Job 40:17
Ver. 17. He moveth his tail like a cedar,.... To which it is compared, not for the length and largeness of it; for the tail both of the elephant and of the river horse is short; though Vartomannus {c} says, the tail of the elephant is like a buffalo's, and is four hands long, and thin of hair: but because of the smoothness, roundness, thickness, and firmness of it; such is the tail of the river horse, being like that of a hog or boar {d}; which is crooked, twisted, and which it is said to turn back and about at pleasure, as the word used is thought to signify. Aben Ezra interprets it, "maketh to stand": that is, stiff and strong, and firm like a cedar. One writer {e} speaks of the horse of the Nile, as having a scaly tail; but he seems to confound it with the sea horse. Junius interprets it of its penis, its genital part; to which the Targum in the King's Bible is inclined: and Cicero {f} says, the ancients used to call that the tail; but that of the elephant, according to Aristotle {g}, is but small, and not in proportion to the size of its body; and not in sight, and therefore can hardly be thought to be described; though the next clause seems to favour this sense:the sinews of his stones are wrapped together; if by these are meant the testicles, as some think, so the Targums; the sinews of which were wreathed, implicated and ramified, like branches of trees, as Montanus renders it. Bochart interprets this of the sinews or nerves of the river horse, which having such plenty of them, are exceeding strong; so that, as some report, this creature will with one foot sink a boat {h}; I have known him open his mouth, says a traveller {i}, and set one tooth on the gunnel of a boat, and another on the second strake from the keel, more than four feet distant, and there bite a hole through the plank, and sink the boat.{c} Navigat. l. 4. c. 9. {d} Aristot. Plin. Solin. & Isidore ut supra. (See Job 40:16.) {e} Nicet. Choniat. apud Fabrit. Gr. Bibliothec. vol. 6. p. 410. {f} Epist. l. 9. ep. 22. {g} Hist. Amimal. l. 2. c. 1. {h} Apud Hierozoic, par. 2. l. 5. c. 14. col. 758. {i} Dampier's Voyages, vol. 2. part 2. p. 105. Job 40:18Ver. 18. His bones [are as] strong pieces of brass: his bones [are] as bars of iron. Than which nothing is stronger. The repetition is made for greater illustration and confirmation; but what is said is not applicable to the elephant, whose bones are porous and rimous, light and spongy for the most part, as appears from the osteology {k} of it; excepting its teeth, which are the ivory; though the teeth of the river horse are said to exceed them in hardness {l}; and artificers say {m} they are wrought with greater difficulty than ivory. The ancients, according to Pausanias {n}, used them instead of it; who relates, that the face of the image of the goddess Cybele was made of them: and Kircher {o} says, in India they make beads, crucifixes, and statues of saints of them; and that they are as hard or harder than a flint, and fire may be struck out of them. So the teeth of the morss, a creature of the like kind in the northern countries, are valued by the inhabitants as ivory {p}, for hardness, whiteness, and weight, beyond it, and are dearer and much traded in; See Gill on "Job 40:20"; but no doubt not the teeth only, but the other bones of the creature in the text are meant.{k} In Philosoph. Transact. vol. 5. p. 155, 156. {l} Odoardus Barbosa apud Bochart. ut supra. (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14. col. 758.) {m} Diepenses apud ib. {n} Arcadica, sive, l. 8. p. 530. {o} China cum Monument. p. 193. {p} Olaus Magnus, ut supra, (De Ritu. Septent. Gent.) l. 2. c. 19. Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 115. Job 40:19Ver. 19. He [is] the chief of the ways of God,.... Or the beginning of them, that is, of the works of God in creation; which must be restrained to animals, otherwise there were works wrought before any of them were created. There were none made before the fifth day of the creation, and on that day was the river horse made; in which respect it has the preference to the elephant, not made till the sixth day. But if this phrase is expressive of the superior excellency of behemoth over other works of God, as it seems to be, it must be limited to the kind of which it is; otherwise man is the chief of all God's ways or works, made either on the fifth or sixth day: and so as the elephant may be observed to be the chief of the beasts of the earth, or of land animals, for its largeness and strength, its sagacity, docility, gentleness, and the like; so the river horse may be said to be the chief of its kind, of the aquatic animals, or of the amphibious ones, for the bulk of its body, which is not unlike that of the elephant, as says Diodorus Siculus {q}; and it has been by some called the Egyptian elephant {r}; and also from its great sagacity, of which instances are given by some writers {s}. However, it is one of the chief works of God, or a famous, excellent, and remarkable one, which may be the sense of the expression; see Nu 24:20. It might be remarked in favour of the elephant, that it seems to have its name from Pla, the first and chief; as the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is called "aleph"; unless it should have its name from this root, on account of its docility;he that made him can make his sword to approach [unto him]; not the sword of God, as if this creature could not be killed by any but by him that made it; for whether the elephant or river horse be understood, they are both to be taken and slain: but the sword of behemoth is that which he himself is furnished with; which some understand of the trunk of the elephant, with which he defends himself and annoys others; but that has no likeness of a sword. Bochart {t} renders the word by "harpe", which signifies a crooked instrument, sickle or scythe; and interprets it of the teeth of the river horse, which are sharp and long, and bent like a scythe. That which Thevenot {u} saw had four great teeth in the lower jaw, half a foot long, two whereof were crooked; and one on each side of the jaw; the other two were straight, and of the same length as the crooked, but standing out in the length: see the figure of it in Scheuchzer {w}; by which it also appears to have six teeth. Another traveller says {x}, of the teeth of the sea horse, that they are round like a bow, and about sixteen inches long, and in the biggest part more than six inches about: but another relation {y} agrees more nearly with Thevenot and Scheuchzer; that four of its teeth are longer than the rest, two in the upper jaw, one on each side, and two more in the under; these last are four or five inches long, the other two shorter; with which it mows down the corn and grass in great quantities: so that Diodorus Siculus {z} observes, that if this animal was very fruitful, and brought forth many young and frequently, the fields in Egypt would be utterly destroyed. This interpretation agrees with what follows.{q} Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 136. & l. 3. p. 173. 174. 175.) {r} Achilles Tatius, l. 4. {s} Ammian. Marcellin. Plin. Solin. ut supra. Vid. Plin. l. 28. c. 8. {t} Ut supra, (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14.) col. 760. {u} Travels, part 1. c. 72. {w} Physic. Sacr. tab. 532. {x} Dampier's Voyages, vol. 2. part 2. p. 105. {y} Capt. Rogers apud Dampier, ib. p. 106. {z} Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 136. & l. 3. p. 173. 174. 175.) Job 40:20Ver. 20. Surely the mountains bring him forth food,.... Grass, which grows on mountains, and is the food of the river horse as well as of the elephant; and therefore is furnished with teeth like a scythe to mow it down; and it is not a small quantity that will suffice it, mountains only can supply it; and marvellous it is that a creature bred in a river should come out of it to seek its food on mountains. There is a creature in the northern parts, as in Russia, Greenland, &c. which is called morss and sea morss, and by the description of it is much like the river horse, of the size of an ox, and having an head like one, with two large long teeth standing out of its upper jaw, and an hairy skin {a}, said to be an inch thick, and so tough that no lance will enter it {b}; it comes out of the sea, and by its teeth gets up to the tops of mountains, and having fed on grass rolls itself down again into the sea; and this it does by putting its hinder feet to its teeth, and so falls from the mountain with great celerity, as on a sledge {c};where all the beasts of the field play; skip and dance, and delight in each other, being in no fear of behemoth; whether understood of the elephant or river horse; since neither of them are carnivorous creatures that feed on other animals, but on grass only; and therefore the beasts of the field may feed with them quietly and securely. Pliny {d} says of the elephant, that meeting with cattle in the fields, it will make signs to them not to be afraid of it, and so they will go in company together.{a} Olaus Magus ut supra, (De Ritu. Septent. Gent.) l. 21. c. 19. Vid. Bochart. ut supra, (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14.) col. 763. Eden's Travels, p. 318. {b} See the North West Fox, p. 232. Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 115, 120. Supplement, p. 194. {c} Olaus Magnus, ut supra, (De Ritu. Septent. Gent. l. 21. c. 19.) & Eden's Travels, ut supra. (p. 318.) {d} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 7. Job 40:21Ver. 21. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed,and fens. This may be thought to agree very well with the river horse, the inhabitant of the Nile, where reeds in great plenty grew, and adjoining to which were fenny and marshy places, and shady trees; and, as historians relate {e}, this creature takes its lodging among high reeds, and in shady places; yea, the reeds and sugar canes, and the leaves of the papyrus, are part of the food on which it lives; and hence the hunters of them sometimes cover their bait with a reed to take them; though it must be allowed that the elephant delights to be about rivers, and in clayey and fenny places {f}, and therefore Aelianus {g} says it may be called the fenny animal.{e} Ammian. Marcellin. l. 22. Bellonius & Achilles Tatius apud Bochart ut supra. (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14. col. 760.) {f} Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 46. Plin. l. 8. c. 10. Aelian. de Animal. l. 9. c. 56. {g} lbid. l. 9. c. 24. Job 40:22Ver. 22. The shady trees cover him [with] their shadow,.... Under which it lies, as in Job 40:21; which is thought not so well to agree with the elephant, since, according to Aelianus {h} and other writers, it lies not down, at least but rarely, but sleeps standing; it being very troublesome to it to lie down and rise up again; and besides it is represented by some authors {i} as higher than the trees, and therefore this is supposed to agree better with the river horse; especially since it follows,the willows of the brook compass him about; or the willows of the Nile, as some choose to render it; which would put it out of all doubt that the river horse is intended, if it could be established, it being an inhabitant of that river; and yet the above writer {k} speaks of elephants, when grown old, seeking large thick and shady woods to take up their abode in.{h} Ibid. (Aelian. de Animal.) c. 31. {i} Ibid. l. 7. c. 6. {k} Ibid. c. 2. Job 40:23Ver. 23. Behold, he drinketh up a river, [and] hasteth not,.... The elephant is indeed a very thirsty animal, and drinks largely; the philosopher {l} says it drinks nine Macedonian bushels at a feeding, and that it will drink fourteen Macedonian measures of water at once, and eight more at noon; but to drink up a river seems to be too great an hyperbole; wherefore the words may be rendered, "Behold, let a river oppress him", or "bear" ever so hard upon him, and come with the greatest force and pressure on him {m}, "he hasteth not" to get out of it; or he is not frightened or troubled, as the Targum; which agrees with the river horse, who walks into the river, and proceeds on in it, with the greatest ease and unconcernedness imaginable; now and then lifting up his head above water to take breath, which he can hold a long time; whereas the elephant cannot wade in the water any longer than his trunk is above it, as the philosopher observes {n}; and Livy {o} speaks of fear and trembling seizing an elephant, when about to be carried over a river in boats;he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan in his mouth; so bold and confident he is, and not at all disturbed with its rapidity; or "though Jordan", or rather any descending flowing stream, "gushes into his mouth", so Mr. Broughton: for perhaps Jordan might not be known by Job; nor does it seem to have any connection with the Nile, the seat of the river horse; which has such large holes in its nostrils, and out of which, water being swallowed down, he can throw it with great force. Diodorus Siculus {p} represents it as lying all day in the water, and employing itself at the bottom of it, easy, careless, and unconcerned.{l} Aristot. ut supra. (l. 9. c. 56.) {m} Vid. Bochart. ut supra, (Apud Hierozic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14.) col. 766. {n} Aristot. ut supra. (l. 9. c. 56.) Vid Aelian. l. 7. c. 15. {o} Hist. l. 21. c. 28. {p} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 31. Isidor. Origin. l. 12. c. 6. Job 40:24Ver. 24. He taketh it with his eyes,.... Or "can men take him before his eyes?" so Mr. Broughton; and others translate it to the same purpose; no, he is not to be taken openly, but privately, by some insidious crafty methods; whether it be understood of the elephant or river horse; elephants, according to Strabo {q} and Pliny {r} were taken in pits dug for them, into which they were decoyed; in like manner, according to some {s}, the river horse is taken; a pit being dug and covered with reeds and sand, it falls into it unawares;[his] nose pierceth through snares; he discerns them oftentimes and escapes them, so that he is not easily taken in them. It is reported of the sea morss {t}, before mentioned, See Gill on "Job 40:20", that they ascend mountains in great herds, where, before they give themselves to sleep, to which they are naturally inclined, they appoint one of their number as it were a watchman; who, if he chances to sleep or to be slain by the hunter, the rest may be easily taken; but if the watchman gives warning by roaring as the manner is, the whole herd immediately awake and fall down from the mountains with great swiftness into the sea, as before described; or, as Mr. Broughton, "cannot men take him, [to pierce] his nose with many snares?" they cannot; the elephant has no nose to be pierced, unless his trunk can be called so, and no hook nor snare can be put into the nose of the river horse. Diodorus Siculus {u} says, it cannot be taken but by many vessels joining together and surrounding it, and striking it with iron hooks, to one of which ropes are fastened, and so the creature is let go till it expires. The usual way of taking it now is, by baiting the hook with the roots of water lilies, at which it will catch, and swallow the hook with it; and by giving it line enough it will roll and tumble about, until, through loss of blood, it faints and dies. The way invented by Asdrubal for killing elephants was by striking a carpenter's chopping axe into his ear {w}; the Jews {x} say a fly is a terror to an elephant, it enters into his nose and torments him grievously.{q} Geograph. l. 15. p. 484. {r} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 8. See Ovington's Voyage to Surat, p. 192, 193. {s} Apud Bochart. ut supra, col. 768. {t} Eden's Travels, p. 318. Supplement to the North East Voyages, p. 94. {u} Bibliothec, l. 1. p. 32. {w} Orosii Hist. l. 4. c. 18. p. 62. Liv. Hist. l. 27. c. 49. {x} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 77. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.