Bible Commentary - Job 41

In this chapter, God describes Leviathan, the greatest monster in all creation.

This chapter is a continuation of God’s discourse in the previous chapter.  The end of last chapter (Job 40:15-24) begins with a challenge: “Behold now, Behemoth”.  This chapter begins with, “Can you draw out Leviathan?”  There are many obvious parallels between these creatures in both their description and function in the text.  They are, like the rest of creation highlighted by God, examples of ferocious and untameable monsters created by God, feared by men, and tangible symbols of God’s supreme power and authority over creation.  Apex monsters, they are the greatest, strongest and strangest creatures that God has made and as such they represent all of creation.

The descriptions in this chapter follow two patterns.  They either highlight the strength and danger of the Leviathan, or they highlight the uncontrollable temper of the beast.  It is strong, invincible, aggressive and does not submit to human control.

What is the purpose?  Why is this description here?  It’s quite similar to God’s discourse in chapters 38-39.  In those chapters, God was highlight the aspects of creation that exceed human understanding, wisdom and power.  In all of these ways, God was using creation to show his supremacy over human authority.  Presenting the Behemoth and Leviathan for our inspection accomplishes the same purpose.  The strong, fearsome monster was created by a strong, uncontrollable God.  As with the previous chapters, we can perceive the nature of the created by studying the creation.  As I previously mentioned, Leviathan is an apex predator and symbolically represents all of creation.

From that point of view, I don’t think this chapter has a different intent or purpose than the previous three chapters, I think it is meant as the conclusion and summary of the points from those chapters.

The English word “Leviathan” itself is a simple transliteration of the Hebrew word from this chapter.  It’s one of the many cases in the bible where the English translation simply takes the Hebrew word and transliterates it into the Roman alphabet.  It has since entered English vocabulary to describe a kind of sea monster or a giant of some kind.  This is pretty much exactly what it means here as well, except that the text almost certainly referring to a particular species.  In the past, Leviathan was sometimes identified with a “dragon” or “sea serpent”.  In modern times, the most popular identification for Leviathan is with a crocodile.  The general reasoning is that Leviathan has “armor” (v. 13), it is armored underneath as well (v. 30), which may suggest a crocodile.  “Spreading out… in the mire” (v. 30) is also possibly a reference to crocodilian behavior.

There are elements that don’t match a crocodile, however.  The obvious one is “a flame goes forth from his mouth” (v. 18-21).  Leviathan is described as a fire-breathing monster that also has burning bright eyes.  It is also described as impervious to swords, arrows, javelins, etc.  These may be regarded as poetic hyperbole (that is, exaggeration), but it certainly doesn’t match with a conventional crocodile.  Certainly crocodiles are armored and somewhat resistant to weaponry, we can reasonably assert that they don’t breath fire and that an iron sword could easily cut through their hide and cause serious damage.  These are both reasons why Leviathan was historically associated with dragons.  Furthermore, the word “Leviathan” itself is derived from a Hebrew root word that means curved or coiled, which also implies that Leviathan may be a long, twisty coiled serpent, perhaps like a snake or a mythical dragon.

People have been speculating about the identities of both the Leviathan and the Behemoth for a long time.  The good news is that it doesn’t really change our proper interpretation of the text, so we don’t need to enter into those speculations to understand the meaning of this chapter.

Verse 34 concludes with Leviathan as “king over all the sons of pride”.  There is nothing greater in all of creation, and God is the great one who has made Leviathan as well as everything else.

In the next chapter, the book of Job draws to a close, Job admits defeat and repents before God.