In Job 38:31, is it accurate to say that Orion fell to the Earth?
A viewer asks whether it would be biblically inaccurate to exegete Job 38:31, about the cords of Orion, to mean that Orion fell on the Earth.
Answer
Yes, it would be inaccurate. In Job 38:31 God asks Job, can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion, can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs. What God is talking about is how the stars appear, whether Job can bring forth those constellations on a daily basis the way God does. Last night I could not sleep, walked outside, looked up, and saw Orion right where I would expect it, just off the southeast end of my roof, with Venus or Mars bright alongside it; Orion is the most recognizable constellation, with its belt of three stars and its sword. So all God is doing in this passage is asking Job whether he can bring out the constellations everyone sees every night, and obviously he cannot. God is telling Job, without rubbing it in, that he is greater than Job and knows what he is doing in the trial he is putting him through. The passage is not saying Orion fell to the Earth.