In this message we will begin to consider, from chapters twenty-six through twenty-eight, Job's final speaking to his three friends.
In 26:1-4 Job rebuked Bildad sarcastically, saying, "How you have helped him who is without power!/How you have saved the arm of him who is without strength!/How you have counseled him who is without wisdom/And have plentifully declared sound knowledge!/To whom have you uttered words?/And whose spirit has come forth from you?" This surely was not a friendly word. Job's three friends had come to visit him for the purpose of comforting and supporting him, but eventually Job and his friends got into a debate, contending and even fighting with one another. Their words had no spiritual light or reality. Instead, their speaking was according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Job's friends only had the knowledge about such matters as being good in order to please God and to receive prosperity.
After rebuking Bildad, Job spoke to his friends regarding God's power as seen in His creation. Job's speaking here indicates that he had a superiority complex. In verses 5 through 14 Job showed off his superior knowledge concerning the unlimited power of God. Job said that Sheol is naked before God, that He hangs the earth upon nothing, that He spread His cloud over the face of His throne, that by His power He stilled the sea and by His understanding He struck down Rahab (a sea monster spoken of in ancient narratives), and that by His Spirit the heavens became beauty. Then Job concluded by saying, "Behold, these are but the fringes of His ways;/And how small a whisper do we hear of Him!/But as for the thundering of His mightiness, who can comprehend it?" (v. 14).
There was no need for Job to show off his superior knowledge or to speak to his friends in this way. The conversation between Job and his friends is not what we would expect from friends who care for each other. No one among them suggested that they pray and look to the Lord.