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Job 26:5-14

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

5. Dead [things] are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. 6. Hell [is] naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, [and] hangeth the earth upon nothing. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne, [and] spreadeth his cloud upon it. 10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. 11. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. 12. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. 13. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 14. Lo, these [are] parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

Job 26:5-14 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Job 26:5

Theological / Devotional

Dead things. Heb. repha’im, a term applied (1) to an ancient race of giants (Gen. 14:5; 15:20; Deut. 3:11; Joshua 17:15), (2) to a valley outside Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8; 18:16; 2 Sam. 5:18, 22; 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; Isa. 17:5), and (3) to the dead (Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Isa. 14:9 ; 26:14, 19). The derivation of the word is uncertain, and how the word could refer at once to a race of people and to the dead is not definitely known. Perhaps the repha’im that designates a race is derived from a different root than the repha’im that designates the dead. Some have connected the two ideas by observing that as a race the repha’im have become extinct and powerless. Its proud representatives he prostrate in she’ol. The memory of them has become vague and shadowy. Hence they become a fit symbol of the dead.

Others derive the meaning “dead” from the root raphah, which means “to sink,” “to relax.” The dead are considered to be sunken and powerless ones.

That the repha’im were a race of giants is implied in Deut. 2:11, 20 ; 3:11, 13. The idea of stature is probably derived, not from a root meaning inherent in the word itself, but from the context.

The context of Job 26:5 seems to infer that the dead are intended. Bildad has emphasized the sovereignty of God in the heavens. Job is adding that God’s power extends to the dwellers in she’ol (see v. 6).

Are formed. Literally, “are made to tremble,” from the root chil, “to tremble,” “to writhe.” In figure the dead are represented as conscious (see Isa. 14:9, 10), though not actually so (Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:5, 6).

By SdaBc