Job 40

40:1-2 The Greek Old Testament omits this conclusion to God’s first speech.

40:3-5 Job’s brief and humble response does not acknowledge guilt, but it does admit his insignificance (40:4). He had previously thought that he could approach God like a prince (31:37) or even cross-examine him (13:22-23).

40:4 I am nothing (cp. 42:6): Job was not repenting from sin; like Abraham, he recognized his unworthiness (Gen 18:27). • Job had asked his comforters to cover their mouth to acknowledge shock (21:5); here he does so himself in reaction to his own rash words.

40:5 Job had nothing more to say; he had no further charges against God, nor would he make a rebuttal.

40:6-7 The Lord repeated his earlier challenge (see 38:1-3).

40:8 Job’s words (10:7; 27:2; 31:35-37) had angered Elihu (32:2; 34:5); now God himself challenged them.

40:11-12 Job could not do God’s work of humbling the proud (Isa 2:11-12, 17; Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5-6) apart from God’s authority (Mal 4:3; Rom 16:20).

40:15-24 Following a list of natural animals (39:1-30), God described Behemoth (40:15-24) and Leviathan (41:1-34) as creatures that man cannot tame. Job couldn’t tame the wild donkey or ox (39:5-12), let alone Behemoth and Leviathan (40:15-24), but God created them and could control them, and Job had to acknowledge it (41:2). • Here Behemoth seems to be a natural creature: (1) It is an animal that God made, just as he made Job (40:15); (2) it is not a dreadful predator but eats grass like an ox (40:15); and (3) it is in a poem describing God’s creation of the natural order, rather than in a mythological story of the world’s formation. Most commentators identify Behemoth with the hippopotamus, a huge, grass-eating animal (40:15-19) that lies in the river among the lotus plants and reeds (40:21). Like the wild ox, Behemoth is powerful (40:16-18, 24; 39:11), yet is essentially peaceful (40:20-23).