Job 26 Footnotes

26:7 Critical attempts to view the “northern skies” (Hb tsaphon) in terms of Ugaritic mythology in which the god Baal’s title was Baal-zephon with his residence on Mount Zaphon are unnecessary, despite Ps 48:2-3 and Is 14:13-14, where the north figures prominently in connection with God and mountains. These texts may indicate that it is Yahweh, not Baal, who rightly indwells Zaphon (i.e., “heaven”). Mythological derivation may not be present, however. Job could intend “the northern skies,” home to the North Star and constellations. Some scholars suggest that Job wrote better than he knew, for his observation approached the knowledge that the earth is suspended in space supported only by gravitational forces.