See now the behemoth, which I made with thee he eateth grass as an ox.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly.
God points Job to one huge beast, behemoth, and tells him to look at where its power sits. The question behind it is personal. If Job cannot match this creature, why is he arguing with the God who made it?
Commentators differ over which animal this is. One writer names the hippopotamus and corrects the name itself:
"Behemoth" means what is called the hippopotamus. It ought not to be called a river-horse at all, which is what "hippopotamus" means. It is a river-ox. It is like an ox rather than a horse... Many claim that "behemoth" means an elephant. But read the account and you will see it is very unlike an elephant. The one likeness is that it is a big creature with enormous strength, and beyond that, nothing.
Others think the details of the description do not fit any animal alive today:
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus. But that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "moves his tail like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
Other passages use the same word for the loins. One writer gathers them, using an older translation that keeps the word "loins" throughout:
"Gird up now your loins like a man", God said to Job, twice, and to others also. Elijah girded up his loins and ran before Ahab (1 Kings 18:46). There are many other references, Behemoth for example... "his strength in his loins" (Job 40:16). But exactly the same word is used of the woman of worth (Proverbs 31:17)... Taken together they certainly confirm what we have always heard, that the loins are the seat of strength.
The verse names the loins and the belly. The description that follows spreads the same note over the whole animal:
Every part of his body speaks of strength — loins and body, legs and bones, even tail, are alive with this power... His Creator gave him sharp sword-like teeth, and with them he mows down the grass like an ox. He is harmless too when not stirred up, for the other beasts play in the same pasture.
God sets this beast beside Job, and the comparison is the sting:
Behemoth then is a powerful, uncontrollable beast which lives for itself. How weak then is man compared with this beast and its marvellous strength. Yet it is only a beast and Job is a man. How detestable then must Job's pride and boasting appear in the sight of the Lord.
Strength on this scale might sound admirable. Notice what it is worth to anyone else:
He is an untameable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The whole description gives one impression — absolute power used for utterly selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to yield its strength to the service of others.
The same writer turns the picture on the reader:
And yet he is only a creature, given superhuman strength by God for His all-wise purposes. Let Job consider this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let all who are tempted to trust in their own strength consider him too, whether strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How puny their own arm will appear.
Some writers see more than an animal here, and they do not agree on what. One starts from the kind of man behemoth resembles:
The character of behemoth is like that of many strong, capable men. They know how to subdue others, but have no heart to help them... So behemoth seems to be specially symbolic of Antichrist. He is a land animal, and Antichrist will rise out of the land (of Israel), as Revelation 13:11 shows us... It is God who has made him, though he refuses to recognise God.
Another sees the two beasts of chapters 40 and 41 as pictures of evil working in two directions:
Behemoth is the enemy within us; leviathan is the enemy without us.
- Made — behemoth is no rival to God. He is a creature God made, and that is what humbles Job.
- Strong — Scripture treats the loins as the seat of strength. Here every part, from bones to tail, says the same.
- Selfish — this strength serves no one. It cannot be tamed and lives only for itself.
- Searching — God sets the beast before everyone who trusts his own strength, of body or of mind. Their own arm looks small.
- Symbolic — commentators read the creature further. Some see a picture of Antichrist, others evil at work inside a man. All agree God made him.
He bendeth his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are woven together.
God points Job to one animal and walks through its body piece by piece. Verse 17 is part of that list: the tail, and the tightly knit sinews of the thighs. This is not a lesson in zoology. If Job cannot match a single creature God made, how can he argue with the Creator?
God calls this animal behemoth. Commentators differ over which creature that is, and verse 17 is the reason. Many say it is the hippopotamus. One writer argues from its diet that the name means river-ox, not river-horse:
"Behold now behemoth, which I made with you" — when I made you I made him. "He eats grass as an ox." I have, therefore, good reason for saying that it is a river-ox, and not at all a river-horse.
Others say the tail in this verse rules that out:
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus, but that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "makes his tail stiff like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
The survey runs from loins to tail, and no part of this animal is weak:
Every portion of his anatomy speaks of strength — loins and body, legs and bones, and even tail, are alive with this power. So he is a chief of God's creatures, excelling in strength. His Creator gave him sharp, sword-like teeth, and with them he mows down the grass like an ox. He is harmless too when nothing stirs him up, since the other animals play beside him in the same pasture.
That strength is never turned to anyone's benefit:
In other words, he is an untamable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The entire description gives the impression of absolute power used for utterly selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to yield its strength to the service of others.
The same hand made both the animal and the man:
How weak man is compared with this beast and its marvellous strength! Yet it is only a beast and Job is a man. How abominable then must Job's pride and boasting appear in the sight of the Lord.
The creature's strength is a gift from God, and the lesson reaches past bodily strength:
And yet he is only a creature. God gave him superhuman strength for His own all-wise purposes. Let Job, and everyone tempted to trust his own strength, look at this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. That strength may be strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How puny their own arm will look.
However great the beast, God knit the sinews of verse 17. The whole picture stays in His hand:
Note the striking words, "he is the first of the ways of God" (v.19). God created him as an object lesson for us of unstoppable strength. Only the God who made him can bring him down to nothing — a picture of putting him under the judgment of the sword.
Commentators have long read a moral meaning in behemoth and in leviathan, the creature described next, and they offer it as likely rather than certain:
Both beasts stand for power and pride. So it does not seem entirely far-fetched to agree with another commentator, Wordsworth: "It seems probable that behemoth represents the Evil One at work in the animal and fleshly parts of man's own make-up, and that leviathan pictures the Evil One at work as the enemy outside him. Behemoth is the enemy inside us; leviathan is the enemy outside us."
Read that way, Job would find the creature's likeness in his own heart:
To Job, behemoth would stand for that creature of pride which thrives among people who profess to belong to God. In the pride of his own self-righteousness, "proclaiming himself to be God," he would catch glimpses of this evil thing. One day it would grow into a full and hideous falling away from God. What more dreadful exposure of the evil of pride could he, or we, have? Self-righteousness, self-seeking, pride of conduct or of character, denies its need of Christ and of God. Such is sin in the flesh — incorrigible and hideous. Who can subdue it or change its nature?
That question has an answer. No man can tame this beast, but it does not run free:
And yet behemoth is controlled, though not by man. God is over all... The Spirit will control the flesh, and while He lives in the Church He does not allow evil to develop fully. In a smaller way too, the Spirit controls and holds back the activity of the flesh. "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
- Made — God framed this beast, tail and sinew alike. Commentators differ on whether it is a hippopotamus or a creature now extinct, since a hippo's tail is nothing like a cedar.
- Massive — every part of the body is a study in strength, yet all of that power lives for itself and serves no one.
- Measured — set beside this creature, Job's arm looks tiny; so does anyone's strength of body, heart or mind.
- Mirrored — read as a picture, behemoth is the enemy inside us: self-righteousness and pride that denies its need of God.
- Mastered — what man cannot control, God controls. The Spirit holds the flesh in check, and only the God who made this beast can bring it down.
His bones are tubes of bronze, his members are like bars of iron.
God answers Job by describing an animal — its loins, its tail, and here its bones. What does He want a suffering man to learn from a skeleton of bronze and iron?
Commentators have long debated what behemoth is. One reading takes it as a river-ox:
"Behemoth" means what is called the hippopotamus. We ought not to call it a river-horse at all, which is what "hippopotamus" means. It is a river-ox. It looks more like an ox than a horse, with its own odd features, and they are very odd... Many insist that "behemoth" means an elephant. But read the account and you will see it is very unlike an elephant, apart from being a big creature with enormous strength. Beyond that, nothing.
Another writer thinks no living animal fits:
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus, but that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "moves his tail like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
The metal named here carries a settled meaning across Scripture:
These verses, and others we could add, make the symbolic meaning of the copper clear. It stands for durability, strength, and refusal to bend, whether in protection, in chains, or in war. Applied to the nature of God, it would declare His unchanging character, His strength, and the impossibility of escaping His judgment. On the other side, it would declare the safety of those He protects.
Note: older translations call this metal "brass" or "copper"; the ESV reads "bronze."
The body is built for power, yet the diet is grass:
Huge as behemoth is, he eats plants like the ox. The elephant is vulnerable underneath, but here the sinews are of surpassing strength. He bends his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit tightly together, and his bones are like copper and iron. Yet, masterpiece as he is of God's ways, he has only a scythe-like tooth to graze the mountains, where all the beasts of the field play.
Verse 18 belongs to a list running from loins to tail to bones. That list leads to a title in verse 19, and to a limit on it:
In behemoth every part of his body added to his exceptional strength (vv.16-18): his loins, his body, legs and bones and even his tail. Strikingly, the text says, "he is the first of the ways of God" (v.19). God has created him as an object lesson for us of resistless strength. Only the God who made him can bring him down to nothing.
All that strength raises a question: what is it for?
In other words, he is an untamable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The entire description gives the impression of absolute power used for utterly selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to yield its strength to the service of others.
This lesson in anatomy has a target — the man listening:
And yet he is only a creature. God gave him superhuman strength for His own all-wise purposes. Let Job look at this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let everyone tempted to trust his own strength look too — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How small their own arm will seem.
Some go further. They read the beast as a picture of something worse than animal pride, though only as a suggestion:
Some have thought this creature must picture Satan, chief among God's creatures (Ezek. 28), outstanding in strength and pride... "It seems likely that behemoth stands for the Evil One at work in the animal and fleshly parts of man's own make-up, and that leviathan pictures the Evil One at work as man's enemy outside him. Behemoth is the enemy within us; leviathan is the enemy without us."
- Made — behemoth is God's creature; commentators differ on whether it is a river-ox, a hippopotamus, or an animal now extinct.
- Metal — bronze and iron speak of durability and strength; this frame will not bend.
- Chief — every part, down to the tail, adds strength, so that he heads God's works — yet only his Maker can bring him down.
- Useless — all that power serves itself alone. It yields nothing to anyone. That is strength at its most worthless.
- Mirror — Job, and everyone trusting his own strength of body or mind, should look at those iron limbs and see how small his own arm is.
He is the chief of God's ways he that made him gave him his sword.
God answers Job by pointing him to a single animal — behemoth — and calls it the first of His works, then adds a puzzling line about a sword. Why answer a suffering man with a beast, and whose sword is it?
The phrase marks this creature out as the peak of what God made among the animals. Other translations read "the chief of God's ways" where the ESV has "the first of the works of God." One writer takes it as a rank of greatness:
The Lord asks Job to consider the behemoth. It is certainly the hippopotamus (the Greek name means river-horse). A description of this powerful beast follows. He calls the behemoth the "chief of the ways of God," one of His greatest works in animal creation. The behemoth is one of Job's fellow-creatures, "which I made along with you."
The title is not for admiration only. It is teaching material:
In behemoth every part of his body added to his exceptional strength (vv.16-18) — his loins, his body, his legs and bones, and even his tail. The text says of him, "he is the first of the ways of God" (v.19). God has created him as an object lesson for us of strength that nothing can resist. Only the God who made him can bring him down to nothing, and so, as a picture, put him under the judgment of the sword.
Commentators differ on the second half of the verse. Grant, above, reads it as God's power to destroy what He made. Another writer argues the sword is not aimed at the beast but given to it:
I think the words in verse 19 do not mean that God brings the sword near to kill him. They mean that the One who made him gave him a sword — really a scythe. It is a scythe more than a sword, and that is pretty much what the tusk of a hippopotamus is. It has great power for splitting things of all kinds, and for cutting.
On either reading the weapon comes from the Maker's hand.
God made this creature alongside Job. That comparison is the point of the whole description:
And yet he is only a creature. God gave him strength greater than any man's, for His own all-wise purposes. Let Job look at this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let everyone look who is tempted to trust his own strength — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How weak their own arm will look then.
The comparison does not stop at strength. It reaches Job's pride:
So behemoth is a powerful, uncontrollable beast that lives for itself. How weak man looks next to this beast with its amazing strength! Yet it is only a beast, and Job is a man. How hateful, then, Job's pride and boasting must look to the Lord.
Being first among God's works is not the same as being useful. This creature's greatness is turned inward:
In other words, he is an untamable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The entire description gives the impression of absolute power used for utterly selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to yield its strength to the service of others.
That turns into a question for the man listening — and for the reader:
So he is untameable and uncontrollable. Man could do nothing with him, as he does with an ox or a horse. He was also completely selfish: he was of no use to any man or animal. Would Job want to be like this — strong and self-confident, with no real aim of helping others?
Some see more than an animal here, though only as a picture, not a fixed identification:
Some have thought this creature must stand for Satan, in his character as the chief of God's creatures (Ezek. 28), outstanding in strength and pride. The same would be true of leviathan, in the next chapter. Both beasts stand for power and pride.
Another writer applies this same verse to the worst evil the Bible predicts. Even that evil is still something God made:
Antichrist himself is still a creature of God and in His hand, with all the powers and abilities he twists to his own ruin. As God says of behemoth (Job 40:19), "the One who made him can bring His sword near to him."
- Made. God calls behemoth the first of His works — one of His greatest animals, and Job's fellow-creature.
- Armed. Its weapon comes from its Maker. Commentators differ: is the sword the tusk God gave it, or the judgment God can bring against it?
- Unstoppable. God set behemoth before Job as an object lesson in strength nothing can resist. Anyone who trusts his own arm — body, heart or mind — should see how small it is.
- Selfish. All that power serves no one: untameable, of no use to man or beast, living only for itself.
- Still a creature. However great or evil the strength — even Antichrist's — it remains made, and in the hand of the One who made it.
For the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
God answers Job by pointing at one huge animal, called behemoth. This verse tells us where that animal feeds. Why answer a broken, arguing man with a picture of a grazing beast?
The final section of God's reply narrows from the whole sweep of creation down to two creatures. One writer marks the deliberate narrowing:
Again, in the last two chapters of Jehovah's answer (Job 40, Job 41), on which I must be very brief, we have God surveying, not the whole realm of nature, but quite enough, and more than enough, to convict Job of ignorance and incapacity to speak before God. This he needed to learn in order that he might distrust himself as well as confide in God. In these He takes up, as we may see, only two of His creatures — one, a powerful beast of the earth, in Job 40; the other, an equally mighty monster of the deep, in Job 41. There is behemoth on the one hand, and leviathan on the other.
The mountain is not his home, but he can go there for his food. One writer follows the line phrase by phrase:
"The mountains yield food for him" — he can go to the mountain nearby if he likes — "where all the wild beasts play. He lies under the shady trees" — that is where he loves to be — "hidden among the reeds and in the marsh."
Another writer notes what he grazes with, and why the animals nearby are safe:
His Creator gave him sharp teeth like swords, and with them he mows down the grass like an ox. He is harmless too when he is not stirred up, for the other beasts play in the same pasture. He lies down in the shade and takes his ease. He fears nothing, even if a raging flood should try to swallow him.
The mountains do not simply happen to grow grass. The supply is traced back to God, and the beast's ease is the point of the picture:
God has supplied food for him too (v.20). He could lie down without fear of anything, though other beasts were all around him. He is the very picture of self-confident power. Even the river may rage while he is at peace (v.23).
One writer sums up what such an animal is good for:
In other words, he is a beast no one can tame or control. He is of no use for man's service. The whole description gives the impression of absolute power used for completely selfish ends. It lives for itself, and refuses to give its strength to the service of others.
The same writer then puts Job, and us, beside this creature:
And yet he is only a creature. God gave him this superhuman strength for His own all-wise purposes. Let Job look at this creature, and let everyone else who is tempted to trust his own strength look too — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. Nothing can resist him, and he needs no one. Next to that, how weak their own arm will look.
Commentators differ on what this animal is. One writer argues it is the hippopotamus, and says the name points to an ox rather than a horse:
"Behemoth" means the animal we call the hippopotamus. We should not call it a river-horse at all, which is what "hippopotamus" means. It is a river-ox. It is like an ox rather than a horse... Many insist that "behemoth" means an elephant. But when you read the account you will see it is very unlike an elephant. It is a big creature with enormous strength, and beyond that, nothing.
Another writer looks at the tail and suggests an animal no longer alive:
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus. But that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "moves his tail like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
A verse about mountain pasture can easily be turned into a nature lesson. One writer warns that this reverses God's aim:
Men talk as if God's aim was only to occupy us with His works. God does the opposite. He brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. For if the works of God are so wonderful, who is He that made them? And what is man, if he dares to judge such a God?... Do you think Job stayed busy with behemoth or with leviathan after this? Not at all. He was busy with God, and this was the design of it all.
- Fed. God supplies the grass on those mountains. Even the strongest creature eats from a table he did not set.
- Fearless. He lies down with no fear while other beasts play around him — the very picture of self-confident power.
- Useless. No one can tame him, and he is no use to anyone. All that strength is spent on himself.
- Mirrored. Job must look at strength that lives for itself. Beside it, his own arm looks small.
- Redirected. The beast is never the destination. God shows His work to turn us away from the work and onto Himself.
He lieth under lotus-bushes, in the covert of the reed and fen
Job 40 closes with God pointing Job to a single animal and describing, in detail, where it chooses to lie down. Job had spent chapters defending himself, and God answers by describing a beast at rest in the reeds — a creature Job could never subdue.
Commentators differ over which animal behemoth is. One of them tests the usual candidates against the description itself:
"Behemoth" means what is called the hippopotamus. It ought not to be called a river-horse at all, which is what "hippopotamus" means. It is a river-ox. It is like an ox rather than a horse... Many insist that "behemoth" means an elephant. But read the account and you will see it is very unlike an elephant. It is a big creature with enormous strength, and beyond that, nothing.
A beast this size could sleep anywhere. God notes the low, shaded ground he prefers:
He does not love to lie down on high ground. He lies under the lotus plants, where the reed and the marsh give him cover. The lotuses shade him, and so do the willows. No swelling floods startle him. He waits calmly even for a Jordan rushing at his mouth.
Two things make that rest possible. He is fed, and nothing around him counts as a threat:
God has supplied food for him as well (v. 20), and he could lie down with nothing at all to fear, even though other beasts were all around him. He is the very picture of self-confident power. Even the river may rage while he is at peace (v. 23).
That calm has a dark side. This animal spends all its power on itself.
In other words, he is an untamable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The whole description gives one impression: absolute power spent on completely selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to yield its strength to the service of others.
Job cannot master this beast. Yet one thing is harder still to bring down:
He called Job's attention to behemoth and to leviathan — probably the hippopotamus and the crocodile. They had brute strength but no human intelligence. It would be more easy to subdue them than to bring down proud man.
God does not display this picture for admiration. He holds it up against the man who had been arguing his case with Him.
And yet he is only a creature. God gave him this more-than-human strength for His own all-wise purposes. Let Job look at this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let everyone tempted to trust in his own strength look at it too — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How weak their own arm will look.
Shame is not the only result. The God who can do everything has also taken trouble over man:
To an upright mind like Job's, these descriptions were well suited to overwhelm him. He who could do everything had stooped to make man the object of His ways on earth. He ordered all things to shape man into submission of heart to Himself... Job therefore should be deeply ashamed of his self-sufficiency.
These chapters are often read as a celebration of wildlife. That misses what the description was for:
Men talk as if God's object was merely to occupy us with His works. God does the opposite. He brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. If the works of God are so wonderful, who is He that did the work? And what is man, if he dares to judge such a God?... Do you think that after this Job was occupied with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God; and this was the design of it all.
Some writers go further and read the beast as a picture of evil itself. They hold it as a possibility, not a settled reading:
Some have thought this creature must stand for Satan, as the chief of God's creatures, outstanding in strength and pride... "It seems likely that behemoth stands for the Evil One at work in the animal and fleshly parts of man's own make-up. Leviathan pictures the same Evil One at work as an enemy from outside. Behemoth is the enemy within us; leviathan is the enemy without us."
- Setting — He does not pick the high ground. He lies down under the lotus shade, screened by reed and marsh, undisturbed even when the river floods.
- Ease — That rest is the whole portrait: fed, surrounded by other beasts, and afraid of nothing. Self-confident power at rest.
- Selfishness — The same strength is untamable and useless to anyone. It refuses to serve anyone else.
- Mirror — Job must weigh his own arm against a creature he cannot subdue. And proud man is harder to bring down than that beast.
- Aim — The description is not given so we study the animal, but so we stop studying ourselves. Job ended up occupied with God, not with behemoth.
Lotus-bushes cover him with their shade; the willows of the brook surround him.
God answers Job out of the storm. He does not explain his suffering. Instead He gives a long look at one animal — a huge beast He calls behemoth. The beast lies at ease in the shade of the lotus trees, and the willows of the brook close round him. Why does God answer a broken man's questions with a picture of a beast at rest, and what was Job supposed to see in it?
The verse names marsh plants — lotus and willow — so the beast belongs in wet ground by a stream. One writer reads that setting, and the animal's diet of grass, and calls him a river-ox rather than a river-horse, the hippopotamus others proposed.
"Behold now behemoth, which I made with you" — when I made you I made him. "He eats grass as an ox." I have, therefore, good reason for saying that it is a river-ox, and not at all a river-horse... "The mountains yield food for him" — he can go to the mountain if he likes, or stay near it — "where all the beasts of the field play. He lies under the shady trees" — that is where he loves to be — "in the cover of the reeds and the marsh."
Commentators differ. Another writer looks at the size of the tail and suggests the animal may no longer exist.
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus, but that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "moves his tail like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
The trees of the verse form a canopy over a creature at ease. Under it he feeds, harms nobody unless provoked, and fears nothing.
His Creator gave him sharp, sword-like teeth, and he mows down the grass like an ox. He is harmless too when not roused, for the other beasts play in the same pasture. He lies down in the shade, taking his ease; for he fears nothing, even if a raging flood should seek to engulf him.
That untroubled rest has another side. Ask what use the animal is to anyone.
So no one can tame him or control him. Man could do nothing with him as he does with an ox or a horse. Also he was totally selfish: he was of no service to any man or animal. Would Job want to be like this, strong and self-confident, with no real aim of helping anyone?
Readers easily stop at the wonder of the creature itself. God's aim runs the other way.
Men talk as if God's object was merely to occupy us with His works. God does the opposite. He brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. If the works of God are so wonderful, who is He who made them? And what is man, if he dares to judge such a God?... Do you think that after this Job was occupied with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God; and this was the design of it all.
Job had been defending himself. God sets this beast, lying safe in the shade, beside Job as a measure of his own strength.
And yet he is but a creature, endowed by God, for His all-wise purposes, with superhuman strength. Let Job look hard at this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let everyone tempted to trust his own strength look too — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How puny will their own arm appear.
One writer goes further and reads the beast as a picture of pride.
To Job, behemoth would stand for that creature of pride which flourishes among the professed people of God. Self-righteousness, self-seeking, pride of conduct or of character, denies its need of Christ and of God. Such is sin in the flesh — incorrigible and hideous. Who can subdue it or change its nature?
The proof that the lesson landed is Job's own reply at the end. Studying the animal was never going to produce it.
"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." It was nothing external now; no mere distant rumour... Do you think that searching into the structure or habits of behemoth and leviathan would have led to anything of the sort? Certainly not. He had to do with God Himself, who used them for the express purpose, and had thereby turned Job from all to Himself.
- Shade. The lotus trees and willows shelter a beast lying at ease, afraid of nothing, not even a raging flood.
- Strength. That fearlessness rests on power no man can tame; no one puts him to work like an ox or a horse.
- Selfishness. Yet all that strength serves no one. The beast lives for itself.
- Mirror. God points Job, tempted to trust his own strength of body and mind, to this beast — and Job's own arm looks tiny.
- Sight. The creature was never the destination. God used it to turn Job from himself, until Job said his eye now saw God.
Lo, the river overfloweth -- he startleth not he is confident though a Jordan break forth against his mouth.
God answers Job by pointing at an animal He made, called behemoth. Verse 23 is the peak of that description: the river can rage, and the beast does not flinch.
One writer describes where this beast likes to lie down, and how it meets the flood there.
High ground is not where he loves to lie down. He lies under the lotuses, where the reed and the marsh give him cover. The lotuses are his shade, and the willows too. No swelling floods startle him: he waits calmly for a Jordan rushing to his mouth.
The verse names the Jordan. One dictionary explains what its flooding meant to people who lived near it:
The 'SWELLING' of Jordan is mentioned as causing dangers or difficulties. It not only stopped people crossing at the usual fords. It also disturbed the wild beasts in their lairs on its banks, as is mentioned three times (Jeremiah 12:5; 49:19; 50:44).
Commentators differ on which animal this is. Some read the passage as a portrait of the hippopotamus, and of God's greatness in making it.
The Lord asks Job to consider the behemoth. It is surely the hippopotamus (the Greek word means river-horse). A description of this powerful beast follows. He calls the behemoth the "chief of the ways of God," one of His greatest works in animal creation. The behemoth is one of Job's fellow-creatures, "which I made as I made you." He has tremendous strength in his loins and legs. He rests under the shady trees and fears nothing.
Others object that the description does not fit that animal at all:
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus. But that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "moves his tail like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal is now extinct, since its tail seems to look like a dinosaur's.
(Grant quotes an older translation of verse 17. The ESV reads, "He makes his tail stiff like a cedar.")
Either way, God made the creature, and Job could not tame it.
Verse 23 puts its weight on the beast's calm, not on the flood.
He is the very picture of self-confident power. Even the river may rage while he is at peace (v.23). He drinks in great amounts of water rather than be drowned in it.
But calm is not the same as good. One writer asks what the beast does with all that power.
In other words, he is an untamable, uncontrollable beast. He is of no use for man's service. The whole description gives the impression of absolute power used for completely selfish ends. It lives for itself, refusing to give its strength to the service of others.
People often read these chapters as nature writing. One writer says that misses why God gave them.
Men talk as if God's object was merely to occupy us with His works. God, on the contrary, brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. For if the works of God are so wonderful, who is He that made them? And what is man if he dares to judge such a God?... Do you think that after this Job was occupied with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God; and this was the design of it all.
God sets this creature in front of Job as a measuring stick.
And yet he is only a creature, given by God, for His all-wise purposes, with superhuman strength. Let Job consider this creature, self-sufficient and unstoppable. Let everyone do the same who is tempted to trust in their own strength — strength of body, as here, or of heart and mind. How small their own arm will look.
And the final sting is the comparison of ranks:
Behemoth then is a powerful, uncontrollable beast which lives for itself. How weak, then, is man compared with this beast that has such marvellous strength. Yet it is only a beast, and Job is a man. How hateful, then, must Job's pride and boasting appear in the sight of the Lord.
- Flood. A flooding Jordan drove wild beasts from their lairs. This beast does not move.
- Confidence. Another animal would drown. This one drinks the water in. That is self-confident power.
- Selfishness. That power is untamable and useless to anyone; it lives for itself and will not lend its strength to serve.
- Smallness. Set beside such strength, the arm a man trusts in — body, heart, or mind — looks tiny.
- God. The beast is never the point. God shows His works to turn us from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. Job ended up occupied with God, not behemoth.
Shall he be taken in front? will they pierce through [his] nose in the trap?
God's answer to Job ends His description of behemoth with a hunter's question: can anyone catch this creature, or lead him about with a ring through his nose? Job had argued his case against the Almighty. Now God asks him a smaller question: can he master even one animal made alongside him?
The question closes a long description of the animal. God works down the body, part by part, before asking whether man has any hold on him.
Every part of his body speaks of strength. Loins and body, legs and bones, and even his tail are full of this power. He is a chief of God's creatures, excelling in strength. His Creator gave him sharp sword-like teeth, and he mows down the grass like an ox. He is harmless too when he is not roused, for the other beasts play in the same pasture. He lies down in the shade, taking his ease, for he fears nothing, even if a raging flood should try to swallow him. Can he be caught in a trap, like some smaller animal, or held with a cord and ring through his nostrils?
Commentators differ over which animal behemoth is. One writer looks at the tail and doubts the usual answer.
Some have thought this refers to a hippopotamus. But that animal has a small tail, while behemoth "makes his tail stiff like a cedar" (v.17). Perhaps this animal has now become extinct, for its tail seems to resemble that of a dinosaur.
The point of the unanswerable question is not zoology. It holds a mirror up to Job.
So he is untameable and uncontrollable. Man could do nothing with him as he does with an ox or a horse. Also he was totally selfish: he was of no service to any man or animal. Would Job want to be like this, strong and self-confident, with no real object of being of help to others?
The comparison cuts in two directions at once. Job cannot handle the beast — and the beast, for all its power, ranks below him as a creature.
Behemoth then is a powerful, uncontrollable beast which lives for itself. How weak then is man compared with this beast that has such marvellous strength. Yet it is only a beast, and Job is a man. How hateful then must Job's pride and boasting appear in the sight of the Lord.
The challenge widens from animals to people.
Job however could not tackle leviathan or behemoth, nor could he subdue proud man. How then could he contend with God? This was powerfully driven home into his heart.
So why does God describe these creatures at such length? One commentator warns that it is easy to miss the point.
Men talk as if God's object was merely to occupy us with His works. God, on the contrary, brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. For if the works of God are so wonderful, who is He that did the work, and what is man if he dares to judge such a God? … Do you think that after this Job was occupied with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God; and this was the design of it all.
Some writers go further and read behemoth and leviathan as pictures of something more than animals. This is offered as a suggestion, not a settled reading.
So it does not seem far-fetched to say with Wordsworth, "It seems probable that behemoth represents the Evil One working in the animal and bodily side of man's own make-up. Leviathan pictures the Evil One at work as his enemy from outside. Behemoth is the enemy within us; leviathan is the enemy without us."
- Uncatchable. No trap takes him by the eyes, no ring goes through his nose — the question expects the answer "no one."
- Untameable. Unlike an ox or a horse, no one harnesses this strength; it serves no man and no animal.
- Useless. Power that lives for itself is the picture held up to Job, with the quiet question of whether he would want to be like it.
- Unequal. Job cannot master a beast. He cannot humble proud men. So he cannot contend with God.
- Unforgettable. The aim was never to make Job a student of animals but to bow him before their Maker — which is exactly what happened.