Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 40:21
He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
21. the shady trees ] Rather, the lotus trees. And so in Job 40:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He lieth under the shady trees – Referring to his usually inactive and lazy life. He is disposed to lie down in the shade, and especially in the vegetable growth in marshy places on the banks of lakes and rivers, rather than to dwell in the open field or in the upland forest. This account agrees well with the habits of the hippopotamus. The word here and in Job 40:22 rendered shady trees ( tse’eliym), is by Gesenius, Noyes, Prof. Lee, and Schultens, translated lotus, and wild lotus. The Vulgate, Syriac, Rosenmuller, Aben-Ezra, and others, render it shady trees. It occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures, and it is difficult, therefore, to determine its meaning. According to Schultens and Gesenius, it is derived from the obsolete word tsa’al, to be thin, slender; and hence, in Arabic it is applied to the wild lotus – a plant that grows abundantly on the banks of the Nile, and that often serves the wild beasts of the desert for a place of retreat. It is not very important whether it be rendered the lotus, or shades, though the probable derivation of the word seems to favor the former.
In the covert of the reed – It is well known that reeds abounded on the banks of the Nile. These would furnish a convenient and a natural retreat for the hippopotamus.
And fens – bitstsah – marsh, marshy places. This passage proves that the elephant is not here referred to. He is never found in such places.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. He lieth under the shady trees] This and the following verses refer to certain habits of the behemoth, with which we are and must be unacquainted,
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The elephant lies down to rest himself; and it is but fabulous which some writers affirm, that they have no joints in their legs, and so cannot lie down, but sleep or rest themselves standing or leaning against a tree; which is denied and confuted by Aristotle in his History of Living Creatures, 2, 4. and by later writers. For the elephant, being a creature naturally hot, and living generally in hot countries, diligently seeks for and delights in shady and waterish places, as is noted by Aristotle, and after him by Pliny and lian.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. liethHe leads an inactivelife.
shady treesrather,”lotus bushes”; as Job40:22 requires.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed,
and fens. This may be thought to agree very well with the river horse, the inhabitant of the Nile, where reeds in great plenty grew, and adjoining to which were fenny and marshy places, and shady trees; and, as historians relate e, this creature takes its lodging among high reeds, and in shady places; yea, the reeds and sugar canes, and the leaves of the papyrus, are part of the food on which it lives; and hence the hunters of them sometimes cover their bait with a reed to take them; though it must be allowed that the elephant delights to be about rivers, and in clayey and fenny places f, and therefore Aelianus g says it may be called the fenny animal.
e Ammian. Marcellin. l. 22. Bellonius & Achilles Tatius apud Bochart ut supra. (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14. col. 760.) f Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 46. Plin. l. 8. c. 10. Aelian. de Animal. l. 9. c. 56. g lbid. l. 9. c. 24.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) He lieth under the shady trees.If this description applies to any one animal, it seems on the whole more appropriate to the elephant than the hippopotamus. No doubt the judgment of critics has been biased by their pre-conceived notions about the circumstances under which they suppose the Book of Job to have been written; and the author was more likely, it is thought, to have been acquainted with the river-horse of Egypt than with the elephant of India, though, to be sure, elephants abound also in Africa, and may very well have been known to the writer of Job from that quarter, if the other is less likely.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Shady trees Lotus trees. The lotus silvestris, a thorny shrub, bearing fruit-like plumes, growing abundantly in Syria, Arabia, and along the banks of the upper Nile.
The reed Hebrews, kaneh; Greek and Latin, canna, from which probably comes our own word cane. It is a shrub plant, with a knotty root, out of which spring many long, hollow stems; the arundo donax of Linnaeus, which was common on the banks of the Nile. Several species of reed still grow along the Jordan as well as the Nile. According to Rosenmuller, (Biblical Botany, p. 185,) the Hebrews used the word kaneh for reeds in general, and agmon for rushes, as in Job 41:2, which see; also Job 41:20.
And fens Bitsah, rendered mire in Job 8:11. Wilkinson gives a pictorial representation from the monuments, of this animal lying among tall reeds and beneath the shade of the lotus. (Ancient Egyptians, 3:71.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 40:21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
Ver. 21. He lieth under the shady trees ] Vatablus readeth the words questioning thus, Lieth he under the shady trees, in the covert of the reeds and fens? No such matter, he is too big to be shaded by trees; neither can reeds and fens cover him (So R. Levi, and Kimchi). But Aristotle tells us, That he loves to lie by the banks of rivers beset with trees, as being naturally hot, and bred in hot countries; and yet he is impatient with cold and winter (De Hist. Anim. l. 9, c. 46). And therefore when Hannibal brought many elephants out of Africa into italy, they all perished in the cold Alps, except only that one whereupon Hannibal himself rode (Pliny lib. 8, c. 10).
In the covert of the reed, and fens
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the reed: Isa 19:6, Isa 19:7, Isa 35:7
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 40:21-22. He lieth under the shady trees, &c. Or, He lieth down secretly between the shady trees, under the covert of the reed, and in the fens, Houbigant and Heath. The shady trees cover him The Hebrew, literally translated, is, The shady trees, (, tzillo,) his shadow, cover him, or, are his arbour: the willows of the brook, or, as , nachal, is often rendered, of the river, compass him about. Bochart argues, that the elephant is not described here, because he rarely lies down, sed rectus dormit, sleeps standing upright. And he quotes a passage from Marcellinus, exactly parallel to this, to show that it is perfectly applicable to the river-horse, which inter arundines celsas et squalentes nimia densitate cubilia ponit, makes his bed among the lofty reeds and in muddy fens.