Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 41:19
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out.
19. burning lamps ] Or, burning torches.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
19 21. These verses refer probably to the animal’s emergence from the water, when the long-repressed hot breath is blown out along with water from his mouth, and shines in the sun like a fiery stream.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Out of his mouth go burning lamps – The word lamps here is probably used to denote torches, or fire-brands. The animal is here described as in pursuit of his prey on land; and the description is exceedingly graphic and powerful. His mouth is then open; his jaws are distended; his breath is thrown out with great violence; his blood is inflamed, and the animal seems to vomit forth flames. The description is of course to be regarded as figurative. It is such as one would be likely to give who should see a fierce animal pressing on in pursuit of its prey.
And sparks of fire leap out – There is an appearance like sparks of fire. The animal, with an open throat highly inflamed, seems to breathe forth flames. The figure is a common one applied to a war-horse. Thus, Ovid:
From their full racks the generous steeds retire,
Dropping ambrosial foam and snorting fire.
Dr. Good
The same thing is remarked by Achilles Tatius, of the hippopotamus, With open nostrils, and breathing smoke like fire ( purode kapnon) as from a fountain of fire. And in Eustathius it is said, They have an open nostril, breathing forth smoke like fire from a furnace – , purode kapnon, hos ek kaminou pneonta. See Bochart.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps] Dr. Young, in his paraphrase, has a sensible note on this passage: – “This is nearer the truth than at first view may be imagined. The crocodile, according to naturalists, lying long under water, and being there forced to hold its breath, when it emerges, the breath long repressed is hot, and bursts out so violently, that it resembles fire and smoke. The horse does not repress his breath by any means so long, neither is he so fierce and animated; yet the most correct of poets ventures to use the same metaphor concerning him, volvit sub naribus ignem. By this I would caution against a false opinion of the boldness of Eastern metaphors, from passages ill understood.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. His breathings and blowings are very hot, or flaming, as the following verses explain this. This also may seem better to agree to the crocodile, which breathes (as Aristotle affirms) like the hippopotamus, of which ancient authors affirm, that his nostrils are very large, and he breathes forth a fiery smoke like that of a furnace, than to the whale, which rather casts forth streams of water, as was noted before, than flames of fire, there being no such great heat observed in whales, nor, as far as I know, in any other fishes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. burning lamps“torches”;namely, in respiring (Job 41:18),seem to go out.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out. Which, though hyperbolical expressions, have some foundation for them in the latter; in the vast quantities of water thrown out by the whale, through its mouth or hole in its frontispiece, which in the sun may look like lamps and sparks of fire, as before observed; and especially in the “orcae”, or whales with teeth, which eject in the same way an oily mucus, or the fat liquor of the brain, commonly called spermaceti, which may appear more bright and glittering. Ovid t says much the same of the boar as is here said of the leviathan.
t “Fulmen ab ore venit; frondesque adflatibus ardent”. Metamorph. c. 8. Fab. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. Burning lamps Flames better expresses the root idea of the Hebrew lappidh, and it is the rendering of Gesenius. A forcible figure for the burning, fiery breath.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 41:19-21. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, &c. This is nearer the truth, says Dr. Young, than at first view may be imagined. The crocodile, according to the naturalists, lying long under water, and being there forced to hold its breath; when it emerges, the breath, long repressed, is hot, and bursts out so violently, that it resembles fire and smoke. The horse suppresseth not his breath by any means so long; neither is he so fierce and animated, yet the most correct of poets ventures to use the same metaphor concerning him. By this I would caution against a false opinion of the boldness of the eastern metaphors from passages ill understood.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 41:19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out.
Ver. 19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps ] This and those that follow are all hyperbolic expressions. Here he is brought in as a spit fire, as the devil was wont to be in plays and pageants. And by this passage some conjecture, that not the whale, but the sea dragon, is here described. Let it be what it will, it must needs be a great heat within this great fish, that sendeth forth, as it were, burning lamps and sparks of fire; and a strong sulphurous breath he must have, like the outbursts of Aetna, by this description. Aristotle saith the whale is of a hot fiery nature; and that he hath lungs, and breatheth; a pipe or passage also he hath in his forehead, whereat he throweth out the water he hath taken in, either by his breathing or eating (lib. 4, Depart. Anim. cap. 12). This transparent water, thus with a force thrown up against the sunbeams, may bear a show of lightning, or burning lamps.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 18:8
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 41:19-21. Out of his mouth go burning lamps This, says Dr. Young, is nearer truth than at first view may be imagined. The crocodile, says the naturalists, lying long under water, and being there forced to hold its breath, when it emerges, the breath, long repressed, is hot, and bursts out so violently that it resembles fire and smoke. The horse suppresses not his breath, by any means, so long, neither is he so fierce and animated; yet the most correct of poets venture to use the same metaphor concerning him. By this I would caution against a false opinion of the eastern boldness, (the boldness of their metaphors,) from passages in them ill understood. We add the doctors paraphrase on these verses:
His bulk is charged with such a furious soul,
That clouds of smoke from his spread nostrils roll,
As from a furnace; and, when roused his ire,
Fate issues from his jaws in streams of fire.
Smoke, as out of a caldron Hebrew, , agmon, sometimes rendered bulrush, and, Job 41:2, put for a hook; but the word likewise signifies a pool, or stagnating water, and is here rendered a caldron, because a caldron sends forth a great smoke, as a pool doth vapours. By a like figure, the great brazen laver, in the temple, was called a sea, on account of the great quantity of water which it contained. His breath kindleth coals A hyperbolical expression, signifying only extraordinary heat.