Can one take him by his eyes, or pierce his nose with a snare?
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 of verse 24
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.
Samuel RidoutEvery 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?
Which animal
Commentators differ over which animal behemoth is. One writer looks at the tail and doubts the usual answer.
Leslie M. GrantSome 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.
Strength that serves no one
The point of the unanswerable question is not zoology. It holds a mirror up to Job.
Leslie M. GrantSo 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 measure taken of Job
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.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBehemoth 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.
F. B. HoleJob 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.
Why God describes His creatures
So why does God describe these creatures at such length? One commentator warns that it is easy to miss the point.
William KellyMen 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.
A picture beyond the animal
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.
Samuel RidoutSo 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."
Summary
- 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.