January 21, 2019
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Reading along with us in Job? Here’s today’s reading:
Job 26 (ESV)
Then Job answered and said:
2 “How you have helped him who has no power!
How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose breath has come out from you?....Continue Reading
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It appears that Job has had his limit on the counsel of his friends because Bildad is cut short (six verses) and the next several chapters are Job speaking until chapter 32 where we hear from Elihu.
Job begins with sarcasm of his friends ‘timely’ counsel and then goes into a wonderful description of the majesty of God.
The images in these verses all focus on God’s power and echo a similar description in Job’s first response to Bildad (see 9:5-13). The created world reveals not only that some things are hidden (26:5-10) but also the vast implications of God’s power as the one who created and governs everything. Rahab (v. 12) and the fleeing serpent (v. 13) refer to the same being and make the point that God is and will be sovereign over any powerful figure opposed to him (note that in Isaiah, God uses “Rahab” as another name for Egypt, see Isa. 30:7). If it is by God’s power and understanding that he rules creation (Job 26:12), Job concludes by asking how it is that, as one who merely hears the thunder of his power, any person could presume to understand it (v. 14).
Lane T. Dennis, ed., ESV Study Bible, The: English Standard Version, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “Job 26”.
Psalm 8 O Lord O Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth!
10 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the sea;
by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 Behold, 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
As Job considers the “help” his friends have given him, here he asks them to consider where there counsel has come from and if they would consider his state and whether their counsel has been right for it, all with a sarcastic tone. And as he references creation, he points out that we are all small before the God who has done such great things. As Paul says in Romans 1 that God’s eternal power and divine nature are revealed in creation, making it a great reference point for praise and worship as well as a source for humility and trust. I like the picture of clouds being filled with water and not falling under their own weight. As Job says, who can understand the thunder of his power? For me, there is not a much better source for wonder and amazement than creation. And if all these things are just the fringes of His power, how much greater is He? How much more worthy of trust and obedience?