Job 25 & 26 – Two Extremely Different Views!

In Job 25 we have the last of Job’s three friends to speak, and it is a short ‘poem’ by Bildad. He and his friends seem to have run out of steam. But what is interesting about Bildad’s final speech is that he starts with a high view of God and works his way down to man, who is no more than a maggot and a worm (Job 25:6).

In Job 26, Job begins by answering Bildad’s questions (Job 25:4), with 6 questions of his own (Job 26:1-4). But the final question, “And whose spirit came from you?” is quite revealing. If read in other translations, we are left with the question, “What spirit spoke through you to me?”(v.4). This reminds us of Jesus’ rebuke to His disciples in Lk.9:55, and to Peter, in Matt.16:21-23, where Jesus had to say to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan…” So we need to be aware that sometimes even Christians can speak things from the wrong source and could be an instrument of Satan if we are not careful.

Then Job begins with death and the underworld (vv.5-6), and works his way up to the heavens. He speaks of God’s great power in creation, in the sky and in the sea. We need to be aware that vv.12-13 speak of the mythical sea monster “Rahab” in some translations, something that would have caused great fear to the people of the ANE (Ancient Near East). But the good news is that God has defeated all the ‘so-called’ monsters of the deep!

Finally v.14 tells us that what Job has described are ‘the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!’ That is to say in our modern vernacular, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

So, Job has had enough of the arguments of the last 22 chapters, and has heard all the human viewpoints, and now has decided to look up – to gets his eyes off his circumstances and see God in all of His glory – things that are unsearchable and past finding out (See Ps.139:6; 145:3; Isa.40:28; 55:8-9; Job 9:10; Rom.11:33; 1 Cor.2:9-12).

If you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, then click this link!

Michael Robson