mh_parser/vol_split/18 - Job/Chapter 26.xml

<div2 id="Job.xxvii" n="xxvii" next="Job.xxviii" prev="Job.xxvi" progress="12.94%" title="Chapter XXVI">
<h2 id="Job.xxvii-p0.1">J O B</h2>
<h3 id="Job.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Job.xxvii-p1">This is Job's short reply to Bildad's short
discourse, in which he is so far from contradicting him that he
confirms what he had said, and out-does him in magnifying God and
setting forth his power, to show what reason he had still to say,
as he did (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.13.2" parsed="|Job|13|2|0|0" passage="Job 13:2"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
2</scripRef>), "What you know, the same do I know also." I. He
shows that Bildad's discourse was foreign to the matter he was
discoursing of—though very true and good, yet not to the purpose,
<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.2-Job.26.4" parsed="|Job|26|2|26|4" passage="Job 26:2-4">ver. 2-4</scripRef>. II. That it was
needless to the person he was discoursing with; for he knew it, and
believed it, and could speak of it as well as he and better, and
could add to the proofs which he had produced of God's power and
greatness, which he does in the rest of his discourse (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.5-Job.26.15" parsed="|Job|26|5|26|15" passage="Job 26:5-15">ver. 5-13</scripRef>), concluding that, when
they had both said what they could, all came short of the merit of
the subject and it was still far from being exhausted, <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.14" parsed="|Job|26|14|0|0" passage="Job 26:14">ver. 14</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Job.xxvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.26" parsed="|Job|26|0|0|0" passage="Job 26" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Job.xxvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.1-Job.26.4" parsed="|Job|26|1|26|4" passage="Job 26:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.26.1-Job.26.4">
<h4 id="Job.xxvii-p1.7">Job's Reproof of Bildad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxvii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxvii-p2">1 But Job answered and said,   2 How hast
thou helped <i>him that is</i> without power? <i>how</i> savest
thou the arm <i>that hath</i> no strength?   3 How hast thou
counselled <i>him that hath</i> no wisdom? and <i>how</i> hast thou
plentifully declared the thing as it is?   4 To whom hast thou
uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p3">One would not have thought that Job, when
he was in so much pain and misery, could banter his friend as he
does here and make himself merry with the impertinency of his
discourse. Bildad thought that he had made a fine speech, that the
matter was so weighty, and the language so fine, that he had gained
the reputation both of an oracle and of an orator; but Job
peevishly enough shows that his performance was not so valuable as
he thought it and ridicules him for it. He shows,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p4">I. That there was no great matter to be
found in it (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.3" parsed="|Job|26|3|0|0" passage="Job 26:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
<i>How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?</i> This
is spoken ironically, upbraiding Bildad with the good conceit he
himself had of what he had said. 1. He thought he had spoken very
clearly, had <i>declared the thing as it is.</i> He was very fond
(as we are all apt to be) of his own notions, and thought they only
were right, and true, and intelligible, and all other notions of
the thing were false, mistaken, and confused; whereas, when we
speak of the glory of God, we cannot declare the thing as it is,
for we see it through a glass darkly, or but by reflection, and
shall not see him as he is till we come to heaven. Here <i>we
cannot order our speech concerning him,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.19" parsed="|Job|37|19|0|0" passage="Job 37:19"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 19</scripRef>. 2. He thought he had
spoken very fully, though in few words, that he had plentifully
declared it, and, alas! it was but poorly and scantily that he
declared it, in comparison with the vast compass and copiousness of
the subject.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p5">II. That there was no great use to be made
of it. <i>Cui bono</i>—<i>What good hast thou done</i> by all that
thou hast said? <i>How hast thou,</i> with all this mighty
flourish, <i>helped him that is without power?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.2" parsed="|Job|26|2|0|0" passage="Job 26:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. <i>How hast thou,</i>
with thy grave dictates, <i>counselled</i> him <i>that has no
wisdom?</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.3" parsed="|Job|26|3|0|0" passage="Job 26:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
Job would convince him, 1. That he had done God no service by it,
nor made him in the least beholden to him. It is indeed our duty,
and will be our honour, to speak on God's behalf; but we must not
think that he needs our service, or is indebted to us for it, nor
will he accept it if it come from a spirit of contention and
contradiction, and not from a sincere regard to God's glory. 2.
That he had done his cause no service by it. He thought his friends
were mightily beholden to him for helping them, at a dead lift, to
make their part good against Job, when they were quite at a loss,
and had no strength, no wisdom. Even weak disputants, when warm,
are apt to think truth more beholden to them than it really is. 3.
That he had done him no service by it. He pretended to convince,
instruct, and comfort, Job; but, alas! what he had said was so
little to the purpose that it would not avail to rectify any
mistakes, nor to assist him either in bearing his afflictions or in
getting good by them: "<i>To whom has thou uttered words?</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.4" parsed="|Job|26|4|0|0" passage="Job 26:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Was it to me
that thou didst direct thy discourse? And dost thou take me for
such a child as to need these instructions? Or dost thou think them
proper for one in my condition?" Every thing that is true and good
is not suitable and seasonable. To one that was humbled, and
broken, and grieved in spirit, as Job was, he ought to have
preached of the grace and mercy of God, rather than of his
greatness and majesty, to have laid before him the consolations
rather than the terrors of the Almighty. Christ knows how to speak
what is proper for the weary (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4" parsed="|Isa|50|4|0|0" passage="Isa 50:4">Isa. l.
4</scripRef>), and his ministers should learn rightly to divide the
word of truth, and not make those sad whom God would not have made
sad, as Bildad did; and therefore Job asks him, <i>Whose spirit
came from thee?</i> that is, "What troubled soul would ever be
revived, and relieved, and brought to itself, by such discourses as
these?" Thus are we often disappointed in our expectations from our
friends who should comfort us, but the Comforter, who is the Holy
Ghost, never mistakes in his operations nor misses of his end.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Job.xxvii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.5-Job.26.14" parsed="|Job|26|5|26|14" passage="Job 26:5-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Job.26.5-Job.26.14">
<h4 id="Job.xxvii-p5.6">The Wisdom and Power of God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxvii-p5.7">b. c.</span> 1520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Job.xxvii-p6">5 Dead <i>things</i> are formed from under the
waters, and the inhabitants thereof.   6 Hell <i>is</i> naked
before him, and destruction hath no covering.   7 He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, <i>and</i> 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, <i>and</i> 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
<i>are</i> parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of
him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p7">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 <i>glorifying God</i> as
Lord of all, and our Lord, <i>with one mind and one mouth</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.6" parsed="|Rom|15|6|0|0" passage="Ro 15:6">Rom. xv. 6</scripRef>); for to that we
have all attained, in that we are all agreed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p8">I. Many illustrious instances are here
given of the wisdom and power of God in the creation and
preservation of the world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p9">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.) <i>He hangs the earth
upon nothing,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.7" parsed="|Job|26|7|0|0" passage="Job 26:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. 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 <i>ponderibus
librata suis—poised by its own weight,</i> so says the poet; it is
<i>upheld by the word of God's power,</i> 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 <i>sets bounds to the
waters of the sea,</i> and compasses them in (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.10" parsed="|Job|26|10|0|0" passage="Job 26:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), that they may not <i>return
to cover the earth;</i> and these bounds shall continue unmoved,
unshaken, unworn, <i>till the day and night come to an end,</i>
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, <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.22" parsed="|Jer|5|22|0|0" passage="Jer 5:22">Jer. v.
22</scripRef>. 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
<i>forms dead things under the waters. Rephaim-giants, are formed
under the waters,</i> 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 <i>the pillars of
heaven</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.11" parsed="|Job|26|11|0|0" passage="Job 26:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
and even <i>divides the sea, and smites through its proud
waves,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.12" parsed="|Job|26|12|0|0" passage="Job 26:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>.
At the presence of the Lord the <i>sea flies</i> and the
<i>mountains skip,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.3-Ps.114.4" parsed="|Ps|114|3|114|4" passage="Ps 114:3,4">Ps.
cxiv. 3, 4</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" passage="Hab 3:6">Hab. iii.
6</scripRef>, &amp;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 <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.9-Ps.89.10" parsed="|Ps|89|9|89|10" passage="Ps 89:9,10">Ps.
lxxxix. 9, 10</scripRef>. 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.
<i>By his understanding he smiteth through Rahab;</i> so the word
is, and Rahab is often put for Egypt; as <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.87.4 Bible:Isa.51.9" parsed="|Ps|87|4|0|0;|Isa|51|9|0|0" passage="Ps 87:4,Is 51:9">Ps. lxxxvii. 4; Isa. li. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p10">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 <i>hell and destruction</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.6" parsed="|Job|26|6|0|0" passage="Job 26:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) 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 <i>before the Lord</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.11" parsed="|Prov|15|11|0|0" passage="Pr 15:11">Prov. xv. 11</scripRef>), and here to
be <i>naked before him,</i> to which it is probable there is an
allusion, <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.10" parsed="|Rev|14|10|0|0" passage="Re 14:10">Rev. xiv. 10</scripRef>,
where sinners are to be tormented <i>in the presence of the holy
angels</i> (who attended the Shechinah) and <i>in the presence of
the Lamb.</i> And this may give light to <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.5" parsed="|Job|26|5|0|0" passage="Job 26:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>, which some ancient versions read
thus (and I think more agreeably to the signification of the word
<i>Rephaim): Behold, the giants groan under the waters, and those
that dwell with them;</i> and then follows, <i>Hell is naked before
him,</i> typified by the drowning of the giants of the old world;
so the learned Mr. Joseph Mede understands it, and with it
illustrates <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.16" parsed="|Prov|21|16|0|0" passage="Pr 21:16">Prov. xxi. 16</scripRef>,
where hell is called <i>the congregation of the dead;</i> and it is
the same word which is here used, and which he would there have
rendered <i>the congregation of the giants,</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p11">3. If we look up to heaven above, we shall
see instances of God's sovereignty and power. (1.) <i>He stretches
out the north over the empty place,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.7" parsed="|Job|26|7|0|0" passage="Job 26:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. So he did at first, when <i>he
stretched out the heavens like a curtain</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.2" parsed="|Ps|104|2|0|0" passage="Ps 104:2">Ps. civ. 2</scripRef>); and he still continues to keep
them stretched out, and will do so till the general conflagration,
when they shall be <i>rolled together as a scroll,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.14" parsed="|Rev|6|14|0|0" passage="Re 6:14">Rev. vi. 14</scripRef>. 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
<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.12" parsed="|Ps|89|12|0|0" passage="Ps 89:12">Ps. lxxxix. 12</scripRef>. What an
empty place is this world in comparison with the other! (2.) He
keeps the waters that are said to be <i>above the firmament</i>
from pouring down upon the earth, as once they did (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.8" parsed="|Job|26|8|0|0" passage="Job 26:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>He binds up the
waters in his thick clouds,</i> 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 <i>the cloud is not
rent under them,</i> 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
(<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" passage="Job 26:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>He holds
back the face of his throne,</i> that light in which he dwells,
<i>and spreads a cloud upon it,</i> through which <i>he judges,</i>
<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.13" parsed="|Job|22|13|0|0" passage="Job 22:13"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 13</scripRef>. 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.</p>
<verse id="Job.xxvii-p11.8">
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxvii-p11.9">Lest his high throne, above expression bright,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxvii-p11.10">With deadly glory should oppress our sight,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxvii-p11.11">To break the dazzling force he draws a screen</l>
<l class="t1" id="Job.xxvii-p11.12">Of sable shades, and spreads his clouds between.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Job.xxvii-p11.13">Sir <span class="smallcaps" id="Job.xxvii-p11.14">R.
Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p12">(4.) The bright ornaments of heaven are the
work of his hands (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.13" parsed="|Job|26|13|0|0" passage="Job 26:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>By his Spirit,</i> the eternal Spirit that moved
upon the face of the waters, <i>the breath of his mouth</i>
(<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.6" parsed="|Ps|33|6|0|0" passage="Ps 33:6">Ps. xxxiii. 6</scripRef>), <i>he has
garnished the heavens,</i> 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 (<i>Os homini sublime dedit</i>—<i>To man he gave an erect
countenance</i>), has <i>therefore</i> 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 <i>the crooked serpent</i> 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
(<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.1" parsed="|Isa|27|1|0|0" passage="Isa 27:1">Isa. xxvii. 1</scripRef>), 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? <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.41.1-Job.41.34" parsed="|Job|41|1|41|34" passage="Job 41:1-34"><i>ch.</i> xli.</scripRef></p>
<p class="indent" id="Job.xxvii-p13">II. He concludes, at last, with an awful
<i>et cætera</i> (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.14" parsed="|Job|26|14|0|0" passage="Job 26:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>): <i>Lo, these are parts of his ways,</i> 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, <i>Lo, these are but
parts of his ways.</i> Something we hear of him by his works and by
his word; but, alas! <i>how little a portion is heard of him?</i>
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 (<scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.33" parsed="|Rom|11|33|0|0" passage="Ro 11:33">Rom. xi.
33</scripRef>); despairing to find the bottom, we must sit down at
the brink, and adore the depth: <i>O the depth of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!</i> 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 <i>the thunder of his power</i> (that
is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in
our own region, we cannot understand. See <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.4-Job.37.5" parsed="|Job|37|4|37|5" passage="Job 37:4,5"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 4, 5</scripRef>. Much less can we
understand the utmost force and extent of his power, the terrible
efforts and operations of it, and particularly <i>the power of his
anger,</i> <scripRef id="Job.xxvii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.11" parsed="|Ps|90|11|0|0" passage="Ps 90:11">Ps. xc. 11</scripRef>. God
is great, and we know him not.</p>
</div></div2>