to lie down (for rest · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
trees
צֶאֱלִ֥יםtze.'e.Lim
H6628
the lotus tree · noun, common masculine plural absolute
covert
בְּסֵ֖תֶרbe.Se.ter
H5643
a cover (in a good or a bad · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
reed
קָנֶ֣הka.Neh
H7070
a reed (as erect) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fens
וּבִצָּֽהu.vi.Tzah
H1207
a swamp · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 19:6-7 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
Isaiah 35:7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be gr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 40:15–end
God, for the further proving of his own power and disproving of Job's pretensions, concludes his discourse with the description of two vast and mighty animals, far exceeding man in bulk and strength, one he calls behemoth, the other leviathan. In these verses we have the former described. "Behold now behemoth, and consider whether thou art able to contend with him who made that beast and gave him all the power he has, and whether it is not thy wisdom rather to submit to him and make thy peace with him." Behemoth signifies beasts in general, but must here be meant of some one particular species. Some understand it of the bull; others of an amphibious animal, well known (they say) in Egypt, ca…
lieth--He leads an inactive life.
shady trees--rather, "lotus bushes"; as Job 40:22 requires.
Adam Clarke on Job 40:21
He lieth under the shady trees - This and the following verses refer to certain habits of the behemoth, with which we are and must be unacquainted,
John Gill on Job 40:21
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 b…
He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, in moist places. 5. Overshadowing is sometimes used in Holy Scripture for the Incarnation of the Lord, or the cooling of the mind from the heat of carnal thoughts; whence by the expression 'shadow' this cooling of the heart in consequence of heavenly protection is usually spoken of. But sometimes 'shadow' is taken to mean the numbness of the frozen minds when charity departs. For that the Incarnation of the Lord is signified by the term overshadowing, still preserving the truth of the history, the word of the Angel attests, who says to Mary, The Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. [Luke 1, 35] For because a shadow is caused in no other way than by a light and a body, the Power of the Highest overshadowed her, because the incorporeal Light assumed a body in her womb. By which overshadowing in truth she received in herself every refreshment of mind. Again, by 'shadow' is expressed the refreshment of the heart by reason of heavenly protection, as the Psalmist says, Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings. [Ps. 17, 8] Or as the Bride in the Song of Songs, having waited for the coming of the Bridegroom, announces, saying, I sat down under the shadow of Him, Whom I had longed for. [Cant. 2, 3] As if she said, I rested under the protection of His coming from the heat of carnal desires. Again, by 'shadow' is expressed the numbness of the frozen mind, when charity departs, as is said of sinful man, that he sought the shadow. For man, flying from the warmth of charity, has forsaken the sun of truth, and hid himself under the shade of inward cold. Whence it is said by the voice of the same Truth, Iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold. [Matt. 24, 12] Whence the first man, after his sin, is found hid amidst the trees of paradise at the cool after midday ['ad auram']. [Gen. 3, 8] For since he had lost the midday warmth of charity, he was already benumbed beneath the shadow of sin, as if under the cold of the air. 6. Because then this Behemoth finds a kind of rest in those, whom he chills by withdrawing from the light of the true Sun, he is said to sleep under the shadow. But sometimes by 'shadow,' if used with the addition of the word 'death,' is expressed either the death of the flesh, or any reprobates, who by their eagerness in evil doing imitate the darkness of the ancient enemy.…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Behemoth — (Job 40:15-24). Some have supposed this to be an Egyptian word meaning a “water-ox.” The Revised Version has here in the margin “hippopotamus,” which is probably the correct rendering of the word.…
Cane — A tall sedgy plant with a hollow stem, growing in moist places. In Isa. 43:24; Jer. 6:20, the Hebrew word kaneh is thus rendered, giving its name to the plant. It is rendered “reed” in 1 Kings 14:15;…
Reed — (1.) “Paper reeds” (Isa. 19:7; R.V., “reeds”). Heb. ‘aroth, properly green herbage growing in marshy places. (2.) Heb. kaneh (1 Kings 14:15; Job 40:21; Isa. 19:6), whence the Gr. kanna, a “cane,” a…
Herbs, & C · Mentioned in scripture: Reeds — Mentioned in scripture: Reeds
Trees · Afford an agreeable shade in eastern countries during the heat of the day — Afford an agreeable shade in eastern countries during the heat of the day
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Job 40:19–end
19 He is the firstling of the ways of God;
He, his Maker, reached to him his sword.
20 For the mountains bring forth food for him,
And all the beasts of the field play beside him.
21 Under the lote-trees he lieth down,
In covert of reeds and marsh.
22 Lote-trees cover him as shade,
The willows of the brook encompass him.
23 Behold, if the stream is strong, he doth not quake;
He remaineth cheerful, if a Jordan breaketh forth upon his mouth.
24 Just catch him while he is looking,
With snares let one pierce his nose!
God's ways is the name given to God's operations as the Creator of the world in Job 40:19 (comp. Job 26:14, where His acts as the Ruler of the world are included); and the firstlin…
Following a list of natural animals (39:1-30), God described Behemoth (40:15-24) and Leviathan (41:1-34) as creatures that man cannot tame. Job couldn’t tame the wild donkey or ox (39:5-12), let alone Behemoth and Leviathan (40:15-24), but God created them and could control them, and Job had to acknowledge it (41:2). • Here Behemoth seems to be a natural creature: (1) It is an animal that God made, just as he made Job (40:15); (2) it is not a dreadful predator but eats grass like an ox (40:15); and (3) it is in a poem describing God’s creation of the natural order, rather than in a mythological story of the world’s formation. Most commentators identify Behemoth with the hippopotamus, a huge,…
