Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 41:31
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
31. The commotion he raises in the deep.
The second clause of the verse hardly refers to fermentation in the pot of ointment, but rather to the foaming mixture of ingredients.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot – In his rapid motion through it. The word deep ( metsolah) may refer to any deep place – either of the sea, of a river, or of mire, Psa 69:2. It is applied to the depths of the sea, Jon 2:3; Mic 7:19; but there is nothing in the word that will prevent its application to a large river like the Nile – the usual abode of the crocodile.
He maketh the sea – The word sea ( yam) is often applied to a large river, like the Nile or the Euphrates; see the notes at Isa 19:5.
Like a pot of ointment – When it is mixed, or stirred together. Bochart supposes that there is an allusion here to the smell of musk, which it is said the crocodile has, and by which the waters through which he passes seem to be perfumed. But the allusion seems rather to be merely to the fact that the deep is agitated by him when he passes through it, as if it were stirred from the bottom like a pot of ointment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot] This is occasioned by strongly agitating the waters at or near the bottom; and the froth which arises to the top from this agitation may have the appearance of ointment. But several travellers say that the crocodile has a very strong scent of musk, and that he even imparts this smell to the water through which he passes, and therefore the text may be taken literally. This property of the crocodile has been noticed by several writers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The deep; the deep waters, or the sea, which is called the deep, Psa 107:24; Jon 2:3, as it is explained in the next clause.
To boil like a pot; to swell, and foam, and froth by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor doth when it is boiled in a pot.
The sea; either the great sea, the proper place of the whale, Psa 104:25; or the great river Nilus, which is called a sea, both in Scripture, as Isa 11:15, and in other authors, (of which see my Latin Synopsis,) as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isa 21:1; Jer 51:36; or lakes or pools, which are most frequently called seas, both in the Old and New Testament, as every one knows. And in such lakes the crocodiles are no less than in Nilus, as it is attested by Herodotus, and Strabo, and others.
Like a pot of ointment: this clause seems to be added very emphatically, to intimate that this leviathan causeth not only a vehement commotion, but also a great fragrancy in the sea or waters where it is; which, though it was not observed by the ancients, yet is unanimously affirmed by later authors upon their own knowledge and experience, that it casts a perfume like musk; of which see the names and words of the authors in my Latin Synopsis.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. Whenever he moves.
seathe Nile (Isa 19:5;Nah 3:8).
pot of ointmentthevessel in which it is mixed. Appropriate to the crocodile, whichemits a musky smell.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He maketh the deep to boil k like a pot,…. Which is all in a from through the violent agitation and motion of the waves, caused by its tossing and tumbling about; which better suits with the whale than the crocodile, whose motion in the water is not so vehement;
he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment; this also seems to make against the crocodile, which is a river fish, and is chiefly in the Nile. Lakes indeed are sometimes called seas, in which crocodiles are found; yea, they are also said to be in the seas, Eze 32:2; and Pliny l speaks of them as common to the land, river, and sea; and the Nile is in the Alcoran m called the sea, and its ancient name was “Oceames” with the Egyptians, that is, in Greek, “ocean”, as Diodorus Siculus n affirms; and so it is thought to be the Egyptian sea in
Isa 11:15. It is observed that they leave a sweet scent behind them; thus Peter Martyr o, in his account of the voyages of Columbus in the West Indies, says, they sometimes met with crocodiles, which, when they fled or took water, they left a very sweet savour behind them, sweeter than musk or castoreum. But this does not come up to the expression here of making the sea like a pot of ointment; but the sperm of the whale comes much nearer to it, which is of a fat oily nature, and like ointment, and which the whale sometimes throws out in great abundance, so that the sea is covered with it; whole pails full may be taken out of the water; it swims upon the sea like fat; abundance of it is seen in calm weather, so that it makes the sea all foul and slimy p: and there are a sort of birds called “mallemuck”, which fly in great numbers and feed upon it q. I cannot but remark what the bishop of Bergen observes r of the sea serpent, that its excrements float on the water in summertime like fat slime.
k “Fervetque—-aequor”. Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. v. 327. l Nat. Hist. l. 32. c. 11. m Schultens in Job, xiv. 11. n Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 17. o Decad. 3. l. 4. p Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 148, 149. q Vid. Scheuchzer. ut supra, (vol. 4.) p. 852. & Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 167. r Pantoppidan’s History of Norway, part 2. p. 204.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(31) The seai.e., not necessarily the salt water, for the Nile is still called the sea by the Arabs, and so with many other large rivers. Example, the sea-wall of the Thames below Gravesend.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. The sea The Arabs still call the Nile bahr, a sea.
Pot of ointment This figure rests, as some suppose, upon the strong, musk-like odour emitted by the crocodile. “There is a follicle, of the bigness of a hazel nut, under the shoulders of the old crocodiles; this contains a thick matter which smells like musk. The Egyptians are very anxious to get this when they kill a crocodile, it being a perfume much esteemed by the grandees.” HASSELQUIST, Travels, page 215. The preparation of perfumes, in ancient times, evidently involved the process of boiling. Wilkinson’s statement, that ointment (found in an alabaster vase) two or three thousand years old still retained its odour, seems to indicate a lost art. ( Ancient Egyptians, i, p. 34 . ) A scene which Dr. Livingstone describes gives a curious insight into the habits of the crocodile, and forcibly illustrates this and the following verse: “The corpse of a boy floated past the ship; a monstrous crocodile rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound, caught it, and shook it as a terrier dog does a rat. Others dashed at the prey, each with his powerful tail causing the water to churn and froth as he ferociously tore off a piece. In a few seconds it was all gone.” Zambesi, p. 477.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 41:31 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
Ver. 31. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot ] He troubleth the whole ocean, he maketh a mighty commotion in the sea, when he rolls himself therein upward and downward, and casts up water on high through a certain conveyance that he hath in his head (Plin. lib. ix. c. 3, 6).
He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 41:20
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 41:31-32. He maketh the deep The deep waters; to boil like a pot To swell, and foam, and froth, by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor does when it is boiled in a pot, especially boiling ointment. The sea Either the great sea, the proper place of the whale, Psa 104:25, or the great river Nile, which is called a sea, both in Scripture, as Isa 11:15, and in other authors, as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isa 21:1; Jer 51:36. Lakes also are most frequently called seas, both in the Old and New Testament; and in such lakes the crocodiles are, as well as in the Nile. He maketh a path to shine after him Houbigant renders the text, He leaves behind him a shining path; that is, the way in which he moves appears shining and conspicuous, as when a ship sails, and leaves a visible path behind it, which in the night appears to shine. One would think the deep to be hoary It is so covered with froth and foam that it looks as if it were grown old, and become hoary.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
41:31 He maketh the deep to {k} boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
(k) Either he makes the sea to seem like it is boiling by his wallowing, or else he spouts water in such abundance as it would seem that the sea boiled.