When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
At creation, when the newly formed sea burst forth, God clothed it with the cloud as a garment and wrapped it in thick darkness as a swaddling band. The cloud is something He Himself made. The clothing pictures God setting the sea in its place and appointing its limits and boundaries, as the surrounding verses describe.
Though the ocean looks utterly unmanageable and without law or order, it obeys God's law and stays within bounds. He keeps it where He set it, holds a steady grasp upon the waters, balances them, marks out their bed, keeps them as in the hollow of His hand, and stays their proud waves where He commands. Even in a storm the sea's raging waters and mighty waves depend on His power and remain restrained by an invisible hand as a testimony to the Creator's power.
The verse presents creation as a work of divine power that finite human beings cannot fully comprehend. God governs the sea and the elements, using this same power to hold back winds and waves, control storms, and protect His people until His purposes are fulfilled.
At creation, when the newly formed sea burst forth, God clothed it with the cloud as a garment and wrapped it in thick darkness as a swaddling band. The cloud is something He Himself made. The clothing pictures God setting the sea in its place and appointing its limits and boundaries, as the surrounding verses describe.
Though the ocean looks utterly unmanageable and without law or order, it obeys God's law and stays within bounds. He keeps it where He set it, holds a steady grasp upon the waters, balances them, marks out their bed, keeps them as in the hollow of His hand, and stays their proud waves where He commands. Even in a storm the sea's raging waters and mighty waves depend on His power and remain restrained by an invisible hand as a testimony to the Creator's power.
The verse presents creation as a work of divine power that finite human beings cannot fully comprehend. God governs the sea and the elements, using this same power to hold back winds and waves, control storms, and protect His people until His purposes are fulfilled.