Job 40:24

_BEHOLD NOW BEHEMOTH, WHICH I MADE WITH THEE; HE EATETH GRASS AS AN OX._ God shows that if Job cannot bring under control the lower animals, of which he selects the two most striking (Behemoth on land, Leviathan in the water), how much less is he capable of governing the world! Verse 15. BEHEMOTH, х_ BªHEEMOWT_ (H929)]. The description in part agrees with the hippopotamus, in part with the elephant, but exactly in all details with neither. It is rather a poetical personification of the great Pachydermata, or Herbiuora (so "he eateth grass," etc.), the idea of the hippopotamus being predominant. In Job 40:17 "the tail like a cedar" hardly applies to the elephant (so also Job 40:20;...

15-24 God, for the further proving of his own power, describes two vast animals, far exceeding man in bulk and strength. Behemoth signifies beasts. Most understand it of an animal well known in Egypt, called the river-horse, or hippopotamus. This vast animal is noticed as an argument to humble ourselves before the great God; for he created this vast animal, which is so fearfully and wonderfully made. Whatever strength this or any other creature has, it is derived from God. He that made the soul of man, knows all the ways to it, and can make the sword of justice, his wrath, to approach and touch it. Every godly man has spiritual weapons, the whole armour of God, to resist, yea, to overcome the tempter, that his never-dying soul may be safe, whatever becomes of his frail flesh and mortal body....

Verse 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_! Thus ends the description of the _behemoth_; what I suppose to be the _mastodon_ or _mammoth_, or some creature of this kind, that God made as _the chief of his works_, exhibited in various countries for a time, cut them off from the earth, but by his pro

HE TAKETH IT WITH HIS EYES - Margin, “Or, will any take him in his sight, or, bore his nose with a gin!” From this marginal reading it is evident that our translators were much perplexed with this passage. Expositors have been also much embarrassed in regard to its meaning, and have differed much in their exposition. Rosenmuller supposes that this is to be regarded as a question, and is to be rendered, “Will the hunter take him while he sees him?” - meaning that he could not be taken without some snare or guile. The same view also is adopted by Bochart, who says that the hippopotamus could be taken only by some secret snare or pitfall. The common mode of taking him, he says, was to excavate a place near where the river horse usually lay, and to cover it over with reeds and canes, so that he would fall into it unawares. The meaning then is, that the hunter could not approach him openly an...

EXPOSITION JOB 40:1 Between the first and the second part of the Divine discourse, at the end of which Job wholly humbles himself (Job 42:1), is interposed a short appeal on the part of tile Almighty, and a short reply on Job's part, which, however, is insufficient. God calls upon Job to make good his charges (verses 1, 2). Job declines, acknowledges himself to be of no account, and promises silence and submission for the future (verses 3-5). But something more is needed; and therefore the discourse is further prolonged. JOB 40:1, JOB 40:2 Moreover the Lord

HE TAKETH IT WITH HIS EYES,.... Or "can men take him before his eyes?" so Mr. Broughton; and others translate it to the same purpose; no, he is not to be taken openly, but privately, by some insidious crafty methods; whether it be understood of the elephant or river horse; elephants, according to Strabo q and Pliny r were taken in pits dug for them, into which they were decoyed; in like manner, according to some s, the river horse is taken; a pit being dug and covered with reeds and sand, it falls into it unawares; [HIS] NOSE PIERCETH THROUGH SNARES; he discerns them oftentimes and escapes them, so that he is not easily taken in them. It is reported of the sea morss t, before mentioned, Job 40:20, that they ascend mountains in great herds, where, before they give themselves to sleep, to which they are naturally inclined, they appoint one of their number as it were a watchman; w

CHAPTER 40 _ 1. The answer demanded (Job 40:1)_ 2. Job's answer (Job 40:3) 3. Jehovah's appeal to Job (Job 40:6) 4. Behold behemoth! (Job 40:15) Job 40:1. Now comes the direct word of Jehovah out of the storm-cloud to Job. He addresses him as “he that reproveth God.” He had contended with the Almighty and now the Almighty Job had judged faces him and demands an answer. Let him answer. Job 40:3. And Job answers; and what an answer it is! It is the answer for which

JOB 40:15 TO JOB 41:34. BEHEMOTH AND LEVIATHAN. Most scholars regard this passage as a later addition to the poem. The point of Job 40:8 is God's reply to Job's criticism of His righteousness; the description of these beasts, however, illustrates at great length man's impotence, which is only a secondary thought in the previous Divine speech. They therefore divert attention from the main issue. Moreover, there is a great difference between these descriptions and those of Job 38:39 to Job 39:30. Here the descriptions are heavy and laboured, gaining their effect, such as it is, by an a

Job 40:6 to Job 42:6. The Lord's Second Answer to Job out of the Storm Shall Man charge God with unrighteousness in His Rule of the World? All that the first speech of the Lord touched upon was the presumption of a mortal man desiring to contend with the Almighty. The display from Creation of that which God is had the desired effect on Job's mind: he is abased, and will no more contend with the Almighty. But Job had not only presumed to contend with God, he had charged Him with unrighteousness in His rule of the world and in His treatment of himself. This is the point to which the second speech from the storm is directed. The passage has properly two parts. First, Job 40:6, as Job had challenged the rectitude of God's rul

HE TAKETH IT WITH HIS EYES— _Who can take him in his streams? Can cords be drawn through his nose?_ Heath. _Can his nose be perforated with hooks?_ Houbigant. The way of taking these animals, as related by an ancient writer, Achilles Tatius, will explain this passage. "The huntsmen, having found the places where they haunt, dig a trench, or ditch, which they cover with reeds and earth, having placed underneath a wooden chest, whose lids are open like a folding door on each side, to the height of the cavity; after this they conceal themselves, watching till the beast is taken; for as soon as ever it treads on the surface of the hole it is sure to fall to the bottom. The huntsmen run up immediately to the cavity, and shut down the lids, and by these means catch the beast, which could not be taken by any other method, on account of its prodigious strength." The latter clause of the verse si...