^41:1 I will not rouse him as though cruel. For who can resist my face?
^41:2 And who has first given to me, that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.
^41:3 I will not spare him with powerful words and words composed for supplication.
^41:4 Who will uncover the face of his garment? And who will enter into the midst of his mouth?
^41:5 Who will open the gates of his face? Around the circle of his teeth there is fear.
^41:6 His body is like cast shields, and compacted with scales pressing upon one another.
^41:7 One is joined to another, and not even a breath passes through them.
^41:8 One will adhere to another, and, holding one another, they will by no means be separated.

554. I will not rouse him as though cruel, etc. After the Lord had enumerated the power of Leviathan with respect to this, that he cannot be overcome by man but only by God, he now recounts his power with respect to this, that he himself can act against others. And because there is no power except from God, as is said in Romans 13:1, someone could ascribe it to cruelty in God that he gave such great power to so harmful a creature; and therefore, to exclude this, he says: I will not rouse him as though cruel, that is, I will permit him to be exalted by the power given to him; and this seems to respond to what Job had said above in 30:21: You have changed toward me into a cruel one.

But that this should not be ascribed to him as cruelty he shows by a threefold reason:

first, because of the power of God himself, when he says: For who can resist my face, that is, my providence? As though saying: however powerful that Leviathan may be, he cannot resist my providence, so that he would use his power except insofar as it pleases me; and my will tends not to the ruin but to the salvation of men.

Second, he shows the same from the largess of his goodness, by which he freely distributes his goods to all, whence he adds: And who has first given to me, that I should repay him? As though saying: no one; from which it is clear that I love all the things I have made, to which I freely communicate my goods, and so I do not have a spirit of cruelty against the things that I have made. And to the same point pertains what he adds: All things that are under heaven are mine, because, namely, they have been created, preserved, and governed by me; but no one is opposed to his own things.

Third, he shows that he is not cruel in permitting Satan to be exalted in his power by the fact that he gives way to him in nothing: for it seems to pertain to a certain cruelty that someone, while wishing to favor some tyrant, patiently tolerates the afflictions of many. Now man favors someone powerful for a twofold reason: in one way, fearing his threats, but the Lord excludes this from himself, saying: I will not spare him, that is, I will give way to him in nothing without resisting him as is fitting, with powerful words, that is, on account of any threatening words that would display his power; in another way, someone favors a powerful person as though enticed by his flatteries, and to exclude this he adds: and words composed for supplication, as though saying: although he were to speak powerfully or as a suppliant, nevertheless I give way to him in nothing, because there is no agreement of light with darkness, as is said in 2 Corinthians 6:14.

555. Therefore, after setting forth these things to remove the opinion of his cruelty, he proceeds to describe the power of Leviathan, and first he describes his form, beginning from the head. Now it is said that over the eyes of the whale there are certain hornlike appendages in the form of a great sickle, and there are two hundred fifty over one eye and the same number over the other, and the whale uses them as a covering for the eye in time of great storm; and to express this he says: Who will uncover the face of his garment? That is, what man can come so near to the whale that he could uncover its face from the aforesaid coverings? By this one is given to understand that no man is sufficient to uncover the cunning devices of the devil. It is also said that in its throat it has a certain skin in the manner of a membrane, and this, perforated with many passages, does not permit anything great in bulk to enter its belly, because, namely, its digestion would be impeded by this if it were to swallow whole some great animal; and to designate this, it is added: And who will enter into the midst of his mouth?, namely, so that he may examine those narrow passages by which small fish descend into its belly? By this is designated that no man can know the intention of the demon by which he is moved to swallow men spiritually.

It is also said of the whale that it has an opening of the mouth toothed with very large and long teeth, and especially two teeth are longer than the others, like the teeth of an elephant or a boar. Therefore, to designate these two greatest outer teeth, he says: Who will open the gates of his face? For those two greatest teeth seem like two gates by which the mouth of the whale is opened. By this is designated that no man can open the mouth of the devil to draw out from his power the sinners whom he swallows, as though through two gates, namely, violence and cunning. But with respect to the other teeth of the whale, he adds: Around the circle of his teeth there is fear, because, namely, around its mouth it has teeth so large that it can strike terror into those who look upon it. By this is signified the terror that the demon strikes into men, so that through this he may drive them to sin; and it can be said that his teeth are the other demons, or also wicked men who, by their power, induce others to evil by terrifying them.

556. Therefore, after setting forth these things concerning the disposition of the head of Leviathan, he proceeds to the disposition of his body, which he describes in the manner of fish that have scales; hence, according to the size of his body, he must have very large scales, like shields, whence he says: His body is like cast shields, which indeed are continuous, for wooden shields are united by being bound together. But the devil is compared to all the wicked as head to body; hence sinners who defend others in malice are like the shields of the devil’s body. He then shows that his scales are not only great but also compressed, in the manner of fish that have many scales, and this is what he adds: and compacted with scales pressing upon one another, by which the multitude of the wicked is designated. And their perverse concord in evil is consequently shown when it is added: One is joined to another, because, namely, just as in the body of some fish not every scale is joined to every other, but one to one in order, so also in the multitude of the wicked not all agree socially with all, but certain ones with certain others. But as long as a fish is living and strong and its scales are in their vigor, they adhere to one another and to the skin of the body so tightly that not even air can pass between them; but when the fish is dead or weak, or when from some cause its scales are dried out, then little by little the aforesaid joining of the scales is loosened, so that the scales themselves are bent and something even larger can pass between them.

Therefore, to show the vigor of the scales of Leviathan, he adds: and not even a breath passes through them, that is, through the space between the scales; by this is designated that the wicked are not separated from consent in malice by any spiritual persuasion or inward inspiration. And therefore, to show their obstinate consent in malice, he adds: One will adhere to another, by mutual favor and consent, and, holding one another, they will by no means be separated, namely, because of their obstinate consent in evil, just as the scales of Leviathan cannot be separated from one another by human power.