Job 9:9

The word ash or aish has always been a difficult one to translate, and the versions differ a great deal. But most now agree that this is not the star known as Arcturus, but the constellation known as the Great Bear. "His sons" are thought to be the stars in the tail of the bear. In the northern hemisphere this constellation shows all year round. It seems to circle the north star without ever stopping, and none but the mighty God can guide it.

Kimah. The Hebrew means "a heap or collection." The verse names it with Arcturus and Orion, so it doubtless refers to the group of stars that still bears the name Pleiades. In Amos 5:8 the same Hebrew word becomes "seven stars." There are many stars in the group, but seven are visible to the naked eye.

In this part Job enlarges on the power and greatness of God. The language is noble, the description true, but underneath it lies the terrible doubt about this great and powerful Being's goodness. He is the Creator of those distant glorious constellations. Arcturus is in the north. Orion is "sloping downward toward the west." Pleiades is in the east. And there are the unknown "chambers of the south," toward the horizon and beyond sight. This language sweeps across the whole heavens. But sadly it is not "The heavens declare the glory of God." It is a declaration of absolute, unstoppable power.

These are all in the northern sphere. But the people of those days had explored far enough to cross the equator, and they knew there was a southern world. They did not know much about it; they knew very little.

All the constellations of the stars are His workmanship. Notice that people already knew these astronomical facts at this early date. Job could speak with real knowledge about the greatness of God just as well as Bildad, if not much better.

Job did not doubt that God would see him through all his difficulties. But he could not see on what ground of righteousness. If man was a poor sinful man, and God still showed him saving mercy, how was man to be just? You cannot put justice and sins together until you have Christ. He died for the sins and rose again for the believer's justification. There God blots the sins out completely. How could Job know anything about that? Nobody knew it; no man on earth.

Pointing next to the heavenly host, the Lord almost takes up the words of Job (Job 9:9)... Some think the Pleiades stand for a cluster of brilliant jewels: "Can you fasten the shining brooch on the bosom of the night?" Others say the Pleiades is the constellation of Spring, as Orion is the constellation of Winter. To loose the bands of Orion would break up the Winter. To bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades would delay the Spring. Can you hold back the coming of Spring, or bring Winter to an end?

Such passages come before the full revelation of God in the Son that we have today. They show the thoughts and feelings of the creature towards his Creator. It could not be otherwise while Jehovah remained behind the veil. He asserted His majesty in many ways: in His rightful claims in the testing of man, and in view of the coming down of the Son. In the Son He has now shone out in the full glory of His Being and Nature as God.