Thursday, April 7, 2011

Do you want to be a star?

After 37 "chapters" of Job and his friends philosophising and arguing about the theological significance and explanation of Job's suffering, the LORD speaks:


31"Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
   or loose the cords of Orion?
32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
   or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
   Can you establish their rule on the earth?

Although this is humbling to the modern reader it had probably even greater significance to readers in the Ancient near east where the distinctions between stars, deities, kings, and pharoahs was blurred. This then ties back to the "polemical" nature of the Genesis account of creation which again is stark contrast to Babylonian epics.

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1 comment:

  1. David ReimerApril 7, 2011 at 5:08 PM

    And it's one of the odd features of Job that this is something Job already knows - put this passage beside Job 9:1-12!

    It suggests there's something yet deeper going here, doesn't it?

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