Texts in Conversation
Job 15:25 and Exodus 6:6 both use the stock ancient Near Eastern image of stretching out the arm, a phrase typically associated with power in battle or judgment. In Exodus, it describes divine action to rescue Israel from Egypt, while in Job it is applied to a human acting against God.
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Exodus 6:6
Hebrew Bible
5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Job 15:25
Hebrew Bible
22 He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; 23 he wanders about—food for vultures— he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. 24 Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, 25 for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield!
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The root of the wicked man's anxiety is his consciousness that his wickedness has been an assault not just on his fellow-humans but on God; the 'for' introduces the reason for his fears in verses 20–24. To 'raise the arm against' (Hebrew 'stretch out the hand against') is an image of the warrior; often it is found of Yahweh, acting in judgment (Isaiah 5:25; 23:11; Ezekiel 6:14; 14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7, 13, 16; 35:3; Zephaniah 1:4; 2:13), like the conventional phrase, 'with outstretched hand' used of Yahweh's leading Israel out of Egypt in the teeth of Egyptian hostility (Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; Psalm 136:12; etc.). (Contrast 'spread out the hands' in 11:13) The phrase occurs nowhere else of human hostility to God; it is heightened language that Eliphaz speaks ..."
* 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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