Job 41 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Job 41

41:1   ¹ “Can you draw out Leviathan² with a fishhook
    or press down his tongue with a cord?
2   Can you put a rope in his nose
    or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3   Will he make many pleas to you?
    Will he speak to you soft words?
4   Will he make a covenant with you
    to take him for your servant forever?
5   Will you play with him as with a bird,
    or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
6   Will traders bargain over him?
    Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7   Can you fill his skin with harpoons
    or his head with fishing spears?
8   Lay your hands on him;
    remember the battle—you will not do it again!
9   ³ Behold, the hope of a man is false;
    he is laid low even at the sight of him.
10   No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
    Who then is he who can stand before me?
11   Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
    Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12   “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
    or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
13   Who can strip off his outer garment?
    Who would come near him with a bridle?
14   Who can open the doors of his face?
    Around his teeth is terror.
15   His back is made of⁴ rows of shields,
    shut up closely as with a seal.
16   One is so near to another
    that no air can come between them.
17   They are joined one to another;
    they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18   His sneezings flash forth light,
    and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19   Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
    sparks of fire leap forth.
20   Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,
    as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21   His breath kindles coals,
    and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
22   In his neck abides strength,
    and terror dances before him.
23   The folds of his flesh stick together,
    firmly cast on him and immovable.
24   His heart is hard as a stone,
    hard as the lower millstone.
25   When he raises himself up, the mighty⁵ are afraid;
    at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26   Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail,
    nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27   He counts iron as straw,
    and bronze as rotten wood.
28   The arrow cannot make him flee;
    for him, sling stones are turned to stubble.
29   Clubs are counted as stubble;
    he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30   His underparts are like sharp potsherds;
    he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31   He makes the deep boil like a pot;
    he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32   Behind him he leaves a shining wake;
    one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33   On earth there is not his like,
    a creature without fear.
34   He sees everything that is high;
    he is king over all the sons of pride.”

Footnotes

[1] 41:1 Ch 40:25 in Hebrew
[2] 41:1 A large sea animal, exact identity unknown
[3] 41:9 Ch 41:1 in Hebrew
[4] 41:15 Or His pride is in his
[5] 41:25 Or gods

Commentary

A whole chapter given over the leviathan, a whale or crocodile.

v3-4: The leviathan would not submit to man; hence the Lord's challenges here.

v9: No man could subdue him; in fact, just to see him would overpower any man.

v10-11: The contrast with God's power; no man can stand against this sea beast, so who can stand against God? "Who has a claim against me?" asks the Lord, for none can demand anything of Him.

The physical description of leviathan presents something massively powerful.

v26-29: He mocks at any attempt by man to attack him, yet God can draw him out with a hook or a rope (v1-2). Man has no hope of overpowering him (v9), yet he is as a pet in the hands of God (v5).

All these references to animals and creation demonstrate God's utter greatness; in contrast we see man in general, and ourselves in particular, as weak and impotent.