Isaiah 40:22 - Exposition

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth ; rather, above the vault of the earth ; above the vault of sky which seems to arch over the earth. As grasshoppers; i.e. minute, scarcely visible (comp. Numbers 13:33 ). That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain. So in Psalms 104:2 , only that here the "curtain" is represented as one of thin gauze. The idea is common to Isaiah with Job ( Job 9:8 ), Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 10:12 ; Jeremiah 51:15 ), and Zechariah ( Zechariah 12:1 ), and is a favourite one in these later chapters (comp. Isaiah 42:5 ; Isaiah 44:24 ; Isaiah 45:12 ; Isaiah 51:13 ). As a tent (comp. Psalms 19:4 , where God is said to have set in the heavens a "tabernacle" —'ohel , the word used here—for the sun).