Job 41:7

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Job 41:7-8. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? — A whale’s skin you may; but the skin of a crocodile is so hard that an iron, or spear, will not pierce it. It may, however, be understood also of the whale, for though they are taken at this day by piercing their skin with barbed irons, this art and way of taking them is but a late invention, and was not known in Job’s time; and, besides, he doth not speak of the absolute impossibility, but of the great difficulty of taking them. Lay thy hand upon him — Seize upon him, and take him by a strong hand, if thou darest to do so. Remember the battle, &c. — But ere thou attempt that, consider what thou art doing, and how hazardous thy enterprise is, and with what sort of a creature and with what disadvantage thou art going to contend; and, as it follows, do no more — Proceed no further; draw back thy hand, and be thankful for so great a deliverance. Or, as אל תוסŠ, al tosaph, literally signifies, non addes, that is, as Mercer very justly explains it, if once thou lay thy hand upon him, or attempt to do it, thou wilt no more remember the engagement with him, or any one else; for he will quickly despatch thee. Heath, however, gives a different turn to the sense, thus: Be sure thou strike home; mind thy blow; rely not on a second stroke.

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

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? - Referring to its thickness and impenetrability. A common method of taking fish is by the spear; but it is here said that the leviathan could not be caught in this manner. The common method of taking the crocodile now is by shooting him; see the notes at Job 41:1. Nothing is more remarkable in the crocodile than the thick and impenetrable skin with which it is covered; and the description here will agree better with this animal than with any other.

Or his head with fish spears - The word here rendered "fish-spears" (צלצל tselâtsal) means properly a "tinkling, clanging," as of metal or arms, and then any tinkling instrument. Here it evidently refers to some metal spear, or harpoon, and the name was given to the instrument on account of its clanging noise. The Septuagint renders this strangely, referring it to the "Phenicians," or merchants mentioned in the previous verse - "With their whole fleet they could not carry the first skin of his tail, nor his head in their fishing-barks."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. His hide is not penetrable, as that of fishes.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This may be understood, either,

1. Of the whale. And whereas it is objected that the whales at this day are taken in this manner, and therefore this cannot be understood of them; it may be replied, both that this art and way of taking whales is a late invention, and was not known in Job’s time; and that he doth not speak of the absolute impossibility, but of the great difficulty of taking them. Or,

2. Of the crocodile, whose skin is so hard that an iron or spear will not pierce it, as we shall see hereafter.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? This seems not so well to agree with the whale; whose skin, and the several parts of his body, are to be pierced with harpoons and lances, such as fishermen use in taking whales; and their flesh to be cut in pieces with their knives: but better with the crocodile, whose skin is so hard, and so closely set with scales, that it is impenetrable; See Gill on Ezekiel 29:4. Or if the words are rendered, as by some, "wilt thou fill ships with his skin? and the fishermen's boat with his head" (n)? it makes also against the whale; for this is done continually, ships of different nations are loaded every year with its skin, flesh, and the bones of its head.

(n) Vid. Schultens in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? The hippopotamus was captured in this way by the Egyptians at an early date, and hence the idea of trying the same mode of capture with the crocodile would naturally arise; but in the time of Job it would seem that no one had been bold enough to attempt it. The skin of the crocodile is penetrable in very few places, and his capture by a single man with a harpoon, though now sometimes practised (Wilkinson, in the author's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2. p. 99), is still a work of danger and difficulty. Or his head with fish-spears? Fish-spears would have small effect on the head of a crocodile, which is bony and covered by a very tough skin. There is a vulnerable place, however, at the point where the head joins the spine, at which the ancient Egyptians, when they ventured to attack the crocodile, were wont to strike (see the author's 'History of Ancient Egypt,' vol. 1. p. 545). Job 41:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

6 Do fishermen trade with him,

Do they divide him among the Canaanites?

7 Canst thou fill his skin with darts,

And his head with fish-spears?

8 Only lay thy hand upon him

Remember the battle, thou wilt not do it again!

9 Behold, every hope becometh disappointment:

Is not one cast down even at the sight of him?

The fishermen form a guild (Arab. ṣunf, sunf), the associated members of which are called חבּרים (distinct from חברים). On כּרה על, vid., on Job 6:27. "When I came to the towns of the coast," says R. Akiba, b. Rosch ha-Schana, 26b, "they called selling, which we call מכירה, כירה, there," according to which, then, Genesis 50:5 is understood, as by the Syriac; the word is Sanscrito-Semitic, Sanscr. kri, Persic chirı̂den (Jesurun, p. 178). lxx ἐνσιτούνται, according to 2 Kings 6:23, to which, however, עליו is not suitable. כּנענים are Phoenicians; and then, because they were the merchant race of the ancient world, directly traders or merchants. The meaning of the question is, whether one sells the crocodile among them, perhaps halved, or in general divided up. Further, Job 41:7 : whether one can kill it בּשׂכּות, with pointed missiles (Arab. shauke, a thorn, sting, dart), or with fish-spears (צלצל, so called from its whizzing, צלל, ). In Job 41:8 the accentuation is the right indication: only seize upon him - remember the battle, i.e., thou wilt be obliged to remember it, and thou wilt have no wish to repeat it. זכר .ti t is a so-called imperat. consec.: if thou doest it, thou wilt ... , Ges. 130, 2. תּוסף is the pausal form of תּוסף (once ͂, Proverbs 30:6), of which it is the original form.

The suff. of תּוהלתּו refers to the assailant, not objectively to the beast (the hope which he indulges concerning it). נכזבה, Job 41:9, is 3 praet., like נאלמה, Isaiah 53:7 (where also the participial accenting as Milra, occurs in Codd.); Frst's Concord. treats it as part., but the participial form נקטלה, to be assumed in connection with it, along with נקטלה and נקטלת, does not exist. הגם, Job 41:9, is, according to the sense, equivalent to הלא גם, vid., on Job 20:4. מראיו (according to Ges., Ew., and Olsh., sing., with the plural suff., without a plur. meaning, which is natural in connection with the primary form מראי; or what is more probable, from the plur. מראים with a sing. meaning, as פּנים) refers to the crocodile, and יטּל (according to a more accredited reading, יטּל equals יוּטל) to the hunter to whom it is visible.

What is said in Job 41:6 is perfectly true; although the crocodile was held sacred in some parts of Egypt, in Elephantine and Apollonopolis, on the contrary, it was salted and eaten as food. Moreover, that there is a small species of crocodile, with which children can play, does not militate against Job 41:5. Everywhere here it is the creature in its primitive strength and vigour that is spoken of. But if they also knew how to catch it in very early times, by fastening a bait, perhaps a duck, on a barb with a line attached, and drew the animal to land, where they put an end to its life with a lance-thrust in the neck (Uhlemann, Thoth, S. 241): this was angling on the largest scale, as is not meant in Job 41:1. If, on the other hand, in very early times they harpooned the crocodile, this would certainly be more difficult of reconcilement with v. 31, than that mode of catching it by means of a fishing-hook of the greatest calibre with Job 41:1. But harpooning is generally only of use when the animal can be hit between the neck and head, or in the flank; and it is very questionable whether, in the ancient times, when the race was without doubt of an unmanageable size, that has now died out, the crocodile hunt (Job 7:12) was effected with harpoons. On the whole subject we have too little information for distinguishing between the different periods. So far as the questions of Jehovah have reference to man's relation to the two monsters, they concern the men of the present, and are shaped according to the measure of power which they have attained over nature. The strophe which follows shows what Jehovah intends by these questions.