Copyright by James R Carlson
The Milky Way
God was at work during the week of creation described in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis creating the light and the stars we see in the night sky. There, God gave us his first person witness of the creation of our solar system (the earth, the moon, and the sun) and the stars that are beyond us. In the Book of Job, God gave us a clearer picture of the stars with more detail than in the Book of Genesis.
Job 38:31-33
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
As noted by J. Warner Wallace,* we find in these verses of Job a special connection between the viewpoint of ancient observations with the unaided eye and modern observations with the aid of huge telescopes that confirm the insights that God was sharing with Job. While God was telling Job of His power in creation, a point Job needed to bring him back into humility before God, God was also showing His knowledge of creation in contrast to that of man’s limited knowledge; helping Job with the stars he could see, God was able to see more than Job ever could. As God used information about the stars in various constellations that Job was familiar with, He had insights about the stars that made up the lights in the sky that people in Job's day never knew.
The Pleiades is a star cluster that Job was familiar with. However, the 7 stars that supposedly make up this cluster are actually 250 stars in a group, called the Pleiades, located in the vicinity of the constellation of Taurus.
Constellations of Orion, Taurus, and the Star Cluster of Pleiades
The Pleiades Stars
These stars are all travelling in the same direction at the same speed towards a common gravitational source. The ‘sweet influences’ noted in Job is shown by modern science be this common gravitational attraction. God not only knew how to bring Job to repentance, he knew more about the stars that He was talking to Job about than Job knew, helping Job with his pride.
There are also stars in the constellation of Orion that make up the belt of Orion: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. The 3 stars in the belt of Orion are actually 2 stars and a star cluster of stars (assumed to be 1 star with the unaided eye).
Orion’s Belt
God asks Job if he can loosen the belt of Orion. Unlike the stars of Pleiades, the stars in Orion’s belt are not gravitationally bound to an outside source; they are all moving away from each other. While not noticeable by the unaided human eye, God again showed His knowledge of the stars He created beyond the comprehension of people in Job’s day.
The last group of stars noted in Job 38 is from the star called Arcturus. Arcturus is not a constellation but can be seen in the night sky with other constellations.
Arcturus and the Big Dipper
While God commented that this star had sons, modern astronomers have shown that this star is actually directionally connected with 52 other stars. Modern science verifies the witness God gave of this star, more than what was known in Job’s day.
Arcturus
Arcturus is known today to be at least 1,000 times larger than our own sun and travels at speeds in excess of 250 miles a second. This star, Arcturus with his sons, are not guided by anything as they travel through space independently. Here again, God is challenging Job to repent of his pride while showing His deeper understanding of these stars that only appear to be single star by mankind on earth.
Mazzaroth in Job 38 is a Hebrew word that refers to a group of constellations. Constellations are nothing more than a means of grouping stars together by drawing lines between them and giving them a name. From the standpoint of the earth, these groups of stars seem to rotate about our planet but we see them rotate about us because our planet is rotating about the sun.
Some have used this passage in Job to give approval to the signs of the zodiac and astrology, but God makes it clear that astrology (not astronomy) is a sin. Throughout the Bible, God provides His judgement against the practice of astrology while noting His own views of the stars (astronomy) in the night sky.
In the books of Genesis and in Job, God shows us that the stars give us an annual pattern for knowing the seasons (Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring) that we experience as we travel around the sun in our spaceship called earth. As we see the stars pass by in the night sky, we can tell what season we are in and prepare accordingly.
Referencing the pattern of stars as seen from the earth (Job’s point of view), we find the Pleiades in the sky (to the right of the constellation Taurus) as the Fall season begins leading into the Winter months and the Spring. Orion is seen in the night sky in the Winter months (next to Taurus and the Pleiades) and continues through the Summer. These constellations are used by sailors, farmers, and many others to signal when to sail, when to plant crops, etc. They were very useful for ancient people and this is what Mazzaroth is referring to in Job. Incidentally, Arcturus, as a group of stars, can be seen in the Spring and Summer months high in the sky and lower in the sky during the Fall.
God continues in Job to show us that there are ordinances over the stars of heaven. These ordinances are the laws of nature that are at the foundation of modern empirical science. The repeatability and testability of nature provides us with a knowledge of these ordinances and the principles of modern science. Again, God is telling Job that with all of his knowledge (science means knowledge), it doesn’t compare the knowledge of God (Omniscient) about his own creation. How interesting it is that Kepler, who gave us the 3 laws of planetary motion and said that science is thinking God’s thoughts after him. God approves of empirical science and challenges us towards discovery of scientific principles beyond vain philosophy.
Lastly, God is asking Job about how these ordinances are to be applied (bounded) on the earth. Making use of these ordinances (scientific laws of nature) on the earth is the work of engineering (applied science), which leads to the design and manufacture of technology based upon the laws of nature. God is giving Job a lesson in humility, which we can learn from ourselves, but there is a much deeper meaning to the work of God’s creation that we can also learn from. Taking the principles of science, we can apply them to the benefit of mankind (aka. Technology).
Before great learning is great humility. Before we learn the principles of how the world around us works, we need to give God His rightful place in our hearts and minds, which means we need to be humble before God. Before we can learn how to apply science in some useful way (technology), we need to put God first in our lives. This will result in technology that is beneficial to mankind, who made in the image of God. Any great discovery that has a great impact upon society must begin with a respect for who God is and our place in the universe that God created.
*J. Warner Wallace, Is the Astronomy in the Book of Job Scientifically Consistent? (August 17, 2018) <Is the Astronomy in the Book of Job Scientifically Consistent? | Cold Case Christianity>
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