Fear ye not me? saith the Lord,.... They did not fear the Lord, and this is a reproof to them for the want of it, which is a reproof of their ignorance and folly; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Pr 9:10, and where that is there is true wisdom; but, where it is not, there is nothing but ignorance and stupidity:will ye not tremble at my presence?
or "face"; his wrath and anger, justly resenting their carriage to him. The Targum is,"from before my Word;''the essential Word, his Son: or, "will ye not be in pain?" as a woman in travail; as Kimchi observes the word signifies:which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it.
This is a very wonderful thing in nature, that the earth and sea, being spherical, and making one terraqueous globe, and the waters of the sea being higher than the earth, should be so bounded and restrained, by the power and providence of God, as not to overflow the earth, and that by means of the sand, which is penetrable, flexible, and movable; and yet this is set as a bound, and by the decree of God remains firm and stable, and that for ever, so that the sea cannot bear it down, go through it, or over it:and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it; even when the sea is the most tumultuous and raging.