None is so fierce that dare stir him up - No one has courage to rouse and provoke him.

Who then is able to stand before me? - The meaning of this is plain. It is, "If one of my creatures is so formidable that man dare not attack it, how can he contend with the great Creator? This may perhaps be designed as a reproof of Job. He had expressed a desire to carry his cause before God, and to urge argument before him in vindication of himself. God here shows him how hopeless must be a contest with the Almighty. Man trembles and is disarmed of his courage by even the sight of one of the creatures of God. Overpowered with fear, he retires from the contemplated contest, and flees away. How then could he presume to contend with God? What hope could he have in a contest with him?

None is so fierce that dare stir him up - The most courageous of men dare not provoke the crocodile to fight, or even attempt to rouse him, when, sated with fish, he takes his repose among the reeds. The strongest of men cannot match him.

Who then is able - If thou canst not stand against the crocodile, one of the creatures of my hand, how canst thou resist me, who am his Maker? This is the use which God makes of the formidable description which he has thus far given of this terrible animal.

None is so fierce that dare stir him up,.... This seems best to agree with the crocodile, who frequently lies down and sleeps on the ground (q), and in the water by night (r); see Ezekiel 29:3; when it is very dangerous to arouse him; and few, if any so daring, have courage enough to do it: though whales have been seen lying near shore asleep, and looked like rocks, even forty of them together (s);

who then is able to stand before me? This is the inference the Lord draws from hence, or the use he makes of it; that if this creature is so formidable and terrible, that it is dangerous to arouse and provoke him, and there is no standing before him or against him; then how should anyone be able to stand before the Lord, who made this creature, whenever he is angry? see Psalm 76:7.

(q) Plin. l. 8. c. 25. Solin. c. 45. (r) Ammian. Marcellin. l. 22. (s) See the North-West Fox, p. 205.

10 None is so foolhardy that he dare excite him!

And who is it who could stand before Me?

11 Who hath given Me anything first of all, that I must requite it?

Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

One sees from these concluding inferences, thus applied, what is the design, in the connection of this second speech of Jehovah, of the reference to behmoth and leviathan, which somewhat abruptly began in Job 40:15. If even the strength of one of God's creatures admits no thought of being able to attack it, how much more should the greatness of the Creator deter man from all resistance! For no one has any claim on God, so that he should have the right of appearing before Him with a rude challenge. Every creature under heaven is God's; man, therefore, possesses nothing that was not God's property and gift, and he must humbly yield, whether God gives or takes away. לא, Job 41:10, is not directly equivalent to אין, but the clause is exclamatory. יעורנו Chethb, יעירנו Ker, is the Palestine reading, the reverse the Babylonian; the authorized text (chiefly without a Ker) is יעוּרנּוּ from עוּר in a transitive signification (ἐγείρειν), as שׁוּב, Job 39:12, comp. Job 42:10. The meaning of הקדּימני is determined according to ואשׁלּם: to anticipate, viz., by gifts presented as a person is approaching the giver (Arab. aqdama). הוּא, Job 41:11, is neutral, as Job 13:16; Job 15:9; Job 31:11, Job 31:28. תּחת is virtually a subj.: that which is under ... . After these apparently epiphonematic verses (2 and 3), one might now look for Job's answer. But the description of the leviathan is again taken up, and in fact hitherto it was only the invincibility of the animal that was spoken of; and yet it is not so described that this picture might form the exact pendent of the preceding.

None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to {a} stand before me?

(a) If no one dare stand against a whale, which is but a creature, who is able to compare with God the creator?

41:10 Stand - To the battle. Me - To contend with me who created him?

10. fierce-courageous. If a man dare attack one of My creatures (Ge 49:9; Nu 24:9), who will dare (as Job has wished) oppose himself (Ps 2:2) to Me, the Creator? This is the main drift of the description of leviathan.

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.