God's Unembarrassed Dinosaur Text: Job 40:15-24
Introduction: The Cross Examination of Man
We come now to the point in the book of Job where God finally speaks. After thirty-some chapters of Job's lament and the tidy, miserable, and ultimately false syllogisms of his friends, God breaks His silence. But He does not do what modern therapeutic man would expect Him to do. He does not provide Job with a detailed explanation for his suffering. He does not give him a flowchart of the events in the heavenly court. He does not say, "Now Job, here is why your children died, and here is the reason for your boils." To do so would be to submit His eternal counsel to the review of a man made from dust.
Instead, God puts Job on trial. He cross-examines him, not to get information, but to reveal to Job his profound and necessary ignorance. The Lord speaks from a whirlwind, a manifestation of uncontrollable power, and His questions are designed to do one thing: to re-establish the infinite chasm between the Creator and the creature. Job had demanded his day in court, and now he has it. But the roles are reversed. God is the prosecutor, and Job is the one in the dock, being reminded of his finitude.
And what is God's Exhibit A? What evidence does He present to demonstrate His own majesty and man's smallness? He points to two creatures, Behemoth and Leviathan. These are not cuddly pets. They are not symbols of your internal struggles. They are real animals, presented as objective evidence of God's creative genius and untamable power. In our text today, we consider Behemoth. And we must be prepared to take God at His word, because what He describes here is a direct assault on the settled orthodoxies of our secular age. Our generation wants a small, manageable God who creates small, manageable animals that fit neatly into their evolutionary timelines. But the God of the Bible is not embarrassed by His dinosaurs. He boasts about them.
This passage is a polemic against the pride of man. It is God's way of saying, "You think you can run the universe? You think you can judge my ways? You cannot even handle this great beast I made. You cannot control my lizard. How then can you presume to comprehend my providence?" This is the lesson Job needed, and it is the lesson we need. We are not called to understand everything; we are called to trust the One who does.
The Text
Behold now, Behemoth, which I made along with you;
It eats grass like an ox.
Behold now, its power in its loins
And its vigor in the muscles of its belly.
It hangs its tail like a cedar;
The sinews of its thighs are knit together.
Its bones are tubes of bronze;
Its limbs are like bars of iron.
It is the first of the ways of God;
Let its Maker bring near its sword.
Surely the mountains bring it food,
And all the beasts of the field play there.
Under the lotus plants it lies down,
In the hidden place of the reeds and the marsh.
The lotus plants cover it with shade;
The willows of the brook surround it.
If a river oppresses, it is not alarmed;
It is secure, though the Jordan bursts forth to its mouth.
Can anyone capture it before its eyes,
With snares can anyone pierce its nose?
(Job 40:15-24 LSB)
God's Exhibit A (v. 15-18)
God begins His presentation of the evidence with a direct command for Job to look and consider.
"Behold now, Behemoth, which I made along with you; It eats grass like an ox." (Job 40:15)
The first thing to notice is God's direct claim of authorship: "I made" it. This is not the product of a blind, unguided process over millions of years. This is a work of intelligent design by the ultimate Intelligence. And when did He make it? "Along with you." This single phrase is a cannonball fired into the hull of the uniformitarian consensus. The timeline of man and the timeline of this great beast overlap. Men and dinosaurs walked the earth together. The Bible says it, and that settles it, regardless of what the high priests of secularism, in their lab coats, have to say about their rock layers.
And what is this creature? The text says it "eats grass like an ox." This is a picture of immense power combined with herbivorous gentleness. This is not some bloodthirsty monster. It is a testament to God's design that the most powerful land animal He describes is a vegetarian. This points back to the original goodness of the created order, before the curse introduced universal enmity. But do not mistake its diet for weakness. The comparison to an ox highlights its diet, not its size. The verses that follow will make that abundantly clear.
"Behold now, its power in its loins And its vigor in the muscles of its belly. It hangs its tail like a cedar; The sinews of its thighs are knit together. Its bones are tubes of bronze; Its limbs are like bars of iron." (Job 40:16-18)
Here God details the sheer, brute force of this animal. Its power is centered in its core, its loins and belly. This is a description of raw, physical might. But the definitive, identifying mark is its tail. "It hangs its tail like a cedar." A cedar tree is a massive, towering object. This description alone demolishes the pathetic attempts by some commentators to identify Behemoth with a hippopotamus or an elephant. Have you ever seen the tail of a hippo? It is a sad, little twig, a tassel, a comical afterthought. To compare it to a cedar is not just an exaggeration; it is a falsehood. God does not lie. This is a description of a massive, muscular tail, one that acts as a counterbalance for a long neck, exactly like what we see in the fossil record of the great sauropods, like the Brachiosaurus or Apatosaurus. God is describing a dinosaur, and He is doing so without apology.
The description continues with its internal structure. Its sinews are "knit together," a picture of intricate, powerful weaving. Its bones are like "tubes of bronze" and its limbs like "bars of iron." This is divine engineering. This creature is not fragile. It is built for power, built for might, built to display the awesome creative ability of its Maker.
The Chief of God's Works (v. 19-22)
God then explains the status of this creature in the created order and describes its peaceful domain.
"It is the first of the ways of God; Let its Maker bring near its sword." (Job 40:19)
"The first of the ways of God." This means it is the chief, the masterpiece, the prime example of God's work among the land animals. This is the pinnacle of His terrestrial creation in terms of sheer size and power. And because of this, it is utterly beyond man's control. Only its Maker can approach it with a sword. Only God can master this beast. The point for Job is sharp and clear: if you cannot challenge my creature, you have no standing to challenge me. You are out of your league. This is a lesson in creaturely humility. Man's dominion over the earth is real, but it is delegated and limited. There are some things that only God can handle, and Behemoth is one of them.
This is also a polemic against the pagan myths. In the Babylonian stories, the gods create by slaying a chaotic monster. Here, the one true God creates a magnificent beast, not to fight it, but to display His own glory. He is its master, not its rival.
"Surely the mountains bring it food, And all the beasts of the field play there. Under the lotus plants it lies down, In the hidden place of the reeds and the marsh. The lotus plants cover it with shade; The willows of the brook surround it." (Job 40:20-22)
Despite its immense power, the Behemoth lives in a state of peace. The creation serves it; "the mountains bring it food." It does not terrorize its environment. In fact, "all the beasts of the field play there." This is a picture of shalom. The other animals are not terrified of it. Its size does not equate to menace. It lies down in the shade, secure and at rest. This is a portrait of God's good creation, where even the most powerful creatures have their place in a harmonious order, under the sovereign eye of God.
Untamable and Unafraid (v. 23-24)
The final verses underscore the creature's absolute security and invulnerability to man.
"If a river oppresses, it is not alarmed; It is secure, though the Jordan bursts forth to its mouth." (Job 40:23)
Even the power of a raging flood does not disturb it. The Hebrew for "oppresses" can mean to rage or surge violently. When the river becomes a torrent, Behemoth is unconcerned. It is so massive, so secure, that a force of nature that would sweep away men and lesser beasts does not even alarm it. This is a picture of supreme confidence and stability, grounded in the way God made it. Its security is a reflection of the security of God's own power.
"Can anyone capture it before its eyes, With snares can anyone pierce its nose?" (Job 40:24)
God concludes with two rhetorical questions aimed directly at Job, and by extension, at all mankind. Can you capture this thing? Can you lead it around with a rope through its nose, as you would a domesticated ox? The answer is an emphatic and humbling no. Man cannot tame it. Man cannot subdue it. Man cannot make it his servant.
This is the culmination of the argument. Job, you feel that your life is out of control, that the torrent of suffering is overwhelming you. You have demanded that I, the Almighty, answer for this. But look. Look at this creature. You cannot even control the Behemoth. It is a living, breathing monument to the gap between your power and Mine. If you cannot master this one small part of my creation, how can you possibly think you are in a position to judge the whole of my providence? The point is not that God is cruel, but that God is God, and Job is not.
The Gospel of Behemoth
So what are we to do with this great beast? We are to do what Job did. We are to repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6). Not because we have been given a neat answer, but because we have been given a vision of God's unsearchable greatness. The purpose of Behemoth is to crush our pride and drive us to worship.
But the story does not end there. For there is a greater monster than Behemoth, and that is the monster of our sin. There is a greater, more chaotic power, and that is the power of death and the Devil, that great Leviathan. And we are utterly powerless before it. We cannot capture it with snares or pierce its nose. We are undone by it.
But the one who made Behemoth, the one who alone can bring near its sword, is the one who came to do battle for us. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Word through whom Behemoth was made, is the one who faced down that ancient serpent. On the cross, He took the raging flood of God's wrath, a torrent far greater than the Jordan, and was not swept away. He absorbed it all. He crushed the head of the dragon.
The power that knit together the sinews of Behemoth's thighs is the same power that knits together the church, the body of Christ. The power that forged its bones from bronze is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The God who boasts of His dinosaur is the God who is not ashamed to call us brethren.
Therefore, when you are confronted with the massive, untamable problems in your life, when you are tempted to demand answers from God, remember Behemoth. Remember that the God who is sovereign over that beast is sovereign over your circumstances. Your suffering is not outside His control. Your fears are not beyond His power. The point of the whirlwind is not to get an explanation. The point is to get a God. And in Jesus Christ, we have Him.