CHAPTER 21
1.
CHAPTER 22
1.
CHAPTER 23
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CHAPTER 26
1. But Iyov answered and said,
2. “How have you helped [the one] without power, and delivered the arm that is not strong?
3. “How have you counseled the one without wisdom, or made sound advice known to many?
4. “To whom have you recounted [these] words, and whose spirit came forth from you?
5. “Do Refaim writhe from beneath the waters, along with those who inhabit them?
Refaim: literally “healers”, identified by some as giants (Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:11, etc.) or “departed spirits”, which does parallel many ancient Hebrew writings not included in the usual canons. Writhe: or possibly, are they born?
6. “She’ol is naked before Him, and there is no covering for Abaddon.
Abaddon: “destruction”, but by tradition one part of She’ol known otherwise as the Abyss or “bottomless pit”. (Rev. 9:11)
7. “He stretches out the north over the empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.
Empty space: reportedly there are no stars in the northernmost skies. Nothing: literally, “without what”.
8. “He ties up the water in His cloud-masses, yet the cloud beneath them is not split open.
9. “he seizes the front of a throne, [and] spreads His cloud over it.
Seizes: or holds back.
10. “He prescribed a limit [by] drawing a circle over the surface of the waters, all the way up to the boundary of light with darkness.
Or, He encompassed the waters with boundaries until day and night come to an end. Alexander Lawrence notes that “the waters will break through briefly on the day of darkness at the end of this age”.
11. “The pillars of the heavens have started rocking, and are astonished whenever He rebukes.
Rebukes: or threatens, rebukes—just what He appears to have done in the next verse:
12. “With His power, He stirs up the sea, and by His understanding, He shatters Rahav.
Stirs up: or, alternately, quiets, settles down; LXX, calmed. Rahav: here, not the prostitute of Y’rikho at the time of Yehoshua, but another entity sometimes described as a sea serpent associated with both Egypt and pride, literally, “the broad one” (the LXX has “whale”), but also sometimes identified as the planet (between Mars and Jupiter) that haSatan used to rule and which YHWH broke up, forming the asteroid belt. (Alexander Lawrence)
13. “With His breath, He cleared up the skies; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Cleared up: or made bright or luminous, possibly by the flash of a piece of Rahav as it impacted the earth. Pierced: or wounded, slew, profaned (made common something that had once been in a special category, which indeed took place with haSatan, once “the anointed kh’ruv that covers” (Y’hezq’El 28:14), who then fled as a fugitive to our own world and found a way to take it over; Jerusalem Bible, “transfixed”. LXX, “by a command He has slain the apostate dragon”.
14. “Indeed, these are [only] the edges of His ways, and we hear only a faint whisper of Him; who could ever understand the [full] thundering of His mighty, heroic deeds?
The Jerusalem Bible renders this verse, “This is only a fraction of what He has done, and all we catch of it is the feeblest echo.”
More coming soon.
THE STORY OF
Iyov
(also known as Job)
INTRODUCTION: Iyov is thought to be the oldest book that came to be included in the Biblical collection. It addresses the same basic question that many of us struggle with today: “Why would YHWH allow me to go through this problem?” It gives us a look “behind the scenes” at what may precipitate such experiences, and tells us some of the wrong ways to approach the question as well as the right. Iyov may have been one of the men called Yov-av in Genesis 10:29 (a grandson of Ever, and therefore a Semite and a Hebrew) or Gen. 36:33-34 (an Edomite king (especially considering that the man whose reign followed his was a Theymanite--precursor to the Yemenites--an ethnicity that shows up among Iyov’s closest friends—Elifaz. (2:11) An Elifaz the father of Theyman actually appears in the same chapter (36:11), also among Esau’s descendants. This is not proven, but the possibility is intriguing.
