Catholic Commentary on Job 26

"And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!" (Job 26:14)

Job: The Outer Fringe of God's Works

Job responds to Bildad with biting irony: how you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the arm that is feeble! What advice you have offered to one without wisdom! He then launches into a magnificent doxology of divine power that exceeds anything the friends have said: the dead are in deep anguish below; Death is naked before God; he suspends the earth over nothing; he wraps up the waters in his clouds; he marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. By his power he churned up the sea. By his breath the skies became fair. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?

The Catechism identifies Job's declaration that the visible creation is only the outer fringe of God's works as the poetic expression of divine transcendence: all that we can see and know of God is the merest edge of what he is (CCC 300).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, how faint the whisper we hear of him. The cosmos that staggers human comprehension is only the outer fringe of God's works. The God you worship is incomprehensibly greater than the largest description your theology can produce. Stand in awe before the fringe. What must the fullness be?

Prayer

Lord God, the outer fringe of your works fills us with awe. We worship what we cannot yet fully see. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

26
Job: Who Can Understand God’s Majesty?
Then Job answered:
 
“How you have helped the powerless
and saved the arm that is feeble!
How you have counseled the unwise
and provided fully sound insight!
To whom have you uttered these words?
And whose spirit spoke through you?
 
The dead tremble-
those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them.
Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon * 26:6 Abaddon means Destruction. has no covering.
He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth upon nothing.
He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.
He covers the face of the full moon, 26:9 Or of His throne
spreading over it His cloud.
10 He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The foundations of heaven quake,
astounded at His rebuke.
12 By His power He stirred 26:12 Or stilled the sea;
by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
13 By His breath the skies were cleared;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.§ 26:13 Hebrew nachash; translated in most cases as snake
14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways;
how faint is the whisper we hear of Him!
Who then can understand
the thunder of His power?”

*26:6 26:6 Abaddon means Destruction.

26:9 26:9 Or of His throne

26:12 26:12 Or stilled

§26:13 26:13 Hebrew nachash; translated in most cases as snake