Job 40 Behemoth: There is in the heart of every person who tries to communicate God’s word a desire to make God’s word relevant to those to whom they’re ministering. And that’s a right and good desire. We want people to see that God’s word applies to their lives where they are. It’s not just theory and hypothetical.

And yet, as we’ve been studying the book of Job for these past months I am struck every so often at how unconcerned God seems to be to make this book “relevant.”

There is something that strikes our flesh as totally irrelevant about 30-some chapters of back-and-forth arguing between four grown men.

And as we’ve recently seen the Lord appear to Job and speak to him – he never once answers any of Job’s accusations. God doesn’t provide explanations. And I speak as a fool when I say this – but it seems like God really just keeps missing opportunity after opportunity to make this book “relevant” as we could consider it.

And yet, at the same time, I think that we’ve seen over and over again that the message that God is communicating through this book is utterly relevant to our lives. To trust God’s wisdom when we don’t understand his ways is a theme that we can’t review too much. It’s one that I know that I and my wife have been blessed with being reminded of over and over.

But we’re going to be in Job chapter 40 today – so you can turn there if you haven’t already. And in this chapter, we’re once again challenged with the seeming irrelevance of what God says here.

Because today in Job 40, verses 15-24, in response to all of Job’s deep questions – in response to Job’s tragic loss of children – in response to Job’s struggle to interpret life as it’s been going for him… God has Job think about an animal. And that animal’s name is Behemoth. That’s just a word that means “cattle” – though we’re going to see that Behemoth is not a bovine.

Now, God asks no questions about Behemoth. He just wants Job to look at and consider this amazing animal. And as strange as it might sound, God wants Job and us to imitate this creature.

If that sounds far-fetched, stay with me. Hopefully you’ll see it too by the end.

Now, God begins by directing Job to consider Behemoth – and he points to both its creation and its diet.

15 [Behold now/Look now at/Look at the] behemoth,

So, Job is told by God to look at this creature. This creature then is one that Job would have apparently had some access to and knowledge of – otherwise, this whole section would have all just flown right over Job’s head. And that’s not what God was aiming for. Job would have been familiar with this beast referred to by God as Behemoth.

And then God wants Job to consider the creation of Behemoth. God says that this creature was “made with Job.” What does that mean?

Well, it could mean that God created this animal on the sixth day just like he created mankind. That would be true. All land animals were created on the same day during Creation Week as was man.

But this could also be the Lord stating more broadly that he created both Behemoth and Job. Even though we’ll see that this animal is amazing in numerous ways, it’s the same God who created both it and Job. God has the right to make both weak and vulnerable Job as well as to create this monstrous beast that he’ll be describing for the rest of this chapter. But it’s God who sovereignly does whatever he wishes.

And finally, God relates to Job the diet of Behemoth. Because even though this animal is so amazing and powerful – the creature apparently was an herb