Job 40, 41, and 42
After hearing the questions of the Lord, Job no longer thought himself to be wise or good, since he had thought so, wrongly of the Lord, instead he said, “Behold, I am vile.”
Yet the Lord spoke more to. job: “Behold now behemoth, which. made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
This animal was the “chief”, or strongest, of all the animals God had made. if you read the verses in Genesis about creation, you find the animals were all made the same day as man (Genesis 1:24-3124And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:24‑31)).
The behemoth could walk and eat grass on the hills, and liked to be down in shady places: it could also live in rivers, and was not afraid of the rushing waters. No animal is now called behemoth, but it is thought to have been like, or the same as the big strong hippopotamus, which can walk and feed on land, and lives and swims in sonic of the warm rivers of Asia and Africa. It is very fierce when angry, and dangerous to capture, no one would dare to go near its huge mouth.
The Lord next asked Job about another fierce animal: “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?” This animal we do not know by this name, either, but it seems to be like what we call the crocodile, which lives in warm waters and is very dangerous to people. Its scales are so hard a spear cannot pierce, them, nor even a bullet from a gun. The leviathan “esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood ... he maketh the deep to boil like a pot of ointment ... Upon earth there is none like him, who is made without fear.” Yet when God divided the waters for Israel, He destroyed the leviathan for them to cross safely (Psa. 74:13,1413Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 14Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. (Psalm 74:13‑14)). So this serpent-like animal, pictures evil which God alone can destroy.
When the Lord finished speaking, Job spoke humbly, saying he had a spoken of what he did not know, and said.
“I abhor myself, and repent in lust and ashes.”
He was truly sorry for his wrong thoughts and words.
The Lord told the three friends of Job, to offer a sacrifice because they had spoken falsely of Job. They did so and the Lord forgave them, when Job prayed.
So they all learned God’s mercy, as well as more of His power and wisdom, Afterward the friends and relatives who had not been kind to Job in his great troubles came to visit him, and Job became a great man again, living many, years more. If Job had not had the sorrows, he would have become more proud of his good deeds and could not have told others of God’s mercy and care.
ML 06/16/1940