the lotus tree · noun, common masculine plural absolute
cover
יְסֻכֻּ֣הוּye.su.Ku.hu
H5526
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
shadow
צִֽלֲל֑וֹtzi.la.Lo
H6752
shade · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
willows
עַרְבֵי'ar.vei-
H6155
a willow (from the use of osiers as wattles) · noun, common masculine plural construct
brook
נָֽחַלNa.chal
H5158
a stream · noun, common masculine singular absolute
about
יְ֝סֻבּ֗וּהוּye.su.Bu.hu
H5437
to revolve · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Leviticus 23:40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the…
Isaiah 15:7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
Ezekiel 17:5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
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…
The willows of the brook compass him - This would agree well enough with the hippopotamus.
John Gill on Job 40:22
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 bein…
The words "the shadows surround it." Because of the size of the animal, [the author says], anywhere it goes, it casts shadows around it. The words "the crows like a torrent surround it." [This is said] because the habit of these birds is to approach and croak anytime they see something terrifying.
The shadows cover his shadow. 10. For all the wicked are in truth shadows of the devil: for while they give themselves up to imitate his iniquity, they derive, as it were, a form of resemblance from his body. But as the reprobate are his 'shadows' in the plural number, so each separate sinner is his 'shadow' in the singular. But when the wicked gainsay the teaching of the just, when they do not permit any wicked person to be corrected by them, the shadows of this Behemoth cover his shadow; because sinners, whenever they are conscious to themselves of sin, support another sinner in the same course. His shadows cover his shadow, when the more wicked support by their misdirected patronage the doings of the most wicked. And this they doubtless do with this object, that, while the fault, with which they themselves are bound, is corrected in others, they may not at last be reached themselves. They cover themselves therefore, when they protect others, because they foresee that their own conduct is attacked, by the same means as they see others confounded with bold reproof. And thus it happens, that while the aggregate of sins is defended, it is also increased, and that the guilt of each person is more easy of commission, the more difficult it is of punishment. For the evil doings of sinners derive so much greater increase, the longer they are permitted, through the defence of the powerful, to remain unpunished. But such persons, whether they seem to be within or without Holy Church, display themselves more openly as the enemies of God, the greater patrons they are of sins. For in defending themselves they fight against Him, Who is displeased with those doings, which they multiply, by defending them. Which conduct the Lord by the Prophet well reproves, under the character of Babylon, saying; Thorns and nettles shall spring up in her houses, and the bramble in the fortresses thereof. [Is. 34, 13] For what do we understand by 'nettles,' but the irritations of thoughts, and what by 'thorns,' but the piercings of sins? Nettles therefore and thorns spring up in the houses of Babylon, because in the disorder of a reprobate mind there arise longings of thoughts which exasperate, and sinful deeds which wound. But they who act thus have others also more wicked than themselves as their defenders. Whence he there fitly subjoined immediately, And the bramble in the fortresses…
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.…
Willows — (1.) Heb. ‘arabim (Lev. 23:40; Job 40:22; Isa. 15:7; 44:3, 4; Ps. 137:1, 2). This was supposed to be the weeping willow, called by Linnaeus Salix Babylonica, from the reference in Ps. 137. This tree…
Brooks · Borders of, favourable to: Willows — Borders of, favourable to: Willows
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).
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,…
Do the shadows cover him as his shadow [Does] the shadow of the covert of the reeds and the swamp, which is entangled [or surrounded—Berechiah] and hedged around with [many] trees.