Chapter XXVI
THIKI) SERIES.
viz., of morning, the light, which is as terrible to them is darkness ("the shadow of death") is to other men. IS-ai. In tliese verses Job quotes the opinions of his adversaries Ironically; he (juoted ttiem so before (cli. 1. 21. 7-21). In v. Za-Zl he slates his ort-n observation as Uiu opposite. You
Ver. 1-14. Job's Reply. 3, 3. without power ... no strength . . . no wi.srtoiii—The negatives are used Instead of the positiv<'s, powertcssness, itc, designedly (no Isaiali31. S; Deuteronomy 32. 21). Granting I am, as yoa
, 3-29
JoUa Heply to Bildaa. JOB XXVII. Protesteik Iius Sinca'tiy.
tion (Genesis 1. 9, 10). The parallel clause favours Umivueit, "He stilleth." But t\\eHebrew means He moves. l'rol>- ably such a "moving" is meant as that at the ussuayituj of the flood by the wind which " God made to pass over"
Bay {ch. IS. 17; 15. 2), poiuerlessness itself, &c. How hast thou
helped .such a one ? savest—suppoi test. plcntiftiUy . . . the tiling as it is—Rather, "abundantly—wisdom." Biidad had made great pretensions to abundant wisduin. How nas he shown it? i. For whose instruction were thy words meant? If for me, 1 know the suljject (God's omnip^tence) better tlian my instructor; {v. 5-14) is a sample
it (Genesis 8. 1 ; Psalm 104. 7). the proud—Rather, its pride,
viz., of the sea (ch. 9. 13.). 13. Umbreit less simply, " By His breath He maketh the lieavens to revive:" viz.. His wind dissipates the clouds, whicli obscured tlie sliining
of Job's knowledge of it. wliose spirit—not that of God
stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," i. e., obscures the north constellation, tho dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy tlie ark by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed crescent-shape like a boat-
(ch. 32. 8); nay, rather, the borrowed sentiment of Eliphaz
(ch. 4. 17-19 ; 15. IJ-lfi). 5-1-1:. As before in ch. 9. and 12., Job had shown himself not inferior to tlie friends' in-
ability to describe God's greatness, so now he describes it
as manifested in hell (tlie world of tlie dead ), 5, li ; on earth,
7; in the sky, 8-11 ; the sea, 12; tlie lieavens, 13. Dead things are formedRather, "Tlie souls of the dead (Rephaiin) tremble." Not only daes God's power exist,
(ch.3. 8, Margin). But better as JEnglish FcJ-st'ore (Psalm 33.
6). crooked—Impl.ying the oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. " Fleeing" or "swift" [Umhkeit] (Isaiali 27. 1). This particular constellation is made to represent the splendour of all tlie stars. 1-t. parts—Rather, "only the extreme boundarieB of, &c., and how faint is the w/iis-per that we hear of Him !" tliunder—Tlie entire fulness, in antithesis to " wlaisper" (1 Corinthians 13. 9, 10, 12).
as Bildad says (ch. 2.5. 2), " in high places" yieaven), but reaches to tlie region of tlie dead. Rcphaim here, and Proverbs 21. lU ; Isaiah H. 9, is from a Hebrew root, mean-
ing to tie weak, hence deceased ; in Genesis 11. 5 it is applied
to the Caiiaauite ijiaiila; perhaps in derision, to express
their weakness, in si)ite of tlieir gigantic size, as compared with Jehovah [Umukeit]; or as the imagination of the