, is evident from several places in the Samaritan versions; as Genesis 41:25; Genesis 41:57. In this illustrious passage, then, we see the brightness or splendour poetically represented as streaming from the hand of God; that awful hand, which is mighty in operation, and which has so often manifested the divine power to a wondering world. See Kennicott's Dissert. vol. 1: p. 428.