Job 26

CHAPTER 26

Job (26:1–14)

1–4 Throughout his various speeches Job has expressed the desire to be vindicated by God. But Bildad has just told him that it would be impossible for him to be vindicated; man was just a maggot and could never be righteous before God (Job 25:46). Angered by Bildad's words, Job in these verses replies with sarcasm. He speaks as if Bildad was a great and wise man coming to the aid of a weak and foolish fellow! Job, of course, means the opposite of what he actually says.

5–14 In these verses, Job amplifies Bildad's thoughts about the awesomeness of God (25:2–3). The words Job uses here are figurative; he is not giving scientific statements about the earth's creation.

Even though God is high up in heaven, He can see down into the grave; Death (the grave) is naked (open) before God (verse 6). God spreads out the northern skies and suspends the earth over nothing (verse 7). All these comments by Job about the clouds, about the pillars of the heavens quaking, about the sea being churned up, are ways of describing the greatness of God's power in creating the universe and also in maintaining it⁵⁵ (verses 8–13). In verse 13, Job says, “By his breath the skies become fair.” This refers to God's power to control wind and weather, and reminds us of Jesus, who was able to calm storms (Mark 4:35–41).

But all these proofs of God's greatness and power, says Job, are but the tiniest portion—the outer fringe—of His works (verse 14). They are only the things humans can see. What God has revealed to us in nature is merely a faint whisper compared to what He has not revealed. How then can human beings understand the real extent of God's power? They cannot.