His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
God is still speaking out of the storm, describing leviathan — a creature no man can catch or tame. Here He points to its back, and the question is why such armour should matter to a suffering man.
The armour described
One writer reads the verse first of all as a description of a real animal:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHis frame is strong. His outer garment cannot be pierced — who can strip it off? His scales, his armour, are his pride. Here is a good description of the crocodile's hide. The scales are so close to each other that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another and stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.
Older translations read the first line as "his scales are his pride." One writer points to what lies behind that pride:
William Kelly"His scales are his pride." It is not only his enormous strength, and the fact that no ordinary weapon can pierce him. He is also so confident in that armour himself.
Shut up as with a seal
The Bible uses a seal in more than one sense. One of them shapes the picture in this verse:
W. H. WestcottA second idea connected with it is the closing up for safety of something important and vital... Job 41:15-17 gives a remarkable illustration: the scales of "leviathan" are like a close seal, and not even air can get through them.
Pride as a coat of armour
The scales do more than describe a body. One writer sees in them the way pride guards a person:
Samuel RidoutThe scales on his head and body are, like pride, an armour nothing can get through — each scale linked to the next, with no gap in the armour where an arrow could pierce.
If the creature cannot be tamed, neither can the thing it pictures in man:
Samuel RidoutComing to how this applies to each person, we see in this "crooked serpent" a picture of the twisted will of man. All sin has its roots in disobedience. Men may smile at it, but what is more terrible than this self-will — the mind of the flesh... What use is the effort to reform the world, to tame the crocodile? Men may dream and plan, and try to drive misery off the earth. But even while it groans, creation mocks at human efforts to subdue its own twisted will.
Whom leviathan pictures
Commentators differ on what the creature stands for. Some see Satan behind leviathan and behemoth, the other great creature God has just described. They read the scales as a mirror held up to Job's own heart:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinBoth the behemoth and the leviathan picture Satan, his character and his rule. He is king over all the sons of pride... And now comes the conclusion Job could easily draw. If he is proud, then he belongs to leviathan, the king who rules over the sons of pride. God has touched the secret in Job's heart. He has searched out its depths. Job has cherished pride, the Devil's own sin.
Others take it as a portrait of a coming world ruler who guards himself the same way:
Leslie M. GrantThese rows of scales are shut up tightly as with a seal, so that he is protected as by a coat of armour. The Roman Beast too will use every means of protecting himself against the attacks of any enemy.
Why God shows Job this
The chapter is not a nature lesson. Its aim is to move Job off his own ground:
William KellyMen talk as if God's aim was only to occupy us with His works. God does the opposite. He brings forward His works to turn us away from our own thoughts and bow us to Himself. For if the works of God are so wonderful, who is He that made them? And what is man, if he dares to judge such a God?... Do you think that after this Job was taken up with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God. That was the design of it all.
Summary
- Sealed — the rows of shields fit so tightly that not even air passes between them. A seal here means a closing up that nothing can enter.
- Proud — the same armour that keeps the creature safe makes it sure of itself. Strength it can trust in becomes pride.
- Impervious — pride works the same way in a person: linked scale to scale, with no gap where an arrow could reach.
- Untameable — writers differ on what leviathan pictures: Satan, or a coming world ruler. Either way, no human effort can tame it.
- Bowed — God does not show the creature for us to study. He shows it so Job stops judging Him and trusts Him instead.