By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
Ver. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens] Spiritu eius caeli sunt ipsa pulchritudo, By his Spirit the heavens are beauty itself, so Vatablus rendereth it, Adoravit, decoravit, pulchrefecit. Hinc κοσμος. That Three in One, and One in Three, wrought in the creation: see Psalms 33:6, "By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Here Jehovah, his Word, and his Spirit, are noted to be the Maker of the world; so Genesis 1:1,31. The heathens had some blind notions hereof, as appeareth by Plutarch, who reporteth that in Thebe, a town of Egypt, they worshipped a God whom they acknowledged to be immortal; but how painted they him? In the likeness of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth; to signify that he made the round world by the spirit of his mouth. Upon the heavens especially God hath bestowed a great deal of skill and workmanship, as appeareth, Heb 11:10 Psalms 8:3, where heaven is called, The work of God's fingers; a curious Divine work; a metaphor from them that make tapestry. Garnished it is with stars, as a palace is with stately pictures, besides the inward beauty, which is unconceivable. There is something of a Saphir in the Hebrew word here rendered garnished, and Rev 21:19 search is made through all the bowels of the earth to find out all the precious treasures that could be had, gold, pearls, and precious stones of all sorts; and what can these serve to? only to shadow out the glory of the walls of the New Jerusalem, and the gates, and to pave the streets of the city. See also Isaiah 54:11,12 .
His hand hath formed the crooked serpent] Enixa est, peperit, hath brought forth as by birth, hath formed the most deformed and dreadful creature in the earth; or those flaming dragons flying in the air (meteors I mean); or the constellation in heaven called the Dragon, between the two Bears, and not far from the north pole (Est hoc sane maximum, et maxime conspicuum in caelo sidus, &c.); or, lastly, those sea dragons, the whales, which Mercer thinketh most likely to be here meant, and compareth Isa 27:1 Psalms 104:26 Job 40:20. Neither need we wonder, saith he, that the beginning of the verse is of heaven and the end of the sea; for Job would show and set forth two admirable works of God in two extremes of the world; viz. in heaven above, and in the waters under the earth; his power and wisdom shineth everywhere in the creatures, neither can a man easily look beside a miracle. Job, therefore, insisteth not long upon particulars, but, as one lost in the labyrinth of admiration at so great things, he thus shuts up: