LESSON 2, VERSE 6:
Theological liberals tell us
again and again that the Bible doctrine of retribution, in other
words a literal Hell, is not taught in Scripture. And if it was,
they continue, it certainly would not be in the Old Testament!
But they are wrong!
And of the many places we could
visit today, the numerous "proof" texts we could cite, perhaps
Job 26:6 is one of the best.
God is being commended there,
glorified and praised by his suffering servant Job. In fact, the
whole paragraph, Job 26:5-14, exalts God magnificently.
Summarily it says: God is so wise He can never be fully
understood! He created the Heavens, including the
constellations! He is the Author of all the seas and oceans too!
And He is the Regulator of things like day and night and rain
and draught! He invented the very laws of gravity and magnetism,
and is the very Moral Authority of His universe!
But in the midst of all these
beautiful facts, prominently listed at the very first, is this
little nugget: "Hell is naked before Him,
and destruction hath no covering." Job 26:6
God is aware of all the
activities of Hell, right now!
Nothing is hidden from His
sight!
His knowledge and presence,
then, reaches from the highest heavens to the lowest hell! The
Psalmist knew this too! "Whither shall I
go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my
bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand
shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth
not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness
and the light are both alike to thee."
Psalm 139:7-12
Job uses the word "hell"
without hesitation. It is spelled "sheol" in Hebrew. In the King
James Bible it means "hell" 31 times and "grave" 31 times and
the "pit" 3 times, 62 total appearances in Scripture.
However, the rest of our verse
today, Job 26:6, will help specify which definition of hell best
fits here! No doubt about that. "Hell is
naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering."
The adjective "naked" or "arom"
in Hebrew means bare! It is used 16 times in the Old Testament,
all being translated just like here, "naked." The first is in
Genesis 2:25 concerning the married heterosexual couple Adam and
Eve. One interesting fact about the "radical" or the "root" of "arom"
is this: "arum" means "subtle" or "crafty." For example,
"Now the serpent was more SUBTIL
than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made."
This is Genesis 3:1. There must be some correlation between
nakedness and deceit! The devil sure uses that tool, doesn't he?
Hell cannot hide before
Almighty God! He knows and sees into the grave and into the pit
and into hell-fire itself!
I will Biblically prove this
point from another angle in a minute.
Now let's shift to the word
"destruction." In Hebrew "abaddon" appears six times the
textbooks say, but I can only find five of them myself. In each
case it is rendered "destruction," just like here. But did you
notice the spelling? That very word, transliterated from Hebrew,
appears in Revelation 9:11. Watch. Speaking of a coming demon
invasion upon earth, John writes: "And
they had a king over them, which is the angel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is
ABADDON, but in the Greek tongue hath his name
Apollyon."
Surprising!
These fallen angelic
monstrosities crawled out of the New Testament's "bottomless
pit," Hell-fire for sure!
And to parallel "naked" in the
first clause, "no covering" qualifies the second clause.
"Covering" is "kesuth" and
means clothing or raiment or vesture. It is used only eight
times in the Bible. Here's one of them. God is talking.
"I clothe the heavens with blackness, and
I make sackcloth their
covering." Isaiah 50:3 says so! Look at the
night sky sometime!
Yes, God sees into Hell!
He even knows what's happening
there! He can this very second quote the words of Judas or Herod
or the rich man of Luke 16 ... or vast multitudes of others!
Using our two key words,
identical both in English and Hebrew, Proverbs 15:11 boldly
states: "Hell and destruction are
before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children
of men?"
Then Isaiah the Prophet,
apparently describing conditions during or after the Millennium.
says that: "It shall come to pass, that
from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to
another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the
LORD. And they shall go
forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have
transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring
unto all flesh." Many of these words are later
quoted by Jesus ... as He preached on Hell! People in that
coming day will "look" into Hell as they go to or return from
worshipping God! This is an astounding statement!
Apparently without grief too!
That's how great our God is!
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 3, VERSE 7:
God created the heaven and the
earth, in the beginning!
This truth is so essential to a
right view of God ... that the Holy Bible begins with it!
Job 26:7 teaches it also, just
using different words. "He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the
earth upon nothing."
Amen!
That opening verb, "stretcheth
out," is spelled "natah" in Hebrew and means "to extend" or "to
spread out!" Recent scientific evidence, which can't always be
trusted of course, does suggest that the whole universe is
"expanding!" I've used their word too, "expanding."
Job earlier has taught this
same truth, "Which alone spreadeth out
the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea." Job
9:8 has "natah" for "spreadeth out" too. (Jesus, God the Son,
did some of that "wave-treading" centuries after Job lived too!)
So does the Psalmist echo out
Text today: "Who coverest thyself
with light as with a garment: who stretchest out
the heavens like a curtain." Psalm 104:2
And the Prophet Isaiah adds
some beautiful word pictures: "It
is he that sitteth upon the circle
of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." Isaiah 40:22
Again,
"Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from
the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things;
that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth
abroad the earth by myself." Isaiah 44:24
Zechariah too:
"The burden of the word of the LORD for
Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the
heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the
spirit of man within him." Zechariah 12:1
The Holy Spirit is using the
same verb here again and again, "natah." In each of these cases
the verb is what we might call in English a present participle.
This pictures on-going action. The created realm of God may
still be stretching outward!
The noun "north" is a word that
originally meant "covered, hidden or dark." In Hebrew "tzsaphon"
is used of the north due to its unknown and empty connotations.
It would not surprise me to some day discover that Heaven
Itself, the very Abode of God, is situated in the northern
sector of the universe! When Lucifer initially rebelled against
God, he sought to overthrow God's Throne!
"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like
the most High." Notice the geography lessons here in
Isaiah 14:14.
Our verse today, Job 26:7, also
qualifies the north as the "empty place." What an expression! "Tohu,"
used first in Genesis 1:1, means formless or wasteful or even
confused. Twice in the King James Bible it's "wilderness." Some
astronomers still say that certain sections of the northern
universe, in relation to our solar system, are rather empty,
relatively speaking.
"He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the
earth upon nothing." Job 26:7
The verb "hangeth" is "talah"
and means just what it says, "to suspend." Of its 28 appearances
in Scripture, all are translated as "hang or hanged or hanging"
or some close variation. Here in our Text it, just like "stretcheth
out" before it, is a simple active participle. The action
continues!
The Hebrew word for earth is "eretzs"
and is thought to be derived from a word that means "firm."
"Upon" translates "al," meaning
"upon or over or above or against."
And "nothing" here, "beliy," is
only used this one time in Scripture, exactly as composed here I
mean, "beliy-mah" to be precise. It has the idea of failure or
destruction too, that which is not eternal! Its parent word, "balah,"
means "to wear out, to decay, to become old!"
And I sincerely believe that,
when all is said and done, after trillions of dollars have been
spent trying to "prove" Darwinian evolution, mankind will
ultimately have to admit ... "God
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the
earth upon nothing." Job 26:7
Just like Job said.
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
P. S. --- The "mah"
part of "beliymah" ("nothing" in our Text) is an
exclamation! It here expresses surprise and adoration and
wonder! What! That's at least part of the exact response
Job is anticipating too!
LESSON 4, VERSE 8:
The
"mighty acts" of God, by that specific name, are mentioned four
times in Scripture.
"Who can
utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all
his praise?" Psalm 106:2 links God's "mighty acts" with
His praise!
"One
generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare
thy mighty acts." Psalm 145:4 says that God's "mighty
acts" are to be taught by the older generation to the younger
generation!
"To make
known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of his kingdom." Psalm 145:12 links our Lord's
"mighty acts" with His glory and majesty!
"Praise
him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent
greatness." And then Psalm 150:2 associates God's "mighty
acts" with His greatness!
And our Bible Text for this
week, Job 26:5-14, lists these "mighty acts" one after another!
Today we learn one way God
controls the weather!
Literally it is so!
"He
bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not
rent under them." Job 26:8
Many Believers who love to
study the scientific statements of Scripture say this one is a
classic!
The verb "bindeth up" is
spelled "tzsarar" and means "to confine, to besiege or to put in
a narrow place." The "root" verb here means "to cramp." Exodus
12:34 gives us a typical example of "tzsarar" in everyday Jewish
life. "And the people took their dough
before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs
being bound up in
their clothes upon their shoulders." This happened as the
people journeyed from Egypt to Canaan.
One more quick note about "tzsarar."
It is often in Scripture associated with distress or some type
of adversarial situation. Of its 58 occurrences in the Bible, it
is rendered "bound up" or something similar less than a dozen
times. While it is translated "enemy" 14 times and "distress" 7
times and "vex" 6 times and "afflict" 4 times and "adversary" 3
times and "trouble" twice and then "pangs" two more times!
God could be telling us that
the water in those clouds is there temporarily! It yearns to get
back to earth! The longer it's there, suspended in the heavens,
the greater the likelihood of tension and chaos developing, the
common thunderstorm! Talk about positives and negatives
clashing!
"Waters" is the regular word
for moisture of any kind. "Mayim" here specifically refers to
water vapor, tons and tons of it, that God "locks" into the
clouds every day.
The term "thick clouds" is just
one word in Hebrew, "ab." One source says it means "an
envelope!" Think of that! The clouds as a mere envelope, a
holding area, for vast reservoirs of atmospheric water! The
common definition for "ab" is darkness or extreme density. It
almost makes one one wonder if storm clouds are being considered
here.
But, according to Job 26:8, not
only does God lock the water into the clouds, He does not allow
them to escape ... until the proper time, until He says so!
Again,
"He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is
not rent under them."
Now the noun "cloud" is a
different word altogether! "Anan" means "that which covers."
That's exactly what clouds do, obscuring the sky.
The verb "rent" is "baqa" and
means "to split, to cleave, to rip, to break or to tear!"
Obviously the verb is passive here.
God has created pure water
vapor so that it is lighter than air. It remains suspended in
those clouds until it gets "dirty," picking up dust and smoke
and grime from the environment, thereby getting heavier and
heavier ... until finally the cloud can "hold" it no longer and
it rains!
We've just had a quick view of
the hydrological system of planet earth! Job, likely one of the
earliest Books of Scripture, has taught us one more lesson about
God the Creator!
To this one meteorological
thought, Job 28:8, the Bible adds even further information about
the water cycle God built into His creation:
God said:
"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of
my mouth." Isaiah 55:10-11
"For He
maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according
to the vapour thereof: which the clouds do drop and
distil upon man abundantly." Job 36:27-28
"He
causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he
maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out of his
treasuries." Psalm 135:7
What a God we serve!
The next time you see a cloud,
any cloud, think about the God who created it!
But the next time you see storm
clouds, open your Bible to Job 26:8 and WORSHIP! No, do not
worship the cloud. That's heathenism! Worship the God Who made
the cloud and built into it all the working principles that
provide us life-giving water!
Now we're back to where we
started, with the "mighty acts" of God!
Praise His good Name!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 5, VERSE 9:
God is different!
He told us so in Isaiah 55:8-9.
"For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My
ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
He, being eternal and
all-powerful and the very Essence of perfection, still is able
to veil Himself, to hide Himself for some reason!
Yes,
the Lord does
so, but man can't do that! Man the sinner is by nature a
boaster, a "show-off" in all he does!
Of God we are told:
"He
holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud
upon it." Job 26:9 is today's study verse.
The noun "throne" is "kisse" in
Hebrew and means a "seat of honor!" It is a synonym for dignity
and authority and power. Presumably if one could "see" God's
Throne, the Lord Himself would visibly be sitting upon it. At
least in the sense that He is King! In this way Isaiah saw the
Lord in the sixth chapter of his great prophecy.
"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw
also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up."
But Isaiah's experience was exceptional!
Later Jesus teaches us that God
is "Spirit." John 4:24
Paul adds in Colossians 1:15
that He is "invisible."
Yet again even later still John
the Apostle from Patmos the Island "saw" the Lord!
"And He that sat was to look upon like a
jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald."
Revelation 4:3 is not describing Jesus either! He soon appears
as the Lamb, the living Lamb that once had been slain!
The noun "face" is spelled "panaiym,"
and is literally the presence or countenance or face of someone
or something. Except here it is plural! God is so awesome that
it takes more than one "face" to properly describe Him. Relate
that statement to the four living creatures or beasts gathered
around His Throne in Revelation chapter four. Or think of the
four Gospels needed to present God the Son!
But God "holdeth back" the face
of His Throne! "Achaz" means "to seize or grasp," firmly taking
possession of something! This is a piel participle, indicating
intensive action which continues on and on! The first time "achaz"
is used in Scripture, Abraham's sacrificial ram is "caught" in
the thicket, being a substitute for Isaac in Genesis 22:13.
As a piel verb "holdeth back"
adds the dimension of "enclosed." And in that context, even
"throne" the noun has reference to its parent word which
verbally implies "clothed" or "covered," perhaps for secrecy!
The next verb is "spreadeth"
and is "parshez," meaning "to separate" or "to place on both
sides" of an object. This is the only time this precise verb
occurs in the whole Bible.
"Cloud" is "anan," which is
"cloud" or "cloudy" all 87 times it appears in Scripture. Likely
this cloud is the Shekinah Glory Cloud, indicating
the very Presence of Almighty God! It too originally and
literally means "to cover." Again secrecy is apparently
involved.
Strangely this word in
Scripture, "anan" I mean, is occasionally (10 times) used for an
"observer of times" or a "soothsayer" or a "sorceress" or even
an "enchanter." Probably this is so because the devil tries to
mimic or copy God's Ways. And when the Evil One seeks to break
through God's clouds of modesty and restraint ... these wicked
deeds result!
Our great God, for some reason,
has chosen not to fully reveal Himself! Not yet! But He will!
Even through the various Old
Testament theophanies, or appearances of the Lord or the Angel
of the Lord, God is not fully revealed!
He once told Moses,
"Thou canst not see My Face: for there shall no man see Me, and
live." Exodus 33:20
And even in the New Testament,
with Jesus having come and died and been brought to life again,
Jesus Who is "the fulness of the Godhead bodily" and "the
express image of God's Person," still God has not completely
shown us His Being, in ALL His Glory!
He will some day!
But apparently not yet.
"He
holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud
upon it." Job 26:9
Today still
"eye hath nor seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man" some things which we
are yet to see and experience! And that's a quote from the New
Testament too, 1st Corinthians 2:9.
Isaiah 64:4 tells
us more fully: "For since the beginning of
the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,
neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he
hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."
Here's my theory
as to why God so conceals Himself. If He revealed His Glory and
Essence and Being in all its fullness ... then faith would no
longer be an issue in man's salvation!
Faith would have
been consumed by sight, what a sight too!
No atheists!
No unbelievers!
No skeptics!
No doubters even!
God's Existence
and Person and Glory and Power could not be doubted!
But you see, God
has chosen a better way! That is ... to send His Son, give us
the Gospel, and require belief in His Name ... for eternal life!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life."
Here's the heart
of it. "But without faith it is
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6 says this.
How can you by
faith believe God "is," if you've already seen Him in all His
Beauty and Essence?
The God Who is not
yet fully manifest wants mankind to "seek" Him through Jesus His
Son, His Death and Blood as shed on Calvary's Cross! Therefore,
so far, He has ... "held back the face of His Throne and spread
His Cloud upon it!"
That's what the
Lord led me to tell you early this Tuesday morning in May, 2007!
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 6, VERSE 10:
Few of us would
associate the Book of Job with the topic of science, but that
great Book of Scripture says a lot about God the Creator! Of
course it mentions God the Redeemer too!
And the paragraph we're
studying, Job 26:5-14, especially highlights Creation!
For example, verse 10 says of
the Lord: "He hath compassed the waters
with bounds, until the day and night come to an end."
The verb "hath compassed" is
spelled "chug." It means "to draw a circle, to encircle or to
encompass." God has drawn a line for the Oceans, past which they
cannot go! The noun "bounds" is "choq" and means "a decree, a
law, a statute, a prescription!" The vast areas of earth's water
supply exist under the authority of Almighty God! They do
nothing without His knowledge and will!
By the way, that "drawing a
circle" clause sure sounds like a "round earth" philosophy,
doesn't it? While so-called "science" wondered and argued for
centuries that it was flat!
And the noun "waters" is
actually represented in the Hebrew Text as "paniym maiym," the
"faces of the waters!" Looks like the seas are being
personified, meekly looking to their Creator for daily counsel!
And how did the man Job,
thousands of years ago, know that there were several Oceans on
earth, all of which held vast reservoirs of water? All of which
obeyed God's limitations?
Job didn't.
The Holy Spirit, Who wrote the
Book of Job, did!
After all folks,
"In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth." Next, "And God
said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto
one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering
together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it
was good." Genesis 1:1 and 9-10
The expression "day and night,"
those three words and in that precise order, occurs 28 times in
the Bible. Here's the first one, Genesis 8:22.
"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease." And now the last one:
"And the devil that deceived them was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night
for ever and ever." Revelation 20:10
Therefore, since day and night
will continue just as God says ... the Seas will behave
according to the Will of that very same God!
"He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and
night come to an end."
"Day" is a word that basically
means "light," in Hebrew "or." And "night" is "chosek" and
implies "obscurity or darkness." God is the Maker of both!
Somehow God makes light and darkness ... both in a literal sense
and in a spiritual one too! "I form the
light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the
LORD do all these things." Of a God that great, it
must be said: "That they may know from the
rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none
beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else."
And before you get upset about that "evil" business, read the
next beautiful verse too: "Drop down, ye
heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness:
let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it."
Isaiah 45:6-8
He is Almighty!
To "come to an end" translates
"takliyth" which means the place of "perfection or completion."
God has built some great "object lesson" into day and night, and
class will be in session until God dismisses it! Surely, perhaps
among many other things too, day and night visibly illustrate
the principle of right and wrong! Righteousness and Iniquity!
The world, its very being, is
not merely a statement of scientific fact! It's a sermon loaded
with spiritual implications and Bible truths!
And modern atheistic science is
dedicated to stripping us of every bit of that beautiful
spirituality!
I say along with Paul:
"Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written,
That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest
overcome when thou art judged." Romans 3:4
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 7, VERSE 11:
God is mighty in what He DOES.
As Psalm 106:2 asks, "Who can utter the
mighty acts of the Lord?"
But God is also mighty in what
He IS. "But thou, O Lord, art a God
full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous
in mercy and truth." Psalm 86:15
Yet again, the very Character
of God, "Who He is," can be awesome too!
Today we study Job 26:11.
"The pillars of heaven tremble and are
astonished at his reproof."
The noun "reproof" is the key
to this verse. It is spelled "gearah" and means "rebuke." That's
an old French word the dictionary says, "rebuke." It is built
upon their root word "buschier," meaning "to strike, to chop
wood!" The "re" prefix just means "back." To beat back! In
Hebrew "gaar" means "to chide." And chide is derived from an old
English term that means "to scold" or even "to rain" upon a
person!
God is the One Who hates sin!
His Holiness demands anger at
that which is unrighteous!
He "reproves" iniquity!
Here is our exact word "rebuke"
as used by the Prophet Isaiah. "For,
behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like
a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his
rebuke with
flames of fire." Isaiah 66:15
In all its forms "gearah" is
found fifteen times in Scripture. Twice it's translated
"reproof" and the other thirteen times it is "rebuke." David
sang in both 2nd Samuel 22:16 and Psalm 18:15 these words:
"And the channels of the sea appeared, the
foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the
LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils." Psalm
76:7 tells us: "At thy rebuke, O God of
Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep."
And Psalm 80:16 adds: "They perish at the
rebuke of Thy countenance."
Look what God's "rebuke" can do
to earth: "At My rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because
there is no water, and dieth for thirst." Isaiah 50:2
And at His Second Coming, what
rebuke is in store! "For, behold, the LORD
will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to
render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire."
Isaiah 66:15
With these verses in mind, one
can't help but wonder when he or she sees the media reports of
great devastation worldwide! Tornados and hurricanes and
earthquakes and volcanoes and tsunamis, just to mention a few.
Perhaps these are just harbingers of coming cataclysmic events!
And what about the world wars and plagues and famines John
prophesies in Revelation?
The noun "pillars" is "ammud"
and comes from the verb that means "to stand," spelled "amad" in
Hebrew. These are the very foundation piles for Heaven itself!
In our Job 26 "context" here,
with all the rivers and days and nights and oceans and then the
heavens being discussed, these "pillars" just might be the
"mountains" of the earth that both have trembled in the past and
will do so again in the future ... responding to the reproof of
the Lord! Perhaps Job sees these tall peaks, their foundations
being far underneath the sea and their spires reaching into the
clouds, as great construction "pillars" in God's Hands!
Here God moves the mountains:
"He is wise in heart, and mighty in
strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath
prospered? Which removeth the mountains, and they know not:
which overturneth them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out
of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." Job 9:4-6
The verb "tremble" is "ruph," a
hapax legomenon here. That means it is only used this one time
in all the Bible Corpus, all 66 Books! One lexicon says it means
"to triturate!" I found that in the dictionary too! "To grind to
powder with an appropriate instrument!"
Finally the verb "astonished"
is "tamah" and means "to be in consternation" or "to wonder, to
be amazed, to marvel!" To be stunned! To be astounded!
Consternation is "an alarming amazement or dread that leads to
confusion or dismay!"
Whatever makes God angry ...
had best be avoided!
Even for the earth's sake!
Why can't the "green" people
learn that, the ultra-environmentalists, the "tree-huggers?"
Instead of worshiping the
earth, mankind had better repent and get back to worshiping the
God Who made the earth! Who sent His only begotten Son to die on
the Cross that we might be saved!
The answer to proper care for
our planet is not to quit spraying deodorant! It is to obey
Almighty God, thus averting His displeasure!
Why?
"The
pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He
divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he
smiteth through the proud." Job 26:11-12
That's why!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 8, VERSE 12:
Today's Bible Study Verse seems
to have two sides. One deals with God's physical creation, and
the other with a character trait of the wicked!
"He
divideth the sea with his power, and by His understanding He
smiteth through the proud." Job 26:12
The verb "divideth" is spelled
"raga" in Hebrew. It means "to toss violently and suddenly!"
And get this for logic! The
Hebrew word for "sea" is "yam," from a root verb meaning "to
roar!"
Then "power" is a basic term
meaning "to be stout, to be firm." The noun "koach" also means
strength, might, ability, force and even wealth once!
God has in the past certainly
divided the sea! In Exodus 14:21 God split the Red Sea into
halves so the Nation of Israel could leave Egypt and begin their
journey toward Canaan, marching between two walls of water!
Then comes the second half of
the verse, which has been capitalized.
"He divideth the sea with his power,
and by his understanding
he smiteth through the proud." Job 26:12
"Understanding" here is not the
usual word for that concept. "Tabun" can mean discretion as well
as understanding. But "tabun" is remotely related to "biyn," to
slice a concept into different layers of meaning!
To "smite" is "to dash asunder,
to crush, to pierce through or wound." It's "machatzs" in Hebrew
and is only used fourteen times in all of Scripture!
The "proud," in Hebrew "rahab,"
indicate people who are arrogant. Its verbal background means
"to urge severely, to importune or to embolden!" One can almost
see the assertiveness here, the sheer stubbornness!
Yes, God divides the sea and
smites the proud!
But, how did those two
radically different concepts get blended in a single short Verse
of God's Word?
One ...
"He divideth the sea with his power."
Two ...
"And
by his understanding he smiteth through the proud."
Then it occurred to me that the
Bible "links" these two objects, the sea and the proud!
Listen to the great Preacher
Isaiah: "But the wicked are like
the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire
and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the
wicked." Isaiah 57:20-21
The wicked are paralleled to
the sea!
Filled with trouble!
Filled with restlessness!
Filled with filth!
Filled with worry!
That may be why Job 26:12 so
closely identifies the raging sea with the rebellious heart!
And if that's the case, God's
dividing the sea equals His smiting the proud!
God hates some things, pride
being at the top of the list! Notice please:
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are
an abomination unto him:
A proud look,
a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart
that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running
to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he
that soweth discord among brethren." Proverbs 6:16-19
Amen!
Pride was Satan's sin. It still
may be his weakness!
Watch how God judged pride in
King Herod's life! "And immediately the
angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory:
and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." Acts
12:23
Yet the God Who divides and
smites the wicked ... also loves and forgives and is merciful to
His Own Children!
Praise His Good Name!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 9, VERSE 13:
The
Lord not only created the earth, but also the heavens! So says
the first verse in the Bible! "In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis
1:1
Many other locations in
Scripture verify this fact. "By his spirit
he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked
serpent." Job 26:13
The Bible presents each Person
of The Trinity as being involved in Creation, the Whole Godhead.
God the Father:
"The LORD God made the earth and the heavens." Genesis
2:4
And Hebrews 1:2 mentions God
the Son: "God's Son, by Whom also He made
the worlds."
Then God the Holy Spirit:
"Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou
renewest the face of the earth." Psalm 104:30
But Job 26:13, today's verse,
goes further than just telling us that the Holy Spirit was
involved in creation, under God the Father's supervision it
seems. It tells us specifically what the Spirit did!
"By his
Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the
crooked serpent." Job 26:13
The verb "garnished" is "shiphrah"
in Hebrew and is only used here in all the Bible. Its parent
word is "shaphar" and means "to glisten brightly!" Perhaps this
garnishing the Spirit did involved the radiance of the
atmosphere.
"His" Hand is likely a
reference to God the Father again. The Antecedent to our pronoun
is found way back in Job 25:4, "How then
can man be justified with God? "
The verb "formed" is "chul" and
means "to twist or whirl." Can't you just see the Lord's great
Hand rotating in the pattern of a crooked serpent?
The adjective "crooked" is
really a word that means "fleeing!" The root word here means "to
bolt, to flee suddenly!" In the King James Text "bariyach" means
"piercing" also.
A small theology of the serpent
can be constructed here! He is defeated, fleeing and fearful!
Yet he is dangerous, piercing and vengeful as well! And he was
created by God, the serpent himself not being a self-sustaining
entity!
The noun "serpent," all 31
times it is used in the Bible, is translated just like this
time, "serpent." The word "nachash" means a snake.
But I do notice this, every
time a serpent or dragon or any other enemy of God is revealed
in the Heavens ... it is defeated by some Type or Figure that
obviously must represent Christ Jesus our Lord!
Our great God made the stars
and the constellations!
"He made
the stars also." Genesis 1:16
Also ...
"God telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by
their names." Psalm 147:4 just said that God named
the stars, all of them!
I personally believe God has
done more "garnishing" in the Heavens than we currently realize!
"The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his
handywork." Psalm 19:1
Some day we will understand
fully!
Until then, we'll just trust
Him Who loved us and died for us on Calvary.
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 10, VERSE 14, CONCLUSION:
Having said so many wonderful
things about God, His Power and His Character, Job then admits
that a full description is impossible!
Here is exactly what the old
Patriarch said: "Lo, these are
parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but
the thunder of His power who can understand?" Job 26:14
God's ways can never be
completely fathomed, not on this earth!
The opening interjection, "lo,"
is spelled "hen" in Hebrew and means "behold!" Look at this!
Amazing! It is designed to express surprise.
The noun "parts" just means the
"edge" of something. "Qatzsah" implies the place of termination.
The end, the border, the extremity of something.
Job could be saying one of two
things I believe. Both are consonant with the meaning of "qatzsah."
All the things that have been mentioned about our great God, Job
26:5-14, just begin to depict Him in His Glory! These are
just the starting points!
Or Job could be saying that our
God is so great that the end, the outcome of His
Doings, His mighty acts, result in such miraculous feats!
Some of the things Job has
mentioned are definitely in the past, "creation" for example.
And some yet continue to this
hour, His control of the weather specifically, "binding the
waters in the clouds."
But then again, some are
reserved for the future, at least in their fullest
manifestation, "smiting the proud" for sure.
So, both grammatically and
theologically, "parts" of God's Ways refer just to the
"fringes," the "outskirts" I once heard a missionary say.
Even then,
"how little a portion is heard of Him?"
That word "little" is actually
the Hebrew word for "whisper," spelled "shemetzs." It means "to
emit an inkling of a sound!"
"Portion" is "dabar" again,
God's Words, but really it's singular, God's WORD!
"Heard" is "shama," to listen
with understanding.
We hear far too little of Him,
asserts Job! If a man lived his whole life and studied nothing
but God, theology in its purest sense, He still would have
barely scratched the surface of the Nature of the Almighty!
Next Job centers on one aspect
of God's Essence, His "power." Again, "But
the thunder of His power who can understand?""
The noun "power" is "geburah."
But it's power in a particular sense, "victorious power!" Its
relative "geber" means a valiant warrior, for example. It's a
militant word! "Geburah" is the last word in Deuteronomy 3:24, a
great summary verse. "O
Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and
thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth,
that can do according to thy works, and according to thy
might?"
"Thunder"
translates "raam." Its verbal root means "to tumble or to crash
or to be violently agitated!" To fret! To roar! Maybe Job here
has the weather in mind again! A storm!
To "understand" something is to
be able to distinguish its levels of meaning, to mentally
separate its implications. "To discern" is a good way of
defining "biyn" perhaps.
God's power is ineffable!
That's Latin, "not being able to express something in words!"
God's Omnipotence is outside
the scope of frail human knowledge.
Thus Job, now having reasoned
his way through this litany of mighty acts, the ways of God,
still continues to suffer!
That is, until one day God
revealed Himself to the battered saint!
Here's how it happened. After
what no doubt seemed like an eternity of silence,
"Then the LORD answered Job out of the
whirlwind, and said ...." Job 38:1
See that?
The weather!
The noun "whirlwind," used
around two dozen times in the Bible, means a "storm," here a
gigantic one!
Talk about an illustration of
power!
And that whirlwind, that
visible manifestation of the unique God of Scripture, was the
beginning of the end of Job's trial! Maybe it's in the "storms"
of life that we always best see God!
No wonder the old saint
pondered the "thunder" of God's awesome Power!
Christian friend, this Sunday
morning, learn all you can of our mighty God! Make it the
pursuit of a lifetime! You will enjoy the journey! You will be
blessed by the God you adore! And some day in Glory you will be
rewarded with full knowledge of your Subject!
Until then, we must be
satisfied with the exhilarating and delightful "parts of His
ways" that are currently available to us!
"Lo,
these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is
heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?"
Amen!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
