—Bildad drops the question concerning the prosperity of wicked men; but shows the infinite
distance there is between God and man. He represents to Job some truths he had too much
overlooked. Man's righteousness and holiness, at the best, are nothing in comparison with God's,
Ps 89:6. As God is so great and glorious, how can man, who is guilty and impure, appear before
him? We need to be born again of water and of the Holy Ghost, and to be bathed again and again
in the blood of Christ, that Fountain opened, Zec 13:1. We should be humbled as mean, guilty,
polluted creatures, and renounce self-dependence. But our vileness will commend Christ's
condescension and love; the riches of his mercy and the power of his grace will be magnified to
all eternity by every sinner he redeems.
Chapter 26
Chapter Outline
Job reproves Bildad. (1–4)
Job acknowledges the power of God. (5–14)Verses 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.
Verses 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