Job 26:3

"“How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!"

Key Reflection

In Job 26:3, the speaker challenges divine wisdom and action by asking how God could assist someone who is powerless and unable to help themselves. The original audience, familiar with the social and religious context of ancient Israel, would have recognized this as a rhetorical question aimed at critiquing God's methods or questioning His justice, given that Job was suffering greatly yet remained steadfast in his faith despite his dire circumstances.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? -As he had undertaken to give counsel to another, and to suggest views that might be adapted to elevate his mind in his depression, and to console him in his sorrows, he had a right to expect more than he had found in his speech. And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? -The word rendered “the thing as it is” (תשׁיהtûshı̂yâh) denotes properly a setting upright, uprightness - fromישׁהyāshah; then help, deliverance,Job 6:13; purpose, undertaking, enterprise,Job 5:12; then counsel, wisdom, understanding,Job 11:6;Job 12:16. Here it is synonymous with reason, wisdom, or truth.

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