Proverbs 3:19

Proverbs 3:19

The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

a. NLT: By wisdom the LORD founded the earth; by understanding he created the heavens.

b. NIV: By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;

c. YLT: Jehovah by wisdom did found the earth, He prepared the heavens by understanding.

d. Amplified Bible Classic: The Lord by skillful and godly Wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding He has established the heavens.

e. Septuagint: God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence he prepared the heavens.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: HASHEM founded the earth with wisdom; He established the heavens with understanding.

1. “The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth…”

a. The LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

b. by wisdom [Strong: 2451 chokmah khok-maw' from 2449; wisdom (in a good sense):--skilful, wisdom, wisely, wit.]

c. hath founded [Strong: 3245 yacad yaw-sad' a primitive root; to set (literally or figuratively); intensively, to found; reflexively, to sit down together, i.e. settle, consult:--appoint, take counsel, establish, (lay the, lay for a) found(-ation), instruct, lay, ordain, set, X sure.]

d. the earth [Strong: 776 'erets eh'-rets from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

1). A good example of the wisdom God used in the creation of the earth is found throughout Scripture.

a). Isaiah 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

(1) measured [Strong: 4058 madad maw-dad' a primitive root: properly, to stretch; by implication, to measure (as if by stretching a line); figuratively, to be extended:--measure, mete, stretch self.]

(2) hollow [Strong: 8168 sho`al sho'-al from an unused root meaning to hollow out; the palm; by extension, a handful:--handful, hollow of the hand.]

(3) When God created the earth, He beforehand had the amount of water that should be on the earth, and measured it out by the handfuls. He also created the water cycle.

(a) Ecclesiastes 1:7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

(4) The Lord used the creation of water, as he did with all of creation, and weaved it into the intricacies of the redemption of man.

(a) Isaiah 55:10, 11; John 4:5-15;

(b) Psalm 145:10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.

(c) God in his wisdom set boundaries for the seas and oceans: Job 38:8-11.

b). “…and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure…”

(1) comprehended [Strong: 3557 kuwl kool a primitive root; properly, to keep in; hence, to measure; figuratively, to maintain (in various senses):--(be able to, can) abide, bear, comprehend, contain, feed, forbearing, guide, hold(-ing in), nourish(-er), be present, make provision, receive, sustain, provide sustenance (victuals).]

(2) comprehend (Webster) To grasp with the mind, conceive.

(3) measure [Strong: 7991 shaliysh shaw-leesh' or shalowsh ( 1 Chron. 11:11; 12:18) {shaw- loshe'}; or shalosh (2 Sam. 23:13) {shaw-loshe'}; from 7969; a triple, i.e. (as a musical instrument) a triangle (or perhaps rather three-stringed lute); also (as an indefinite, great quantity) a three-fold measure (perhaps a treble ephah); also (as an officer) a general of the third rank (upward, i.e. the highest):--captain, instrument of musick, (great) lord, (great) measure, prince, three (from the margin).]

c). “…and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.”

(1) weighed [Strong: 8254 shaqal shaw-kal' a primitive root; to suspend or poise (especially in trade):--pay, receive(-r), spend, X throughly, weigh.]

(2) the mountains [Strong: 2022 har har a shortened form of 2042; a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively):--hill (country), mount(-ain), X promotion.]

(3) in scales [Strong: 6425 pelec peh'-les from 6424; a balance:--scales, weight.]

(4) [and the] hills [Strong: 1389 gib`ah ghib-aw' feminine from the same as 1387; a hillock:--hill, little hill.]

(5) [in a] balance [Strong: 3976 mo'zen mo-zane' from 239; (only in the dual) a pair of scales: -balances.]

(6) God mentally weighed the mountains and hills.

2. “…by understanding hath he established the heavens.”

a. understanding [Strong: 8394 tabuwn taw-boon' and (feminine) tbuwnah {teb-oo-naw'}; or towbunah {to-boo-naw'}; from 995; intelligence; by implication, an argument; by extension, caprice:--discretion, reason, skilfulness, understanding, wisdom.] [Gesenius: understanding, intelligence, intelligence, understanding, insight.]

b. established [Strong: 3559 kuwn koon a primitive root; properly, to be erect (i.e. stand perpendicular); hence (causatively) to set up, in a great variety of applications, whether literal (establish, fix, prepare, apply), or figurative (appoint, render sure, proper or prosperous):--certain(-ty), confirm, direct, faithfulness, fashion, fasten, firm, be fitted, be fixed, frame, be meet, ordain, order, perfect, (make) preparation, prepare (self), provide, make provision, (be, make) ready, right, set (aright, fast, forth), be stable, (e-)stablish, stand, tarry, X very deed.] [Gesenius: to be erect, to set up, prepare, fashion, frame.]

1). When God created the universe He didn’t just throw it together, but prepared it with skilful knowledge. This included all the exact orbits of the galaxies, stars, planets, and moons.

a). Jeremiah 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:

b). ordinances [2708 * chuqqah][Gesenius: statute, ordinance, limit, enactment, something prescribed.][Strong: appointed, custom, manner, ordinance, site, statute.]

2). Isaiah 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

a). “…and meted out heaven with the span…”

(1). meted [Strong: 8505 takan taw-kan' a primitive root; to balance, i.e. measure out (by weight or dimension); figuratively, arrange, equalize, through the idea of levelling (ment. estimate, test):--bear up, direct, be ((un-))equal, mete, ponder, tell, weigh.]

(2). span [Strong 2239 zereth zeh'-reth from 2219; the spread of the fingers, i.e. a span:--span.] [The Amplified Bible reads “9 inch span”.]

(3). Amateur Astronomer’s Handbook: If we construct a scale model of the solar system, with the sun about 4 inches across, the  earth will be about 25 feet away, the size of a grain of sand, and Pluto [Just recently demoted from being a planet.] will be about 300 yards away. But the nearest star to the sun, represented by another 4 inch globe would have to be placed almost 1500 miles away. [The nearest star is Alpha Centauri, 4 and1/3 light years away: 186,000 miles per second for a year = 6 million million miles.]

(4). Stars, Planets, and Galaxies: “There are at least 100 billion stars in this expansive disk [The Milky Way] which is so large that a light beam would require 100,000 years to cross it.”

(5). Interesting quote from Amateur Astronomers Handbook, “It is obvious then, that the whole galaxy is of enormous extent, and that a mile is an absurdly inadequate unit of distance. Instead, astronomers make use of the light year”. [God uses his hands! Chuckle chuckle.]

3). When God created the heavens, he prepared it with skillful intelligence.

a). Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork .

b). declare [5608 * caphor] [Strongs: To score with a mark as a tally or record, to inscribe, to enumerate, to recount, shew forth, speak, talk, tell out…] [AMG Old Testament Word Study: The participle from of the word soper, means scribe and occurs about fifty times in the Old Testament. Example: Scribes such as Ezra. Ezra 7:6]

c). glory [3519 * kabod] [Strongs: From 3513; prop. Weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness, gloriously, glory, honour.] [AMG Old Testament Word Study: A masculine singular noun meaning wealth, honor, glory majesty. This term is commonly used of God.]

d). firmament [Dictionary: the vault of heaven; sky.

e). handywork [It is actually two Hebrew words] [3027 * yad] [Gesenius: the human hand] & [4639 * ma’aseh][Gesenius: deed or work.]

4). The handy work involves not only the orbits of the planets and stars, but also the vast expanse of the universe.

a). Jeremiah 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:

b). Stars, Planets, and Galaxies: [Clusters of Galaxies] “At a distance of several diameters of the Local Group there are other clusters of galaxies. North of Spica in Virgo, there is a region called the Realm of the Galaxies. Here, vast assemblages are found containing thousands of galaxies in one of the largest clusters known. Its distance is about 40 million light years. The number of galaxies contained may be numbered in the tens of thousands, with the greatest concentration toward the constellation Virgo; the number of galaxies tapers off as the Local Group is reached. From all appearances, this is the local super galaxy, a galaxy of galaxies, instead of stars. Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is one in tens of thousands far out on the rim of a gigantic wheel of galaxies whose flat distribution indicates a rotation about the center. The local super galaxy is only one of many, for investigations show others in the direction of Hydra and Pavo. Clusters of galaxies extend into space in all directions many of billions of light years. Thus, we can see that the universe is composed of hierarchies of increasing magnitude, in constant motion, in an unimaginably vast sea of space.”

c). Popular Science, 2/78; “Giant Telescopes”: “One thing is certain. There’s enough universe out there for all the 1000 inch telescopes we could ever dream of building. A single gnat flying a foot in front of your face on a summer evening, hides the light of dozens of distant galaxies, each containing some 100,000 million (100 billion) suns…”

(1) Jeremiah 33:22 “…the host of heaven cannot be numbered…”

(2) Psalm 147:4 “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”

d). The Constellations proceed across the heavens in the same order every year. NOTE: the slight wobble in the earth’s axis produces a gradual change in the path across the night sky from year to year, but only from the view from earth. Otherwise they are exact every time. The reason is of course is God designed and placed in particular orbits all the moons, planets, stars and galaxies.

e). Henry M. Morris, in his book, The Biblical Basis Of Modern Science, quotes physicist and mathematician, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac on the mathematical order of the universe: “There is one other line along which one can still proceed by theoretical means. It seems to be one of the fundamental features of nature that fundamental physical laws are described in terms of mathematical theory of great beauty and power, needing quite a high standard of mathematics for one to understand it. You may wonder: Why is nature so constructed along these lines? One can only answer that our present knowledge seems to show that nature is so constructed. We simply have to accept it. One could perhaps describe the situation by saying that God is a mathematician on a very high order, and He used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe. Our feeble attempts at mathematics enable us to understand a bit of the universe, and as we proceed to develop higher and higher mathematics we can hope to understand the universe better.”