Job 26 - Introduction
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job observes, that Bildad's discourse was foreign to the matter, Job 26:1. Enlarges on the power and greatness of God, which yet are unsearchable, Job 26:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job observes, that Bildad's discourse was foreign to the matter, Job 26:1. Enlarges on the power and greatness of God, which yet are unsearchable, Job 26:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Job answered and said_ Job, finding his friends quite driven from their strong hold, and reduced to give up the argument, now begins to triumph, Job 26:2. He tells them, if the business was to celebrate the power and wisdom of the Almighty, he could produce as many shining instances of it as th... [ Continue Reading ]
_How hast thou helped him, that is without power?_ Thou hast helped excellently! It is an ironical expression, implying quite the contrary, that he had not helped at all. As if he had said, I am a poor helpless creature, my strength and spirits are quite broken with the pains of my body, and the per... [ Continue Reading ]
_How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom?_ Me, whom thou takest to be void of understanding, and whom, therefore, thou oughtest to have instructed with wholesome counsels, instead of those impertinent discourses which thou hast delivered. But, as the words, _him that hath_, are not in the o... [ Continue Reading ]
_To whom hast thou uttered words_ For whose instruction hast thou uttered these things? For mine? Dost thou think I do not know that which the meanest persons are not unacquainted with; that God is incomparably greater and better than his creatures? _Whose spirit came from thee_ Who inspired thee wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Dead things_, &c. That is, according to several interpreters, those seeds which are sown and die in the earth quicken again and grow. Or, as R. Levi rather thinks, an allusion is made to those _vegetables, stones_, or _metals_, which are found in the earth under the waters. The Hebrew word here for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hell is naked before him_ Is in his presence, and under his providence. Hell itself, that place of utter darkness, is not hid from his sight. _Destruction_ The place of destruction, _hath no covering_ Such as can conceal it from his view.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He stretcheth out the north_ The northern part of the heavens, which he particularly mentions, and puts for the whole visible heavens, because Job and his friends lived in a northern climate; _over the empty space_ Hebrew, על תהו, _gnal tohu, over the vacuity_, or emptiness; the same word which Mos... [ Continue Reading ]
_He bindeth up the waters_ Those fluid and heavy bodies, pressing downward with great force; _in his thick clouds_ As it were in bags, keeping them there suspended often for a long time; _and the cloud is not rent under them_ But sustains them, notwithstanding their great weight, so that they do not... [ Continue Reading ]
_He holdeth back_ Namely, from our view, that its effulgent brightness may not dazzle our sight; _the face of his throne_ The heaven of heavens: where he dwells, its light and glory being too great for mortal eyes; _and spreadeth his clouds upon it_ And thereby mercifully hides from our eyes those o... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath compassed the waters_ Namely, of the sea; for of the waters of the clouds he had just spoken; _with bounds_ With rocks and shores, and principally his own decree, formed at the creation, and renewed after the deluge, (Genesis 9:11; Genesis 9:15,) that the waters should not overwhelm the ear... [ Continue Reading ]
_The pillars of heaven tremble_ Perhaps the mountains, which by their height and strength seem to reach and support the heavens. _And are astonished at his reproof_ When God reproveth not them, but men by them, manifesting his displeasure by thunders or earthquakes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He divideth the sea with his power_ “By his power he raises tempests, which make great furrows in the sea, and divideth, as it were, one part of it from another;” _and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud_ “And, such is his wisdom, he knows how to appease it again, and repress its prou... [ Continue Reading ]
_By his Spirit_ Either, 1st, By his divine virtue or power, called his Spirit, Zechariah 4:6; Matthew 12:28. Or, 2d, By his _Holy Spirit_, to which the creation of the world is ascribed, Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4. _He hath garnished the heavens_ Adorned or beautified them with those glorious lights, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lo, these are parts of his ways_ But very small parcels even of those of his works which are visible to us. For it would be a vain and fruitless labour should I undertake to speak of all the wonders of the Creator. His works are so many, so great, and so far surpassing our narrow conceptions, that... [ Continue Reading ]