Job 41:26

The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) The sword of him that layeth at him.—Literally, As to one approaching him (to slay him), his sword cannot stand; it will snap in his hand.

Benson Commentary

Job 41:26. The sword of him that layeth at him — That approacheth to him, and dares to strike at him; cannot hold — Hebrew, בלי תקום, beli takum, cannot stand. Either, 1st, Cannot endure the stroke, but will be broken by it; or, 2d, Cannot take hold of him, or abide fixed in him; but is instantly beaten back by the excessive hardness of his skin, which cannot be pierced by it. This also seems much better to agree to the crocodile, whose skin no sword, nor dart, nor (as some add) musket-ball can pierce, than to the whale, whose skin is easily pierced, as experience shows, except the whales here spoken of were of another kind than those we are acquainted with. Nor the habergeon — Hebrew, שׁריה, shirjah, which the margin of our Bible renders, breast-plate, and Ab. Ezra, a coat of mail, as the word means 1 Samuel 17:38. But Heath and Houbigant translate it here, the pike; and it evidently means some missile weapon.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

41:1-34 Concerning Leviathan. - The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The sword of him that layeth at him - The word "sword" here (חרב chereb) means undoubtedly "harpoon," or a sharp instrument by which an attempt is made to pierce the skin of the monster.

Cannot hold - That is, in the hard skin. It does not penetrate it.

The spear, the dart - These were doubtless often used in the attempt to take the animal. The meaning is, that "they" would not hold or stick to the animal. They flew off when hurled at him.

Nor the habergeon - Margin, "breastplate." Noyes, "javelin." Prof. Lee, "lance." Vulgate, "thorax, breastplate." So the Septuagint, θώρακα thōraka. The word used here (שׁריה shiryâh), the same as שׁריון shiryôn 1 Samuel 17:5, 1 Samuel 17:38; Nehemiah 4:16; 2 Chronicles 26:14, means properly a "coat of mail," and is so called from its shining - from שׁרה shârâh, "to shine." It is not used in the sense of spear or javelin elsewhere, though perhaps it may have that meaning here - denoting a "bright" or "shining" weapon. This agrees best with the connection.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. cannot hold—on his hard skin.

habergeon—coat of mail; avail must be taken by zeugma out of "hold," as the verb in the second clause: "hold" cannot apply to the "coat of mail."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That layeth at him; that approacheth to him, and dare strike at him.

Cannot hold, Heb. cannot stand, i.e. either,

1. Cannot endure the stroke, but will be broken by it. Or rather,

2. Cannot abide or take hold of him, or be fixed in him; but is instantly beaten back by the excessive hardness of the skin, which cannot be pierced by it, as may be gathered from this and other passages before and after it. This also seems better to agree to the crocodile, whose skin no sword, nor dart, nor musket bullet (as others add) can pierce, than to the whale, whose skin is easily pierced, as experience showeth in our whales; except the whale here spoken of were of another kind, which is not impossible.

Nor the habergeon; or, breastplate. As offensive weapons cannot hurt him, so defensive weapons cannot secure a man from him. But men that go upon the design of taking either whales or crocodiles do not use to fortify themselves in that manner. Some therefore take this to be another offensive weapon, a kind of dart, as this word signifies in the Arabic language; which is but a dialect of the Hebrew, and from which the true signification of many Hebrew words must be gathered.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold,.... It is either broken by striking at him, or however cannot pierce him and stick in him; but since a sword is not used in fishery, rather the harpagon or harpoon may be meant, which cannot enter into the crocodile, being so fenced with scales; but the whale being struck with it, it enters deep into his flesh, and is wounded by it; wherefore this and what follows in the next verses seems best to agree with the crocodile, or some other fish;

the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon; that is, neither of these can fasten upon him or enter into him: and yet it is certain that the whale, after he has been struck and wounded by the harping-iron, men approach nearer to him and thrust a long steeled lance or spear under his gills into his breast, and through the intestines, which dispatches him: darts are not made use of in the whale fishery; and as for crocodiles, as Peter Martyr says (c), they are not to be pierced with darts: the habergeon, or coat of mail, being a defensive piece of armour, seems not to be designed, as being never used in taking such creatures; rather therefore a javelin or hand dart may be intended; since, as Bochart observes, in the Arabic language such an one is expressed by this word.

(c) Apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 17. col. 785.

Geneva Study Bible

The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. that layeth at him] That is, that striketh at him; lit. he that layeth at him with the sword,—it doth not hold. The sword does not hold, or bite, but glances off his adamantine armour.

the habergeon] That is, the mail. “And be ye apparelled or clothed, saith Paul, with the habergeon, or coat armour of justice,” Latimer, Serm. p. 29 (Wright, Bible Word-Book).

26–29. He can be subdued by no weapon.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold. It either makes no impression or it snaps in his hand. Equally vain are the spear, the dart, and the javelin. Habergeon is a mistranslation. Job 41:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 Hosea 8:7; Hosea 9:16, Chethb), is the conclusion. חרב is instrumental, as Psalm 17:13. מסּע, from נסע, Arab. nz‛, to move on, hasten on, signifies a missile, as Arab. minz‛a, an arrow, manz‛a, a sling. The Targ. supports this latter signification here (funda quae projicit lapidem); but since קלא, the handling, is mentioned separately, the word appears to men missiles in general, or the catapult. In this combination of weapons of attack it is very questionable whether שׁריה is a cognate form of שׁריון (שׁרין), a coat of mail; probably it is equivalent to Arab. sirwe (surwe), an arrow with a long broad edge (comp. serı̂je, a short, round, as it seems, pear-shaped arrow-head), therefore either a harpoon or a peculiarly formed dart.

(Note: On the various kinds of Egyptian arrows, vid., Klemm. Culturgeschichte, v. 371f.)

"The son of the bow" (and of the אשׁפּה, pharetra) is the arrow. That the ἁπ. γεγρ. תותח signifies a club (war-club), is supported by the Arab. watacha, to beat. כּידון, in distinction from חנית (a long lance), is a short spear, or rather, since רעשׁ implies a whistling motion, a javelin. Iron the crocodile esteems as תּבן, tibn, chopped straw; sling stones are turned with him into קשׁ. Such is the name here at least, not for stumps of cut stubble that remain standing, but the straw itself, threshed and easily driven before the wind (Job 13:25), which is cut up for provender (Exodus 5:12), generally dried (and for that reason light) stalks (e.g., of grass), or even any remains of plants (e.g., splinters of wood).

(Note: The Egyptio-Arabic usage has here more faithfully preserved the ancient signification of the word (vid., Fleischer, Glossae, p. 37) than the Syro-Arabic; for in Syria cut but still unthreshed corn, whether lying in swaths out in the field and weighted with stones to protect it against the whirlwinds that are frequent about noon, or corn already brought to the threshing-floors but not yet threshed, is called qashsh. - Wetzst.)

The plur. נחשׁבוּ, Job 41:29, does not seem to be occasioned by תותח being conceived collectively, but by the fact that, instead of saying תותח וכידון, the poet has formed וכידון into a separate clause. Parchon's (and Kimchi's) reading תוחח is founded upon an error.