Job 40

God presses Job with a challenge, and Job falls silent. Then God speaks again from the storm. He asks whether Job could run the world justly himself, and he points to Behemoth, a mighty creature that only the Creator can master. The lesson is that God is the wise and righteous ruler, and that Job is not.

Job 40:1-2

After the long questions of chapters 38-39, the LORD stops and invites Job to respond. A faultfinder who argues with the Almighty ought to be able to answer. Job has often wished for a hearing with God. Now he has one, and it is searching.

BSA: faultfinder (“one who reproves”): Job had set himself up as one correcting God’s handling of his life, and God names that role. Almighty (“Shadday, all-powerful One”): The name stresses that the One Job argued against has all power.

See also: Job 38:1-3; Romans 9:20.

Job 40:3-5

Job now sees how small he is beside God. He puts his hand over his mouth, a sign of silence and respect. He admits he has spoken more than once and has nothing more to say. This is humility, though it is not yet full repentance.

BSA: insignificant (“vile, of small account, worthless”): Job sees himself as light and of little weight beside the God who spoke from the storm. hand (“an open hand; strength, a side or share”): He lays his own strength over his mouth and gives up his arguing.

See also: Job 29:9; Job 42:6.

Job 40:6

God answers again out of the whirlwind. The storm is the same as in chapter 38. God has not gone away, and Job’s silence does not end the conversation. God is willing to keep teaching him.

BSA: whirlwind (“a strong storm or hurricane, a tempest”): The storm shows God’s power, yet he speaks to Job from within it and does not strike him.

See also: Job 38:1.

Job 40:7

God tells Job to get ready as a man does for a fight, with his robe tied up around his waist. The roles are reversed. Job had demanded answers from God, and now God will question Job.

BSA: brace (“strengthen, prepare”): Job is told to gather his strength for a serious test.

See also: Job 38:3.

Job 40:8

This is the heart of God’s charge. In defending his own innocence, Job was in danger of making God out to be unjust. Job was not wicked, but his claim to be right led him to put God in the wrong. God shows him where that road ends.

BSA: justice (“righteous judgment”): What God rules is right, and the difficulty is that Job cannot see all of it. annul (“make void, frustrate”): Job’s complaint, pushed far enough, would cancel God’s right to rule as he does.

See also: Job 27:2; Romans 3:4.

Job 40:9

God asks Job whether he has God’s power. The arm stands for strength to act, and thunder is God’s voice. If Job wants to judge the world’s wrongs, he needs the might to put them right. He has neither.

BSA: arm (“the arm as stretched out; strength, might, power”): The arm is the Bible’s picture of God reaching out to act in power.

See also: Psalm 29:3-4; Exodus 15:6.

Job 40:10

God speaks with irony. If Job thinks he can run the world, let him put on the robes of a ruler. Majesty and glory belong to God alone. Job cannot take them up, and this shows how far he is from God’s seat.

BSA: majesty (“excellency, pride”): These are royal qualities that belong to God by right and cannot be put on by a man.

See also: Psalm 93:1.

Job 40:11-12

God tells Job to try ruling the way a judge-king would. Let him look at the proud and bring them down. People often wish God would do exactly this. God is asking whether Job could do it rightly, since only God sees every heart.

BSA: proud (“arrogant, lofty”): The proud lift themselves up, and God alone has the standing to bring them down. trample (“tread down, crush”): This is the work of a judge who has the power to carry out the sentence, which Job lacks.

See also: Isaiah 2:12; 1 Peter 5:5.

Job 40:13

God continues the challenge. Burying the wicked in the dust and shutting them away in death is the final end of judgment. It is a work too large for Job, and God keeps it in his own hands.

BSA: grave (“secret place, hidden underground, place of the dead”): The word suggests a hidden place, out of sight, where the wicked are held.

Job 40:14

God says that if Job could do all this, God would admit Job could save himself. The point is plain. Job cannot rescue himself, so he cannot do without God. What Job needs is salvation that comes from God and not from his own right hand.

BSA: save (“deliver, rescue”): Rescue from trouble is something only God can finally give, and Job’s own hand cannot give it. right hand (“strength, ability”): The right hand stands for a person’s own ability, which is not enough.

See also: Psalm 44:3; Ephesians 2:8-9.

Job 40:15

God now points Job to Behemoth, a huge animal that God made, just as he made Job. It eats grass like an ox, so it is a plain plant-eater and not a monster. Many people think the creature is a hippopotamus, though others think the description goes beyond it. Either way it is a creature of great power.

BSA: Behemoth (“a large water animal, possibly a hippopotamus”): The name looks like a plural of ‘beast’ and suggests a beast of exceptional size. made (“created, formed”): Job and this mighty beast alike are creatures of the same Maker.

Hebrew: בְהֵמוֹת (behemoth, H930) — “beasts, the great beast.” The Hebrew is a plural form of the word for beast. It likely points to an animal so great that it is like many beasts in one.

Job 40:16-18

God describes the animal’s body: its strong loins, its firm belly, its tail, its thighs, and its bones like bronze and iron. Nothing is weak in it. The point is that God formed this strength, and he gave it to a creature that eats grass.

BSA: bronze (“copper or bronze, a strong metal”): His bones are compared to the strongest metal known to the people of the time. sinews (“tendons, connecting muscles to bones”): The tightly bound tendons show that the animal’s power is built into its body.

Job 40:19

Behemoth is called the foremost of God’s works, that is, a chief among the creatures. Only the Creator can approach him with a sword. If Job cannot face one of God’s creatures, he can hardly argue with God himself.

BSA: foremost (“beginning, first”): He ranks first among the land animals in size and strength. Maker (“the one who made him, his Creator”): Only the One who made the beast has full authority over it.

See also: Job 41:10.

Job 40:20

Behemoth lives in peace. The hills give him food, and the wild animals play near him without fear. He is no menace to them. His strength is calm, which is an image of safe power under God’s care.

BSA: play (“laugh, rejoice”): The other animals are at ease in his presence, so his strength is not turned on them.

Job 40:21-22

The beast rests in the shade of lotus plants, among reeds and willows by the stream. This is a quiet, hidden spot. God has made a home that fits the creature, and he cares even for the details of a wild animal’s life.

BSA: lotus plants (“shady trees, under the water-plants”): The plants give shade and cover, so the beast is hidden and at rest. conceal (“covering with their shadow”): The shade acts as a covering, a picture of protection.

Job 40:23

When the river floods, Behemoth does not panic, even if the water reaches his mouth. The Jordan is named as a well-known river. He is secure where a man would be swept away. God has given him a confidence that comes from his nature.

BSA: unafraid (“not trembling, confident”): The beast stays calm in a flood, showing the steady strength God built into him. secure (“trusting, having faith”): The word is the one often used for trust, and it shows how settled he is.

See also: Psalm 46:1-3.

Job 40:24

God closes with a question: could anyone take this creature as he watches, or lead him by a ring through his nose? The expected answer is no. If Job cannot tame one of God’s animals, he cannot take over God’s government of the world. The next chapter turns to Leviathan.

BSA: snare (“trap, device to catch”): No human trap is strong enough to hold this beast, which shows the limit of human power.

See also: Job 41:1-2.