Many people use Job 26:7 to show how the Bible teaches that the world is a sphere and hangs in empty space. In reality the Bible teaches that the world is flat, circular and supported by pillars (most Bible scholars agree with this). In Job 38:6 Jehovah corrects Job and says. “What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the world?” Why did Job say what he did in Job 26:7? It seems accurate. Did he have the correct understanding? Any comments?
Job 26:7
by 2050 12 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Abandoned
LOL! Thanks for the laugh. You made the tears go away for awhile.
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2050
Glad to be of service, lol.
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2050
They explain this scripture in the Awake magazine 1990, August 8th, pg 14. Does anyone know if this explanation is correct? There are 2 p ossibilities, Holy Spirit let Job know this or Job learned it from someone else. I don't agree with the first option.
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Leolaia
Don't rely on a simple English translation that masks the language used in the passage; look into the Hebrew and especially in the critical literature which discusses what is being refered to here. The chapter is packed to the brim with mythological references. In v. 5, we encounter the Rephaim, who are the denizens of the underworld in both Canaanite and Hebrew mythology, as being "below the waters" (cf. the primeval deep as waste in Genesis 1:2). In v. 6 we have a description of Sheol, the underworld, which is "naked" and "without covering" before Yahweh.
In v. 7 (the supposedly "scientific" verse in question!) we read that Zaphon is stretched over the empty place (cf. the previous verse, "naked" Sheol), and Zaphon is the cosmic mountain where Baal has his throne in Canaanite myth and which is Yahweh's heavenly seat in Isaiah 14:13 and elsewhere in the OT (and the cosmic mountain is often believed to rest upon the primeval deep, cf. Psalm 29:10 which has Yahweh enthroned on the flood). Similarly, the earth is placed over bly mh (a very obscure phrase in Hebrew), which is usually translated "nothing" but which is often understood in light of the parallelism with thw in the same verse and the references to chaos and Sheol in the preceding two verses, i.e. the earth is placed over the empty underworld in parallel with Zaphon. Then in v. 9 we have a description of God's throne in the clouds and there is a reference to "the pillars of heaven" in v. 11. And the piece of the cake is v. 12, which likens Yahweh's control of the waters to the mythological slaying of the "crooked serpent," i.e. Leviathan elsewhere in Job (= Lotan in Canaanite mythology and Ladon in Greek mythology), or Rahab as it is called in other places in the OT.
The purpose of the whole chapter is to contrast Yahweh's magnificance in the heights of Zaphon and the clouds and his power over the primeval deep with the lowliness and emptiness of the deep, Sheol, the Rephaim living therein, etc. It's a contrast between heaven and the underworld; the "nothingness" has nothing at all to do with a "planet earth" hanging suspended in the vacuum of outer space.
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2050
Thank you so much Leolaia! You are a genius, I have no idea where you get all this information from, I searched google for ages and couldn't find a proper explanation. I was wondering how Job could have known that the world hangs in empty space over 3,000 years ago. Now I know that he had something completely different in mind. Thank you to you too garybuss, I have seen you post that picture before. I saved it.
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Mary
Hey Garybuss, where's that picture from?? Looks like an oil rig!!
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gumby
The word "circle" in the bible in that particular scripture does not mean like a ball ....but rather like a plate, flat but circular. You'd think some of the 'scholars' within the Watchtower organisation would know that.
Gumby
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2050
They would if they were after truth/could think for themselves. They see what they want to see.