Job 40: Who is Man, Anyway?

Job 40:8 "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?"

God continues his answer to Job, asking for Job to answer his answer. And I love Job here. He knows already he has no place to question the almighty. Job's like "Uh...I got nothing to say. I'm done speaking.  Go on."

I don't know if God has ever spoken to Job. Has he? It is not recorded anywhere, and Job doesn't make any reference to having heard God speak to him audibly like this. So this in itself could be completely overwhelming to him. Possibly, it was rare that it happened anyway. I cannot imagine how small and insignificant Job must have felt as each word rained down on top him. This was the intent. "Brace yourself like a man," God says in verse 7. God was not fooling around. 

Verse 8 goes on to be what I consider the linchpin of this entire episode. If Job's line of questioning was to be in any way validated, it would indicate that someone was in the wrong. And Job did nothing wrong to deserve what happened to him. Where does this cast the blame? On a perfectly perfect God. If Job was to be justified, God would be condemned, and overall, would cease to be God, nevermind the powers and authority described through verse 14.

The last half of the chapter describes various aspects of the behemoth, and could conceivably be a continuation of chapter 40. This is the only place in the Bible (at least my NIV), where behemoth is mentioned. There are numerous theories as to what behemoth refers to. An elephant, a hippopotamus, a dinosaur? The descriptions in verses 15-24 could point to any of those. All we can really know from the text is that it is a big, bulky, docile animal. It eats plants. It is sturdy enough not to be moved or panicked by storms. It may not do any good to think about if any of these animals are native to Job's land, since God could describe anything, anywhere He wants. 

Its an interesting debate, to be sure, borne out of curiosity, but I don't want to miss out on the bigger point. There are things in this world that cannot be understood, influenced, or contained, and in a way, the behemoth passage is a microcosm of that. God has taken great care...unimaginable, unfathomable care to create this creature, and to contend with it, or fully understand it is impossible.

As an aside, I am increasingly becoming a fan of William Blake's rather unsettling artwork, and his interpretation is extraordinary.