Monday, September 10, 2007

Week 2: Day 4: Job 38-39; 40:15-41;34

OOOOOHHHHH!!! I found LOTS of good stuff in here today!!!

I'll start by recording the hymn for the day..."This Is My Father's World" And truly after reading these passages, my eyes were opened to verse 3...

"This is my Father's World,
O Let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world,
The Battle is not done,
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
And earth and heav'n be one."

That though the wrong seems oft so strong...GOD IS THE RULER YET!!! AMEN! No matter how hard the temptation how severe the struggle, GOD IS THE RULER YET!!! These several chapters in Job are chapters in which God is asking Job "did I not create this world?" He often questions Job and asks Him if he (Job) was the one who created the animals and how they behave...

There are several controversial passages in these Scriptures that I wanted to explore a bit. The first being Job 40:15, ""Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox." My NIV Study Bible mentioned to remember that this was being described in a highly poetic and hyperbolic way, but I wasn't buying it...Chapter 39 describes MANY animals in a very normal and honest evaluation of the types they are. Job 39:13-18 describes the ostrich as being a rather dumb animal and God saying pretty much, "I made him that way." Love it. Chapter 41 describes Leviathan a sea creature that my NIV Study Bible says is described in a highly poetic and hyperbolic way. I wanted to do more research...This is what I found so far.

Behemoth - Hebrew for "beast par excellence" Wikipedia had this to say:
"In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial moster of the sky." Ziz is not mentioned in Scripture but in Jewish legend it was a massive bird-like creature.

Wikipedia also says, "Suggested animals include the water buffalo, rhinoceros, and the elephant, but the most common suggestion is the hippopotomus...Others disagree, pointing to the fact that the animal's tail "moves like a cedar," an unlikely description for any of these animals...moreover, some suggest that "tail is a euphemism for male genetalia. Support for this is based on another meaning of the Hebrew word "move" which means "extend" and on the second part of verse 17 describing the sinew around it's "stones"...Many Young Earth Creationists propose that the Behemoth is a dinosaur. Some sort of sauropod is usually proposed."

Other ideas of what the Leviathan may have been? Some suggest a crocodile while others suggest it could have been a sea monster or even a marine dinosaur.

What do you think? I love reading stuff like this in Scripture...

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