The Bible Says
Job 41:25-34 Meaning

In Job 41:25-34, God completes His description of Leviathan, which will be the immediate prelude to Job’s confession and repentance in Job 42:1-6.

God has been moving Job from argument to awe, because awe is the posture that fits reality when we meet something that exceeds our categories. The LORD now speaks of the moment the powerful animal Leviathan rises, noting that, “When he raises himself up, the mighty fear;” (v. 25).

Even the mighty—those who normally stabilize everyone else—discover that confidence can evaporate when a vast power stands up in front of them. We will see in the next chapter that this is the effect God has on Job. God is not mocking Job; He is rescuing Job from living with a perspective that is untrue. The LORD adds “Because of the crashing they are bewildered.” (v. 25).

This seems to picture Leviathan rising up and charging someone who is otherwise considered mighty. The result is that the mighty person is bewildered. The crashing might be the sound of Leviathan coming after them after he raises himself up. When the mighty creature takes notice and decides to act those in his field of view are bewildered.

The bewilderment is for good reason. It is inferred that the mighty person is a well-armed soldier. But here is what the warrior confronts when he is considering a battle plan against Leviathan:

• The sword that reaches him cannot avail” (v. 26).
  • A sword cannot penetrate the interlocked double armor that was described in Job 41:13, 15-17.
• Nor the spear, the dart or the javelin (v. 26).
• • For the same reason, no thrown weapon will penetrate and stop him.
• "He regards iron as straw, Bronze as rotten wood (v. 27).
  • Any weapon of iron is like hitting him with a broom. Any weapon of bronze is like hitting him with a stick that is rotted, a stick that would easily break over someone’s thigh.
• The arrow cannot make him flee (v. 28).
• • Added force still will not penetrate his armor plates.
• Slingstones are turned into stubble for him (v. 28).
• • Goliath was knocked down with a slung stone. Slung stones were a compliment to arrows in ancient warfare. But that won’t work either. He has “doors” on his face (Job 41:14).
• Clubs are regarded as stubble (v. 29).
• • Clubs were also ancient weapons of war. Hitting Leviathan with a club would be like hitting a person with a toothpick.
• He laughs at the rattling of the javelin (v. 29).
• • Verse 26 already stated that the javelin would not penetrate his armor. The rattling of the javelin would seem to refer to the sound of the javelin when traveling through the air. The picture is that Leviathan does not even duck—he just laughs as the javelin bounces off his plates.

Humans often look for vulnerability underneath—surely the underside is softer, easier to injure. God says Leviathan’s “soft spot” is still dangerous: “His underparts are like sharp potsherds” (v. 30).

It seems that sneaking up on Leviathan to get to his underbelly is also a very bad idea: “He spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire.” (v. 30).

A threshing sledge was a heavy wooden board studded with sharp stones or metal blades. It would be dragged over grain to cut and crush it. Similarly, if Leviathan were to lay down on someone trying to sneak under him, they would be cut to shreds.

The overall picture is one of “He is best left alone.” Again, the point to Job is: “If you can’t approach this mere creature, what makes you think you can approach Me who made him?”

Apparently, Leviathan is also aquatic, as “He makes the depths boil like a pot” (v. 31).

When Leviathan dives under the water the waters churn like a pot that is boiling. That he creates substantial turbulence likely means he is very large. He is also large enough to leave a substantial wake when he swims, which seems to be what is meant by the phrase “He makes the sea like a jar of ointment” (v. 31).

Ointment is smooth and oily. As Leviathan glides through the water, his size and grace is such that he smooths the surface in his wake. This is confirmed in the next verse: “Behind him he makes a wake to shine” (v. 32).

The shine is apparently silvery: “One would think the deep to be gray-haired.” (v. 32).

This creature is large, and when he swims he is graceful. So you’d not want to approach him in the water as well as on land. There is no environment where Leviathan is at a disadvantage.

God declares Leviathan’s singularity: “Nothing on earth is like him” (v. 33).

What makes this creature particularly unique is that he is one made without fear (v. 33).

God made this creature without fear as an illustration of Himself. God is also without fear.

To “fear” is to orient our own actions in light of expected consequences from the thing we are fearing. We slow down because we fear getting a speeding ticket when we see a Highway Patrol car, for example. Someone that does not fear has no one or no thing outside themselves that can create consequences such that they need to adjust their actions. This is the mighty creature, Leviathan.

Leviathan does what he wants to do without consideration of others. He is one made without fear. We can turn out attention to Psalm 19:1, which says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God” and Romans 1:20 which asserts that God’s “invisible attributes” are “clearly seen” through His creative work, through “what has been made.” Leviathan is presented as a reflection of God in the sense that he is not vulnerable and has no fear.

This is relevant to Job because Job has the perspective that while God is awesome, (“I would be dismayed at His presence” Job 23:15), he would still prevail if he could have a hearing with God (Job 23:6-7). The picture raised here in Job 41 shows us that having a hearing with God would be like going to Leviathan with a leash and collar and saying, “Here boy, come let me put this leash on you.”

In short, Job’s perspective of God is absurd in this respect. It is important to quickly add that God thinks Job is amazing (Job 1:8, 2:3) and is very proud of him. Further, God will say in just a few verses that Job spoke rightly about God, unlike Eliphaz and his two friends (Job 42:7-8).

Job had a proper view of God as the Judge with sovereign reign over all, who has the right to do as He pleases without regard to or permission from any human (Job 1:21-22). Job further properly viewed God as being impervious to manipulation by human actions, as opposed to Eliphaz and his two friends, who believed God’s response is determined by our actions.

So Job properly views God as God. What he did not have is a sufficient understanding that God is intimately involved in human affairs, down to the level of knowing the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30). And he did not realize that God already knows all, and does not need Job’s input. God already had Job’s best interest at heart, to an extent beyond Job’s comprehension. It is the same for all New Testament believers willing to follow Job’s path and love God by following Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

God ends Job’s interview and commentary on Leviathan by saying:

“He looks on everything that is high;
He is king over all the sons of pride” (v. 34).

The Hebrew word translated that is high can mean the lofty in creation or the lofty in human pride—anything that stands above others. The Hebrew word “sahas” is translated “pride” in the phrase “He is king over all the sons of pride” (v. 34). This word “sahas” only appears twice in scripture and each use applies to animals. The other use is in Job 28:8, which speaks of “proud beasts.” The Hebrew word “gaon” is usually used to refer to human pride.

The point of this verse speaking of Leviathan looking on everything that is high and being king over all the sons of pride is that in addition to no human being capable of assailing Leviathan, neither can any other creature. Leviathan is king over all creatures and fears none. He looks on all other creatures that are high without fear. No creature can create an effective challenge to him.

God has made the point to Job that he can consider two animals, Leviathan and Behemoth (Job 40:15-24), and see that God made creatures that neither he (nor anyone) can tame. So why does Job think he can “tame” their creator?

Job requested an audience with God in order to “present” his “case” (Job 23:3-4). He expressed confidence that if he could do so, he “would be delivered forever from” his “Judge” (Job 23:7). Job had great respect for God, and recognized that he would “be dismayed at His presence” (Job 23:15).

But Job determined that he wants to face God notwithstanding. This infers that although Job fully acknowledged God’s sovereignty (Job 1:20-22) and did not speak wrongly about God (Job 42:7-8), he did not understand God’s intimate knowledge of and care for him. Job thought he needed God to understand his perspective in order to make rulings that are just.

In hindsight, and with additional insight given us in scripture, we can see that God is actually doing something great for Job. He is using Job to accomplish a primary reason for which humans were created and given dominion over the earth: to silence Satan (Psalm 8:2). In doing so, Job is being led through a version of a “suffering of death” that Jesus, his redeemer, will later endure (Hebrews 2:9).

As a result of enduring this trial, Job is immortalized. His perseverance through this suffering creates an enduring example for us, and undoubtedly Job will win the crown of life (James 1:2-3, 12). We can be confident that Job will be among the number of “sons” that Jesus will bring to “glory” in reigning with Him, as servant leaders, in the age that is to come (Hebrews 2:9-10, Revelation 3:21).

God is also leading Job in a path that allows him to come to know God in a much deeper way, which we will see come to fruition in the next chapter (Job 42:1-6). To know God is to gain the fullest experience of eternal life (John 17:3). The gift of eternal life comes through an initial faith in Jesus’s death on the cross (John 3:14-15). The fullest experience of eternal life comes through living as a faithful witness, following in obedience. It is through this that we gain the greatest joy (Matthew 5:21).

All of this is happening to Job without him have benefit of the written word, the biblical scriptures we are privileged to possess. Job endured, and was declared by God to be one of the greatest men to have lived, equal with Daniel and Noah (Ezekiel 14:14). Today, we have all of these examples written for us. We should take full advantage and learn from their lives, that we might gain the same blessings of life:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
(1 Corinthians 10:11)