There go the ships: there is that leviathan, which you have made to play therein.
Read Chapter 104
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
34. "There shall go the ships" (ver. 26). Lo, ships float upon that which alarmed you, and sink not. By ships we understand churches; they go among the storms, among the tempests of temptations, among the waves of the world, among the beasts, both small and great. Christ on the wood of His cross is the Pilot. "There shall go the ships." Let not the ships fear, let them not much mind where they float, but by Whom they are steered. "There shall go the ships." What voyage do they find tedious, when they feel that Christ is their Pilot? They will sail safely, let them sail diligently, they will reach their promised haven, they will be led to the land of rest.
35. There is also in that sea somewhat which transcends all creatures, great and small. What is this? Let us hear the Psalm: "There is that Leviathan, whom Thou hast formed to make sport of him." There are creeping things innumerable, both small and great beasts; there shall the ships go, and shall not fear, not only the creeping t...
Go. The sea, which seems to be placed as a barrier, tends, by means of navigation, to the general convenience of nations. (Calmet)
Dragon. Leviathan, a huge fish, (Job xl. 20.; Worthington) which Bo chart takes to be the crocodile; though that monster is found rather in rivers. (Berthier)
It designates here all whales, and other great fishes which play in the sea without experiencing any fear like mortals. Some translate "to play with it "(Calmet) as auto cannot agree with Thalassa. (Berthier)
The prodigious size of these fishes costs God nothing. (Calmet)
The whole creation is but a plaything for him, ludens in orbe terrarum, Proverbs viii. 31. (Haydock)
Some Jews impiously pretend that God plays three hours a day with the leviathan, and that he only created two; one of which he killed to make a feast for the elect, and the other causes the tides, by turning itself See 4 Esdras, written at least in the second century. (St. Jerome) (Muis) (Calmet)
Though this monster be too stron...
