Job 40:23

Job 40:23

Behold, he drinketh up a river.

Christian confidence

We have often wondered what was meant by the singular action of behemoth in Job 40:23, “Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.” What does that mean? It means nothing. The revisers set forth the meaning very clearly, “Behold, if a river overflow he trembleth not”; he is confident though Jordan swell up to his mouth. That is just what men should be who put their trust in God. “Behold, if a river overflow, he trembleth not”; he says, It is all in the hand of God: the river is overflowing my meadows and carrying away my hay harvest, I do not fear or fret, it is not my harvest, it is God’s. “He is confident though Jordan swell up to his mouth”; he does not begin to fear when he sees Jordan, but when Jordan doubles itself, swells, expands, rises, floods over, and comes up to his very neck, and then to his chin, and then to his very mouth, he says, I shall still be saved. Over the brimming river he breathes his assurance of triumph through the power of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)

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