Why the story of Job occurred in the 6th century.

Division of tongues causes confusion, which destroys unity of vision and purpose.

The word is erets which means Earth, land, ground, country, territory.

Usage: The Hebrew word "erets" is a versatile term used extensively throughout the Old Testament. It primarily denotes the physical earth or land, encompassing everything from the entire planet to specific regions or territories. It can refer to the ground or soil, a country or nation, and even the people inhabiting a land. The term is often used in contrast to "shamayim" (heavens), highlighting the distinction between the earthly and the divine realms.

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/776.htm

When a word can be used several ways I just go to the lexicon which lists just how the word is being used it's meaning. The Lexicon does not list exactly for Genesis 10:25, however for other uses of the word erets in Genesis 10 it does.

2 land =
a. country, territory, שִׁנְעָר ׳א Genesis 10:10, מִצְרַיִם ׳א Genesis 21:21; compare also Genesis 10:11; Genesis 11:28,31; Genesis 13:10; Genesis 47:6,27; Genesis 50:8; Isaiah 7:18; Isaiah 23:1; Isaiah 23:13; Isaiah 27:13; Psalm 78:12; Jeremiah 25:20; 1 Chronicles 1:43; personified Isaiah 62:4; Ecclesiastes 10:16,17.

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/776.htm

Genesis 10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands /erets; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

Genesis 10:10-11

10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land/erets of Shinar.

11Out of that land/erets went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

So for me between how the word divided was used with tongues and the word land/erets is used in the whole of Genesis 10, I concluded that verse 25 would fit in with division by language and nations bro.

I agree for brevity sake I will try and spare folks reading every way or idea something is being used. In the case of Absalom you had individuals who were once with David. To which they were now with Absalom and giving him counsel so David is specifically asking God to divide their tongues in relation to their counsel. So confusing or conflicting counsel would fit in the overall picture.

I don't deny that people are separated into groups by language. And I'm not saying that the divided land masses moved all at once. After all, they continue to move today. I just believe both are in view.
I'll have to check your verses to see what word is used.

This question also touches on how old the earth and universe are, and how long did it actually take for the continents as an example to drift/float into their current locations? From a scientific perspective, the process took millions to billions of years.

I just did a quick search to see what the standard answers are to the following questions:

How old is the universe? 13.7 billion years (it was ~20 billion back roughly 35 years ago when I studied this in my undergrad. days)

How old is the earth? 4.5 billion years (it was ~9 billion...)

When did the ice age occur? 2.6 million years ago - 11,000 years ago

The creation (or recreation) of earth took place ~6000 years ago

So, of course, there are a lot of questions surrounding this apparent disparity. In general, when I talk to Christians about this topic, we are divided into two camps:

1. The earth is ~6000 years old going back to Genesis 1

2. "The earth was without form and void..." (Gen. 1:2), which implies the earth was in place and pre-dates God's creative activities that ultimately culminated in God seeing "...everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good..." (Gen. 1:31).

There is a 3rd camp of people who don't know and/or don't care, but it is an interesting question, and the book of Job throws some curve balls into the equation as it describes cataclysmic events that were taking place and at least one unique creature that draws a lot of speculation, leviathon (Job 41).

Some say this is a reference to a massive crocodile, others a dragon, yet unless figurative language is being used, this beast seems to be much more than that (great poetry here):

His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the
eyelids of the morning.

Out of his mouth go burning
lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.

Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and
burning rushes.

His breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes out of his
mouth. (Job 41:18-21).

We don't have any creatures walking the earth or swimming in the oceans who are like this in the present age that I know of.

He leaves a shining wake
behind him;
One would think the deep had
white hair.

On earth there is nothing like
him,
Which is made without fear.

He beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children
of pride. (Job 41: 32-34)

The images that float around my head of this powerful and terrifying beast makes me think of a physical representation of Satan, who is ultimately responsible for this whole mess. The verses above also speak of a world that is "pre-historic" from the one we live in today.

Personally, I was always in the camp of the earth being recreated in Genesis 1 and being billions of years old. However, @cv5 gave me some new things to consider with Job potentially being an "ice-age" story where plate tectonics, massive volcanic activities, and dinosaurs inhabiting our planet may have taken place a few thousand years ago versus millions to billions of years.

This question also touches on how old the earth and universe are, and how long did it actually take for the continents as an example to drift/float into their current locations? From a scientific perspective, the process took millions to billions of years.

I just did a quick search to see what the standard answers are to the following questions:

How old is the universe? 13.7 billion years (it was ~20 billion back roughly 35 years ago when I studied this in my undergrad. days)

How old is the earth? 4.5 billion years (it was ~9 billion...)

When did the ice age occur? 2.6 million years ago - 11,000 years ago

The creation (or recreation) of earth took place ~6000 years ago

So, of course, there are a lot of questions surrounding this apparent disparity. In general, when I talk to Christians about this topic, we are divided into two camps:

1. The earth is ~6000 years old going back to Genesis 1

2. "The earth was without form and void..." (Gen. 1:2), which implies the earth was in place and pre-dates God's creative activities that ultimately culminated in God seeing "...everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good..." (Gen. 1:31).

There is a 3rd camp of people who don't know and/or don't care, but it is an interesting question, and the book of Job throws some curve balls into the equation as it describes cataclysmic events that were taking place and at least one unique creature that draws a lot of speculation, leviathon (Job 41).

Some say this is a reference to a massive crocodile, others a dragon, yet unless figurative language is being used, this beast seems to be much more than that (great poetry here):

His sneezings flash forth light,
And his eyes are like the
eyelids of the morning.

Out of his mouth go burning
lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.

Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and
burning rushes.

His breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes out of his
mouth. (Job 41:18-21).

We don't have any creatures walking the earth or swimming in the oceans who are like this in the present age that I know of.

He leaves a shining wake
behind him;
One would think the deep had
white hair.

On earth there is nothing like
him,
Which is made without fear.

He beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children
of pride. (Job 41: 32-34)

The images that float around my head of this powerful and terrifying beast makes me think of a physical representation of Satan, who is ultimately responsible for this whole mess. The verses above also speak of a world that is "pre-historic" from the one we live in today.

Personally, I was always in the camp of the earth being recreated in Genesis 1 and being billions of years old. However, @cv5 gave me some new things to consider with Job potentially being an "ice-age" story where plate tectonics, massive volcanic activities, and dinosaurs inhabiting our planet may have taken place a few thousand years ago versus millions to billions of years.

What I have found is that people are long on speculation, and the Bible is short on explanation.

I'm not settled on any view, but lean towards a young earth. I based part of this on the rate at which the sun is receding. If it has always receded at the same rate, the sun would have begun 50% closer to the earth. Obviously life on earth would not have been possible. But I do find the whole topic interesting. What I have found is that people are long on speculation, and the Bible is short on explanation.

SPIN OF THE EARTH

Earth's rotation is slowing at the rate of one thousandth of a second per day. At this rate a billion years ago it would have been spinning so fast that centrifugal force would have caused it to fly apart. The spin of the Earth is gradually slowing down and shows that the Earth cannot be more than a few thousand years old.

CIVILIZATIONS AND WRITING

How can it be that if man stopped evolving 100,000 years ago, he only learned how to form civilizations and write within the last 5-10,000 years? Also, the oldest civilizations appear around the world about the same time, and all were already very advanced, building marvelous structures (like the pyramids). There is no indication of a general evolution of civilization.

POPULATION GROWTH

Realistic population growth formulas, accounting for wars, etc., give several thousand years as needed to produce the current world population (not millions of years). The rate of population growth has been steady for the time that we have records. The present six billion is the right number of people to have multiplied from the eight survivors of the universal flood about 4400 years ago. If man had been around for millions of years, the same growth rate would have produced 150,000 people per square inch of land surface.

MOON MOVING AWAY FROM EARTH

The rate at which the Moon is moving away from the Earth (due to tidal friction) places a limit on the age of the Moon of a few thousand years. If it were millions of years old, it would have had to start very close to the earth, causing ocean tides so severe it would have drowned everything on land twice a day.

SPACE DUST ON THE MOON

Space dust accumulates on the surface of the moon at the rate of about one inch for every ten thousand years. Astronauts found an average of one-half inch, just about what you would expect in six thousand years.

HELIUM IN ATMOSPHERE

Accumulation of helium in the atmosphere implies a maximum age of no more than 10,000 years. Buildup of radiocarbon in the atmosphere would produce all of the world's radiocarbon in only several thousand years.

MUTATIONS

Calculations based on the gradually increasing negative effect of mutation on living organisms indicate that life forms cannot be more than several thousand years old and still be as free from defects as they are today.

EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD

Earth's magnetic field is getting weaker. At the rate of deterioration, no such field would exist if the Earth were as old as evolutionists believe. The measured decay rate of the Earth's magnetic field indicates that life would have been impossible on Earth more than about 20,000 years ago (due to the heat that would have been generated).

POLONIUM HALOS

Dr. Robert Gentry Makes Amazing Discovery!!! Polonium halos (ring patterns formed by radioactive decay) found in granite, the thick bedrock underlying all continents, shows that the granite came into existence in solid form in less than three minutes. What is interesting about this is that the isotope Polonium 218 has a half-life of 3 minutes!! So if you find a radiohalo of Polonium 218 within any sample of granite, that granite HAD to form within less than 21 minutes!!

Now this is really interesting!! The isotope Polonium 214 has a half-life of 164 microseconds, This means that the granites ABSOLUTELY HAD to form in less than .001148 of ONE SECOND!!! It also means that in order for the granites, the basement or foundation rocks of the planet Earth, to have formed in less than one second, that the entire Earth had to come into existence in less than one second!

This leaves us with only ONE conclusion, which is, that when the Bible says that Jesus spoke and the universe came into existence, ("ex-nihilo" means from nothing), the Bible is telling the Truth! The radiohalos within the granites give irrefutable, physical evidence of this!

(Gen 1:1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
(Heb 11:3) ...the worlds were framed by the word of God.

PLANETS ARE LOSING HEAT

The planets are losing heat. If they had been formed millions of years ago, they would have no internal heat left given the present rate of heat loss. If a hot cup of coffee were left standing for 400 years, it would have no internal heat left.

SATURN IS LOSING ITS RINGS

The planet Saturn is losing its rings. They are slowly moving away. If the planet were millions of years old, the material in the rings would have dissipated long ago.

COMETS

As comets travel through space they continually shed some of their material. Any comet more than 10,000 years old would have long since disintegrated into nothing.

PETROLEUM - OIL

Petroleum in the ground is under tremendous pressure. The rocks that contain it are porous. If the oil had been there for millions of years the pressure would have dissipated long ago.

Studies show that any pressure built should be dissipated, bled off into surrounding rocks, within a few thousand years. The excessive pressures found in oil beds, therefore, refute the notion that their age is millions of years old. This gives evidence for the youthful age (less than 10,000 years) of the rock formations and the entrapped oil.

OLDEST LIVING PLANTS

The oldest living plants, the bristle-cone pine tree and the coral reefs only go back about 4500 years. If earth had existed for millions of years, why aren't there older plants still alive?

OCEAN SALT

Now at 3.8 percent, the salinity of the oceans would have been much greater. The present rate of increase points back to a beginning about six thousand years ago.

STALACTITES IN CAVES

Evolutionists point to stalactites in caves as proof of an old earth, but there are stalactites in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial several feet long that have grown in less than 100 years.

EVIDENCE THAT THE EARTH-SUN SYSTEM WAS DESIGNED BY GOD

Evidence that the earth-sun system was designed by God far outweighs any possibility that it all just happened to come together by mere chance. We will now consider a few features of the earth-sun system which appear to be specially and very carefully designed for the unique purpose of supporting life:

EARTH IS POSITIONED AT JUST THE RIGHT DISTANCE

The earth is positioned at just the right distance from the sun so that we receive exactly the proper amount of heat to support life. The other planets of our solar system are either too close to the sun (too hot) or else too far (too cold) to sustain life.

ROTATION OF THE EARTH

Any appreciable change in the rate of rotation of the earth would make life impossible. For example, if the earth were to rotate at one-tenth its present rate, all plant life would either be burned to a crisp during the day or frozen at night.

TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS

Temperature variations are kept within reasonable limits due to the nearly circular orbit of the earth around the sun.

A GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Temperature extremes are further moderated by the water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that produce a greenhouse effect.

MOON IS JUST THE RIGHT DISTANCE

The moon revolves around the earth at a distance of about 240,000 miles causing harmless tides on the earth. If the moon were located 1/5th of this distance away, the continents would be completely submerged twice a day!

THICKNESS OF THE EARTH'S CRUST

The thickness of the earth's crust and the depth of the oceans appear to be carefully designed. Increases in thickness or depth of only a few feet would so drastically alter the absorption of free oxygen and carbon dioxide that plant and animal life could not exist.

EARTH'S AXIS IS TILTED 23 1/2 DEGREES

The earth's axis is tilted 23 1/2 degrees from the perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. This tilting, combined with the earth's revolution around the sun, causes our seasons, which are absolutely essential for the raising of food supplies.

OZONE LAYER

The earth's atmosphere (ozone layer) serves as a protective shield from lethal solar ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise destroy all life.

EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE

The earth's atmosphere also serves to protect the earth from approximately 20 million meteors that enter it each day at speeds of about 30 miles per second! Without this crucial protection the danger to life would be immense.

PERFECT PHYSICAL SIZE AND MASS

The earth is the perfect physical size and mass to support life, affording a careful balance between gravitational forces (essential for holding water in an atmosphere) and atmospheric pressure.

NITROGEN AND OXYGEN

The two primary constituents of the earth's atmosphere are nitrogen (78 percent) and oxygen (20 percent). This delicate and critical ratio is essential to all life forms.

EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD

The earth's magnetic field provides important protection from harmful cosmic radiation.

WATER

The earth is uniquely blessed with a bountiful supply of water, which is the key substance of life due to its remarkable and essential physical properties.

Surely, the honest and objective observer has no other recourse than to conclude that the earth-sun system has been carefully and intelligently designed by God for man. As it is written:

"The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of mentioned"

SPIN OF THE EARTH

Earth's rotation is slowing at the rate of one thousandth of a second per day. At this rate a billion years ago it would have been spinning so fast that centrifugal force would have caused it to fly apart. The spin of the Earth is gradually slowing down and shows that the Earth cannot be more than a few thousand years old.

CIVILIZATIONS AND WRITING

How can it be that if man stopped evolving 100,000 years ago, he only learned how to form civilizations and write within the last 5-10,000 years? Also, the oldest civilizations appear around the world about the same time, and all were already very advanced, building marvelous structures (like the pyramids). There is no indication of a general evolution of civilization.

POPULATION GROWTH

Realistic population growth formulas, accounting for wars, etc., give several thousand years as needed to produce the current world population (not millions of years). The rate of population growth has been steady for the time that we have records. The present six billion is the right number of people to have multiplied from the eight survivors of the universal flood about 4400 years ago. If man had been around for millions of years, the same growth rate would have produced 150,000 people per square inch of land surface.

MOON MOVING AWAY FROM EARTH

The rate at which the Moon is moving away from the Earth (due to tidal friction) places a limit on the age of the Moon of a few thousand years. If it were millions of years old, it would have had to start very close to the earth, causing ocean tides so severe it would have drowned everything on land twice a day.

maybe it's been a while since you've read Job; you must have forgotten the account..

Are you quoting satan in an attempt to prove Job’s fearfulness/faith in God? 😆

hahaha

the OP seems to think it was God who did Job harm as a punisment for Jobs sin???

weird to start a thread about Job and not even know the basics of the storyline - surely he just forgot - so i was reminding him.


@tttallison

TLDR:

Job was not being judged for unrighteousness. what you wrote is just what his friends accused, and God condemned them for saying so.

God allowed Satan to afflict Job in order to prove before all His angels that Satan is a false accuser.

God allowed Satan to afflict Job in order to prove before all His angels that Satan is a false accuser.

You would be so lucky to have three friends that would weep for you for seven days and seven nights.
.

You would be so lucky to have three friends that would weep for you for seven days and seven nights.
.

You are misquoting scripture and only expressing your opinion.