Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 41:32
He maketh a path to shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary.
32. The verse refers to the shining track which his swift darting through the water leaves behind him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He maketh a path to shine after him – This refers doubtless to the white foam of the waters through which he passes. If this were spoken of some monster that commonly resides in the ocean, it would not be unnatural to suppose that it refers to the phosphoric light such as is observed when the waters are agitated, or when a vessel passes rapidly through them. If it refers, however, to the crocodile, the allusion must be understood of the hoary appearance of the Nile or the lake where he is found.
One would think the deep to be hoary – Homer often speaks of the sea as polien thalassan – the hoary sea. So Apollonius, speaking of the Argonauts, Lib. i. 545:
– –
– makrai d’ aien eleukainonto keleuthoi –
The long paths were always white
So Catullus, in Epith. Pelei:
Totaque remigio spumis incanuit unda.
And Ovid, Epis. Oeno:
– remis eruta canet aqua.
The rapid motion of an aquatic animal through the water will produce the effect here referred to.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 41:32
He maketh a path to shine after him.
Phosphorescence
What was that illumined path? It was phosphorescence. You find it in the wake of a ship in the night, especially after rough weather. Phosphorescence is the lightning of the sea. I found a book of John Ruskin, and the first sentence my eyes fell upon was his description of phosphorescence, in which he calls it the lightning of the sea. It is the waves of the sea diamonded; it is the inflorescence of the billows; the waves of the sea crimsoned, as was the deep after the sea fight of Lepanto; the waves of the sea on fire. There are times when from horizon to horizon the entire ocean seems in conflagration with this strange splendor, as it changes every moment to tamer or more dazzling colour on all sides of you. You sit looking over the rail of the yacht or ocean steamer, watching and waiting to see what new thing the God of beauty will do with the Atlantic. This phosphorescence is the appearance of myriads of the animal kingdom rising, falling, flashing, living, dying. These luminous animalcules for nearly one hundred and fifty years have been the study of naturalists and the fascination of all who have brain enough to think. Now God, who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or useless, calls the attention of Job, the greatest scientist of his day, to this phosphorescence, and as the leviathan of the deep sweeps past, points out the fact that He maketh a path to shine after him. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 32. He maketh a path to shine after him] In certain states of the weather a rapid motion through the water disengages many sparks of phosphoric fire. I have seen this at sea; once particularly, on a fine clear night, with a good breeze, in a fast-sailing vessel, I leaned over the stern, and watched this phenomenon for hours. The wake of the vessel was like a stream of fire; millions of particles of fire were disengaged by the ship’s swift motion through the water, nearly in the same way as by the electric cushion and cylinder; and all continued to be absorbed at a short distance from the vessel. Whether this phenomenon takes place in fresh water or in the Nile, I have had no opportunity of observing.
The deep to be hoary.] By the frost and foam raised by the rapid passage of the animal through the water.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When he raiseth himself to the top of the waters, he doth as it were plough it up, and make large furrows, and causeth a white froth or foam upon the waters.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. paththe foam on histrack.
hoaryas hair of theaged.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He maketh a path to shine after him,…. Upon the sea, by raising a white from upon it, through its vehement motion as it passes along, or by the spermaceti it casts out and leaves behind it. It is said s that whales will cut and plough the sea in such a manner, as to leave a shining glittering path behind them, the length of a German mile, which is three of ours;
[one] would think the deep [to be] hoary; to be old and grey headed, or white like the hair of the head of an old man, a figure often used of the sea by poets t; and hence “Nereus” u, which is the sea, is said to be an old man, because the froth in the waves of it looks like white hair.
s Vid. Scheuchzer. ibid. (vol. 4.) p. 853. t , Homer. Iliad. 1. v. 350. , Iliad. 4. v. 248. “incanuit unda”, Catullus. u Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 63.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
32. Hoary This figure (comparing the foaming water to hair white with age) is one of great dignity, and is common in the classics. For instance, Homer ( Iliad, 1:350) speaks of “the hoary sea,” and Moschus of “the hoary deep.” Id., Job 5:5.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 41:32. One would think the deep to be hoary He accounteth the deep as his habitation. Heath. Houbigant renders the verse, He leaves behind him a shining path; he esteems the deep to be dry land.Rutilantia post se vestigia relinquit; abyssum reputat ut aridum tellurem.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 41:32 He maketh a path to shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary.
Ver. 32. He maketh a path to shine after him ] A ship doth so, much more a whale.
One would think the deep to be hoary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
By his rapid passage through the water he makes it white with foam; and by his tail he causes the waves behind him to sparkle like a trail of light.
to shine: Gen 1:15
deep: Job 28:14, Job 38:16, Job 38:30, Gen 1:2
hoary: Gen 15:15, Gen 25:8, Gen 42:38, Pro 16:31, Pro 20:29
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
41:32 He maketh a path to {l} shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary.
(l) That is, a white froth and shining stream before him.