Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 40:21

"He lieth under the lotus-trees, In the covert of the reed, and the fen." — Job 40:21 (ASV)

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 preconceived notions about the circumstances under which they suppose the Book of Job to have been written. Consequently, it is thought that the author was more likely to have been acquainted with the river-horse of Egypt than with the elephant of India. Though, certainly, elephants also abound in Africa and may very well have been known to the writer of Job from that region, if the alternative is less likely.