ChristadelphianBooksOnline
David Baird
The Education of Job

Chapter 26 - The Third Cycle of Speeches - Job

Job's Reply to Bildad

	26:1-4	Job's scornful reproof of Bildad
	26:5-14	The incomprehensible majesty and power of God
	26:1-4	Job's scornful reproof of Bildad

There is no doubt that Job has the upper hand and this is reflected in the scornful, some would say sarcastic, opening of his response to Bildad. However, despite Job's highhandedness with Bildad, he has not lost his overall perspective. All the expressions he uses reinforce his diminished status in the presence of God. He does not presume to know as much as God but he, in addressing Bildad (note the use of singular pronouns), has no hesitation in mocking Bildad's final contribution.

The general tone of his introduction is, "How did you manage to gain a reputation for providing wise counsel?" Job is simply repeating the heavy hits of 12:2 (i.e. When you die the world will be deprived of your incalculable wisdom) and 16:2 (i.e. When it comes to comforting you are total failures).

Job, as proposed by the Authorised Version, flings a series of questions at the mute Bildad:

How have you helped him (i.e. Job) who is without power (kowach)? Kowach is used by Job to describe God's power (9:4, 23:6, 24:22, 26:12) and his own comparative puniness (6:11-12);
How have you helped the one who is without strength (oz - used by Job of God in 12:16)?;
How have you counselled the one who lacks wisdom (hokma)? Hokma is reverently attributed to God in 12:12-13 and sarcastically to his friends in 12:2 and 13:5; and
How have you declared sound knowledge (tushiya - used by Job of God in 12:16 and of himself, in a demeaning way, in 6:13)?

He then delivers the ultimate insult to any person who purports to be intelligent: "Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?" (26:4 NIV). He could be declaring that Bildad is not speaking under divine inspiration but the tenor of this introduction seems considerably less complimentary. Remember, it was Bildad who claimed that wisdom, and therefore his wisdom, comes from a consideration of the teachings of the ancients (8:8-10). Perhaps Job is suggesting that Bildad has read the wrong books!

Whatever the correct meaning, Job's words are definitely not designed to flatter.

26:5-14 The incomprehensible majesty and power of God

Job, while dismissing Bildad as a counsellor, still acknowledged, in the terms he used, his personal subservience to God. This seems to have prompted Job to recall the majesty and power of God. He could well be indicating to Bildad how woefully deficient Bildad's knowledge was of God's supremacy. Bildad's feeble, though accurate, attempt to exclaim the omnipotence of God, inspires Job to expand on this theme.

Job's doxology is an amazing conglomeration of cosmological expressions. It incorporates the language of the ancient myths as well as encompassing a wide range of natural elements - earth, clouds, sky etc. Free from combating his friends, now that he has verbally crushed Bildad, Job's eloquence is as gifted as his three friends at their best.

Verse 5	"The shades (*repaim) tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof" (Sonc). The repaim*, according to the opinions of the ancient Hebrews and Phoenicians, were the dead inhabitants of the netherworld (TWOT, Ges). The verse is figurative because Job had openly confessed to the mortality of man (7:10, 14:10) and salvation by way of resurrection (14:13-15, 19:2-26). The point is that God's presence and power reaches even into the mystical netherworld.

Verse 6	*Sheol* (AV "Hell") is exposed to Him as is *abaddon* (AV "destruction"). *Abaddon* is considered to be a synonym for *sheol* and speaks of the place of destruction. Proverbs 15:11 appears to be based on this verse. Revelation 9:11 pointedly uses *Abaddon* in reference to the abyss (see "Thirteen Lectures on The Apocalypse" p71-72 by Brother Roberts for an explanation of the abyss).

Verse 7	He stretches the north (*sapon) over the void (AV "empty place" - Heb tohu* - Gen 1:2 "void") and hangs the earth on nothingness. *Sapon*, in Canaanite mythology, was the meeting place of the gods (Isa 14:13). God even has control over the most sinister of forces. All powers are dependent on the true God for their existence. Alternatively, and less dramatically, the north could be a reference to the northern skies (Delitzsch). Secondly, did Job believe, as we do, that the earth is suspended in space or is he affirming some ancient tradition? While the commentators disagree with each other on this question, it is not unlikely that Job had attained a more accurate view of the universe especially when one considers the advances astronomy had made in Babylon and Egypt. This is borne out by Job's words of 9:7-10.

Verse 8	God's awesome power over the clouds is declared.

Verse 9	His throne (dwelling place - Psa 103:19) is hidden from mortal eyes.

Verse 10	This is not a particularly clear verse. The inference is that God knows the extremities or has fixed the boundaries of light and darkness. The ancient tradition refers to the boundary where the earth, surrounded by water, ends and the region of impenetrable darkness begins. There is also a possible link with Day 2 of Creation (Gen 1:6-8).

Verse 11	The pillars of heaven (i.e. the earth or the lofty mountains on which the heavens rest) tremble at the rebuke of God (Psa 29:8, 104:32).

Verse 12	God churns up the sea with His power and by His wisdom he cut *Rahab* (AV "proud") in pieces. Again Job could be alluding to the ancient myths. *Rahab* (see notes on 9:13) can be aligned with Tiamat, the monster-dragon who personifies the raging sea. While Job does not endorse such nonsense as truth, he is again resorting to exaggerated language to exclaim the greatness of Almighty God.

Verse 13	So powerful is God that His breath made the heavens beautiful ("luminous" JB) and His "hand transfixed the Fleeing Serpent" (JB). Who or what is the Fleeing Serpent? It could be another term for Tiamat, whose defeat reputedly enabled light once more to shine, or it may be a reference to another mythological creature who has eluded modern research or even, as Brother Mansfield suggests, a constellation.

Andersen calls 26:5-13 a "pastiche of phrases from several traditions." Why does Job appear to give some sort of credibility to the legends of his time? It reads somewhat bizarrely.

Firstly, Job does not endorse these myths as statements of truth. As noted earlier, he believes in the supremacy and unity of God as well as salvation through Him by resurrection. Job addresses no statement, appeal or otherwise, to these legendary creatures of power. Secondly, Job, as Christ did in Luke 16:19-31, uses the expressions and suspect beliefs of his day to teach a divine truth. The use of such language was designed to highlight the conclusion he was leading Bildad to.

This conclusion is wonderfully enunciated in verse 14:

"Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" (NKJV)