Texts in Conversation
Mark 6:45–52 depicts Jesus walking on the water, which may draw on Job 9:8, which describes God stretching out the heavens and walking on the sea, an ancient Near Eastern idea originally tied to taming the primordial, chaotic waters.
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Job 9:8
Hebrew Bible
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. 9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Mark 6:45
New Testament
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd. 46 After saying goodbye to them, he went to the mountain to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land. 48 He saw them straining at the oars because the wind was against them. As the night was ending, he came to them walking on the sea, for he wanted to pass by them. 49 When they saw him walking on the water they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Date: 60-75 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... There is, however, at least one Old Testament passage that paints a picture prefiguring Mark’s sea-walking story: a doxological passage in Job, portraying God as sovereign over all creation, acclaims him as the one “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea” (Job 9:8). In its original context, this text was probably meant as another reference to God’s subduing the primordial watery chaos; but the LXX offers a rendering of Job 9:8 that may be of considerable importance for understanding Mark 6:45-52 ... If Mark had Job 9 in mind, it would help to explain another notoriously
puzzling feature of the water-walking tale. In Mark’s telling of the story, when Jesus comes walking on the sea, the narrator comments cryptically, “He intended to pass them by” ... If we recognize the allusion to Job 9, however, we may glimpse a far more illuminating reading. Thus, in Job 9 the image of God’s walking on the sea is linked with a confession of God’s mysterious transcendence of human comprehension ..."
* 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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