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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 41:22 - 41:22
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
22 Great strength resteth upon his neck,
And despair danceth hence before him.
23 The flanks of his flesh are thickly set,
Fitting tightly to him, immoveable.
24 His heart is firm like stone,
And firm like the nether millstone.
25 The mighty are afraid of his rising up;
From alarm they miss their aim.
Overpowering strength lodges on its neck, i.e., has its abiding place there, and before it despair, prop. melting away, dissolution (דְּאָבָה from דָּאַב, Arab. ḏ'b = דּוּב Hiph., Arab. ḍ'b II, to bring into a loose condition, synon. חֵמֵס), dances hence, i.e., spring up and away (יָדוּץ, Arab. jadisu, to run away), i.e., it spreads before it a despondency which produces terror, and deprives of strength. Even the pendulous fleshy parts (מַפְּלֵי), especially of its belly, hang close together, דָבֵקוּ, i.e., they are not flabby, but fit to it, like a metal casting, without moving, for the skin is very thick and covered with thick scales; and because the digestive apparatus of the animal occupies but little space, and the scales of the back are continued towards the belly, the tender parts appear smaller, narrower, and closer together than in other animals. יָצוּק here is not, as Job 27:2; Job 29:6, the fut. of צוּק, but the part. of יָצַק, as also Job 41:24: its heart is firm and obdurate, as though it were of cast brass, hard as stone, and in fact as the nether millstone (פֶלַח from פלח, falacha, to split, crush in pieces), which, because it has to bear the weight and friction of the upper, must be particularly hard. It is not intended of actual stone-like hardness, but only of its indomitable spirit and great tenacity of life: the activity of its heart is not so easily disturbed, and even fatal wounds do not so quickly bring it to a stand. מִשֵּׂמֹו from שֵׂת = שֵׂאת = שְׂאֵת), primary form שִׂאְתּ, is better understood in the active sense: afraid of its rising, than the passive: of its exaltedness. אֵילִים (according to another reading אֵלִים) is not, with Ew., to be derived from אַיִל (Arab. ı̂jal), a ram; but אֵילִים Exo 15:15; Eze 17:13 (comp. גֵּירִים 2Ch 2:16, נֵירִי 2Sa 22:29), אֵלִים Eze 31:11; Eze 32:21, and אוּלִים Cheth. 2Ki 24:15, are only alternating forms and modes of writing of the participial adject., derived from אוּל (אִיל) first of all in the primary form awil (as גֵּר = gawir). The signif. assigned to the verb אול: to be thick = fleshy, which is said then to go over into the signif. to be stupid and strong (Ges. Handwörterb.), rests upon a misconception: âla is said of fluids “to become thick,” because they are condensed, since they go back, i.e., sink in or settle (Ges. correctly in Thes.: notio crassitiei a retrocendendo). The verb âla, ja'ûlu, unites in itself the significations to go backward, to be forward, and to rule; the last two: anteriorem and superiorem esse, probably belong together, and אֵל signifies, therefore, a possessor of power, who is before and over others. הִתְחַטֵּא, Job 41:25, has the signif., which does not otherwise occur, to miss the mark (from חטא, Arab. chaṭiya, to miss, opp. Arab. ṣâb, to hit the mark), viz., (which is most natural where אילים is the subject spoken of) since they had designed the slaughter and capture of the monster. שְׁבָרִים is intended subjectively, as תְּבִירָא = פַּחַד Exo 15:16, Targ. II, and also as the Arab. thubûr, employed more in reference to the mind, can be used of pain.