Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
Ver. 15. Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee] i.e. The elephant, called behemoth, that is, beasts, in the plural, for his size; as if he were made up of many beasts, Vocatur Bellua per antonomasiam, et θηρ Graec. So David, aggravating his own brutishness, saith, "So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast" (Heb. Behemoth, beasts in the plural) "before thee," Psalms 73:22, that is, as a great beast; his sin swelled in his eyes, as a toad; he befools and bebeasts himself, as reason required; for nothing is more irrational than irreligion.
Which I made with thee] Thy fellow creature, made to serve thee. He is in the Chaldee called פיל Pil; that is, wonderful; because the wonders of God's glory do so marvellously appear in him. Made he was the same day with man, and hath a kind of familiarity and love to him, if brought up with him, doing him great good service in peace and war, and may be taught to adore kings.
He eateth grass like an ox] He is not ravenous nor carnivorous; neither eateth he daily the grass upon a thousand hills, as the Hebrews foolishly fable, and that he is to be killed at the resurrection to feast the saints, as being a creature of a monstrous size (Lyra). As the ox licketh up grass, Numbers 22:4, so doth the elephant; yet not with his tongue (which for so great a beast is but little, neither read we here anything at all of his voice, to teach great men, saith one, not to speak big swollen words), but with his trunk or great snout, called his tail, Job 40:17, as Beza thinketh, because it bears the resemblance of a tail, and is of most marvellous and necessary use to him (Arist. de Nat. Anim. l. 2, c. 4,6). With this he grazeth, and with this he overthroweth trees, and then feedeth upon them. But he doth not proudly abuse the mightiness of his limbs to the hurt of other cattle. Yet he will not be wronged, and is of so great strength that no one man dare assault him.