Job 41:30 Commentary and Bible Study

Even the features on the underside of Leviathan’s body are described. Observe him: he is able to live on slippery banks; he is always mobile. He does not get himself on to the mud and lose his hold and slide into the water; he is never stuck in the mud. No, he can grip in very slippery places. After almost every verse, we seem to hear a voice saying, ‘What about you, Job? You are not very well adapted for troubles, are you? You do not seem to get used to them, expect them, anticipate them, brace yourself for them, know how to handle them.’Leviathan’s influence is felt wherever he goes (verse 31-32). You cannot fail to know he is there. When he is in the water, his natural habitat, he makes it froth as if it was boiling with the vigour of his movement, and it is as if the water was contained in a pot and someone were stirring the whole contents from the top to the bottom. As he moves through the water, there is a glistening track in his wake so that all can see where he has come from, so great is the thrashing of his body through the water. ‘One would think the deep to be hoary’, or hairy. This is the nature of the language here: not literal for it is strongly poetic, but heavy with metaphor and figures of speech. Nevertheless the beast spoken of is indeed remarkable and unique. It is as if the water itself had white hair, so marked is the track caused by Leviathan’s passage.