Is the astronomy in the Book of Job scientifically consistent?

For Chinese version, click 古代約伯記中似乎存在一種有趣的科學一致性(Click the link below for its original post ByJ. Warner WallacePublishedAugust 17, 2018) https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-the-astronomy-in-the-book-of-job-scientifically-consistent/

https://www.sciencealert.com/images/nov-15/pleyades.jpg

In the past, I’ve posted a number of scientific consistencies found in the Old Testament. While I think there are good reasons why God might not reveal advanced scientific details in Scripture, I do expect God’s Word to be scientifically consistent with the world we experience. One interesting scientific consistency seems to exist in the ancient book of Job. I am obviously not a scientist or astronomer, so I’ll try to provide links to the references you might use to further investigate these claims. As you may remember, Job was extremely wealthy and had a large family. Tragedy struck and Job lost his wealth, his children and his wife. Job eventually began to accuse God of being unjust and unkind. In response to Job’s complaining, God challenged Job’s authority and power relative to His own. God asked the following series of questions to demonstrate Job’s comparative weakness: Job 38:31-32 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

The text refers to three constellations, Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus (the fourth, Mazzaroth, is still unknown to us). In the first part of the verse, God challenged Job’s ability to “bind the sweet influences of Pleiades.” It’s as if He was saying, “Hey Job, you think you can keep Pleiades together? Well, I can!” As it turns out, the Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) is an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It is classified as an open cluster because it is a group of hundreds of stars formed from the same cosmic cloud. They are approximately the same age and have roughly the same chemical composition. Most importantly, they are bound to one another by mutual gravitational attraction. Isabel Lewis of the United States Naval Observatory (quoted by Phillip L. Knox in Wonder Worlds) said, “Astronomers have identified 250 stars as actual members of this group, all sharing in a common motion and drifting through space in the same direction.” Lewis said they are “journeying onward together through the immensity of space.” Dr. Robert J. Trumpler (quoted in the same book) said, “Over 25,000 individual measures of the Pleiades stars are now available, and their study led to the important discovery that the whole cluster is moving in a southeasterly direction. The Pleiades stars may thus be compared to a swarm of birds, flying together to a distant goal. This leaves no doubt that the Pleiades are not a temporary or accidental agglomeration of stars, but a system in which the stars are bound together by a close kinship.” From our perspective on Earth, the Pleiades will not change in appearance; these stars are marching together in formation toward the same destination, bound in unison, just as God described them.

The next section of the verse describes the Orion constellation. God once again challenged Job, this time to “loose the bands of Orion.” God was referencing the “belt” of Orion; the three stars forming the linear “band” at Orion’s waist. God appeared to be challenging Job in just the opposite way he had in the first portion of the verse. Rather than bind the Pleiades, God challenged Job to loosen Orion. It’s as if He was saying, “Hey Job, you think you can loosen Orion’s belt? Well, I can!” Orion’s belt is formed by two stars (Alnilam, and Mintaka) and one star cluster (Alnitak). Alnitak is actually a triple star system at the eastern edge of Orion’s belt. These stars (along with all the other stars forming Orion) are not gravitationally bound like those in Pleiades. Instead, the stars of Orion’s belt are heading in different directions. Garrett P. Serviss, a noted astronomer, wrote about the bands of Orion in his book, Curiosities of the Sky: “The great figure of Orion appears to be more lasting, not because its stars are physically connected, but because of their great distance, which renders their movements too deliberate to be exactly ascertained. Two of the greatest of its stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel, possess, as far as has been ascertained, no perceptible motion across the line of sight, but there is a little movement perceptible in the ‘Belt.’ At the present time this consists of an almost perfect straight line, a row of second-magnitude stars about equally spaced and of the most striking beauty. In the course of time, however, the two right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam (how fine are these Arabic star names!) will approach each other and form a naked-eye double, but the third, Alnita, will drift away eastward, so that the ‘Belt’ will no longer exist.” Unlike the Pleaides clusters, the stars in the band of Orion do not share a common trajectory. In the course of time, Orion’s belt will be loosened just as God told Job. In the last section of the verse, God described Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. God challenged Job to “guide Arcturus with his sons.” With this challenge, God appeared to be saying, “Hey Job, you think you can direct Arcturus anywhere you want? Well, I can!” While Arcturus certainly appeared in antiquity to be a single star, in 1971 astronomers discovered there were 52 additional stars connected directionally with Arcturus (known now as the Arcturus stream). Interestingly, God described Arcturus as having “sons” and Charles Burckhalter, of the Chabot Observatory, (again quoted in Wonder Worlds) said “these stars are a law unto themselves.” Serviss added, “Arcturus is one of the greatest suns in the universe, is a runaway whose speed of flight is 257 miles per second. Arcturus, we have every reason to believe, possesses thousands of times the mass of our sun… Our sun is traveling only 12 ½ miles a second, but Arcturus is traveling 257 miles a second…” Burckhalter affirmed this description of Arcturus, saying, “This high velocity places Arcturus in that very small class of stars that apparently are a law unto themselves. He is an outsider, a visitor, a stranger within the gates; to speak plainly, Arcturus is a runaway. Newton gives the velocity of a star under control as not more than 25 miles a second, and Arcturus is going 257 miles a second. Therefore, combined attraction of all the stars we know cannot stop him or even turn him in his path.” Arcturus and “his sons” are on a course all their own. Only God has the power to guide them, just as described in the ancient book of Job. I doubt it was God’s intention to teach Job astronomy in this passage. Instead, God wanted to challenge Job and remind him who had the power, authority and wisdom to control the fate of the universe. In a similar way, God wanted to remind Job who had the power to control Job’s fate and the wisdom to care for him, even when Job felt unloved. While it wasn’t God’s purpose to reveal hidden scientific truths to Job in an effort to demonstrate His Deity, the ancient text accurately describes the nature of these constellations and stars. Like other Old and New Testament passages, it is scientifically consistent, even if not scientifically exhaustive. Note: The Pleiades is made up of nine different stars, seven of which are known fondly as The Seven Sisters. The names of all the stars are as follows: Atlas (the titan who carried the world on his back and father of the seven sisters) Pleione (sea nymph and mother of the seven sisters) Maia Elektra Sterope Alcyone Merope Taygete Celaeno (The Chinese knew of the star cluster over 4,000 years ago, and the Japanese refer to the stars as “Subaru” and use their image as the badge of the car manufacturer they are named for. And it is here, strangely, that the strange contradiction at the heart of the Pleiades can be most clearly seen. For the badge on a Subaru car, modelled after the Pleiades, has only six stars. Similarly, if you were to look up at the night sky you would only see six stars in the cluster, not seven.Because one star is weaker and is called lost daughter among 7 sisters)

Job 38:32 “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” The Book of Job contains references both to a modern view of the universe and an Earth-centric view of the imaginary star shapes that we call constellations. One important set of constellations mentioned in Job is the Mazzaroth. One of God’s challenges to Job, in chapter 38 verse 32, was: “Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?” The Mazzaroth is a collection of twelve constellations. Because many of these are supposed to be images of animals, the Mazzaroth is sometimes called the Zodiac. These twelve constellations are arranged almost evenly around the ecliptic, which is that part of the sky where the Sun appears to move and, hence, is actually a tracking of the Earth’s orbit. This is extremely useful because the rising of each of these constellations in turn amounts approximately to a calendar month each, thus defining our division of the year. We are immediately reminded that God said in Genesis 1:14 that the heavens were to be “for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”. This convenience has led to some extending too much significance to the Mazzaroth, assigning them occult meanings in astrology. Reacting against this, some Christians have suggested that the Mazzaroth contains the Gospel message. The truth is much simpler and much more profound; God gave us these constellations for our benefit, and our praise should be directed towards Him. Prayer: We do indeed praise You, Lord God, for Your wonderful provision in our lives. Amen. Author: Paul F. Taylor Ref: Morris, H.M. (2000), The Remarkable Record of Job (Green Forest, AR: Master Books), p. 44. Image: The Ecliptic and the Zodiac, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported. ( My note: I am awe struck that God had challenged Job these questions in ancient time when none knew anything about gravitational pulls between stars...etc. That shows "The Book of Job" really was inspired by God to ask these questions, only a Creator God was able to ask these questions far beyond the writer of "The Book of Job" was able to imagine at that ancient time.. ) We should all be amazeded: God challenged Job to ask the questions of these different constellations in ancient times, when no one knew about the gravitational pull between stars and how they were related to each other. Not to mention picking out different constellations to evaluate their vastly different laws of motion. The ancient Greeks used their rich imagination to weave many beautiful myths for these constellations, but these stories could not stand the test of modern science. This shows that the author of the Book of Job was really inspired by God to ask these questions that were far beyond the scope of human cognition in ancient times. In other words, only the Creator God who created the heavens and the earth can ask these questions that are far beyond human knowledge in time of the Book of Job. Questions the author of the Book of Job couldn't have imagined in those ancient times. Amazingly, the questions posed there are still standing up to the test of modern science to this day. Of course, the names of these constellations must still use the names known to the ancients, such as the 7 sisters, the hunter constellation and the bear star and its sons, otherwise the ancients would not understand.) God asked Job following questions: Job 38:31-32 New Living Translation 31 “Can you direct the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? 32 Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Job 38:31-32 你能繫住昴星的結嗎？ 你能解開參星的帶嗎？ 32 你能按時領出瑪查魯夫星系嗎？ 你能引導北斗和隨從它的眾星嗎？ or traditional old version 31 你 能 繫 住 昴 星 的 結 麼 ？ 能 解 開 參 星 的 帶 麼 ？ 32 你 能 按 時 領 出 十 二 宮 麼 ？ 能 引 導 北 斗 和 隨 他 的 眾 星 （ 星 ： 原 文 是 子 ） 麼 “Arc to Arcturus,” as the old stargazer’s saying goes. Because of its closeness to Ursa Major, the Greeks called it the “Guardian of the Bear.” They believed that its power drove the Great Bear across the sky. In fact, Arcturus is the brightest star in the kite-shaped constellation Boötes (boh-OH-teez), the Herdsman. It may seem odd for him and his brightest star to be herding a bear, but there you go. No. Wait. In fact, Boötes may be a different kind of herdsman than a bear herder. Although the ancient poets never make the connection, an older Greek myth may explain the presence of a constellational herder in the sky that sets it apart from its brightest star.