John Gill Commentary Job 40:24

"Shall any take him when he is on the watch, Or pierce through his nose with a snare?" — Job 40:24 (ASV)

He takes it with his eyes
Or "can men take him before his eyes?" so Mr. Broughton; and others translate it to the same purpose; no, he is not to be taken openly, but privately, by some insidious crafty methods; whether it be understood of the elephant or river horse; elephants, according to Strabo ^F17 and Pliny ^F18 were taken in pits dug for them, into which they were decoyed; in like manner, according to some ^F19 , the river horse is taken; a pit being dug and covered with reeds and sand, it falls into it unawares;

[his] nose pierces through snares ;
he often discerns them and escapes them, so that he is not easily taken in them.

It is reported of the sea morss ^F20 , before mentioned, (See Gill on Job 40:20), that they ascend mountains in great herds, where, before they give themselves to sleep, to which they are naturally inclined, they appoint one of their number as it were a watchman; who, if he happens to sleep or to be slain by the hunter, the rest may be easily taken; but if the watchman gives warning by roaring as the manner is, the whole herd immediately awake and fall down from the mountains with great swiftness into the sea, as before described;

or, as Mr. Broughton, "cannot men take him, [to pierce] his nose with many snares?" they cannot; the elephant has no nose to be pierced, unless his trunk can be called so, and no hook nor snare can be put into the nose of the river horse. Diodorus Siculus

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FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Geograph. l. 15. p. 484.
• F18: Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 8. See Ovington's Voyage to Surat, p. 192, 193.
• F19: Apud Bochart. ut supra, col. 768.
• F20: Eden's Travels, p. 318. Supplement to the North East Voyages, p. 94.