Job

Job 40:6-24 (ESV) - Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Dress for action like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.
Will you even put me in the wrong?
    Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
Have you an arm like God,
    and can you thunder with a voice like his?

“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
    clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
    and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
    and tread down the wicked where they stand.
Hide them all in the dust together;
    bind their faces in the world below.
Then will I also acknowledge to you
    that your own right hand can save you.

“Behold, Behemoth,
    which I made as I made you;
    he eats grass like an ox.
Behold, his strength in his loins,
    and his power in the muscles of his belly.
He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;
    the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
His bones are tubes of bronze,
    his limbs like bars of iron.

“He is the first of the works of God;
    let him who made him bring near his sword!
For the mountains yield food for him
    where all the wild beasts play.
Under the lotus plants he lies,
    in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.
For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
    the willows of the brook surround him.
Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
    he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
Can one take him by his eyes,
    or pierce his nose with a snare?

Question to consider: What creature do you think fits the description of a Behemoth?

Job may have been finished with God and would proceed no further, but God was not finished with Job. Job had chastised his friends for their miserable comfort, saying, “Shall windy words have an end?” (Job 16:3) However, God had another round of “windy words” for him.

Job had not cursed God, but he did question His character when he didn’t understand God’s actions. What right did Job have to question God, and furthermore, what did Job think he was going to do about it? God challenged Job to first look at the world around him. If he could make himself king over the whole world and cut down all of the prideful and arrogant, maybe then he could have standing before God. 

Or Job should consider Behemoth, preeminent among the land animals. People want to compare the creature to an elephant or hippopotamus, but its tail is described as a cedar. Have you seen the tail of a hippo or an elephant? It wouldn’t be described as anything more than a twig. A rushing river would definitely give trouble to an elephant or a hippo, and the taking of their eyes or hooking of their nose may not be easy, but it is doable.

Personally, the only creature that I know which fits this description is a brontosaurus. Regardless of whether this is the case, the point was that if Job was too intimidated to face such a creature, he shouldn’t think that he would be able to bring judgment against the one who created it.

We can all play the part of an accuser when it comes to God. In our corrupt nature, we tend to think that God needs to justify Himself to us instead of the other way around. People delude themselves into thinking they are going to stand before God and order Him to give an account for the fallen state of the world. Nobody is going to do that.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, please forgive our arrogance in thinking that we can question Your ways. Thank You for revealing Your heart of mercy in scripture, and help us to see the tremendous hope You have given us in Christ. Amen.