Chapter 26 – FAMILIA MUNDIAL
1 [1-14] Probably to be read as Job’s reply to Bildad’s short speech. Some, however, would make it the reply to Zophar (⇒ Job 27:13-21); it would thus lead up to the poem of Job 28.
2 [5] Shades: the dead in Sheol, the nether world; cf ⇒ Psalm 6:6; ⇒ 88:11.
3 [6] Nether world: cf note to ⇒ Psalm 6:6. Abaddon: Hebrew for «(place of) destruction,» a synonym for nether world; cf ⇒ Job 28:22; ⇒ Rev 9:11.
4 [7] The North: used here as a synonym for the firmament, the heavens; cf Isaiah 14, 13.
5 [10] Circle: the horizon of the ocean which serves as the boundary for the activity of light and darkness.
6 [12] Rahab: cf ⇒ Job 9:13; see note on ⇒ Psalm 89:11.
7 [13] The fugitive dragon: the same term occurs in ⇒ Isaiah 27:1 in apposition to Leviathan; see note on ⇒ Job 3:8. This is actually Job 27:22.