Job 26

God vs. the gods in Job 26 26:5 The departed spirits tremble before Yahweh instead of Marduk. In the Enuma Elish, Marduk is one before whom “the gods shall tremble and quake in their dwellings.” 26:7 God dwells in the north which was claimed by others in the Ancient Near East of their gods. 26:8-9 Marduk rolled the water into the clouds (Enuma Elish 5.49 Walton, 254). Baal was believed to be the god who sent rain and rode upon clouds to war, but it was Yahweh who did all this (I Kings 17-18; Ps. 68:4, 33; Isa. 19:1). 26:10 In the Gilgamesh Epic, the Mashu mountains are a similar cosmic boundary marker for Marduk. 26:12 In Ancient Near Eastern accounts the sea was a mighty god that was only secured after a titanic struggle (ANET, 66-67 lines 94-100; 130-131). This does not imply belief in these Ancient Near Eastern accounts nor the gods portrayed in them. It takes those stories and says that all that the peoples surrounding God’s people attributed to their gods was done by Yahweh. In the Biblical account the sea is depersonalized as a way of saying that God alone is God. For the connection between Rahab and Egypt see Ps. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 30:7; 51:9. Rahab, the sea monster is sometimes used as a poetic epithet for Egypt. Rahab the harlot is mentioned in Josh. 2:1, 3; 6:17, 23, 25. The consonants are רחב. The term in Ps. 87:4 is also used in 89:10 and Isa. 51:9 and consonants are רהב. The Hebrew vowels are patach. In Job 9:13; 26:12; Isa. 30:7 Rahab is used and it has the same consonants as above רהב but the vowels are qamets and patach. Rahab is associated with Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and the dragon in Isa. 27:1 and in 51:9-11. Leviathan is a term used in Job 3:8; 41:1; Ps. 74:14; 104:26; Isa. 27:1. Dragon is used in Gen. 1:21; Ex. 7:9, 10, 12; Deut. 32:33; Neh. 2:13; Ps. 74:13; 91:13; 148:7; Isa. 27:1; 51:9; Jer. 51:31; Lam. 4:3. 26:13 Serpent appears in Gen. 3:1, 2, 4, 13, 14; 49:17; Ex. 4:13; 7:15; Num. 21:6, 7, 9, 9; Deut. 8:16; I Kings 18:4; Job 26:13; Ps. 58:4; 140:3; Prov. 23:32; 30:19; Ecc. 10:8, 11 Isa. 14:29; 271; 65:25; Jer. 8:17; 46:22; Amos 5:19; 9:3; Mic. 7:7. Ultimately, this immense power that has arrayed itself against God is defeated by God and represents Satan- Rev. 12:3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 16-17; 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13; 20:2 use the word dragon of Satan. The term serpent used in Isa. 27:1 is used of Satan in II Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9, 14, 15; 20:2. Jesus and Job 26 26:7 He hangs the earth on nothing- The word hangs, talah, is used in Gen. 40:19, 22; 41:13; Deut. 21:22, 23; Josh. 8:29; 10:26; II Sam. 18:10; Esther 2:23; 5:14; 6:4; 7:9, 10; 8:7; 9:13, 14, 25. In each of these passages the hanging is on a tree. Deut. 21:22-23 is key to many of these passages and uses tree as the object of the verb hang. The wrongdoer who was executed and held up for exposure after death but was not to remain on the tree all night because cursed is the one who hangs on a tree. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 is quoted in Galatians 3:13 and is applied to Christ. The One who hangs the earth on nothing is the One who hung on a tree to die for our sins. 26:12 God quieted the sea and Jesus quieted the wind and sea- Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25. He walked on the water- Matt. 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21. 26:13 The same word pierced, chalel, used in this verse and in Isaiah 51:9 for piercing Rahab the dragon is used in Isaiah 53:5 on how the Servant was pierced. The hand of One who pierced the most ferocious monster was pierced for our transgressions. While God’s wisdom and power are demonstrated all around us in creation. In I Corinthians 1:18-31 they are supremely demonstrated in the cross. The foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than man (Isaiah 55:8-9). Through Jesus all was created and is maintained- John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3. Yet He was bond, hanged, and pierced for our sins.