a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
pride
גַּ֭אֲוָהGa.'a.vah
H1346
arrogance or majesty · noun, common feminine singular absolute
together
סָ֝ג֗וּרsa.Gur
H5462
to shut up · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
close
צָֽרTzar
H6862
narrow · adjective, masculine singular absolute
seal
חוֹתָ֥םcho.Tam
H2368
a signature-ring · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in…
Revelation 5:2-3 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, an…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 41:11–end
God, having in the foregoing verses shown Job how unable he was to deal with the leviathan, here sets forth his own power in that massy mighty creature. Here is,
I. God's sovereign dominion and independency laid down, Job 41:11. 1. That he is indebted to none of his creatures. If any pretend he is indebted to them, let them make their demand and prove their debt, and they shall receive it in full and not by composition: "Who has prevented me?" that is, "who has laid any obligations upon me by any services he has done me? Who can pretend to be before-hand with me? If any were, I would not long be behind-hand with them; I would soon repay them." The apostle quotes this for the silencing of all…
Rather, his "furrows of shields" (as "tubes," "channels," see on Job 40:18), are, &c., that is, the rows of scales, like shields covering him: he has seventeen such rows.
shut up--firmly closed together. A musket ball cannot penetrate him, save in the eye, throat, and belly.
Adam Clarke on Job 41:15
His scales are his pride - They are impenetrable, as we have already seen.
John Gill on Job 41:15
His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. This is notoriously true of the crocodile, whose back and tail are covered with scales, which are in a measure impenetrable and invincible: which all writers concerning it, and travellers that have seen it, agree in; See Gill on Ezekiel 29:4; but the skin of the whale is smooth; the outward skin is thin, like parchment, and is easily pulled off with the hand; and its under skin, though an inch thick, is never stiff nor tough, but soft (d): though, if Nearchus (e) is to be credited, he reports, that one was seen fifty cubits long, with a scaly skin all over it a cubit thick; and such, it is said, were by a storm brought into our…
His body as molten shields. Compacted with scales pressing each other. 49. Holy Scripture is wont to use the word 'shield,' sometimes in a favourable, sometimes in an unfavourable way. For the defence of a shield is often put for Divine protection, but it is sometimes used for the opposition of man. For it is put for Divine protection, as is said by the Psalmist, Thou hast crowned us with the shield of Thy good will. [Ps. 5, 12] The Lord is said to crown as with a shield, because those whom He assists by protecting, He crowns by rewarding. Again, a 'shield' is put by the same prophet for the opposition of man, as he says elsewhere, There brake He the horns, the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. [Ps. 76, 3] For by 'horns' is designated the haughtiness of the proud, by the 'bow' the snares of those who strike from far; but by a 'shield' obstinate hardness in defence, by a 'sword' a blow near at hand; but in 'battle' the movement of the mind itself against God. And the whole of this is doubtless crushed in Holy Church, when the minds of those who resist God are tamed by the yoke of humility placed upon them. Hence it is again said by the same Psalmist, He will break the bow, and snap the arms, and burn the shields in the fire. [Ps. 46, 9] For the Lord breaks the bow, when He scatters the secret machinations of those who lie in wait. He snaps the arms, when He crushes the patronage of man, which had been raised up against Him. He burns the shields in the fire, when by the heat of the Holy Spirit He kindles into the warmth of penitence and confession the minds of sinners which defend themselves with stubborn hardness. But because the body of this Leviathan is in this place compared to 'molten' shields, it is suggested to us to enquire, that every vessel which is molten is indeed hard, but yet when it falls it is usually fragile. If shields then are molten, they are strong in bearing the blows of arrows, but are fragile when they fall. They are not indeed penetrated by the blow of those that strike them, but shiver into fragments by their own fall. The body therefore of this Leviathan, that is, all the wicked, because they are hardened by obstinacy, but fragile in their life, are compared to molten shields. For when they hear the words of preaching, they permit not any shafts of reproof to penetrate them; because in every sin which they commit they…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Leviathan · Nature and habits of — Nature and habits of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 41:15-17
15 A pride are the furrows of the shields,
Shut by a rigid seal.
16 One joineth on to the other,
And no air entereth between them.
17 One upon another they are arranged,
They hold fast together, inseparably.
Since the writer uses אפיק both in the signif. robustus, Job 12:12, and canalis, Job 40:18, it is doubtful whether it must be explained robusta (robora) scutorum (as e.g., Ges.), or canales scutorum (Hirz., Schlottm., and others). We now prefer the latter, but so that "furrows of the shields" signifies the square shields themselves bounded by these channels; for only thus is the סגוּר, which refers to these shields, considered, each one for itself, suitably attached to what precedes. חות…
Unlike the peaceful Behemoth (40:15-24), Leviathan was menacing (see also 3:8; Pss 74:14; 104:26; Isa 27:1). Most commentators identify Leviathan with the crocodile, with its terrible jaws (Job 41:14) and armored hide (41:15-17, 23), thrashing the water (41:31-32). But Leviathan is a fire-breathing dragon (41:18-21) that wraps its coils around the sun to cause an eclipse (3:8-9). The background for Leviathan is the seven-headed sea monster that represents chaos in ancient Near Eastern mythology. In the biblical record, this unruly maritime monster is a frequent biblical image for chaos and wickedness, whose head the Lord crushes (Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1; cp. Job 9:13; 26:12; Ps 89:9-10; Isa 30:7;…
The flakes of his flesh are joined together Heb. דבקו. They adhere to each other closely, for the fish are composed of many pieces in its flesh, and they adhere to one another. In a large fish, which is cooked, the pieces are noticeable when they are lying one upon the other and one beside the other, and so is the sequence of the world: First he speaks of the scales of the leviathan and then of the flakes of his flesh and the strength of his heart.
flakes Heb. מפלי, an expression of folds of pieces. It is also possible to explain it as פְלָאֵי פלוּיֵי, [if it is split] in the language of the Talmud, an expression of the splits of his flakes.
are joined together the “beth” is vowelized by a…
