Job40chapter 40

Job 40:6

“Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind,.... Some think that the whirlwind ceased while the Lord spake the words in Job 40:2; which encouraged Job to make the answer he did; but others are of opinion that it continued, and now increased, and was more boisterous than before.”

Job 40:6

“Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind - See the notes at Job 38:1. God here resumes the argument which had been interrupted in order to give Job an opportunity to speak and to carry his cause before the Almighty, as he had desired, see Job 40:2. Since Job had nothing to say, the argument, which had been suspended, is resumed and completed.”

Job 40:7

“Gird up thy loins now like a man - An expression taken from the ancient mode of dress. That was a loose, flowing robe, which was secured by a girdle when traveling, or when one entered upon anything requiring energy; see the notes at Mat 5:38-41. The meaning here is, “Prepare thyself for the highest effort that can be made. Put forth all your strength, and explain to me what will now be said;” compare the notes at Isa 41:”

Job 40:7

“Since Job has not only spoken against God, but accused Him of injustice, God challenges him to try, could he govern the world, as God by His power doth, and punish the proud and wicked (Job 40:7-14).”

Job 40:8

“Wilt thou not only contend with, but set aside My judgment or justice in the government of the world? condemn--declare Me unrighteous, in order that thou mayest be accounted righteous (innocent; undeservingly afflicted).”

Job 40:8

“Wilt thou - Every word is emphatical, wilt (art thou resolved upon it) thou (thou Job, whom I took to be one of a better mind) also (not only vindicate thyself, but also accuse me) disannul (not only question, but even repeal and make void, as if it were unjust) my judgment?”

Job 40:9

“When there is a reference to the voice or the "arm" [power] of God, we must be very careful not to attribute to him any corporeal feature. To enclose into corporeal dimensions him who cannot be circumscribed and fills and embraces everything would mean to fall into the heresy of the Anthropomorphites. But the almighty God, drawing us toward his condition, humiliates himself to our context, and in order to suggest to us sublime truths, he lowers himself to the humble ones.”

Job 40:9

“Hast thou an arm like God? - The arm is the symbol of strength. The question here is, whether Job would venture to compare his strength with the omnipotence of God? Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? - Thunder is a symbol of the majesty of the Most High, and is often spoken of as the voice of God; see Psa 29:1-11. The question here is, whether Job could presume to compare himself with the Almighty, whose voice was the thunder?”

Job 40:10

A slanderer conspired against you. Sometimes he said to me, "Stretch out your hand now." He said to me, "Touch all that he has," and he added about you that "you would have cursed me to my face." But, on the contrary, you were victorious. Therefore I say to you, "Clothe yourself with glory. Abase the slanderer completely. Humiliate his angels. He was arrogant against you, but you destroy the arrogant. He was impious against you, but you strike him by lightning."

Job 40:11

“Scatter the proud in thy wrath. 9. Thou understandest, As I, Who in the season of tranquillity bear with them united against Me, and when I come at last with severity, I scatter them in My wrath. But we must carefully observe on these subjects, that a grievous error of misbelief is admitted, if any one perchance thinks, that in that Substance of the Godhead, wrath and tranquillity are variable. For the Creator of all is supremely immortal, in that He is not changeable, like a creature.”

Job 40:12

“Look on all the proud, and confound them, and tread down the wicked in their place. 11. Thou understandest, As I. For the proud are confounded at the look of the Lord, either here, by His mercy, when acknowledging and condemning their faults, or there, by suffering punishments from His justice. But pride itself is the place of the wicked; for, since it is written, Pride is the beginning of all sin, [Ecclus. 10, 13] it is comprised in that place, whence impiety arises; although impiety hardly differs from pride.”

Job 40:13

“Hide them in the dust together; - compare Isa 2:10. The meaning seems to be, that God had power to prostrate the wicked in the dust of the earth, and he calls upon Job to show his power by doing the same thing. And bind their faces in secret - The word “faces” here is probably used (like the Greek πρίσωπα prisōpa to denote “persons.” The phrase” to bind them,” is expressive of having them under control or subjection; and the phrase “in secret” may refer to some secret or safe place - as a dungeon or prison.”

Job 40:14

“And I will confess that thy right hand can save thee. 14. As if He were openly saying, If thou art able to do these terrible things, which I Myself have displayed, I attribute to thee, and not to Myself, all the good things thou hast done. But if thou canst not destroy others, that sin, by a look, it is plain that thou canst not set thyself free from the guilt of wickedness, by thy own power.”

Job 40:14

“Thine own right hand can save thee - It is the prerogative of God alone to save the human soul. Nothing less than unlimited power, exerted under the direction and impulse of unbounded mercy, can save a sinner.”

Job 40:15

“Behold Behemoth, which I made with thee. 16. Whom does He suggest, under the name 'Behemoth,' except the ancient enemy? which being interpreted from the Hebrew word, means 'Animal' in the Latin tongue. For when his malice is added below, his person is plainly pointed out. But since it is written of God that He made all things together, why does He declare that He made this animal at the same time with man, when it is plain that He made all things at once?”

Job 40:15

“Behold now behemoth - Margin, “or, the elephant, as some think.” In the close of the argument, God appeals to two animals as among the chief of his works, and as illustrating more than any others his power and majesty - the behemoth and the leviathan. A great variety of opinions has been entertained in regard to the animal referred to here, though the “main” inquiry has related to the question whether the “elephant” or the “hippopotamus” is denoted. Since the time of Bochart, who has gone into an extended examination of the subject (“Hieroz.” P. ii.”

Job 40:15

“On the other hand, Job 40:21, 22 are characteristic of the amphibious river horse. So leviathan (the twisting animal), Job 41:1, is a generalized term for cetacea, pythons, saurians of the neighboring seas and rivers, including the crocodile, which is the most prominent, and is often associated with the river horse by old writers.”

Job 40:15

“And both creatures of great bulk and strength. Grass - The river-horse comes out of the river upon the land to feed upon corn, and hay, or grass, as an ox doth, to whom also he is not unlike in the form of his head and feet, and in the bigness of his body, whence the Italians call him, the sea-ox.”

Job 40:16

What is understood by the loins except the delight of the flesh? Hence the Psalmist also asks, saying: "Burn my loins." For if he had not known that the pleasure of lust resides in the loins, he would by no means have asked that they be burned. Hence, because the power of the devil has prevailed over the human race especially through lust, it is said of him by the voice of the Lord: "His power is in his loins."

Job 40:16

“Lo now, his strength is in his loins,.... The strength of the elephant is well known, being able to carry a castle on its back, with a number of men therein; but what follows does not seem so well to agree with it; and his force is in the navel of his belly; since the belly of the elephant is very tender; by means of which the rhinoceros, its enemy, in its fight with it, has the advantage of it, by getting under its belly, and ripping it up with its horn (s).”

Job 40:17

“He moveth his tail like a cedar - Margin, “setteth up.” The Hebrew word (חפץ châphêts) means “to bend, to curve;” and hence, it commonly denotes “to be inclined, favorably disposed to desire or please.” The obvious meaning here is, that this animal had some remarkable power of “bending” or “curving” its tail, and that there was some resemblance in this to the motion of the cedar-tree when moved by the wind. In “what” this resemblance consisted, or how this was a proof of its power, it is not quite easy to determine.”

Job 40:17

“Some understand it of the trunk of the elephant, for the word signifies any extreme part, and in that there is indeed a wonderful strength. So strong is the elephant in his back and loins, and the sinews of his thighs, that he will carry a large wooden tower, and a great number of fighting men in it.”

Job 40:18

“His bones are as strong pieces of brass: his bones are as bars of iron. Than which nothing is stronger. The repetition is made for greater illustration and confirmation; but what is said is not applicable to the elephant, whose bones are porous and rimous, light and spongy for the most part, as appears from the osteology (k) of it; excepting its teeth, which are the ivory; though the teeth of the river horse are said to exceed them in hardness (l); and artificers say (m) they are wrought with greater difficulty than ivory.”

Job 40:18

“His bones are as strong pieces of brass-bars of iron - The tusk I have mentioned above is uncommonly hard, solid, and weighty for its size.”

Job 40:19

“He is the chief of the ways of God,.... Or the beginning of them, that is, of the works of God in creation; which must be restrained to animals, otherwise there were works wrought before any of them were created. There were none made before the fifth day of the creation, and on that day was the river horse made; in which respect it has the preference to the elephant, not made till the sixth day.”

Job 40:19

“He is the chief of the ways of God - In size and strength. The word rendered “chief” is used in a similar sense in Num 24:20, “Amalek was the first of the nations;” that is, one of the most powerful and mighty of the nations. He that made him can make his sword approach unto him - According to this translation, the sense is, that God had power over him, notwithstanding his great strength and size, and could take his life when he pleased.”

Job 40:19

“Chief of the works of God; so "ways" (Job 26:14; Pr 8:22). can make his sword to approach--rather, "has furnished him with his sword" (harpe), namely, the sickle-like teeth with which he cuts down grain. English Version, however, is literally right.”

Job 40:20

“The mountains bring him forth food - It cannot therefore be the hippopotamus, as he is seldom found far from the rivers where he has his chief residence. Where all the beasts of the field play - He frequents those places where he can have most prey. He makes a mock of all the beasts of the field. They can neither resist his power, nor escape from his agility. All this answers to what we know of the mammoth, but not at all to the hippopotamus.”

Job 40:20

“Mountains - Though he lives most in the water, yet he often fetches his food from the land, and from the mountains or hills, which are nigh the river Nile. Play - They not only feed securely, but sport themselves by him, being taught by experience that he is gentle and harmless.”

Job 40:21

“He lieth under the shady trees - Referring to his usually inactive and lazy life. He is disposed to lie down in the shade, and especially in the vegetable growth in marshy places on the banks of lakes and rivers, rather than to dwell in the open field or in the upland forest. This account agrees well with the habits of the hippopotamus. The word here and in Job 40:22 rendered “shady trees” (צאלים tse'eliym), is by Gesenius, Noyes, Prof.”

Job 40:22

“The shadows cover his shadow. 10. For all the wicked are in truth shadows of the devil: for while they give themselves up to imitate his iniquity, they derive, as it were, a form of resemblance from his body. But as the reprobate are his 'shadows' in the plural number, so each separate sinner is his 'shadow' in the singular.”

Job 40:23

“Hence the Lord says to blessed Job concerning the ancient enemy of the human race: "He will swallow up a river and not wonder, and he has confidence that the Jordan will flow into his mouth." For who is signified by the river except the flow of the human race? For this race flows from origin to end, and, as if in the manner of water, runs its course from the flux of the flesh until its appointed end. What is signified by the Jordan except the pattern of the baptized?”

Job 40:23

“Behold he drinketh up a river - Margin, “oppresseth.” The margin expresses the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, עשׁק ‛âshaq. It usually means to oppress, to treat with violence and injustice; and to defraud, or extort. But a very different sense is given to this verse by Bochart, Gesenius, Noyes, Schultens, Umbreit, Prof. Lee, and Rosenmuller.”

Job 40:23

"Jordan" is used for any great river (consonant with the "behemoth"), being a poetical generalization (see on Job 40:15). The author cannot have been a Hebrew as UMBREIT asserts, or he would not adduce the Jordan, where there were no river horses.

Job 40:24

“He taketh it with his eyes - He looks at the sweeping tide, and defies it. His nose pierceth through snares - If fences of strong stakes be made in order to restrain him, or prevent him from passing certain boundaries, he tears them in pieces with his teeth; or, by pressing his nose against them, breaks them off. If other parts of the description would answer, this might well apply to the elephant, the nose here meaning the proboscis, with which he can split trees, or even tear them up from the roots!”