Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 41:14
Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about.
14. who can open ] Or, who hath opened. The “doors of his face” is an expression for his “mouth” which has something artificial and forced in it.
his teeth are terrible ] The jaws of the crocodile are very extended; the two rows of long, pointed teeth, thirty-six, it is said, above, and thirty beneath, being bare, as the mouth has no lips, present a formidable appearance.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who can open the doors of his face? – His mouth. The same term is sti 1 used to denote the mouth – from its resemblance to a door. The idea is, that no one would dare to force open his mouth. This agrees better with the crocodile than almost any other animal. It would not apply to the whale. The crocodile is armed with a more formidable set of teeth than almost any other animal; see the description in the notes at Job 41:1. Bochart says that it has sixty teeth, and those much larger than in proportion to the size of the body. Some of them, he says, stand out; some of them are serrated, or like a saw, fitting into each other when the mouth is closed; and some come together in the manner of a comb, so that the grasp of the animal is very tenacious and fearful; see a full description in Bochart.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. The doors of his face?] His jaws which are most tremendous.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The doors of his face, to wit, his mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, that if it be shut, none dare open it.
His teeth are terrible round about: this is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. doors of . . . facehismouth. His teeth are sixty in number, larger in proportion than hisbody, some standing out, some serrated, fitting into each other likea comb [BOCHART].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who can open the doors of his face?…. Of his mouth, the jaws thereof, which are like a pair of folding doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr u speaks of one, whose jaws opened seven feet broad; and Leo Africanus w affirms he saw some, whose jaws, when opened, would hold a whole cow. To the wideness of the jaws of this creature Martial x alludes; and that the doors or jaws of the mouth of the whale are of a vast extent will be easily believed by those who suppose that was the fish which swallowed Jonah;
his teeth are terrible round about; this may seem to make against the whale, the common whale having none; though the “ceti dentati” are a sort of whales that have many teeth in the lower jaw, white, large, solid, and terrible y. Olaus Magnus z speaks of some that have jaws twelve or fourteen feet long; and teeth of six, eight, and twelve feet; and there is a sort called “trumpo”, having teeth resembling those of a mill a. In the spermaceti whale are rows of fine ivory teeth in each jaw, about five or six inches long b. But of the crocodile there is no doubt; which has two rows of teeth, very sharp and terrible, and to the number of sixty c.
u Decad. 5. c. 9. w Descript. Africae, l. 9. p. 763. So Sandys’s Travels, l. 2. p. 78. Edit. 5. x Epigram. l. 3. cp. 64. y Vid. Plin. l. 9. c. 5, 6. and Philosoph. Transact. vol. 3. p. 544. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 848. z De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 8. a Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 847, 848. b Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 7. part 3. p. 425. c Aelian. l. 10. c. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) Who can open the doors of his face?i.e., his mouth. Round about his teeth is terror.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. The doors of his face His mighty jaws, which extend back of his eyes and ears. Martial (iii, 90) jests over a large mouth, and compares it to that of the crocodile of the Nile.
His teeth terrible Literally, Round about his teeth is terror: within his teeth terror takes up its abode. The lofty conception of the speaker which clothed the war horse with thunder, (Job 39:19,) now finds within the ugly jaws of leviathan the dwelling place of terror.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 41:14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about.
Ver. 14. Who can open the doors of his face? ] The two leaved doors of his jaws, to let in a bridle? Samson dared to venture upon a roaring lion and rend him, as a man would rend a kid. But never dared any such thing be done to a whale.
His teeth are terrible round about
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the: Job 38:10, Ecc 12:4
his teeth: Psa 57:4, Psa 58:6, Pro 30:14, Dan 7:7
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 41:14. Who can open the doors of his face? Namely, his mouth. If it be open, no one dares to enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, none dare open it. His teeth are terrible round about This is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
41:14 Who can {f} open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about.
(f) Who dare look in his mouth?