Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

The willows of the brook compass him - This would agree well enough with the hippopotamus.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The shady trees - Probably the “lote-trees;” see the note at Job 40:21. The same word is used here.

The willow-trees of the brook - Of the “stream,” or “rivulet.” The Hebrew word (נחל nachal ) means rather “a wady;” a gorge or gulley, which is swollen with torrents in the winter, but which is frequently dry in summer; see the notes at Job 6:15. Willows grew commonly on the banks of rivers. They could not be cultivated in the desert; Isaiah 15:7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The shady trees cover him with their shadow,.... Under which it lies, as in Job 40:21; which is thought not so well to agree with the elephant, since, according to Aelianus^F8Ibid. (Aelian. de Animal.) c. 31. and other writers, it lies not down, at least but rarely, but sleeps standing; it being very troublesome to it to lie down and rise up again; and besides it is represented by some authors^F9Ibid. l. 7. c. 6. as higher than the trees, and therefore this is supposed to agree better with the river horse; especially since it follows,

the willows of the brook compass him about; or the willows of the Nile, as some choose to render it; which would put it out of all doubt that the river horse is intended, if it could be established, it being an inhabitant of that river; and yet the above writer^F11Ibid. c. 2. speaks of elephants, when grown old, seeking large thick and shady woods to take up their abode in.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

shady trees — Translate: “lotus bushes.”

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

Brook — Or, of the Nile, of which this word is often used in scripture. His constant residence is in or near this river, or the willows that grow by it.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 40:22 The shady trees cover him [with] their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

Ver. 22. The shady trees cover him with their shadow, &c.] He leaneth against those trees and sleepeth, for lie down and rise again he cannot, for want of joints in his limbs. And why may not we conceive the trees in those parts big enough to overshade the elephant, when, as in America, but especially in Brazil, the trees are so huge that it is reported of them that several families have lived in several arms of one tree, to such a number as are in some petty village or parish among us? (Abbot’s Geog., p. 271.)

The willows of the brook compass him about] To shelter him from the wind and cold. And although they cannot swim, they are so big, yet they love to be about pools and brooks for shade, and to ease their thirst; for the elephant drinketh off fourteen firkins of water in a morning, saith Aristotle, and eight at night, as it followeth,

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Of the brook; or, of Nilus, of which this word is oft used in Scripture. And this seems to be the chief argument by which the learned Bochart proves this to be meant of the hippopotamus, whose constant residence is in or near the river of Nilus, or the willows that grow by it. But it is well alleged by our learned and judicious Caryl, that this word Naal is never used to express Nilus when it is put by itself, as here it is, but only where the word Egypt is added to it, as it is in all the places which Bochart produceth. And this very phrase,

the willows of the brook, is used of other brooks or rivers besides Nilus, as Leviticus 23:40: compare Isaiah 15:7.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

22.The willows — A kind of weeping willow, (salix Babylonica,) same as in Psalms 137:2. Of the new Israel, Isaiah tenderly says, they shall spring up as “willows (ibid.) by the water courses.” Chap. Job 44:4.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Will it lay aside its ferocity, (Haydock) and flatter thee? (Menochius)

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the willows

Leviticus 23:40; Isaiah 15:7; Ezekiel 17:5