And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
And his brightness was as the light - namely, of the sun (Job 37:21, "The bright light which is in the clouds" -
i.e., the light of the sun; Proverbs 4:18).
He had horns coming out of his hand - "horns" [qannayim], the emblem of power, wielded by "his hand," (Ludovicus de Dieu). 'Rays' emanating from "his hand," compared by the Arabs to the horns of the gazelle, (cf. "hind of the morning," Psalms 22:1-31, title, margin). The Hebrew verb х qaaran (H7160)] for to 'emit rays' is akin to the Hebrew for "horns" (Exodus 34:29-30; Exodus 34:35, "The skin of his (Moses') face shone"). (Grotius.) The rays are His lightnings (Psalms 18:8). (Maurer.)
And there was the hiding of his power - "there," emphatic: in that 'brightness.' In it, notwithstanding its brilliancy, there was but the vail ("the hiding) of his power." Even "light," God's "garment," covers, instead of revealing fully, His surpassing glory (Psalms 104:2). (Henderson.) Or, on mount Sinai (Drusius). (Compare Exodus 24:17.) The Septuagint and the Syriac versions read instead of "there" х shaam (H8033)], He made, or literally put х saam (H7760)], a hiding, etc. He hid Himself with clouds. The English version reading is better, which Calvin explains, there is said to be 'a hiding of God's power,' because God did not reveal it indiscriminately to all, but specially to His people (Psalms 31:20). The contrast seems to me to be between the "horns," or emanations out of His power ("hand"), and that "power" itself. The latter was hidden, whereas the "horns" or emanations alone were manifested. If the mere scintillations were so awfully overwhelming, how much more so the hidden power itself! This was especially true of His manifestation at Sinai (Psalms 18:11: cf. Isaiah 45:15; Isaiah 45:17, "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour ... But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation," wherein there is, as here, the combination of the hiding of God from the world in general, and even from His people for a time (in order to test their faith), along with the light of salvation in the Lord imparted everlastingly to His people.