Commentary On The Book Of Job

Chapter 25

Bildad’s Brief Comments

1-3. God’s greatness

4-6. Bildad is right. No one stands pure before God in their own merit, but, Bildad’s attitude here is negative against Job.

Chapter 26

Job’s Response and Some Amazing Insights

1-4. He dismissed Bildad’s authority to have opinions about God’s dealings with people.

5-6. This seems to be an insight into the reality of Hell. Considering the insights that come next, this may have been inspired.

7-14. This was a wonderful discourse. Even the fact that the Earth is hung on “nothing” is in here. (In the centuries after the time of Job, people would make up theories about the Earth riding on the back of a giant tortoise, on the shoulders of the giant Atlas, and other such fanciful nonsense.) The Bible also speaks of the “circle of the Earth”. (Isaiah 40:22). Thousands of years ago, God’s word told us that the Earth is round and in space.

Chapter 27

Job Returned to Pessimism

21-25. Job returned to speaking about his own situation.

7-12. Job again positioned himself as the knowledgeable one in the situation. Like the others, he again stated that God hunts down and destroys the wicked.

6-10. Job’s eloquent but unwarranted conclusion on that subject.

Chapter 28

Know How and Hard Work Contrasted with Wisdom

1-7. The amazing reality of mining even in those long ago times, hard work, determination to extract treasure form the rock.

12-22. Fabulous speaking that made the awesome value of true wisdom very clear

23-28. This part of the discourse is very similar to the early parts of the book of Proverbs. Verse 28 in particular is echoed in Proverbs more than once. This passage is superb.

Chapter 29

Job’s Yearning for His Glorious Past

31-33. Job’s previous estate of plenty and happiness

5-15. Job was again rehearsing his own righteousness, but with a wistful melancholy rather than hot anger as in previous chapters.

11-2. This expectation was consistent with the folk religion that all of these men, except Job, believed, to the effect that God always hunts down and punishes sin in this life, and that He also rewards right living with unbroken success in this life. (There are principles which God has set up, which lead to success. Living contrary to them also leads to failure of many kinds; financial, marital, business, moral, health etc. God does bless those who are true to Him, and He does resist the proud, but not in the almost mechanical way that these men all assumed. Again, we’ve all seen many wicked men and women live to old age and die rich. Of course what comes next will be a different story.)

16-21. Where were all these people now? Were they all simply appalled by Job’s situation, and felt that he must have had some terrible secret sin? Probably that’s what they thought. It’s also possible that some would like to have brought some comfort, but stayed away because they just couldn’t imagine what to say or do.

Chapter 30