He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
God has been putting question after question to Job. At this point the subject is the war horse, an animal that runs at armed men instead of away from them. The question underneath the picture is simple: who put that courage there, and what claim does Job have on it?
Why God Points at a Horse
The horse section is not a nature lesson for its own sake. God is answering a man who had talked about His ways as though he understood them.
William KellyNow He comes to the horse itself, and the war horse in particular. "Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?" What have you to do with it? … It is a splendid description indeed, but it is all for the purpose of overwhelming Job with the folly of his pretending to talk about God.
Fearlessness That Runs Toward the Danger
The verse describes more than calm nerves. The horse does not just put up with the battle. It heads into it, and armed men in front of it change nothing. Yet all that force still answers to a rider.
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord now turns to the horse. It is a tame animal, very strong and remarkably fearless, yet controlled by its rider. In this case it is a war horse, an animal that charges into the clash of arms (v.21). He does not shy away from danger, but rushes right into it. Swordsmen opposing him do not slow him down (v.22).
The One Animal Man Thinks He Owns
Other creatures in these questions feel strange and distant. The horse does not. It is the animal a man would most readily claim as his own, and still he gave it nothing.
William KellyFrom this the LORD turns to the war horse. He describes it in a way worthy of Him who spoke. The impression is all the deeper, because here He comes down to where we might think ourselves at home. Other animals might be more or less strange and distant. But man, and the Arab above all, might think he has some right to speak about what he most loves to use — for work or ease, for pride or love. What did he have to do with giving the horse its might, or its fluttering mane? … Or its undismayed advance, no matter what the clang or the flash of weapons?
A Design No Human Mind Would Have Produced
Left to himself, a man would never have thought up an animal that enjoys a battlefield. That is part of God's argument to Job.
Leslie M. GrantHere is another creature that man would not have thought of creating, especially any man who loves peace. Job faces this as another object lesson, to tell him that God is greater than Job.
Strength Worth Admiring, Not Trusting
The same courage God praises here is the courage His people were warned never to lean on. Admiring the horse and trusting it are two different things.
Samuel RidoutThe horse, especially in the days our book speaks of, and in the East, was chiefly used 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" (Psalm 20:7). … 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.
Where the Believer's Courage Comes From
The horse can also be read as a picture of power. If that is so, where does a Christian's own power come from?
A. J. PollockThe horse is a symbol of power. Read the striking description of the horse by the Lord in Job 39:19-25. … Now the Holy Spirit is given so 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 earned. God put this fearlessness into the horse. Job added nothing.
- Given closest to home. God chose the animal man feels most entitled to claim. Even there Job had no answer.
- Given beyond invention. No peace-loving man would invent a creature that runs into battle. God is greater than Job.
- Given, so not to be trusted. God warned His people not to lean on the very strength He praises. Deliverance comes from the Lord, not from horses.
- Given still today. If the horse pictures power, the believer's power is a gift too — the Holy Spirit, promised by the Father.