Job 26:6 Komentář

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 (Job 13:2), "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 (Job 26:2-4). 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 (Job 26:5-13), 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 (Job 26:14).

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 26 In this chapter Job, in a very sarcastic manner, rallies Bildad on the weakness and impertinence of his reply, and sets it in a very ridiculous light; showing it to be quite foolish and stupid, and not at all to the purpose, and besides was none of his own, but what he had borrowed from another, Job 26:1; and if it was of any avail in the controversy to speak of the greatness and majesty of God, of his perfections and attributes, of his ways and works, he could say greater and more glorious things of God than he had done, and as he does, Job 26:5; beginning at the lower parts of the creation, and gradually ascending to the superior and celestial ones; and concludes with observing, that, after all, it was but little that was known of God and his ways, by himself, by Bildad, or by any mortal creature, Job 26:14.

Hell is naked before him,.... Which may be taken either for the place of the damned, as it sometimes is; and then the sense is, that though it is hidden from men, and they know not where it is, or who are in it, and what is done and suffered there; yet it is all known to God: he knows the place thereof, for it is made, ordained, and prepared by him; he knows who are there, even all the wicked dead, and all the nations that forget God, being cast there by him; he knows the torments they endure, for the smoke of them continually ascends before him; and he knows all their malice and envy, their enmity to him, and blasphemy of him; for thither are they gone down with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, Eze 32:27; or for Hades, the invisible world of spirits, or state of the dead, as the Septuagint version renders the word; though that is unseen to men, it is naked and open to the eye of God; or for the grave, in which the bodies of men are laid; which is the frequent sense of the word used, Psa 88:11; and though this is a land of darkness, and where the light is as darkness, yet God can look into it; and the dust of men therein is carefully observed and preserved by him, and will be raised again at the last day; who has the keys of death and hell, or the grave, and can open it at his pleasure, and cause it to give up the dead that are therein: and destruction hath no covering; and may design the same as before, either hell, the place of the damned, where men are destroyed soul and body with an everlasting destruction; or the grave, which the Targum calls the house of destruction, as it sometimes is, the pit of destruction and corruption; because bodies cast into it corrupt and putrefy, and are destroyed in it; and there is nothing to cover either the one or the other from the all seeing eye of God; see Psa 139:7; as hell is supposed to be under the earth, and the grave is in it, Job is as yet on things below, and from hence rises to those above, in the following words.

“Behold, giants groan under the waters.” After proposing the division that he made between power and wisdom, Job puts forward his evidence. He distinguishes the deep and the underworld. Both those that live in the deep of the sea, even if they are of tremendous size (and for this reason he calls them “giants,” which we understand as “wild beasts”) and those in the underworld itself (which prevents the sight of viewers as if in a thick fog)—both these realms remain constantly within the realm of God’s power and exposed to his eyes. “Behold, giants groan under the waters.” The Greek text reads, “Will the giants receive the service of the midwife under the waters, and in their neighbor?” This must be interpreted as asking whether the dead will resurrect if they are under the waters on earth. In saying “they will resurrect,” the thought is that “it will be as if they had the service of a midwife.” It is interpreted according to the metaphor of a woman giving birth. The meaning is this, “The art of midwifery takes the child out of the womb.” If so, is it possible to raise the dead from the underworld, when this realm belongs only to God? “The underworld is naked before him.” It is impossible, he says, to hold back the dead when God wants to resurrect them. Only at his command [the earth] is forced to throw up those which it has devoured. “There is no cover to perdition.” Even though [the underworld] is covered by the thickness of darkness, it appears transparently before the eyes of the Almighty.

Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering. Which same Paul likewise saith, But all things are naked and opened unto His eyes. But by the title of 'hell' and 'perdition' he denoted the devil and all the associates of his condemnation; but Who that One is before whom 'hell is naked,' he goes on with telling.

One should not believe that divine providence extends only to judging men in this life, and not after death, as the friends of Job seemed to think. To disprove this he then says, "Hell is naked before him," as if to say: The things which happen in hell are clearly seen by him and happen according to his judgment. To explain this he then says, "and there is no hiding place for perdition," so that those who have perished in hell can be hidden from the eyes of God as they are hidden from our eyes.

Honor is not seemly in a fool. The correction and treatment suitable to such. Of the slothful man. Of him who interferes with matters which do not concern him. Contentions to be avoided. Of the dissembler and the lying tongue.

Hell is naked before him - Sheol, the place of the dead, or of separate spirits, is always in his view. And there is no covering to Abaddon - the place of the destroyer, where destruction reigns, and where those dwell who are eternally separated from God. The ancients thought that hell or Tartarus was a vast space in the center, or at the very bottom of the earth. So Virgil, Aen. lib. vi., ver. 577: - - Tum Tartarus ipse Bis patet in praeceps tantum, tenditque sub umbras, Quantus ad aethereum coeli suspectus Olympum Hic genus antiquum terrae, Titania pubes, Fulmine dejecti, fundo volvuntur in imo. "Full twice as deep the dungeon of the fiends, The huge Tartarean gloomy gulf, descends Below these regions, as these regions lie From the bright realms of yon ethereal sky. Here roar the Titan race, th' enormous birth; The ancient offspring of the teeming earth. Pierced by the burning bolts of old they fell, And still roll bellowing in the depths of hell." Pitt. And some have supposed that there is an allusion to this opinion in the above passage, as well as in several others in the Old Testament; but it is not likely that the sacred writers would countenance an opinion that certainly has nothing in fact or philosophy to support it. Yet still a poet may avail himself of popular opinions.

JOB'S REPLY. (Job 26:1-14) without power . . . no strength . . . no wisdom--The negatives are used instead of the positives, powerlessness, &c., designedly (so Isa 31:8; Deu 32:21). Granting I am, as you say (Job 18:17; Job 15:2), powerlessness itself, &c. "How hast thou helped such a one?" savest--supportest.

(Job 38:17; Psa 139:8; Pro 5:11). destruction--the abode of destruction, that is, of lost souls. Hebrew, Abaddon (Rev 9:11). no covering--from God's eyes.