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6 lines
14 KiB
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<p>God, having in the <a class="bibleref" title="Job.42.1-Job.42.6" href="/passage/?search=Job.42.1-Job.42.6">Job 42:1-6</a> shown Job how unable he was to deal with the leviathan, here sets forth his own power in that massy mighty creature. Here is,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. God’s sovereign dominion and independency laid down, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.11" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.11">Job 41:11</a>. 1. That he is indebted to none of his creatures. If any pretend he is indebted to them, let them make their demand and prove their debt, and they shall receive it in full and not by composition: “<i>Who has prevented me</i>?” that is, “who has laid any obligations upon me by any services he has done me? Who can pretend to be before-hand with me? If any were, I would not long be behind-hand with them; I would soon repay them.” The apostle quotes this for the silencing of all flesh in God’s presence, <a class="bibleref" title="Rom.11.35" href="/passage/?search=Rom.11.35">Rom. 11:35</a>. <i>Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again</i>? As God does not inflict upon us the evils we have deserved, so he does bestow upon us the favours we have not deserved. 2. That he is the rightful Lord and owner of all the creatures: “<i>Whatsoever is under the whole heaven</i>, animate or inanimate, <i>is mine</i> (and particularly this leviathan), at my command and disposal, what I have an incontestable property in and dominion over.” All is his; we are his, all we have and do; and therefore we cannot make God our debtor; but <i>of thy own, Lord, have we given thee</i>. All is his, and therefore, if he were indebted to any, he has wherewithal to repay them; the debt is in good hands. All is his, and therefore he needs not our services, nor can he be benefited by them. <i>If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fulness thereof</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.50.12" href="/passage/?search=Ps.50.12">Ps. 50:12</a>.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The proof and illustration of it, from the wonderful structure of the leviathan, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.12" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.12">Job 41:12</a>.</p>
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<p class="tab-1">1. The parts of his body, the power he exerts, especially when he is set upon, and the comely proportion of the whole of him, are what God will not conceal, and therefore what we must observe and acknowledge the power of God in. Though he is a creature of monstrous bulk, yet there is in him a <i>comely proportion</i>. In our eye beauty lies in that which is small (<i>inest sua gratia parvis</i>—<i>little things have a gracefulness all their own</i>) because we ourselves are so; but in God’s eye even the leviathan is comely; and, if he pronounce even the whale, event he crocodile, so, it is not for us to say of any of the works of his hands that they are ugly of ill-favoured; it is enough to say so, as we have cause, of our own works. God here goes about to give us an anatomical view (as it were) of the leviathan; for his works appear most beautiful and excellent, and his wisdom and power appear most in them, when they are taken in pieces and viewed in their several parts and proportions. (1.) The leviathan, even <i>prima facie</i>—<i>at first sight</i>, appears formidable and inaccessible, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.13,Job.41.14" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.13,Job.41.14"><span class="bibleref" title="Job.41.13">Job 41:13</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Job.41.14">14</span></a>. Who dares come so near him while he is alive as to discover or take a distinct view of <i>the face of the garment</i>, the skin with which he is clothed as with a garment, so near him as to bridle him like a horse and so lead him away, so near him as to be within reach of his jaws, which are like <i>a double bridle</i>? Who will venture to look into his mouth, as we do into a horse’s mouth? He that <i>opens the doors of his face</i> will see <i>his teeth terrible round about</i>, strong and sharp, and fitted to devour; it would make a man tremble to think of having a leg or an arm between them. (2.) <i>His scales are</i> his beauty and strength, and therefore <i>his pride</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.15-Job.41.17" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.15-Job.41.17">Job 41:15-17</a>. The crocodile is indeed remarkable for his scales; if we understand it of the whale, we must understand by these <i>shields</i> (for so the word is) the several coats of his skin; or there might be whales in that country with scales. That which is remarkable concerning the scales is that <i>they stick</i> so close <i>together</i>, by which he is not only kept warm, for no air can pierce him, but kept safe, for no sword can pierce him through those scales. Fishes, that live in the water, are fortified accordingly by the wisdom of Providence, which gives clothes as it gives cold. (3.) He scatters terror with his very breath and looks; if he sneeze or spout up water, it is like a light shining, either with the froth or the light of the sun shining through it, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.18" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.18">Job 41:18</a>. The eyes of the whale are reported to shine in the night-time like a flame, or, as here, <i>like the eye-lids of the morning</i>; the same they say of the crocodile. The breath of this creature is so hot and fiery, from the great natural heat within, that <i>burning lamps and sparks of fire</i>, smoke and a flame, are said to <i>go out of his mouth</i>, even such as one would think sufficient to set coals on fire, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.19-Job.41.21" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.19-Job.41.21">Job 41:19-21</a>. Probably these hyperbolical expressions are used concerning the leviathan to intimate the terror of the wrath of God, for that is it which all this is designed to convince us of. <i>Fire out of his mouth devours</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.18.7,Ps.18.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.18.7,Ps.18.8"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.18.7">Ps. 18:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.18.8">8</span></a>. <i>The breath of the Almighty</i>, like a <i>stream of brimstone, kindles Tophet</i>, and will for ever keep it burning, <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.30.33" href="/pa
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<p class="tab-1">2. Having given this particular account of <i>his parts, and his power, and his comely proportion</i>, he concludes with four things in general concerning this animal:—(1.) That he is a non-such among the inferior creatures: <i>Upon earth there is not his like</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.33" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.33">Job 41:33</a>. No creature in this world is comparable to him for strength and terror. Or the earth is here distinguished from the sea: <i>His dominion is not upon the earth</i> (so some), but <i>in the waters</i>. None of all the savage creatures upon earth come near him for bulk and strength, and it is well for man that he is confined to the waters and there has <i>a watch set upon him</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Job.7.12" href="/passage/?search=Job.7.12">Job 7:12</a>) by the divine Providence, 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. (2.) That he is more bold and daring than any other creature whatsoever: He <i>is made without fear</i>. The creatures are as they are made; the leviathan has courage in his constitution, nothing can frighten him; other creatures, quite contrary, seem as much designed for flying as this for fighting. So, among men, some are in their natural temper bold, others are timorous. (3.) That he is himself very proud; though lodged in the deep, yet <i>he beholds all high things</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.41.34" href="/passage/?search=Job.41.34">Job 41:34</a>. The rolling waves, the impending rocks, the hovering clouds, and the ships under sail with top and top-gallant, this mighty animal beholds with contempt, for he does not think they either lessen him or threaten him. Those that are great are apt to be scornful. (4.) <i>That he is a king over all the children of pride</i>, that is, he is the proudest of all proud ones. He has more to be proud of (so Mr. Caryl expounds it) than the proudest people in the world have; and so it is a mortification to the haughtiness and lofty looks of men. Whatever bodily accomplishments men are proud of, and puffed up with, the leviathan excels them and is a <i>king over them</i>. Some read it so as to understand it of God: <i>He that beholds all high things, even he, is King over all the children of pride</i>; he can tame the behemoth (<a class="bibleref" title="Job.40.19" href="/passage/?search=Job.40.19">Job 40:19</a>) and the leviathan, big as they are, and stout-hearted as they are. This discourse concerning those two animals was brought in to prove that it is God only who can <i>look upon proud men and abase them, bring them low</i> and <i>tread them down</i>, and <i>hide them in the dust</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Job.40.11-Job.40.13" href="/passage/?search=Job.40.11-Job.40.13">Job 40:11-13</a>), and so it concludes with a <i>quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be demonstrated</i>; there is one that <i>beholds all high things</i>, and, wherein men deal proudly, is above them; he is <i>King over all the children of pride</i>, whether brutal or rational, and can make them all either bend or break before him, <a class="bibleref" title="Isa.2.11" href="/passage/?search=Isa.2.11">Isa. 2:11</a>. <i>The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and</i> thus <i>the Lord alone shall be exalted</i>.</p>
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