Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
Job Ch.26 / 42 Ch.s
JOB:26
* Job reproves Bildad. (1-4) Job acknowledges the power of God.
(5-14)
#1-4 Job derided Bildad's answer; his words were a mixture of
peevishness and self-preference. Bildad ought to have laid
before Job the consolations, rather than the terrors of the
Almighty. Christ knows how to speak what is proper for the
weary, #Isa 50:4|; and his ministers should not grieve those
whom God would not have made sad. We are often disappointed in
our expectations from our friends who should comfort us; but the
Comforter, the Holy Ghost, never mistakes, nor fails of his end.
#5-14 Many striking instances are here given of the wisdom and
power of God, in the creation and preservation of the world. If
we look about us, to the earth and waters here below, we see his
almighty power. If we consider hell beneath, though out of our
sight, yet we may conceive the discoveries of God's power there.
If we look up to heaven above, we see displays of God's almighty
power. By his Spirit, the eternal Spirit that moved upon the
face of the waters, the breath of his mouth, #Ps 33:6|, he has
not only made the heavens, but beautified them. By redemption,
all the other wonderful works of the Lord are eclipsed; and we
may draw near, and taste his grace, learn to love him, and walk
with delight in his ways. The ground of the controversy between
Job and the other disputants was, that they unjustly thought
from his afflictions that he must have been guilty of heinous
crimes. They appear not to have duly considered the evil and
just desert of original sin; nor did they take into account the
gracious designs of God in purifying his people. Job also
darkened counsel by words without knowledge. But his views were
more distinct. He does not appear to have alleged his personal
righteousness as the ground of his hope towards God. Yet what he
admitted in a general view of his case, he in effect denied,
while he complained of his sufferings as unmerited and severe;
that very complaint proving the necessity for their being sent,
in order to his being further humbled in the sight of God.