Attributed commentary excerpt
Barnes' Notes on Job 41:1
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Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
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. The whole description here is of an animal that lived in the water. Leviathan - Much has been written respecting this animal, and the opinions which have been entertained have been very various. Schultens enumerates the following classes of opinions in regard to the animal intended here. 1. The opinion that the word leviathan is to be retained, without attempting to explain it - implying that there was uncertainty as to the meaning. Under this head he refers to the Chaldee and the Vulgate, to Aquila and Symmacbus, where the word is retained, and to the Septuagint, where the word Δράκοντα Drakonta, “dragon,” is used, and also the Syriac and Arabic, where the same word is used. 2. The fable of the Jews, who mention a serpent so large that it encompassed the whole earth. A belief of the existence of such a marine serpent or monster still prevails among the Nestorians. 3. The opinion that the whale is intended. 4. The opinion that a large fish called “Mular,” or “Musar,” which is found in the Mediterranean, is denoted. This is the opinion of Grotius. 5. The opinion that the crocodile of the Nile is denoted. 6. The opinion of Hasaeus, that not the whale is intended, but the “Orca,” a sea-monster armed with teeth, and the enemy of the whale. 7. Others have understood the whole description as allegorical, as representing monsters of iniquity; and among these, some have regarded it as descriptive of the devil! See Schultens. To these may be added the description of Milton: - That sea-beast Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hug’st that swim the ocean-stream, Him, haply, slumb’ring on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delays. Paradise Lost, B. i. For a full investigation of the subject, Bochart may be consulted, “Hieroz.” P. ii. Lib. v. c. xvi - xviii. The conclusion to which he comes is, that the crocodile of the Nile is denoted; and in this opinion critics have generally, since his time, acquiesced. The opinions which are entitled to most attention are those which regard the animal here described as either the whale or the crocodile. The objections to the supposition that the whale is intended are such as the following: (1) That the whale tribes do not inhabit the Mediterranean, much less the rivers which empty into it - with which alone it is supposed Job could have been acquainted. (2) That the animal here described differs from the whale in many essential particulars. “This family of marine monsters have neither proper snout nor nostrils, nor proper teeth. Instead of a snout, they have a mere spiracle, or blowing-hole, with a double opening on the top of the head; and for teeth, a hard expanse of horny laminae, which we call whalebone, in the upper jaw. The eyes of the common whale, moreover, instead of answering the description here given, are most disproportionately small, and do not exceed in size those of the ox. Nor can this monster be regarded as of fierce habits or unconquerable courage; for instead of attacking the larger sea-animals for plunder it feeds chiefly on crabs and medusas, and is often itself attacked by the ork or grampus,…
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