Job 41:1

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?.... That is, draw it out of the sea or river as anglers draw out smaller fishes with a line or hook?

Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Leviathan - Latin, the twisted animal, gathering itself in folds.

JOB CHAPTER 41 God’ s kingly power and authority above all the children of pride seen in the leviathan. Canst thou take him with a hook and a line, as anglers take ordinary fishes? Surely no. Quest. What is this leviathan? Answ. This is granted on all hands, that it is a great and terrible monster, living in the sea or rivers, as behemoth is a land monster. It is the general and received opinion that it is the whale, which is unquestionably called the leviathan, ,26; which having been discovered in the seas next bordering upon Arabia, probably was not unknown to Job, who was a very inquisitive person, and well studied in the works of God, as this book manifests. But some later and very learned interpreters conceive that it is the crocodile; which was very well known in Egypt, and all the parts adjacent to it. And this is evident, that the Hebrew thannin (which is parallel to this word leviathan, these two words being synonymous, and the one promiscuously used for the other, as appears from ,14 Isaiah 27:1 ) is used of the crocodile, ,4 32:2,3. But I shall not positively determine this controversy, but only show how far the text may be understood of both of them, and then submit it to the reader’ s judgment; this being a matter of no great moment, wherein Christians may vary without any hazard. Only this I will say, that whatever becomes of the behemoth of the former chapter, whether that be the elephant, or the hippopotamus, that doth not at all determine the sense of this leviathan; but leaves it indifferent to the whale or the crocodile, as the context shall determine, which I confess seems to me to favour the latter more than the former. To which may be added, that it seems more probable that God would speak of such creatures as were very well known to Job and his friends, as the crocodile was, than of such as it is very uncertain whether they were known in those parts, and in Job’ s time. This verse, noting either the impossibility, or rather the great and terrible difficulty, of taking this monster with his hook or line, or such-like instruments, may agree to either of them. For the whale there is no doubt; nor much doubt as to the crocodile; the taking whereof was generally esteemed by the ancients to be very difficult and perilous, whatsoever peculiar virtue or power from nature or art the Tentyritae had against them, as the Psylli were said to have against serpents. Some indeed object, that the last clause cannot agree to the crocodile, because that hath no tongue, as is affirmed by Aristotle, Pliny, and other ancient authors. But that is a mistake, and the ground of it is plain, because their tongues are but small in proportion to their vast bodies, and withal fastened to their under jaws, as the selfsame authors note.

Job 41:1 Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord [which] thou lettest down?Ver. 1. Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?] As men use to do the lesser fishes in angling? No, as little as thou canst bore behemoth’ s nose with a snare, Job 40:24. Leviathan is a common name for all great sea monsters, Psalms 104:26. Beza and Diodati understand it to be the crocodile; others, of the sea dragon; others, of the whirlpool: but most, of the whale; in creating whereof, Creavit Deus vastitates et stupores, saith one. Pliny writeth about them, when they swim and show themselves, annare insulas putes, you would think them to be so many islands (lib. ix. cap. 2). Another saith, they appear like huge mountains; and that when they grow old they are so fat and corpulent that they keep long together in a place, so that upon their backs (by the dust and filth gathered and condensed) grass and shrubs grow, as if there were some islands there; whereat seamen attempting to land, have cast themselves into no small dangers (Heidfeld). Some tell us of a whale that would have covered four acres of ground, his mouth so wide, that he could have swallowed a whole ship (Plin. lib. 9). Virgil calleth whales monsters; the Greeks call them θηρας and θηρια, wild beasts. The majesty and power of the Creator is much seen in these vast creatures. Psalms 77:14, "Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." Hereupon the Jewish doctors have fabled, that God at first made two leviathans only; the one whereof he gave to the Israelites in the wilderness to feast with, the other he hath salted up for a feast to be made for the Jews, to be gathered together by the Messiah at the end of the world. Others have turned all this, and a great part of the former chapter, into allegories; whereof see Job 40:24. Let us by the ensuing description take notice of, l. God’ s omnipotence, who hath made such great wonders, whereof the sea hath more store than the earth, as they know well who are conversant therein. 2. His justice, who by these creatures oft punisheth offenders. Procopius telleth us, That in his time a great whale much infested the coasts of Constantinople, and did great mischief for fifty years together, till at length being taken and brought to land, he was found to be thirty cubits long, and ten broad. 3. His wisdom in making the whale so complete in all its parts, which all have their various uses; all which are here noted and numbered; how much more are our members, yea, our very hairs! 4. His goodness in creating such sea monsters for man’ s use and benefit in many particulars; as his flesh for meat, his fat for oil, his hide for thongs, his teeth for combs, his bones for building, mounding, bodice making, &c.

XLI.(1) Leviathan.—There can be little doubt that by this is meant the crocodile or alligator, whatever may be the true meaning of behemoth. Or his tongue . . .—Some render, “or press down his tongue with a cord”; but the Authorised Version seems preferable.

CHAPTER XLI God's great power in the leviathan, of which creature he gives a very circumstantial description, 1-34. NOTES ON CHAP. XLI Verse 1. Canst thou draw out leviathan] We come now to a subject not less perplexing than that over which we have passed, and a subject on which learned men are less agreed than on the preceding. What is leviathan? The Hebrew word לויתן livyathan is retained by the Vulgate and the Chaldee. The Septuagint have, Αξειςδεδρακοντα; "Canst thou draw out the DRAGON?" The Syriac and Arabic have the same. A species of whale has been supposed to be the creature in question; but the description suits no animal but the crocodile or alligator; and it is not necessary to seek elsewhere. The crocodile is a natural inhabitant of the Nile, and other Asiatic and African rivers. It is a creature of enormous voracity and strength, as well as fleetness in swimming. He will attack the largest animals, and even men, with the most daring impetuosity. In proportion to his size he has the largest mouth of all monsters. The upper jaw is armed with forty sharp strong teeth, and the under jaw with thirty-eight. He is clothed with such a coat of mail as cannot be pierced, and can in every direction resist a musket-ball. The Hebrew לוי levi תן ten signifies the coupled dragon; but what this is we know not, unless the crocodile be meant. With a hook] That crocodiles were caught with a baited hook, at least one species of crocodile, we have the testimony of Herodotus, lib. ii., c. 70: Επεαννωτονσυοςδελεασῃπεριαγκιστρον, μετιειεςμεσοντονποταμον, κ. τ. λ. "They take the back or chine of a swine, and bait a hook with it, and throw it into the midst of the river; and the fisherman stands at some distance on the shore holding a young pig, which he irritates, in order to make it squeak. When the crocodile hears this he immediately makes towards the sound; and, finding the baited hook in his way, swallows it, and is then drawn to land, when they dash mud into his eyes, and blind him; after which he is soon despatched." In this way it seems leviathan was drawn out by a hook: but it was undoubtedly both a difficult and dangerous work, and but barely practicable In the way in which Herodotus relates the matter. Or his tongue with a cord] It is probable that, when the animal was taken, they had some method of casting a noose round his tongue, when opening his mouth; or piercing it with some barbed instrument. Thevenot says that in order to take the crocodile they dig holes on the banks of the river, and cover them with sticks. The crocodiles fall into these, and cannot get out. They leave them there for several days without food, and then let down nooses which they pitch on their jaws, and thus draw them out. This is probably what is meant here.

1–9. The impossibility of capturing the animal.

Canst thou draw out - As a fish is drawn out of the water. The usual method by which fish were taken was with a hook; and the meaning here is, that it was not possible to take the leviathan in this manner.

b. , , WHOSE HOME, LIKE THAT OF , IS BOTH IN THE WATER AND ON LAND.