(30)He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.--Some render, "He spreadeth, as it were, a threshing-wain upon the mire." The statement is, that he not only can lie without inconvenience upon sharp-pointed things, but his own body presents a sharp surface to the mud he lies on.
Verse 30. - Sharp stones are under him; rather, jagged potsherds are under him; i.e. "his belly is covered with jagged scales" - a thing which is true of the crocodile, but scarcely of any other beast. He spreadeth sharp pointed things (rather, a threshing-wain, or a corn-drag) upon the mire. He leaves on the mud on which he has lain, i.e. an impression as of an Oriental threshing-wain, or corn-drag, which is "a thick plank of timber, stuck full on the under side, of flints or hard cutting stones arranged in the form of the palate or rough tongue of a cow" (Sir C. Fellows, 'Asia Minor,' p. 70). The mud-banks on which crocodiles have been lying are said to be scored all over with such impressions.
41:1-34 Concerning Leviathan. - The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.
Sharp stones are under him,.... And yet give him no pain nor uneasiness;
he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire; and makes his bed of them and lies upon them; as sharp stones, as before, shells of fishes, broken pieces of darts, arrows, and javelins thrown at him, which fall around him: this does not so well agree with the crocodile, the skin of whose belly is soft and thin; wherefore dolphins plunge under it and cut it with a thorn, as Pliny (h) relates, or with spiny fins (i); but with the whale, which lies among hard rocks and sharp stones, and large cutting pieces of ice, as in the northern seas.
(h) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25. (i) Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78.
he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire; and makes his bed of them and lies upon them; as sharp stones, as before, shells of fishes, broken pieces of darts, arrows, and javelins thrown at him, which fall around him: this does not so well agree with the crocodile, the skin of whose belly is soft and thin; wherefore dolphins plunge under it and cut it with a thorn, as Pliny (h) relates, or with spiny fins (i); but with the whale, which lies among hard rocks and sharp stones, and large cutting pieces of ice, as in the northern seas.
(h) Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25. (i) Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78.