God’s Power Shown in Creatures
May 17, 2019
Commentary
The word “leviathan” is the Hebrew word used to describe the “sea monsters” that were supposed to inhabit The Mediterranean. In mythology, the leviathan was a many-headed monster that ruled the waters and feared no man. Job asks the Lord if He can capture and subdue the great “sea monster.” If He can do this Job, says, “I’ll believe that you have the power and wisdom to judge the world justly.” These “sea monsters” (Psa. 104:25-26) may refer to whales or dolphins. The Lord turned this question around and asked Job if he could capture this sea monster, and if he did what would he do with him (vv. 1-11)? One can’t make a pet out of him, no matter how agreeable he may seem to be (vv. 3-5). God drew a practical conclusion: “If you can’t come to grips with the crocodile, how will you ever be able to stand before Me (vv. 10-11)?” God gives a poetical description of this giant creature’s mighty limbs, fierce teeth and strong jaws, and impregnable covering (vv. 12-17). When it churns up the river and blows out water, the sun reflects from the vapor; and it looks like fire and smoke from a dragon’s mouth (vv. 18-21). His armor is so strong that he can go anywhere without fear (vv. 22-24).
The chapter closes with a description of this monster’s anger and courage (vv. 25-34). People flee from him in fear (v. 25), but he doesn’t flee from them. God names eight different weapons that the “sea monster” laughs at and treats like pieces of straw or rotten wood. Just as this creature fears nothing around him, so he fears nothing under him; for his underside is protected with a covering like sharp pieces of pottery (v. 30). He fears no enemy on the land or in the water (vv. 31-32). When he swims through the water, the wake looks like the white hair of an old man! There is no other creature so fearless (v. 33). He looks upon all who would presumably be above or over him and dominates them by the fear which he evokes (v. 34).
Application
God has created everything and every person; He is over everything and every person. It is my responsibility to obey Him and His Word.
Job 41:1– 34 (NET)
1 (40:25) “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook, and tie down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it make numerous supplications to you, will it speak to you with tender words?
4 Will it make a pact with you, so you could take it as your slave for life?
5 Can you play with it, like a bird, or tie it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will partners bargain for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay your hand on it, you will remember the fight. Do not do it again!
9 (41:1) See, his expectation is wrong, he is laid low even at the sight of it.
10 Is it not fierce when it is awakened? Who is he, then, who can stand before it?
11 Who has confronted me that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me!
12 I will not keep silent about its limbs, and the extent of its might, and the grace of its arrangement.
13 Who can uncover its outer covering? Who can penetrate to the inside of its armor?
14 Who can open the doors of its mouth? Its teeth all around are fearsome.
15 Its back has rows of shields, shut up closely together as with a seal;
16 each one is so close to the next that no air can come between them.
17 They lock tightly together, one to the next; they cling together and cannot be separated.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.
19 Out of its mouth go flames, sparks of fire shoot forth!
20 Smoke streams from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning rushes.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze and a flame shoots from its mouth.
22 Strength lodges in its neck, and despair runs before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm on it, immovable.
24 Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified, at its thrashing about they withdraw.
26 Whoever strikes it with a sword will have no effect, nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.
27 It regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones become like chaff to it.
29 A club is counted as a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its underparts are the sharp points of potsherds, it leaves its mark in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment,
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had a head of white hair.
33 The likes of it is not on earth, a creature without fear.
34 It looks on every haughty being; it is king over all that are proud.”
Illustration: Pig Squeals When a Shepherd Lays Hands on It
A pig joined a flock of sheep and grazed with them. One day the shepherd laid hands on it, and it began to squeal and struggle. The sheep found fault with the pig for crying out. “He takes hold of us often,” they said, “and we don’t make a fuss.” “Yes, but it’s a different thing his laying hold of you,” said the pig. “He only wants your wool or your milk, but it’s my flesh he’s after.” (Fables of Aesop).