Job 40
God Continues (40:1–24)
1–2 In Chapters 40 and 41, we are given the second part of God's remarkable speech to Job—and to us. Here God pauses to see if Job has any response to make.
3–5 Job's response is brief: “I am unworthy ...I will say no more”79 (verses 4–5). Job's reply is much briefer than the long speeches he gave in the earlier parts of the book! And this is what happens when a man meets God “face to face”: he is awe-stricken, humbled, silenced. Job had said, “. . . like a prince I would approach God” (Job 31:37). Job felt like a “prince” no longer.
Here we see one of God's main purposes in speaking to Job—and to us: God wanted to destroy Job's pride and self-righteousness. And God accomplished that. Job's desire to be vindicated was gone: “I am unworthy.” Job needed to be brought to the “end” of himself, brought to the point where he could give no defense, no answer. At that point, Job would be ready to accept God's true role in his life—the role of Lord and Master. Job needed to die to himself (John 12:24), to deny himself (Mark 8:34), and to surrender totally to God (see Genesis 22:15–19 and comment). Only then would he be fully restored, fully blessed, and fully used to God's glory. And what was true for Job over three thousand years ago is equally true for us today.
However, God was not yet finished with Job. Job had been humbled and silenced; he had confessed his unworthiness. But that was not enough. Job still felt he had suffered unjustly; he still questioned the moral order God had established; he still wondered why the righteous suffered and the wicked prospered.
So Job had to be shown that God was not only the Creator and Sustainer of the universe but He was also its Lawgiver and Judge—a Judge who was always right and always just. And when Job had heard all this, his response was not merely a confession of his unworthiness but it was also a confession of his sinfulness before God: “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Then, and only then, was Job ready to be restored.
6–14 In the first part of His speech (Chapters 38–39), God had revealed to Job the in finite wisdom and power with which He had created the universe and everything in it. But now God sets out to show Job that He has created not merely an amazing universe but also a moral universe. And God starts out by rebuking Job for questioning His justice:80 “Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (verse 8). God rules the universe not only with power but also with justice.
Then, in verses 9–14, God gives Job a challenge. If Job wants to question God's justice, then let him try to exercise justice. Does Job think he has an arm like God's?81 (verse 9). If so, let him adorn himself like God (verse 10); let him punish the wicked (verses 11–13). If Job can do that, then God will admit he is able to save (justify) himself (verse 14).
Of course, Job knew he had no such power. Only God had the power to create and the power to save. God alone, in due time, would punish the wicked and justify the godly. Job needed to see God as both Creator and Savior. Job was no longer to take justice into his own hands; he would have to trust God and leave the exercise of justice to Him. If God had the power to crush the wicked (verse 12), He surely had the wisdom to know when and how to do it.
15 In order to show that He had the power to overcome evil and punish the wicked, God cited the examples of two huge and fearful creatures,which He had created: the behemoth and the leviathan (Job 41:1).
God describes these two creatures in detail to show Job (and us) that He has control over even the biggest and fiercest of monsters. These creatures are real, not imaginary; concerning the behemoth, God says, “I made it.” But the two creatures also represent the forces of evil and chaos in the world; they are symbols of wickedness, over which God has complete control.
In fact, the behemoth and the leviathan are symbols of Satan.82 They, like Satan, are stronger than humans; they, like Satan, seek to disrupt the fellowship between God and humans. We might ask: Why doesn't God just talk about Satan instead of spending so much time describing these two monsters? The answer: Job must not know about Satan's role in his suffering; Satan's name must not be mentioned. If Job knew that Satan had been behind his troubles, his faith could not have been tested. Furthermore, Job could not have been a model for us, who must often suffer without knowing why. Not knowing why is one of the hardest things about suffering; like Job, the sufferer feels that God has turned against him and he doesn't know the reason.
16–24 The description of the behemoth in these verses is highly poetic and figurative. The actual behemoth was possibly an ancient elephant or hippopotamus. It was the largest and strongest of land animals; it ranked first among the works of God—presumably “first” in size—but its Maker could slay it with his sword (verse 19). What God makes He can surely “unmake”! Job, on the other hand, can neither make such a monster nor subdue it (verse 24).
