Job 40

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).