Job 26
OGCTODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION
1-2 What a help you are in rescuing me
poor, weak man that I am!
3 You give such good advice
and share your knowledge with a fool like me!
4 Who do you think will hear all your words?
Who inspired you to speak like this?
[Bildad]
5 The land of the dead is trembling;
its inhabitants shake with fear.
6 The world of the dead lies open to God;
no covering shields it from his sight.
7 God stretched out the northern sky,
and hung the earth in empty space.
8 It is God who fills the clouds with water,
and keeps them from bursting with the weight.
9 He hides the full moon behind a cloud. 10 He divided light from darkness
by a circle drawn on the face of the ocean.
11 When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky,
they shake and tremble with fear.
12 It is his strength that conquered the sea;
by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.
13 It is his breath that made the sky clear,
and his hand that killed the escaping monster.
14 But these are only hints of his power,
only the whispers that we have heard.
Who can know how truly great God is?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 26:1-14
The first four verses contain what thought?
Can a man by searching find out God?
To whom is Job addressing himself?
Bildad was no help. Why?
What question had Bildad failed to answer?
How is the word spirit used in verse four?
Job 26:5-14 set forth what theme?
Even the dead cannot escape from God. Explain.
Discuss verse seven in light of the expression And hangeth the earth upon nothing.
What is a better word than throne in verse nine? Why?
Verse ten includes a transcendence of all pagan mythological dualism. Please explain.
What are the pillars of heaven? What happens to them?
What is Rahab as used in Job 26:12? What is the thought?
How are Spirit and serpent used in Job 26:13?
We only hear a soft whisper of the wisdom and power of God, but it is enough. Explain.
Job 26:1-4
D. GREATNESS AND GOODNESS OF GOD (Job 26:1-14)
- What a giant of comfort Bildad has been! (sarcasm) (Job 26:1-4)
TEXT 26:1-4
**26 Then Job answered and said,
2 How hast thou helped him that is without power!
How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!
3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom,
And plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4 To whom hast thou uttered words?
And whose spirit came forth from thee?**
COMMENT 26:1-4
**Job 26:1**As the text stands, from chapter 26 to 31, we have Job’s final response to his critics. The beautiful symmetry of the cycles of speeches seems to be broken when Zophar does not respond in the final stage of the debate. But that is only a literary consideration. We are left with baffling obscurities when we attempt to follow the continuity between the transitions. Nevertheless, the irony in the speech seems to fit better in Job’s response, as he has delivered himself on the theme beforeJob 13:12; Job 16:2; Job 19:2; Job 19:21. His sarcastic self-assurance leaps forth from every word, far from confessing his own moral malaise; he taunts his friends for failing to bring him God’s consolation. Despite many textual enigmas, we encounter some of the loftiest insights ever vouched safe to a tortured human spirit concerning the greatness and grandeur of God. Job will eventually cry out in resignationCan a man by searching find out God? He responds with a resounding No!
**Job 26:2**In an almost violent burst of sarcasm, Job responds to the irrelevance of Bildad’s speech. The speech is composed of two parts: (1) Job’s confrontation with Bildad, Job 26:2-4; and (2) Job’s unmodifiable protestation of innocence, the extent of which is one of the technical problems which shall be passed in this commentary.[270]
[270] Compare analysis in the various critical Old Testament introduction, egs. Young, Harrison, Pfeiffer, and especially Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament, An Introduction (Harper & Row, E.T., 196S), pp. 454-470. Eissfeldt’s introduction is controlled by Formgeschichte and Redactiongeschichte assumptions.
There is no legitimate reason to assume that because you is singular this implies that Bildad or Zophar is addressing Job. Job has not been giving them counsel, and counsel before his calamity seems pointless. For the sarcasm in Job’s speeches, see Job 4:3-4; Job 6:25; Job 12:2; Job 13:1 ff; and Job 16:2 ff. Elsewhere Job addresses his friends in the plural, except in Job 12:7 ff; Job 16:3; and Job 21:3. Since Bildad’s speech was dominated by God as all powerful, it is most likely that Job is asking what consolation he has brought to him in his hours of despair. Bildad’s cold comfort reveals little concern or compassion in bringing consolation to this cosmic contender.
**Job 26:3**As short as Bildad’s speech was, it was the bearer of abundant (Heb. rendered plentifully declared in A. V.) wisdom in only five verses. His speech was packed with superabundant wisdom explaining why one wicked man dies at the peak of his life without disease or despair, who has all along been robbing, murdering, and committing adultery, while another wicked man dies enslaved and embittered of spirit. Explain that, Bildad, if you are so wise.
**Job 26:4**Though the Hebrew can be translated either as To whom (in A. V.) or with whose help, the latter is perhaps to be preferred. Thus, Job is saying that he is as wise and informed as they areJob 12:3; Job 13:2and who are they to give him instruction on the sovereignty of God and that awe is the only appropriate human response. The word rendered spirit is neshamah and is translated as the lamp of the Lord in Proverbs 20:27. Job is ironically asking, Is the source of your wisdom, revelation, and illumination God? In essence he is saying as Rashi has suggested, Who does not know this? Job’s friends have often claimed that they were speaking of GodJob 15:11; Job 20:2; Job 22:22.
Job 26:5-14
- No mysteries are hidden from God. (Job 26:5-14)
(Some would attribute this section to Bildad.) a. There is no close connection between it and the preceding verses. TEXT 26:5-14
**5 They that are deceased tremble
Beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof.
6 Sheol Is naked before **God,
**And Abaddon hath no covering.
7 He stretcheth out the north over empty space,
And hangeth the earth upon nothing.
8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds;
And the cloud is not rent under them.
9 He incloseth the face of his throne,
And spreadeth his cloud upon it.
10 He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters,
Unto the confines of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
And are astonished at his rebuke.
12 He stirreth up the sea with his power,
And by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab.
13 By his Spirit the heavens are garnished;
His hand hath pierced the swift serpent.
14 Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways:
And how small a whisper do we hear of hunt But the thunder of his power who can understand?**
COMMENT 26:5-14
**Job 26:5**From Job 26:5-14 we have the theme of God’s omnipotence set forth again. He is absolute authority over heaven and earth and Sheol (cf. Matthew 28:19-20). Bildad has previously declared God’s greatness; now Job declares his own faith in the greatness of God. The dead[271] (A. V. renders deceasedrepa-‘imIsaiah 14:9; Isaiah 26:14; Psalms 88:10) are still in God’s control. They cannot hide from Him, even in Sheol2 Samuel 22:5 and Psalms 18:4. Even the inhabitants of Sheol tremble before God. The reference here, according to the parallelism, is to the inhabitants of Sheol, not fishes, etc.[272]
[271] For an excellent discussion concerning the Rephaim, see A. R. Johnson, The Vitality of the Individual, 2nd ed., 1964, pp. 88ff.
[272] See Dhorme and Blommerde on the critical grammatical problems.
**Job 26:6**For this imagery see Psalms 89:8; Proverbs 15:11; and Amos 9:2. Abaddon is another name for Sheol and is a perfect parallel in this verse. This parallel description of Sheol is found only in the Wisdom Literature Job 28:22; Job 31:12; Psalms 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; and Proverbs 27:20. Abaddon comes from a root meaning ruin or destruction and is a personal name translated as Apollyon in Revelation 9:11. No one and no place holds secrets from God.
**Job 26:7**The Hebrew word for north (Sapon) originally was the name of the mountain of Hadad or Baal, the Syrian weather-god. The Ras Shamra texts from Ugarit relate how Baal-Hadad constructed his temple on the heights of Mount Sapon. The mountain lay directly north of Palestine; thus we know why Sapon[273] means north in the Old TestamentIsa 14:13. The parallel is between the stretched out heavensGenesis 1-3not firmament but that which is stretched out or pounded outward; Psalms 1, Job 4:2; Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12; Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:15. There is no mythological implication in this description which transcends all primitive concepts of cosmography. Nor need we recall the great advancements made in astronomy among the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks, especially Pythagorasca 540-510 B.C.in order to understand Job’s descriptions.[274] The earth stands on nothingJob 26:11.
[273] Note in Psalms 48:2Zion is the seat of Yahweh; some translations transcribe this as Zaphonsee Otto Eissfeldt. Baal Zaphon, Zeus Kasios und der Durchzug der Israeliten durchs Meer, 1934.
[274] See for detailscompare with Jacques Merleau-Ponty, Cosmologie du XXsiecle (Paris, 1965); Astronomischer Jahresbericht (Berlin) 1899 to the present, complete bibliography of astronomical literature; a Koyre, The Astronomical Revolution (E. T., Cornell University Press, 1975); P. Duhem, Le Systeme du Monde; histoires des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon a Copernic (Paris, 10 Tomes); Rene Taton, Histoire generate des sciences (Paris, 4 Tomes); I. L. E. Dreyer, A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepeer (New York: Dover, 1953); all of G. Sarton’s works; and F. Russo, Histoire des sciences et des Techniques bibliographie (Paris, 1954); also see my essay on Creation in Job in this commentary. For biblical data see the excellent work by E. W. Monder, Astronomy of The Bible which has been condensed in his article in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), Vol. I, pp. 300-316, Eerdman reprint.
**Job 26:8**Job stands in awe at the clouds pictured as full of water but which do not burst under the weight of their burdenJob 38:37; Proverbs 30:4.
**Job 26:9**The verse presents several problems, specifically as given in the A. V. God hides the face (Heb. -hzgrasp, holdused of barring gates in Nehemiah 7:3; Matthew 6:6; perhaps we should read kesefull mooninstead of kissethroneas in A. V.) of the full moon by covering it with the clouds. Even the bright light of the moon is under His authority. Though this requires some emendation, it keeps the parallelism and sets forth God’s sovereignty which is Job’s thesis in this verse.
**Job 26:10**God has described a circle, which means that He has set a limit or boundaryGen 1:4; Genesis 1:7; Genesis 1:14; Job 22:14; Proverbs 8:27. The editors of the Qumran Targum render the Hebrew aux bords de la limitereinforcing the limitation of a boundary suggested by the text and the paralleldarkness in line two2 Samuel 22:8; Isaiah 13:13; and Joe 2:10. Darkness suggests limitation. God here transcends all pagan mythological dualism; He alone controls chaos.
**Job 26:11**The earth is here called the pillars of heaven. The pillars quiver (Heb. yeropeputremble or shake) at God’s rebuke. That which holds up heaven responds when God breaks His silencePsa 18:14 ff; Psalms 29:6; and Psalms 104:32.
**Job 26:12**The verb (-rgdisturb or stir upIsa 51:15 and Jeremiah 31:35) suggests that the powerful water supply which the heavens sustain is powerless when He intervenesRahab might refer to EgyptPsa 87:4and the experience of the parting of the waters. When God liberates, nothing stands in His wayJob 7:12; Job 9:13; Jeremiah 10:12. He is claiming that it is by God’s wisdom and understanding, not His power, that He is victorious.
Job 26:13The text probably refers to the clearing of the skies after a storm. The word rendered garnished in the A. V. is siprahbrightness. The wind referred to is, in all probability, the wind which clears the clouds out of the skies after a stormJob 3:8; 40:25; Isaiah 27:1; and Revelation 12:3. The second line has the same word that appears in Isaiah 51:9 for pierced or wounded. If they are present, part of the author’s literary style only, the mythological motifs, e.g. the fleeing serpent or LeviathonJob 3:8 and Isaiah 27:1are present only to show the sovereignty of God over nature.[275]
[275] See W. F. Albright, Bulletin of the American Society of Oriental Research, 1941, p. 39, for analysis of Ugaritic image of the primeval serpent.
**Job 26:14**Again the author skillfully evoked imagery portraying God’s infinite power. The secret of God’s power will forever elude the seeker, and the solution to God’s providential control over creation will only baffle and frustrate until in complete faith-trust he rests in His everlasting arms through resignation to God’s wisdom and justice. He finally confesses that only God has infinite wisdom and knowledge. Though man has only heard a soft whisperJob 4:12, he stands in awful dread at what he has heard. He must wait for The Shattering of Silence, but until then, He reveals all that we can manage. God’s word, like thunder, cannot be leisurely contemplated and comprehendedJob 37:2; Job 37:5.