"9. Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
10. Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields."
Rain here signifies the great floods which cover the earth.
"11. To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety."
That is to say, the poor escape to the high places--to safety--while the great and crafty perish.
"12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands can not perform their enterprise.
"13. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness," (that is, in the very midst of their planning,) "and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong," (that is, it is instantly overwhelmed).
"14. They MEET WITH DARKNESS IN THE DAY-TIME, and grope in the noonday as in the night." (Chap. v.)
Surely all this is extraordinary--the troubles of mankind come from above, not from the earth; the children of the wicked are crushed in the gate, far from places of refuge; the houses of the wicked are "crushed before the moth," those that plow wickedness perish," by the "blast of God's nostrils they are consumed"; the old lion perishes for want of prey, and its whelps are scattered abroad. Eliphaz sees a vision, (the comet,) which "makes his bones to shake, and the hair of his flesh to stand up"; the people "are destroyed from morning to evening"; the cunning find their craft of no avail, but are taken; the counsel of the froward is carried headlong; the poor find safety in high places; and darkness comes in midday, so that the people grope their way;
{p. 286}