Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 40:14

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

14. The verse reads,

Then will I also praise thee,

That thine own right hand can save thee.

If Job will shew himself worthy of that place to which he aspires when he reproves the rule of God in the universe, then even Jehovah Himself, who elsewhere says, “Is there a God beside me? yea there is no God; I know not any” (Isa 44:8), will admit his independent might, and laud him as one whose own right hand can save him, comp. Psa 98:1; Isa 59:16; Isa 63:5.

15 ch. Job 41:34. Description of two monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan.

Many writers consider the two passages, ch. Job 40:15-24 and ch. 41, in which Behemoth and Leviathan are described, to be interpolations (see the Introduction). Whether the passages be interpolations or parts of the original poem, the meaning of their introduction in this place will be the same.

In ch. Job 40:6-14 Jehovah invited Job to assume the rule of the world, and to bring low all opposing forces of evil. He is able to do this, seeing he challenges the rule of the Almighty. And to bring to his consciousness whether he is able or not two creatures, the work of God’s hand like himself ( Job 40:15), are brought before him and the question put, Is he able to enter into conflict with them and subdue them? Is he therefore able to assume the rule of the world or to enter into conflict with the Creator of these formidable monsters? “Who then will stand before me?” ch. Job 41:9-11.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then will I also confess unto thee … – If you can do all this, it will be full proof that you can save yourself, and that you do not need the divine interposition. If he could do all this, then it might be admitted that he was qualified to pronounce a judgment on the divine counsels and dealings. He would then show that he had qualifications for conducting the affairs of the universe.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 14. Thine own right hand can save thee.] It is the prerogative of God alone to save the human soul. Nothing less than unlimited power, exerted under the direction and impulse of unbounded mercy, can save a sinner. This is most clearly asserted in this speech of Jehovah: When thou canst extend an arm like God, i.e., an uncontrollable power – when thou canst arm thyself with the lightning of heaven, and thunder with a voice like God – when thou canst deck thyself with the ineffable glory, beauty, and splendour of the supreme majesty of Jehovah – when thou canst dispense thy judgments over all the earth, to abase the proud, and tread down the wicked – when thou canst as having the keys of hell and death, blend the high and the low in the dust together; then I will acknowledge to thee that thy own right hand can save thee. In other words: Salvation belongeth unto the Lord; no man can save his own soul by works of righteousness which he has done, is doing, or can possibly do, to all eternity. Without Jesus every human spirit must have perished everlastingly. Glory be to God for his unspeakable gift!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

i.e. That thou art mine equal, and mayst venture to contend with me. But since thou canst do none of these things, it behoves thee to submit to me, and to acquiesce in my dealings with thee.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. confessrather, “extol”;”I also,” who now censure thee. But since thou canstnot do these works, thou must, instead of censuring, extol Mygovernment.

thine own . . . hand . . .save (Ps 44:3). So as toeternal salvation by Jesus Christ (Isa 59:16;Isa 63:5).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. From all his enemies temporal and spiritual, and out of all evils and calamities whatsoever; and that he stood in no need of his help and assistance, yea, that he was a match for him, and might be allowed to contend with him; but whereas he was not able to do the above things proposed to him, it could not be admitted that his own right hand could save him; and therefore ought quietly to submit to the sovereignty of God over him, and to all the dispensations of his providence, and be humbled under his mighty hand, since no hand but his could save him; as no man’s right hand can save him from temporal evils and enemies, and much less from spiritual ones, or with an everlasting salvation; nor any works of righteousness done by him, only the arm of the Lord has wrought salvation, and his right hand only supports and saves. Two instances are given in this and the following chapter, the one of a land animal, the other of a sea animal, as is generally supposed; or it may be of amphibious ones, that live both on land and water.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

14. Confess unto The Hebrew also means praise, and is thus rendered by Ewald, Delitzsch, etc. If Job can do all this which God has suggested, then God will acknowledge that he is not only great in speech and faultfinding, (Hirtzel,) but that he is mighty to “save himself,” and able to carry into execution his inflated ideas of justice.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 40:14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

Ver. 14. Then will I also confess unto thee, &c. ] Or, I will give praise unto thee, as thou by right shouldest do to me; not for my goodness only, but for my greatness and majesty also, in destroying the wicked. See David doing it, Psa 18:27 , and Moses, Exo 15:1 , and the whole choir of heaven, Rev 19:1-2 .

And that thine own right hand can save thee ] That thou art self sufficient, and my peer; strong enough to maintain thine own cause, and that thou hast some show of reason to withstand me, Et ego quoque praedicabo te heroa (Tig.). This is that which we all naturally, but foolishly, fancy, viz. that we are petty gods within ourselves; we would be absolute and independent, when in truth all that we have is derivative: the Church’s beauty is borrowed, Eze 16:3-14 , and we may say of all that we are, as he did with his hatchet, Alas! master, I borrowed it, 2Ki 6:5 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

that: Psa 44:3, Psa 44:6, Isa 40:29, Rom 5:6, Eph 2:4-9

Reciprocal: 2Co 1:9 – that

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

40:14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can {d} save thee.

(d) Proving by this that whoever attributes to himself power and ability to save himself, makes himself God.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes