When we talk about disasters in the book of Job, we remember how fire from heaven burned his sheep and servants (Job 1:16). We know how a thundering storm blew down the house of his children and made it a burial place for them (Job 1:19).
But this events were not standing on their own. In fact there was a whole lot of trouble going on in the days of Job.
Reading carefully the verses of Job we cannot deny somehow stars and planets were involved. So not just a worldwide disaster took place, a solarsystem disaster as well frightened the world. The sun behaved very strange. Job 9:6 says:
- who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.
Shaking the earth out of its place means as much as the position of the planet or the position of the earth's axis was changed. This makes the next verse better to understand:
- who commands the sun, and it does not rise.
A change in the earth's axis position makes clear the sun didn't rise where you might expect - or it didn't rise at all. But once the sun was seen, it didn't always mean a peaceful morning:
- Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
These irregular movements of the sun (or better: the movements of the earth) might have been the source of worshipping this star. Job 31:26-27says:
- If I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand;
So the earth was shaking. This means at least earthquakes, seaquakes and huge tidal waves. About earthquakes we can read in Job 14:18 and 9:5:
- But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place.
he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger.
Because of this violent earth cities were made to ruins (Job 15:28) and people stumbled around, having lost everything and looking for a place to live (Job 24:7-8):
- They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
Not only the earth's crust was shaking, oceans as well were terrifying mankind. Gigantic tidal waves struck earth. This didn't happen just once but was coming back again and again. Watches were set to warn when a next tidal wave appeared (Job 7:12):
- Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, that you set a guard over me?
Painfully accurate the behaviour of the withdrawing and returning waters is described (Job 12:15):
- Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 9:9-10 draws our attention from our solarsystem to the stars and the constellations. Take a look at verse 10. Does it belong to verse 9? Consider next Bible verses:
Job
9:9-10 |
Job
38:31-33 |
Amos
5:8-9 |
| Who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. |
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? |
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. |
These verses talk about the making of some constellations. But "great things" were involved. The heavens "ruled" on the earth. "Destruction" came down. If the earth did move, it looked like the stars were moving too. This means the constellations received a "new position" in the heavens. Or maybe they were seen for the first time. However, they "caused" disasters on earth.
Orion
With in mind a changing of the earth's axis position it is better to understand what is said on the previous page about the weather conditions. All normal behaviour and expectations were gone.
Not only the movements of the sun and the earth were uncertain, the acting of people also became dubious. That's what the next page talks about.
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