Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the dayspring to know his place;
Ver. 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days] It may be thou wilt say, These are ancient things, done long before I was born; but ask me of things within my reach and remembrance. Well, then, what sayest thou to the sunrising? Hast thou either lengthened or hastened it at any time since thou wert born, causing it to rise at such or such an hour, in such or such a point of heaven, according to the various degrees and situations of the zodiac? No; this is more than ever any man could do. "The day is thine, the night also is thine," saith David: "thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter," Psalms 74:16,17. If all the emperors and potentates of the earth should conjoin their threes to hinder or hasten the rising of the sun, they could never do it. Joshua did indeed stop the course of the sun; but that was by the power of God set awork by his faithful prayer; whence one crieth out, O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac poteutiam, quibus etiam coelestia cedunt! Oh the admirable power of prayer, force of faith, which is such as the visible heavens are sensible of, and giveth way to! how then should earth or hell stand before it?
And caused the dayspring to know his place] The word dayspriug comes from blackness; for it is not ηως ηνοδακτυλος, clear light at first; but κροκοπεπλος, rather dark than light, Aurora sic a nigrore dicta qui eam comitatur.