Notes: Job 33:22 To Psalms 8:3

*Job 33:22 -

(Re: The *Bottomless Pit)

In Job 33:22 the original Hebrew word (shachath: H7845) translated as "the grave" can mean "the pit" (Job 33:28,30), as in the extremely-deep pit which is in hell/sheol (Isaiah 14:15, Psalms 30:3, Job 11:8). In the sides of this pit are the graves of the conscious souls of the unsaved dead (Isaiah 14:15,9-10, Ezekiel 32:21-23), who experience pain there (Psalms 116:3). This pit is in the "nether" (the lowermost, Hebrew: tachtiy, H8482) parts of the earth (Ezekiel 32:18-32, Psalms 63:9), and so it could reach down to the center of the earth (in the spiritual dimension). And it could continue past the center of the earth and continue on in a straight line up the other side of the earth almost to the surface, so that the pit is "bottomless" in that its lowest point is empty space at the center of the earth (in the spiritual dimension). Satan/Lucifer will be cast into this literal "bottomless pit" by an angel at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Revelation 19:7 to 20:3, Isaiah 14:15,12).

The Bottomless Pit may have a physical manifestation as a deep underground cavern. The top of this cavern could be deep under the city of Abadan (in Iran), just as the Bottomless Pit is under the angel Abaddon (Revelation 9:11). At one point during the first half of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, strange locust-like beings will swarm up from the Bottomless Pit to torment (but not kill) mankind with excruciating stings for five months (Revelation 9:2-10).

The Bottomless Pit could have a downward-winding spiral pathway like that in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. But instead of artworks displayed on the outer wall of the pathway, there could be the graves/prison cells (1 Peter 3:19) of the conscious souls/spirits of the unsaved dead.

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*Job 36:11 is quoting the opinion of a fallible young person named Elihu (Job 36:1, Job 32:6), who mistakenly thought that he was perfect in knowledge (Job 36:4), even though he mistakenly thought that God in anger had brought suffering to Job because Job was supposedly in unrepentant sin (Job 36:17, Job 34:7-37, Job 35:15). But the truth is that God allowed suffering to come to Job even though Job was perfectly righteous in God's eyes (Job chapters 1-2).

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*Job 36:23 -

The original Hebrew word (paqad: H6485) translated as "enjoined", like the English word, can mean "directed".

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*Job 36:33 -

The original Hebrew word (rea`: H7452) translated as "noise" can refer to a crash of thunder.

The Hebrew word (`alah: H5927) translated as "the vapour" can be translated as "depart" (1 Kings 15:19c).

So Job 36:33 can refer to how a crash of thunder can immediately precede a great downpour, and can cause a herd of cattle to depart, in the sense of stampeding away in fear.

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*Job 37:7 -

The original Hebrew word (chatham: H2856) translated as "sealeth up" can mean "stops" (Leviticus 15:3). So Job 37:7 can mean that God makes men stop their outdoor work by causing a heavy rain to fall (Job 37:6c), the rain being God's "work" in Job 37:7b. Likewise, the heavy rain makes wild animals to take cover (Job 37:8).

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*Job 37:19 -

The original Hebrew word (choshek: H2822) translated as "darkness" can refer figuratively to ignorance.

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*Job 38:1 -

Here, as in Job 40:6, the original Hebrew word (ca`ar: H5591) translated as "whirlwind" can refer to a "storm" (Psalms 107:29) or "tempest" (Psalms 55:8). But it could also refer to a literal whirlwind, such as what we today (unfortunately) call a "dust devil", a localized, twisting wind which shoots up into the sky, like the one in which the prophet Elijah was taken up bodily into the third heaven (2 Kings 2:1,11).

The specific whirlwind connected with YHWH God Himself speaking with Job in Job 38:1 and Job 40:6 brings to mind the whirlwind which the prophet Ezekiel later saw in connection with his vision of YHWH God and God's chariot visiting the earth to speak with Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:4 to Ezekiel 3:27) in the sixth century BC.

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*Job 38:4-7 / *Job 38:7 -

This means that Job (like the rest of us) did not yet exist when God created the earth. Job 38:7 refers to angels, not to us.

(See also John 8:23 below)

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*Job 38:14 -

The original Hebrew word (haphak: H2015) translated as "turned" can mean "changed" (Leviticus 13:16).

The Hebrew word (chowtham: H2368) translated as "seal" can refer to something used to stamp an imprint into clay or wax (1 Kings 21:8).

The "they" in Job 38:14 can be referring back to the morning and the dawn in Job 38:12.

The Hebrew word (yatsab: H3320) translated as "stand" can mean "are placed" (Strong's Hebrew Dictionary).

So Job 38:14 can mean that the earth ("It") is changed by the morning light (in Job 38:12) as the light of the dawn and the morning are placed over the ends of the earth (in Job 38:13) like a garment.

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*Job 38:24 -

The original Hebrew word (chalaq: H2505) translated as "parted" can mean "distributed" (Job 21:17).

The Hebrew word (puwts: H6327) translated as "which scattereth" could mean "who scattereth".

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*Job 38:25 -

The original Hebrew word (palag: H6385) translated as "divided" can mean "split", in this case in the sense of splitting a channel for floodwaters, or splitting the air to make a way for a bolt of lightning. (And it is the splitting and the extremely-rapid heat expansion of the very molecules and atoms of the air by the extreme heat of lightning which creates the sound of thunder.)

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*Job 38:31 -

The original Hebrew word (ma`adannah: H4575) translated as "the sweet influences" means "the bond", or "the group".

The Hebrew word (Kiymah: H3598) translated as "Pleiades" means that particular group of stars.

The Hebrew word (mowshekah: H4189) translated as "bands" can refer to cords.

The original Hebrew word (Keciyl: H3685) translated as "Orion" means that particular constellation, which was thought by some people in ancient times to be Nimrod or an evil giant bound onto the sky with cords by God as a punishment for impiety.

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*Job 38:32 -

"Mazzaroth" (H4216) can refer to the constellations which together are called the Zodiac.

The Hebrew word (Ash: H5906) translated as "Arcturus" can refer to the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), which is also known as the Big Dipper.

"His sons" could refer to some smaller constellations near the Great Bear, such as Ursa Minor (the Little Bear), which were thought by some people in ancient times to be the Great Bear's offspring.

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*Job 41:9 -

The original Hebrew words (towcheleth: H8431; and kazab: H3576) translated as the "hope" of him is in "vain" can mean any "expectation" of defeating him is a "lie" (cf. Job 34:6), as in the context (Job 41:8-10).

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*Job 41:22 -

The original Hebrew words (de'abah: H1670; and duwts: H1750) translated as "sorrow" is "turned" into joy before him can mean "sorrow" (or fear) "leaps" before him, in the sense of him causing great fear or sorrow in people who behold him. There is no Hebrew word for "into joy" in Job 41:22.

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*Job 41:25 -

The original Hebrew word (sheber: H7667) translated as "breakings" can refer to "fractures" or "bruises" (Jeremiah 30:12).

The Hebrew word (chata': H2398) translated as "they purify themselves" can mean to repent from sins and make offerings to atone for them (Leviticus 9:15; 2 Chronicles 29:24).

So Job 41:26b can mean that when people fighting Leviathan got beaten up by him, they blamed their defeat on their own sinfulness, causing a lack of favor from God. So they retreated and tried to get right with God before coming back to the battle.

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*Job 41:26 -

The original Hebrew word (shiryown: H8302) translated as "habergeon", like the English word, could refer to a "breastplate" (Isaiah 59:17). Or, since Job 41:26 is referring to any man-made, hand-held offensive weapon being unable to penetrate Leviathan's scales, some translators read the Hebrew as referring to a "pointed shaft" rather than to an "habergeon".

(Regarding Leviathan being literal, and being Satan, see section 2 of Revelation 13 below)

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*Job 42:7-17 -

Job never turned on God. That is why after Job's sufferings, God said that Job had remained righteous, while those accusing Job of unrighteousness had spoken foolishly (Job 42:7-17). And that is why obedient Christians are to look to righteous Job as an example of patient endurance through suffering (James 5:11, cf. Revelation 13:7-10, Revelation 14:12-13).

(See also the first entry under Job above)

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*Job 42:10 -

(Turned the captivity)

Compare "turn thy captivity" in Deuteronomy 30:3, using the same Hebrew words as Job 42:10.

The original Hebrew word (shuwb: H7725) translated as "turned" can be translated as "relieved" (Lamentations 1:11,16,19). And the Hebrew word (shebuwth: H7622) translated as "captivity" can mean just that.

So Job 42:10 could refer to God relieving Job from his being in effect a physical captive of Satan, while the devil worked his baneful will with him. Compare the spiritual captivity of 2 Timothy 2:26.

Also, note the wonderful alliteration between shuwb (pronounced "shoob") and shebuwth (sheb-ooth'), an example of the skilful poetic nature of the book of Job when read in its original Hebrew.

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*Psalms 2:1-3 / *Ps. 2:1 -

This refers to what will happen after the future Millennium, at the time of the Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39). For it will be during the future Millennium that the kings of the earth will have been placed under the bands/cords (Psalms 2:3), that is, the physical rule, of the physically returned Jesus Christ (Psalms 2:6, Psalms 72:8-11, Psalms 66:3, Zechariah 14:4-21).

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*Psalms 2:2b / *Ps. 2:2b -

This is not contradicting that YHWH's anointed/Christ is also YHWH, but is distinguishing between YHWH God the Father and YHWH God the Son/Christ (Hebrews 1:8). Zechariah 14:3-9 refers to YHWH God the Christ going forth from heaven to defeat the world's armies at His future, Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-21), and then setting His feet on the Mount of Olives (cf. Acts 1:11-12).

(See also John 1:1 below)

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*Psalms 2:9 / *Ps. 2:9 -

Some of the non-Christians in the future Millennium may be destroyed by God due to continued disobedience to God (Psalms 2:9b, compare the idea of Jeremiah 19:11), while others will not be destroyed because they will submit to the divine, returned Jesus Christ (Psalms 2:10-12). For just as when someone figuratively "breaks" a horse, he does not destroy it, but forces it to submit to him, so Psalms 2:9 does not require that all of the non-Christians left alive at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Matthew 24:39b-40) will eventually be destroyed by Him. Instead, Psalms 2:9a can refer to some of them being only figuratively "broken" by Him, so that they will submit to His physical, worldwide reign during the Millennium (Psalms 66:3, Psalms 72:8-11). That is why other verses say that the returned Jesus and the physically resurrected Church will "rule" the nations with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15, Revelation 2:26-29, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 20:4-6), not kill all of them. And why after the Millennium, there will still be nations (ethnos) alive on the earth who will be deceived by Satan into committing the Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39).

Also, in Psalms 2:9a the original Hebrew word (ra'a, H7489) translated as "break" can be translated simply as "hurt" (Psalms 15:4b), in the sense of suffering trouble which is less than total destruction. The ways that the returned Jesus Christ will "hurt", or punish, disobedient nations during His future Millennial rule on the earth are shown in Zechariah 14:16-19.

(See also Zechariah 14 below)

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*Psalms 4:2 / *Ps. 4:2 -

The original Hebrew word (kazab: H3577) translated as "leasing" can mean "lies" (Psalms 40:4).

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*Psalms 5 title / *Ps. 5 title -

"Nehiloth" (H5155) could refer to flutes.

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*Psalms 6:5 / *Ps. 6:5 -

See the "Soul sleep?" section of 1 Corinthians 15:51 below.

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*Psalms 7 title / *Ps. 7 title -

"Shiggaion" (H7692) refers to an especially emotional type of poem with an irregular structure.

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*Psalms 7:9 / *Ps. 7:9 -

This does not mean that the wicked themselves will cease to exist, but that eventually they will not be committing wickedness any more.

(See Revelation 20:14 below)

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*Psalms 7:12-16 / *Ps. 7:12 -

The principle of Psalms 7:12-16 can apply to any time, just as, for example, the similar principle of Matthew 26:52b can apply to any time.

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*Psalms 7:16 / *Ps. 7:16 -

The original Hebrew word (qodqod: H6936) translated as "pate", like the English word, can refer to the crown of the head, that is, the top of the head (Genesis 49:26).

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*Psalms 8 title / *Ps. 8 title -

"Gittith" (H1665) refers to a type of harp associated with the city of Gath, an ancient Philistine city which was just west of Judah (southern Israel).

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*Psalms 8:2 / *Ps. 8:2 -

Jesus was quoting from this verse in Matthew 21:16b.

There is an ostensible difference between "ordained strength" and "perfected praise". But the original Hebrew word (yacad: H3245) translated as "ordained" can be translated as "established" (Psalms 78:69). And the Greek word (katartizo: G2675) translated as "perfected" can mean to complete thoroughly. Since the idea of establishing something is near enough to the idea of completing it thoroughly, there is no contradiction.

Also, the Greek word (ainos: G0136) translated as "praise" can mean just that. And the Hebrew word (`oz: H5797) translated as "strength" can be used in the sense of strength ascribed to God while praising Him (1 Chronicles 16:28, Psalms 21:13, Psalms 68:34). So, again, there is no contradiction.

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*Psalms 8:3-4 / *Ps. 8:3 -

Because astronomy has revealed to us that our sun is just one star among 100-billion-times-100-billion other stars in the universe, this can help us to put our lives in proper perspective, just as staring into the night sky can help us to do that:

[Psalms 8:3-4a]

But how many of us never look up into the night sky to consider the stars and the vastness of the universe, but only stare down into our own little, infinitesimal worlds which we have constructed on our puny smartphones and Facebook pages, thinking (if only subconsciously) that we are, or should be, the center of everything that exists?

~

(Re: What about *aliens?)

Some people feel that Christians must not believe in the existence of aliens, because then Christians could be deceived by entities such as Satan and other fallen-angelic beings or demons claiming to be aliens. But the existence of aliens does not require that all aliens must be good, just as the existence of angels does not require that all angels must be good. Christians would have to evaluate the goodness of any alien in the same way that Christians would have to evaluate the goodness of any angel: By the doctrine that he teaches (Galatians 1:8), by his faithfulness to God's Word the Bible (2 Timothy 4:2-4; 1 Timothy 4:1, John 8:31b, Matthew 4:4), by his obedience to YHWH God (Mark 12:29-31, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18b). Also, the Bible does not say that Satan will appear as a good alien, but it does say that he can appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). So worrying about being deceived only by aliens is a dangerous distraction. Christians need to also be careful of being deceived even by angels of light.

The universe is so vast, with about 100 billion galaxies, each containing about 100 billion stars, that even if only one star out of every 10 billion stars has a planet with intelligent life on it, there would still be a trillion inhabited planets. And this would be to the great glory of God, for He is the Creator of everything that exists (Revelation 4:11). God could deal with intelligent life on other planets in the same way that He deals with people on the earth: Some individuals could go to a heaven when they die, while others could go to a hell. Or, the intelligent life on some other planets may have never fallen into sin, like Adam and Eve did, so that the intelligent life on those unfallen planets never became mortal. Any such unfallen, intelligent life could be living in sinless, immortal bliss on their planets, like Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before their fall. Also, ultimately, the destiny of Christians on the earth is not to live forever in heaven like ghosts strumming harps on clouds, but to live forever in resurrected, immortal physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:52-53, Romans 8:23-25, Philippians 3:21, Luke 24:39) with God on a future, New Earth (Revelation 21), as in a new surface for the earth.

Some people feel that aliens cannot exist because the Bible makes no mention of them. But not everything that exists has to be mentioned in the Bible (cf. John 21:25). For example, the Bible makes no mention of Velcro, yet it exists. And the Bible makes no mention of the fact that the earth orbits the sun, and not vice versa, as many Christians mistakenly assumed for centuries. Such Christians even mistakenly claimed that the heliocentric system was a lie which was against the revealed knowledge of God in the Bible that the sun orbits the earth. Of course, the truth is that nothing in the Bible requires a geocentric system. Similarly, nothing in the Bible requires that aliens cannot exist.

Also, the argument that other inhabited planets cannot exist because if they did, the Bible would have told us about them, is like someone in the fourteenth century in Europe saying: "Other inhabited continents cannot exist besides the ones in the Bible: Europe, Africa, and Asia. For if other inhabited continents did exist, the Bible would have told us about them". Of course, the truth is that the Bible made no mention of the other inhabited continents of North America, South America, and Australia, and yet they existed. Similarly, even though the Bible makes no mention of other inhabited planets, they could exist.

If the specific aliens which some people claim to have had contact with (such as "the Greys") truly exist, they could be fallen angels or demons. Or, they could be real aliens in the sense of mortal beings from some other star-system. Or, if interstellar travel is physically impossible because of the practical limits which special relativity places on how fast matter can travel, they could be mortal beings from our own solar system who evolved (by God's created process of evolution) or were miraculously created by God long before humans, whether on this planet, or on the second or the fourth planet from the sun, during some past eon when either or both of those planets was inhabitable.

Some people feel that other inhabited planets in other star-systems cannot exist because God is only going to live with Christians on the planet earth (Revelation 21:2-3). But God can live in more than one place at a time (Psalms 139:7-10). Something similar to Revelation 21:2-3 could already be in place on billions of other inhabited planets. For just as the body of each individual Christian on the planet earth is the tabernacle/the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19), so each unfallen or regenerated planet elsewhere could have its own tabernacle/holy city of God. And God can reign in all of them simultaneously, just as He can reign in each Christian on the earth simultaneously (John 14:23, Ephesians 3:17).

Some people feel that fallen aliens cannot exist because the Book of Life, Hades, the lake of fire, the judgment days, and the third heaven are only for people from the planet earth. But each fallen planet elsewhere could have the equivalent of its own Book of Life, its own Hades, its own lake of fire, its own judgment for the saved only, and its own Great White Throne Judgment. Some fallen planets' judgments elsewhere could have already occurred billions of years ago, while others may not occur for billions of years after the judgments on the earth occur in our future. Also, each inhabited planet could have its own third heaven, above each planet, in a fourth spatial dimension which is "higher" than the three spatial dimensions which we can see.

Some people feel that fallen aliens cannot exist because Christ can die for sins only once (Hebrews 10:10) and only for the sins of people on the planet earth (Hebrews 2:16-17). But just as Christ incarnated as a human on the earth (John 1:1,14) and died once for the sins of humans on the earth, so He could have incarnated as other intelligent life-forms on other fallen planets elsewhere and died once for them as well. Also, the universe could be so old (some fourteen billion years, while the earth could be some 4.5 billion years old) that many fallen inhabited planets elsewhere could have already completed their regeneration through Christ billions of years ago, with their saved inhabitants having had their sins forgiven by faith in a divine sacrifice on their planet, and their bodies already having been resurrected (if dead) or changed (if alive) into immortal bodies (which Christians still await on the earth: 1 Corinthians 15:51-53), so that they became like/equal to the angels of God in heaven (cf. Matthew 22:30, Luke 20:36), so that many of the entities which we call "angels" could have started out as what we would call "aliens" on other planets.

If even some unresurrected humans on the earth can sometimes be called "angels" (in the sense of "messengers"; see Luke 7:24 in the original Greek), then some redeemed aliens on other planets who have been resurrected or changed into immortal bodies could have been assigned by God to serve as angels/messengers of God to minister to unresurrected elect people on the earth (cf. Hebrews 1:14). And once Christians on the earth have been resurrected into immortality, and become like/equal to the angels of God in heaven (Matthew 22:30, Luke 20:36), some of them could be assigned by God to other fallen planets elsewhere which have not yet been regenerated, to serve as angels/messengers of God to minister to unresurrected elect beings on those planets.

We really need to get away from every form of geocentrism. Just as it was a mistake for some Christians to refuse to accept for so long the fact that the earth is not the physical center of the universe, indeed, is not even the physical center of our solar system, so it is a mistake for some Christians to refuse to accept the very real possibility that the earth is not the spiritual center of the universe either, but could be just one of a trillion inhabited planets in the universe, all containing worshippers of God. And there could be trillions of other universes outside of our own, filled with a googolplex of inhabited planets (or other structures which we cannot even imagine). We infinitesimal humans on this one, infinitesimal planet really need to have some sense of humility (Isaiah 40:15,17, Psalms 8:3-4).

(See also Isaiah 40:17 below)

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