Job 26:12

_DEAD THINGS ARE FORMED FROM UNDER THE WATERS, AND THE INHABITANTS THEREOF._ As before, in Job 9:1; Job 12:1, Job had shown himself not inferior to the friends in ability to describe God's greatness, so now he describes at as manifested in hell (the world of the dead), Job 26:5; on earth, Job 26:7; in the sky, Job 26:8; the sea, Job 26:12; the heavens, Job 26:13. DEAD THINGS ARE FORMED - rather, 'the souls of the dead

5-14 Many striking instances are here given of the wisdom and power of God, in the creation and preservation of the world. If we look about us, to the earth and waters here below, we see his almighty power. If we consider hell beneath, though out of our sight, yet we may conceive the discoveries of God's power there. If we look up to heaven above, we see displays of God's almighty power. By his Spirit, the eternal Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, the breath of his mouth, Psalms 33:6, he has not only made the heavens, but beautified them. By redemption, all the other wonderful works of the Lord are eclipsed; and we may draw near, and taste his grace, learn to love him, and walk with delight in his ways. The ground of the controversy between Job and the other disputants was, that they unjustly thought from his afflictions that he must have been guilty of heinous crimes. They...

Verse Job 26:12. _HE DIVIDETH THE SEA WITH HIS POWER_] Here is a manifest allusion to the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites, and the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host, according to the opinion of the most eminent critics. _HE SMITETH THROUGH THE PROUD._] רהב _Rahab_, the very name by which Egypt is called Isaiah 51:9, and elsewhere. _Calmet_ remarks: "This appears to refer only to the passage of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh. Were we not prepossessed with the opinion that Job died before Moses, every person at the first view of the subject must consider it in this light." I am not thus prepossessed. Let _Job_ live when he might, I am satisfied the _Book of Job_ was written long after the death of Moses, and not earlier than the days of Solom

HE DIVIDETH THE SEA WITH HIS POWER - Herder renders this: By his power he scourgeth the sea, By his wisdom he bindeth its pride. Jerome (Vulgate), “By his power the seas are suddenly congregated together The Septuagint, “By his power - κατέπαυσε την θάλασσαν _katepause_ _tēn_ _thalassan_ - he makes the sea calm.” Luther, Vor seiner Kraft wird das Meer plotzlich ungestum - “By his power the sea becomes suddenly tempestuous.” Noyes renders it, “By his power he stilleth the sea.” This is undoubtedly the true meaning. There is no allusion here to the dividing of the sea when the Israelites left Egypt; but the ideals, that God has power to calm the tempest, and hush the waves into peace. The word used here ...

EXPOSITION The long discourse of Job now begins, which forms the central and most solid mass of the book. It continues through six chapters (Job 26-31.). In it Job, after hastily brushing aside Bildad's last speech as superfluous and out of place (verses 1-4), proceeds to deliver his real sentiments apart from controversial issues. He sets forth, first of all, the might and majesty of God (verses 5-14), after which he proceeds to deal with the questions which concern his own integrity, and God's dealings with mankind. The former he still maintains; with respect to the latter, he recants his earlier argumentative contention (Job 24:2), and admits that retribution always or almost always comes upon the wicked at last (Job 27:1.). In...

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 the several parts of the world, for the better accommodation of the inhabitants of it, in respect of trade and commerce, and the more convenient supply of them with the various produce of different countries, and the transmitting of it to them: some have thought this has respect to the division of the Red sea for the children of Israel to walk in as on dry land, when pursued by the Egyptians, supposed to be meant by "Rahab" in the next clause; rather it may design the parting of the waves of the sea by a stormy wind, raised by the power of God, which lifts up the waves on high, and divides them...

CHAPTER 26JOB'S REPLY _ 1. A sarcastic beginning (Job 26:1)_ 2. Job also knows and can speak of the greatness of God (Job 26:5) Job 26:1. You have helped me greatly, Bildad, me, who am without power. Whom dost thou instruct anyway? And what kind of a spirit is it which speaks through thee? In other words he means to say, I have no more use for your argument at all. Job 26:5. But let me, Bildad, tell you something about the greatness of God before which your words pale into nothing. And so he utters a description of God's greatness which is indeed greater than Bildad's. And after this sublime unfolding of God's greatness and power, he

CONCLUSION OF BILDAD'S SPEECH. Bildad pursues the theme of the greatness of God, begun in Job 25:2. The giants (Deuteronomy 2:11) tremble at God (Job 26:5). Rephaim (Genesis 14:5 *) means both shades (_mg._) and giants; perhaps the connexion is that the giants, the oldest inhabitants of the earth, were the first to go down to Sheol, and so gave their name to all the shades. In any case it is best to translate here giants. It gives an excellent illustration of God's power that these mighty men, who are conceived as having once done battle with Him, tremble under it. Abaddon ...

That Job has no need to be instructed regarding the greatness of God he now shews, by entering upon an exhibition of its operations in every sphere of that which exists, Hades, the Earth and Heaven, in which he far outstrips the feeble effort of Bildad....

HE DIVIDETH THE SEA WITH HIS POWER— _He shaketh the sea._ Schultens. _He appeaseth the sea by his power; by his wisdom he hath determined its extent._ Houbigant, who observes, that the sacred author here refers to God's creation of the sea, and his limitation of it by appointed bounds. Bishop Warburton, however, tells us, that the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea is here plainly referred to, and that רהב _rahab,_ rendered _proud,_ signifies _Egypt._ But perhaps, says Mr. Peters, others may see nothing more in it than the description of a storm or tempest. The Hebrew word רג _raging_ translated _divide,_ is not the same as is used Exodus 14 of the Red Sea, but signifies a violent _breaking_ and _tossing_ of the waves, as in a storm. And if the former part of the sentence means that God sometimes by his power raises a violent storm at sea, t