Job 41:4

Job 41:4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

Ver. 4. Will he make a covenant with thee?] And compound, where he cannot conquer.

Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?] To be at thy disposal, and to do thy drudgery? q.d. He scorns the motion. Before the fall this and all other creatures were at man’s service, Gen 1:28; Gen 2:19-20; but now, alas! it is otherwise. Howbeit to those that are in Christ this part of God’s lost image is in part restored, Heb 2:6, with Psa 8:4-5, and shall be perfectly, Rev 2:26. What singular service the whale did Jonas in shipping him to land who knows not?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, who dare pull off his skin?

Who dare put a bridle in his mouth?

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Can he be tamed for domestic use (so Job 39:10-12)?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Will he make a covenant] Canst thou hire him as thou wouldst a servant, who is to be so attached to thy family as to have his ear bored, that he may abide in thy house for ever? Is not this an allusion to the law, Ex 21:1-6?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) A servant for ever.—The crocodile being probably quite untameable.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. Will he consent to be one of thy domesticated animals, and serve thee?

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Will he make a covenant with thee?.... To live in friendship or servitude, as follows;

wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? oblige him to serve thee for life, or reduce him to perpetual bondage; signifying, that he is not to be tamed or brought into subjection; which is true of the whale, but not of the crocodile; for several authors (i) speak of them as making a sort of a truce with the priests of Egypt for a certain time, and of their being tamed so as to be handled, and fed, and brought up in the house.

(i) Herodot, ut supra, (Euterpe, sive, l. 2.) c. 69. Aelian. l. 8. c. 2. & l. 10. c. 21. Solin. c. 45. Plin. l. 8. c. 46.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Will he make a covenant with thee? - That is, will he submit himself to thee, and enter into a compact to serve thee? Such a compact was made by those who agreed to serve another; and the idea here is, that the animal here referred to could not be reduced to such service - that is, could not be tamed.

Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? - Canst thou so subdue him that he will be a perpetual slave? The meaning of all this is, that he was an untamable animal, and could not be reduced, as many others could, to domestic use.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Garment, or the skin. (Menochius) --- Who shall look steadfastly, or dare to take off its skin? --- Mouth. Protestants, "Who can come to him with his double bridle?" (Haydock) though it be of the greatest strength; or, who will enter its jaws, or put bits in them? It is reported that the Tentyrites jump on the crocodile’s back, and having thrown a piece of wood into its open mouth, like bits, which they hold with both hands, they conduct it to the river side, and kill it. (Pliny viii. 25.) --- Septuagint, "Who would enter the wrinkles of his breast, (Calmet) or the folds of its coat of arms?" which may allude to the almost impenetrable scales of the leviathan. (Haydock) --- Symmachus, "Who will enter the folds of its scales?" The crocodile can open its mouth so wide as to swallow a heifer, or to let a man stand upright. (Calmet) --- Each jaw is furnished with thirty-six teeth. (Vansleb.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A covenant, to wit, to do thee faithful service, as the next words explain it. Canst thou bring him into bondage, and force him to serve thee?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Will he make a covenant? — The same phrase, כרת ברית, is used in the description in Gen_15:18, of the covenant between the Lord and Abraham. The phrase means literally, “cut a covenant,” and reappears in the Greek and the Latin, and apparently springs from a like primeval custom common to them all.

A servant for ever — Will he, as a consideration for sparing his life, enter into a covenant of perpetual service? On the hypothesis that this book was written subsequently to the Mosaic economy, there may be in the phrase “servant for ever,” an allusion to the mode by which Israelitish servants covenanted to serve for ever. Exo_21:6.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Will he make a covenant with thee? As captive monarchs do. Wilt thou take him as a servant for ever? (comp. Exo_21:6 Deu_15:17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to rebuke Job. He uses rhetorical questions to remind Job that Job is not powerful like Leviathan.

Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that he will not make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever." (See: Rhetorical Question)

he ... him

The words "he" and "him" refer to Leviathan.

Will you play with him as you would with a bird?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that you cannot play with him as you would play with a bird." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will you tie him up for your servant girls?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that you cannot tie him up for your servant girls." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that the groups of fishermen will not bargain for him." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that they will not divide him up to trade among the merchants." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will they divide

"Will the groups of fishermen divide"

translationWords

servant

eternity

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

I will not be silent concerning his sons I will not be silent concerning the sons of a righteous man who went before Me sincerely, and his sons will be paid the good reward of their father, and they will find good in his merit.

either for his acts of heroism and the arrangement of his supplication Either for his heroic deeds, that he strengthened himself to do what is good and upright, and the arrangement of the righteous man’s supplication [is that] I will pay his reward also to his sons after him.

his sons Heb. בדיו, his branches, and they are his sons, like (Ezek. 17:6), “and brought forth branches (בדים) and sent out sprigs.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.