Lo, these are parts of his ways— Lo! these are but the outlines of his paths; yet what a series of noble acts have we heard of him! but of the thundering of his mightiness, who can even bear the contemplation? See Heath and Schultens.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Pained as Job is, in every part, he cannot help rallying Bildad on the impertinence of his pompous oration.
How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength? If this be referred to God, it is an ironical sarcasm on Bildad's pretending to lift his feeble arm in support of the Almighty and his cause; or if it be spoken of Job, as seems most likely, it expresses his contempt of a discourse so foreign to the purpose, and so little suited to minister to him strength or help. How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? ridiculing the folly of his affecting the part of a counsellor, and of his regarding his opponent as if he was destitute of understanding: And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? set forth the matter in dispute in a copious and convincing manner, when in fact he had not spoken one word to the purpose, respecting the grand point in debate. To whom hast thou uttered words, as if I were ignorant of such knowledge, and words withal so foreign to the case? And whose spirit came from thee? in thy conceit, the spirit of wisdom and eloquence; in my apprehension, the spirit of error and affectation. Note; (1.) When persons conceited, and wedded to their own opinions, assume a superiority in dispute, without producing any just claim to it, they deserve the ridicule that they provoke. (2.) It is not sufficient that what we say is true; it must be pertinent, and applicable to the case in hand, or else it is unprofitable and vain. (3.) Afflicted souls need not to have displays of majesty and terror set before them; but of mercy and grace in Christ, poured in as balm to their wounds.
2nd, The point in debate is dropped here; and, since Bildad seemed to triumph in setting forth the power and greatness of God; Job, so far from disputing it, heartily joins with him, yea, exceeds him. It were happy for us, in all our religious differences, if we would waive disputes about opinions allowedly not essential to salvation, and, content to differ about the more abstruse and minuter points of doctrine, unite in the great and glorious truths which both sides heartily embrace.
1. The power and glory of God appear among the inhabitants of hell beneath, sunk as stones in the mighty waters, and groaning in misery: the Rephaim, the giants of enormous size, swept away by the devouring deluge with all the multitude, are shut up in chains of darkness in the great abyss, unto the judgment of the great day, (for so the words may signify:) Behold, the giants groan under the waters, with the inhabitants thereof, the world of the ungodly. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering; he sees each atom of the sleeping dead wherever dispersed in earth, fire, air, or water: yea, the place of the damned is open before him, hell itself excludes not his presence; how then should the sinner be hid, when even death and hell are without covering?
2. From things beneath, he ascends to things around us, in the earth and sea: He hangs the earth upon nothing, poised in the vast expanse, and held together by strange magnetic virtue. Shut up in the bosom of the vast abyss, the mighty waters know those bounds which they cannot pass till time shall be no more. The stormy billows roar, and lash the echoing shores; the waves lift up their heads, as if they had forsaken the deep, and threatened to mount the skies; the pillars of heaven, the strong mountains, tremble, and stand astonished at his reproof, when tempests and mighty thunders are stirred up round about them; then, at his word, he smiteth through the proud waves, the storm is hushed, billows subside, and creep in gentle murmurs to the shore.
3. From objects around us on earth, he rises to the visible glories above us, which bear the strong and legible characters of his eternal power and godhead who fashioned them. The vast expanse of firmament is stretched over us, where float those clouds, in which, by wonderful mechanism, the waters exhaled from the sea are suspended, nor, rent with the weight, pour down in torrents their collected stores, but with gentle showers refresh, instead of deluging the earth. Garnished by his Spirit, the aetherial sky, bright with sun, moon, and stars, displays the wonders of his transcendant greatness; and his hand hath formed the crooked serpent, either some bright constellation in the heavens, or that wonder of God's works upon earth, Leviathan, Isaiah 27:1.; yet, surpassing marvellous as these his works appear, lo, these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him? how little do we know, compared with what is unseen; and even in what is visible, how small a part can we comprehend of the depths of the wisdom, knowledge, and glory of God therein manifested. But the thunder of his power, the amazing greatness of it, who can understand? it infinitely transcends all human faculties, and leaves us far behind, lost in wonder and admiration.