Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 41:33
Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
33. who is made ] That is, he who is made without fear so as to fear nothing.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
33, 34. He has no rival, he is king among the proud beasts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Upon earth there is not his like – Hebrew, Upon the dust. The meaning is, that no other animal can be compared with him; or the land does not produce such a monster as this. For size, strength, ferocity, courage, and formidableness, no animal will hear a comparison with him. This can be true only of some such fierce creature as the crocodile.
Who is made without fear – Margin, Or, behave themselves with fear. The meaning is, that he is created not to be afraid; he has no dread of others In this respect he is unlike other animals. The Septuagint renders this, He is made to be sported with by my angels.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 41:33-34
Upon the earth there is not his like.
The supremacy of leviathan
The lion is often spoken of as the king of the forest, or the king of beasts, and in a similar sense the leviathan is here spoken of as at the head of the animal creation. He is afraid of none of them; he is subdued by none of them; he is the prey of none of them. The whole argument, therefore, closes with this statement, that he is at the head of the animal creation; and it was by this magnificent description of the power of the creatures which God had made, that it was intended to impress the mind of Job with a sense of the majesty and power of the Creator. It had the effect. He was overawed with the conviction of the greatness of God, and he saw how wrong it had been for him to presume to call in question the justice, or sit in judgment on the doings of such a Being. God did not, indeed, go into an examination of the various points which had been the subject of controversy; He did not explain the nature of His moral administration so as to relieve the mind from perplexity; but He evidently meant to leave the impression that He was vast and incomprehensible in His government, infinite in power, and had a right to dispose of His creation as He pleased. No one can doubt that God could, with infinite ease, have so explained the nature of His administration as to flee the mind from perplexity, and so as to have resolved the difficulties which hung over the various subjects which had come into debate between Job and his friends. Why He did not do this is nowhere stated, and can only be the subject of conjecture. It is possible, however, that the following suggestions may do something to show the reasons why this was not done.
1. We are to remember the early period of the world when these transactions occurred, and when this Book was composed. It was in the infancy of society, and when little light had gleamed on the human mind in regard to questions of morals and religion.
2. In that state of things it is not probable that either Job or his friends would have been able to comprehend the principles in accordance with which the wicked are permitted to flourish, and the righteous are so much afflicted, if they had been stated. Much higher knowledge than they then possessed about the future world was necessary to understand the subject which then agitated their minds. It could not have been done without a very decided reference to the future state, where all these inequalities are to be removed.
3. It has been the general plan of God to communicate knowledge by degrees: to impart it when men have had full demonstration of their own imbecility, and when they feel the need of Divine teaching; and to reserve the great truths of religion for an advanced period of the world. In accordance with this arrangement, God has been pleased to keep in reserve, from age to age, certain great and momentous truths, and such as were particularly adapted to throw light on the subjects of discussion between Job and his friends. They are the truths pertaining to the resurrection of the body; the retributions of the Day of Judgment; the glories of heaven and the woes of hell, where all the inequalities of the present state may receive their final and equal adjustment. These great truths were reserved for the triumph and glory of Christianity; and to have stated them in the time of Job would have been to have anticipated the most important revelations of that system. The truths of which we are now in possession would have relieved much of the anxiety then felt, and solved most of these questions; but the world was not then in the proper state for their revelation.
4. It was a very proper lesson to be taught men, to bow with submission, to a sovereign God, without knowing the reason of His doings. No lesson, perhaps, could be learnt of higher value than this. To a proud, self-confident, philosophic mind, a mind prone to rely on its own resources and trust to its own deductions, it was of the highest importance to inculcate the duty of submission to will and sovereignty. This is a lesson which we often have to learn in life, and which almost all the trying dispensations of providence are fitted to teach us. It is not because God has no reason for what He does; it is not because He intends we shall never know the reason: but it is because it is our duty to bow with submission to His will, and to acquiesce in His right to reign, even when we cannot see the reason of His doings. Could we reason it out, and then submit because we saw the reason, our submission would not be to our Makers pleasure, but to the deductions of our own minds. Hence, all along, He so deals with man, by concealing the reason of His doings, as to bring him to submission to His authority, and to humble all human pride. To this termination all the reasonings of the Almighty in this Book are conducted; and after the exhibition of His power in the tempest, after His sublime description of His own works, after His appeal to the numerous things which are, in fact, incomprehensible to man, we feel that God is great–that it is presumptuous in man to sit in judgment on His works, and that the mind, no matter what it does, should bow before Him with profound veneration and silence. (Albert Barnes.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. Upon earth there is not his like] There is no creature among terrestrial animals so thoroughly dangerous, so exceedingly strong, and so difficult to be wounded or slain.
Who is made without fear.] Perhaps there is no creature who is at all acquainted with man, so totally destitute of fear as the crocodile.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Upon earth; either,
1. Strictly so called, as it is distinguished from the sea or rivers. There is no land creature comparable to him for strength and courage. Or,
2. Largely taken. No creature equals him in all points. Or, upon the dust, as the word properly signifies, i.e. among the things that creep in the dust, among which this may in some sort be numbered for the shortness of its feet. But this were no great honour to it, to be the chief of creeping things; and therefore the former translation seems more proper for the present design of magnifying this creature above all others.
Who is made without fear; fears no enemy, as being full of courage, and sensible of his own invincible strength. Or, so as he cannot be bruised or broken, by reason of his prodigious hardness, of which I have spoken before.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. whobeing one who, &c.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Upon the earth there is not his like,…. As to form and figure; in most creatures there is some likeness between those in the sea and on the land, as sea horses, calves, c. but there is no likeness between a whale and any creature on earth there is between the crocodile and the lizard; nor is any like the whale for the largeness of its bulk; the Targum is,
“his dominion is not on the earth,”
but on the sea, as Aben Ezra notes; but rather the sense is, there is no power on earth that he obeys and submits to, as the Tigurine version; though the meaning seems to be, that there is none like him, for what follows:
who is made without fear; yet this agrees not neither with the crocodile, which Aelianus w says is fearful; nor with the whale, which will make off and depart at the shoutings of men, blowing of trumpets, and making use of any tinkling instruments, at which it is frightened, as Strabo x, Philostratus y, and Olaus Magnus z, relate. It is observed a; of their valour, that if they see a man or a long boat, they go under water and run away; and are never known to endeavour to hurt any man, but when in danger; though a voyager b of our own says,
“we saw whales in Whale-sound, and lying aloft on the water, not fearing our ships, or aught else.”
The Targum is,
“he is made that he might not be broken;”
or bruised, as Bochart; as reptiles usually may, among whom the crocodile may be reckoned, because of its short legs; and yet is made with such a hard scaly skin, that it cannot be crushed, bruised, and broken. Aben Ezra observes that some say, the word “hu”, that is, “he”, is wanting, and should be supplied, “he”, that is, “[God], made him without fear”; or that he might not be bruised; wherefore Cocceius interprets the following words entirely of God.
w De Animal. l. 10. c. 24. x Geograph. l. 15. p. 499. y Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 16. z De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 3, 6. a Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 153. b Baffin in the North-West Fox, p. 150.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(33, 34) Upon earth there is not his like.Some have proposed to take away the last two verses of Job 41 from their connection with the crocodile, and to transpose them, referring them to man, so as to come before Job. 41:8, understanding them thus: There is one whose like is not upon earth, who is made without dread. He seeth every high thing, and is king over all the proud beasts. To Him then I say (Job. 41:8), Lay thine hand upon him; remember the battle, and do so no more. Lo! his hope is deceived. Is he indeed cast down at the very eight of him? He is not so cruel to himself that he should rouse him up. Who then can stand before me? Who hath first given to me, that I should have to repay him? That which is under the whole heavens is mine. It cannot be denied that this makes very good sense, but it seems to be too great a liberty to take with the text as we find it to adopt this as the true order of the verses; for in that case, what is there that we might not deal with in a like manner? Those who advocate this transposition in the order of the verses would also place Job. 40:1-5 so as to follow Job. 40:6, in this manner: Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no purpose can be withholden from thee, or that no purpose of thine can be restrained. Then the next words come in as the implied answer of God: Who is this that hideth my counsel for want of knowledge? To which Job replies: Therefore (I confess that) I have uttered without understanding things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Again God replies, as in Job. 38:3; Job. 40:7 : Hear, I beseech thee and I will speak, I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me; to which Job answers: I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor what I have said, and repent it in dust and ashes. Then the Lord answered Job and said, Is he that contended with the Almighty reproved? Does he acknowledge his discomfiture? He that argueth with God, let him answer this question. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I lay my hand before my mouth; once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yea twice, but I will not do so again. There is a certain amount of sharpness and point obtained in thus making this confession the climax of the poem, and a kind of formal consistency is secured in regarding this resolution as Jobs last utterance instead of making him speak again, as he does, according to the present order, in Job. 42:2. But this consistency is formal rather than real, inasmuch as there is no inconsistency in the tone of Job. 42:2 seqq., and the promise of Job. 40:5. Whatever advantage may be derived from the re-arrangement will be a matter for individual taste rather to decide, which will vary with the individual; and at all events, the climax of Job. 42:6 as it stands is a very noble one, and we may question whether we can heighten its grandeur.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. Upon earth there is not his like Thus the Septuagint, Delitzsch, and Umbreit. The word , his like, may also signify “his ruler,” (Hitzig, Ewald, etc.,) and the sentence be read literally, There is not on the dust his ruler: among beasts and among men he has no king. The reason is obliquely given for the honour accorded the two monsters, of crowning the tableau held up from nature; the one is a firstling of God’s works; the other is one of nature’s monarchs, which acknowledges no superior.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 41:33. Upon earth there is not his like Houbigant renders this, His dwelling is not upon the dust; He who made him, made him to be without law. This he supposes to express the amphibious nature of the crocodile; which, though living under the waters, yet is observed almost every day at morning and evening to come from thence, and continue awhile on the land. This learned critic also gives a turn to the next verse very different from that in which it is generally understood. Heath renders the verse, and with great seeming propriety, as referring to, and closing the description of, the crocodile: He will look upon any thing with contempt, be it ever so high: he is king over all the sons of rapine; i.e. the most ravenous beasts, according to the Syriac and Arabic. “But,” says Houbigant, “I am persuaded that these words do not refer to the crocodile; but close the parable here taken from the beasts: God openly declaring who he is of whom he spoke in the 10th verse (who then is able to stand before me?) and that he meant that Leviathan, or old serpent, who raised his proud look even to the highest, and who possesses great power, though received from God, and so moderated, that whomever he shall oppress, as he had oppressed Job, God, when he pleased, could wholly deliver from his power and tyranny.” Dr. Young very well paraphrases these last verses, agreeably to the common interpretation, as follows:
His like earth bears not on her spacious face, Alone in nature stands his dauntless race, For utter ignorance of fear renown’d: In wrath he rolls his baleful eye around, Makes every swol’n disdainful heart subside, And holds dominion o’er the sons of pride.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The learned are divided in opinion about Leviathan, whether the whale or crocodile be meant; some parts of the description seeming most adapted to the one, and some more peculiar to the other. Whatever animal be designed, the intention is evidently to shew Job’s weakness and God’s power. He is represented here as not to be caught with a hook or bait: not to be terrified or tamed: his flesh unfit for food: not to be taken with barbed irons and spears. It was at his peril who approached him; he would rouse himself for battle; therefore it were wise not to meddle with him. To hope to take him as a fish in a net, were vain; the very sight of him was terrible. The boldest dared not provoke him; and if a creature thus intimidate us from approaching him, and so surpass our strength, who then is able too stand before God, to contend with the Almighty, and to impeach his proceedings, or awaken his wrath?
2nd, 1. God challenges the universal property of all things; none ever made him their debtor, whilst every creature receives from him life and breath, and every thing conducive to the comfort or preservation of it. Note; (1.) The best services that we can render God, lay no obligation on him; the favour is done to us, that he enables us to serve him, or accepts our humble duty. (2.) If God giveth not an account to us of his matters, have we the shadow of right to question him? may he not do what he will with his own?
2. He describes the several parts of this terrible animal Leviathan. None dare approach him, to flay his skin, or open those devouring jaws, to look on which only, were enough to make the beholder tremble. His scales, which are his strength and pride, like a coat of mail, shut close over each other, to defend him; and are so near each other that even the air cannot come between. When he sneezes, a light shines, and his eyes are bright and sparkling as the eyelids of the morning. His breath is like the smoke of the furnace; and hot, like the steam of the boiling caldron; coals are ready to kindle from his nostrils. Strong and fierce, he fears no sorrow. His flesh, firm as a rock, defies all the instruments of death. When he lifts up himself in terrors, the mighty purify themselves, as dying men fly to their prayers. He makes his bed on the hard sharp-pointed stones. Before him the boiling deep smokes; behind him, the white foam marks his shining path, as if the deep was hoary-headed grown. Upon earth there is not his equal, fearless of danger. With contempt he beholds the vessels sailing by; and is a king over the children of pride, greater than the greatest of them, in magnitude and bodily strength. Or this is spoken of God, who beholdeth all these stupendous creatures: and all the children of pride, whether devils, men, or the most lawless animals, must submit to his government. Highly then it becomes Job to bow, to humble himself under God’s mighty hand, and own the transcendent glory, greatness, and unsearchableness of all his works and ways.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 41:33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
Ver. 33. Upon earth there is not his like ] Heb. There is no comparison of him. Much was said before of behemoth, but leviathan is far beyond him for size and strength; which yet Mercer noteth to be the work of God, and not of nature, quod humor solvat et infirmet; and therefore in reason earthly creatures would be harder and stronger than those in the sea.
Who is made without fear
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Upon: There is no creature among terrestrial animals so thoroughly dangerous, so exceedingly strong, and so difficult to be wounded or slain; and perhaps there is no creature so totally destitute of fear as the crocodile. See note on Job 41:1. Job 40:19
is made: Heb. behave themselves, Job 41:24
Reciprocal: Job 39:22 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 41:33. Upon the earth there is not his like No creature in this world is comparable to him for strength and terror. Or the earth is here distinguished from the sea; for the Hebrew, , een gnal gnapar mashelo, may be properly rendered, His dominion is not upon the earth; namely, but upon the waters. Houbigant renders it, His dwelling is not upon the dust; which, as he understands it of the crocodile, he supposes to express the amphibious nature of the animal, which, although it is observed every day at morning and evening to come out of the waters, and to continue awhile on the land, yet, properly speaking, is an inhabitant of the waters, and it is well for man that he is so; for if such a terrible creature were allowed to roam and ravage upon this earth, it would be an unsafe and uncomfortable habitation for the children of men, for whom it is intended. Who is made without fear Fears no enemy, as being sensible of his own invincible strength. But , libli chath, may be rendered, so as he cannot be bruised, or broken; namely, because of his prodigious hardness, of which we have spoken before.