Deeper Commentary
Job 40:1 Moreover Yahweh answered Job- We perhaps are to imagine a pause of silence in the drama at the end of Job 39. We enquire what is the function of "Moreover Yahweh answered Job and said", when it preface just one verse. I suggest we are to infer that Yahweh paused in the hope of Job's response. But he is stubbornly silent. God orders Job to answer in :2. He does but then puts his hand on his mouth to show that he will not further answer. This is arrogant rebellion against God, just as Elihu accused him of.
Job 40:2 Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with
God, let him answer it-
“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer for it”. This is God's response to a righteous, good living man whose ten kids were killed. 'Can't I even ask about it?'. 'No, you may not. How dare you. How dare you complain or challenge Me'. We all struggle with this. But that is the point. We see just the outskirts of God's ways. It is for us to trust in the words of James 5, that we see in Job the end of the Lord, God taken to the final term of the equation. And He is very pitiful, and of tender, saving mercy. What we are asked for is total, white flag, abject surrender, total capitulation, intellectually and morally. And who ever is man to be offended at God, the God of all love, grace and salvation. Your stamping of your foot and stomping off from the God you don't like takes nothing away from His existence. These indeed are deep things out of darkness. In the end, faith / trust and humility go together, and they are what God wants.
"Argues" is the word used for "umpire" in Job
9:30. The word for "umpire" suggests 'one who is right', a reasoner, an
advocate, one who pleads (s.w. Job 16:21), a reprover (Job 40:2 AV, s.w.).
Job's request was not simply for a mediator; he would have used a different
word if so. He seems to have wanted to put God in the dock, but knew this
was not appropriate; he wants someone else to do this who can legitimately
do it. And he is rebuked for this here in Job 40:2. This is all legal language. Job appeals for ‘witnesses’ (Job 9:33–35;
16:18–22; 19:20–27), an advocate in Heaven (Job 9:33), denies his guilt
and demands a legal list of his sins (Job 13:19), he wishes for God to
come to trial (Job 9:3), and thus Job is described as a man who has taken
out a ‘case’ with God (Job 23:4; 40:2). Job 29–31 is effectively Job’s
declaration of legal innocence and an appeal to God to hear his case more
sympathetically (Job 31:35). And of course God pronounces a final legal
verdict at the very end (Job 42:7), in response to Job’s earlier plea:
“Sleeplessly I wait for His reply” (Job 16:22). It’s as if the whole
experience of Job was [at least partly] in order to test out the Canaanite
theories of ‘Satan’, suffering and evil in the court of Heaven; and also
the various theories which arose to explain Judah's captivity in Babylon.
The friends represent the traditional views of evil, and often make
reference to the myths of their day about ‘Satan’ figures. They speak as
if they are the final court – Eliphaz speaks of how the judges and
elders of their day, the “holy ones”, had concluded Job was guilty, and that they, the
friends, were right: “To which of the holy ones will you appeal [legal
language]?... we have [legally] examined this, and it [Job’s guilt] is
true” (Job 5:1,27). This is of great comfort to those who feel misjudged
by man – above them in Heaven the ultimate Heavenly court is considering
our case, and that is all that matters.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered Yahweh- The paradox is that he answered
Yahweh by saying that he cannot answer Him (:3). And that indeed is man's
only possible answer to God. Although I will suggest on :4 that
Job is effectively refusing to further engage in the court case, and
chooses to remain legally silent.
Job 40:4 Behold, I am of small account-
"Behold" can be rendered "if". As if Job
is saying that if indeed he is so small, or cursed, then
he will not bother saying anything further. "Of small account" translates
the word for "cursed" (Job
3:1; 24:18). The one who felt cursed was to be blessed, just as the Israel
whom he unknowingly represented. The Hebrew word translated "vile"
is the usual word for "cursed". It is the word Job earlier used to curse
his birthday. Job considers God is cursing him and therefore vows silence
and non engagement with Him. We could render: "What? Shall I answer You?".
He feels he has been wrongly cursed and therefore refuses to answer God.
Just as God called to Adam from out of the wind /
ruach, so God
is calling to Job from the whirlwind with similar rhetorical questions-
seeking to convict him of his sin. Job had earlier objected to God
treating him as Adam: "If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by
hiding my iniquity in my bosom" (Job 31:33). He felt he had no sin to hide
and didn't deserve to be cursed. Now he realizes that God has cursed him.
But he makes no admission of sin and decides to take his legal case no
further, and to remain silent when under accusation. God's "Where are
you?" to Adam is perhaps matched by His question to Job: "Where were you
when I laid the foundations of the earth?" (Job 38:4). Whilst Adam and Eve
shift their guilt onto others, Job finally in Job 42 will repent without
conditions. We may note that Job rephrases God's question: "Who is this
that darkens counsel with words without knowledge"; Job repeats it as "who
is this that hides counsel without knowledge...". He sees himself as
indeed hiding from God. He accepts he is Adam.
But God achieves this repentance not by specifically probing Job's wrong doing, as He did with Adam. He seeks instead to expand Job's perspective. Instead of the 'Have you disobeyed Me?' to Adam, which failed to elicit repentance and led to cursing, God takes a more complex approach with Job. He will show him that man is indeed very small and God very gracious, and any attempt to play God [as Job had tried to] was blasphemous and foolish. The beasts of evil whom Job blamed for his sin [Behemoth and Leviathan] were deconstructed as being of God and of no ultimate power. Leaving Job alone responsible for his sin. And this approach works. Job is led to repentance and is then hugely blessed.
But at this point in Job 40, Job appears unconvicted of his sin. He accepts the display of God's awesome power in the whirlwind and in Job 38 and Job 39. But he has previously said he will not answer God until God removes His "rod" from Job, and stops scaring him with His power. And he stubbornly sticks, for now, to that position. His statement that he is "cursed" is a complaint against God, not a confession of sin. Rather like we are unpersuaded of a man's moral character by being shown wonderful inventions and things he has made. Given that, how, then, were God's displays of His power and greatness supposed to elicit trust in His moral character, and to elicit repentance in Job? I repeat, that we are unpersuaded of a man's moral character by being shown his huge power and status. I suggest that God was working specifically at getting Job to repent of his blasphemous accusations against God, and his desire to have his day in court with God. Given God's power and might, this was totally wrong. And God has further demonstrated that man has no 'rights' nor ability to understand what He is doing with men. He asks us to trust Him. That is God's point, and by Job 42 it leads Job to repent for the words he had wrongly spoken throughout the previous dialogues.
What shall I answer you?- Earlier, Job in Job 31:14 had confidently boated that only if he had committed adultery would be feel before God that he was unable to speak; "What shall I answer Him?". Job's point was that as he had not despised the cause of his servants (:13), therefore he did not have anything to fear before God's judgment. God's final appearance was proof enough that he of himself had no right to answer back to God. "What shall I answer You?" (Job 40:4) was his final word. But here, Job insists he could only be speechless before God if he had committed sins like adultery- which he was insistent he hadn't. Job is led to realize that he has sinned and fallen short of God's glory, although he had avoided the sins like adultery which counted as major sins in the view of his society.
The epilogue and prologue to Job are evidently related. Job begins sitting
in dust and ashes and ends repenting in dust and ashes (Job 2:8; 42:6).
The silence of the friends at the opening of the book is matched by the
silence after God has finally spoken (Job 40:4). Job intercedes for his
children (Job 1:5) and ends up interceding for his friends. Job begins
with the description of being the Lord’s servant; and the book concludes
on the same note (Job 42:7,8). The question of course is: ‘So what’s the
equivalent of the ‘Satan’ figure in the epilogue?’. The omission is intended and obvious. Ultimately the
answer is the essence of the whole book: the ‘Satan’, the adversary, is
none other than God Himself, in His love, however and through whomsoever
He was manifested.
I lay my hand on my mouth- When Job finally lays his hand upon his mouth, he is only doing what he had earlier told the friends to do in recognition of their folly (Job 13:5; 21:5). Through the pain and irritation of their speeches, Job came to value and appreciate the need for silence before God. But it was only when personally confronted by God at the end that he realizes that he too had spoken too much and he repents of that in silence. In Job 24:25 he has boasted of the strength of his own speeches: "If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?". Job has argued himself into an invincible position, in his own eyes. Indeed, all he says is true; but like the friends, truths are expressed but within a wrong context. Finally Job is to lay his hand upon his mouth in repentance (Prov. 30:32; Mic. 7:16) and recognize he has not spoken rightly, although he earlier demanded the friends lay their hands upon their mouths before the power of his arguments (Job 21:5). God confirms this by remarking that whoever has hope of overcoming Leviathan, His great beast (perhaps representing death and human mortality) is a liar to think he has such hope (Job 41:9 s.w. "liar"). Job has forgotten his humanity, despite being 'right' in his arguments. This is the problem with possessing truth; it can lead us to wrongly forget our humanity and consider ourselves invincible.
Earlier, Job had confidently challenged: "Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit" (Job 13:19). Job is challenging anyone to come forward and contend with him in court by proving him wrong. If they did, then he would be silent ["hold my peace"] and willingly die. This of course is exactly what happens at the end. God does contend with Job, and he is proven guilty. He lays his hand upon mouth, and we can deduce from his challenge here that he wanted to die. He was then saved from that position by grace alone. The connection with the exiles is in Is. 50:8, where a similarly convicted Israel would be justified by Divine grace to the point they could again challenge any to convict them of sin, seeing that "He is near that justifies me".
Job fell into the trap of thinking that his terrible situation somehow
allowed him to speak whatever words came into his head. Job felt he hadn’t been ‘fed’ and so he was entitled to
“bray” and “low” over his misfortune (Job 6:5).
LXX "Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the
Lord" sounds as if Job says there is no point making his legal plea
against God, because God is now interrupting him and criticizing him
instead of answering the case. If this indeed was considered adequate
repentance, why doesn't God rejoice in it as He does in Job 42 when Job
repents? Why make a second speech? Why disagree immediately with Job's
statement that He will not answer God? Why force Job to answer when Job
has said he will not answer?
Job 40:5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will
proceed no further- We can
understand Job's silence either as conviction of guilt, or as a stubborn
refusal to further engage with God's legal case. I suggest it was indeed a
refusal to answer- for God goes on to insist "You will answer...". But his
silence was exactly what he had earlier said he would do only if he were
guilty. So he is [unintentionally] showing his guilt in his own terms.
Perhaps he means 'I have spoken once in that I
have just said that I have no answer. And now, I am speaking twice, I am
saying this. But now I promise absolute silence'. He really appreciates
that his many words have been inappropriate.
Because God sees and knows absolutely all, we must recognize that He
realizes the unspoken implications of our words. It's possible that Job’s words
about silence here are seen by God as Job effectively condemning God, because
presumably they were said merely as a mask over Job’s inner feelings that
God had been unjust with him (Job 40:8). But when Job uses effectively the
same words in Job 42:6, God accepts them. God’s ability to see to the core
should therefore not only affect our words but elicit in us an honesty of
heart behind the words which we use.
Job 40:6 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind-
This is God's
answer to Job's silence (:5). Perhaps the implication is that Job has not
yet come to recognize his humanity and repent in the way he needs to.
Hence God speaks again. "Out of
the whirlwind" means the whirlwind is continuing; and as explained above,
the whirlwind meant Divine condemnation. It has not been lifted because
Job has not properly repented.
Job 40:7 Now brace yourself like a man-
The idea is that Job is to
answer as a human, to recognize his humanity and answer the questions as a
man. Job is perhaps not so much asked to repent as to realize his
humanity.
I will question you, and you will answer Me- His questions of God had been inappropriate, just as the friends had been wrong to seek wisdom by asking the sages, mere men (Job 8:8; 21:29 s.w.); it is for God to question us. For we and not God are in the dock. And Job's vow of silence in :5 was not in fact answering God's previous questions. "You will answer Me" is direct response to Job's stubborn refusal to answer.
Job 40:8 Will you even annul My judgment?- As noted on :5,6, this
could be seen as a criticism that Job hadn't said more. He had simply
accepted he was condemned and vowed silence. The phrase is used of how
Israel had broken covenant with God through breaking His judgments in the
sense of His commands (Lev. 26:15). Job at this point absolutely
represents the exiles, who had broken covenant and needed to repent and
accept the new covenant offered to them (s.w. Jer. 11:10; 31:32).
Will you condemn Me, that you may be justified?- The final speeches of God and Elihu brought home the point that the righteousness achieved by man was not comparable with God's righteousness (e.g. 40:7-10). Any attempt at self justification is to condemn God as a false accuser. We are left to draw the conclusion: that the only way for man to be just with God is through total repentance of sin [even if it's "just" the sins of youth or what other men would call "minor" or surface level sin] and the imputation of God's righteousness to man, by absolute grace. We must give due weight to the words of the prologue, that God saw Job anyway as "perfect", as justified. The sense may be that God is saying 'You are justified, by My grace; you don't have to condemn Me by self-justification in order to be justified. You are justified by My grace without your effort'. God's justification of Job and Job's innocence are thereby reconciled.
LXX "Do not set aside my judgment: and dost thou think that I have dealt with thee in any other way, than that thou mightest appear to be righteous?". God convicted Job of sin so that he would repent and thus be counted righteous. This was God's intention, and therefore God has rightly accused Job of clouding His intention ["counsel"] by words without knowledge. By assuming that he was being wrongly condemned or judged, Job was in his own mind setting aside God's judgment / condemnation of him.
God seems to be saying that Job was condemning Him there and then. Job did so by his refusal to answer God in the previous verses. We can read :2,8 as God using legal terms to ask Job whether he really wants to continue his foolhardy demand to have a day in court with God: "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let the one who argues with God answer!... Will you frustrate My justice, will you condemn Me so that you have right?". Job's silence is surely the worst defiance. He should have explicitly retracted all those times he had longed for and demanded a court case with God. Job is just a petty fault finder... wasting court time with frivolous complaints. Yet for man, God slaying all your ten kids, destroying your health, wealth and standing amongst men... is everything. God dismisses it as petty fault finding. This is not what we want to hear. We expect to be taken seriously. But such is the distance between God and man that such issues are treated as petty fault finding.
Job 40:9 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like
Him?- The reference is to the thunderstorm which was perhaps still
ongoing. God's arm is often associated with His salvation. Man cannot save
himself, as he has no saving arm like God's; and to attempt to do so is to
justify ourselves, thereby condemning God (:8).
Verses 9-12 are effectively God asking Job whether Job can really dress up as a judge and judge Him. The whole claim is bizarre: "Do you have an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like his? Deck yourself with pride and dignity, cloth yourself with majesty and splendour. Pour out the outbursts of your anger, and look on all the proud and abase them. Look on all the proud and humble them, tread down the wicked where they stand". It is God alone who is clothed with pride and dignity, majesty and splendour (Ps. 93:1; 104:1; Is. 5:16). We are disappointed that Job says very little in response to all this. He finally makes a brief statement agreeing that he doesn't understand and has spoken wrongly, but God responds with His second speech in order to elicit proper repentance. And even that is but a few words. Whilst God saw the sincerity behind those few words, we still wonder at the depth of Job's repentance. For he makes no specific withdrawal of all his blasphemous demands to judge God. But God accepts repentance even when it isn't as specific as it might have been, and we should do likewise.
The words of Job are perhaps easier to understand than those of God. Possibly because God's words and arguments to Job were tailored uniquely to him. He had a belief in Leviathan and Behemoth as the monsters of chaos and evil. And so God talks so much about them. He draws a powerful picture of them, just as they were in Job's mind, and says that if Job is to act as God, then he can tame them, play with them, lay his hand upon them etc. He cannot, he is trying to catch the sea monster with a flimsy fishing rod. One big issue God has with Job is that he is playing God. And if he is God, he can deal with the monsters as God alone can. God alone can touch them because He alone created them. Job is being made to see the logical implications of his position in judging God and condemning Him. Job is saying he is greater than God. If you aren't going to condemn God, it is for you to accept His accusation and judgment of you as a sinner.
Job 40:10 Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself
with honour and majesty-
It is God who is often described in these terms, e.g. Ps. 104:1, “O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with honour and majesty". God is inviting Job to play God for a day. Job has effectively played God in his attitudes, and now God invites him to imagine being God. He is not God, and the whole argument leads to his acceptable repentance. Sin is, in essence, playing God, and repentance is realizing this and recognizing who we are. Repentance is to declare God right and ourselves wrong; to perceive what and who man is, and who God is. Job had acted as if he were dressed like God: “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban” (Job 29:14). But this had been a playing God. We can play God by judging others, by judging our own sins as of no real account, by doing things in our own strength, becoming control freaks on no matter how micro a level... by assuming that the world is to be judged by our own idiosyncratic ideas of right and wrong.
This alludes to the garments of the priests, for glory and beauty. Job had already been stripped of his glorious priestly robes, as we learn from Job 19:9: "He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head". The stripping of Job recalls the stripping of the priest Aaron of his clothes and "crown" [mitre[ when his priesthood ended (Num. 20:26,28). The same word is used of the stripping of God's people of their glory (Ez. 16:39; 23:26; Mic. 3:3), which only happened because they themselves did not strip themselves of their clothing in repentance (s.w. Is. 32:11; Ez. 26:16). Job's stripping and inability to reclothe himself was therefore to elicit repentance in him. And this is what is now finally achieved at the end of the book. God is of Himself "clothed with majesty and strength" (Ps. 93:1), "with glory and beauty" (Ps. 104:1). Job need not seek to play God by using legal rituals and religious clothing. This was not going to help Job.
Job 40:11 Pour out the fury of your anger- Heb. "the floods of
wrath", preparing the way for Job to be taught that he need not fear such
floods himself (:23).
Look at each one who is proud, and bring him low- This judgment of pride is God's work, and not Job's. If God alone is the judge and the One who can condemn, all Job's struggles over issues of justice ['judging'] were thereby inappropriate. And that is true today, in a world where judging issues of justice appears to be the passion of every man.
Job 40:12 Look at each one who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked
in their place- Job has observed that the wicked prosper, whilst he
the righteous is suffering. God reminds Job that He has the power to
condemn, and He will do so- looking at literally each one who is proud,
throughout time and space. Job cannot do this. His unspoken desires that
the wicked be judged by himself are addressed here. He obviously felt the
injustice so deeply- that he suffered, whilst the wicked prospered. God's
answer is that Job is incapable of judging them. But He will. Recognizing
our inability to condemn and judge will help us in coping with the painful
issues of injustice which surround us.
Job 40:13 Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden
place- The faces of the condemned were covered, as Haman's was. The
judgment of the wicked was to be death in the dust (and not eternal
conscious torment). The question is, can Job condemn men and turn them to
dust? No he can't. So his struggles over issues of justice were misplaced,
and were actually an implication that he thought that his arm could bring
salvation.
Job 40:14 Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save
you- The question is, can Job condemn men and turn them to dust
(:13)? No he can't. So his struggles over issues of justice were
misplaced, and were actually an implication that he thought that his arm
could bring salvation.
Job 40:15 See now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass
like an ox- Behemoth is literally
"beasts", plural, although Behemoth is subsequently referred to in the
singular. I suggest therefore that this is a plural of majesty, the one
great beast. The connections with the hippo and crocodile are not exact;
the connections are because people of the time believed that such animals
had been spawned by the evil monsters of land [Behemoth] and sea
[Leviathan]. Surely people of Job’s time would have understood them as the
equivalent of what people today would call "satan". It was by the
deconstruction of "satan" that Job came to repentance.
"Behemoth" can be read as the intensive plural of
behema, a beast. Whatever actual beast is in view, perhaps the
hippopotamus, it is simply presented as a beast. The argument will
develop, that Job is part of the same creation as Behemoth, the most
awesome and terrifying things created by God. And if he is at peace with
his place within that creation, he need not fear. See on :20,23.
The Egyptians considered the hippopotamus [Behemoth] and crocodile
[Leviathan] to be symbols of evil and chaos. Possibly that is also the
case here. Evil in its wildest imaginable mythological form... is God's
pet, created by Him, played with by Him, commanded by Him. And the chaos
of Job's life... was likewise totally under God's control. The surrounding
legends featured some Divine warrior in battle against the evil beasts.
God subverts this by saying that He created them and plays with them as
His pets.
Job 38:8-11 has presented God as creator of the sea, thought to be the epitome of chaos and evil. But God was its creator. And now God presents as the creator of both Behemoth and Leviathan, the evil beasts of the land and sea respectively. He is their creator, just as He is creator of both good and evil in Is. 45:5-7. This is what brings Job to repentance. He cannot blame sin on anyone nor any monster apart from himself. And he cannot see the ultimate source of "evil" in the sense of calamity as being anyone nor anything apart from God. Job 39 has described God's total control over the animate and inanimate in the creation that Job observed. Now God will move on to Behemoth and Leviathan- legendary, unseen evil monsters. God likewise created them and they are totally under His control. And it is the argument about them which apparently leads Job to the required repentance. Evil, however man imagines it, is under God's control- although how He uses it, and to what ends, are beyond human understanding.
"Which I made as well as you" could refer to the way that living creatures were made on the same sixth day as man: "living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind" were all created on the sixth day too (Gen. 1:24). And those scary monsters of the sea were all declared "very good"- not evil. In Gen. 1:21 we read of great sea serpents / monsters [AV "whales"] being created and blessed: "God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw. He blessed them all" (GNB). Those monsters thought to be the epitomy of radical evil were all created and blessed by God, and pleased Him. It's not that God has a 'dark side' and these monsters came from that; He creates good and evil, light and darkness (Is. 45:5-7). He did not create the earth "in chaos" (Is. 45:18, NEV "in vain"). The chaos monsters believed in by Job and his friends did not, in fact, exist. Creation is not in chaos, as God argues so extensively throughout Job 40 and Job 41. It is not understandable by man, it may appear chaotic as the ostrich appears a chaotic creature, but that is mere appearance to man. Rain lands on desolate rocks far from man, but that is not in fact random. Latter Isaiah is full of reference to the book of Job, and we can fairly take the statements in Is. 45 as commentary upon the implications of God's speeches to Job.
Giving extensive description of the physiology of two monsters appears an irrelevant answer to the problem of suffering. God isn't giving any specific answers to Job's 122 questions. And perhaps that is the point. Job's sufferings, on one hand, are utterly irrelevant considering the size of the cosmos and the vast scale of God's creation. But once Job utters words of repentance, God will as it were go crazy in blessing him and enthusing about him, making the richest man of the east twice as rich. The behemoth and leviathan are clearly presented in terms of apocalyptic, with a kaleidoscope of images and meanings associated with them. Job has earlier accused God of treating him with the same hatred He [as Job imagined] had towards the beasts of evil: "Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me" (Job 7:12). Job understood Leviathan as a beast that was cursed by all good people: "Let those curse [that night of Job's birth] who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan" (Job 3:8). God engages with this in showing that in fact He created these beasts, they are under His complete control; and fondly plays with them, even though He finds them incredibly dumb, blockheaded and stupid, just as a man may fondly play with his pet dog and call it "You silly thing!" as he does. It is the leviathan / behemoth speeches that lead Job from mere surface level regret to true repentance.
It is the speeches about Behemoth and Leviathan that lead Job
to finally repent acceptably. But God introduces no new arguments. He
simply repeats the arguments of Job 39 from the animal creation, just to a
greater extent. So it was perhaps the passage of some more time, rather
than new arguments, that lead Job to true repentance.
Behemoth and Leviathan don't and didn't actually exist. God draws a
detailed and accurate picture of these beasts as Job believed in them, and
then comforts Job that He created them and easily controls them. The final
reality of Job is that God and not scary monsters brought the trials upon
Job. The evil beasts were in Job's mind and had no real existence,
although God knew in great detail how Job imagined them.
The talk about behemoth and leviathan is prefaced by God asking
Job to dress up as God, as judge of all, and then deal with these beasts
as God does. They were the symbols of evil and chaos- but God created
them, just as He creates both good and evil, darkness and light (Is.
45:5-7). Job however is as it were just trying to catch leviathan with a
fishing rod. No human weapon can be used to catch nor kill leviathan (Job
41:19-21), only the One who created these beats can capture, control or
kill them. That is God, not Job. There is no hope for any man that he can
do this- "the hope of him [such a man] is vain" that he can ever overcome,
tame or destroy the beasts (Job 41:9).
Perhaps we are to see in this a reference to Nebuchadnezzar being made to eat grass like an ox. The wild beasts of Judah's aggressors were all under God's control, even the most apparently mighty of them. Leviathan and Behemoth are monster figures appearing at the end of the book of Job, to form a kind of inclusio with the opening reference to Satan; and they are clearly part of God’s final answer to Job’s “case”. Behe–mot can be understood as a reference to Mot, the Canaanite god of death. There are copious connections between these beasts and the language of Isaiah about the Assyrians and Babylonians. They too had been created by God, and were used by him to bring His people to repentance so that like Job, their captivity might be turned.
I repeat again- that Job in Job 40:4
is not penitent. He is simply silent in refusal to participate or give
evidence in the court case against him. And his silence condemns him,
according to how he had earlier spoken of only being silent if guilty. But
God makes another effort to elicit his repentance, and He does so through
the speeches about Behemoth and Leviathan. We naturally enquire
why
and how
those speeches elicited Job's eventual repentance. One possibility is that
he held the view of supernatural evil which many do today. He thought
there were indeed beasts of chaos and evil, who were responsible for
disaster in human life and also for human sin. He is being shown that
these beasts, even if they are real, were created by God and are powerless
in their own right. Man alone has total responsibility for his own sin and
cannot blame the supposed beasts of evil.
Job 40:16 Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the
muscles of his belly- These descriptions would be appropriate to a
hippopotamus. "Look now" could suggest they were standing by a river, and
the animal arose out of it at God's command. The theophany in a whirlwind
by a river, with lightnings, is what Ezekiel experienced. The hope was
that the exiles would likewise be moved to follow Job's path through
repentance to restoration.
Behemoth is strong, "his strength is in his thighs". He has bones like “tubes of bronze” (:18). This connects with Job's complaint that he is not strong enough to endure what has come upon him: “What is my strength that I should wait?” (Job 6:11 NRSV). He likewise complains that his bones and flesh are not made of bronze (Job 10:11; 6:12). Behemoth is far stronger than Job; he is the land beast that represents the power of evil and chaos, to Job's mind. Yet God has created him and uses him at His will and bidding. Yet Job has sought to bring God to court and accuses Him of injustice. Job has often referenced the weakness of his own mouth, teeth and tongue (Job 3:1; 7:11; 13:17; 16:4, 5; 19:23; 23:4; 24:25; 27:4; 29:22; 40:4). But these are the very features of the beasts, especially Leviathan, which are brought to Job's attention. He is nothing to be compared with what God has created; so how can he seek to fight God as an equal in court.
Job 40:17 He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are
knit together- The tail of a hippo is only about one foot
long. So we conclude that this beast is portrayed as only based upon a hippo,
but all the same a mythical creature which Job believed in. Or we could
say that hippos were seen as the spawn of these mythical beasts.
Job would have feared the beast as it moved its tail, for they arise out of rivers to feed on crops. But he need not fear, for the hippopotamus eats plants not men (:15). Again Job was being taught that in the face of apparently overwhelming opposition, his life would be preserved. And this was the lesson for the exiles too. See on :20.
Behemoth and Leviathan are based upon the hippo and crocodile,
but are clearly the composite beasts of land and sea respectively whom Job
believed were the sources of chaos and evil. And yet he also believed God
was the source of the evil in his life. He is being challenged to trust
that whatever the reality of these beasts, God was behind them, had
created them and controlled them. And if he were God, he could do the same
too. The presentations of these beasts leave Job with no choice but to
either humble himself before God, or admit his powerlessness before them
and be destroyed by them.
God created the monster of evil. The monster of evil is in fact the
leading creature in the cosmos, chief of God’s ways. There is no dualism
in the cosmos. The God who is so loving and providing to all is also the
God who has created evil as His play thing. Job has to either be crushed
by this, or believe it and repent.
It could be argued that God is pointing out the intrinsic weakness of this beast. "His strength is in his loins." (:16) may be a way of saying that he puts all his strength into reproduction, as if to say "His brains are in his balls". We can read :17 as a reference to his testicles: "the sinews of his stones [the word for 'testicle'] are wrapped together" (AV), implying he is in fact impotent. It has a tail that doesn't move, solid as a cedar; but tails need to move and be flexible to be effective. His sinews are "knit together" or intertwined / twisted; sinews mustn't be twisted. Sinews or tendons bind the bones to the muscles; twisted tendons are painful and inhibit movement. A beast of twisted tendons won't have much function; he may appear scary but he isn't functional. His bones and muscles may be huge and strong, but if they aren't well connected to each other, he has no function. This is why these beasts are never presented by God as any threat to man. We could argue that "The lotus trees screen him as his defence" (:22) suggests that he is scared and hides behind trees. His bones which seem so strong are in fact hollow like tubes (:18). LXX of :18 has "his backbone is cast iron". An inflexible backbone means he was not very flexible, and we could translate :19 as meaning that he is "a thing made to be laughed at by His angels". If he represents evil, then he is not in fact very powerful. These descriptions would present behemoth as lacking function, not able to do much, looking powerful and strong but not functional; almost just a model, a dead image, even though he appears to move about. Behemoth is described as eating grass like an ox (:15), the language of Isaiah about a lion who has been rendered powerless. His bones are only tubes, not as solid as they appear (:18). We surely expect such a fearsome looking creature to be a carnivore and to prey on men. He is described as having huge teeth- which makes him a carnivore, surely. But he eats like an ox; the other animals aren't frightened of him and play around him (:20). He is not at all predatory. He looks more aggressive than he is, and only looks like a beast of prey. He is presented in :21 as inactive and lazy, he lies down in the shade of trees to keep out of the sun, and retreats behind "the wild lotus". Hardly the picture of a dangerous, ravening predator. Leviathan likewise is never described as doing anything hostile or predatory. And yet his appearance [especially his teeth, which are fot for a carnivore] begs the inference that he is predatory and dangerous; but that is never once mentioned. The silence about that is highly significant. "And sorrow is turned into joy before him" subverts the common idea that a beast of evil turns joy to sorrow (Job 41:22). He may appear terrible, but he doesn't function as feared.God is powerfully showing Job that these forces of sin and evil don't exist. He is deconstructing them. Leaving Job standing alone before God, with nobody and nothing to blame for his sins, and nobody other than God as the source of his sufferings. Just as there clearly is coherence and purpose in the physical universe, so there is order and meaning in God's working with man- but again, unperceived by man.
What perhaps brings Job to his knees in repentance is that he is now persuaded that the beasts of evil have no real existence. All disaster is from God; and all sin is solely his own fault. There is no buffer factor between God and himself. Nothing to blame. This helps answer the difficult but critical question: How does the depiction of behemoth and leviathan lead Job to such repentance? It explains why Job says that because he now knows that God can do all things, that he therefore repents. The connection between God's utter sovereignty and Job's repentance is because he rejects the idea that there can be anything somehow to blame for his sins and his sufferings. It's God and Job, with no other factor or entity present. It's why despite all the similarities between the epilogue and the prologue, the satan figure of the prologue is distinctly absent in the epilogue.
Job 40:18 His bones are like tubes of brass. His limbs are like bars of
iron- Babylon's defences of brass and iron would likewise be no
barrier to the restoration of God's people, for all was under His control
(Is. 45:2), and Israel could be made as strong (Mic. 4:13) seeing they
were part of the same creation that had made this animal (:15).
Job 40:19 He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him
His sword-
Or, "the first of God's ways". God speaks of Behemoth and Leviathan with a fondness: Leviathan was created as a plaything for the Angels, and God plays with Leviathan like a bird in a cage (Job 41:5). God speaks as if He is rather affectionately protective of them: "Look at Behemoth, whom I made as I made you" (Job 40:15) ; "He is the first of God's ways"; "Under the entire heaven he is mine" (Job 41:3). These beasts were thought to be the gods of evil, chaos and suffering; and Job likely blamed them for any personal sin God was choosing to punish. By such language, God is totally deconstructing Job's ideas about the origins of sin and evil. The beasts are presented as frightening and apparently strong, but not very functional and not actually aggressive to man. It's the same lesson we see in the way that the 'satan' figure of the prologue isn't found in the epilogue. God is all and in all, and man stands before Him alone and with no other moral entities between them.
The primary reference may be to the very sharp teeth of the hippopotamus. This would be a connection to how the sword of Babylon had been Yahweh's sword. Even the most awful wild beast in Israel's experience, Babylon, was under God's control and manipulated by Him. Hence LXX "This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels". It is God who not only created Behemoth, but can effortlessly control him in accord with His purpose. That’s the comfort of the message. Indeed the descriptions of the natural world which lead up to the Leviathan / Behemoth passages are there to underline this point; and it’s interesting that those passages zoom in upon the cruelties and even brutalities within nature. Yet these are all of God’s ultimate design and creation, and under His providential control. Job had earlier perceived this; for he responds to the friends’ allusions to an evil ‘Satan’ figure as the source of his suffering by observing: “Ask the animals... The birds of the air... [they show that] the hand of the Lord [and not any supernatural ‘Satan’] has done this” (Job 12:7–9).
Job 40:20 Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals
of the field play- The animals of the field don't fear the
hippopotamus, although Job did (:17). But he need not fear, for the
hippopotamus eats plants not men (:15). Again Job was being
taught that in the face of apparently overwhelming opposition, his life
would be preserved. And this was the lesson for the exiles too. Job was to
recognize that he too was part of the same creation that had brought forth
the hippopotamus (:15), and if he did so, then he too could live at peace
in the presence of such an awesome beast.
Job 40:21 He lies under the lotus trees, in the cover of the reed, and the
marsh- LXX "by the papyrus", perhaps a reference to Babylon's mastery
over Egypt. But the connection is to some words of Bildad in Job 8:11 "Can
the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?". Bildad's
idea is that Job's prosperity was like a quick growing papyrus which would
soon wither (Job 8:12) because it had not enough water or mud. Bildad's
reasoning is wrong, but clearly the Lord quarried His parable of the sower
from parts of these ideas. For He speaks of the man who has no "depth of
earth" as the one who responds eagerly to the word sown, but falls away
"when affliction of persecution arises for the word's sake" because he has
'no root in himself' (Mk. 4:5,17). Bildad was therefore not simply saying
that Job's persecution was because he had sinned; but rather he implies
that Job had lost his faith after the persecution arose, because he had no
real root in faith. In this Bildad was also wrong, for Job continually
seeks to God in his tribulations. Behemoth was quite at home in the "mire"
or "marsh" (s.w. Job 40:21); and the connection is in order to demonstrate
that even the "mire" was created by God and just as He saved Jeremiah out
of the mire of the dungeon, so He could save Job and the exiles. And the
only other usage of the word is in the description of the healing of the
"miry places" (Ez. 47:11) if the exiles were responsive to the prophetic
call to restore the temple and city made in Ez. 40-48.
Job 40:22 The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook
surround him- Trees often represent nations, and here we have a
picture of the nations being subservient to Babylon. LXX "And the great
trees make a shadow over him with their branches, and so do the bushes of
the field".
Job 40:23 Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is
confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth- As noted on
:20, Job was to recognize that he too was part of the same creation that
had brought forth the hippopotamus (:15), and if he did so, then he too
could live at peace in the presence of overflowing, flooded rivers; which
represent the invaders of God's people and His judgment of men (see on
:11). Even if those rivers came up to his mouth, they would go no further.
Just as Job had been promised in the prologue that his life would be
preserved. And the swelling of the rivers of Israel's enemies would
likewise not destroy Israel. They need not tremble as the faithless did in
the times of Isaiah.
And yet God almost seems to be mocking these beasts, the hippopotamus, crocodile or whatever they were. One reading of :23 is that this animal is so stupid he faces a flooding river and thinks by opening his mouth he can just swallow it all up. He is proudly big and strong, in his own eyes, "king over all the children of pride" (Job 41:34), but totally dependent upon God. And also incredibly pigheaded, stubborn and foolish, played with by the Angels. And in a way, that was Job.
Job 40:24 Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through
his nose with a snare?- The idea is as GNB "The most amazing of all
my creatures! Only his Creator can defeat him". And indeed God would
overthrow Babylon and allow the exiles to return.
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