Chapter 26

1 Job, reproving the uncharitable spirit of Bildad, 5 acknowledgeth the power of God to be infinite and unsearchable.

1. Job. Now begins the long discourse of Job, which ends with ch. 31     . In this speech Job, after hastily brushing aside Bildad’s last speech, proceeds to explain his viewpoints. He sets forth, first of all, the might and majesty of God (ch. 26:5–14). Then he deals with the questions that concern his own integrity and God’s dealings with mankind. The former he still maintains. Regarding the latter, he admits that retribution comes upon the wicked at last (ch. 27). In ch. 28, after paying a deserved tribute to man’s intelligence and ingenuity in regard to earthly things, he pronounces the spiritual world and the principles of the divine government to be inscrutable to him, and his only true wisdom to be right conduct. Finally he returns to his own case, and having given a description of his former, prosperous life (ch. 29) contrasted with his present, forlorn life (ch. 30), he concludes with an avowal of his integrity in all the various duties and obligations of life (ch. 31).

2. How hast thou helped? Verses 2–4 contain a series of questions intended to reveal the weak logic of Bildad’s speech. This is Job’s longest sustained address to one individual. Job usually addressed all three together in the second person plural. Bildad had told Job nothing that he did not already know. What good was accomplished by reminding him that he was a worm and wholly unclean?

3. Counselled. Probably an ironical comment on the thought of Bildad’s brief speech. If Job were to admit lack of wisdom, what had Bildad done to supply that lack?

The thing as it is. Or, “sound knowledge,” “sound counsel.”

4. Whose spirit? What is the source of your authority? Surely there is no evidence of divine inspiration. Did Eliphaz prompt you (see ch. 4:17–19)?

5. Dead things. Heb. rephaХim, a term applied (1) to an ancient race of giants (Gen. 14:5; 15:20; Deut. 3:11; Joshua 17:15), (2) to a valley outside Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8; 18:16; 2 Sam. 5:18, 22; 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; Isa. 17:5), and (3) to the dead (Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19). The derivation of the word is uncertain, and how the word could refer at once to a race of people and to the dead is not definitely known. Perhaps the rephaХim that designates a race is derived from a different root than the rephaХim that designates the dead. Some have connected the two ideas by observing that as a race the rephaХim have become extinct and powerless. Its proud representatives lie prostrate in sheХol. The memory of them has become vague and shadowy. Hence they become a fit symbol of the dead.

Others derive the meaning “dead” from the root raphah, which means “to sink,” “to relax.” The dead are considered to be sunken and powerless ones.

That the rephaХim were a race of giants is implied in Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:11, 13. The idea of stature is probably derived, not from a root meaning inherent in the word itself, but from the context.

The context of Job 26:5 seems to infer that the dead are intended. Bildad has emphasized the sovereignty of God in the heavens. Job is adding that God’s power extends to the dwellers in sheХol (see v. 6).

Are formed. Literally, “are made to tremble,” from the root chil, “to tremble,” “to writhe.” In figure the dead are represented as conscious (see Isa. 14:9, 10), though not actually so (Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:5, 6).

6. Hell. Heb., sheХol, a figurative place where all the dead are described as gathered together (see Isa. 14:9, 10).

Destruction. Heb. Хabaddon. A name paralleling sheХol and representing it as a place of ruin and destruction. The word occurs only six times in the OT (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 15:11; 27:20; cf. Rev. 9:11).

7. North. Job turns from God’s power as manifested in death and destruction to God’s power as manifested in creation. The northern heavens contained the more important constellations mentioned in the book of Job. In this text Job recognizes that these heavenly bodies are upheld by divine power (see Job 9:8; Ps. 104:2; Isa. 40:22; Isa. 44:24; Zech. 12:1).

The word translated “stretcheth out” is frequently used of pitching a tent (Gen. 12:8; 26:25; 33:19; 35:21; Judges 4:11). The heavens are conceived of as being pitched like a tent, only they have no supporting tent poles.

Empty place. Heb. tohu, the word translated “without form” in Gen. 1:2. Rather than visualize the earth as resting on pillars, as did some of the ancients, Job worshiped a God whose power he conceived of as supporting the earth.

8. Bindeth up the waters. The metaphor is probably drawn from the waterskins, so well known in the East, and especially in Arabia, in which water was stored. These skins were likely to be “rent,” or torn, by the weight of the liquid. Yet the clouds could carry vast amounts of water without such mishaps (see Job 38:37; Prov. 30:4).

9. He holdeth back. That is, He covereth up His throne with clouds. The significance of this statement may be that God conceals Himself from man’s physical senses. God sees fit to maintain His communion with man on a spiritual rather than on a sensuous level. Although clouds may hide His throne from sight (see 1 Kings 8:12; Ps. 18:11; 97:2), His throne exists, and will be eventually seen by the redeemed (Rev. 22:1–4).

The translation “moon” instead of “throne” (see RSV) requires a change in the pointing of the Hebrew word kisseh to make it read keseh. Vowel pointings were not introduced until about the 7th century a.d., and hence were not employed in the original documents. But as a rule the traditional spelling is accepted unless the context grammatically or otherwise clearly indicates a change. Here the context seems to be against such an alteration.

10. He hath compassed. The complete clause reads literally, “The decree of a circle upon the face of the waters.” The Syriac and Targums read, “He inscribed a circle upon the face of the waters.” The reference seems to be to the form of the horizon, which appears as a circle and seems to be marked out with a compass.

Day and night. The line reads literally, “unto the end of [boundary between] light and darkness,” that is, the horizon.

“Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in his hand

He took the golden compasses, prepared

In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe

This universe, and all created things:

One foot he centred, and the other turned

Round through the vast profundity obscure;

And said, ‘Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,

This be thy just circumference, O world!’”

—Milton,Paradise Lost, Book VII.

11. Pillars. This seems to be a figure of the mountains on the horizon on which the sky was thought of as resting.

12. He divideth. Heb. ragaФ, “to disturb,” also “to be at rest.” RagaФ illustrates how certain words may express opposite ideas. When such words are used, the context must determine the choice of meaning. In the case under consideration either meaning makes good sense. With either definition the text reveals God’s mastery over the sea.

The proud. Heb. rahab (see on ch. 9:13).

13. Spirit. Heb. ruach, which may also be rendered “wind,” as in 90 cases in the OT. The context must determine the choice of meaning. At a breath from God, that is by a wind that He sends, the heavens, lately all cloud and storm, recover their serenity. Both the storm and the calm are pictured as coming from God.

Formed. Literally, “pierced.”

The crooked serpent. Literally, “the fleeing serpent.” Job may have had in mind the war in heaven when Satan, that “old serpent,” was expelled from heaven (Rev. 12:7–9; cf. Rom. 16:20).

14. Parts. Heb. qesoth, “ends,” “edges.” Job has endeavored to portray God as the great creator and sustainer of the universe. His method has been to illustrate the power of God by referring to natural phenomena. But after he has done his best, he exclaims, “Behold, these are the mere edge of His ways.” Job has been able to describe but the fringes of God’s power.

Little a portion. Literally, “whisper of a word.” What we know of God is merely a faint whisper.

Thunder. In contrast with the whisper, Job compares the actual power of God to thunder. He implies that he has enumerated only a small fraction of God’s great works. He could hardly have chosen nobler language to express his deep feelings regarding the manner in which the divine glory surpasses human knowledge.

Ellen G. White comments

6    Ed 132

7–14Ed 131; 8T 282

10   AA 572; SL 53