JOB CHAPTER 40 God's reproof of Job, JOB 40:1,2. He humbleth himself, JOB 40:3. God again declareth his righteousness, majesty, and the power of his wrath to abase the proud, JOB 40:6. A description of behemoth, JOB 40:15. Having made a little pause to try what Job could answer to his questions, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall Job, who presumed 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... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM VILE, what am I, a mean and contemptible creature that 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 for the future bridle my tongue, and instead of contesting with thee, do he... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NOT ANSWER, or _speak again_; answering being oft put for speaking. I will contend no more with thee. YEA, TWICE, i.e. ofttimes, or again and again, the definite number being used indefinitely. I WILL PROCEED NO FURTHER in such bold and presumptuous expressions and accusations of thy providen... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHIRLWIND was renewed when God renewed his charge upon Job, whom he intended to humble more thoroughly than yet he had done. Both this and the next verse are repeated out of JOB 38:1,3, where they are explained.... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Every word is emphatical, WILT (art thou resolved upon it) THOU (thou, Job, 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 borne it, but I cannot bear it from thee) ALSO (not only vindicate thyself, and thy own integrity,... [ Continue Reading ]
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 POOLE ON "JOB 40:2". CANST THOU THUNDER WITH A VOICE LIKE HIM? therefore do n... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing thou makest thyself equal, yea, superior to me in justice, and consequently in power and majesty, take to thyself 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 Job more sensib... [ Continue Reading ]
Inflict heavy judgements upon thine enemies, the Chaldeans and Sabeans, and others who have injured or provoked thee. Destroy him with an angry look, as I can do and delight to do with such persons.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 strike may discover that it comes from a Divine hand.... [ Continue Reading ]
Kill _every one_ of them (as he said, JOB 40:12) 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. BIND THEIR FACES, i.e. condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned p... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. That thou art mine equal, and mayst 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
That some particular beast is designed by this word is evident from JOB 40:15, and from the peculiar characters given to him, which are not common to all great beasts. But what it is is matter of some dispute amount the learned. The generality of them are agreed that this is the elephant, and the fo... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath 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 rendere... [ Continue Reading ]
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 off called by that or the like name, which the following close of the verse m... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BONES; under which title are comprehended his ribs (as the LXX here render it) and his teeth. AS STRONG PIECES OF BRASS, exceeding hard and strong, as they are in both these creature.... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE WAYS 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, joined with great activity, and especially of his admirable sagacity and aptness to learn, and of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
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 hippopotamus, whose constant residence is in or near the river of Nilus, or the willows that grow by it. But it is well alleg... [ Continue Reading ]
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 PSALMS 78:16, PSALMS 105:41. This may be fitly applied to the elephant, which because of i... [ Continue Reading ]
According to this translation the sense is this, _He taketh, or snatcheth, or draweth up_ (as was now said, JOB 40:23) IT (to wit, the river Jordan) 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 pi... [ Continue Reading ]