Job 41:34
Read Job 41:34 Using Other Translations
What does Job 41:34 mean?
He beholdeth all high [things]
Or "who beholdeth all high [things]"; even he that made
leviathan, that is, God, as the above interpreter: he does that
which Job was bid to do, and could not; beholds everyone that is
proud, and abases him, ( Job 40:11 Job 40:12 ) ; and
therefore he ought to acknowledge his sovereignty and superiority
over him, and submit to him;
he [is] a king over all the children of pride:
the proud angels that fell, and all the proud sons of men; proud
monarchs and potentates of the earth, such as Nebuchadnezzar and
others, ( Daniel
4:31-33 ) . But interpreters generally understand all this
either of the crocodile, or of a fish of the whale kind. Bochart
observes, that the crocodile, though it has short legs, will
behold, and meet unterrified, beasts abundantly taller than
itself, and with one stroke of its tail break their legs and
bring them low; and will destroy not only men, but all sorts of
beasts, as elephants, camels, horses, oxen, boars, and every
animal whatsoever. But others apply this to the whale, which
beholds the tossing waves of the sea, which mount up to heaven;
the clouds of heaven on high over it; the lofty cliffs or shores,
and ships of the greatest bulk and height; and which, when it
lifts up itself above the water, equals the high masts of ships,
and is abundantly superior to all the tribes of watery animals,
or the beasts of the sea. But this seems not wholly to come up to
the expressions here used. Upon the whole, as there are some
things that agree with the crocodile, and not the whale; and
others that agree with the whale, of one sort or another, and not
with the crocodile; it is uncertain which is meant, and it seems
as if neither of them were intended: and to me very probable is
the opinion of Johannes Camerensis F3, and to which the
learned Schultens most inclines, that the leviathan is the dragon
of the land sort, called leviathan, the piercing serpent, as
distinct from the dragon in the sea, ( Isaiah 27:1 ) ; which
agrees with the description of the leviathan in the whole: as its
prodigious size; its terrible countenance; its wide jaws; its
three forked tongue; its three rows of sharp teeth; its being
covered all over, back and belly, with thick scales, not to be
penetrated by arrows and darts; its flaming eyes, its fiery
breath, and being most terrible to all, and fearless of every
creature; it will engage with any, and conquer and kill an
elephant {d}; hence in Ethiopia dragons have no other names than
elephant killers: and so it may be said to be king over all the
children of pride; of all which proof may be given from various
writers, as Pliny {e}, Aelianus F6, Philostratus F7, and
others; and particularly the dragon Attilius Regulus, the Roman
general, killed near Bagrade in Africa, is a proof itself of
almost all the above articles, as Osorius
F8 has described it; nor is it any objection that the leviathan is represented as being in the sea, since the dragon, even the land dragon, will plunge into rivers, and is often found in lakes called seas, and in maritime places, and will go into the sea itself, as Pliny
F9 and Philostratus F11 relate. To which may be added, that this creature was found among the Troglodytes F12 who lived near the Red sea, and not far from Arabia, where Job dwelt, and so might be well known by him: and besides, of all creatures, it is the most lively emblem of the devil, which all the ancient Christian writers make leviathan to be; and Satan is expressly called the dragon in ( Revelation 12:3 Revelation 12:9 ) . So Suidas F13 says, the devil is called a dragon in Job. But be the leviathan what it may, it certainly is an illustrious instance of the power of God in making it; and therefore Job and every other man ought to submit to him that made it, in all things, and be humble under his mighty hand; owning freely, that it is his right hand, and his only, and not man's, that can save, either in a temporal or spiritual sense; for which end this and the behemoth are instanced in.
(See
definition for 03882.
Editor.)
F3 Apud Pinedam, in v. 1.
F4 Isidor. Origin l. 12. c. 4.
F5 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 14.
F6 De Animal. l. 2. c. 21. & l. 10. c. 48.
& l. 15. c. 21. & l. 16. c. 39.
F7 Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 2. Vid. Ovid.
Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 1.
F8 Hist. l. 4. c. 8.
F9 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 13.
F11 Ut supra. (Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 2.
Vid. Ovid. Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 1.)
F12 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 11, 12. & l.
31. c. 2.
F13 In voce (drakwn) , & in voce (qeliw) .
