We have been covering the speeches of the Lord as He has talked to Job and the first thing that God has hammered on is the issue of Job’s knowledge. Does he know anything, what does he really know? When it boils down to it Job really doesn’t know anything and what Job does know has not been effective. The idea is how can you tell God that you know how to do something better when you really don’t know anything? That is the question that God is raising to Job. If your knowledge does not penetrate to the metaphysical realm, which explains how the world operates, then what gives you the right to talk at all? The answer is that Job really doesn’t have a right, but there is another side to God’s omniscience. The reason why God is writing Job is wrong and the reason why Job’s wisdom fails. It is not only because he lacks knowledge, but it is also because he lacks power. In chapter 40 and following that is precisely what we begin to see, he lacks power. This has a two-fold kind of prong. We will look at the overview now rather than wait and do it later.
The two-fold prong revolves around the two animals. Our friendly behemoth and the nifty leviathan. The behemoth talks about Job’s intrinsic power. What does that mean? There are two kinds of strength if you stop and think about it. People who lift weights are trying to gain intrinsic power because they are trying to get “buff”. It is talking about your personal strength and it is foundational if you think about it because if you don’t have any muscles whatsoever you can’t really do very much. You have this intrinsic power or lack thereof. Job, do you have it, and if you don’t have it whatever gives you the right to tell God that you know better, that you could execute something better?
The second question is, and kind of relates back to the second question in the knowledge issue, which is effectiveness or effective power. You can be super strong, but you might not be able to use your power. You might not be able to utilize your strength to manipulate creation. The whole point is you can use power completely wrongly. Even if you were strong, for the sake of argument, then maybe you cannot use your power to actually make a good or substantial difference. That is the question that God is secondly asking Job. That is the issue of the leviathan, it is the effective use of power. What Job is essentially saying is that he can do it better, so God is raising the question “Can you do it at all?”. That is the question, does Job have enough power in himself to really do it, and can he use his power, that he may not have, to work it out? If the answer to any of these questions is no what makes him think he can do it better if he has not even tried to do it at all on any small scale.
You need to be very careful when counseling someone with this principle. What you need to remind people of is, if you can’t do everything God does, then maybe He is not necessarily just being not fair because you don’t know everything. Then remind them that they might not be able to work things out better because if they were in His shoes you would realize what has to be done. You can even use the analogy of from a kid's point of view making them eat vegetables is terrible, from a parent's point of view it is a necessary evil. The point is, you are not in God’s shoes so you don’t know everything and you can’t do everything. If you are not in God’s shoes then you have no right to make the judgment call. It is only if you are above God that you have the right to make the judgment call, and that is what God is pointing out to Job, trust God.
Job 40:1-2
Here God begins a second mini-speech. It is directed to Job, but it is not from the whirlwind as you will see later on. God will once again respond to Job from the whirlwind, in verse 6, so this is a call out to Job. God invites Job to respond. Remember, the key in this is that God answers, to begin with, that is amazing. He is condescending to Job, He has put Himself on trial so to speak and through that reverses everything. He is saying “Job, I presented My case, here is My response, now you answer me.”. The idea here is now Job needs to raise a counter case. It is Job’s turn to respond to everything. He has fought for his right, he has said that he wants his day in court and God is saying “You got it, it is right here. We are in court together and in fact, you have the upper hand in this instance since God is answering not instigating. ”. In this situation God is on trial and Job is the judge. If you think about it that way that gives Job the upper hand. God outdid Job, he wanted to go to court and God made him the judge. The combination of words of “contend” and “rebukes” occurs in Job 33:19 with Elihu, God affirms what Elihu said. Job got his wish, which paves the way for a lot of other wishes to happen.
There is a response, but what are we looking for? When a judge needs to make a verdict you are looking for guilty or innocent. Or, in our terms, right or wrong. There are also going to be other implications in this trial, because if God is right, then Job is wrong. We are looking for that.
Job 40:3-5
Job has basically said, “I am not going to say anything.”. This is bad because Job is not giving an answer at all which is both wrongs in two ways. One, because he doesn’t actually vindicate God, and two, he never admits that he is wrong. He refuses to give an answer. People often point out the good things here, like Job saying he is nothing and saying he will shut up, but that needs to be accompanied but an acknowledgment that he is wrong. Read this a little more closely and you will see some recalcitrance. Job concentrates on his standing in verse 4. In a court trial, you will notice that someone can be right or wrong positionally speaking. Job understands that God is greater and he is smaller, but that has not really changed his position. Job has always recognized that he is smaller and God is greater. In fact, he responded to Bildad with “If God is so great, how would I ever out-argue Him?”. So Job has never changed position here. His refusal to speak is an affirmation that he is still right.
The phrase once and then twice is an idiom and it probably refers to the overstatement of a fact. If you say it once it is too many and so if you say it twice it is way too many. It can be used for something good or bad. Job is saying that he has clearly established his position. Notice in verse 5 that Job is taking it not only from his position of being right or wrong but he is also taking it from the content of his wording and argument. Job is saying that nothing he has already said will be able to deal with what God has said and on top of that it is not just what he has spoken, he cannot add anything that would refute what God has said. In other words, Job has said “everything that I have ever thought and everything that I could think will not refute what God has said.”. However, that is not the same thing as saying that he is wrong, it just means that God is irrefutable. It does not mean that the argument is correct or that Job is wrong.
If you were arguing with an atheist and you couldn’t out-argue them and say “I just can’t out-argue you, you are a really smart guy.” that does not mean that you know you don’t believe in God or that the other person is right. It just means that they are a really good debater. Job has not made a statement about position or argumentation. In fact, his argument/wording here tacitly implies that he is right. He is still right, despite everything that is said. This is why God has to give another answer. We are not just looking for Job to retreat back, we are looking for total repentance.
Job 40:6
God begins to answer Job from the whirlwind again and we are going to be looking at this notion of intrinsic power soon enough. God answers from the whirlwind, he has done so previously, there is a reason for that. One, the whirlwind emphasizes God’s power, two, it emphasizes God's sovereignty (remember, a whirlwind killed Job’s children), three, it emphasizes His mystery (remember, Elihu, asked Job if he really understands a thunderstorm.), everything coincides. So, God is going to answer again stressing all of those components.
Job 40:7
God calls on Job to get ready to make Him understand everything that has been going on, give god some knowledge, which was already stated in Job 38:3, but Job clearly hasn’t been able to give God any knowledge. He has been able to give God nothing, he has said nothing.
Job 40:8-9
These verses form the thesis for the entire section, which was already kind of given to us. Verse 8 is saying, can you cut off my justice or condemn so that you will be justified? The idea here is that cutting of God’s justice or negating God’s justice. Justice is the way that God implements righteousness in the world. God has a standard we call righteousness that is based on holiness and His character, Justice is the way to enforce that standard into the world. That is what gives people “rights” or “privileges”, things that they should get because that is the correct thing to do. What God is saying is “can you, Job, have the power to negate how I implement my righteousness in the world?.” to put it differently, can he do it better? This is dealing. With the rightness of God’s plan. Whenever we say that something is not fair we imply that there is a better way to do it. Be careful because once you say you can do something better God says “okay, let’s see if you can do that and try that.”. If the job could really think of something better, then he would be able to condemn God so that Job would be justified. This is dealing with the notion of God’s plans, right, and wrongness. Also, verse 9 does not just look at it relative to right and wrong, it looks to power. Does Job have the right arm like God? Does his voice thunder? The idea is does Job have enough power to implement right and wrong in the world the way that God implements His righteousness? Those two verses form the thesis can Job really do it better? Not just is it possible but does he actually have the innate ability?
Job 40:10
God begins to question Job’s ability in verses 10-14. God looks at this question from the standpoint of God versus Job in verse 10. Not only can everyone else who has been speaking in these chapters rhyme, but God can too. The phrase with the four different words rhymes. The first word, eminence, refers to pride in the sense of something being the “pride of our town”, the best thing you’ve got. God, fundamentally, by position, is the best thing ever. God is asking Job if he can make himself the best thing ever. The idea with the second term, exaltedness is that your physical appearance is so high and lofty that everyone recognizes that you are the best. On top of that, you have the notion of power, that is majesty, which refers to dominion, the ability to control everything. God is asking Job if he can, by default, control everything. The final term, splendor means beauty. You don’t just have the power you are also beautiful. Usually, a lot of these things are somewhat exclusive, but this is coinciding all in God. Job 40:11
God is telling Job to try something. Essentially God is saying that maybe Job can’t put on majesty, splendor, and power and all of these different things, but at least he could show God he could do something. He could stay mad like he already is and change the world. The whole notion of lowering them is the idea of changing their circumstances so that they are nothing. If Job thinks God is so unfair because the wicked are not punished in this life, then he should do it, but he can’t. If not that then, can he impress them so much that they would bow down to him and say “wow, Job, you are amazing.”. No one has done that to Job recently, in fact, Job has lamented the fact that no one bows down to him, his own wife thinks his breath is disgusting.
Job 40:12-14
Can Job At least trample the wicked under his feet/beat them up? The answer is no. Job is a man full of hot air because that is all he really has. He has no ability whatsoever and God says “Look, if you were able to do any of these things, then I would also explain to you that your right hand would be able to save you.”. If he could do this, then he would have the ability to save himself. The word savior doesn’t mean spiritually saved, it denotes in this trial that he would be saved from a verdict of guilty. He would be able to show God that he can do it a different way and he would be able to execute that. People in suffering need to remember that they are not God. Sometimes you just don’t know what’s better. To really actually know what’s better you have to be God because we are just too left or right.
God begins to talk about the behemoth. Three introductory thoughts about this: One, we are still talking about intrinsic power. Two, behemoth is a name that means super cow. Job has made fun of his friends calling them beasts/cows. His. Friends have made fun of him saying “you think we’re cows? We’re not a. cow! We’re better than a cow!”. Elihu has said no one sees God more than seeking a cow sometimes. Now God is saying if they really all want to be serious and make fun of each saying they are stupider than a cow he is going to own them all, look at Job, mister super cow. God is going to use the super cow to make fun of everyone, saying they are all dumber than a super cow. The situation is can you do it better and a super cow can do it better than Job. Three, what in the world is a super cow? People suggest rhinoceros and hippopotamus, the problem with some of those suggestions is that they don’t exist in this area, and on top of that, in verse 23, notice the river Jordan and translate it to the river Nile. There is a real river Nile, and you can say it in Hebrew. All that to say, okay, it could be one of those animals if you are trying to do some weird things, but there are some problems with that interpretation.
In addition to the fact that those animals don’t live in that region or the Jordan, what about the tail? The tail is like a cedar. People will try to bend over backward to re-translate the word as testicles, based on the Vulgate translation. The problem is every single time this Hebrew word is used it means tail. Over and over again there is this consistency of use which would argue here that you cannot retranslate the word no matter how hard you try. The simplest thing is probably just to give up on the hippopotamus. More likely, this is some kind of super animal, maybe like a dinosaur, it fits the evidence better than a hippopotamus. On top of that, there are two other things that support such a supposition. In addition to the contextual evidence, there is, second of all, in the ancient new eastern culture there are these super monsters that they have inland and in the sea that symbolize both evils, as well as are connected with incredible animals that in western culture are equated with dragons. All of the sudden now, even in the ancient near eastern mindset, they make room for these kinds of super monsters, and they differentiate them from a hippopotamus because they know what a hippopotamus is. Note, Jews in the intertestamental period write about super monsters. One that dominates the sea, the leviathan, and one that dominates the earth, the behemoth. So here we are, and we are trying to outdo the Jews. Look, if the Jews in their earliest reception didn’t believe it was a hippopotamus, maybe it is not a hippopotamus. If you think you know their mindset better than they do, we have a problem. Those two pieces of historical evidence as well as the textual evidence itself suggest that this is some huge monster, which is very reasonable. Job, can you control creation like a super cow? Do you have that intrinsic power?
Job 40:15
“Which I made with you.”, what does that mean? What is God pointing out? He made the behemoth and He made it with man. Man and behemoth are about the same to God. God is showing that Job is no smarter or better than a super cow. God is leveling Job. The word “ox” only occurs in Job earlier, remember Job had cattle. That is the same word. On one hand, you would expect Job would be able to control a docile animal, it’s a cute cow, right?
Job 40:16
He has power oozing out of this beast. Both in his ability to move as well as in his abdominal muscles. If you are thinking about how exactly that works, movement and intrinsic being, he’s got legs that are really buff which means that he can move quickly, and he’s got a tummy that is like rock hard so that if you punch him, he’s like impenetrable. He is buff in both his ability to move and just his ability to stand.
Job 40:17
The tail, we’ve already commented a bunch on that, but the whole notion of cedar tree, cedars are one of the strongest, richest, most vibrant building materials and they’re kind of hard to get in the ancient near east, specifically around this region. When you make your tail like a cedar tree what you’re saying is that on one hand, you can whack this thing around and it is huge. Not only that, we have a different kind of system, we think diamonds cut through everything but back then if a cedar tree hits you it just like trumps everything. This is the idea, making the tail straight, so he has immense power. On top of that, notice the tendons of his thighs were interwoven together. First, do you notice that it is passive? That they’re “were” interwoven together? That means somebody had to do it, God. This beast is made with incredible skill, how do you do that? Only God can.
Job 40:18
If you look at this thing it is like made out of metal. This thing is strong and everything around it is strong. This is a workmanship of power.
Job 40:19
He is the first of the works of God. Cross-reference Proverbs 8:22 where wisdom is the first of the works of God. The idea here is dealing with the foundation, primary source. This is the primary demonstration, the initial demonstration of God’s wisdom. It is the foundational starting point. The behemoth is God’s opening exhibit to demonstrate that He really knows better what He is doing.
The whole point is that the behemoth has so much power. God is using him to say “Job if you don’t even have the strength of the behemoth how do you expect to control the world and make it a better place, better than I can do it?”. Just to emphasize that God is so much greater, and this behemoth is so much greater than Job, God is the only one that can kill the behemoth. In fact, God can just come up to it with His sword. God does not have to fight, God slaughters him light slaughtering a pig or cow. The whole point is that Job can’t even control creation, evil, he doesn’t have the power to even math them, only God does.
Job 40:20
The mountains give the beast food, it’s like the mountains are serving the behemoth. Job doesn’t have the power to make creation serve him like that. A behemoth, the stupid super cow, has better abilities than Job. The beast of the field find protection in the behemoth, bunnies have never run to Job.
Job 40:21-22
There is a reciprocal relationship. The behemoth asserts his power over creation and creation form shade around the beast. Job doesn’t have the power to manipulate creation in this way. The whole point is Job has no ability and power.
Job 40:23
The river is turbulent, which is the reference of the activity. What is the river trying to do when it floods? It is trying to push the behemoth out, metaphorically speaking. The behemoth is not scared, even when the water runs into its mouth. The idea is that even if the water came into the place where you eat, drink, and breathe it does not disturb the behemoth at all. The behemoth has intrinsic power which allows it to manipulate creation and never be overthrown by creation, does Job have that kind of buff ness? Who is stronger, the behemoth or Job? If it is the behemoth, then Job doesn’t even have control over small things in creation like a river or mountains. So what makes job think he has the ability or power to make anything better?
Job 40:24
The idea in “with his eyes” is when his eyes are on you can you win? The answer is no. Norte that a snare is a trap, you get caught in a trap when you are not looking. Even when Job is looking can he win? Even if he tries to manipulate the situation with his smartness can he win? The answers are no. People will say that the reason man is better is because we can outwit the animals, well, in this case, you don’t win either way. At the end of the day, God’s point is you don’t have the strength of a behemoth. Therefore, you don’t have the right to talk because you don’t know how to do it better, you don’t even have the power to do it better.
For the full lectures, see here: https://adamsetser.com/blog/2015/6/12/job-lecture-series-from-dr-abner-chou