CHAPTER XXVI _Job, perceiving that his friends could no longer support their_ _arguments on the ground they had assumed, sharply reproves_ _them for their want both of wisdom and feeling_, 1-4; _shows that the power and wisdom of God are manifest in the_ _works of creation and providence; gives... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:2. _HOW HAST THOU HELPED_ HIM] This seems a species of irony. How wonderfully hast thou counselled the unskilful and strengthened the weak! Alas for you! ye could not give what ye did not possess! In this way the _Chaldee_ understood these verses: "Why hast thou pretended to give succou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:4. _WHOSE SPIRIT CAME FROM THEE?_] Mr. _Good_ renders the verse thus: _From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose_ _spirit hath issued forth from thee_? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers hav... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:5. _DEAD THINGS ARE FORMED FROM UNDER THE WATERS_] This verse, as it stands in our version, seems to convey no meaning; and the Hebrew is obscure; הרפאים, _harephaim_, "the Rephaim," certainly means not _dead things_; nor can there be any propriety in saying that _dead things_, or thing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:6. _HELL_ IS _NAKED BEFORE HIM_] _Sheol_, the _place of the_ _dead_, or of _separate spirits_, is always in his view. _And there is_ _no covering to Abaddon _- the place of the _destroyer_, where _destruction_ reigns, and where those dwell who are eternally separated from God. The ancie... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:7. _HE STRETCHETH OUT THE NORTH OVER THE EMPTY PLACE_] על תהו _al tohu, to the hollow waste_. The same word as is used, Genesis 1:2, _The earth was without form_, תהו tohu. The north must here mean the _north pole_, or northern hemisphere; and perhaps what is here stated may refer to th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:8. _HE BINDETH UP THE WATERS_] Drives the aqueous particles together, which were raised by evaporation, so that, being condensed, they form clouds which float in the atmosphere, till, meeting with strong currents of wind, or by the agency of the electric fluid, they are farther condense... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:9. _HE HOLDETH BACK THE FACE OF HIS THRONE_] Though all these are most elegant effects of an omniscient and almighty power, yet the great Agent is not personally discoverable; he dwelleth in light unapproachable, and in mercy hides himself from the view of his creatures. The words, howe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:10. _HE HATH COMPASSED THE WATERS WITH BOUNDS_] Perhaps this refers merely to the _circle_ of the horizon, the line that terminates light and commences darkness, called here עד תכלית אור עם חשך _ad tachlith or im chosech_, "until the completion of light with darkness." Or, if we take תכ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:11. _THE PILLARS OF HEAVEN TREMBLE_] This is probably a poetical description either of thunder, or of an earthquake: - "He shakes creation with his nod; Earth, sea, and heaven, confess him God." But there may be an allusion to the _high mountains_, which were anciently esteemed by th... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:13. _BY HIS SPIRIT HE HATH GARNISHED THE HEAVENS_] See the observations below.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 26:14. _LO, THESE_ ARE _PARTS OF HIS WAYS_] קצות _ketsoth, the_ _ends_ or _extremities_, the _outlines_, an _indistinct sketch_, of his eternal power and Godhead. _HOW LITTLE A PORTION IS HEARD_] שמץ _shemets_, a _mere whisper_; admirably opposed, as Mr. _Good_ has well observed, to רעם _... [ Continue Reading ]