Job s Reply to Bildad. God s Greatness Described. Job 26:1-14

Transcription

1 1 Job s Reply to Bildad God s Greatness Described Job 26:1-14

2 2 Text: Job 26:1-14, Job s Reply to Bildad God s Greatness Described 1. Then Job replied: 2. How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the person who has no strength! 3. How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight! 4. To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth? 5. The dead tremble those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 6. The underworld is naked before God; the place of destruction lies uncovered. 7. He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth on nothing. 8. He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them. 9. He conceals the face of the full moon, shrouding it with his clouds. 10. He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters as a boundary between light and darkness. 11. The pillars of the heavens tremble and are amazed at his rebuke. 12. By his power he stills the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.

3 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14. Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power? (NET) Introduction: Job s response continues through 27:12. Commentary: Then Job answered and said, How hast thou helped him that is without power! How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength! How has thou counselled him that hath no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! To whom has thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee? (26:1-4). Job s response is dripping with sarcasm. In reality they had helped him none at all? He desperately needed friends to help him, but they only came to convict him of sin, thus adding to his burden. He needed the strength of a friend to support him. Not only did they not strengthen him, they laid greater burdens on him. He needed counsel. They gave him criticism and condemnation. Solomon wrote, the pleasantness of one s friend springs from his earnest counsel (Proverbs 27:9, NIV). And whose spirit came forth from thee? (26:4b). Eliphaz had claimed that a spirit had spoken unto him. (Job 4:12-17, Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it. In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night when a deep sleep falls on men, a

4 4 trembling gripped me and a terror! and made all my bones shake. Then a breath of air passes by my face; it makes the hair of my flesh stand up. It stands still, but I cannot recognize its appearance; an image is before my eyes, and I hear a murmuring voice: Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator? (NET). Now Job asks, Whose spirit was it? Eliiphaz assumed it was from God. Job challenged that and implied the spirit was more likely of Satanic origin. In the rest of chapter 26, Job praises God s wisdom and power. They that are deceased tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon hath no covering. Job speaks of those departed souls who now reside in Sheol, the unseen place of the dead.. The ancients knew little about the state of the dead. They knew that the living spirit had departed from the fleshly body. They knew that dead bodies quickly decayed and that worms consumed the bodies. They assumed Sheol was a place in the subterranean world. He describes it as beneath the waters of the sea. Christ brought life and immortality to light through his gospel. (2 Timothy 1:10, but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel! NET). In the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we see the state of the dead. (Luke 16:19-31, There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores, who longed to eat what fell from the rich man s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to

5 5 Abraham s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell, as he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. So he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in this fire. But Abraham said, Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus likewise bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us. So the rich man said, Then I beg you, father send Lazarus to my father s house (for I have five brothers) to warn them so that they don t come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them. Then the rich man said, No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He replied to him, If they do not respond to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. (NET). The two lines of verse 6 are parallels: Sheol is naked before God, and... Abaddon hath no covering. The meaning of the two lines is basically the same. When man s spirit departs at death the living cannot see where the spirit goes. They knew it went to Sheol, but no one had ever seen it. But to God, Sheol is completely exposed like a naked man. To Him, Abaddon, another term for Sheol, has no covering to hide its contents. These lines affirm the omniscience of God. The reader

6 6 should not be confused by those translations that render Sheol as Hell. In biblical terminology, Hell is the place where the wicked receive their eternal punishment. Sheol is sometimes the grave, but most often the place where the spirits of the dead go. The New Testament equivalent is Hades. "Beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof. (Job 26:5b) Scholars have interpreted this passage in two ways. For some the waters and the inhabitants thereof is thought to refer to billions of fish and other marine creatures that fill the oceans. Other take the words to refer to the millions of departed spirits who inhabitant Sheol. The Hebrews used the word Rephaim which is rendered shades, to describe the departed spirits of the dead. (Isaiah 14:9, Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. NET) (See footnote). This is comparable to our use of the word ghost to speak of the living spirit of the dead. Job continues his praise of God s power, saying, He stretcheth out the north over empty space, And hangeth the earth upon nothing. (26:7). This remarkable passage has amazed readers for centuries. Today we know that Job s statement is valid because of the discoveries of modern science. But how did this man who lived more than 3,000 years ago know there was a great empty space in the north of our planet? How did he know that the planet earth was suspended in space, resting on nothing material? Until a few centuries ago, most folks thought the earth rested on the ocean, on pillars, or on the back of giant turtles, etc. In Job s day, no one understood the laws of gravity or

7 7 centrifugal force. Isaiah speaks of God sitting above the circle of the earth... (Isaiah 40:22, He is the one who sits on the earth s horizon; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, and spreads it out like a pitched tent. (NET) Christians take this to be evidence of God providing scientific foreknowledge to the author s of His sacred book. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds: And the cloud is not rent under them. (26:8). In the days before we understood about water vapor, men wondered how a fluffy cloud could hold the vast amount of water that is sometime deposited on a region...without the cloud ripping apart and the water escaping before it reached the desired location? It was a mystery to them, but it aptly symbolized God s great power. This mighty God remains hidden from the eyes of man, even in this age of deep-space probes, space-based telescopes, satellites and vehicles exploring Mars. (Job 26:9, He conceals the face of the full moon, shrouding it with his clouds. (NET). He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, Upon the confines of light and darkness (26:10). In this line he mentions the shore lines that are like boundaries for the oceans and seas. In a storm, the waters may roar and strive to break out of their confinement, but it is not long until they subside to their proper location. He saw that as a sign of God s power over the great waters. Likewise both sunlight and darkness have their boundaries. On average it is roughly twelve (12) hours of each.

8 8 God s great power is also seen in the destructive powers of nature. The pillars of heaven tremble And are astonished at his rebuke. He stirreth up the sea with his power, And by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab. By his Spirit the heavens are garnished; His hand hath pierced the swift serpent. (26:11-12). God has ordained that there be powerful and destructive tumults in nature. The pillars of heaven refers to towering mountains which to primitive man seems to support the sky above. They tremble with earth quakes, volcanic eruptions and avalanches. Man is powerless to control or contain such events. Only God had sufficient power to stir up the sea with its typhoons and tidal waves. Rahab was used to describe monsters of the deep, be they great fish, whales, or crocodiles. The sea was mysterious and dangerous to the ancients. They rightly feared it. Today, we can shoot the dangerous crocodile, we can destroy the deadly Great White Shark. In Job s day men in light boats and armed with spears were ill equipped to subdue them. The term Rahab was also applied to the raging sea. The people imagined the powerful waters being stirred by some monster of the deep. They observed that in the end the stormy sea always was tamed and returned to normal. They gave God the credit for this. By his Spirit the heavens are garnished; His hand hath pierced the swift serpent. Still contemplating the great and dangerous storm, Job describes God with one hand sweeping away the heavy dark clouds that hid the stars from view. With the Spirit or breath of His mouth God can do this. As the clouds are swept away, the sparkling lights of the heavens are seen once again. He likens them to the garnishments a gourmet cook uses to decorate his dishes, or the jewels the jeweler uses to enriched his creation. The swift serpent refers back to Rahab, which was sometimes described as a dragon.

9 9 Job concludes this part of his praise by reminding his friends, Lo, 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? (26:24). These sounds of nature are but a faint whisper or picture of God s immense power. Should God in his anger unleash the full measure of his power, not only would we not be able to fathom or endure it, it would destroy the earth and the works therein (2 Peter 3:10, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. (NET).

10 10 Questions on Job 26: Why do you think Job was so sarcastic in his reply? (26:1-4). 2. What is Sheol? (26:6). 3. Where did the ancients think Sheol was located? (26:5-6) 4. Was Job correct in saying the north is over empty space? (26:7). Give reasons for your answer.

11 How could Job have known about the earth hanging on nothing? (26:7b). 6. What was it about rain clouds that mystified the ancients? (26: 8). 7. What is the boundary upon the face of the waters? (26:10). 8. To the ancients what were the pillars of heaven? (26:11). _

12 What was Rahab? (26:12).