Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
He is the chief of the ways of God - In size and strength. The word rendered "chief" is used in a similar sense in Numbers 24:20, "Amalek was the first of the nations;" that is, one of the most powerful and mighty of the nations.
He that made him can make his sword approach unto him - According to this translation, the sense is, that God had power over him, notwithstanding his great strength and size, and could take his life when he pleased. Yet this, though it would be a correct sentiment, does not seem to be that which the connection demands. That would seem to require some allusion to the strength of the animal; and accordingly, the translation suggested by Bochart, and adopted substantially by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, Noyes, Schultens, Prof. Lee, and others, is to be preferred - "He that made him furnished him with a sword." The allusion then would be to his strong, sharp teeth, hearing a resemblance to a sword, and designed either for defense or for the purpose of cutting the long grass on which it fed when on the land. The propriety of this interpretation may be seen vindicated at length in Bochart, "Hieroz." P. ii. Lib. v. c. xv. pp. 766, 762. The ̔́ harpē , i. e. the sickle or scythe, was ascribed to the hippopotamus by some of the Greek writers. Thus, Nicander, "Theriacon," verse 566:
̔́, ̀ ͂ ́ ́ ̓
́, ̓́ ̀ ̀ ̓́
̔́.
Ee hippon , ton Neilos huper Sain aithaloessan
Boskei , arourēsin de kakēn epiballetai .
Harpēn
On this passage the Scholiast remarks, "The ̔́ harpē , means a sickle, and the teeth of the hippopotamus are so called - teaching that this animal consumes ( ́ trōgei ) the harvest." See Bochart also for other examples. A slight inspection of the "cut" will show with what propriety it is said of the Creator of the hippopotamus, that he had armed him with a sickle, or sword.
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