Job 26:4

To whom hast thou uttered words?.... That others know not; dost thou think thou art talking to an ignorant man?

To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee? For whose instruction were thy words meant?

For whose instruction hast thou uttered these things? For mine? Dost thou think me to be so ignorant, that I do not know that which the meanest persons are not unacquainted with, to wit, that God is incomparably greater and better than his creatures? Whose spirit came from thee? so the sense is, Whom hast thou revived or comforted by this discourse? Not me surely. The spirit or breath of a man is in a manner suppressed and intercepted in deep sorrows and consternations, such as Job’ s were; and when he is cheered or refreshed, it finds vent and breathes out freely, as it did before. But I do not remember that ever this phrase is used in this sense; but, on the contrary, the giving or restoring of life is expressed by the coming in, and not by the going out, of spirit or breath, as appears from ,6,10. The words therefore are and may be otherwise understood; either thus, Whose spirit or inspiration came from thee? Who inspired thee with this profound discourse of thine? Was it by Divine inspiration, as thou wouldst have us to believe? or was it not a rash suggestion of thy own vain and foolish mind? Or thus, Whose spirit went out (to wit, of his body, by an ecstasy of admiration) for thee, by reason of thy discourse? I may be thought partial in my censure of it, but thou mayst perceive none of our friends here present admire it, except thyself. Or, To or for whom (the particle eth being here understood out of the former branch, as is usual among the Hebrews) did breath go out from thee, i.e. didst thou speak? For whose good, or to what end, didst thou speak this? God needed it not; I receive no edification or benefit by it.

Job 26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?Ver. 4. To whom hast thou uttered words?] And, as thou thinkest, words weighty, and worthy of all acceptation, when in truth there is no such matters; bubbles of words they are, and big swollen fancies, sed cui bono? What tack is there in them? and to what good purpose are they? Melancthon makes mention of a certain good man, who reading Aristotle’ s discourse concerning the rainbow, conceited thereupon many strange speculations, and wrote to a friend that he had far outdone Aristotle in that matter (Manl. loc. com. 536). But coming afterwards to the university, and disputing there upon that subject, he was found to be utterly out in those fancies of his, which indeed were no better than a sublime dotage. And whose spirit came from thee?] Or, came out of thee? Was it by God’ s Spirit that thou spakest, or thine own rather? For "there is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding," Job 32:8. Job would not have Bildad think and term his discourses to be divine inspirations, or such admirable pieces, rare sayings, being but vulgar and ordinary businesses (Scult. Ann. p. 238). Muncer, the arch Anabaptist, wrote a book against Luther, wherein he boasteth much of the spirit, and of prophetical light, accusing Luther for unspiritual, and one that savoured nothing but carnal things. The Antinomians use to call upon their hearers to mark; it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before, whenas the thing they deliver after so promising a preface, is either false, or what is taught ordinarily by others. Some read the words thus, Whose spirit admired thee? for the spirit goeth as it were out of itself after those things it admireth. The Hebrews expound it thus, Whose spirit hast thou quickened, or confirmed, by these thy words? Who is the wiser or the better for them? Quam animam per haec fecisti? What soul hast thou gained to God by thy doctrine? confer Genesis 12:5, the souls which they had made, that is, brought to the true fear and service of God.

(4) To whom.—That is, “Is it not to one who had said the same thing himself? Was it not my own breath, my own teaching, that came forth from you?” He then proceeds to show that it is not only the starry heavens that declare the glory of God, but the under world likewise, and the universe generally.

Verse 4. Whose spirit came from thee?] Mr. Good renders the verse thus: From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose spirit hath issued forth from thee? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers have been adduced against the irritated sufferer; for which see Job 8:11-19; Job 15:20-35, some of which he has already complained of, as in Job 12:3, and following. I concur most fully therefore with Dr. Stock in regarding the remainder of this chapter as a sample, ironically exhibited by Job, of the harangues on the power and greatness of God which he supposes his friends to have taken out of the mouths of other men, to deck their speeches with borrowed lustre. Only, in descanting on the same subject, he shows how much he himself can go beyond them in eloquence and sublimity. Job intimates that, whatever spirit they had, it was not the Spirit of God, because in their answers falsehood was found.

4. to whom hast thou uttered words?] Job refers to himself and asks, Who is it that thou hast spoken such things to? The same feeling of conscious superiority to his friends and disdain of the instructions they were giving him reappears here, which came out already in ch. Job 12:4. It is the same feeling as was expressed by the magnates of Jerusalem in reference to the continual harping of Isaiah: “Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast?” Has he children before him that he gives precept upon precept, line upon line, &c.? Isaiah 28:9. and whose spirit came from thee?] Or, came forth from thee. Job asks, Under what lofty inspiration hast thou spoken? Is it, indeed, the very spirit of God that has found expression through thy mouth? The words carry a sarcastic reference to the poverty of Bildad’s speech, possibly also to the oracular air with which it was uttered.

To whom hast thou uttered words? - Jerome renders this, Quem docere voluisti? “Whom do you wish to teach?” The sense is, “Do you attempt to teach me in such a manner, on such a subject?

4. Whose spirit — By whose inspiration hast thou spoken? He insinuates that Bildad has borrowed his few meagre thoughts, for instance, from Eliphaz, Job 4:17-21; Job 15:14-16.