Job 41:1-2, Jer 16:16, Hab 1:15 | JFB | STEP | 1. leviathan —literally, "the twisted animal," gathering itself in folds: a synonym to the Thannin ( , Margin; see ; type of the Egyptian tyrant; ; the Babylon tyrant). A poetical generalization for all cetacean, serpentine, and saurian monsters (see on , hence all the description applies to no one animal); especially the crocodile; which is naturally described after the river horse, as both are found in the Nile. tongue . . . lettest down? —The crocodile has no tongue, or a very small one cleaving to the lower jaw. But as in fishing the tongue of the fish draws the baited hook to it, God asks, Canst thou in like manner take leviathan?

Job 41:1-2

1. leviathan—literally, "the twisted animal," gathering itself in folds: a synonym to the Thannin (Job 3:8, Margin; see Ps 74:14; type of the Egyptian tyrant; Ps 104:26; Isa 27:1; the Babylon tyrant). A poetical generalization for all cetacean, serpentine, and saurian monsters (see on Job 40:15, hence all the description applies to no one animal); especially the crocodile; which is naturally described after the river horse, as both are found in the Nile.

tongue . . . lettest down?—The crocodile has no tongue, or a very small one cleaving to the lower jaw. But as in fishing the tongue of the fish draws the baited hook to it, God asks, Canst thou in like manner take leviathan?

2. hook—rather, "a rope of rushes."

thorn—rather, a "ring" or "hook." So wild beasts were led about when caught (Isa 37:29; Eze 29:4); fishes also were secured thus and thrown into the water to keep them alive.

Jeremiah 16:16

16. send for—translate, "I will send many"; "I will give the commission to many" (2Ch 17:7).

fishers . . . hunters—successive invaders of Judea (Am 4:2; Hab 1:14, 15). So "net" (Eze 12:13). As to "hunters," see Ge 10:9; Mic 7:2. The Chaldees were famous in hunting, as the Egyptians, the other enemy of Judea, were in fishing. "Fishers" expresses the ease of their victory over the Jews as that of the angler over fishes; "hunters," the keenness of their pursuit of them into every cave and nook. It is remarkable, the same image is used in a good sense of the Jews' restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand for destruction, so the same shall be employed for their restoration (Eze 47:9, 10). So spiritually, those once enemies by nature (fishermen many of them literally) were employed by God to be heralds of salvation, "catching men" for life (Mt 4:19; Lu 5:10; Ac 2:41; 4:4); compare here Jer 16:19, "the Gentiles shall come unto thee" (2Co 12:16).

Habakkuk 1:15

15. they take up all of them—all kinds of fishes, that is, men, as captives, and all other prey that comes in their way.

with the angle—that is, the hook. Some they take up as with the hook, one by one; others in shoals, as in a "net" and "drag" or enclosing net.

therefore—because of their successes.

they rejoice—They glory in their crimes because attended with success (compare Hab 1:11).