Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 26:2
How hast thou helped [him that is] without power? [how] savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength?
2. how savest thou?] Rather, how hast thou saved? i. e. succoured.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2 4. Job sarcastically expresses his admiration of Bildad’s speech, and gratitude for the help it has been to him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How hast thou helped him that is without power? – It has been doubted whether this refers to Job himself, the two friends of Bildad, or to the Deity. Rosenmuller. The connection, however, seems to demand that it should be referred to Job himself. It is sarcastical. Bildad had come as a friend and comforter. He had, also, in common with Eliphaz and Zophar, taken upon himself the office of teacher and counsellor. He had regarded Job as manifesting great weakness in his views of God and of his government; as destitute of all strength to bear up aright under trials, and now all that he had done to aid one so weak was found in the impertinent and irrelevant generalities of his brief speech. Job is indignant that one with such pretensions should have said nothing more to the purpose. Herder, however, renders this as if it related wholly to God, and it cannot be denied that the Hebrew would bear this:
Whom helpest thou? Him who hath no strength?
Whom dost thou vindicate? Him whose arm hath no power?
To whom give counsel? One without wisdom?
Truly much wisdom hast thou taught him.
How savest thou the arm that hath no strength? – That is, your remarks are not adapted to invigorate the feeble. He had come professedly to comfort and support his afflicted friend in his trials. Yet Job asks what there was in his observations that was fitted to produce this effect? Instead of declaiming on the majesty and greatness of God, he should have said something that was adapted to relieve an afflicted and a troubled soul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. How hast thou helped him] This seems a species of irony. How wonderfully hast thou counselled the unskilful and strengthened the weak! Alas for you! ye could not give what ye did not possess! In this way the Chaldee understood these verses: “Why hast thou pretended to give succour, when thou art without strength? And save, while thy arm is weak? Why hast thou given counsel, when thou art without understanding? And supposest that thou hast shown the very essence of wisdom?”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How hast thou helped? thou hast helped egregiously. It is an ironical expression, implying the quite contrary, that he had not at all helped. See the like, Gen 3:22; 1Ki 18:27; 1Co 4:8,10.
Him that is without power; either,
1. God, who it seems is weak and unwise, and needed so powerful and eloquent an advocate as thou art to maintain his fights and plead his cause. Or, rather,
2. Job himself: I am a poor helpless creature, my strength and spirits quite broken with the pains of my body and perplexities of my mind, whom nature, and humanity, and religion should have taught thee to support and comfort with a representation of the gracious nature and promises of God, and not to terrify and overwhelm me with displaying his sovereign majesty, the thoughts whereof are already so distractive and dreadful to me.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2, 3. without power . . . nostrength . . . no wisdomThe negatives are used instead of thepositives, powerlessness, c., designedly (so Isa 31:8Deu 32:21). Granting I am, as yousay (Job 18:17; Job 15:2),powerlessness itself, &c. “How hast thou helpedsuch a one?”
savestsupportest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How hast thou helped [him that is] without power?…. This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do, by reading the words, “who hast thou helped? God” r? a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in need of another; as if he had no arm, and could not save and protect himself, but needed one to rise and stand up in his behalf, when he is God omnipotent, and has an arm strong and mighty, and there is none like his; and as if he wanted wisdom, and one to counsel him, when he is the all wise God, and never consults with any of his creatures, or admits them to be of his council; and as if his “essence” s, or “what he is”, as he is, had been very copiously and plentifully declared in a few words by him; in supposing which he must be guilty of the greatest arrogance, stupidity, and folly; and therefore he asks him, who it was he uttered such things unto? and by whose spirit he must be aided in so doing? see
Job 13:7; or else Job refers to the cause undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a sarcastic way, represents as a very weak and feeble one, that had neither strength nor wisdom in it, and was as weakly and as foolishly supported, or rather was entirely neglected and deserted, Bildad having wholly declined the thing in controversy, and said not one word of it; therefore Job ironically asks him, “in what”, or “wherein hast thou helped?” t what good hast thou done to this poor tottering cause of yours? or what light hast thou thrown upon it? and to what purpose is anything that has been said by thee? Some are of opinion that Job refers to Bildad’s friends, whom he represents as weak and stupid, as men of no argument, and had no strength of reasoning, and were as poorly assisted and defended by Bildad: but, why not to Bildad himself? for the sense of the question, agreeably enough to the original text, may be put after this manner; a fine patron and defender of a cause thou art; thou canst help and save a dying cause without power, and with a strengthless arm, or without any force of argument, or strength of reasoning; thou canst give counsel without any wisdom, without any show or share of it, and in half a dozen lines set the thing in a true light, just as it is and should be; a wonderful man indeed thou art! though I choose to join with such interpreters, who understand the whole of Job himself, who was without might and power, a weak and feeble creature in booty and mind, being pressed and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, succoured, strengthened, and comforted, with what Bildad had said: it is the duty of all good men, and it is what Job himself had done in former times, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by sympathizing with persons under affliction, by bearing their burdens and infirmities, by speaking comfortably unto them, and telling them what comforts they themselves have received under afflictions, see Job 4:3; but miserable comforters of Job were Bildad and his friends:
[how] savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength? the sense is the same as before, that he had done nothing to relieve Job in his bodily or soul distresses, and save him out of them; nor had contributed in the least towards his support under them; and be it that he was as weak in his intellectuals as he and his friends thought him to be, and had undertaken a cause which he had not strength of argument to defend; yet, what had he done to convince him of his mistake, and save him from the error of his way?
r “cui auxiliatis es”, Pagninus, Montanus; so Tigurine version. s “essentiam”, Montanus. t “Qua nam re adjuvisti?” Vatablus; “quid auxiliatus es?” Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Job 26:2. How hast thou helped him, &c. Whom hast thou been helping? him who hast no power: For whom hast thou gotten a victory? the arm which hath no strength, Job 26:3. To whom hast thou been giving counsel? him who hath no wisdom: verily, thou hast been teaching learning to the master. Heath. The latter clause of the 3rd verse, which is literally rendered, was, most probably, a proverbial expression.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 26:2 How hast thou helped [him that is] without power? [how] savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength?
Ver. 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power? ] q.d. Full well hast thou done it, surely. (See a like irony Mar 7:9 1Co 4:8 ; 1Co 4:10 ) Thou art a very goodly comforter, and with a great deal of wisdom thou hast framed thy discourse to my present necessity. Thou lookest upon me as a poor, forlorn, strengthless, fruitless creature. Thou shouldest therefore have set thyself to support me and shore me up, by uttering not only commoda, sed et accommoda, things true and profitable, but things fit and suitable to my distressed condition. Thou hast spoken much of the majesty and purity of Almighty God (wherein I well accord thee), but these are words of terror, such as I can hardly bear. Of strong medicine we say, Quod nec puero, nec seni, nec imbecillo, sed robusto conveniat, that it is not for children, or old folks, or weak ones, but for the stronger sort; it is not for every complexion and state. So neither is every discourse for all sort of people. It is a singular skill to be able to time a word, Isa 50:4 , and to set it upon its wheels, Pro 25:10 , to declare unto a man his righteousness, which not one of a thousand can tell how to do it like him, Job 33:23 , to seek to find out pleasant words, such as have both goads and nails in them, Ecc 12:10-11 (to prick them on to duty, and to fasten them to the right, as pales to their rails), to divide the word of God aright, 2Ti 2:15 , and to give every one his portion in the due season, Mat 24:45 . Not as he in the emblem, who gave straw to the dog, and a bone to the ass. The good word of God, if well applied, is profitable to all things, as is here hinted; sc. to help the powerless, to save the strengthless, to counsel the ignorant, and to set forth things as they are, that there may be no manner of mistake; but then it must be wisely handled, and the help of God’s Holy Spirit must be implored, Job 26:4 , that it may be a word of reconciliation, a savour of life unto life, 2Co 2:16 ; 2Co 5:19 , and whatsoever else is said in commendation of it, Psa 19:7-10 . Mercer interpreting this verse and the two following, Hoc de Deo accipio, saith he, These things I understand concerning God; and it is as if Job had said to Bildad, Oh, how bravely helpest thou him that is weak, and pleadest for him that is forlorn, as if God wanted thy patronage and defence! No question but thou art a man fit to advise him, and to set him in a course that he cannot otherwise hit on: this is a good sense also. But what meant Brentius to bring in Job blaspheming here, as thus, Quem iuvas? impotentem? salvas brachium invalidi? Cui consulis? insipienti? &c. Whom helpest thou, O God? the impotent? savest thou the arm of the strengthless? Whom counsellest thou? the ignorant? &c.: q.d. Surely thou shouldest do so by promise, and it would well become thee to do so by me; but (alas) thou dost nothing less; and hence it is that I skill stick in the briars, &c. Upon this gloss we may write, as the canonists do sometimes, Palea, or, Hoc non credo.
How hast thou: Bildad had produced no argument to refute Job’s doctrine; and therefore Job ironically admires the assistance which Bildad had given to his friends in their extremity, and the instruction he had afforded him in his perplexity. Job 12:2, 1Ki 18:27
helped: Job 4:3, Job 4:4, Job 6:25, Job 16:4, Job 16:5, Isa 35:3, Isa 35:4, Isa 40:14, Isa 41:5-7
Reciprocal: 1Sa 28:20 – sore afraid Job 12:3 – I am not inferior to you Job 16:2 – heard Job 27:12 – altogether Job 32:3 – because
Job 26:2. How hast thou helped him, that is without power? Thou hast helped excellently! It is an ironical expression, implying quite the contrary, that he had not helped at all. As if he had said, I am a poor helpless creature, my strength and spirits are quite broken with the pains of my body, and the perplexities of my mind; and humanity and religion should have taught thee to support and comfort me, with representations of the goodness and promises of God, and not to terrify and overwhelm me with displaying his sovereign majesty, his glorious holiness, and inflexible justice, the thoughts whereof are already so discouraging and dreadful to me.
26:2 {a} How hast thou helped [him that is] without power? [how] {b} savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength?
(a) You concluded nothing, for neither did you help me while destitute of all help, nor yet speak sufficiently on God’s behalf, who has no need for your defence.
(b) But you do not apply it to the purpose.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes