Can you draw out leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which you let down?
All Commentaries on Job 41:1 Go To Job 41
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
17. For Leviathan means ‘their addition.’ Of whom, in truth, but of men? amongst whom he introduced once for all the guilt of sin, and carries it onward to eternal death by the most evil suggestions day by day. And while he multiplies their guilt by the usury of sin, he doubtless without ceasing adds to their punishment. He can also be called Leviathan by way of mocking. For he declared in his cunning persuasion that he would confer a divine nature on the first man, but he took away immortality. [Gen. 3, 4. 5.] He can therefore be called ironically ‘The addition to men,’ for when he promised them to bestow that which they were not, he even took away by his craft that which they really were. But this Leviathan was caught with a hook, because when in the case of our Redeemer he seized through his satellites the bait of His Body, the sharp sting of His Godhead pierced him through. For a hook held as it were the throat of its swallower, when both the bait of the flesh appeared for the devourer to seize, and at the time of His passion His Godhead was concealed, in order to kill him. For in this abyss of waters, that is, in this boundlessness of the human race, this whale was rushing hither and thither with open mouth, eager for the death, and devouring the life of almost all. But a hook for the death of this whale was suspended by a marvellous arrangement in this gloomy depth of waters. The line of this hook, is that genealogy of the ancient fathers recorded in the Gospel. For when it is said, Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and the other descendants are described, with the insertion of the name of Joseph, down to Mary, the betrothed Virgin, a kind of line is spun, for the Incarnate Lord, that is to say, this hook to be bound to the end of it; [Matt. 1, 2-16] Whom this whale would catch at with open mouth when hanging in these waters of the human race, but when it was bitten by the cruelty of his satellites, he would no longer have power to bite. That this whale then, who is lying in ambush for the death of men, might no longer devour whom he wished, this hook held firm the jaws of the spoiler, and wounded him that bit it. God, therefore, as pointing out to his faithful servant the Incarnation of His Only-begotten Son, says, Wilt thou be able to draw out Leviathan with a hook? Thou understandest, As I; Who send My Only-begotten Son in the flesh for the death of the spoiler; in Whom while mortal flesh is seen, and the power of His immortality is not seen, a kind of hook destroys, as it were, him who swallows it, by concealing the keenness of the power, with which He wounds. It follows;
And wilt thou bind his tongue with a cord?
18. Thou understandest, As I. For Holy Scripture is wont to designate by a ‘cord,’ sometimes measured allotments, sometimes sins, sometimes faith. For on account of the hereditary measured allotments, it is said, The lines have fallen unto me in goodly places, for I have a goodly heritage. [Ps. 16, 6] For lines fall for us in goodly places, when through humility of life the lot of a better country awaits us. Again, because sins are signified by a ‘cord,’ it is said by the Prophet; Woe unto you that draw iniquity with the cords of vanity. [Is. 5, 18] For iniquity is drawn with cords of vanity, when sin is drawn out by increase. Whence it is also said by the Psalmist; The cords of sins [or, sinners, as S. Aug. ad loc.] have twined about me. [Ps. 119, 61] For since a cord, when added to, is twisted, in order to increase, sin is not unfitly figured by a cord, since it is frequently multiplied, when it is defended with a perverse heart. Again, by a ‘cord’ faith is expressed, as Solomon witnesses, who says; A threefold cord is not easily broken; [Eccles. 4, 12] because faith in truth which is woven by the mouth of preachers from the knowledge of the Trinity, remaining firm in the Elect, is broken [‘dissipatur’] only in the heart of the reprobate. In this place, therefore, nothing prevents either faith or sin being understood by the word ‘cord.’ For our Incarnate Lord bound the tongue of Leviathan with a cord, because He appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned all his erroneous preaching. Whence it is said, as Paul witnesses; And from sin He condemned sin. [Rom. 8, 3] He bound his tongue with a cord, because by means of the likeness of sinful flesh He swept away all his deceitful arguments from the hearts of His Elect. For behold, when the Lord appears in the flesh, the tongue of Leviathan is bound, because, when His truth had become known, those doctrines of falsehood were silenced.
19. For where is now the error of the Academicians, who endeavour to establish on sure grounds that nothing is sure, who with shameless brow demand from their hearers belief in their assertions, when they declare that nothing is true? Where is the superstition of the Mathematicians, who, looking up at the courses of the constellations, make the lives of men to depend on the motions of the stars? Though the birth of twins often scatters their doctrine to the winds; for though born at one and the same moment, they do not abide in the same kind of conversation. Where are those many false teachings, which we abstain from enumerating, for fear of digressing far from the course of our commentary? But every false doctrine has now been silenced, because the Lord has bound the tongue of Leviathan by the cord of His Incarnation. Whence it is also well said by the Prophet; And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the Egyptian sea. [Is. 11, 15] For the ‘tongue of the sea,’ is the knowledge of secular learning. But it is well called ‘the Egyptian sea;’ because it is darkened with the gloom of sin. The Lord, therefore, laid waste the tongue of the Egyptian sea, because by manifesting Himself in the flesh, He destroyed the false wisdom of this world. The tongue of Leviathan is, therefore, bound with a cord, because the preaching of the old sinner was bound by the likeness of sinful flesh.
20. But if faith is signified by a ‘cord,’ the same meaning is again suggested to us; because when faith in the Trinity became known to the world by holy preachers, the doctrine of the world ceased to break forth against the mind of the Elect. Whence it is well said to the Lord by the Prophet; Thou hast cloven fountains and torrents, Thou hast dried up the rivers of Ethan. [Ps. 74, 15] For Ethan is interpreted ‘strong.’ And who is this strong man, except him of whom the Lord says in the Gospel; No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man. [Mark 3, 27] The Lord, therefore, clave the fountains and the torrents, when He spread in the hearts of His Apostles the streams of truth. Of whom it is said again by another Prophet; With joy shall ye draw water from the fountains of the Saviour. [Is. 12, 3] For we go in our thirst to their teaching, that we may bring back the pitcher of our hearts full of truth. But He dried the rivers of Ethan by the springing forth of His own fountains, when He withered the doctrine of the mighty and malignant spirit by displaying the ray of His own truth. The tongue, therefore, of Leviathan is bound with a cord, because by the spreading of faith in the Trinity, the preachings of errors were silenced. But since he cannot now raise himself openly, he goes about hither and thither, and bites by stealth. But the Lord watches against him in our behalf with wonderful pity, and defeats him even in his treacherous designs.
