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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Job 40 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/40.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/job/40-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Job 40</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../job/39.htm" title="Job 39">◄</a> Job 40 <a href="../job/41.htm" title="Job 41">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-1.htm">Job 40:1</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-5.</span> - Between the first and the second part of the Divine discourse, at the end of which Job wholly humbles himself (<a href="/job/42-1.htm">Job 42:1-6</a>), is interposed a short appeal on the part of the Almighty, and a short reply on Job's part, which, however, is insufficient. God calls upon Job to make good his charges (vers. 1, 2). Job declines, acknowledges himself to be of no account, and promises silence and submission for the future (vers. 3-5). But something more is needed; and therefore the discourse is further prolonged. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1, 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Moreover the Lord</span>. <span class="accented">Jehovah</span>' as in <a href="/job/38-1.htm">Job 38:1</a> and in the opening chapters (see the comment on Job 12:9). <span class="cmt_word">Answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?</span> rather, <span class="accented">Can</span> <span class="accented">he</span> <span class="accented">that reproveth contend with the Almighty?</span> (see the Revised Version). Does Job, the reprover, think that he can really contend with the Almighty? If so, then he that reproveth God, let him answer it; or, <span class="accented">let</span> <span class="accented">him</span> answer this; let him answer, that is, what has been urged in ch. 38 and 39. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-2.htm">Job 40:2</a></div><div class="verse">Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct <i>him</i>? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-3.htm">Job 40:3</a></div><div class="verse">Then Job answered the LORD, and said,</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 3, 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then Job answered, the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile</span>; literally, I <span class="accented">am light</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> I am of small account (see the Revised Version). It would be absurd for one so weak and contemptible to attempt to argue with the Almighty. <span class="cmt_word">What shall I answer thee?</span> or, <span class="accented">What should</span> I <span class="accented">answer thee!</span> What should I say, if I were to attempt a reply? <span class="cmt_word">I will lay mine hand upon my mouth</span> (see the comment on Job 21:5). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-4.htm">Job 40:4</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-5.htm">Job 40:5</a></div><div class="verse">Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but l will proceed no further</span>. The meaning is, "I have already spoken, not once, but more than once. Now I will be silent; I will say no more.' There is a sort of recognition that the arguments used were futile, but not a full and complete confession, as in <a href="/job/42-3.htm">Job 42:3</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-6.htm">Job 40:6</a></div><div class="verse">Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 6-24.</span> - Job's confession not having been sufficiently ample, the Divine discourse is continued through the remainder of this chapter, and through the whole of the next, the object being to break down the last remnants of pride and self-trust in the soul of the patriarch, and to bring him to complete submission and dependence on the Divine will. The argument falls under three heads - Can Job cope with God in his general providence (vers? 6-14)? can he even cope with two of God's creatures - with <span class="accented">behemoth</span> or the hippopotamus (vers. 15-24); with <span class="accented">leviathan</span>, or the crocodile (<a href="/job/41-1.htm">Job 41:1-34</a>)? <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said</span> (comp. <a href="/job/38-1.htm">Job 38:1</a>). The storm still continued, or, after a lull, had returned. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-7.htm">Job 40:7</a></div><div class="verse">Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Gird up thy loins now like a man</span> (see the comment on Job 38:3): <span class="cmt_word">I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me</span>. Job is given every opportunity of making good his pleas before God. If he has anything to say that he really wishes to urge, God is ready, nay, anxious, to hear him. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-8.htm">Job 40:8</a></div><div class="verse">Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Wilt thou also</span> (rather, <span class="accented">even</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>dis<span class="accented">-</span>annul my judgment?</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> maintain that my judgment towards thee has not been just and equitable, and therefore, so far as it lies in thy power, disannul it? <span class="cmt_word">Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?</span> Dost thou think it necessary to accuse me of injustice, and condemn me. in order to establish thine own innocence? But there is no such necessity. The two things - my justice and thy innocence - are quite compatible. Only lay aside the notion that afflictions must be punitive. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-9.htm">Job 40:9</a></div><div class="verse">Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Hast thou an arm like God?</span> The might of God's arm is often dwelt upon in Scripture. He brought Israel out of Egypt ,' with a mighty hand and stretched-out arm" (<a href="/deuteronomy/5-15.htm">Deuteronomy 5:15</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/7-19.htm">Deuteronomy 7:19</a>, etc.). "Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand," says one of the psalmists (<a href="/psalms/89-13.htm">Psalm 89:13</a>). "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!" says Isaiah (<a href="/isaiah/51-9.htm">Isaiah 51:9</a>). No human strength, not the strength of all men put together, can compare with it. <span class="cmt_word">Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?</span> (comp. <a href="/job/38-34.htm">Job 38:34, 35</a>; and for the idea of thunder being the actual "voice of God," see <a href="/job/37-4.htm">Job 37:4, 5</a>; <a href="/psalms/68-33.htm">Psalm 68:33</a>; <a href="/psalms/77-18.htm">Psalm 77:18</a>, etc.). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-10.htm">Job 40:10</a></div><div class="verse">Deck thyself now <i>with</i> majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty</span>. God is at all times "clothed with majesty and strength" (<a href="/psalms/93-1.htm">Psalm 93:1</a>), "with glory and beauty" (<a href="/psalms/104-1.htm">Psalm 104:1</a>). He "decks himself with light as with a garment" (<a href="/psalms/104-2.htm">Psalm 104:2</a>). Job is challenged to array himself similarly. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-11.htm">Job 40:11</a></div><div class="verse">Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one <i>that is</i> proud, and abase him.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath</span>. "Give vent," <span class="accented">i.e.</span>, "to thy anger against the wicked, and let it be seen what thou canst do in the way of restraining evil and punishing transgressors." <span class="cmt_word">Behold every one that is proud, and abase him</span>. If my moral government does not satisfy thee., Improve upon it. Put down those wicked ones whom thou sayest that I allow to prosper (<a href="/job/24-2.htm">Job 24:2-23</a>); "abase" them in the dust; do what thou accusest me of not doing. Then wilt thou have established something of a claim to enter into controversy with me. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-12.htm">Job 40:12</a></div><div class="verse">Look on every one <i>that is</i> proud, <i>and</i> bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 12, 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place</span>. Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret. The idea of ver. 11 is still further insisted on. Lot Job manifest himself as a power among men, if he cannot rival God in nature. Let him set the world to rights. Then he may claim to be heard with respect to the moral government of God. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-13.htm">Job 40:13</a></div><div class="verse">Hide them in the dust together; <i>and</i> bind their faces in secret.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-14.htm">Job 40:14</a></div><div class="verse">Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand and save thee</span>. When he has done what he has been challenged to do in vers. 9-13, then Job may venture to contend with God. He will have established his own independence, and God will acknowledge him as an antagonist entitled to argue with him. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-15.htm">Job 40:15</a></div><div class="verse">Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 15-24.</span> - This passage, together with the whole of ch. 41, has been regarded by some critics as an interpolation. Its omission would certainly not affect the argument; and it is thought, in some respects, to contain traces of a later age than that which most commentators assign to the remainder of the book, or, at any rate, to the greater portion of it. The recurrence to the animal creation, when the subject seemed to have been completed (<a href="/job/39-30.htm">Job 39:30</a>), is also a difficulty. But, on the other hand, as there is no variation, either in the manuscripts or in the versions, and no marked difference either of style or tone of thought between the rest of the book and this controverted passage, it is best regarded as an integral portion of the work, proceeding from the same author, although perhaps at a later period. No one denies that the style is that of the best Hebrew poetry, or that the book would be weakened by the excision of the passage. "Le style," says M. Renan, "est celui des meilleurs endroits du poeme. Nulle part la coupe n'est pins vigoreuse, le parallelisme plus sonore.' <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Behold now behemoth</span>. "Behemoth" is ordinarily the plural of <span class="accented">behemah</span> "a beast;" but it is scarcely possible to understand the word in this sense in the present passage, where it seems to be a noun singular, being followed by singular verbs, and represented by singular pronouns. Hence modern critics almost unanimously regard the word here as designating "some particular animal." The mammoth, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the elephant have been suggested. Of these the mammoth is precluded by the want of any evidence that it existed in Job's day, and the rhinoceros by the absence of any allusion to its peculiar feature. Authorities are divided almost equally between the elephant and the hippopotamus; but the best recent Hebraists and naturalists incline rather to the latter. <span class="cmt_word">Which I made with thee</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "which I created at the same time as I created thee" (<a href="/genesis/1-24.htm">Genesis 1:24-26</a>). <span class="cmt_word">He eateth grass as an ox</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> he is graminivorous, not carnivorous. This is admitted to be true of the hippopotamus, which lives in the Nile during the day, and at night emerges from the river, and devastates the crops of sugar-cane, rice, and millet. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-16.htm">Job 40:16</a></div><div class="verse">Lo now, his strength <i>is</i> in his loins, and his force <i>is</i> in the navel of his belly.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lo now, his strength is in his loins</span>. The strength of the hippopotamus is its principal characteristic. Weighing often two thousand kilogrammes, and of a short thick make, when roused to anger it has a force which is irresistible. In the water it upsets large beats; on land it forces its way through dense thickets and fences of all kinds. The loins are especially strong, being deep, broad, and immensely muscular<span class="cmt_word">. And his force is in the navel of his belly</span>; rather, <span class="accented">in the muscles of his bell'i.</span> The word used (<span class="hebrew">שׁרידים</span>) occurs only in this place. It is a plural form, and therefore cannot designate a single object, like the navel. The root seems to be the Syriac <span class="accented">serir</span> "firm," whence Schultens proposes to translate <span class="hebrew">שׁרירים</span> by <span class="accented">firmitates.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-17.htm">Job 40:17</a></div><div class="verse">He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He moveth his tail like a cedar</span>. The tail of the hippopotamus is remarkably short and thick. It only bends slightly, being stiff and unyielding, like the stem of a cedar. <span class="cmt_word">The sinews of his stones</span> (rather, <span class="accented">of his thighs</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>are wrapped together</span>; or, <span class="accented">interwoven one with another</span> (so Professor Lee and Mr. Houghton). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-18.htm">Job 40:18</a></div><div class="verse">His bones <i>are as</i> strong pieces of brass; his bones <i>are</i> like bars of iron.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">His bones are as strong pieces of brass</span>; rather, as <span class="accented">tubes of bronze.</span> The great thigh-bones - <span class="greek">μηρία</span> of the Greeks - are probably intended. These are hollow, being filled with marrow, and are so strong that they may be well compared to "tubes of bronze." (On the identity of <span class="accented">nekhushah or nekhosheth</span> with "bronze" rather than "brass," see the article on "Brass," in Dr. W. Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' vol. 1. p. 225.) His bones (rather, <span class="accented">his ribs</span>) are like bars of iron. Either the ribs, or the solid bones of the lower leg, forearm, etc., are intended. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-19.htm">Job 40:19</a></div><div class="verse">He <i>is</i> the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach <i>unto him</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He is the chief of the ways of God</span>. This is the main argument in favour of the elephant, rather than the hippopotamus, being intended (see Schultens, <span class="accented">ad loc</span>.). It has, indeed, been argued that some specimens of the hippopotamus exceed the elephant in height and bulk (Canon Cook, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. 4. p. 19); but no modern naturalist certainly would place the former animal above the latter in any <span class="accented">catalogue raisonee</span> of animals arranged according to their size and importance. The elephant, however, may not have been known to the author of Job, or, at any rate, the Asiatic species, which seems not to have been imported into Assyria before the middle of the <span class="date">ninth century B.C.</span> In this case, the hippopotamus might well seem to him the grandest of the works of God. <span class="cmt_word">He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him</span>. This is explained to mean, "Only God can attack behemoth with success and slay him; man is powerless to do so" (Canon Cook, Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). But the Egyptians, from very early times, used to attack the hippopotamus and slay him (Wilkinson, in the author's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2, p. 100). It is better, therefore, to translate the passage, with Schultens, "He that made him hath furnished him with his sword," and to understand by "his sword" those sharp teeth with which the hippopotamus is said to "cut the grass as <span class="accented">neatly as if it were mown</span> and to sever, as <span class="accented">if</span> <span class="accented">with shears</span> a tolerably stout and thick stem" (Wood, ' Natural History,' vol. 1. p. 762). Compare the 'Theriaca' of Nicander, 11. 566, 567 - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="greek">Η ἵππου τὸν Νεῖλος ὑπὲρ Σάι'ν αἰθαλόεσσαν</span><br /><span class="greek">Βόσκει ἀρούρησιν δὲ κακὴν ἐπιβάλλεται ἅρπην</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-20.htm">Job 40:20</a></div><div class="verse">Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Surely the mountains bring him forth food</span>. Neither the hippopotamus nor the elephant is an inhabitant of "mountains," according to our use of the word. But the <span class="accented">harim</span> (<span class="hebrew">הָרִים</span>) of the original is used of very moderate eminences. In the highly poetical language of Job, and especially of this passage, the term may well be applied to the hills on either side of the Nile, which approach closely to the river, and to this day furnish the hippopotamus with a portion of its food (see Hasselquist, ' Travels,' p. 188). <span class="cmt_word">Where all the beasts of the field play</span>. By "the beasts of the <span class="accented">field"</span> seem to be meant the cattle and other do-mastic animals which are not driven from their pasture-grounds by the "river-horse" (Tristram, 'Nat. Hist. of the Bible,' p. 52). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-21.htm">Job 40:21</a></div><div class="verse">He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He listh under the shady trees</span>; or, <span class="accented">under the lotus trees</span> (Revised Version). The <span class="accented">Lotus sylvestris</span> or <span class="accented">Lotus Cyrenaiea</span> "grows abundantly an the hot banks of the Upper Nile" (Cook). and is thought to be the tree here intended (Schultens. Cook, Houghton, and others). But the identification is very doubtful. The dense shade of trees is sought alike by the hippopotamus and the elephant. <span class="cmt_word">In the covert of the reed, and fens.</span> This is exactly descriptive of the hippopotamus; far less so of the elephant. Gordon Cumming says, "At every turn there occurred deep still pools, and occasional sandy islands, densely clad with lofty reeds Above and beyond these reeds stood trees of immense age. beneath which grew a rank kind of grass, on which the sea-cow (hippopotamus) delights to pasture" ('Lion-Hunter of South Africa,' p. 297). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-22.htm">Job 40:22</a></div><div class="verse">The shady trees cover him <i>with</i> their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The shady trees</span> (or, <span class="accented">the lotus trees</span>) <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>cover him with their shadow</span> (see the comment on ver. 21); the willows of the brook compass him round about. The "willow of the brook" (<a href="/leviticus/23-40.htm">Leviticus 23:40</a>) is probably the <span class="accented">Saliz Aegyptiaca</span> or <span class="accented">safsaf</span> which grows plentifully in the Nile valley, fringing the course both of the Nile itself and of the many streams derived from it. The <span class="accented">Saliz Babylonica</span> or "weeping willow," is less likely. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-23.htm">Job 40:23</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, he drinketh up a river, <i>and</i> hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not</span>; rather, <span class="accented">behold</span> <span class="accented">let a river overflow</span> <span class="accented">he trembleth not</span> (<span class="greek">ἐὰν πλημμύρα</span> <span class="greek">γεηται, οὐ μὴ αἰσθηθῇ</span> LXX). As an amphibious animal, the overflowing of a river has no terrors for the hippopotamus. But it would have some terrors for an elephant. He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. It is better to translate, <span class="accented">he is steadfast</span> (or, <span class="accented">confident</span>)' <span class="accented">though Jordan swell even to his mouth.</span> "Jordan" probably stands for any large and strong-flowing river. The conjecture that <span class="hebrew">ירדן</span> is a corruption of <span class="hebrew">יר</span>, which often stands for "the Nile," is ingenious, but unnecessary. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/40-24.htm">Job 40:24</a></div><div class="verse">He taketh it with his eyes: <i>his</i> nose pierceth through snares.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He taketh it with his eyes</span>; rather, <span class="accented">Shall one take him when he is looking on?</span> "Can he be captured." <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "when his eyes are open, and when he sees what is intended? No. If captured at all, it must be by subtlety, when he is not on the watch." His nose pierceth through snares; rather, <span class="accented">Or can one bore his nostril with cords?</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> can we lead him away captive, with a ring or hook passed through his nose, and a cord attached (compare the next chapter, ver. 2)? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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