Gilbert House Fellowship #12 -- Job 38-42

OUR STUDY of the Bible continues as we conclude the Book of Job this morning. Talk about your big finish — Yahweh Himself appears to rebuke Job and his three friends, and we get a fascinating description of two creatures usually identified by commentators as the hippopotamus and the crocodile.

However, the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan do not adequately fit hippos and crocs. Behemoth, with its tail like a cedar tree, sounds more like a sauropod than anything else. And Leviathan, “king over all the sons of pride”, is more likely, in our view, none other than Helel ben Shachar, “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world”.

After Yahweh makes clear to Job that it is not the place of humans to question His ways, Job repents and is forgiven. Yahweh then commands the three friends of Job to offer sacrifices and to ask Job to pray on their behalf. The story of Job concludes with his fortunes not only restored but magnified by Yahweh, and Job lives out his days in peace and surrounded by his family.

Here is a link to E.W. Bullinger’s 1893 book The Witness of the Stars, which you can read for free online. Note: Many Christian scholars today point out that the scholarship on which the Gospel in the Stars is based was faulty and warn against searching for messages in the stars. Since the time of Babylon, the Enemy has popularized the idea of seeking information about the future through astrology, which God forbids (See Deut. 18:10).