Chapter Forty-One

The very look of the crocodile can fill the hunter with terror and forever destroy the desire to possess it.

Job 41:1. Hope is vain: will you not fall at the sight of him? Job 41:2. There is no one so bold as to dare to disturb him; who then can stand before my face? Job 41:3. Who has given to me first, that I should repay him? All under heaven is mine. Conclusion from what has been said. If the crocodile – a creature of God – inspires such terror that no one dares attack it, then who will dare contend with God, the creator of this monster? The correct reading of the first half of the third verse should be: “who has given me anything beforehand, so that I would repay him?” All of nature is a creation of the Lord, and all that man possesses is the property and gift of God. Therefore, on his part there cannot be any protests, whether God gives something or takes it away (cf. Job 2:10). Job 41:4-26. A more detailed description of the crocodile, confirming the thought Job 40:26-27 and Job 41:1.

Job 41:4. I will not pass over his limbs, his strength, and the grace of his proportion. Job 41:5. Who can uncover his outer garment, who can come close to his double jaws? Job 41:6. Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth round about are terrible; The first question of this verse: “who can uncover his outer garment?” – that is, expose the flesh of the crocodile from the scales covering it, is explained in verses 7–9. The impossibility of approaching “the double jaws,” literally the double row of teeth, as well as opening the jaws (“open the doors of his face”) is explained by the fact that “around his teeth is terror.” The 36 sharp and long teeth of the upper jaw and 30 of the lower, which are always visible because the crocodile has no lips, involuntarily inspire fear, preventing one from approaching the animal.

Job 41:7. His strong shields are a glory; they are sealed as if with a strong seal; Job 41:8. One touches another so closely that no air can pass between them; Job 41:9. One lies with another, they cling together and cannot be separated. Arranged in 17 symmetrical rows, the scales on the crocodile’s back are raised like bones or roof tiles; each of them has a convexity, which makes the animal’s back resemble a shield. Hard in themselves, they cannot be separated or parted from one another, as they fit together with extraordinary tightness.

Job 41:10. From his sneezing flashes of light shine; his eyes are like the eyelashes of the dawn; When the crocodile, with its mouth turned toward the sun, sneezes, the water and moisture issuing from its mouth and nostrils gleams with light. The eyes, which emit a strong reddish glow, visible even when the animal’s head is under water, remind one of the shining dawn. And indeed, for the Egyptians they were a hieroglyphic sign of the latter.

Job 41:11. Out of his mouth come burning torches, sparks of fire leap forth; Job 41:12. Out of his nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot or kettle. Job 41:13. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of his mouth. Rising to the surface of the water after a long stay beneath it, the crocodile appears to be throwing out smoke and fire. “He,” writes an English traveler describing a crocodile rushing into the lake, “was puffing out his monstrous body and moving his tail in the air. Thick smoke was issuing from his wide-open nostrils with a noise that shook the ground.” “At first,” continues the same traveler, “the crocodile swims with the swiftness of lightning, and then gradually slows its pace until it reaches the middle of the river. Here it stops, inhales air and water, its body becomes enormous, and at a certain time a loud noise is heard from its mouth. Then it shoots out a large jet of steam from its mouth with a crack, which appears like a cloud of smoke.”

Job 41:14. On his neck abides strength, and despair runs before him. The indicator of the monster’s strength is its massive neck, and at its appearance in terror the animals and people flee.

Job 41:15. The folds of his flesh stick together; they are firm on him, immovable. One of the peculiarities of the crocodile’s structure, which gives it extraordinary strength, lies in the fact that its muscular parts are not soft and loose as in other animals, but hard and firm.

Job 41:16. His heart is hard as stone, and hard as the lower millstone. To such a wonderfully constructed animal has been given extraordinary vitality. It depends on the activity of the heart, and this heart in the crocodile is as hard as the lower millstone is firm, which is made of sturdy stone in view of the greater pressure falling upon it.

Job 41:17. When he raises himself up, the mighty fear; they are at a loss in fright. Job 41:18. The sword that touches him does not avail, nor the spear, nor the dart, nor the coat of mail. Job 41:19. He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. Job 41:20. The arrow will not make him flee; sling stones turn into chaff for him. Job 41:21. The club is counted by him as straw; he laughs at the whistle of the javelin. A strong and terrible monster fills even the bravest in terror – “the mighty” (Hebrew “elim”): “frightened, they do not reach their goal” (the second half of the verse). An attempt to kill the crocodile only causes fear. And this is quite understandable, since, protected by its scales, an impenetrable strong armor (verses 7–9), it is invulnerable to any deadly weapon, beginning with the sword.

Job 41:22. Beneath him are sharp stones, and he lies on the sharp stones in the mud. The correct reading of this verse is: “beneath him are sharp tiles; he lies as a harrow upon the mud.” Nothing can pierce the crocodile’s back, nor does the belly yield to blows. The scales on it are less firm than on the back, but still sufficiently hard. Their impression remains on the ground when the monster crawls or rests.

Job 41:23. He makes the deep boil like a caldron, and the sea like a pot of ointment; Job 41:24. He leaves a luminous wake behind him; the deep appears white. An even greater trace is left by the crocodile in the water. From its swift, rushing movements (cf. v. 11–12) the water comes into such agitation as occurs during boiling. “The sea he turns into a vessel with boiling fragrances.” The waters of the “sea,” that is, the Nile (Isa 19:5; Nah 3:8) set in motion by the animal remind one of “boiling fragrances,” since it leaves behind it the scent of musk. The water disturbed by the animal is covered with foam, which by its whiteness reminds one of gray hair.

Job 41:25. There is nothing on earth like him, he is made without fear; Job 41:26. He looks on all high things boldly; he is king over all the children of pride. Terrible to people, the crocodile has no equal among the most ferocious animals (“the children of pride”; cf. Job 28:8): they tremble before it as before a king.