Day 154: Job 40, 41 and 42

If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! (Job 41:9)

In the final chapters of Job, after Job has pleaded his case and his friends have arrogantly and at the same time naively spoken for God, God speaks. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation (38:4)? Have you entered the storehouses of the snow (v. 22)? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons (v. 32)? Do you know when the mountain goats give birth (39:1)? Does the eagle soar at your command (v. 27)?

And Job admits he is no match for the Lord God Almighty (40:4).

God then proceeds to illustrate further his own glory and majesty by pointing to some of his creations that man cannot tame: Look at the behemoth (probably an elephant; possibly the hippopotamus), which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox (v. 15). Can you pull in the leviathan (likely the crocodile) with a fishhook (41:1)?

You gotta laugh at this imagery: If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Though never backing away from his claims of innocence, about this time I’m sure Job was thinking to himself: I challenged God once and I’ll never do that again either!

Have you ever made a hasty and foolish challenge only to think better of it after it was too late?