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Job Chapter Forty-one                            

 

Job 41

Chapter Contents

Concerning Leviathan.

The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.

── Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on Job

 

Job 41

Verse 1

[1] Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

Leviathan — Several particulars in the following description, agree far better with the crocodile, than the whale. It is highly probable, that this is the creature here spoken of.

Cord — Canst thou take him with a hook and a line, as anglers take ordinary fishes.

Verse 2

[2] Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

Thorn — Or, with an iron hook, or instrument as sharp as a thorn; wherewith thou usest to carry little fishes.

Verse 3

[3] Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

Supplications — Doth he dread thine anger or power? Or will he earnestly beg thy favour? It is a metaphor from men in distress, who use these means to them to whose power they are subject.

Verse 7

[7] Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

Fill — A whale's you may: but the skin of a crocodile is so hard that an iron or spear will not pierce it.

Verse 8

[8] Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.

Lay — Seize upon him, if thou darest.

Battle — But ere thou attempt it consider what thou art doing, and with whom, thou art going to fight.

Do no more — Proceed no farther, draw back thy hand.

Verse 9

[9] Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

Hope — The hope of taking or conquering him.

Verse 10

[10] None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

Stand — To the battle.

Me — To contend with me who created him?

Verse 11

[11] Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

Prevented — Hath laid the first obligation upon me, for which I am indebted to him. Who can be before-hand with me in kindnesses, since all things under heaven are mine.

Verse 13

[13] Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?

Discover — Or, uncover, or take off from him.

Face — The upper or outward part of his garment, or, the garment itself: the word face being often redundant. And by the garment is meant the skin which covers the whole body; who dare attempt to touch his very skin? Much less to give him a wound.

His double bridle — His fast jaws, which have some resemblance to a double bridle: whence the Greeks call those parts of the face which reach to the jaws on both sides, the bridles.

Verse 14

[14] Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

Doors — His mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within, and if it be shut, none dare open it.

Verse 15

[15] His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

Shut — Closely compacted together, as things that are fastened together by a seal. This likewise is true of the crocodile, but the skin of the whale is smooth and entire without any scales at all.

Verse 18

[18] By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Sneesings — This the crocodile is said frequently to do.

Eyes — To which they seem very fitly compared, because the eyes of the crocodile are dull and dark under the water, but as soon as they appear above water, cast a bright and clear light; like the morning light, suddenly breaking forth after the dark night.

Verse 19

[19] Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

Lamps — This also better agrees with the crocodile, which breathes like the river-horse, of which ancient authors affirm, that his nostrils are very large, and he breathes forth a fiery smoke like that of a furnace.

Verse 21

[21] His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

Kindleth coals — An hyperbolical expression, denoting extraordinary heat.

Verse 22

[22] In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

And sorrow — Sorrow is his companion and harbinger, which attends upon him wheresoever he goes. So anger and fear are said by the poets to accompany the God of war.

Verse 24

[24] His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

Nether mill-stone — Which being to bear the weight of the upper, ought to be the harder and stronger of the two.

Verse 25

[25] When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

Raiseth — Upon the top of the waters.

Mighty — Even the stout-hearted.

Breakings — By reason of their great danger and distress; which is expressed by this very word, Psalms 60:2; Jonah 2:4.

Purify — Those who ordinarily live in the neglect of God, they cry unto God in their trouble, and endeavour to purge their consciences from the guilt of their sins.

Verse 26

[26] The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

Hold — Heb. cannot stand, cannot endure the stroke, but will be broken by it. The crocodile's skin, no sword, nor dart, nor musquet bullet can pierce.

Verse 28

[28] The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

Turned — Hurt him no more than a blow with a little stubble.

Verse 30

[30] Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

Stones — His skin is so impenetrable, that the sharpest stones or shells are as easy unto him as the mire.

Verse 31

[31] He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

Boil — To swell, and foam, and froth by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor does when it is boiled in a pot, especially boiling ointment.

The sea — The great river Nile, is called a sea, both in scripture, as Isaiah 11:15, and in other authors, as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isaiah 21:1; Jeremiah 51:36. Lakes also are most frequently called seas both in the Old and New Testament: and in such lakes the crocodiles are as well as in the Nile.

Verse 32

[32] He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

Shine — By the white froth or foam upon the waters. The same may be observed in the wake of a ship by night.

Verse 34

[34] He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

King, … — He can tame both the behemoth and leviathan, as strong and stout-hearted as they are. This discourse concerning them was brought in, to prove that it is God only, who can look upon proud men and abase them, bring them low, and hide them in the dust, he it is that beholdeth all high things, and wherein men dealt proudly, he is above them. He is king over all the children of pride, brutal or rational, and makes them either bend or break before him.

── John WesleyExplanatory Notes on Job

 

41 Chapter 41

 

Verses 1-34

Job 41:1-34

Canst thou draw out Leviathan?

Behemoth and leviathan

The description of the “behemoth” in the preceding chapter and the “leviathan” here suggests a few moral reflections.

I. The prodigality of created might. With what amazing force are these creatures endowed! How huge their proportions! How exuberant their vital energy!

II. The restraining power of the Divine government. What keeps those creatures in cheek? They are under the spell of the Almighty. To all creatures the Creator has set a boundary beyond which they cannot pass.

III. The absurdity of man priding himself in his strength. “Let not the mighty man glory in his might,” etc.

IV. The probability of mental giants in the universe. May there not be in the spiritual domain as great a difference in the power of its tenants as there is in the physical?

V. The Divine mode of solving man’s moral difficulties. Great were the difficulties of Job in relation to God’s government. God does not reason with Job, but shows Himself to him, and this settles all dispute, and will ever do so.

VI. God’s work in nature should be studied, in order to impress us with his majesty. We must remember the profoundly religions and serious character of the Eastern patriarch. (Homilist.)


Verses 1-34

Job 41:1-34

Canst thou draw out Leviathan?

Behemoth and leviathan

The description of the “behemoth” in the preceding chapter and the “leviathan” here suggests a few moral reflections.

I. The prodigality of created might. With what amazing force are these creatures endowed! How huge their proportions! How exuberant their vital energy!

II. The restraining power of the Divine government. What keeps those creatures in cheek? They are under the spell of the Almighty. To all creatures the Creator has set a boundary beyond which they cannot pass.

III. The absurdity of man priding himself in his strength. “Let not the mighty man glory in his might,” etc.

IV. The probability of mental giants in the universe. May there not be in the spiritual domain as great a difference in the power of its tenants as there is in the physical?

V. The Divine mode of solving man’s moral difficulties. Great were the difficulties of Job in relation to God’s government. God does not reason with Job, but shows Himself to him, and this settles all dispute, and will ever do so.

VI. God’s work in nature should be studied, in order to impress us with his majesty. We must remember the profoundly religions and serious character of the Eastern patriarch. (Homilist.)


Verse 32

Job 41:32

He maketh a path to shine after him.

Phosphorescence

What was that illumined path? It was phosphorescence. You find it in the wake of a ship in the night, especially after rough weather. Phosphorescence is the lightning of the sea. I found a book of John Ruskin, and the first sentence my eyes fell upon was his description of phosphorescence, in which he calls it the “lightning of the sea.” It is the waves of the sea diamonded; it is the inflorescence of the billows; the waves of the sea crimsoned, as was the deep after the sea fight of Lepanto; the waves of the sea on fire. There are times when from horizon to horizon the entire ocean seems in conflagration with this strange splendor, as it changes every moment to tamer or more dazzling colour on all sides of you. You sit looking over the rail of the yacht or ocean steamer, watching and waiting to see what new thing the God of beauty will do with the Atlantic. This phosphorescence is the appearance of myriads of the animal kingdom rising, falling, flashing, living, dying. These luminous animalcules for nearly one hundred and fifty years have been the study of naturalists and the fascination of all who have brain enough to think. Now God, who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or useless, calls the attention of Job, the greatest scientist of his day, to this phosphorescence, and as the leviathan of the deep sweeps past, points out the fact that “He maketh a path to shine after him.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)


Verse 33-34

Job 41:33-34

Upon the earth there is not his like.

The supremacy of leviathan

The lion is often spoken of as “the king of the forest,” or the “king of beasts,” and in a similar sense the leviathan is here spoken of as at the head of the animal creation. He is afraid of none of them; he is subdued by none of them; he is the prey of none of them. The whole argument, therefore, closes with this statement, that he is at the head of the animal creation; and it was by this magnificent description of the power of the creatures which God had made, that it was intended to impress the mind of Job with a sense of the majesty and power of the Creator. It had the effect. He was overawed with the conviction of the greatness of God, and he saw how wrong it had been for him to presume to call in question the justice, or sit in judgment on the doings of such a Being. God did not, indeed, go into an examination of the various points which had been the subject of controversy; He did not explain the nature of His moral administration so as to relieve the mind from perplexity; but He evidently meant to leave the impression that He was vast and incomprehensible in His government, infinite in power, and had a right to dispose of His creation as He pleased. No one can doubt that God could, with infinite ease, have so explained the nature of His administration as to flee the mind from perplexity, and so as to have resolved the difficulties which hung over the various subjects which had come into debate between Job and his friends. Why He did not do this is nowhere stated, and can only be the subject of conjecture. It is possible, however, that the following suggestions may do something to show the reasons why this was not done.

1. We are to remember the early period of the world when these transactions occurred, and when this Book was composed. It was in the infancy of society, and when little light had gleamed on the human mind in regard to questions of morals and religion.

2. In that state of things it is not probable that either Job or his friends would have been able to comprehend the principles in accordance with which the wicked are permitted to flourish, and the righteous are so much afflicted, if they had been stated. Much higher knowledge than they then possessed about the future world was necessary to understand the subject which then agitated their minds. It could not have been done without a very decided reference to the future state, where all these inequalities are to be removed.

3. It has been the general plan of God to communicate knowledge by degrees: to impart it when men have had full demonstration of their own imbecility, and when they feel the need of Divine teaching; and to reserve the great truths of religion for an advanced period of the world. In accordance with this arrangement, God has been pleased to keep in reserve, from age to age, certain great and momentous truths, and such as were particularly adapted to throw light on the subjects of discussion between Job and his friends. They are the truths pertaining to the resurrection of the body; the retributions of the Day of Judgment; the glories of heaven and the woes of hell, where all the inequalities of the present state may receive their final and equal adjustment. These great truths were reserved for the triumph and glory of Christianity; and to have stated them in the time of Job would have been to have anticipated the most important revelations of that system. The truths of which we are now in possession would have relieved much of the anxiety then felt, and solved most of these questions; but the world was not then in the proper state for their revelation.

4. It was a very proper lesson to be taught men, to bow with submission, to a sovereign God, without knowing the reason of His doings. No lesson, perhaps, could be learnt of higher value than this. To a proud, self-confident, philosophic mind, a mind prone to rely on its own resources and trust to its own deductions, it was of the highest importance to inculcate the duty of submission to will and sovereignty. This is a lesson which we often have to learn in life, and which almost all the trying dispensations of providence are fitted to teach us. It is not because God has no reason for what He does; it is not because He intends we shall never know the reason: but it is because it is our duty to bow with submission to His will, and to acquiesce in His right to reign, even when we cannot see the reason of His doings. Could we reason it out, and then submit because we saw the reason, our submission would not be to our Maker’s pleasure, but to the deductions of our own minds. Hence, all along, He so deals with man, by concealing the reason of His doings, as to bring him to submission to His authority, and to humble all human pride. To this termination all the reasonings of the Almighty in this Book are conducted; and after the exhibition of His power in the tempest, after His sublime description of His own works, after His appeal to the numerous things which are, in fact, incomprehensible to man, we feel that God is great--that it is presumptuous in man to sit in judgment on His works, and that the mind, no matter what it does, should bow before Him with profound veneration and silence. (Albert Barnes.)

──The Biblical Illustrator