NOTES for Job 40:6-41:10
God's second speech to Job continues the first, but introduces an important new aspect. In essence, the whole text of chapters 40 and 41 is devoted chiefly to describing Behemoth and Leviathan, the creatures that most impressed the author's imagination. Here again, the strength of created beings points to the vastly greater might of the One who created them. Why, then, does God speak about this? What message does the inspired author place on the Lord's lips?
Chapter 40 begins with God's renewed summons to Job to stand before Him and answer for his bold demand for a hearing. The Lord invites Job to display his strength, to accomplish great and glorious deeds, while God's own strength is revealed in the extraordinary creatures described next. Central here is verse 9 in the Synodal numbering, verse 14 in the King James Version: ‘Then I too will acknowledge that your right hand can save you.’ This concerns salvation, which is, of course, beyond human reach. With his own strength, which God invites him to display with a certain irony, Job cannot save himself. It should be said, however, that in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Job is numbered among the righteous who could save themselves by their righteousness—but only themselves.
Thus salvation is beyond human power, including Job's. Job's example matters here because he clearly has something from which he needs to be saved. As we said earlier, Job's condition resembles death in every respect; in the author's conception, Job is almost dying, and shares his suffering with the reader. Yet God, as the text of chapter 40 vividly shows, is incomparably stronger than Job or any other human being. He has the power to condemn and destroy Job, but it is not this obvious fact that concerns the author. What matters is that if anyone has the power to save Job, it is God alone, who has no equal. Thus the author introduces the discussion of God's surpassing might not in order to crush the exhausted Job once and for all, but to offer him a certain mysterious hope.