56 lines
9.7 KiB
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56 lines
9.7 KiB
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Esther';
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Title = 'The Book of Job';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 26';
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<p id="Chapter26" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 26
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<p id="Job26_1">THIRD SERIES.
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<p><a onclick="return mV('Job',26,'1-14');">Job 26:1-14</a>. JOB'S REPLY.
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<p id="Job26_2"><b>2, 3. without power...no strength...no wisdom</b>—The negatives are used instead of the positives, <i>powerlessness,</i> etc., designedly (so <a onclick="return mV('Isa',31,8);">Isa 31:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',32,21);">Deu 32:21</a>). Granting I am, as you say (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,17);">Job 18:17</a>; 1<a onclick="return mV('Job',5,2);">5:2</a>), <i>powerlessness</i> itself, etc. <i>How hast thou helped</i> such a one?"
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<br><br><b>savest</b>—supportest.
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<p id="Job26_3"><b>3. plentifully...the thing as it is</b>—rather, "abundantly—wisdom." Bildad had made great pretensions to abundant wisdom. How has he shown it?
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<p id="Job26_4"><b>4.</b> For whose instruction were thy words meant? If for me I know the subject (God's omnipotence) better than my instructor <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,'5-14');">Job 26:5-14</a> is a sample of Job's knowledge of it.
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<br><br><b>whose spirit</b>—not that of God (<a onclick="return mV('Job',32,8);">Job 32:8</a>); nay, rather, the borrowed sentiment of Eliphaz (<a onclick="return mV('Job',4,'17-19');">Job 4:17-19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',15,'14-16');">15:14-16</a>).
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<p id="Job26_5"><b>5-14.</b> As before in the ninth and twelfth chapters, Job had shown himself not inferior to the friends' inability to describe God's greatness, so now he describes it as manifested in hell (the world of the dead), <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,5,6);">Job 26:5-6</a>; on earth, <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,7);">Job 26:7</a>; in the sky, <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,'8-11');">Job 26:8-11</a>; the sea, <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,12);">Job 26:12</a>; the heavens, <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,13);">Job 26:13</a>.
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<br><br><b>Dead things are formed</b>—Rather, "The souls of the dead (Rephaim) tremble." Not only does God's power exist, as Bildad says (<a onclick="return mV('Job',25,2);">Job 25:2</a>), "in high places" (heaven), but reaches to the region of the dead. <i>Rephaim</i> here, and in <a onclick="return mV('Pro',21,16);">Pro 21:16</a>, is from a <i>Hebrew</i> root, meaning "to be weak," hence "deceased"; in <a onclick="return mV('Gen',14,5);">Gen 14:5</a> it is applied to the Canaanite giants; perhaps in derision, to express their <i>weakness,</i> in spite of their gigantic size, as compared with Jehovah [UMBREIT]; or, as the imagination of the living magnifies apparitions, the term originally was applied to <i>ghosts,</i> and then to <i>giants</i> in general [MAGEE].
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<br><br><b>from under</b>—UMBREIT joins this with the previous word "tremble <i>from beneath</i>" (so <a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,9);">Isa 14:9</a>). But the Masoretic text joins it to "under the waters." Thus the place of the dead will be represented as "under the waters" (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',18,4,5);">Psa 18:4-5</a>); and the waters as under the earth (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',24,2);">Psa 24:2</a>). MAGEE well translates thus: "The souls of the dead tremble; (the places) under the waters, and their inhabitants." Thus the Masoretic connection is retained; and at the same time the parallel clauses are evenly balanced. "The inhabitants of the places under the waters" are those in Gehenna, the lower of the two parts into which Sheol, according to the Jews, is divided; they answer to "destruction," that is, the place of the wicked in <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,6);">Job 26:6</a>, as "Rephaim" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',26,5);">Job 26:5</a>) to "Hell" (Sheol) (<a onclick="return mV('Job',26,6);">Job 26:6</a>). "Sheol" comes from a <i>Hebrew</i> root—"ask," because it is insatiable (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',27,20);">Pro 27:20</a>); or "ask as a loan to be returned," implying Sheol is but a <i>temporary</i> abode, previous to the resurrection; so for <i>English Version</i> "formed," the <i>Septuagint</i> and <i>Chaldee</i> translate; <i>shall be born,</i> or <i>born again,</i> implying the dead are to be <i>given back</i> from Sheol and <i>born again into a new state</i> [MAGEE].
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<p id="Job26_6"><b>6.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',38,17);">Job 38:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',139,8);">Psa 139:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',5,11);">Pro 5:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>destruction</b>—the abode of destruction, that is, of lost souls. <i>Hebrew, Abaddon</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',9,11);">Rev 9:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>no covering</b>—from God's eyes.
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<p id="Job26_7"><b>7.</b> Hint of the true theory of the earth. Its suspension in empty space is stated in the second clause. The north in particular is specified in the first, being believed to be the highest part of the earth (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',14,13);">Isa 14:13</a>). The northern hemisphere or vault of <i>heaven</i> is included; often compared to a stretched-out canopy (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,2);">Psa 104:2</a>). The chambers of the south are mentioned (<a onclick="return mV('Job',9,9);">Job 9:9</a>), that is, the southern hemisphere, consistently with the earth's globular form.
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<p id="Job26_8"><b>8. in...clouds</b>—as if in airy vessels, which, though light, do not burst with the weight of water in them (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',30,4);">Pro 30:4</a>).
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<p id="Job26_9"><b>9.</b> Rather, He <i>encompasseth</i> or <i>closeth.</i> God makes the clouds a veil to screen the glory not only of His person, but even of the exterior of His throne from profane eyes. His agency is everywhere, yet He Himself is invisible (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',18,11);">Psa 18:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,3);">104:3</a>).
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<p id="Job26_10"><b>10.</b> Rather, "He hath drawn a circular bound round the waters" (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',8,27);">Pro 8:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,9);">Psa 104:9</a>). The horizon seems a circle. Indication is given of the globular form of the earth.
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<br><br><b>until the day,</b> etc.—to the confines of light and darkness. When the light falls on our horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. UMBREIT and MAURER translate "He has <i>most perfectly</i> (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound between light and darkness" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',1,4,6,9);">Gen 1:4, 6, 9</a>): where the bounding of the light from darkness is similarly brought into proximity with the bounding of the waters.
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<p id="Job26_11"><b>11. pillars</b>—poetically for the mountains which seem to bear up the sky (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,32);">Psa 104:32</a>).
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<br><br><b>astonished</b>—namely, from terror. Personification.
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<br><br><b>his reproof</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,7);">Psa 104:7</a>). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff (<a onclick="return mV('Hab',3,10);">Hab 3:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,5);">Nah 1:5</a>).
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<p id="Job26_12"><b>12. divideth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',74,13);">Psa 74:13</a>). Perhaps at creation (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',1,9,10);">Gen 1:9-10</a>). The parallel clause favors UMBREIT, "He stilleth." But the <i>Hebrew</i> means "He moves." Probably such a "moving" is meant as that at the assuaging of the flood by the wind which "God made to pass over" it (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',8,1);">Gen 8:1</a> <a onclick="return mV('Psa',104,7);">Psa 104:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>the proud</b>—rather, "its pride," namely, of the sea (<a onclick="return mV('Job',9,13);">Job 9:13</a>).
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<p id="Job26_13"><b>13.</b> UMBREIT less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive": namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy the ark by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed crescent-shape like a boat (<a onclick="return mV('Job',3,8);">Job 3:8</a>, <i>Margin</i>). But better as <i>English Version</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',33,6);">Psa 33:6</a>).
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<br><br><b>crooked</b>—implying the oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. "Fleeing" or "swift" [UMBREIT] (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',27,1);">Isa 27:1</a>). This particular constellation is made to represent the splendor of all the stars.
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<p id="Job26_14"><b>14. parts</b>—Rather, "only the extreme boundaries of," etc., and how faint is the whisper that we hear of Him!
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<br><br><b>thunder</b>—the entire fulness. In antithesis to "whisper" (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',13,9,10,11);">1Cr 13:9-10, 12</a>).
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