job 25 and 26

Read Job 25 and 26 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for each man’s speech are like the divisions in the Psalms that we studied in 2014. There is an understood {s} division at the end of each numbered line, with an {n} marking where a new line begins within a numbered line.

Job 25:1-26:14 {s} Division at the end of each numbered line; with these {n} divisions within lines:
Job 26:14a, Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! {n}

This is Bildad’s third speech to Job, and in it repeats an argument nearly word for word made by Eliphaz earlier:

Job 15:14-16 (Eliphaz)

“What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
If God puts no trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
How much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water!”

Job 25:4-6 (Bildad)

“How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?
If even the moon does not shine, And the stars are not pure in His sight,
How much less man, who is a maggot, And a son of man, who is a worm?”

Perhaps we have crossed the central axis of the book, and are seeing a matching pair on either side … we will see.

Job’s speech forms a chiastic structure:

1a) Job 26:1-4, The lack of power + understanding of Bildad’s counsel/ Whose spirit is inspiring him:

1  But Job answered and said:
2 How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
3 How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many?
4 With whose help have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you?

1b) Job 26:5, The dead tremble, those under the waters and those inhabiting them;

1c) Job 26:6-7, Sheol + Destruction exposed before God/ God’s authority seen in the earth:

1) 6 Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction has no covering;
2) 7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing;

central axis) Job 26:8, He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it;

2c) Job 26:9-10, His throne clothed, covered before men/ God’s authority seen in the waters:

1) 9 He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it;
2) 10 He encircled a boundary on the face of the waters, at the confines of light and darkness;

2b) Job 26:11, The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke;

2a) Job 26:12-14, The Lord’s great power + understanding/ His Spirit the agent of His action:

12 He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He smites through the proud [Rahab, a mythical sea monster];
13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the crooked serpent;
14a Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! {n}
14b But the thunder of His power who can understand?

What does it mean, that Job’s speeches form the same chiastic structures we see throughout inspired Scripture, while his friends’ speeches do not? At least, not that I have been able to find? Might it be that Job’s wisdom is inspired by the Spirit, the author of the Word, as the chiastic structure is one of His thumbprints on His Word? I am mulling over the possibility …