INTRODUCTION TO JOB 26 In this chapter Job, in a very sarcastic manner, rallies Bildad on the weakness and impertinence of his reply, and sets it in a very ridiculous light; showing it to be quite foolish and stupid, and not at all to the purpose, and besides was none of his own, but what he had bo... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JOB ANSWERED,.... In a very sharp and biting manner; one would wonder that a man in such circumstances should have so much keenness of spirit, and deal in so much irony, and be master of so much satire, and be able to laugh at his antagonist in the manner he does: AND SAID; as follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HAST THOU HELPED [HIM THAT IS] WITHOUT POWER?.... This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do, by reading the words, "who hast thou helped? God" r? a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in n... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HAST THOU COUNSELLED [HIM THAT HATH] NO WISDOM?.... A man deprived of wisdom has need of counsel, and it should be given him; and he does well both to ask and take it; and be it so, as if Job should say, that I am the foolish and unwise creature you take me to be, what counsel and advice have yo... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHOM HAST THOU UTTERED WORDS?.... That others know not; dost thou think thou art talking to an ignorant man? be it known to thee, that he knows as much, and can say as much of the Divine Being, of his glories, and of his wondrous ways and works, as thyself, or more: or dost thou consider the circ... [ Continue Reading ]
DEAD [THINGS] ARE FORMED FROM UNDER THE WATERS,.... It is difficult to say what things are here meant; it may be understood of "lifeless" things, as Mr. Broughton renders it; things that never had any life, things inanimate, that never had at least an animal life, though they may have a vegetable on... [ Continue Reading ]
HELL [IS] NAKED BEFORE HIM,.... Which may be taken either for the place of the damned, as it sometimes is; and then the sense is, that though it is hidden from men, and they know not where it is, or who are in it, and what is done and suffered there; yet it is all known to God: he knows the place th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE STRETCHETH OUT THE NORTH OVER THE EMPTY PLACE,.... The northern hemisphere, which is the chief and best known, at least it was in the time of Job, when the southern hemisphere might not be known at all; though, if our version of Job 9:9 is right, Job seems to have had knowledge of it. Scheuchzer... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BINDETH UP THE WATERS IN HIS THICK CLOUDS,.... The clouds are of his making; when he utters his voice, or gives the word of command, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and the vapours he exhales from the ends of the earth and forms them into clouds, and they are his chariots, in which... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HOLDETH BACK THE FACE OF HIS THRONE,.... His throne is the heaven of heavens; the face of it, or what is before it, is the starry and airy heavens; this face of his throne is sometimes held back, or covered with clouds, that so his throne is so far from being visible, that even the face of it, or... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH COMPASSED THE WATERS WITH BOUNDS,.... Not the waters above the firmament, compassed by that, as if Job was contemplating on and discoursing about what is done in the heavens above; though the Targum seems to incline to this sense, paraphrasing the words, "he hath decreed that the firmament... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PILLARS OF HEAVEN TREMBLE,.... Which may be understood either of the air, the lower part of the heavens, which may be thought to be the foundation, prop, and support of them, and is sometimes called the firmament, and "the firmament of his power", Psalms 150:1; and which seems to tremble when th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DIVIDETH THE SEA WITH HIS POWER,.... As at the first creation, when the waters were caused to go off the face of the earth, and were separated from it; and the one was called earth, and the other seas, Genesis 1:9; or it may respect the division of those waters into divers seas and channels in th... [ Continue Reading ]
BY HIS SPIRIT HE HATH GARNISHED THE HEAVENS,.... The visible heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, with which they are studded and bespangled, and look exceeding beautiful; and the invisible heavens, with angels, the morning stars, and glorified saints, who especially in the resurrection morn will... [ Continue Reading ]
LO, THESE [ARE] PARTS OF HIS WAYS,.... This is the conclusion of the discourse concerning the wonderful works of God; and Job was so far from thinking that he had taken notice of all, or even of the chief and principal, that what he observed were only the extremities, the edges, the borders, and out... [ Continue Reading ]