JOB CHAPTER 26 Job's reply: this toucheth not Job, JOB 26:1; who acknowledgeth God power and providence to be infinite and unsearchable, of which we have but small knowledge JOB 26:5. No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HAST THOU HELPED? thou hast helped egregiously. It is an ironical expression, implying the quite contrary, that he had not at all helped. See the like, GENESIS 3:22 1 KINGS 18:27 1 CORINTHIANS 4:8,10. HIM THAT IS WITHOUT POWER; either, 1. God, who it seems is weak and unwise, and needed so powe... [ Continue Reading ]
HIM THAT HATH NO WISDOM; either, 1. God: thou hast in effect undertaken to teach God how to govern the world. Or rather, 2. Me, whom you take to be a man void of understanding, JOB 11:2,3, whom therefore you should have instructed with wholesome counsels, instead of these impertinent discourses; a... [ Continue Reading ]
For whose instruction hast thou uttered these things? For mine? Dost thou think me to be so ignorant, that I do not know that which the meanest persons are not unacquainted with, to wit, that God is incomparably greater and better than his creatures? WHOSE SPIRIT CAME FROM THEE? so the sense is, Who... [ Continue Reading ]
Job having censured Bildad's discourse concerning God's dominion and power, as insignificant and impertinent to their question, he here proceedeth to show how little he needed his information in that point, and that he was able to instruct him in that doctrine, of which accordingly he gives divers p... [ Continue Reading ]
HELL, as this word is frequently used, as JOB 11:8 ISAIAH 57:9, &c. And so it seems to be explained by the following word, DESTRUCTION, i.e. the place of destruction, which interpreters generally understand of hell, or the place of the damned. Others, _the grave_, the most secret and obscure places... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NORTH, i.e. the northern pole, or part of the heavens, which he particularly mentions, and puts for the whole visible heaven, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate, and were acquainted only with that part of the heavens, the southern pole and parts near it being wholly unknown... [ Continue Reading ]
This also is a miraculous work of God, considering the nature of these waters, which are fluid and heavy, and pressing downward, especially being ofttimes there in great abundance; and withal, the quality of the clouds, which are thin and loose bodies of the same nature with fogs and mists upon the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HOLDETH BACK, i.e. to wit, from our view, that its lustre and glory should not reach us, and so dazzle our sight; he covereth it with a cloud, as the next words explain it. Or, _he holdeth fast_, or _binds together_, or _strengthens it_, that it may be able to bear that burden. THE FACE OF HIS TH... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATERS, to wit, of the sea; for of the upper waters coming out of the clouds he spoke before. WITH BOUNDS; which are partly the rocks and shores, and principally God's appointment, made at the first creation, and renewed after the deluge, GENESIS 9:11,15, that the waters should not overwhelm the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PILLARS OF HEAVEN; either, 1. Those mountains which by their height and strength may seem to reach and support the heavens, as the poets said of Atlas; for this is a poetical book, and there are many poetical expressions in it. These tremble sometimes by force of earthquakes, or by God's glorio... [ Continue Reading ]
He speaks either, 1. Of God's dividing the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass over; and consequently the Hebrew word _rahab_, which here follows, and is translated _pride_, or the _proud_, is meant of Egypt, which is oft called _Rahab_, as PSALMS 87:4, PSALMS 89:10 ISAIAH 51:9. But it seems most pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BY HIS SPIRIT; either, 1. By his Divine virtue or power, which is sometimes called _his spirit_, as MALACHI 4:6 MATTHEW 12:28. Or, 2. By his Holy Spirit, to which the creation of the world is ascribed, GENESIS 1:2 JOB 33:4 PSALMS 33:6. HE HATH GARNISHED THE HEAVENS; adorned or beautified them with... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE PARTS, or, _the extremities_, but small parcels, the outside and visible work. How glorious then are his visible and more inward perfections and operations! OF HIS WAYS, i.e. of his works. _Of him_, i.e. of his power, and wisdom, and providence, and actions. The greatest part of what we se... [ Continue Reading ]