As thou knowest not what [is] the way of the spirit, [nor] how the bones [do grow] in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
Ver. 5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit.] Or, Of the wind, as some render it, grounding upon the former verse - q.d., Why should any so observe the wind, the nature whereof he so little understands, Joh 3:8 and the inconstancy whereof is grown to, and known by, a common proverb? But by spirit I rather think is meant the soul, as by bones the body. Who can tell when and how the body is formed, the soul infused? The body is the "soul's sheath," Dan 7:15 marg. an abridgment of the visible world, as the soul is of the invisible. The members of the body were made all by book, Psa 139:16 "and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," that is, in the womb: as curious workmen, when they have some choice piece in hand, they perfect it in private, and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at. What an admirable piece of work is man's head piece! - God's masterpiece in this little world - the chief seat of the soul, that cura divini ingenii, as one calls it! a There is nothing great on earth but man, nothing in man but his mind, said the philosopher. b Many locks and keys argue the price of the jewel that they keep; aud many papers wrapping the token within them, the worth of the token. The tables of the testament - First, Laid up in the ark; secondly, The ark bound about with pure gold; thirdly, Overshadowed with cherubims' wings; fourthly, Enclosed with the veil of the tabernacle; fifthly, With the compass of the tabernacle; sixthly, With a court about all; seventhly, With a treble covering of goats', rams', and badgers' skins above all - must needs be precious tables. So when the Almighty made man's head, the seat of the reasonable soul, and overlaid it with hair, skin, and flesh, like the threefold covering of the tabernacle, and then encompassed it with a skull of bones, like boards of cedar, and afterwards with various skins, like silken curtains, and, lastly, enclosed it with the yellow skin that covers the brain, like the purple veil, which Solomon calls the "golden ewer," Ecc 12:6 he would doubtless have us to know it was made for some great treasure to be put therein. How and when the reasonable soul is put into this curious cabinet, philosophers dispute many things, but can affirm nothing of a certainty: as neither "how the bones do grow in the womb," how of the same substance the several parts - as bones, nerves, arteries, veins, gristles, flesh, and blood - are fashioned there, and receive daily increase. This David looks at as a just wonder. Psa 139:14-15 Mirificatus sum mirabilibus operis tuis, c saith he, I am fearfully and wonderfully made: and Galen, a profane philosopher, could not but hereupon sing a hymn to man's most wise Creator, whom yet he knew not.
Even so thou knowest not the work of God,] i.e., The rest of his works of creation and providence, which are very various, and to us no less unknown than uncertain. Do thou that which God commandeth, and let things occur as they will, there is an overruling hand in all for the good of those that love God. "Trust therefore in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding." Pro 3:5 "Hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh." Isa 58:7 He that doeth so shall have many a curse. The apostle useth a word for liberality, d which properly signifieth simplicity; and this he doth in opposition to that crafty and witty wiliness of the covetous, to defend themselves from the danger, as they take it, of liberality.
a Homo est σοφου τεκτονος καλλον ποικιλμα. . - Eurip.
b Favorin.
c Montanus.
d Aπλοτης. 2Co 8:2