Job 40

MOreover, the LORD answered Job Having made a little pause to try what Iob could answer to his questions, and Iob, being it seems astonished with Gods Rebukes, or expecting what God would further say, continued silent., and said,

Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him Shall Iob, who presumeth to contend with me in Judgment, and to dispute the reasonableness and equity of my proceedings, give me instructions or Directions how to manage my own Affairs, and govern my Creatures? He justly mentions his Almightiness, as a convincing Argument of his Justice. For how can he be unjust to his Creatures, who has no obligation to them, and never did nor can receive any thing from them, and who has an absolute, soveraign, and uncontrollable Dominion over them, and who being infinitely and necessarily perfect, and all sufficient within himself, can neither have any inclination to Unrighteousness, which is an imperfection, nor any temptation to it, from any need he has of it to accomplish his designs, which he can do by his own Omnipotence, or from any advantage accruing to him by it.? he that reproveth God That boldly censureth his ways or works; which thou hast done., let him answer it Let him answer my former and further questions at his peril..

Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

Behold, I am vile What am I a mean and contemptible Creature, that I should presume to contend with my Maker and Judge? I confess my fault and folly., what shall I answer thee I neither desire nor am able to dispute with thee.? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth I will for the future bridle my Tongue, and instead of contesting with thee, do here humbly and willingly submit my self to thee..

Once have I spoken, but I will not answer Or, speak again, answering being oft put for speaking. I will contend no more with thee.: yea, twice i. e. Oft times, or again and again, the definite number being used indefinitely., but I will proceed no further In such bold and presumptuous Expressions and Accusations of thy Providence towards me. Vain therefore are the Excuses which some Interpreters make for Iob, as if he were faultless in his foregoing Discourses, when both God chargeth him with faultiness therein, and Iob himself confesseth it..

Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the Whirl-wind Which was renewed when God renewed his charge upon Iob. whom he intended to humble more throughly than yet he had done. Both this and the next Verse are repeated out of Ch. 38. 1, 3. where they are explained., and said,

Gird up thy Loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Wilt thou also disanul my judgment Every word is Emphatical, Wilt (Art thou resolved upon it) thou (thou Iob, whom I took to be one of a better mind and temper; had it been a Stranger, or my Enemy who had spoken thus of me, I could have born it, but I cannot bear it from thee) also (not only vindicate thy self, and thy own Integrity, but also accuse me) disanul (not only question and dispute, but even condemn, repeal and make void, as if it were ungrounded and unjust) my judgment? i. e. my Sentence against thee, and my Government and Administration of humane Affairs?? Wilt thou condemn me that thou maist be righteous Wilt thou make me unrighteous that thou maist seem to be righteous??

Hast thou an arm like God Thou art infinitely short of God in Power, and therefore in Justice; for all his perfections are equal and infinite. Injustice is much more likely to be in thee, an impotent Creature, than in the Almighty God; of which see the Notes on v. 2.? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him Therefore do not presume to contend with him.?

Deck thy self now with majesty and excellency Seeing thou makest thy self equal, yea, superior to me in Justice, and consequently in Power and Majesty, take to thy self thy great Power, come and sit in my Throne, and display thy divine Perfections in the sight of the World. These and the following are Ironical Expressions, to make Iob more sensible of his distance from, and Subjection to God., and aray thy self with glory and beauty.

Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath Inflict heavy Judgments upon thine Enemies, the Chaldeans and Sabeans, and others who have injured or provoked thee.: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him Destroy him with an angry look, as I can do and delight to do with such Persons..

Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low: and tread down the wicked in their place Either 1. wheresoever they are. Or, 2. Where they are in their greatest strength and glory, and therefore are most secure and confident. Or, 3. Forthwith, upon the spot, that the quickness and immediateness of the stroke may discover that it comes from a Divine hand..

Hide them in the dust together Kill every one of them (as he said, v. 12.) at one blow, as I can do, and bring them all to their Graves, that they may sleep in the dust, and never offend thee, nor trouble others more., and bind their faces i. e. Condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned Persons, Esth. 7. 8. and of dead men. Ioh. 11. 44. & 20. 7. See on Iob 9. 24. in secret Either in a secret place; bury them in their Graves: Or, secretly, with a secret and invisible stroke, that it may appear it comes from the hand of a God..

Then will I also confess unto thee, that thine own right hand can save thee i. e. That thou art mine equal, and mayest venture to contend with me. But since thou canst do none of these things, it behoves thee to submit to me and to acquiesce in my dealings with thee..

Behold now Behemoth That some particular Beast is designed by this word is evident from v. 15. & from the peculiar Characters given to him, which are not common to all great Beasts. But what it is, is matter of some dispute amongst the Learned. The generality of them are agreed that this is the Elephant, and the following Leviathan the Whale; which being two of the goodliest and vastest Creatures which God made, the one of the Land, the other of the Sea, and withal such to whom the description here given for the most part manifestly agrees, and the like is presumed concerning the rest, may seem to be here intended. And the difficulty of reconciling some few passages to them may arise either from our ignorance of them, or from the different nature and qualities of Creatures of the same general kind in divers parts. But some late and very learned men take the Leviathan to be the Crocodile, and the Behemoth to be a Creature called the Hippopotamus, which may seem fitly to be joined with the Crocodile, both being very well known to Iob and his Friends, as being frequent in the adjacent parts, both Amphibious living and preying both in the Water and upon the Land, and both being Creatures of great bulk and strength. I shall not undertake to determine the Controversy; but shall show how each part of the following description is or may be applied to them severally. And this being no point concerning Faith or a good Life, every one may take the more liberty to understand the place of one or other of them. which I made with thee Either 1. upon the Earth where thou art, whereas the Leviathan is in the Sea. Or, 2. as I made thee, for this Hebrew Particle is oft used as a note of comparison, as Iob 9. 26. Psal. 143. 7. and elsewhere, in the same manner and upon the same day. Whereby he may intimate that being equally the Creatour and Soveraign Lord both of Iob, and of this Behemoth he had equal right to dispose of them in such manner as he thought meet. Or, nigh (as this Particle oft signifies) unto thee, i. e. in a place not far from thee, to wit, in the River Nile where the Hippopotamus, as well as the Crocodile, does principally abide. But although those Creatures were now in that River, yet they were made elsewhere, even where the first Man was made., he eateth grass as an Ox This is mentioned as a thing strange and remarkable, as indeed it is, either 1. of the Elephant, in which God has wisely and mercifully planted this disposition that he should not prey upon other Creatures, which if he had, being so strong and vast a Creature, he must needs have been very pernicious to them, but feed upon Grass as an Ox does. Or, 2. of the Hippopotamus; of whom Historians relate that he comes out of the River upon the Land to feed upon Corn, and Hay, or Grass, as an Ox does, to whom also he is not unlike in the form of his Head and Feet, and in the bigness of his Body, whence the Italians call him the Sea-Ox..

Lo now, his strength is in his loins He has strength answerable to his bulk, but this strength by God's wise and merciful providence is not an offensive strength, consisting in or put forth by horns or claws, as it is in ravenous Creatures, but only defensive and seated in his Loins as it is in other Creatures, whereby he is rendred more serviceable to men by the carrying of vast burdens., and his force is in the navel of his belly which though in the Elephant it be weaker than his loins, whence the Rhinoceros fighting with him aims at that part, yet has a more than ordinary strength it it, as appears by the binding of the heaviest burdens under and about it. This also agrees to the Hippopotamus in an eminent degree, whose whole skin is noted by ancient Writers to be harder than any other Creatures and almost impenetrable..

He moveth his tail Which though it be but short both in the Elephant and in the Hippopotamus, yet when it is erected is exceeding stiff and strong. But this may be understood, either 1. of his generative part, which is oft called by that or the like name, which the following Clause of the Verse may seem to favour. Or 2. of the Elephants trunk, which being so eminent and remarkable a part would not probably be omitted in this description, to which these words very fitly agree, because of its admirable motion and strength. Not is it strange that this is called his Tail, because that word is oft used improperly for any end of a thing, as Isa. 7. 4. See also Deut. 25. 18. & 28. 13, 44. like a cedar: the sinews of his stones This may be noted because the Elephants Testicles do not hang down below the belly, as they do in other Beasts, but are contained within his belly, where they are fastned by Ligaments of extraordinary strength. Or, the Sinews of the terror thereof, to wit, of the Trunk last mentioned under the name of the Tail, i. e. its terrible Sinews are strongly and strangely wrapped together that he can move it as he listeth with wonderful dexterity and strength. Or, the Sinews of his Thighs, as the latter word oft signifies in the Arabic Tongue which is very near akin to the Hebrew. The Thighs and Feet of the Hippopotamus are noted to be so sinewy and strong that one of them is able to break or overturn a large Boat. are wrapt together.

His bones Under which title are comprehended his Ribs (as the LXX. here render it) and his teeth. are as strong pieces of Brass Exceeding hard and strong, as they are in both these Creatures., his bones are like bars of iron.

He is the chief of the wayes of God i. e. Of God's works, to wit, of that sort, or among living and brute Creatures. This is eminently and unquestionably true of the Elephant, in regard of his vast bulk, and strength joyned with great activity, and especially of his admirable sagacity and aptness to learn, and of his singular usefulness to Mankind, his Lord and Master, and God's Vicegerent in the World, and many other commendable qualities. And the Hippopotamus also is in some sort as others note, the chief or one of the chief of God's works in regard of his great bulk and strength and sagacity, and the manner of his living both in the Water and upon the Land. But it most be granted that the Elephant does exceed the Hippopotamus in many things.: he that made him, can make his sword to approach unto him Though he be so strong and terrible yet God can easily subdue and destroy him either immediately, or by arming other Creatures as the Rhinoceros or Dragon, or Tiger against him. Or, he that made him has applied or given to him his Sword, or arms, to wit, his Trunk, which may not unfitly be called his Sword, because thereby he does both defend himself and offend his enemies. And this Trunk of his being a thing very observable and admirable in him and therefore not likely to be neglected in his description, if it were not intended by his Tail v. 17. may seem to be designed in these words..

Surely the mountains bring him forth food Though this Creature be vastly great and require much food and no Man careth for it, yet God provides for it out of his own stores, and makes even desert Mountains to afford him sufficient sustenance. The Hippopotamus also though he live most in the Water fetched his food from the Land, and from the Mountains or Hills. which are nigh unto the River Nile.: where all the beasts of the field play They not only feed securely, but sport themselves by him or with him, being taught by experience that he is gentle and harmless and never preys upon them..

He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reeds, and fens For the Elephant being a Creature naturally hot and living generally in hot Countries diligently seeks for and delights shady and waterish places, as is noted by Aristotle and after him by Pliny and Aelian.. o The Elephant lies down to rest himself: and it is but fabulous which some Writers affirm that they have no joints in their Legs and so cannot lie down, but sleep or rest themselves standing or leaning against a Tree. Which is denied and confuted by Aristotle in his History of Living Creatures, 2. 4. and by later Writers.

The shady trees cover him with their shadow, the willows of the brook Or, of Nilus, of which this word is oft used in Scripture. And this seems to be the chief argument by which the learned Bochart proves this to be meant of the Hipopotamus, whose constant residence is in or near the River of Nilus, or the Willows that grow by it. But it is well alledged by our learned and judicious Caryl, that this word Naal is never used to express Nilus when it is put by it self, as here it is but only where the word Egypt is added to it, as it is in all the places which Bochart produceth. And this very phrase, the Willows of the Brook, is used of other Brooks or Rivers besides Nilus, as Levit. 23. 40. Comp. Isa. 15. 7. compass him about.

Behold, he drinketh up Or, He snatcheth, or draweth, or drinketh up as it were with force and violence, as the word signifies. a river i. e. A great quantity of water hyperbolically called a River, as it is also Psal. 78. 16. & 105. 41. This may be fitly applied to the Elephant, which because of its great bulk and vehement thirst drinks a great deal of Water at one draught, as Naturalists and Historians have observed. and hasteth not He drinks not with fear and caution and sparingly, as the Dogs do at Nilus for fear of the Crocodile; but such is his courage and self-confidence that he fears no enemy either by Water or by Land, but drinketh securely and liberally.: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his Mouth He drinks as if he designed, or hoped, or desired to drink up the whole River. He mentions Iordan either as a River well known in and nigh unto Iob's land; or because possibly there were many Elephants which used to drink at it; or as a River in some parts of it but small, which therefore might give more colour to the Hyperbole and to the Elephants fancy or expectation, than a vaster River, such as Euphrates, would have done. Bochart expounds this also of the Hippopotamus, which, though he cannot swim, and may be drowned, as Naturalists report, yet will continue securely under Water at the bottom of Nilus for some days together, and he renders the Verse thus, Behold, if a River oppress or cover him, he fears not, he is confident or secure, though Iordan (which is here put for any River) should break forth or over-flow above his mouth, i. e. should overwhelm him. But the judgment of this, I leave to the Reader..

He taketh it with his Eyes: his nose pierceth through snares According to this Translation the sense is this, He taketh, or snatcheth, or draweth up (as was now said, v. 23.) it (to wit, the River Iordan) with his Eyes, i. e. when he sees it, he trusteth that he can drink it all up; as we use to say, The Eye is bigger than the Belly his Nose or Snout pierceth, &c. i. e. He securely thrusteth his Snout into the River even to the bottom of it, to stir up the mud, because he delights to drink muddy Water, and if there be any Snares laid for other Creatures he breaks them to pieces. But this Verse is otherwise translated by others, Will or Can any man take him in his Eyes? (i. e. openly and by manifest force? Surely no. His force and strength is too great for Man to resist or overcome: and therefore men are forced to use many wiles and engines to catch him; which is true both of the Elephant and of the Hippopotamus:) Or pierce his Nose with Snares or Gins? No. He may be taken by art and cunning, but not by violence..