Margaret Barker offers a context for the statements in Job 26:
The Book of Job affords glimpses of this fulller account of the
creation, including the angels and many other details not included in
Genesis. Job 26 implies that hostile beings were present at the creation;
the shades and the inhabitants of the waters trembled before God as the
north was stretched out over the void (tohu, as in Gen. 1.2) and the
waters were bound up in thick clouds (Job 26.5-8). He enclosed the
presence/face of the throne (rather than 'covers the face of the moon',
Job 26.9), and marked out the circle on the waters between light and
darkness. Then he stilled the sea and smote Rahab the sea monster, and
in poetic parallel, he made the heavens fair with his spirit and pierced
the serpent (Job 26.12-13). When the LORD laid the foundation of the
earth and measured it out, 'the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy' (Job 38.7). There were, then, angels
present on the third day when the foundations of the earth were laid,
and they could be described as sons of God or as stars, and they made
music. The Creator then set bounds for the proud waves of the sea (Job
38.8-11) and bound the constellations into their courses, and
established some type of authority on the earth. The meaning is not
clear because the word mistar 'rule' does not occur elsewhere (Job
38.31-33). This creation account also mentions the dwelling of light,
the storehouses of the snow and hail, and the source of the weathers:
the east wind, the rain and the frost. Just as in Jubilees, the angels and the
weathers appear as the works of Day One.
The Book of Job affords glimpses of this fulller account of the
creation, including the angels and many other details not included in
Genesis. Job 26 implies that hostile beings were present at the creation;
the shades and the inhabitants of the waters trembled before God as the
north was stretched out over the void (tohu, as in Gen. 1.2) and the
waters were bound up in thick clouds (Job 26.5-8). He enclosed the
presence/face of the throne (rather than 'covers the face of the moon',
Job 26.9), and marked out the circle on the waters between light and
darkness. Then he stilled the sea and smote Rahab the sea monster, and
in poetic parallel, he made the heavens fair with his spirit and pierced
the serpent (Job 26.12-13). When the LORD laid the foundation of the
earth and measured it out, 'the morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy' (Job 38.7). There were, then, angels
present on the third day when the foundations of the earth were laid,
and they could be described as sons of God or as stars, and they made
music. The Creator then set bounds for the proud waves of the sea (Job
38.8-11) and bound the constellations into their courses, and
established some type of authority on the earth. The meaning is not
clear because the word mistar 'rule' does not occur elsewhere (Job
38.31-33). This creation account also mentions the dwelling of light,
the storehouses of the snow and hail, and the source of the weathers:
the east wind, the rain and the frost. Just as in Jubilees, the angels and the
weathers appear as the works of Day One.
Statistics: Posted by Secret Alias — Fri Dec 27, 2024 12:37 pm