Texts in Conversation
2 Samuel 22 and Job 9 describe the foundation of the earth shaking, imagery based on ancient Near Eastern traditions of a three-tiered cosmos of heaven, earth, and underworld. In this, the earth rested above water, mirroring the structure of a temple.
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2 Samuel 22:8
Hebrew Bible
6 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me. 7 In my distress I called to the Lord; I called to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help. 8 The earth heaved and shook; the foundations of the sky trembled. They heaved because he was angry. 9 Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals. 10 He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Job 9:6
Hebrew Bible
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength—who has resisted him and remained safe? 5 He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger, 6 he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble, 7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine and seals up the stars, 8 he alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The unit on the ancient Semitic worldview provides one of the foundational units within the first semester course. The students are provided with a schematic drawing of the world and its various components are described. The idea is not that the students memorize all of the components on the chart, but rather that they gain an appreciation of the distance between the ancient Israelite view of the world and our own, even with reference to two of the most common nouns in the Bible ... The people of the ancient Semitic world viewed the world as consisting of three stories... heaven, earth, and underworld ... (Compare Job 9:6, 11:18; 17:16; 38:22; Psalm 135:7; 2 Samuel 22:8; Isaiah 24:18; Ezekiel 38:12; Genesis 7:11 ...) The architecture of the cosmos focuses on separating heaven from earth (not manufacturing either of them) and on earth’s emergence from the cosmic waters. In a functional ontology, the earth is seen as being suspended over the cosmic waters below, parallel to the heavens that are stretched out over the upper cosmic waters. Temples in the ancient Near East were designed to be models of the cosmos ..."
Miller-Naudé, Cynthia L. and Jacobus A. Naudé
Incorporating Ancient Israel's Worldview into the Teaching of Biblical Hebrew
(pp. 599-614) University of the Free State, South Africa, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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