Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 26:10

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 26:10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds — Perhaps this refers merely to the circle of the horizon, the line that terminates light and commences darkness, called here עד תכלית אור עם חשך ad tachlith or im chosech, "until the completion of light with darkness." Or, if we take תכלית tachlith here to be the same with תכלת techeleth, Exodus 25:4, and elsewhere, which we translate blue, it may mean that sombre sky-blue appearance of the horizon at the time of twilight, i.e., between light and darkness; the line where the one is terminating and the other commencing. Or, He so circumscribes the waters, retaining them in their own place, that they shall not be able to overflow the earth until day and night, that is, time itself, come to an end.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Bildad speaks and Job replies (25:1-26:14)

It seems either that Job’s friends have no answer to what he says or that they are tired of arguing with him and see no point in continuing the debate. Bildad has only a brief speech, to which Job replies, and Zophar does not speak at all.
In an effort to bring Job to repentance, Bildad impresses upon him the greatness of the God with whom Job argues. His kingdom is all-powerful, his armies of angelic beings more than can be counted (25:1-3). In addition, God is pure beyond human understanding, so that even the mighty universe is unclean in his sight. How then can one tiny human being claim to be sinless (4-6)?
Bildad’s statement shows that he still does not understand Job’s complaint. Job has never claimed to be sinless; only that he is not the terrible sinner that they, on the basis of his sufferings, accuse him of being. Tired of their words, Job, with biting sarcasm, thanks Bildad for his sympathetic understanding and congratulates him for his outstanding knowledge (26:1-4).
Job then shows that he knows as much about the power of God in the universe as Bildad does. No region is outside God’s sovereignty, not even the mysterious gloomy world of the dead (5-6). The heavens also are in his power. He controls the stars, the moon and the clouds. He turns darkness into light when the sun rises above the horizon each morning (7-10). On the one hand he sends earthquakes and storms; on the other he calms the raging sea and gives fair weather (11-13). If these are but the ‘whispers’ of God’s power, how great must be his ‘thunder’ (14)!

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOB'S THOUGHT REGARDING THE CREATION BY GOD'S SPIRIT

"He that encloseth the face of his throne, And spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, Unto the confines of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble. And are astonished at his rebuke. He stirreth up the sea with his power, And by his understanding smiteth through Rahab. By his Spirit the heavens are garnished; His hand hath pierced the swift serpent. Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: And how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

"By his Spirit" Corresponding with the great truth in Genesis 1:2, it is God's Spirit that performs all the wonders of Creation.

The general thought of this paragraph, according to Heavenor, is that, "Earth and sea alike bear witness to the mighty power of God; how mighty must be the God of an ordered universe"!The New Bible Commentary, Revised p. 435.

Some scholars find all kinds of references in this section to Babylonian mythology; but Job's statement in Job 26:7 absolutely contradicts the Babylonian Creation myth. "That myth supposed that the earth was a flat disc resting on the `great deep,' an ocean of waters, standing for Chaos."Asp, p. 359. Job taught that God suspended the earth on nothing (Job 26:7). We challenge anyone to find a more perpendicular contradiction of Babylonian mythology than that. Oh yes, some terms that are suggestive of ancient myths are found here, such as the "swift serpent," and "Rahab"; but the cosmology here is Biblical, it is absolutely not mythological.

Moffatt's translation of the last few lines of this chapter is beautiful:

"And all this is the mere fringe of his force, The faintest whisper we can hear of him!
Who knows then the full thunder of his power!"

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

He hath compassed the waters with bounds - The word rendered “compassed” (חוּג chûg), means to describe a circle - to mark out with a compass; and the reference is to the form of the horizon, which appears as a circle, and which seems to be marked out with a compass. A similar idea Milton has beautifully expressed in his account of the creation:

“Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand

He took the golden compasses, prepared

In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe

This universe, and all created things:

One foot he centered, and the other turned

Round through the vast profundity obscure;

And said, ‘Thus far extend thy bounds,

This be thy just cirrumference, O world! ‘“

Paradise Lost, B. vii.

In the passage before us, we have a statement of the ancient views of geography, and of the outer limits of the world. The earth was regarded as a circular plane, surrounded by waters, and those waters encompassed with perpetual night. This region of night - this outer limit of the world, was regarded as at the outer verge of the celestial hemisphere, and on this the concave of heaven seemed to rest. See Virgil, Geor. i. 247.

Illie, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox

Semper, et obtenta densantur, nocte tenebrae;

Aut redit a nobis Aurora, diemque redicited

No maps are preserved constructed at so early an age as the time of Job; but maps have been constructed from the descriptions in Strabo, Herodotus, and others, which furnish illustrations of the prevailing views on the subject of geography in their times. The oldest geographical writer among the Romans is Mela, who lived in the reign of Claudius, and who died 54 a.d. In his work, De Situ Orbis, he gives a description of the world according to the prevailing views, and probably embodied the results of former investigations and discoveries. “We find him adopting, in its fullest extent, the belief of a circumambient ocean; and when he speaks of the high earth in this middle part of it, and describes the sea as going under and washing round it, we are led to believe, that he viewed the earth as a sort of cone, or as a high mountain raised by its elevation above the abyss of waters. Having made a vague division of the world into East, West, and North, he distributed it into five zones, two temperate, one torrid, and two frigid. Only the first two were habitable; and that on the South was inacessible to man, on account of the torrid regions intervening. According to this system, however, there was on that side another earth, inhabited by people whom he calls Antichthones, from their opposite position with respect to that part which we inhabit.

The form and boundaries of the known and habitable earth are thus delineated: The Mediterranean, with its branches of the Straits, the Euxine, and the Palus Moeotis; its great tributaries, the Nile and the Tanais - these combine, in his conception, to form the grand line by which the universe is divided. The Mediterranean itself separates Europe from Africa; and these continents are bounded on the East, the former by the Tanais, the latter by the Nile; all beyond or to the East of these limits was Asia.” The following cut is probably a correct representation of his system, and gives the view of the world which prevailed in his time.

The ancient Arabs supposed the earth to be encompassed with an ocean. This ocean was called the “sea of darkness;” and the Northern sea was regarded as particularly pitchy and gloomy, and was called “the sea of pitchy darkness.” Edrisi, a distinguished Arabic geographer of the middle ages, supposed that the land floated on the sea, only a part of it appearing above the water, like an egg, floating in the water.

A map of the world, constructed during the Crusades, and embodying the views of the world prevailing then, exhibits the world, also, as surrounded by a dark ocean on every side - mare tenebrosum - and may be introduced as an illustration of this passage in Job. It is the map of Sanudo, annexed to Bongar’s “Gesta Dei per Francos.” In this map, Jerusalem, according to the prevailing views, “is placed in the center of the world, as the point to which every other object is to be referred; the earth is made a circle, surrounded by the ocean, the shores of which are represented as every where nearly equidistant from that spiritual capital, the site of which is, indeed, remarkable for its relation to the three continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Persia stands in its proper place; but India, under the modifications of Greater and Lesser, is confusedly repeated at different points, while the river Indus is mentioned in the text as the Eastern boundary of Asia. To the North, the castle of Gog and Magog, an Arabian feature, crowns a vast range of mountains, within which, it is said, that the Tartars had been imprisoned by Alexander the Great. The Caspian appears, with the bordering countries of Georgia, Hyrcania, and Albania; but these features stand nearly at the Northern boundary of the habitable earth. Africa has a sea to the South, stated, however, to be inaccessible, on account of the intensity of the heat. The European countries stand in their due place, not even excepting Russia and Scandinavia, though some oversights are observable in the manner in which the two are connected together.”

A similar view prevails among the modern Egyptians. “Of geography, the Egyptians, in general, and with very few exceptions, the best instructed among them, have scarcely any knowledge. Some few of the learned venture to assert that the earth is a globe, but they are opposed by a great majority of the 'Ooláma. The common opinion of all the Moos’lims is, that the earth is an almost plane expanse, surrounded by the ocean, which they say is encompassed by a chain of mountains called Cka'f.” Lane’s Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 281. A similar view of the world prevails, also, now among the Independent Nestortans, which may be regarded as the ancient prevailing opinion in Persia, handed down by tradition. “According to their views of geography,” says Dr. Grant, “the earth is a vast plain, surrounded by the ocean, in which a leviathan plays around, to keep the water in motion, and prevent its becoming stagnant and putrid; and this leviathan is of such enormous length, that his head follows his tail in the circuit round the earth! That I had crossed the ocean, where I must have encountered the monster, was a thing almost incredible.”

The Nestortans, p. 100. In ancient times, it was regarded as impossible to penetrate far into the sea surrounding the earth, on account of the thick darkness, and it was believed that after sailing for any considerable distance on that sea, the light would wholly fail. In the ninth century, the Arabic historians tell us, that the brothers Almagrurim sailed from Lisbon due west, designing, if possible, to discover the countries beyond the “sea of darkness.” For ten or eleven days, they steered westward; but, seeing a storm approaching, the light faint, and the sea tempestuous, they feared that they had come to the dark boundaries of the earth. They turned, therefore, south, sailed twelve days in that direction, and came to an island which they called Ganam, or the island of birds, but the flesh of these birds was too bitter to be eaten. They sailed on twelve days further, and came to another island, the king of which assured them that their pursuit was vain; that his father had sent an expedition for the same purpose; but that, after a month’s sail, the light had wholly failed, and they had been obliged to return. A great amount of interesting and valuable information, on the ancient views of the geography of the world, may be seen in the Encyclopedia of Geography, vol. i. pp. 9-68. It is not easy to ascertain what were the exact views in the time of Job, but it is quite probable, from the passage before us, that the earth was supposed to be surrounded by an ocean, and that the outer limits were encompassed with deep and impenetrable darkness.

Until the day and night come to an end - Margin, “end of light with darkness.” The true meaning is, to the confines of light and darkness. To the end, or extremity תכלית taklı̂yth - perfection, completions) of the light with the darkness; that is, where the light terminates in the darkness. Where that limit was, or how the sun was supposed to pass around it, or could pass over it, without illuminating it, it is now impossible to ascertain. The prevailing views on geography and astronomy must have been very obscure, and there must have been many things which they could not pretend to comprehend or explain.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 26

So Job answers now this little saying of Bildad. It's his third and final answer to Job, and it's really nothing.

Job answered and said, How have you helped him that is without power? how can you save me with an arm that has no strength? How have you counseled him who has no wisdom? how have you really declared the thing as it really is? To whom have you uttered your words? and whose spirit came from you? Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. He stretched out the north over an empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing ( Job 26:1-7 ).

Interesting statement, indeed, in that Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible, probably as old as the book of Genesis, maybe even older; it could have been written before Genesis. And Job declares that God hangs the earth upon nothing. Now compare that with the scientific theories of those days, the men of science in those days. The wise men had drawn pictures of the earth being held up by an elephant. Now I don't know what he was standing on. Or Atlas holding up the earth. But Job declares he hung it on nothing. Interesting indeed.

He binds up the waters in the thick clouds; and the clouds do not tear under them ( Job 26:8 ).

Now, how much water is contained in a cloud? And Job says, "Hey, He's got all that water bound up in the cloud and yet the cloud doesn't tear." Yet there is not much substance to a cloud, you can run your hand right through it. But yet He can hold all that water there in the cloud.

He holds back the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud upon it. He has compassed the waters with bounds [the oceans, he has set the boundaries for the oceans], until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divides the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smites through the proud. And by his Spirit he has garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? ( Job 26:9-14 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s denunciation of Bildad’s wisdom ch. 26

"Chapter 26 is one of the grandest recitals in the whole book. It is excelled only by the Lord’s speeches, as is fitting. It sounds well in Job’s mouth, and ends the dialogue, like the first movement of a symphony, with great crashing chords." [Note: Andersen, p. 216.]

Job began by rebuking Bildad’s attitude (Job 26:1-4). Sarcastically he charged Bildad with the same weakness and inability Bildad had attributed to all men (Job 26:2-3). Bildad’s words were not profound but quite superficial (Job 26:4).

"These verses contain Job’s harshest rejection of a friend’s counsel." [Note: Hartley, p. 362.]

Next, Job picked up the theme of God’s greatness that Bildad had introduced (Job 26:5-14). Some commentators have understood this pericope to be the words of Bildad or Zophar. However, the lack of textual reference to either Bildad or Zophar, plus the content of the section, which is more consistent with Job’s words than theirs, makes this an unattractive view. [Note: See Andersen, p. 216.] Job’s beautiful description of God’s omnipotence in these verses shows that he had a much larger concept of God than Bildad did (cf. Job 25:3; Job 25:5-6).

"Departed spirits" (Job 26:5) is literally rephaim in Hebrew. The Rephaim, meaning giants, were both the mythical gods and human warlords of ancient Ugaritic (Canaanite) culture. They were the elite, and the Canaanites thought that those of them who had died were the most powerful and worthy of the dead. [Note: Conrad L’Heureax, "The Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim," Harvard Theological Review 67 (1974):265-74.] Job said these trembled "under the waters" (i.e., in Sheol) because they are under God’s authority. "Abaddon" is a poetic equivalent for Sheol (cf. Job 26:6; Job 28:23; Job 31:12; Psalms 88:11 margin; Proverbs 15:11; Proverbs 27:20). Job viewed the earth as sustained only by God (Job 26:7). God bottles the rain in clouds, but they do not break (Job 26:8). Probably the circle in view (Job 26:11) is the horizon that appears as a boundary for the sun. The pillars of heaven (Job 26:11) are doubtless the mountains that in one sense appear to hold up the sky. "Rahab" was a mythical sea monster that was symbolic of evil (cf. Job 9:13). The "fleeing serpent" (Job 26:13) is a synonym for Rahab.

"God’s power over and knowledge of Sheol, His creation of outer space and the earth, His control of the clouds, His demarcating of the realms of light and darkness, His shaking of the mountains, His quelling of the sea, His destruction of alleged opposing deities-to call these accomplishments the bare outlines or fragmentary sketches of God’s activities [Job 26:14] gives an awareness of the vast immensity and incomprehensible infinity of God!" [Note: Zuck, Job, p. 119.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

He hath compassed the waters with bounds,.... Not the waters above the firmament, compassed by that, as if Job was contemplating on and discoursing about what is done in the heavens above; though the Targum seems to incline to this sense, paraphrasing the words,

"he hath decreed that the firmament should be placed upon the face of the waters unto the end of light, with darkness;''

but the waters of the sea, Job descending now to consider the waters of the great deep, and the wonderful restraint that is laid upon them; which is as astonishing as the binding up of the waters in the clouds without being rent by them; for this vast and unwieldy body of waters in the ocean Jehovah manages with as much ease as a mother or nurse does a newborn infant, makes the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, Job 38:8; he has as it were with a compass drawn a line upon the face of it; he has broke up for it its decreed place, and set bars, and doors, and bounds to its waves, that they, nay come no further than is his pleasure, as is observed in the same place; the bounds he hath compassed it with are the shores, rocks, and cliffs, so that the waters cannot return and cover earth, as they once did; yea, which is very surprising, he has placed the sand, as weak and fluid as it is, the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree; so that though its waves toss and roar, they cannot prevail, nor pass over it; which must be owing to the almighty power and sovereign will of God, who has given the sea a decree that its waters should not pass his commandment; and it must be ascribed to his promise and oath that the waters no more go over the earth to destroy it; see Psalms 104:9 Proverbs 8:27; until the dark and night come to an end; that is, as long as there will be the vicissitudes of day and night, till time shall be no more, as long as the world stands; for the those shall constitute so long are the ordinances of God, which shall never depart, and the covenant he has made, which shall never become void; wherefore, as long as they remain, the sea and its waters will be bounded as not to overflow the earth, Genesis 8:22; or "until the end of light with darkness" a; until both these have an end in the same form and manner they now have; otherwise, after the end of all things, there will be light in heaven, and darkness in hell. Aben Ezra interprets it thus,

"unto the place which is the end of light, for all that is above it is light, and below it the reverse;''

he seems to have respect to the place that divides the hemispheres, where when one is light the other is dark; and so others seem to understand it of such places or parts of the world as are half day and half night, and where one half of the year is light, and the other dark; but the first sense is best.

a עד תכלית אור עם חשך "usque ad finem lucis cum tenebris", Cocceius, Michaelis; so Targum & Sept.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.   6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.   7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.   8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.   9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.   10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.   11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.   12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.   13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.   14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

      The truth received a great deal of light from the dispute between Job and his friends concerning those points about which they differed; but now they are upon a subject in which they were all agreed, the infinite glory and power of God. How does truth triumph, and how brightly does it shine, when there appears no other strife between the contenders than which shall speak most highly and honourably of God and be most copious in showing forth his praise! It were well if all disputes about matters of religion might end thus, in glorifying God as Lord of all, and our Lord, with one mind and one mouth (Romans 15:6); for to that we have all attained, in that we are all agreed.

      I. Many illustrious instances are here given of the wisdom and power of God in the creation and preservation of the world.

      1. If we look about us, to the earth and waters here below, we shall see striking instances of omnipotence, which we may gather out of these verses. (1.) He hangs the earth upon nothing,Job 26:7; Job 26:7. The vast terraqueous globe neither rests upon any pillars nor hangs upon any axle-tree, and yet, by the almighty power of God, is firmly fixed in its place, poised with its own weight. The art of man could not hang a feather upon nothing, yet the divine wisdom hangs the whole earth so. It is ponderibus librata suis--poised by its own weight, so says the poet; it is upheld by the word of God's power, so says the apostle. What is hung upon nothing may serve us to set our feet on, and bear the weight of our bodies, but it will never serve us to set our hearts on, nor bear the weight of our souls. (2.) He sets bounds to the waters of the sea, and compasses them in (Job 26:10; Job 26:10), that they may not return to cover the earth; and these bounds shall continue unmoved, unshaken, unworn, till the day and night come to an end, when time shall be no more. Herein appears the dominion which Providence has over the raging waters of the sea, and so it is an instance of his power, Jeremiah 5:22. We see too the care which Providence takes of the poor sinful inhabitants of the earth, who, though obnoxious to his justice and lying at his mercy, are thus preserved from being overwhelmed, as they were once by the waters of a flood, and will continue to be so, because they are reserved unto fire. (3.) He forms dead things under the waters. Rephaim-giants, are formed under the waters, that is, vast creatures, of prodigious bulk, as whales, giant-like creatures, among the innumerable inhabitants of the water. So bishop Patrick. (4.) By mighty storms and tempests he shakes the mountains, which are here called the pillars of heaven (Job 26:11; Job 26:11), and even divides the sea, and smites through its proud waves,Job 26:12; Job 26:12. At the presence of the Lord the sea flies and the mountains skip,Job 26:26; Job 26:4. See Habakkuk 3:6, c. A storm furrows the waters, and does, as it were, divide them and then a calm smites through the waves, and lays them flat again. See Psalms 89:9; Psalms 89:10. Those who think Job lived at, or after, the time of Moses, apply this to the dividing of the Red Sea before the children of Israel, and the drowning of the Egyptians in it. By his understanding he smiteth through Rahab; so the word is, and Rahab is often put for Egypt; as Psalms 87:4; Isaiah 51:9.

      2. If we consider hell beneath, though it is out of our sight, yet we may conceive the instances of God's power there. By hell and destruction (Job 26:6; Job 26:6) we may understand the grave, and those who are buried in it, that they are under the eye of God, though laid out of our sight, which may strengthen our belief of the resurrection of the dead. God knows where to find, and whence to fetch, all the scattered atoms of the consumed body. We may also consider them as referring to the place of the damned, where the separate souls of the wicked are in misery and torment. That is hell and destruction, which are said to be before the Lord (Proverbs 15:11), and here to be naked before him, to which it is probable there is an allusion, Revelation 14:10, where sinners are to be tormented in the presence of the holy angels (who attended the Shechinah) and in the presence of the Lamb. And this may give light to Job 26:5; Job 26:5, which some ancient versions read thus (and I think more agreeably to the signification of the word Rephaim): Behold, the giants groan under the waters, and those that dwell with them; and then follows, Hell is naked before him, typified by the drowning of the giants of the old world; so the learned Mr. Joseph Mede understands it, and with it illustrates Proverbs 21:16, where hell is called the congregation of the dead; and it is the same word which is here used, and which he would there have rendered the congregation of the giants, in allusion to the drowning of the sinners of the old world. And is there any thing in which the majesty of God appears more dreadful than in the eternal ruin of the ungodly and the groans of the inhabitants of the land of darkness? Those that will not with angels fear and worship shall for ever with devils fear and tremble; and God therein will be glorified.

      3. If we look up to heaven above, we shall see instances of God's sovereignty and power. (1.) He stretches out the north over the empty place,Job 26:7; Job 26:7. So he did at first, when he stretched out the heavens like a curtain (Psalms 104:2); and he still continues to keep them stretched out, and will do so till the general conflagration, when they shall be rolled together as a scroll,Revelation 6:14. He mentions the north because his country (as ours) lay in the northern hemisphere; and the air is the empty place over which it is stretched out. See Psalms 89:12. What an empty place is this world in comparison with the other! (2.) He keeps the waters that are said to be above the firmament from pouring down upon the earth, as once they did (Job 26:8; Job 26:8): He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, as if they were tied closely in a bag, till there is occasion to use them; and, notwithstanding the vast weight of water so raised and laid up, yet the cloud is not rent under them, for then they would burst and pour out as a spout; but they do, as it were, distil through the cloud, and so come drop by drop, in mercy to the earth, in small rain, or great rain, as he pleases. (3.) He conceals the glory of the upper world, the dazzling lustre of which we poor mortals could not bear (Job 26:9; Job 26:9): He holds back the face of his throne, that light in which he dwells, and spreads a cloud upon it, through which he judges,Job 22:13; Job 22:13. God will have us to live by faith, not by sense; for this is agreeable to a state of probation. It were not a fair trial if the face of God's throne were visible now as it will be in the great day.

      (4.) The bright ornaments of heaven are the work of his hands (Job 26:13; Job 26:13): By his Spirit, the eternal Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, the breath of his mouth (Psalms 33:6), he has garnished the heavens, not only made them, but beautified them, has curiously bespangled them with stars by night and painted them with the light of the sun by day. God, having made man to look upward (Os homini sublime dedit--To man he gave an erect countenance), has therefore garnished the heavens, to invite him to look upward, that, by pleasing his eye with the dazzling light of the sun and the sparkling light of the stars, their number, order, and various magnitudes, which, as so many golden studs, beautify the canopy drawn over our heads, he may be led to admire the great Creator, the Father and fountain of lights, and to say, "If the pavement be so richly inlaid, what must the palace be! If the visible heavens be so glorious, what are those that are out of sight!" From the beauteous garniture of the ante-chamber we may infer the precious furniture of the presence-chamber. If stars be so bright, what are angels! What is meant here by the crooked serpent which his hands have formed is not certain. Some make it part of the garnishing of the heavens, the milky-way, say some; some particular constellation, so called, say others. It is the same word that is used for leviathan (Isaiah 27:1), and probably may be meant of the whale or crocodile, in which appears much of the power of the Creator; and why may not Job conclude with that inference, when God himself does so? Job 41:1-34; Job 41:1-34

      II. He concludes, at last, with an awful et cætera (Job 26:14; Job 26:14): Lo, these are parts of his ways, the out-goings of his wisdom and power, the ways in which he walks and by which he makes himself known to the children of men. Here, 1. He acknowledges, with adoration, the discoveries that were made of God. These things which he himself had said, and which Bildad had said, are his ways, and this is heard of him; this is something of God. But, 2. He admires the depth of that which is undiscovered. This that we have said is but part of his ways, a small part. What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is. After all the discoveries which God has made to us, and all the enquiries we have made after God, still we are much in the dark concerning him, and must conclude, Lo, these are but parts of his ways. Something we hear of him by his works and by his word; but, alas! how little a portion is heard of him? heard by us, heard from us! We know but in part; we prophesy but in part. When we have said all we can, concerning God, we must even do as St. Paul does (Romans 11:33); despairing to find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink, and adore the depth: O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! It is but a little portion that we hear and know of God in our present state. He is infinite and incomprehensible; our understandings and capacities are weak and shallow, and the full discoveries of the divine glory are reserved for the future state. Even the thunder of his power (that is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in our own region, we cannot understand. See Job 37:4; Job 37:5. Much less can we understand the utmost force and extent of his power, the terrible efforts and operations of it, and particularly the power of his anger,Psalms 90:11. God is great, and we know him not.