Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.
God's final speech to Job ends with a long portrait of leviathan, a creature no man can capture or fight. Verse 9 draws the conclusion, and it is aimed at Job himself. Who is this creature, and why does God press it on a suffering man who has been demanding a hearing?
A creature that ends all opposition
The verse belongs to a run of taunting questions about catching, taming and fighting the beast. One commentator hears God telling Job to give up the fight before it starts. Ordinary weapons cannot even pierce the creature's skin:
William Kelly"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?" You who can do such wonders; you can talk about God; and you can judge for God, and you can find fault with God! "Or press down his tongue with a cord?" (vv. 1-8). Be off with you! Do not fight him. "Behold, the hope of a man is false." Spears or arrows are nothing to him, and even a musket ball has no power to pierce the skin of a crocodile.
The hope that fails belongs to the attacker. The man who survives one fight with this creature never comes back for a second:
Samuel RidoutAnyone who has tried this will remember the terrible battle, and will never try again. He is the despair of all who oppose him. No one dares stir him up or stand before him.
Which animal
One writer settles on the crocodile rather than the whale or dolphin. He draws his point straight from the creature's strength:
William KellyThe leviathan described here seems beyond doubt to be the crocodile, not the dolphin or the whale, as some learned men have argued. Nothing could be more vivid than these descriptions, and nothing more forceful than the conclusion they press on Job and on everyone else. If mere animals are this mighty, and God made them by His will, what folly it is to resist His ways, or criticise them, or even judge them!
From the creature to the Creator
The description of the animal is only a step. The verses that follow turn the question to God Himself:
Samuel RidoutIf this is true of a mere creature, who can stand before the Creator? (That is how we should translate verse 10, and it leads on to verse 11: "Who will stand before Me?") Who has first given to the Lord, so that he can demand it back again? Or, as the apostle asks, "Who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?" (Rom. 11:35).
A picture of the power of evil
Several writers see more here than a strong animal. The name reappears in the prophets for a hostile power that God alone can destroy:
Samuel RidoutThe chapter describes not only a mighty power, but a power for evil. So Scripture calls Satan the dragon (Rev. 20:2). And as ruler of the earth, acting through his instrument the ruler of Egypt, he is the one spoken of here: "In that day the LORD with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea" (Isa. 27:1).
Commentators differ on where this points. Some see Satan himself. Others see a ruler still to come. Either way, the end is settled:
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord assures Job that any hope of overcoming Leviathan is futile: the very sight of the beast should overwhelm his would-be attacker. No human is so fierce that he would dare to stir up such a creature (v.10). But let us remember it is God who made this beast: who then could possibly stand against God? … This Beast, along with the Antichrist, will form a union so strong that they will not be afraid to challenge their own Creator! While no man can stand before them, however, the Lord will bring them down to a defeat of abject humiliation.
Why God shows Job an enemy he cannot beat
Read this way, the description does more than humble Job. It clears away a false hope so a true one can take its place:
Charles StanleyThe believer looked at in himself has no power to overcome Satan. Man failed before him while still innocent. Now that he has fallen, he is even less able to stand. It was independence of God that opened the door for Satan at first; and it is simple dependence on God alone that can shut it. It is very gracious of God to tell us how strong the enemy is. Then we know that our only resource is a firm trust in Himself.
Summary
- Vain hope. The hope that fails is the attacker's own. Hook, cord and weapon all fail, and one battle cures a man of trying again.
- Vain against a creature. Leviathan, most likely the crocodile, is only something God made. Resisting or judging its Maker is folly.
- Vain before the Creator. The argument climbs from the beast to verse 10: "Who will stand before Me?" No one has ever given God anything He must repay.
- Vain against the enemy. Read as a picture of the power of evil, leviathan is beyond any man's strength. Yet the Lord will bring it down.
- Hope that holds. Independence from God opened the door to the enemy. Only dependence on God shuts it. He shows us the enemy's power so that we will trust Him alone.