서론
无标题
简体中文
英文原文
This is Job's short reply to Bildad's short discourse, in which he is so far from contradicting him that he confirms what he had said, and out-does him in magnifying God and setting forth his power, to show what reason he had still to say, as he did (Job 13:2), "What you know, the same do I know also." I. He shows that Bildad's discourse was foreign to the matter he was discoursing of—though very true and good, yet not to the purpose, Job 26:2-4. II. That it was needless to the person he was discoursing with; for he knew it, and believed it, and could speak of it as well as he and better, and could add to the proofs which he had produced of God's power and greatness, which he does in the rest of his discourse (Job 26:5-15), concluding that, when they had both said what they could, all came short of the merit of the subject and it was still far from being exhausted, Job 26:14.
1-4
Job's Reproof of Bildad (1520 BC)
简体中文
约伯责备比勒达（1520 BC）
¹ 约伯回答说： ² 「无能的人，你曾怎样帮助他！膀臂无力的人，你曾怎样拯救！ ³ 无智慧的人，你曾怎样指教！你曾怎样多多将知识表明！ ⁴ 你向谁发出言语来？是谁的灵从你而出？」
人想不到约伯在如此大的痛苦患难中，还能像这里那样讥讽朋友，又因他说话的不得要领而自娱。比勒达以为自己的话讲得十分精彩——内容那样有分量，措辞那样华美，自己既是神谕者，又是雄辩家；约伯却颇为不耐地指出，他的表现并不像自己所想的那样有价值，并为此嘲弄他。他指出，
一、其中并无什么大道理可寻（伯 26:3）：「你曾怎样多多将知识表明！」这话带着讽刺，责备比勒达对自己所讲的话评价过高。1. 他以为自己讲得十分清楚，「将知识表明」。他很看重自己的见解（我们也都易于如此），以为唯有自己的见解才是正确、真实、易懂的，对此事的一切其他见解都是错误、混乱、糊涂的；然而当我们讲到神的荣耀时，并不能将那事「如同实情那样」表明，因为我们如今是对着镜子观看，模糊不清，是借着反映，要等到天上才能「面对面」，必得见祂的「真体」（约一 3:2）。「我们『不能为他陈说』」（伯 37:19）。2. 他以为自己讲得十分充分，虽然话不多——以为已经「多多」将知识表明；唉！若与这主题的广阔与丰盛相比，他所表明的实在贫乏单薄。
二、从中也作不出什么大的用处。「有何益处」——「你说了这一切，到底成就了什么好处？你这样大张旗鼓，到底『怎样帮助了那无能的人』？」（伯 26:2）你以那样郑重的训诲，到底「『指教』了那无智慧的人」（伯 26:3）？约伯要叫他信服，1. 他并未藉此服事神，并未使神略略欠他的情。为神说话诚然是我们的本分，也必是我们的尊荣；但我们不可以为神需要我们的服事，或因此欠我们的情；若这服事是出于争辩反驳之灵，而非出于对神荣耀的真诚关切，祂也不悦纳。2. 他并未藉此服事他所持的因由。他以为朋友们大大欠他的情——因他在他们无从措手、无力无智维持己见之时，大大帮助他们据理力争。辩论者即便才疏，一旦激昂，也常以为真理因他们的辩护得益，胜过其实际。3. 他并未藉此服事约伯自己。他装作要劝服、指教、安慰约伯；唉！但他的话如此不切题，不足以纠正任何错失，也不足以帮助约伯——无论是在忍受他的苦难上，还是在从苦难中得益上：「『你向谁发出言语来？』（伯 26:4）你的讲论是指向我吗？你把我当作孩童，需要这样的指教吗？你以为这些指教对一个处在我这样光景中的人合宜吗？」凡真实良善的事，未必都是相宜而及时的。对一个像约伯这样已经谦卑、破碎、灵里忧伤的人，他本该向他传讲神的恩典怜悯，而不是神的伟大威严；本该把全能者的安慰，而不是祂的可畏，摆在他面前。基督「知道怎样用言语扶助疲乏的人」（赛 50:4），祂的仆人也当学习「按着正意分解真理的道」，不可像比勒达那样，叫那些神不愿叫他忧伤的人忧伤；因此约伯问他：「是谁的灵从你而出？」意即「有哪一个愁苦之灵，曾因你这样的一番话，得以复苏、得着解脱、归回自己？」我们常常这样：从本该安慰我们的朋友那里所期望的，往往落空；但那安慰者，就是圣灵，在祂的运行上从不失误，也从不偏离祂的目标。
英文原文
Job's Reproof of Bildad (1520 BC)
¹ But Job answered and said,
² How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
³ How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
⁴ To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
One would not have thought that Job, when he was in so much pain and misery, could banter his friend as he does here and make himself merry with the impertinency of his discourse. Bildad thought that he had made a fine speech, that the matter was so weighty, and the language so fine, that he had gained the reputation both of an oracle and of an orator; but Job peevishly enough shows that his performance was not so valuable as he thought it and ridicules him for it. He shows,
I. That there was no great matter to be found in it (Job 26:3): How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? This is spoken ironically, upbraiding Bildad with the good conceit he himself had of what he had said. 1. He thought he had spoken very clearly, had declared the thing as it is. He was very fond (as we are all apt to be) of his own notions, and thought they only were right, and true, and intelligible, and all other notions of the thing were false, mistaken, and confused; whereas, when we speak of the glory of God, we cannot declare the thing as it is, for we see it through a glass darkly, or but by reflection, and shall not see him as he is till we come to heaven. Here we cannot order our speech concerning him, Job 37:19. 2. He thought he had spoken very fully, though in few words, that he had plentifully declared it, and, alas! it was but poorly and scantily that he declared it, in comparison with the vast compass and copiousness of the subject.
II. That there was no great use to be made of it. Cui bono—What good hast thou done by all that thou hast said? How hast thou, with all this mighty flourish, helped him that is without power? Job 26:2. How hast thou, with thy grave dictates, counselled him that has no wisdom? Job 26:3. Job would convince him, 1. That he had done God no service by it, nor made him in the least beholden to him. It is indeed our duty, and will be our honour, to speak on God's behalf; but we must not think that he needs our service, or is indebted to us for it, nor will he accept it if it come from a spirit of contention and contradiction, and not from a sincere regard to God's glory. 2. That he had done his cause no service by it. He thought his friends were mightily beholden to him for helping them, at a dead lift, to make their part good against Job, when they were quite at a loss, and had no strength, no wisdom. Even weak disputants, when warm, are apt to think truth more beholden to them than it really is. 3. That he had done him no service by it. He pretended to convince, instruct, and comfort, Job; but, alas! what he had said was so little to the purpose that it would not avail to rectify any mistakes, nor to assist him either in bearing his afflictions or in getting good by them: "To whom has thou uttered words? Job 26:4. Was it to me that thou didst direct thy discourse? And dost thou take me for such a child as to need these instructions? Or dost thou think them proper for one in my condition?" Every thing that is true and good is not suitable and seasonable. To one that was humbled, and broken, and grieved in spirit, as Job was, he ought to have preached of the grace and mercy of God, rather than of his greatness and majesty, to have laid before him the consolations rather than the terrors of the Almighty. Christ knows how to speak what is proper for the weary (Isa 50:4), and his ministers should learn rightly to divide the word of truth, and not make those sad whom God would not have made sad, as Bildad did; and therefore Job asks him, Whose spirit came from thee? that is, "What troubled soul would ever be revived, and relieved, and brought to itself, by such discourses as these?" Thus are we often disappointed in our expectations from our friends who should comfort us, but the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, never mistakes in his operations nor misses of his end.
5-14
The Wisdom and Power of God (1520 BC)
简体中文
神的智慧与大能（主前1520年）
⁵ 在水下之物形成，并其中的居民。
⁶ 在神面前阴间赤露，灭亡也无遮盖。
⁷ 神将北极铺在空虚之上，将大地悬在虚空。
⁸ 将水包在密云中，云却不在其下破裂。
⁹ 神遮蔽他宝座的正面，将云铺在其上。
¹⁰ 在水面周围划出界限，直到光明黑暗的尽头。
¹¹ 天的柱子因他的斥责震动惊奇。
¹² 他以能力搅动大海，以聪明击打拉哈伯。
¹³ 借他的灵使天有妆饰；他的手刺杀快蛇。
¹⁴ 看哪，这不过是神作为的些微；我们所听于他的是何等细微的声音？他大能的雷声谁能明白呢？
约伯与他的朋友们彼此辩论那些他们意见不同的要点，使真理得着许多光照；但如今他们论到一个大家一致同意的题目——神无限的荣耀与大能。当争辩者之间没有别的争执，只争论谁当最崇高最尊贵地论到神、谁当最丰富地彰显他的赞美时，真理何等得胜，何等明亮地发光！但愿一切关于信仰之事的辩论都能如此终结，就是「以一心一口荣耀神」，也就是众人的主，我们的主（罗15:6）；因为我们都已达到这一点，就是在这一点上彼此同意。
一、这里给出神在创造和保存世界上之智慧与大能的许多光辉实例。
1. 我们若环顾周围，向下看这地与诸水，便可见大能的显著实例，这些实例可从这些经文中归纳出来。〔1.〕「他将大地悬在虚空」（伯26:7）。那庞大的水陆地球既不靠任何柱子支撑，也不挂在任何轴心上，然而借着神的全能大能，它坚定地立在其位置上，以自身的重量保持平衡。人的技艺不能把一根羽毛悬在虚空之上，神的智慧却把整个大地如此悬挂。ponderibus librata suis——以其自身重量保持平衡，诗人如此说；它「为神权能的命令所托住」（来1:3原文之意），使徒如此说。悬在虚空之上的，可以用来让我们立足，承担我们身体的重担，却永不能用来让我们立心，承担我们灵魂的重担。〔2.〕他为「海的诸水」设界限，把它们圈住（伯26:10），使它们不再「回来遮盖地面」；这些界限要存立不动、不摇、不磨，直到「光明黑暗的尽头」，就是时间不再有的时候。在此显明护理之工对狂暴海水的掌权，所以这是他大能的实例（耶5:22）。我们也看见护理之工对地上可怜罪人的照顾，他们虽惹他公义的愤怒、躺在他怜悯之下，却如此被保全不被淹没，正如他们曾被洪水之水所淹没一样，并且要继续如此被保全，因为他们是「保留等候火候」（彼后3:7）。〔3.〕他在水下「形成」无生命之物。Rephaim——巨人，在水下形成，那就是说，巨大的受造之物，有惊人的体积，如鲸鱼，类乎巨人的受造之物，在水中无数居民之中。帕特里克主教[Patrick]如此解释。〔4.〕他借大风暴大雷暴震动群山，这里群山称为「天的柱子」（伯26:11），甚至「搅动大海，击打其骄傲的波浪」（伯26:12）。耶和华一发声，「海水便奔逃」，「群山便跳跃」（诗114:3,4）。参哈3:6等。风暴在水面上犁出沟壑，可说把它们分开；然后平静下来，击打波浪，使它们再平伏。参诗89:9,10。那些认为约伯生活在摩西时代或之后的人，把这应用到红海在以色列人面前分开、埃及人在其中淹死的事上。「他以聪明击打拉哈伯」；这话如此，而拉哈伯常作埃及的代称（如诗87:4；赛51:9）。
2. 我们若思想地下的地狱，它虽在我们眼前之外，我们仍可推想神大能在其中的实例。借着「阴间和灭亡」（伯26:6），我们可以理解为坟墓和其中埋葬的人，他们虽被摆在我们的视线之外，却在神的眼目之下；这可以坚固我们对死人复活的信仰。神知道去何处寻找、从何处取回那已朽坏身体一切散落的微粒。我们也可以把它们理解为指那被定罪者之地，恶人分离的灵魂在其中受苦受刑。那就是阴间和灭亡，被称为「在耶和华面前」（箴15:11），在这里被称为「在他面前赤露」；启示录14:10可能就是暗指此事，那里说罪人要「在圣天使面前」（就是侍奉舍金拿荣光的众天使）和「羔羊面前」受痛苦。这也可为伯26:5提供亮光，一些古译本如此读（我认为这更合于「巨人」Rephaim 一词的意义）：「看哪，巨人在水下哀号，和那些与他们同住的」；接着是，「在他面前阴间赤露」，以旧世界巨人的被淹死为预表；博学的约瑟·梅德先生[Mr. Joseph Mede]如此理解，并以此解释箴21:16——那里阴间称为「死人会众」；这就是这里所用的同一个词，他要在那里译作「巨人会众」，暗指旧世界罪人的被淹死。在神威严的显现中，有什么比不敬虔之人的永远灭亡和幽暗之地居民的哀号更可畏的呢？那些不肯与天使一同敬畏敬拜的人，必永远与鬼魔一同恐惧战抖；神在其中必得荣耀。
3. 我们若举目望天，便可见神的主权与大能的实例。〔1.〕「他将北极铺在空虚之上」（伯26:7）。他在起初如此行了，那时「他铺张穹苍如幔子」（诗104:2）；他至今仍保持其铺张，并且要如此行直到万物被火销化的日子，那时它们要「像书卷一样被卷起来」（启6:14）。他提到北极，是因为他的本国（如同我们）位于北半球；而空气就是其上铺张的空虚之地。参诗89:12。这个世界与那另一个世界相比，是何等空虚之地！〔2.〕他保守那称为「穹苍以上」的水，不让它们倾倒在地球上，正如它们曾一次所行的（伯26:8）：「他将水包在密云中」，如同把它们紧紧扎在一个袋子里，直到需用时；尽管所提升所蓄积的水如此沉重，然而「云却不在其下破裂」，因为它们若破裂便要倾盆而出如同水槽；然而它们却如同透过云层蒸馏而下，因此一滴滴地降下，怜悯大地，或为小雨，或为大雨，随他所喜悦。〔3.〕他隐藏上面世界的荣耀，那荣耀的光辉是我们这些必死的可怜人不能承受的（伯26:9）：「神遮蔽他宝座的正面」，就是他所居住的那光中，「将云铺在其上」，他「借着云」行审判（伯22:13）。神要我们凭信心而活，不凭眼见而活；因为这与试验的状态相符。神宝座的面如今若像在大日那样可见，那就不是公平的试验了。
〔4.〕天上明亮的装饰乃是他手中的工作（伯26:13）：「借他的灵」，就是那运行在水面的永生之灵，「他口中的气」（诗33:6），「他装饰了诸天」，不仅造了它们，更美化了它们；夜里奇妙地用众星点缀，白日以日光描绘。神既造了人，叫人向上仰望（Os homini sublime dedit——他赐给人挺直的容貌），所以装饰了诸天，邀请人向上仰望，使他眼睛因太阳耀目的光和众星闪烁的光而喜悦——它们数目、次序和不同的大小，如同许多金钉，美化我们头顶的华盖；他便被引导钦佩那伟大的造物主、众光之父和源头，说：「既是路面铺设如此华丽，那宫殿必怎样！若是可见的诸天如此荣耀，那些眼不能见的又是怎样！」我们可以从候见厅的华美陈设推想到觐见厅的宝贵摆设。若众星如此明亮，天使又当如何！这里他的手所造的「快蛇」指什么，并不确定。有人把它当作天上装饰的一部分，有人说是银河；也有人说某特定的星座，如此得名。这与用于鳄鱼的是同一个词（赛27:1），很可能是指鲸鱼或鳄鱼，其中显出造物主的大能；约伯为何不以此作结呢？神自己也是如此行（伯41:1-34）。
二、末了，他用以一个可畏的「等等」作结（伯26:14）：「看哪，这不过是神作为的些微」，是他智慧和大能的彰显，是他所行的道路，借着他向世人显明自己。在此，1. 他存着敬拜的心，承认已显明的关于神的事。他自己所说的，以及比勒达所说的，都是他的道路，这就是所听见关于他的事；这就是关于神的某些事。然而，2. 他赞叹所未显明之事的深奥。我们所说的不过是他的作为的一部分，是一小部分而已。我们所知道关于神的事，与神里面所有的、与神本身所是的相比，算不得什么。在神向我们所作的一切启示之后，在我们对神所作的一切探求之后，我们对他仍多在黑暗之中，必须断言：「看哪，这不过是神作为的些微。」借着他的作为和话语，我们听见关于他的某些事；但唉！「我们所听于他的，是何等细微的声音」——所听见临到我们的、所听见出自我们的！我们所知道的有限，我们所说的也有限（林前13:9）。当我们说完所能说的关于神的一切之后，我们必须像使徒保罗那样行（罗11:33）；既绝望寻得底，便当坐在岸边，敬拜那深渊：「神丰富的智慧和知识何其深奥！」在现今状态中，我们所听见所知道关于神的事不过是一小部分而已。他是无限的、不可测度的；我们的悟性和容量软弱浅薄，而神荣耀的完全启示留待将来状态。连「他大能的雷声」（就是他大能的雷），他的作为中较低者、就在我们自己这一带的，我们也「不能明白」（伯37:4,5）。我们更不能明白他大能的最大力量和范围，它那可畏的作为和果效，特别是「他怒气的权能」（诗90:11）。神为大，我们不能测透。
英文原文
The Wisdom and Power of God (1520 BC)
⁵ Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
⁶ Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
⁷ He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
⁸ He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
⁹ He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
¹⁰ He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
¹² He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
¹³ By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
¹⁴ 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?
The truth received a great deal of light from the dispute between Job and his friends concerning those points about which they differed; but now they are upon a subject in which they were all agreed, the infinite glory and power of God. How does truth triumph, and how brightly does it shine, when there appears no other strife between the contenders than which shall speak most highly and honourably of God and be most copious in showing forth his praise! It were well if all disputes about matters of religion might end thus, in glorifying God as Lord of all, and our Lord, with one mind and one mouth (Ro 15:6); for to that we have all attained, in that we are all agreed.
I. Many illustrious instances are here given of the wisdom and power of God in the creation and preservation of the world.
1. If we look about us, to the earth and waters here below, we shall see striking instances of omnipotence, which we may gather out of these verses. (1.) He hangs the earth upon nothing, Job 26:7. The vast terraqueous globe neither rests upon any pillars nor hangs upon any axle-tree, and yet, by the almighty power of God, is firmly fixed in its place, poised with its own weight. The art of man could not hang a feather upon nothing, yet the divine wisdom hangs the whole earth so. It is ponderibus librata suis—poised by its own weight, so says the poet; it is upheld by the word of God's power, so says the apostle. What is hung upon nothing may serve us to set our feet on, and bear the weight of our bodies, but it will never serve us to set our hearts on, nor bear the weight of our souls. (2.) He sets bounds to the waters of the sea, and compasses them in (Job 26:10), that they may not return to cover the earth; and these bounds shall continue unmoved, unshaken, unworn, till the day and night come to an end, when time shall be no more. Herein appears the dominion which Providence has over the raging waters of the sea, and so it is an instance of his power, Jer 5:22. We see too the care which Providence takes of the poor sinful inhabitants of the earth, who, though obnoxious to his justice and lying at his mercy, are thus preserved from being overwhelmed, as they were once by the waters of a flood, and will continue to be so, because they are reserved unto fire. (3.) He forms dead things under the waters. Rephaim-giants, are formed under the waters, that is, vast creatures, of prodigious bulk, as whales, giant-like creatures, among the innumerable inhabitants of the water. So bishop Patrick. (4.) By mighty storms and tempests he shakes the mountains, which are here called the pillars of heaven (Job 26:11), and even divides the sea, and smites through its proud waves, Job 26:12. At the presence of the Lord the sea flies and the mountains skip, Ps 114:3,4. See Hab 3:6, etc. A storm furrows the waters, and does, as it were, divide them; and then a calm smites through the waves, and lays them flat again. See Ps 89:9,10. Those who think Job lived at, or after, the time of Moses, apply this to the dividing of the Red Sea before the children of Israel, and the drowning of the Egyptians in it. By his understanding he smiteth through Rahab; so the word is, and Rahab is often put for Egypt; as Ps 87:4, Is 51:9.
2. If we consider hell beneath, though it is out of our sight, yet we may conceive the instances of God's power there. By hell and destruction (Job 26:6) we may understand the grave, and those who are buried in it, that they are under the eye of God, though laid out of our sight, which may strengthen our belief of the resurrection of the dead. God knows where to find, and whence to fetch, all the scattered atoms of the consumed body. We may also consider them as referring to the place of the damned, where the separate souls of the wicked are in misery and torment. That is hell and destruction, which are said to be before the Lord (Pr 15:11), and here to be naked before him, to which it is probable there is an allusion, Re 14:10, where sinners are to be tormented in the presence of the holy angels (who attended the Shechinah) and in the presence of the Lamb. And this may give light to Job 26:5, which some ancient versions read thus (and I think more agreeably to the signification of the word Rephaim): Behold, the giants groan under the waters, and those that dwell with them; and then follows, Hell is naked before him, typified by the drowning of the giants of the old world; so the learned Mr. Joseph Mede understands it, and with it illustrates Pr 21:16, where hell is called the congregation of the dead; and it is the same word which is here used, and which he would there have rendered the congregation of the giants, in allusion to the drowning of the sinners of the old world. And is there any thing in which the majesty of God appears more dreadful than in the eternal ruin of the ungodly and the groans of the inhabitants of the land of darkness? Those that will not with angels fear and worship shall for ever with devils fear and tremble; and God therein will be glorified.
3. If we look up to heaven above, we shall see instances of God's sovereignty and power. (1.) He stretches out the north over the empty place, Job 26:7. So he did at first, when he stretched out the heavens like a curtain (Ps 104:2); and he still continues to keep them stretched out, and will do so till the general conflagration, when they shall be rolled together as a scroll, Re 6:14. He mentions the north because his country (as ours) lay in the northern hemisphere; and the air is the empty place over which it is stretched out. See Ps 89:12. What an empty place is this world in comparison with the other! (2.) He keeps the waters that are said to be above the firmament from pouring down upon the earth, as once they did (Job 26:8): He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, as if they were tied closely in a bag, till there is occasion to use them; and, notwithstanding the vast weight of water so raised and laid up, yet the cloud is not rent under them, for then they would burst and pour out as a spout; but they do, as it were, distil through the cloud, and so come drop by drop, in mercy to the earth, in small rain, or great rain, as he pleases. (3.) He conceals the glory of the upper world, the dazzling lustre of which we poor mortals could not bear (Job 26:9): He holds back the face of his throne, that light in which he dwells, and spreads a cloud upon it, through which he judges, Job 22:13. God will have us to live by faith, not by sense; for this is agreeable to a state of probation. It were not a fair trial if the face of God's throne were visible now as it will be in the great day.
(4.) The bright ornaments of heaven are the work of his hands (Job 26:13): By his Spirit, the eternal Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, the breath of his mouth (Ps 33:6), he has garnished the heavens, not only made them, but beautified them, has curiously bespangled them with stars by night and painted them with the light of the sun by day. God, having made man to look upward (Os homini sublime dedit—To man he gave an erect countenance), has therefore garnished the heavens, to invite him to look upward, that, by pleasing his eye with the dazzling light of the sun and the sparkling light of the stars, their number, order, and various magnitudes, which, as so many golden studs, beautify the canopy drawn over our heads, he may be led to admire the great Creator, the Father and fountain of lights, and to say, "If the pavement be so richly inlaid, what must the palace be! If the visible heavens be so glorious, what are those that are out of sight!" From the beauteous garniture of the ante-chamber we may infer the precious furniture of the presence-chamber. If stars be so bright, what are angels! What is meant here by the crooked serpent which his hands have formed is not certain. Some make it part of the garnishing of the heavens, the milky-way, say some; some particular constellation, so called, say others. It is the same word that is used for leviathan (Isa 27:1), and probably may be meant of the whale or crocodile, in which appears much of the power of the Creator; and why may not Job conclude with that inference, when God himself does so? Job 41:1-34
II. He concludes, at last, with an awful et cætera (Job 26:14): Lo, these are parts of his ways, the out-goings of his wisdom and power, the ways in which he walks and by which he makes himself known to the children of men. Here, 1. He acknowledges, with adoration, the discoveries that were made of God. These things which he himself had said, and which Bildad had said, are his ways, and this is heard of him; this is something of God. But, 2. He admires the depth of that which is undiscovered. This that we have said is but part of his ways, a small part. What we know of God is nothing in comparison with what is in God and what God is. After all the discoveries which God has made to us, and all the enquiries we have made after God, still we are much in the dark concerning him, and must conclude, Lo, these are but parts of his ways. Something we hear of him by his works and by his word; but, alas! how little a portion is heard of him? heard by us, heard from us! We know but in part; we prophesy but in part. When we have said all we can, concerning God, we must even do as St. Paul does (Ro 11:33); despairing to find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink, and adore the depth: O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! It is but a little portion that we hear and know of God in our present state. He is infinite and incomprehensible; our understandings and capacities are weak and shallow, and the full discoveries of the divine glory are reserved for the future state. Even the thunder of his power (that is, his powerful thunder), one of the lowest of his ways here in our own region, we cannot understand. See Job 37:4,5. Much less can we understand the utmost force and extent of his power, the terrible efforts and operations of it, and particularly the power of his anger, Ps 90:11. God is great, and we know him not.
这是约伯对比勒达简短言论的简短回答；他非但不反驳，反而印证了比勒达所说的，并且在尊崇 神、称颂他的权能上比他更进一步，为要表明他仍然有理由像从前那样说（约伯记 13:2）："你们所知道的，我也知道。"I. 他指出比勒达的言论与所论的事无关——虽然所说都真实美好，却文不对题，约伯记 26:2-4。II. 对所谈论的对象来说，那番话也是多余的；因为他知道、也相信这一切，能像比勒达一样说得清楚，甚至更好，并且能在比勒达所举关乎 神权能与伟大的证据之外有所增添——他在言论的余下部分正是这样行（约伯记 26:5-15），并在末了指出：当他们二人都尽力说了所能说的之后，这一切仍远不及主题的分量，仍未穷尽，约伯记 26:14。