Vv 1-4: Job says scornfully that he has received no help from
Bildad, and charges him with borrowing his arguments from wiser men (perhaps
Eliphaz, who had claimed inspiration: Job 4:12-16; 15:10,11).
Job 26:5
Vv 5-14: The demonstration of God's unfathomable greatness.
Who can claim to know His ways? No one.
DEAD: "Rephaim": Psa 88:10n; Isa 26:14,19.
IN DEEP ANGUISH: "Chuwl" - to twist, turn, as in
childbearing. LXX has "born": sw Job 15:20; Psa 48:6; Isa 2:17,18;
66:7.
Job 26:6
All things, living and dead, are subject to God. Not even the
grave can frustrate His designs.
Job 26:9
The same clouds which reveal God's greatness also hide His
presence (Psa 18:11).
Job 26:11
PILLARS: The mighty mountains, appearing to support the
very heavens.
Job 26:12
SEA: Poss ref to "Yam", great Canaanite god of the sea;
a great sea-monster.
RAHAB: Sig lit "pride" or "boasting". (1) Egypt, in Psa
87:4; 89:10; Isa 30:7. (2) Apparently, a mythological sea-monster in Isa 51:9;
Job 9:13; 26:12. Poss ref to the crocodile of the Nile, sym of proud Egypt and
her gods. See Lesson, Rahab (Egypt),
and Lesson, Leviathan -- esp the "Creation"
myth.
Job 26:13
THE GLIDING SERPENT: "Draco", dragon, sign of zodiac
(cp Job 38:31,32). God's hand "coiled" ("chuwl": twisted, not "pierced") the
serpent in the heavens. This expression "twisting serpent" is a term used
elsewhere of Leviathan (Isa 27:1), which may indicate that Rahab is being
equated with Leviathan (Job 3:8; 41:1).
Job 26:14
OUTER FRINGE: Lit "outskirts", as of a vast garment.
Only a small portion of God's power and works.
THE THUNDER OF HIS POWER: These day-to-day physical
wonders were just a "whisper" of God's power. Man can scarcely fathom them, much
less the "thunder" of His greatest works.