Job 41:1 Commentary and Bible Study

In chapter 41 the Lord turns Job’s attention to a second creature, which from the description evidently lives in the water. Again, this reflection shows how profitable it is for us to consider the world around us, just as long as we see all as God’s workmanship. The materialist loses this benefit, because he stubbornly refuses to see the handiwork of God in all things, and he is quite incapable of learning the lessons which were brought to Job’s mind. The passage is striking for the many facets of Leviathan it goes into – the works of God are worthy of detailed inspection, and none of the features of this creature are without instruction.Again various suggestions are made as to the identity of Leviathan. Some treat him as mythical, but there would be little force to the argument if this was the case, for the whole point is that since Job was familiar with this creature, these lessons should have been obvious to him. Some see him as a whale, but that does not fit the description. Some understand him to be the crocodile – the Hebrew says he is a sea monster, but the description covers rivers also. Others believe he is some now extinct sea monster such as a plesiosaurus, but the question is – even assuming that man was coexistent with such creatures – would this have been known to Job? Leviathan has a row of teeth (verse 14) and tightly fitting scales (verse 15). Job has already referred to the ferocity of Leviathan (Job 3:8) – a monster which desperate men employed to invoke a curse – and Psalm 104:26 describes him as an ocean dweller. Some species of crocodile live in the sea where Leviathan comes from and grow up to 20 feet, but since the common understanding is that the crocodile comes from fresh water, this also rules against it. Job 41 describes him as having nostrils (verse 20) and breathing out through them (verse 21). In Isaiah 27:1 he is called the fleeing serpent and the twisting serpent, and the name is supposed to come from the Hebrew for ‘garland’ or ‘wreath’ and therefore refers to an animal twisted in folds. Some sort of sea serpent appears to be in mind, and yet this creature also has teeth and limbs. However it is not necessary to know exactly what this creature was for us to learn the lessons that God intends. We may still appreciate these lessons if we accept that this is a real creature that has inhabited the seas at some point in the past and which possesses all the aggression and belligerence described here.Can you, Job, capture Leviathan?, God asks. Can you draw him up from the depths by lowering a hook into the water as you would with a fish? Can you tame him and domesticate him? Can you hold down his tongue with a rope or cord – a form of bridle perhaps? Can you lead him about by a rope or a hook into his nose, as a bull might be led about with a ring? Can you take his jaw and drill a hole through him with a spike in order to insert a hook or strap of some sort? – all examples of how domesticated animals are led about. The implied answer, of course, is, ‘No, I wouldn’t think of doing such a thing.’ This is not a pet or some creature capable of being tamed. The reasoning is twofold. Firstly, this creature cannot be captured or tamed. If mankind cannot intimidate such a beast, how much less can he argue with God who made all creatures? In verses 10-11 God makes this very application of the characteristics of Leviathan. Secondly, these creatures illustrate the standard – durability, immovability, fearlessness – and Job should have been more like them. The way he is called on to compare himself with them shows they represent a standard. He should have been like them at least.