CHAPTER XL _Job humbles himself before the Lord_, 1-5. _And God again challenges him by a display of his power and_ _judgments_, 6-14. _A description of behemoth_, 15-24. NOTES ON CHAP. XL Verse Job 40:1. _MOREOVER THE LORD ANSWERED_] That is, the Lord continued his discourse with Job. _Answer... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:2. _HE THAT REPROVETH GOD, LET HIM ANSWER IT._] Let the man who has made so free with God and his government, answer to what he has now heard.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:4. _BEHOLD, I AM VILE_] I acknowledge my inward defilement. I cannot answer thee. _I WILL LAY MINE HAND UPON MY MOUTH._] I cannot excuse myself, and I must be dumb before thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:5. _ONCE HAVE I SPOKEN_] See on Job 42:3, c. _I WILL PROCEED NO FARTHER._] I shall attempt to justify myself no longer I have spoken repeatedly; and am confounded at my want of respect for my Maker, and at the high thoughts which I have entertained of my own righteousness. All is impur... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:7. _GIRD UP THY LOINS_] See Job 38:1. Some think that this and the preceding verse have been repeated here from Job 38:1, and that several of the words _there, here_, and Job 42:3, have been repeated, in after times, to connect some false gatherings of the sheets of parchment, on which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:8. _WILT THOU CONDEMN ME_] Rather than submit to be thought in the wrong, wilt thou condemn MY conduct, in order to justify _thyself_? Some men will never acknowledge themselves in the wrong. "God may err, but we cannot," seems to be their impious maxim. Unwillingness to acknowledge a f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:9. _HAST THOU AN ARM LIKE GOD?_] Every word, from this to the end of Job 40:14, has a wonderful tendency to humble the soul; and it is no wonder that at the conclusion of these sayings Job fell in the dust confounded, and ascribed righteousness to his Maker.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:10. _DECK THYSELF NOW_ WITH _MAJESTY_] _Act_ like God, seeing thou hast been assuming to thyself perfections that belong to him alone.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:13. _HIDE THEM IN THE DUST TOGETHER_] Blend the high and the low, the rich and the poor, in one common ruin. Show them that thou art supreme, and canst do whatsoever thou pleasest. _BIND THEIR FACES IN SECRET._] This seems to refer to the custom of preserving _mummies_: the whole body... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:14. _THINE OWN RIGHT HAND CAN SAVE THEE._] It is the prerogative of God alone to save the human soul. Nothing less than unlimited power, exerted under the direction and impulse of unbounded mercy, can save a sinner. This is most clearly asserted in this speech of Jehovah: When thou can... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:15. _BEHOLD NOW BEHEMOTH_] The word בהמות _behemoth_ is the plural of בהמה _behemah_, which signifies _cattle_ in general, or _graminivorous_ animals, as distinguished from חיתו _chayetho_, all _wild_ or _carnivorous_ animals. See Genesis 1:24. The former seems to mean kine, horses, ass... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:16. _HIS STRENGTH_ IS _IN HIS LOINS_] This refers to his great _agility_, notwithstanding his _bulk_; by the _strength of his loins_ he was able to take vast _springs_, and make astonishing bounds.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:17. _HE MOVETH HIS TAIL LIKE A CEDAR_] Therefore it was neither the _elephant_, who has a _tail_ like that of the _hog_, nor the _hippopotamus_, whose tail is only about a _foot_ long. _THE SINEWS OF HIS STONES_] I translate with Mr. _Good_, and for the same reasons, _the sinews of his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:18. _HIS BONES_ ARE AS _STRONG PIECES OF BRASS-BARS OF IRON._] The tusk I have mentioned above is uncommonly _hard, solid_, and _weighty_ for its size.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:19. _HE_ IS _THE CHIEF OF THE WAYS OF GOD_] The _largest,_ _strongest_, and _swiftest_ quadruped that God has formed. _HE THAT MADE HIM_] No power of _man_ or _beast_ can overcome him. God alone can overcome him, and God alone could _make his sword_ (of _extinction_) _approach to him_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:20. _THE MOUNTAINS BRING HIM FORTH FOOD_] It cannot therefore be the _hippopotamus_, as he is seldom found far from the rivers where he has his chief residence. _WHERE ALL THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD PLAY._] He frequents those places where he can have most _prey_. He makes a mock of all th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:21. _HE LIETH UNDER THE SHADY TREES_] This and the following verses refer to certain _habits_ of the _behemoth_, with which we are and must be unacquainted,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:22. _THE WILLOWS OF THE BROOK COMPASS HIM_] This would agree well enough with the hippopotamus.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:23. _BEHOLD, HE DRINKETH UP A RIVER_] A similar mode of expression, and of precisely the same meaning, as that in Job 39:24: "He swalloweth the ground with fierceness." No river can stop his course: he wades through all; stems every tide and torrent; and _hurries not_ as though he were... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 40:24. _HE TAKETH IT WITH HIS EYES_] He looks at the sweeping tide, and _defies_ it. HIS _NOSE PIERCETH THROUGH SNARES._] If _fences_ of _strong stakes_ be made in order to restrain him, or prevent him from passing certain boundaries, he tears them in pieces with his teeth; or, by pressin... [ Continue Reading ]