Job 26 — Tyndale Study Notes
Job.26.2
Job’s friends had not helped him (12:2; 16:4). Bildad’s denial that acquittal was possible hit Job’s most sensitive nerve (10:1-7; 13:3, 13-19; 16:18-21; 19:23-27; 23:2-7).
Job.26.4
Eliphaz (4:15), Zophar (20:3), and Elihu (32:18; 33:4) all claimed to be prompted by the proper spirit (see Jer 29:8-9; 1 Cor 12:10; 1 Jn 4:1).
Job.26.5-6
The underworld (Hebrew Sheol), the abode of all the dead, is located beneath the waters of the sea.
The place of destruction (Hebrew Abaddon) existed specifically for the wicked.
Job.26.7
The Hebrew tsapon (“north,” Gen 13:14) sometimes refers to the northern mountain of the Canaanite gods (the Canaanite equivalent of Olympus); here the NLT understands it to refer to the sky, stretched out over empty space (see Gen 1:6-8; Ps 104:2-3; Isa 40:22-23).
Job.26.10
created the horizon: See Gen 1:6-10; Ps 104:6-9; Prov 8:29.
Job.26.11
Mountains at the edge of the horizon might be the foundations (or “pillars,” Judg 16:25-26) of heaven or the earth (Job 9:6). They were thought to reach from below the waters of the sea (Jon 2:6) and up to the clouds to support the vaults of heaven.
Job.26.12
the sea grew calm (cp. Exod 14:21; Mark 4:39): Or the sea was stirred up (cp. Isa 51:15; Jer 31:35). In either interpretation, God performed a miracle on behalf of his people.
crushed the great sea monster: God’s dominance over the sea demythologized popular beliefs about the sea’s divinity. See also Pss 74:13-14; 89:9-10; Isa 27:1; 51:9-10.
Job.26.13
His Spirit (or wind): God’s authority clears the skies after a storm (26:12).
The gliding serpent corresponds to Yam and Rahab (see study note on 7:12); it provides background for the image of Satan as a dragon (Isa 27:1; also Ps 74:13-14; see Gen 3:15; Rom 16:20; Rev 12:9; 20:2).