Job 26 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Job 26 Short Summary:

In Job 26, Job sarcastically responds to Bildad to let him know his words offered no value to the discussion. Then Job made it clear that he believed God’s power wasn’t limited to the observable world of human but extended to the parts of the universe humans can’t see and also into the spiritual world. By this, Job confirmed that he already believed what Bildad said in chapter 25, but then went further and expanded on it.

Job 26 Bible Study

SHORT OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF JOB

• Job 1-2 – Job is Persecuted by Satan

• Job 3-37 – Job and His Friends Discuss the Reason He is Experiencing Persecution

• Job 38-41 – God Speaks with Job and Reveals His Greatness to Him.

• Job 42 – God Restores What Job Lost

WHEN:

• The date of the writing of Job is unknown and still debated. Some believe it was written during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) or even earlier, while others suspect it was written during the time of Judah’s Babylonian captivity (607-537 B.C.).

• I take the earlier date. The description of Job as the “greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3) and an absence of references to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple suggests to me that this book was written early.

KEY CHARACTERS:

• Job – A blameless and upright man who Satan persecuted in an attempt to turn his heart away from God.

• Job’s Friends – Three men who were determined to accuse Job of sin. They were convinced Job’s suffering was God’s judgement on him for his hidden sin.

WHERE:

• Job lived in the land of Uz. Most scholars surmise the land of Uz was in northern Saudi Arabia, either immediately south of the Dead Sea, I the land that would become known as Edom, or immediately east of the Dead Sea, which is today the country of Jordan.

OUTLINE:

• JOB’S SARCASTIC RESPONSE TO BILDAD (26:1-4):

  • Job’s response to Bildad began with sarcasm. Job sarcastically said that Bildad had helped him greatly by repeating things that had already been said.

  • “How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!” (26:2-3).

• JOB’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S POWER (26:5-14):

  • Having pointed out the valuelessness of Bildad’s words, Job went on to show how little he needed the information Bildad provided.

  • With his next few words, he showed that he believed God’s power wasn’t limited to just the observable human world but also to the parts of the universe humans can’t observe and into the spiritual world as well. He said that God had power over the dead and over the grave.

  • He set the earth in its place and stretched the heavens over it.

  • He bound up water in the clouds to water the earth.

  • He controlled the physics (the pillars of heaven) that held the world together.

  • He calmed the sea with His voice and humbled the proud one (Rahab; 26:12).

  • Job admitted that these examples didn’t represent the half of God’s power.

  • Job said, “Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (26:14).

APPLICATION

• You can reach a point when repetition loses its value.

• Bildad really should have just remained quiet instead of speaking in chapter 25. The least he could have done was think of something that could have added value to the conversation. Instead, he just repeated something everyone already knew and wasted everyone’s time.

• Repetition has its value, but we can reach a point when we’ve repeated something so many times that another repetition is nearly valueless and wastes everyone’s time.

• This is something important to consider in personal Bible study and for those of us who teach in churches.

• For this application, I want to speak to those who teach publicly in churches.

• It is very easy to get into the habit of teaching the same topics repeatedly. This may be because you’ve already studied for them and it takes less time to prepare, or because these topics are key points of your beliefs that distinguish you from the world and the denominations around you.  

• We often justify our repetitive teaching with verses like 2 Peter 1:12, where Peter tells the church he is going to remind them of things they already know.

• But there is absolutely a point at which repetition loses its value.

• Your congregation, especially if its full of semi-mature Christians, probably doesn’t need to hear 5-10 sermons a year on the same topic.

• Bible class teachers don’t need to make the same points time-and-time-again to the neglect of giving their students new material to chew on.

• There is such a thing as repetition to a fault that leads to stagnation.

• The Word of God is so vast and deep! Preachers and teachers have so much material to cover!

• Please don’t do what Bildad did and keep repeating the same things even after the repetitions have been exhausted of value.

• A good teacher knows when repetition is valuable vs. when its time to move on to other valuable material.

• With his letter, Peter reminded the Church of some things they already knew, some things worth repeating, but there is no indication he wrote them 10 more letters after that with the same reminder.