Job 26:3

_HOW HAST THOU HELPED HIM THAT IS WITHOUT POWER? HOW SAVEST THOU THE ARM THAT HATH NO STRENGTH?_ Without power ... no strength ... no wisdom. The negatives are used instead of the positives, powerlessness, etc., designedly (so Isaiah 31:8; Deuteronomy 32:21, "That which is not God ... those which are not a people"): Granting I am, as you say (Job 18:17; Job 15:2). powerlessness itself, etc. How hast thou helped such a one? SAVEST - helpest, supportest. PLENTIFULLY ... THE THING AS IT IS - rather, 'abundantly-wisdom' х_ TUWSHIYAAH_ (H8454)]. Bildad had m

1-4 Job derided Bildad's answer; his words were a mixture of peevishness and self-preference. Bildad ought to have laid before Job the consolations, rather than the terrors of the Almighty. Christ knows how to speak what is proper for the weary, Isaiah 50:4; and his ministers should not grieve those whom God would not have made sad. We are often disappointed in our expectations from our friends who should comfort us; but the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, never mistakes, nor fails of his end....

HOW HAST THOU COUNSELLED HIM THAT HATH NO WISDOM? - As he had undertaken to give counsel to another, and to suggest views that might be adapted to elevate his mind in his depression, and to console him in his sorrows, he had a right to expect more than he had found in his speech. AND HOW HAST THOU PLENTIFULLY DECLARED THE THING AS IT IS? - The word rendered “the thing as it is” (תשׁיה _tûshı̂yâh_) denotes properly a setting upright, uprightness - from ישׁה _yāshah_; then help, deliverance, Job 6:13; purpose, undertaking, enterprise, Job 5:12; then counsel, wisdom, understanding, Job 11:6;...

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...

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 you given me? what a wise counsellor have you shown yourself to be? or rather, what a miserable part have you acted under this character? AND [HOW] HAST THOU PLENTIFULLY DECLARED THE THING AS IT IS? the thing in controversy, set it forth in a clear light, and in a copious manner, when he had not said one word about it, namely, concerning the afflictions of the godly, and the prosperity of the wicked; thus jeering at him, and laughing at the short reply he had made, and which was nothing to the purpose....

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

BEGINNING OF JOB'S REPLY TO BILDAD. He speaks sarcastically of the helpfulness and instructiveness of Bildad's speech. He must have been inspired (Job 26:4)!...

AS IT IS. the thing that is. See note on "sound wisdom". Proverbs 2:7....

Job sarcastically expresses his admiration of Bildad's speech, and gratitude for the help it has been to him....

D. GREATNESS AND GOODNESS OF GOD (Job 26:1-14) 1. 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 26:1As 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