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
Job 39:7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
Habakkuk 1:10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust…
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…
arrow--literally, "son of the bow"; Oriental imagery (Lam 3:13; Margin).
stubble--Arrows produce no more effect than it would to throw stubble at him.
Adam Clarke on Job 41:26
Habergeon - The hauberk, the Norman armor for the head, neck, and breast, formed of rings. See on Neh 4:16 (note).
John Gill on Job 41:28
The arrow cannot make him flee,.... The skin of the crocodile is so hard, as Peter Martyr says, that it cannot be pierced with arrows, as before observed; therefore it is not afraid of them, nor will flee from them;
slingstones are turned with him into stubble; are no more regarded by him than if stubble was cast at him; not only stones out of a sling, but out of an engine; and such is the hardness of the skin of the crocodile, that, as Isidore says (e), the strokes of the strongest stones are rebounded by it, yea, even it is said to withstand against musket shot (f).
(e) Origin. l. 12. c. 6. (f) Mandelsloe in Harris's Voyages, &c. vol. 1. p. 759.
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 41:26-29
26 If one reacheth him with the sword-it doth not hold;
Neither spear, nor dart, nor harpoon.
27 He esteemeth iron as straw,
Brass as rotten wood.
28 The son of the bow doth not cause him to flee,
Sling stones are turned to stubble with him.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble,
And he laugheth at the shaking of the spear.
משּׂיגהוּ, which stands first as nom. abs., "one reaching him," is equivalent to, if one or whoever reaches him, Ew. 357, c, to which בּלי תקוּם, it does not hold fast (בּלי with v. fin., as Hos 8:7; Hos 9:16, Chethb), is the conclusion. חרב is instrumental, as Psa 17:13. מסּע, from נסע, Arab. nz‛, to move on, hasten on, signifies a missile, as Arab. minz‛a, an arrow, manz‛a, a…
The Church Fathers
The archer shall not put him to flight. The stones of the sling are turned with him into stubble. 21. For what do we understand by 'arrows' but the words of preachers? For when they are drawn forth by the voice of holy livers, they transfix the hearts of the hearers. With these arrows Holy Church had been struck, who was saying, I am wounded with love. [Cant. 2, 5] Of these arrows it is said by the voice of the Psalmist, The arrows of children are made their wounds; [Ps. 64, 7] because, that is, the words of the humble have penetrated the minds of the proud. Of these arrows it is said to the coming champion, Thine arrows are sharp, O Thou most mighty, people shall fall under Thee in their heart. [Ps. 45, 5] An 'archer' then is he, who by the bow of holy intention fixes in the hearts of his hearers the words of sound exhortation. Because then this Leviathan despises the words of preachers, and when he has wounded the minds of the reprobate by his evil persuasions, does not, in his hardness, in any wise abandon them even in the midst of darts, it is rightly said, The archer shall not put him to flight. As if it were plainly said, The arrow of a holy preacher does not dislodge him from the hearts of the reprobate; because, whoever is seized by him, scorns at once to listen to the words of preachers. Whence the Lord, being deservedly angry for their former sins, says by the Prophet of those whom He abandons in the hands of the ancient enemy, I will send among you serpents, basilisks, for whom there is no charm. [Jer. 8, 17] As if He were saying, I will deliver you up by just judgment to such unclean spirits, as cannot be shaken off by you, by the exhortation of preachers, as if by the word of charmers. But because this Leviathan is not driven from the hearts of the reprobate by the darts of holy preaching, his very contempt for holy men is also added, when it is immediately observed; The stones of the sling are turned with him into stubble. 22. What is typified by the 'sling,' but Holy Church? For when a sling is whirled round, so do stones fly out of it, for the breasts of the adversaries to be struck therewith. In like manner when Holy Church is led through a circuit of tribulations, in the whirl of time, mighty men come forth from her, by whom the hearts of the wicked are to be beaten as if by the blows of stones. Whence the Lord says to the Prophet…
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).
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;…
He looks at all high things All the high things in the world he sees beneath himself, for so is the custom of the world, that whoever stands above sees the one below more than the one below sees [him]. Also, the one below has no power or victory against the one above. Now this leviathan sees all mighty men; that is to say, they have no power against him.
he is king over all proud beasts This is a repeated expression. He looks over all proud beasts and he is king over all the proud beasts, over all haughty creatures that I created in My world, who have no rule or dominion against him. Now how did you dare to lift your head before Me, since I perform all these wonders?
