PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible — Job
Gill, John, 1697-1771 · 410,186 words · 582 reading sections
Job 40:15
Job 40:15 Ver. 15. Behold, now behemoth,.... The word is plural, and signifies beasts, and may be used to denote the chiefest and largest of beasts, and therefore is commonly understood of the elephant; and certain it is that a single beast is described in the following account, and so the word is rendered, Ps 73:22; …
880 wordsSECTION 542Job 40:16
Job 40:16 Ver. 16. Lo now, his strength [is] in his loins,.... The strength of the elephant is well known, being able to carry a castle on its back, with a number of men therein; but what follows does not seem so well to agree with it; and his force [is] in the navel of his belly; since the belly of the elephant is v…
426 wordsSECTION 543Job 40:17
Job 40:17 Ver. 17. He moveth his tail like a cedar,.... To which it is compared, not for the length and largeness of it; for the tail both of the elephant and of the river horse is short; though Vartomannus {c} says, the tail of the elephant is like a buffalo's, and is four hands long, and thin of hair: but because of…
2,998 wordsSECTION 544Job 41:1
Job 41:1 INTRODUCTION TO JOB 41 A large description is here given of the leviathan, from the difficulty and danger of taking it, from whence it is inferred that none can stand before God, Job 41:1; from the several parts of him, his face, teeth, scales, eyes, mouth and neck, flesh and heart, Job 41:11; and from vario…
582 wordsSECTION 545Job 41:2
Job 41:2 Ver. 2. Canst thou put an hook into his nose?.... Or a rush, that is, a rope made of rushes; for of such ropes were made, as Pliny {g} affirms; or bore his jaw through with a thorn? as men do herrings, or such like small fish, for the convenience of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not …
132 wordsSECTION 546Job 41:3
Job 41:3 Ver. 3. Will he make many supplications unto thee?.... To cease pursuing him, or to let him go when taken, or to use him well and not take away his life; no, he is too spirited and stouthearted to ask any favour, it is below him; will he speak soft [words] unto thee? smooth and flattering ones, for the above…
74 wordsSECTION 547Job 41:4
Job 41:4 Ver. 4. Will he make a covenant with thee?.... To live in friendship or servitude, as follows; wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? oblige him to serve thee for life, or reduce him to perpetual bondage; signifying, that he is not to be tamed or brought into subjection; which is true of the whale, but n…
133 wordsSECTION 548Job 41:5
Job 41:5 Ver. 5. Wilt thou play with him as [with] a bird?.... In the hand or cage: leviathan plays in the sea, but there is no playing with him by land, Ps 104:26; or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? or young girls, as Mr. Broughton renders it; tie him in a string, as birds are for children to play with? Now, tho…
157 wordsSECTION 549Job 41:6
Job 41:6 Ver. 6. Shall thy companions make a banquet of him?.... The fishermen that join together in catching fish, shall they make a feast for joy at taking the leviathan? which suggests that he is not to be taken by them, and so they have no opportunity or occasion for a feast: or will they feed on him? the flesh of…
154 wordsSECTION 550Job 41:7
Job 41:7 Ver. 7. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?] This seems not so well to agree with the whale; whose skin, and the several parts of his body, are to be pierced with harpoons and lances, such as fishermen use in taking whales; and their flesh to be cut in pieces with their k…
148 wordsSECTION 551Job 41:8
Job 41:8 Ver. 8. Lay thine hand upon him,.... If thou canst or darest. It is dangerous so to do, either to the whale or crocodile; remember the battle; or "look for war", as Mr. Broughton renders it; expect a fight will ensue, in which thou wilt have no share with this creature: do no more; if thou canst by any mean…
86 wordsSECTION 552Job 41:9
Job 41:9 Ver. 9. Behold, the hope of him is in vain,.... Of getting the mastery over him, or of taking him; and yet both crocodiles and whales have been taken; nor is the taking of them to be despaired of; but it seems the "orca", or the whale with many teeth, has never been taken and killed {o}; shall not [one] be c…
146 wordsSECTION 553Job 41:10
Job 41:10 Ver. 10. None [is so] fierce that dare stir him up,.... This seems best to agree with the crocodile, who frequently lies down and sleeps on the ground {q}, and in the water by night {r}; see Eze 29:3; when it is very dangerous to arouse him; and few, if any so daring, have courage enough to do it: though wha…
179 wordsSECTION 554Job 41:11
Job 41:11 Ver. 11. Who hath prevented me, that one should repay [him]?.... First given me something that was not my own, and so laid me under an obligation to him to make a return. The apostle seems to have respect to this passage, Ro 11:35; [whatsoever is] under the whole heaven is mine; the fowls of the air, the ca…
111 wordsSECTION 555Job 41:12
Job 41:12 Ver. 12. I will not conceal his parts,.... The parts of the leviathan; or "his bars", the members of his body, which are like bars of iron: nor his power; which is very great, whether of the crocodile or the whale: nor his comely proportion; the symmetry of his body, and the members of it; which, though la…
70 wordsSECTION 556Job 41:13
Job 41:13 Ver. 13. Who can discover the face of his garment?.... Or rather uncover it? Not the sea, which Mr. Broughton represents as the garment of the whale; who can strip him of it, or take him out of that, and bring him to land? which, though not impossible, is difficult: but either the garment of his face, the la…
254 wordsSECTION 557Job 41:14
Job 41:14 Ver. 14. Who can open the doors of his face?.... Of his mouth, the jaws thereof, which are like a pair of folding doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr {u} speaks of one, whose jaws opened seven feet broad; and Leo Africanus {w} affirms he saw some, whose jaws, when opened, w…
316 wordsSECTION 558Job 41:15
Job 41:15 Ver. 15. [His] scales [are his] pride, shut up together [as with] a close seal. This is notoriously true of the crocodile, whose back and tail are covered with scales, which are in a measure impenetrable and invincible: which all writers concerning it, and travellers that have seen it, agree in; See Gill on …
263 wordsSECTION 559Job 41:16
Job 41:16 Ver. 16. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. This shows that it cannot be understood of the skin of the whale, and the hardness and strength of that, which is alike and of a piece; whereas those scales, or be they what they may, though closely joined, yet are distinct: those who int…
130 wordsSECTION 560Job 41:17
Job 41:17 Ver. 17. They are joined one to another,.... One scale to another, or "a man in his brother" {h}: which may seem to favour the notion of the whale's teeth in the sockets, which exactly answer to one another; but the next clause will by no means agree with them; they stick together, that they cannot be sunde…
98 wordsSECTION 561Job 41:18
Job 41:18 Ver. 18. By his neesings a light doth shine,.... The philosopher {i} observes, that those who look to the sun are more apt to sneeze: and it is taken notice of by various writers {k}, that the crocodile delights to be sunning itself, and lying yawning in the sun and looking at it, as quoted by Bochart; and s…
488 wordsSECTION 562Job 41:19
Job 41:19 Ver. 19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap out. Which, though hyperbolical expressions, have some foundation for them in the latter; in the vast quantities of water thrown out by the whale, through its mouth or hole in its frontispiece, which in the sun may look like lamps and spar…
128 wordsSECTION 563Job 41:20
Job 41:20 Ver. 20. Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, as [out] of a seething pot or caldron. In which flesh or anything else is boiling. It is observed that there is a likeness between the crocodile and the river horse, and particularly in their breathing {u}: and of the former it is remarked {w}, that its nostril…
103 wordsSECTION 564Job 41:21
Job 41:21 Ver. 21. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. Hyperbolical expressions, which the above observations may seem to justify.…
27 wordsSECTION 565Job 41:22
Job 41:22 Ver. 22. In his neck remaineth strength,.... This is thought to be an argument against the whale, which is said to have no neck: but whatever joins the head and body may be called the neck, though ever so small; and the shorter the neck is, the stronger it is. It is also said by some, that the crocodile has …
178 wordsSECTION 566Job 41:23
Job 41:23 Ver. 23. The flakes of his flesh are joined together,.... The muscles of his hefty are not flaccid and flabby, but solid and firmly compacted; they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved; that is, not very easily, not without a large sharp cutting knife, and that used with much strength.…
55 wordsSECTION 567Job 41:24
Job 41:24 Ver. 24. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether [millstone]. Which must be understood not of the substance but of the qualities of it, being bold, courageous, undaunted, and unmerciful; which is true both of the whale and crocodile, and particularly of the crocodile: Aelianus …
90 wordsSECTION 568Job 41:25
Job 41:25 Ver. 25. When he raiseth up himself,.... Not out of the waters, but above the surface of them, so as that his large bulk, his terrible jaws and teeth, are seem; the mighty are afraid; not only fishes and other animals, but men, and these the most stouthearted and courageous, as mariners and masters of vesse…
162 wordsSECTION 569Job 41:26
Job 41:26 Ver. 26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold,.... It is either broken by striking at him, or however cannot pierce him and stick in him; but since a sword is not used in fishery, rather the harpagon or harpoon may be meant, which cannot enter into the crocodile, being so fenced with scales; but t…
253 wordsSECTION 570Job 41:27
Job 41:27 Ver. 27. He esteemeth iron as straw,.... You may as well cast a straw at him as a bar of iron; it will make no impression on his steeled back, which is as a coat of mail to him; so Eustathius affirms {d} that the sharpest iron is rebounded and blunted by him;[and] brass as rotten wood; or steel, any instrume…
2,298 wordsSECTION 571Job 42:1
Job 42:1 INTRODUCTION TO JOB 42 This chapter contains Job's answer to the last speech of the Lord's, in which he acknowledges his omnipotence, and his certain performance of his purposes and pleasure; owns his own folly and ignorance, and confesses his sins; for which he abhorred himself, and of which he repented, Jo…
289 wordsSECTION 572Job 42:2
Job 42:2 Ver. 2. I know that thou canst do every [thing],.... As the works of creation, and the sustentation of them, show; so the Targum, "thou sustainest all things,'' and can manage, every creature made by him, even such as were not tractable by men, such as behemoth and leviathan, the creatures last instanced in…
377 wordsSECTION 573Job 42:3
Job 42:3 Ver. 3. Who [is] he that hideth counsel without knowledge?.... It may be understood, and supplied, as it is by Cocceius, "thou didst say"; as the Lord had said, or to this purpose, See Gill on "Job 38:2"; to which Job here replies, I am the foolish man that has done it, I own it with sorrow, shame, and confus…
339 wordsSECTION 574Job 42:4
Job 42:4 Ver. 4. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak,.... Not in the manner he had before, complaining of God and justifying himself, but in a way of humble entreaty of favours of him, of confession of sin before him, and of acknowledgment of his wisdom, goodness, and justice in all his dealings with him, which bef…
166 wordsSECTION 575Job 42:5
Job 42:5 Ver. 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,.... From his ancestors, who in a traditionary way had handed down from one to another what they knew of God, his will and worship, his works and ways; and from those who had the care of his education, parents and tutors, who had instilled the principles …
339 wordsSECTION 576Job 42:6
Job 42:6 Ver. 6. Wherefore I abhor [myself],.... Or all my words, as Aben Ezra; all the indecent expressions he had uttered concerning God; he could not bear to think of them; he loathed them, and himself on account of them: sin is abominable in its own nature, and makes men so; it is loathsome to God, and so it is to…
213 wordsSECTION 577Job 42:7
Job 42:7 Ver. 7. And it was [so],.... What follows came to pass: that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job; which he spake to him out of the whirlwind, and after he had heard Job's confession, and the declaration he made of his humiliation and repentance: the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite; who with his…
641 wordsSECTION 578Job 42:8
Job 42:8 Ver. 8. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven rams,.... Creatures used in sacrifice before the giving of the Levitical law, Ge 4:4; and the same number of the same creatures were offered by Balaam in the country of Moab, not far from where Job lived, nor at any great distance of time from his …
829 wordsSECTION 579Job 42:9
Job 42:9 Ver. 9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, [and] Zophar the Naamathite, went,.... Having taken the above creatures for sacrifice, as directed, they went to Job with them; and did according as the Lord commanded them; offered them by Job for a burnt offering, and desired him to pray for them. Th…
263 wordsSECTION 580Job 42:10
Job 42:10 Ver. 10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job,.... Not literally, in such sense as Lot's captivity was turned, Ge 14:12; for Job's person was not seized on and carried away, though his cattle were: nor spiritually, being delivered from the captivity of sin; that had been his case many years ago, when fir…
368 wordsSECTION 581Job 42:11
Job 42:11 Ver. 11. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters,.... Which may be taken not in a strict sense, but in a larger sense for all that were related to him; the same with his kinsfolks, Job 19:14; and all they that had been of his acquaintance before; that knew him, visited him, conversed …
734 wordsSECTION 582Job 42:12
Job 42:12 Ver. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning,.... Which verified the words of Bildad, Job 8:6; though they were spoken by him only by way of supposition. All blessings are of the Lord, temporal and spiritual; and sometimes the last days of a good man are his best, as to temporal…
2,156 wordsSource & rights
Public domain; John Gill (1697–1771). Source item is marked Public Domain on Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.