Job 11:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

It is as high as heaven— The universe was divided by the ancient Hebrews into the upper and the lower, the visible and invisible hemisphere; the one they call שׁמים shamaiim, or heaven; the other שׁאול sheol, which we have no English word to express: these two are opposed to each other in Scripture for height and depth, as in this verse and Psalms 139:8. Again, heaven was considered by them as the habitation of God and his holy angels; שׁאול sheol as the region of departed souls; and the surface of the earth, lying in the middle betwixt both, as the habitation of the sons of men, during their short continuance in this life. As little philosophical as this may seem, the division is simple and natural; and we are not further concerned with it in a philosophical, but in a theological view; as it shews the belief of the ancients under the Old Testament, that the soul subsists after death in a certain place and state. See Psalms 16:10. Isaiah 14:9 and Peters, p. 319 where a complete investigation of the meaning of the word שׁאול sheol will be found. Houbigant renders it, He is as high; and in Job 11:9 the measure of him, &c.