Job 41
CHAPTER 41
1. leviathan--literally, "the twisted animal," gathering itself in folds: a synonym to the Thannin ( Job 3:8 , Margin; see Psalms 74:14 ; type of the Egyptian tyrant Psalms 104:26 , Isaiah 27:1 ; the Babylon tyrant). A poetical generalization for all cetacean, serpentine, and saurian monsters all the description applies to no one animal); especially the crocodile; which is naturally described after the river horse, as both are found in the Nile.
tongue . . . lettest down?--The crocodile has no tongue, or a very small one cleaving to the lower jaw. But as in fishing the tongue of the fish draws the baited hook to it, God asks, Canst thou in like manner take leviathan?
2. hook--rather, "a rope of rushes."
thorn--rather, a "ring" or "hook." So wild beasts were led about when caught ( Isaiah 37:29 , Ezekiel 29:4 ); fishes also were secured thus and thrown into the water to keep them alive.
3. soft words--that thou mayest spare his life. No: he is untamable.
4. Can he be tamed for domestic use (so Job 39:10-12 )?
5. a bird?--that is, tamed.
6. Rather, "partners" (namely, in fishing).
make a banquet--The parallelism rather supports UMBREIT, "Do partners (in trade) desire to purchase him?" So the Hebrew ( Deuteronomy 2:6 ).
merchants--literally, "Canaanites," who were great merchants ( Hosea 12:7 , Margin).
7. His hide is not penetrable, as that of fishes.
8. If thou lay . . . thou wilt have reason ever to remember . . . and thou wilt never try it again.
9. the hope--of taking him.
cast down--with fear "at the (mere) sight of him."
10. fierce--courageous. If a man dare attack one of My creatures ( Genesis 49:9 , Numbers 24:9 ), who will dare (as Job has wished) oppose himself ( Psalms 2:2 ) to Me, the Creator? This is the main drift of the description of leviathan.
11. prevented--done Me a favor first: anticipated Me with service ( Psalms 21:3 ). None can call Me to account ("stand before Me," Job 41:10 ) as unjust, because I have withdrawn favors from him (as in Job's case): for none has laid Me under a prior obligation by conferring on Me something which was not already My own. What can man give to Him who possesses all, including man himself? Man cannot constrain the creature to be his "servant" ( Job 41:4 ), much less the Creator.
12. I will not conceal--a resumption of the description broken off by the digression, which formed an agreeable change.
his power--literally, "the way," that is, true proportion or expression of his strength (so Hebrew, Deuteronomy 19:4 ).
comely proportion--literally, "the comeliness of his structure" (his apparatus: so "suit of apparel" Judges 17:10 ) [MAURER]. UMBREIT translates, "his armor." But that follows after.
13. discover--rather, "uncover the surface" of his garment (skin, Job 10:11 ): strip off the hard outer coat with which the inner skin is covered.
with--rather, "within his double jaws"; literally, "bridle"; hence that into which the bridle is put, the double row of teeth; but "bridle" is used to imply that none dare put his hand in to insert a bridle where in other animals it is placed ( Job 41:4 , 39:10 ).
14. doors of . . . face--his mouth. His teeth are sixty in number, larger in proportion than his body, some standing out, some serrated, fitting into each other like a comb [BOCHART].
15. Rather, his "furrows of shields" (as "tubes," "channels," that is, the rows of scales, like shields covering him: he has seventeen such rows.
shut up--firmly closed together. A musket ball cannot penetrate him, save in the eye, throat, and belly.