His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
God is speaking to Job, and He ends with a long description of a creature no man can catch. The picture peaks here: breath that sets coals alight, and flame shooting out of an open mouth. The point is not the animal. If a creature is this far beyond Job, what is the God who made it?
The Picture Itself
This verse sits inside a run of images that moves from sneezing to smoke to fire. One writer walks through the creature from head to heart:
William KellyWhat light flashes when he sneezes! His eyes and mouth give off brightness, or sparks of fire, and smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot. Strength lives in his neck, and dread marks everything in front of him. The rest of him is firm and cannot be moved, his heart as solid as stone, as hard as the lower millstone. No wonder the strongest men tremble when he rises up. If one of them does reach him, the sword does not hold, nor spear, club, or lance; for he counts iron as straw and copper as rotten wood.
One writer names the animal behind the description:
William KellyNow, in Job 41, comes a still longer description of "leviathan," and I understand that to be the crocodile. The crocodile is a very dangerous beast. It is not shy of people; on the contrary, it preys on men, women, and children, if it can get hold of them.
Fire as Speech
Another writer reads the flame as picture language, and links the open mouth with the words that come out of it:
Leslie M. GrantOf course this is figurative language. It speaks of the vicious words that come out of the mouth of the Beast. Revelation 13:5-6 tells us of him: "The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words… It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven." But the appearance of light, as though the beast brought light and wisdom with him, is a false show.
A Figure of the Enemy
One writer compares leviathan with behemoth, the beast described just before him, and sees both as pictures of something bigger:
Samuel RidoutSome have thought this creature must picture Satan, as the chief of God's creatures (Ezek. 28), standing out in strength and pride. The same would be true of leviathan, in the next chapter. Both beasts picture power and pride. So it does not seem far-fetched to say with Wordsworth, "It seems probable that behemoth stands for the Evil One at work in the animal and fleshly parts of man's own make-up, and that leviathan pictures the Evil One at work as man's enemy from outside. Behemoth is the enemy within us; leviathan is the enemy outside us." But we may think of these creatures as pictures of evil men driven and controlled by Satan, rather than Satan himself.
The Sting for Job
The chapter calls this creature king over all the sons of pride, and that title lands on Job:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIf he is proud, then he belongs to leviathan, the king who rules over the sons of pride. Jehovah has touched the secret Job kept hidden inside. He has searched out the depths of his heart. Job has cherished pride, the Devil's own crime.
The same root runs through every reader, not only Job:
Samuel RidoutTurning to what this means for each of us, we see in this "crooked serpent" a picture of the twisted will of man. All sin has its roots in disobedience. People may smile at it, but what is more terrible than this self-will — the mind set on the flesh? The mind of the flesh "is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot" (Rom. 8:7). What use is the effort to reform the world, to tame the crocodile?
Why God Describes It
Some read these chapters as nature writing and stop there. That misses the point:
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. 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 occupied with behemoth or with leviathan? Not at all, but with God; and this was the design of it all.
Summary
- Fire — breath that lights coals tops a picture of eyes, mouth and nostrils pouring out light, smoke and sparks. Under it all sits a heart as hard as a millstone.
- False light — one writer reads the flame as speech: boastful, blasphemous words dressed up to look like wisdom. The brightness is only a show.
- Two enemies — these beasts picture power and pride twice over: the evil one at work inside man's own nature, and the evil one attacking him from outside.
- One king — leviathan rules as king over the sons of pride. Pride puts a man under that king, and Job had to face it.
- One aim — the whole description pulls Job off himself. He ends up occupied not with the monster, but with God.