Bible Commentaries
Job 26

Verses 1-14

We come next to Job's answer. The reply to Bildad occupies but one chapter, which is characterized from beginning to end by scorn for the man who had no more to say. In a series of fierce exclamations Job revealed the impotence of all that his friend had said to help him. Then, to show the poverty of Bildad's argument, he spoke of the greatness of God to prove that he knew it, and even more perfectly than his friends. God's power is exercised in the underworld. The "shades tremble," the grave "is naked," destruction has "no covering." The whole material fabric is upheld simply by His power. The mysteries of controlled waters, and light and darkness are in the sphere of His government. The sweeping storm and its disappearance are alike by His power and spirit. Having thus, in almost overwhelming poetic beauty, suggested his consciousness of the greatness and government of God, Job declared that all these things are but the "outskirts of His ways," that, after all, everything that man is conscious of is but "a whisper" of God. The "thunder of His power" evidently is beyond human comprehension.