Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
Passing from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world.
Verse 12. Hast thou - as God daily does.
Commanded the morning - to rise.
Since thy days - since thou hast come into being.
Its place - it varies in its place of rising from day to day, and yet has its place each day according to fixed laws.
Verse 13. Take hold of the ends ... - spread itself over the earth to its utmost bounds in a moment.
Wicked - who hate the light, and do their evil works in the dark (Job 24:13).
Shaken out of it - the corners (Hebrew, wings or skirts) of it, as of a garment, are taken hold of by the day-spring, so as to shake off the wicked.
Verse 14. Explaining the first clause of Job 38:13, as Job 38:15 does the second clause. As the plastic clay presents the various figures impressed on it by a seal, so the earth, which in the dark was void of all form, when illuminated by the day-spring, presents a variety of forms, hills, valleys, etc. "Turned" ('turns itself,' Hebrew) alludes to the rolling cylinder seal, from one to three inches long, such as is found in Babylon, which leaves its impressions on the soft plastic clay, as it is turned about: so the morning light rolling on over the earth. Rich ('On the Ruins of Babylon') in Barnes, says, 'The cuneiform writing on these cylindrical seals is reversed, or written from right to left, whereas every other cuneiform writing is to be read from left to right. This can only be accounted for by supposing that they were intended to roll off impressions.'
They stand - the forms of beauty unfolded by the dawn stand forth as a garment in which the earth is clad.
Verse 15. Their light - by which they work: namely, darkness, which is their day (Job 24:17), is extinguished by daylight. High - rather, the arm uplifted for murder or other crime is broken; it falls down suddenly powerless, through their fear of light.