Hiob 41:26

26 If one reacheth him with the sword-it doth not hold; Neither spear, nor dart, nor harpoon. 27 He esteemeth iron as straw, Brass as rotten wood. 28 The son of the bow doth not cause him to flee, Sling stones are turned to stubble with him. 29 Clubs are counted as stubble, And he laugheth at the shaking of the spear. משּׂיגהוּ, which stands first as nom. abs., "one reaching him," is equivalent to, if one or whoever reaches him, Ew. 357, c, to which בּלי תקוּם, it does not hold fast (בּלי with v. fin., as Hos 8:7; Hos 9:16, Chethb), is the conclusion. חרב is instrumental, as Psa 17:13. מסּע, from נסע, Arab. nz‛, to move on, hasten on, signifies a missile, as Arab. minz‛a, an arrow, manz‛a, a sling. The Targ. supports this latter signification here (funda quae projicit lapidem); but since קלא, the handling, is mentioned separately, the word appears to men missiles in general, or the catapult. In this combination of weapons of attack it is very questionable whether שׁריה is a cognate form of שׁריון (שׁרין), a coat of mail; probably it is equivalent to Arab. sirwe (surwe), an arrow with a long broad edge (comp. serı̂je, a short, round, as it seems, pear-shaped arrow-head), therefore either a harpoon or a peculiarly formed dart. (Note: On the various kinds of Egyptian arrows, vid., Klemm. Culturgeschichte, v. 371f.) "The son of the bow" (and of the אשׁפּה, pharetra) is the arrow. That the ἁπ. γεγρ. תותח signifies a club (war-club), is supported by the Arab. watacha, to beat. כּידון, in distinction from חנית (a long lance), is a short spear, or rather, since רעשׁ implies a whistling motion, a javelin. Iron the crocodile esteems as תּבן, tibn, chopped straw; sling stones are turned with him into קשׁ. Such is the name here at least, not for stumps of cut stubble that remain s…

The description here given of the leviathan, a very large, strong, formidable fish, or water-animal, is designed yet further to convince Job of his own impotency, and of God's omnipotence, that he might be humbled for his folly in making so bold with him as he had done. I. To convince Job of his own weakness he is here challenged to subdue and tame this leviathan if he can, and make himself master of him (Job 41:1-9), and, since he cannot do this, he must own himself utterly unable to stand before the great God (Job 41:10). II. To convince Job of God's power and terrible majesty several particular instances are here given of the strength and terror of the leviathan, which is no more than what God has given him, nor more than he has under his check, (Job 41:11, Job 41:12). The face of the leviathan is here described to be terrible (Job 41:12, Job 41:14), his scales close (Job 41:15-17), his breath and neesings sparkling (Job 41:18-21), his flesh firm (Job 41:22-24), his strength and spirit, when he is attacked, insuperable (Job 41:25-30), his motions turbulent, and disturbing to the waters (Job 41:31, Job 41:32), so that, upon the whole, he is a very terrible creature, and man is no match for him (Job 41:33, Job 41:34).