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... [ Continue Reading ]
Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Ver. 2. _Canst thou put a hook into his nose?_] Canst thou ring him like a swine, or rule him like a bear? God can, and did Sennacherib that crooked leviathan, Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 37:29; and doth still the Great Turk, who d... [ Continue Reading ]
Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft [words] unto thee? Ver. 3. _Will he make many supplications unto thee?_] As conquered captives use to do; witness Benhadad, 1 Kings 20:32, and Teridates, king of Parthians, who being brought prisoner to Nero, thus bespake him: I come unt... [ Continue Reading ]
Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? Ver. 4. _Will he make a covenant with thee?_] And compound, where he cannot conquer. _ Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?_] To be at thy disposal, and to do thy drudgery? _q.d._ He scorns the motion. Before the fa... [ Continue Reading ]
Wilt thou play with him as [with] a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Ver. 5. _Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?_] Shall he make thee sport, as those poor birds that serve as pastime for little children? Or as the foolish Emperor Honorius delighted in his bird Roma (so he called it... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? Ver. 6. _Shall the companions make a banquet of him?_] The Cetarii, whale fishers, who usually go out in companies. It was anciently held impossible, and is still perilous, to take the whale and make a banquet of h... [ Continue Reading ]
Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? Ver. 7. _Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons?_] _Harpagonibus._ Heb. With thorns; _sc._ to pull him to the shore? Opianus, Albertus Magnus, Gesner, and others now write, how whales are to be taken; and experience prove... [ Continue Reading ]
Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Ver. 8. _Lay thy hand upon him_] Stroke him, clap him on the back, and see if that way thou canst win upon him, since by force thou canst not catch and kill him. Or draw near and offer but the least violence to him if thou darest, and he wil... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not [one] be cast down even at the sight of him? Ver. 9. _Behold, the hope of him is in vain_] Heb. is lying. A man may promise himseff or others to take the whale, but how or when will he effect it? It is a misery to lie languishing at Hope's Hospital, and... [ Continue Reading ]
None [is so] fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? Ver. 10. _None is so fierce that dare stir him up_] Unless he be ambitious of his own destruction; cruel (so the word here signifieth) to his own life, which hereby he desperately casteth away. Aristotle telleth us that... [ Continue Reading ]
Who hath prevented me, that I should repay [him? whatsoever is] under the whole heaven is mine. Ver. 11. _Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him?_] Who can tax me wath injustice, who am bound to no man, but owner of all things? If any one can say I am beholden to him, let him prove it, and... [ Continue Reading ]
I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Ver. 12. _I will not conceal his parts, nor his power_] That therein, as in a picture of the most principal piece of my workmanship, thou mayest behold how great and how glorious a God I am. In the year of grace 1577, July 2nd,... [ Continue Reading ]
Who can discover the face of his garment? [or] who can come [to him] with his double bridle? Ver. 13. _Who can discover the face of his garment?_] That is, saith Piscator, who can pull him out of the sea, wherewith he is covered as with a garment? Who can slip off his skin while he is alive, as men... [ Continue Reading ]
Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about. Ver. 14. _Who can open the doors of his face?_] The two leaved doors of his jaws, to let in a bridle? Samson dared to venture upon a roaring lion and rend him, as a man would rend a kid. But never dared any such thing be done... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 41:15 [His] scales [are his] pride, shut up together [as with] a close seal. Ver. 15. _His scales are his pride_] They are like so many glistering shields, wherein he puts his confidence and takes his pride; as thinking them impenetrable. _ Shut up together as with a close seal_] So closed and... [ Continue Reading ]
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. Ver. 16. _One is so near to another, that no air, &c._] One scale or flake is. This is more proper, say some, to the crocodile than to the whale; but who can tell the different kinds of whales, some whereof are said to have great and thi... [ Continue Reading ]
They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. Ver. 17. _They are joined one to another, &c._] They are lapped over one another, like tiles on a house. _See Trapp on "_ Job 41:16 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes [are] like the eyelids of the morning. Ver. 18. _By his neesings a light doth shine_] When this dreadful monster sneezeth, or snorteth, fire breaketh out at his eyes and nose. By this neesing of the whale is meant the abundance of white frothy water... [ Continue Reading ]
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out. Ver. 19. _Out of his mouth go burning lamps_] This and those that follow are all hyperbolic expressions. Here he is brought in as a spit fire, as the devil was wont to be in plays and pageants. And by this passage some conjecture, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as [out] of a seething pot or caldron. Ver. 20. _Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, &c._] While his meat heateth in his stomach for concoction; as if fire were put under some great reeking pot or caldron boiling; Heb. blown _(sufflati); _ for from blowing comes boilin... [ Continue Reading ]
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. Ver. 21. _His breath kindleth coals_] Or, would kindle coals (as a smith's bellows), if there were any to kindle. Such a kindling of coal was Arius and Hildebrand of old, the Jesuits of this day, and not a few others, Pro 26:21 Isaiah 3... [ Continue Reading ]
In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. Ver. 22. _In his neck remaineth strength_] Aristotle saith, that among fishes the dolphin, whale, and such as breathe, have necks proportionate to their bodies. The word rendered remaineth is in the Hebrew lodgeth, or abideth... [ Continue Reading ]
The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. Ver. 23. _The flakes of his flesh are joined together_] Heb. The failings, or the refuse and vilest parts, as the word is rendered, Amos 8:6. Now if God be so punctual in the description of these also, c... [ Continue Reading ]
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether [millstone]. Ver. 24. _His heart is as firm as a stone_] He is _corpore et corde validissimus._ Of the sword fish, Plutarch saith, that he hath a sword, but not a heart to use it, μαχαιραν μεν εχει, εχει, καρδιαν δε μη εχει. But... [ Continue Reading ]
When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. Ver. 25. _When he raiselh up himself, the mighty are afraid_] When he shows himself like some moving mountain upon the surface of the water, the most assured pilots or passengers are seized with fear o... [ Continue Reading ]
The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. Ver. 26. _The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold_] So close are his scales, so thick his skin, that there is no wounding of him. There was not of old, it seemeth. But now there is a way found of shooti... [ Continue Reading ]
He esteemeth iron as straw, [and] brass as rotten wood. Ver. 27. _He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood_] He makes nothing of anything that shall be done against him. Bears and lions may be wounded with hunting weapons; other fishes with eel spears, and the like: not so the whale, or... [ Continue Reading ]
The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. Ver. 28. _The arrow cannot make him flee_] Heb. Sons of the bow; as, Job 5:7, sparks are called Boas of the coal. Arrows were then as much in use as bullets are now. _ Slingstones are turned with him into stubble_] Those... [ Continue Reading ]
Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Ver. 29. _Darts are counted as stubble_] When any thing in the decrees or decretals likes not the pope, he sets pales, that is, stubble, upon it; or _Hoc non credo:_ so doth this leviathan upon all kinds of weapons; he slights the... [ Continue Reading ]
Sharp stones [are] under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. Ver. 30. _Sharp stones are under him_] Heb. Sharp pieces of the potsherd, _Acumina testacea,_ which prick him no more than if he lay upon the softest couch, so hard is his belly. _ He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon... [ Continue Reading ]
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. Ver. 31. _He maketh the deep to boil like a pot_] He troubleth the whole ocean, he maketh a mighty commotion in the sea, when he rolls himself therein upward and downward, and casts up water on high through a certain c... [ Continue Reading ]
He maketh a path to shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary. Ver. 32. _He maketh a path to shine after him_] A ship doth so, much more a whale. _ One would think the deep to be hoary_] By reason of the white shining foam left behind him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. Ver. 33. _Upon earth there is not his like_] Heb. There is no comparison of him. Much was said before of behemoth, but leviathan is far beyond him for size and strength; which yet Mercer noteth to be the work of God, and not of nature, _qu... [ Continue Reading ]
He beholdeth all high [things]: he [is] a king over all the children of pride. Ver. 34. _He beholdeth all high things_] As far below him (be they never so excellent) both for bulk of body and stoutness of mind. _ He is a king over all the children of pride_] Or, over all the wild creatures (so Tre... [ Continue Reading ]