NOTES for Job 41:11-34

Whom does the Lord mean when he speaks of Leviathan? It is not easy to answer this question unequivocally, for Leviathan often appears as a symbol of the forces rebelling against the Creator, and perhaps it is no accident that he is called here the “king over all the proud.” But even if this is not so, and if Leviathan is to be understood, as other interpreters believe, as some living creature—apparently a crocodile—then even on this reading Leviathan appears before us as a creature that visibly reveals the Creator’s might. Its description is vivid and expressive; we sense how a power beyond human control is subdued by God.

As He brings His word to Job to a close, God points him to Leviathan (vv. 1-34). This indication is not accidental, because the image of Leviathan, whatever its origin, by the time the Book of Job was written had already become a symbol of the power opposed to God, although, of course, Leviathan was just as much God's creature as the rest of the world. And God, of course, does not accidentally set Job before Leviathan just as He had previously set him before Behemoth (Job 40:15-24). If Behemoth was a symbol of nature, completely indifferent to man, then Leviathan was a symbol of the dark powers that oppose man. God is, as it were, saying to Job: you wanted to lean on your own righteousness and demand something from Me; but I am not the one opposing you, I am on your side. Here is your real enemy; see whether you can withstand him. Will your righteousness help you (vv. 1-9)? This turn in the theme was not accidental: Job had in fact demanded the immediate triumph of justice, accusing God of permitting the forces of evil to act, of looking indifferently at the suffering of the righteous and the triumph of the wicked. Job, as it were, set his own righteousness against this indifference.

And now God showed him visibly what human righteousness is worth in the face of the world's evil if it remains without the help and support of the One who Himself is the source of all righteousness. But there was also a second, deeper meaning in this vision. God tells Job directly that only He Himself can deal with Leviathan, who embodies the forces of evil (v. 11). And the one who cannot deal with Leviathan has no right to challenge Him (v. 10). A person stands before the choice between God and Leviathan, and if he is not on God's side, then willingly or unwillingly he supports those who oppose God. A righteous person cannot become an opponent of God; the very nature and origin of righteousness do not allow it. Of course, God's triumph over Leviathan does not come immediately. God's struggle with those who oppose Him will end only at the end of time; Leviathan's recompense, as is clear, still lies ahead (v. 10). And then each one will receive his reward. Such a prospect would appear no better than the one Job's friends spoke of, pointing out to him that the time for rewarding the righteous and punishing the sinner would still come.

But there they spoke of a human perspective, while here the perspective is that of God's providence. And the issue is not only scale. The issue is also that time passes away, while God's eternity does not. And therefore in God's eternity every life finds its place, even one that by the standards of this world appeared to have failed completely. The reward of the righteous person in God's eternity is not that he receives from God some kind of compensation for the sufferings he has endured, but that his entire life is renewed, including the part of it that had seemed irretrievably lost. God does not evade Job's questions; He simply lets him understand that the answer to the questions he has asked can be found only in the Kingdom. And Job believes God, who speaks with him face to face.

God is not merely showing him His power. Above all, He addresses Job just as Job wanted: in a human way. What Job feared most was what his friends had told him at least twice: that God is distant from humanity, that He is nothing but power. Judging by his speech, Elihu saw God in much the same way. For Job, however, such a God is a true nightmare. Now he sees the real, living God. And he understands that God is by no means merely power. God shows Job sheer power through the example of the animals He has created: the hippopotamus and, apparently, the whale (called “Leviathan” in the book).

And so that Job may have no doubts left, God Himself leads him to these animals. He vividly shows Job the difference between mere power, indifferent to a human being, and Himself, who, as Job can see for himself, is by no means indifferent to him. Thus Job receives the answer to his main question: can God speak to a person in a human way? But the answer turns out not to be a simple one. God can indeed speak to a person in a human way, but that does not make the difference between God and humanity any smaller. The gulf between them does not disappear; God simply builds a bridge across it. And so all of Job's claims prove unfounded. His friends were right: a human being has no rights before God. But this does not mean that a relationship is impossible.

It simply has to move beyond the confines of religion, where the question of rights and duties, including those in one's relationship with God, is fundamental. Outside those confines, a relationship is very much possible. There is, however, one condition: complete and unconditional acceptance of God's will as the absolute spiritual and moral imperative of one's own life. This is something that a religious person confined within his own religiosity finds almost impossible to do: those who possess religiosity always see it as something valuable in itself, something that even God ought to appreciate for its worth.

God clearly shows Job that only one thing matters to Him: the relationship that binds Him to a human being. And the human heart that makes such a relationship possible. He does not need our religion, or even our morality; He needs us ourselves. Our life. Not in order to take it away from us, but to make it as full as we are capable of receiving. For that to happen, however, all human confines, including religious ones, must be removed. Now, meeting God face to face, Job has finally understood this.