---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Job 26"
description: "CHAPTER 26   THIRD
SERIES.   :-. JOB"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/job/26"
---

CHAPTER 26

THIRD
SERIES.

. JOB'S REPLY.

**2, 3. without power . . . no
strength . . . no wisdom**—The negatives are used instead of the
positives, *powerlessness,* c., designedly (so [Isaiah 31:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/31/8)
[Deuteronomy 32:21](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/21)). Granting I am, as you
say ([Job 18:17](../../../kjv/job/18/17); [Job 15:2](../../../kjv/job/15/2)),
*powerlessness* itself, &c. "*How hast thou helped*
such a one?"
**savest**—supportest.

**3. plentifully . . . the thing as it
is**—rather, "abundantly—wisdom." Bildad had made
great pretensions to abundant wisdom. How has he shown it?

**4.** For whose instruction were
thy words meant? If for me I know the subject (God's omnipotence)
better than my instructor; is a sample of Job's knowledge of it.
**whose spirit**—not that
of God ([Job 32:8](../../../kjv/job/32/8)); nay, rather,
the borrowed sentiment of Eliphaz ([Job 4:17-19](../../../kjv/job/4/17-19);
[Job 15:14-16](../../../kjv/job/15/14-16)).

**5-14.** As before in the ninth and
twelfth chapters, Job had shown himself not inferior to the friends'
inability to describe God's greatness, so now he describes it as
manifested in hell (the world of the dead), [Job 26:5](../../../kjv/job/26/5);
[Job 26:6](../../../kjv/job/26/6); on earth, [Job 26:6](../../../kjv/job/26/6); in the sky, [Job 26:6](../../../kjv/job/26/6); the sea, [Job 26:12](../../../kjv/job/26/12);
the heavens, [Job 26:13](../../../kjv/job/26/13).
**Dead things are
formed**—Rather, "The souls of the dead (Rephaim) tremble."
Not only does God's power exist, as Bildad says ([Job 26:13](../../../kjv/job/26/13)), "in high places" (heaven), but reaches to the
region of the dead. *Rephaim* here, and in [Proverbs 21:16](../../../kjv/proverbs/21/16);
[Isaiah 14:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/9), is from a *Hebrew*
root, meaning "to be weak," hence "deceased"; in
[Genesis 14:5](../../../kjv/genesis/14/5) it is applied to the
Canaanite giants; perhaps in derision, to express their *weakness,*
in spite of their gigantic size, as compared with Jehovah [UMBREIT];
or, as the imagination of the living magnifies apparitions, the term
originally was applied to *ghosts,* and then to *giants* in
general [MAGEE].
**from under**—UMBREIT
joins this with the previous word "tremble *from beneath*"
(so [Isaiah 14:9](../../../kjv/isaiah/14/9)). But the
Masoretic text joins it to "under the waters." Thus the
place of the dead will be represented as "under the waters"
([Psalms 18:4](../../../kjv/psalms/18/4); [Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5));
and the waters as under the earth ([Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5)). MAGEE well
translates thus: "The souls of the dead tremble; (the places)
under the waters, and their inhabitants." Thus the Masoretic
connection is retained; and at the same time the parallel clauses are
evenly balanced. "The inhabitants of the places under the
waters" are those in Gehenna, the lower of the two parts into
which Sheol, according to the Jews, is divided; they answer to
"destruction," that is, the place of the wicked in [Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5), as "Rephaim" ([Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5)) to "Hell" (Sheol) ([Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5)). "Sheol" comes from a *Hebrew* root—"ask,"
because it is insatiable ([Psalms 18:5](../../../kjv/psalms/18/5)); or "ask as a loan to be returned," implying
Sheol is but a *temporary* abode, previous to the resurrection;
so for *English Version* "formed," the *Septuagint*
and *Chaldee* translate; *shall be born,* or *born again,*
implying the dead are to be *given back* from Sheol and *born
again into a new state* [MAGEE].

**6.** ([Job 38:17](../../../kjv/job/38/17);
[Psalms 139:8](../../../kjv/psalms/139/8); [Proverbs 5:11](../../../kjv/proverbs/5/11)).
**destruction**—the abode
of destruction, that is, of lost souls. *Hebrew, Abaddon* ([Proverbs 5:11](../../../kjv/proverbs/5/11)).
**no covering**—from God's
eyes.

**7.** Hint of the true theory of
the earth. Its suspension in empty space is stated in the second
clause. The north in particular is specified in the first, being
believed to be the highest part of the earth (). The northern hemisphere or vault of *heaven* is
included; often compared to a stretched-out canopy (). The chambers of the south are mentioned (), that is, the southern hemisphere, consistently with the
earth's globular form.

**8. in . . . clouds**—as if in
airy vessels, which, though light, do not burst with the weight of
water in them ([Proverbs 30:4](../../../kjv/proverbs/30/4)).

**9.** Rather, He *encompasseth*
or *closeth.* God makes the clouds a veil to screen the glory
not only of His person, but even of the exterior of His throne from
profane eyes. His agency is everywhere, yet He Himself is invisible
([Psalms 18:11](../../../kjv/psalms/18/11); [Psalms 104:3](../../../kjv/psalms/104/3)).

**10.** Rather, "He hath drawn
a circular bound round the waters" ([Proverbs 8:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/8/27);
[Psalms 104:9](../../../kjv/psalms/104/9)). The horizon seems a
circle. Indication is given of the globular form of the earth.
**until the day,** c.—to
the confines of light and darkness. When the light falls on our
horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. UMBREIT
and MAURER translate "He
has *most perfectly* (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound
(taken from the first clause) between light and darkness"
(compare [Genesis 1:4](../../../kjv/genesis/1/4) [Genesis 1:6](../../../kjv/genesis/1/6);
[Genesis 1:9](../../../kjv/genesis/1/9)): where the bounding of
the light from darkness is similarly brought into proximity with the
bounding of the waters.

**11. pillars**—poetically for the
mountains which seem to bear up the sky ().
**astonished**—namely, from
terror. Personification.
**his reproof**— (). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff ([Habakkuk 3:10](../../../kjv/habakkuk/3/10);
[Nahum 1:5](../../../kjv/nahum/1/5)).

**12. divideth**— (). Perhaps at creation ([Genesis 1:9](../../../kjv/genesis/1/9);
[Genesis 1:10](../../../kjv/genesis/1/10)). The parallel clause
favors UMBREIT, "He
stilleth." But the *Hebrew* means "He moves."
Probably such a "moving" is meant as that at the assuaging
of the flood by the wind which "God made to pass over" it
([Genesis 8:1](../../../kjv/genesis/8/1); [Psalms 104:7](../../../kjv/psalms/104/7)).
**the proud**—rather, "its
pride," namely, of the sea ([Psalms 104:7](../../../kjv/psalms/104/7)).

**13.** UMBREIT
less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive":
namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining
stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth
strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the
dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy the ark
by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed
crescent-shape like a boat ([Job 3:8](../../../kjv/job/3/8),
*Margin*). But better as *English Version* ([Job 3:8](../../../kjv/job/3/8)).
**crooked**—implying the
oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. "Fleeing" or
"swift" [UMBREIT]
([Isaiah 27:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/27/1)). This particular
constellation is made to represent the splendor of all the stars.

**14. parts**—Rather, "only
the extreme boundaries of," c., and how faint is the whisper
that we hear of Him!
**thunder**—the entire
fulness. In antithesis to "whisper" ([1 Corinthians 13:9](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/13/9)
[1 Corinthians 13:10](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/13/10); [1 Corinthians 13:12](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/13/12)).

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