He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
Ver. 12. He divideth the sea with his power] i.e. With his strong winds causing tempests: see the like Isaiah 51:15 : so that it lieth as it were in ridges, the top of one wave far from another, Jeremiah 31:35. That was a strange thing that is reported to have fallen out at London the last week. On Monday, Aug. 14, 1654, by reason of the great winds the tide was so low in the Thames, that boys waded over it from one side to the other, the old watermen affirming they never saw it so before.
And by his understanding he smiteth through the proud] Heb. Pride, or Rahab, which is oft put for Egypt, as Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10 Isaiah 51:9, whence some would have Pharaoh meant; others, the devil; others, the whale dashing against a rock, or driven to shore where he is taken; others, the proud waves of the sea, as Job 38:11, disabled by God to stir more, as a man mortally wounded is to fight longer. An instance hereof we have in the history of Jonah, and another in the Gospel, Matthew 8:14. As God is powerful enough to raise storms, so he is wise enough to lay them again, Psalms 107:25; Psalms 107:29. He hath the sea in as great awe as a giant hath a pigmy.