Bible Commentaries
Job 26

Verses 1-4

Introduction

After his answer to Bildad (Job 26:1-Numbers :) Job describes the greatness of God even more impressively and widely than Bildad (Job 26:5-2 Chronicles :).

The Vanity of Bildad’s Words

Job responds to Bildad (Job 26:1). His answer sounds sarcastic. In his speeches he has shown how he searches for justification, but Bildad says in cold blood that this is not possible. Job acknowledges that he is someone who has no power, that he is weak (Job 26:2). But what a great help he has received from Bildad. His arm hung down powerless, but fortunately, Bildad was there to redeem him. Such a friend brings you something. And then the counsel Bildad gave to the poor Job who lacked wisdom (Job 26:3). Bildad has not been frugal with it, but has “abundantly provided” insight. Job says as it were: ‘I know nothing, of course. But what a wonderful light have you shed over my situation. It’s all clear now, you know.’

But to whom did Bildad actually reveal his words (Job 26:4)? Bildad has spoken all his words to a man in deep distress. What he said did not help Job and give him strength and certainly did not relieve his misery, but increased his suffering. Instead of oil and wine they sprinkled salt in his wounds. Bildad’s words have not helped to solve the dark enigma of his present suffering. All the words said to Job by his friends have been misplaced and have proved the bankruptcy of their wisdom.

And what is the origin of Bildad’s words? What spirit prompted them, and went out from him in the words he spoke? It is clear that Bildad is not a messenger of God. The speeches of Bildad and his friends were not inspired by God, but by their own thoughts about God. Bildad’s speech breathes the spirit of Eliphaz (Job 4:17). What the friends said does not correspond in any way to how God really deals with a man who is immersed in suffering. Therefore God’s wrath also ignites against the friends (Job 42:7-1 Samuel :).

Verses 5-6

God Dominates the Depths

Bildad has spoken about God’s greatness in the heights, Job here speaks about God’s greatness in the depths. It relates to demonic powers, to the Sheol, the realm of death, and its inhabitants (Job 26:5). The lost are also under the power of God. We do not see them, they are in Abaddon, the place of destruction, but they are not beyond His sight. He sees them and knows them in full.

In His time they will rise up trembling. Wherever they may be, He will call them forth by His power to judge them (Revelation 20:13). In the kingdom of the dead it is not satan who reigns, but God (Psalms 139:8; Philippians 2:10). Everything is open to God, including the realm of death; nothing is hidden from Him (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11; Hebrews 4:13).

Verses 7-13

God Rules Over the Universe

Job continues his description of the greatness of God, now looking north and upward (Job 26:7). He sees the vast expanse of the universe. He looks north – the place from which God reigns (Isaiah 14:13-2 Chronicles :) – the northern ceiling of the heavens, which is like a curtain overhanging the expanse. In that vast expanse of emptiness, where nothing can be hanged on, the earth hangs. God has hung the globe “on nothing”.

That the earth “hangs” is an established fact. If Scripture mentions anything about creation, it is God’s truth. Scientific ‘truth’ is different. Scientific language is quickly outdated. Scientific conclusions have to be rewritten regularly because new insights destroy the previous ones. The Bible, inspired by God and therefore faultless, is not written in scientific language, but in everyday language and never needs to be changed. Everything God has said remains current for all ages and generations (2 Timothy 3:16-Esther :).

Thus God also wraps up the waters together in the clouds (Job 26:8; cf. Proverbs 30:4), without the cloud tearing through its weight. It is God who gathers the fumes of the earth into thick clouds, as it were the jars of heaven (Job 38:37). It is His way of giving rain on earth wherever He wills (cf. Jeremiah 10:13; Psalms 104:3).

Above the clouds is God’s throne (Job 26:9; cf. Psalms 97:2). Of course this is meant to be symbolic, because even without clouds the throne of God is invisible. The throne is the center from which creation is ruled (cf. Job 1:6-2 Kings :). Man, with all his knowledge and ability, is incapable of discovering Him. He also excludes God in his research into the origin and progress of the universe. He is willfully ignorant (2 Peter 3:5). As a result, he has fallen into the foolishness of evolution theory.

God not only controls the water above the earth’s surface, but also the water on the earth’s surface (Job 26:10). The water above the earth is held by God in clouds. The water on earth is held by God within the limits set by Him (Psalms 104:9; Jeremiah 5:22).

Also in another sense God has drawn a boundary over the surface of the water. That boundary is the horizon. We become aware of this when we stand on the shore of an ocean. If we look into the distance, we see the horizon. We cannot look any further. There is the boundary between the light sky and the dark sea, the boundary between the water in the cloud sky and the water in the sea.

Also the impressive, massive, unshakable mountains, rising high above the landscape and touching the heaven, are under His authority (Job 26:11). They are poetically called “the pillars of heaven”, as if the heaven is resting on them. But when He rebukes them, and we might think of an earthquake, they tremble (Exodus 19:18). Of all that imposing nothing remains. Only His majesty above all else is permanent.

Then there is also His power in the wind with which He whips up the sea (Job 26:12; Psalms 107:25; Isaiah 51:15; Jeremiah 31:35). With the same authority He also restrains the wind and causes “the storm to be still” (Psalms 107:29). What is attributed to God here we see the Lord Jesus doing in the Gospels (Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:39). It is one of the many proofs that the Lord Jesus is God.

God is not only great in His omnipotence and majesty, but also in His clearness (Job 26:13). The Spirit of God gives that clearness in heaven. We see the clearness of the sky, the clouds, the heavenly bodies. David is deeply impressed by it: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained” (Psalms 8:3). God creates, controls and delivers (Isaiah 27:1; Revelation 20:2).

That clearness was lost by “the quick [or: fleeing] serpent”, the devil (Revelation 12:9), when he brought sin into the world. But God is in Christ the Victor over the devil. He will renew the surface of the earth (Psalms 104:30) and restore creation to its original clearness. Then the devil will be bound and the corruption of creation will be taken away (Romans 8:21).

Verse 14

There Is Much More

After all that has been said about the heavens and the earth, it must also be said that these are but part of His ways. It is, so to speak, only the glory of the hem of His garments (Isaiah 6:1). In creation only “His eternal power and divine nature” are seen (Romans 1:20). These are the limits of God’s power that a man can see. He cannot see any further. Reality is so much greater than a man can comprehend, let alone describe it. In order to see more, man needs the revelation of the Spirit.

The language God speaks in creation is clear and overwhelming (Psalms 19:2-Judges :). They are visual words. Yet they say so little compared to the fullness that is in Him. In comparison with Who God really is, they are merely whispering words. If these “fringes of His ways” show us only a glimpse of His infinite power, how could anyone understand “His mighty thunder”? Here Job means the full unfolding of the power of God.

Man is incapable of understanding God’s power. Who is not impressed by an approaching thunderstorm with deafening thunderclaps and blinding flashes of light? But what do we actually understand of the power of God Who controls it? If God showed His full power, man would be blown away, wiped out, crushed and consumed.

The New Testament believer is able to see more of God than just His eternal power and divine nature. He has received the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit he is able to know the thoughts of God, “for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Children of God can behold God’s glory in Christ, the “glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).