Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Job 15

(These Plates for from The Book of Job in Alelaide University.)

In this Plate Job is together with his wife and friends under (Job's image of) God and the two heavenly angels who accompany him.


Above the engraving of the picture:

Can any understand the spreadings of the Clouds the noise of his Tabernacle.

At the left border an angel is writing:

Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud
He scattereth the bright cloud also it is turned about by his counsels

The angel on the right border:
Of Behemoth he saith, He is the chief of the ways of God
(Job 40:15–24 describes Behemoth, and then the sea-monster Leviathan, to demonstrate to Job the futility of questioning God, who alone has created these beings and who alone can capture them.[2] Both beasts are chaos monsters destroyed by the deity at the time of creation, although such a conflict is not found in the creation account.[3])

Of Leviathan he saith, He is King over all the Children of Pride

At the bottom:
Behold now Behemoth which I made with thee




    Behemoth and Leviathan
Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle? (Job 36:29)
Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels (Job 37:11-12)
Behold now behemoth...He is the chief of the ways of God (Job 40:15, 19)
...he is a king over all the children of pride (Job 41: 34)
Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee (Job 40:15)







Behemoth appears only in Job 40:

[15] Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
[16] Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
[17] He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
[18] His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
[19] He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
[20] Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
[21] He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
[22] The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
[23] Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
[24] He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.


It sounds like a fearful beast.


Leviathan appears at Job.41:

[1] Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
[2] Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?


It also appears in Pss.74 [14]: 

Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 

And in Pss.104 [26]: 

There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

And in Isa.27:
  1. [1] In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even
  2. leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.     
From Wikipedia:
Job 40:15–24 describes Behemoth, and then the sea-monster Leviathan, to demonstrate to Job the futility of questioning God, who alone has created these beings and who alone can capture them.[2] Both beasts are chaos monsters destroyed by the deity at the time of creation, although such a conflict is not found in the creation account.[3]
Leviathan is identified figuratively with both the primeval sea (Job 3:8Psalms 74:13) and in apocalyptic literature – describing the end-time – as that adversary, the Devil, from before creation who will finally be defeated. In the divine speeches in Job, Behemoth and Leviathan may both be seen as composite and mythical creatures with enormous strength, which humans like Job could not hope to control. But both are reduced to the status of divine pets, with rings through their noses and Leviathan on a leash.[4]

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