Then Job replied:
“How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?
“The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
The realm of the dead is naked before God;
Destruction lies uncovered.
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
- Job 26:1-14
And Job continued his discourse:
“As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
as long as I have life within me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
my lips will not say anything wicked,
and my tongue will not utter lies.
I will never admit you are in the right;
till I die, I will not deny my integrity.
I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it;
my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
“May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unjust!
For what hope have the godless when they are cut off,
when God takes away their life?
Does God listen to their cry
when distress comes upon them?
Will they find delight in the Almighty?
Will they call on God at all times?
“I will teach you about the power of God;
the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.
You have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
“Here is the fate God allots to the wicked,
the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty:
However many his children, their fate is the sword;
his offspring will never have enough to eat.
The plague will bury those who survive him,
and their widows will not weep for them.
Though he heaps up silver like dust
and clothes like piles of clay,
what he lays up the righteous will wear,
and the innocent will divide his silver.
The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut made by a watchman.
He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a tempest snatches him away in the night.
The east wind carries him off, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
It hurls itself against him without mercy
as he flees headlong from its power.
It claps its hands in derision
and hisses him out of his place.”
- Job 27:1-23
Job 26-27 ”When Job cuts short Bildad’s final speech, the dialogue falls apart. The ensuing speeches (chs. 26, 27) are not always clear as to who is speaking. One passage describes the fate of the wicked (27:13–23) in phrases that sound like something Job’s friends would say, not Job. Perhaps this passage is Zophar’s final speech, shouted over Job’s words. Or perhaps here Job is sarcastically mimicking his friends’ teachings. In either case, rational argument is absent.”
- Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible
The Message
The quote from the Chronological Study Bible says that there may be some administrative sentence missing. It seems strange that Zophar was the only one of the original friends who did not speak three times.
But Job starts with sarcasm. Notice the exclamation points. He is throwing barbs at his friends but doing so with sarcasm rather than their efforts to boldly accuse Job. Then Job asks two questions. He sarcastically speaks of their wise advice, but then he asks where they were inspired to give such advice. Was he baiting them? Or was he accusing them of doing Satan’s dirty work for the evil one?
Briefly, Job speaks of those in Sheol. A large part of what is now the Middle East felt that people who died went to an underworld that was a watery place. In Sheol, the souls are dead. Some believe that when Jesus went down to Hades, the souls of the Saints were rescued from Sheol. Hades is not Hell, just as Sheol is not Hades. The Old Testament concept of death was that you die and go to Sheol. Hades comes from Greek mythology, and in Hades, the soul is very much alive but trapped there. But Hell, or the lake of fire is eternal separation from God. The New Testament clarifies that when a believer’s eyes open, they will see God’s Majesty in Paradise. Yet, the spirits that were imprisoned at the onset of Noah’s flood were visited by Jesus in “Hades” and given their ultimate judgment. They will be released to be tossed into the lake of fire. And even Hades will be tossed into the lake of fire. God will have no more need for holding cells until the final judgment. The final judgment will be final.
Thus, some of this language in a couple of verses is based on the concept of death at the time: trapped in a place beneath the earth that is watery or muddy.
Then from verse 7 through 14, Job looks at the stars. The stars obey God. The term of “Rahab” does not refer to the harlot of Jericho, but to some form of chaos. Even the serpent must obey the Lord. I think the serpent might refer to Draco, the dragon constellation that winds between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Rev. MacArthur says that the word for serpent here also can be translated as curved. Thus, in all of Draco’s winding around, the constellation is fixed in its relative place. Note: The constellations are fixed, to an extent, but since we have a spinning viewpoint, it seems that the constellations spin around the North Star, or Octans in the Southern Sky. While the Southern Cross is better known and brighter, the Southern Cross is used in navigation to find the more faint constellation of Octans, or the Octant.
But then, as if Job has a telescope stronger than anything that we have built to this point, Job says this grandeur is only the fringe of God’s creation. Just in recent years with the James Webb Telescope, we are seeing deeper into space and with more clarity than ever before. The universe keeps going, on and on. Indeed, we can only see the fringe.
Job 27 starts with Job making a claim of innocence. Job will not lie to his “friends” to allow them to think they have any truth in what they have been saying. Job claims that God has not treated him justly, but he will not say an evil word against Him.
But when someone has suffered and it is as if God had turned His back, how can we turn to God for help?
But then we come to the verses that the scholarly quote above is talking about. Some think these verses are the last words of Zophar. It speaks of the fate of the wicked, much like what the three friends have been saying, yet it fits with the narrative from Job to this point. Job claims his innocence and teaches his friends what happens to the wicked.
Scholars may disagree, but the conversation between Job and his friends seems to fit as written. Does Zophar need to speak for a third time when Job uses what Zophar might say against him?
And now let us sing.
The following song is Jesus, Our Judge and Our Savior. This is sung by Colin Buchanan, Bob Kauflin, and David Zimmer. The song is inspired by J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing God. We call upon Jesus, the coming Judge, who will save us from our sins.
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom. Lord, we suffer. We do not deserve Your Mercy and Grace, but then again, by definition, no one deserves Mercy and Grace. Your Creation is beyond our wildest imagination. Even partially understanding infinity, you go beyond our capacity to understand. And one day we will each stand before You. Lord, forgive us of our sins, and place us in Your book of life. Praise be Your Name, forever. In thy Name we pray.
Amen
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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