Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
God's questions from the whirlwind have moved from one creature to the next, and now they reach the animal Job knew best — the war horse. He asks who gave it that leap and that terrifying snort.
What the Words Describe
The picture is a horse ready for battle. One commentator walks through the details — strength, mane, leap and snort — and asks who supplied them:
Samuel RidoutJehovah moves on naturally from the swiftness of the ostrich to the horse. The horse is a picture of swiftness, strength and grace, and here it is the war horse above all. Job is asked if he has given strength to the horse, and joined it to the grace and beauty of his flowing mane. His prancing is as nimble as a grasshopper's. His neighing and shrill snorting strike terror into the heart... What part has Job had in devising and creating so remarkable a creature?
Older translations read the first line as making the horse "afraid as a grasshopper." The ESV instead pictures a leap like the locust's.
Why God Chose the Horse
The other creatures are strange and distant. This one man had tamed and taken pride in, and that is why the question lands so hard.
William KellyFrom this Jehovah turns to the war horse. He describes it in a way worthy of Him who spoke. The impression is all the more vivid, because here He comes down to ground where we might think ourselves at home. Other animals might be more or less strange and distant. Man, and the Arab above all, might imagine he had some right to speak of what he most loves — to use for work or for ease, for pride or affection. But what had he to do with giving the horse its might or its fluttering mane? its locust-like bound? the glory of its snorting, a terror to others?
Strength Man Could Never Have Invented
A horse obeys its rider, yet none of its courage comes from the rider. Man can tame such a creature; he could never have thought it up.
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord now turns to the horse. It is a tame animal, very strong and remarkably fearless, yet controlled by its rider. Had Job given such strength to this amazing creature? (v.19). Or could he frighten him? (v.20)... He does not shy away from danger, but rushes right into it... Again, this is another creature that man would not have thought of creating, especially any man who loves peace. Job meets it as one more object lesson, telling him that God is greater than Job.
A Power Never Meant to Be Trusted
The animal that terrifies an enemy is the wrong place to rest your hope.
Samuel RidoutThe horse, especially in the days our book speaks of, and in the East, was used mainly in war. God warned His people not to put their trust in this mighty instrument of war: "The war horse is a false hope for salvation." "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Ps. 20:7). It is He who "has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea" (Ex. 15:1). Jehovah is infinitely exalted above all His creatures. Let Job remember how small he too is, and humble himself before Him who is God over all. His deliverance must come, not from horses, but from the Lord on high.
The Aim of the Question
The magnificence of the description is not the point. God aims it at a man who had been talking about Him beyond his knowledge.
William KellyNow He comes to the horse itself, and the war horse in particular... "Can you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying" (vv. 19–25). Well, it is a splendid description indeed. But it is all meant to overwhelm Job with the folly of pretending to talk about God.
Where the Believer Finds Power
One writer applies the picture to the Christian, whose power must also come from outside himself.
A J PollockThe horse is a symbol of power... Now the Holy Spirit is given that the believer may have power. Our Lord told the disciples to wait for the promise of the Father — "until you are clothed with power from on high." Why are Christians so little marked by power?
Summary
- Given, not gained — the leap and the snort are strength God gave. Job could not create the horse or frighten it.
- Given at home — God picks the one creature man tames and boasts in. Even there, nothing starts with man.
- Given, so unmatched — no peace-loving man would have dreamed up a horse that charges into danger.
- Given, so not to be trusted — Scripture calls the war horse a false hope. Deliverance comes from the Lord, not from strength.
- Given, so be humbled — all this splendour is meant to silence a man who talked about God beyond his knowledge.