Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 41:1

1. CAnst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ?

Canst thou take him with a Hook and a Line, as Anglers take ordinary Fishes? Surely no. Quest. What is this Leviathan? Ans. This is granted on all hands, that it is a great and terrible Monster living in the Sea or Rivers, as Behemoth is a Land-monster. It is the general and received Opinion that it is the Whale, which is unquestionably called the Leviathan, Psal. 104. 25, 26. which having been discovered in the Seas next bordering upon Arabia probably was not unknown to Iob, who was a very inquisitive Person and well studied in the works of God, as this Book manifests. But some later and very learned Interpreters conceive that it is the Crocodile; which was very well known in Egypt and all the parts adjacent to it. And this is evident, that the Hebrew word Thannin (which is Parallel to this word Leviathan, these two words being synonymous and the one promiscuously used for the other, as appears from Psal. 74. 13, 14. Isa. 27. 1. Ezek. 32. 2.) is used of the Crocodile, Ezek. 29 3, 4. & 32. 2, 3. But I shall not positively determine this Controversy; but onely shew how far the Text may be understood of both of them, and then submit it to the Readers Judgment, this being a matter of no great moment, wherein Christians may vary without any hazard. Onely this I will say, That whatever becomes of the Behemoth of the former Chapter, whether that be the Elephant, or the Hippopotamus, that doth not at all determine the sense of this Leviathan, but leaves it indifferent to the Whale or the Crocodile, as the context shall determine, which I confess seems to me to savour the latter more than the former. To which may be added, that it seems more probable that God would speak of such Creatures as were very well known to Iob and his Friends, as the Crocodile was, than of such as it is very uncertain whether they were known in those parts, and in Iob's time. This Verse, noting either the impossibility, or rather the great and terrible difficulty, of taking this Monster with his Hook or Line, or such like instruments, may agree to either of them. For the Whale there is no doubt; nor much doubt as to the Crocodile; the taking whereof was generally esteemed by the Ancients to be very difficult and perillous; whatsoever peculiar vertue or power from Nature or Art the Tentyritae had against them, as the Psylli were said to have against Serpents. Some indeed object, that the last Clause cannot agree to the Crocodile, because that hath no Tongue, as is affirmed by Aristotle, Pliny, and other ancient Authors. But that is a mistake and the ground of it is plain, because their Tongues are but small in proportion to their vast Bodies, and withal fastned to their under Jaws, as the self-same Authors note. And that the Crocodile hath a tongue is positively affirmed by the said ancient Authors, and by the Hebrew Writers, and by the Arabians, to whom this Creature was best known, and by later Authors.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]