From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 12/18/1998, all rights reserved "History of Philosophy
Biblical References"

    Job written originally in Hebrew could possibly be dated to 2150 B.C. at the beginning of the Age of Aries.
    Seen in this book is a definite kinship with eastern chokma (wisdom) literature, regarding the problems of human existence and conduct as they were being formulated in the philosophical circles of the world of that day.    Job not part of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants was an ideal vehicle for biblical wisdom doctrine.
    The events that he narrates belong to the early patriarchal period, as is evident from features like Job's longevity, revelation by theophany (God visibly manifesting himself), the nomadic status of the Chaldeans, and early social and economic practises.    The question is, when was the tradition of Job transformed into the canonical Book of Job?


•     Job 22:11 "Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee (danger by floods is a less frequent image in this book)."
      22:12 "Is not God in the height (Heb. ro’sh, head or top, i.e., elevation) of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!"
      22:13 "And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?" Does God concern himself with the affairs of humans seen also in Psalm 73:11.
      22:14 "Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven." (Circuit or circumference is a path or route the complete traversal of which without local change of direction requires returning to the starting point.)
  
      In Job 38:1-6 ".. the LORD " talked from "…a whirlwind (a description of His power exhibited in the phenomena of nature also seen in Nahum 1:3; also a symbol of judgment)," questioning where was man when he "… laid the foundations of the earth," or "… who hath stretched the line upon it (measured its proportions).." and "…fastened the corner stone (gravitation)…" the arrangements of the universe.
      The lesson of this book is the displinary design of trial to the godly.    We must submit to God's ways, not reason on God's ways as to man's perception.

•     Job 38:1 "THEN the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,"
  38:2 "Who is this (Job) that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"    Here God answers Job's challenge, regarding Divine wisdom of the arrangements of the universe.
  38:3 "Gird up now thy loins like a man (Hero, ready for battle); for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me."
  38:4 "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."    To understand the cause of things, man should have been present at their origin.    Man who is finite could not possibly understand the infinite wisdom of the Creator (Job 28:12; 15:7-8).
  38:5 "Who hath laid the measures (proportions) thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?"    The earth is formed on an all-wise plan.
  38:6 "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;"    Not sockets, made to sink, as a foundation stone let down till it settles firmly in the clay (Job 26:7 "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.").    Gravitation makes and keeps the earth a sphere.
  
  
•     In Job 38:7 " …the morning stars (symbols of the angels) sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
  38:8 "Or who shut up the sea with doors (flood-gates), when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb (of Chaos, the bowels of the earth)?"
  38:9 "When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it," The ocean or empty place at its birth was wrapped in clouds as its swaddling bands.
      Swaddle or swaddling is to wrap or bind in bandages; swathe as to wrap (a baby) in swaddling clothes.    To restrain or restrict.    A band or cloth used for swaddling [Middle English swadlen, probably back-formation from swadling (band), swaddling (cloth), or swathelbonde, both from swathel-, probably frequentative of Old English wathian, to swathe].
  
  
•     In Job 38:10-12 we see God describing how he slowed up the "proud waves" of the universe and "… set bars and doors," on it, and ".. caused the dayspring (Heb. shachar, to break forth, KJV dawn, rising sun) to know his place;" and the waves in Job 38:13 "That it might take hold of the ends of the earth (spread itself over the earth to its utmost bounds in a moment, i.e. gravitation), that the wicked (who hate the light and do their evil in the dark as mentioned in Job 24:13 "those that rebel against the light") might be shaken out of it? (the corners or Hebrew wings or skirts, as of a garment, are taken hold of by the dayspring)."
     Job 38:10 "And brake up for (appointed it, and given a limit) it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,"
  38:11 "And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed (set limit)?"
     Verses 12-15 passes from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world.
  38:12 "Hast thou (God daily does) commanded the morning (to rise) since thy days (since you have come into being); and caused the dayspring to know his place (its place of rising each day according to fixed laws);"
  38:13 "That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?"    It spreads itself over the earth in a moment, i.e. gravitation, that the wicked (who hate the light and do their evil in the dark as mentioned in Job 24:13 "those that rebel against the light") might be shaken out of it? (the corners or Hebrew wings or skirts, as of a garment, are taken hold of by the dayspring)."
  
  
•     Job 38:14-18 Ask whether man knows the ways in which the earth was created.
     Job 38:14 "It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment."    As the plastic clay makes figures from the rolling of a cyclinder seal, as it turns about, so is the morning light over the earth. This rolling unfolds the forms of beauty by the dawn, and the garment worn by the earth.
  38:15 "And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken."    The wicked fears the light, see Job 24:17, and the forces mentioned in Job 38:13.
  38:16 "Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?"    Reference to the fountains beneath the sea (Psalm 95:4-5), and the deep caverns of the ocean.
  38:17 "Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?"    Man during his life has not even seen the gates of the realm of the dead.
  38:18 "Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all."    In Job 28:24 "For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven."
  

Job 38:19-38 shows the marvels in heaven;

•     In Job 38:19 "Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof," or where is the origin of light and darkness, and remember that in Genesis 1, "light" is created distinct from and previous to, the light emitting bodies, the luminaries of heaven.
  
  
•     Job 38:20 "That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?" Do you know its place so well as to be able to guide (also "take" as in Isa. 36:17) it to ("reach it in") its own boundary, i.e., the limit between light and darkness (Job 26:10 "He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.").
  
  
•     Job 38:21 "Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?" Ironic that man could know when God created light and darkness as in Job 15:7 "Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou made before the hills."
  
  
•     Job 38:22 "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? (verse 23 reserved for the time of trouble) or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail (reserved for the day of battle and war),"
  38:23 "Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?"    The time when God will chastise men (Exodus 9:18; Joshua 10:11; Revelation 16:21; Isaiah 28:17; Psalm 18:12-13; Haggai 2:17).
  
  
•     Job 38:24-30 discusses how light is parted, which affects the east wind, how were the waterways divided, and the cause of thunder and lightning were developed, for the rain cycle to occur, so that flowers could bloom. Who made the ice and frost of the world?
  38:24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
  38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
  38:29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
  38:30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
  

The following is one of the most influential verses to this book.

•     Job 38:31 "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades (the joy diffused by spring at a time when Pleiades appear, as the seven stars are closely bound together like "heap of stars," "knot of stars," or "bands" also seen in Job 9:9), or loose the bands of Orion? (Greek Orion, Assyrian Nimrod, who rebelled against God, in Hebrew, was the fool, and is represented as an impious giant chained or fettered with "bands" to the sky for punishment.)"
  
  
•     Job 38:32 "Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? (from their places or houses, Mazzaloth in 2 Kings 23:5, which Mazzaroth is equal, into the sky as "the twelve signs of the Zodiac" at their respective seasons in relation to the sun) or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (Arcturus is Ursa Major and the three stars in its tail are his sons)" Some scholars believe that the stars and constellations mentioned here are those of Taurus and Scorpius and suggest that if calculated by the precession of equinoxes, the time of Job would be 818 years after the Deluge and 184 years before Abraham.
  
  
•     Job 38:33 "Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? (the ordinances regulate the alternation of seasons which was set firm in Genesis 8:22 after the Flood waters receded) canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? (dominion are the controlling influence of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and the tides and weather of the earth from Gen. 1:16; Psalm 136:7-9)"
  
  
•     Job 38:34-41 ask whether anyone can number or tell the clouds to make rain, as in verse 37 the bottles (figuratively, the clouds as the source of the rain; NIV "water jars of the heavens"), or make lightning, or know the inward workings of all things, and the care of nature.
     Job 38:34 "Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?"
  38:35 "Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?"
  38:36 "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?"
  38:37 "Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,"
  38:38 "When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?"
  38:39 "Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,"
  38:40 "When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?"
  38:41 "Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat."
  

---

Close this window or
return to the Table of Contents - Introduction or
go back to The History of Philosophy