Job 41:14

Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Who can open the doors of his face?—i.e., his mouth. Round about his teeth is terror.

Benson Commentary

Job 41:14. Who can open the doors of his face? — Namely, his mouth. If it be open, no one dares to enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, none dare open it. His teeth are terrible round about — This is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who can open the doors of his face? - His mouth. The same term is sti 1 used to denote the mouth - from its resemblance to a door. The idea is, that no one would dare to force open his mouth. This agrees better with the crocodile than almost any other animal. It would not apply to the whale. The crocodile is armed with a more formidable set of teeth than almost any other animal; see the description in the notes at Job 41:1. Bochart says that it has sixty teeth, and those much larger than in proportion to the size of the body. Some of them, he says, stand out; some of them are serrated, or like a saw, fitting into each other when the mouth is closed; and some come together in the manner of a comb, so that the grasp of the animal is very tenacious and fearful; see a full description in Bochart.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. doors of … face—his mouth. His teeth are sixty in number, larger in proportion than his body, some standing out, some serrated, fitting into each other like a comb [Bochart].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The doors of his face, to wit, his mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, that if it be shut, none dare open it.

His teeth are terrible round about: this is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Who can open the doors of his face?.... Of his mouth, the jaws thereof, which are like a pair of folding doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr (u) speaks of one, whose jaws opened seven feet broad; and Leo Africanus (w) affirms he saw some, whose jaws, when opened, would hold a whole cow. To the wideness of the jaws of this creature Martial (x) alludes; and that the doors or jaws of the mouth of the whale are of a vast extent will be easily believed by those who suppose that was the fish which swallowed Jonah;

his teeth are terrible round about; this may seem to make against the whale, the common whale having none; though the "ceti dentati" are a sort of whales that have many teeth in the lower jaw, white, large, solid, and terrible (y). Olaus Magnus (z) speaks of some that have jaws twelve or fourteen feet long; and teeth of six, eight, and twelve feet; and there is a sort called "trumpo", having teeth resembling those of a mill (a). In the spermaceti whale are rows of fine ivory teeth in each jaw, about five or six inches long (b). But of the crocodile there is no doubt; which has two rows of teeth, very sharp and terrible, and to the number of sixty (c).

(u) Decad. 5. c. 9. (w) Descript. Africae, l. 9. p. 763. So Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78. Edit. 5. (x) Epigram. l. 3. cp. 64. (y) Vid. Plin. l. 9. c. 5, 6. and Philosoph. Transact. vol. 3. p. 544. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 848. (z) De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 8. (a) Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 847, 848. (b) Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 7. part 3. p. 425. (c) Aelian. l. 10. c. 21.

Geneva Study Bible

Who can {f} open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

(f) Who dare look in his mouth?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. who can open] Or, who hath opened. The “doors of his face” is an expression for his “mouth” which has something artificial and forced in it.

his teeth are terrible] The jaws of the crocodile are very extended; the two rows of long, pointed teeth, thirty-six, it is said, above, and thirty beneath, being bare, as the mouth has no lips, present a formidable appearance.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Who can open the doors of his face? Who can make him open his huge, gaping jaws, if he chooses to keep them shut? Who would dare to do so? His teeth are terrible round about. The crocodile has "two rows of sharply pointed teeth, thirty or more on each side" (Russell's 'Ancient and Modern Egypt,' p. 460). They are "so formed and disposed as to tear their prey rather than masticate it" ('Dict. Universelle des Sciences,' p. 447). The voracity of the full-grown crocodile is great; and he will not scruple to attack and devour men, if they come in his way. The natives of Upper Egypt have a wholesome terror of him. Job 41:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

12 I will not keep silence about his members,

The proportion of his power and the comeliness of his structure.

13 Who could raise the front of his coat of mail?

Into his double teeth-who cometh therein?

14 The doors of his face-who openeth them?

Round about his teeth is terror.

The Ker לו authorized by the Masora assumes an interrogative rendering: as to it, should I be silent about its members (לו at the head of the clause, as Leviticus 7:7-9; Isaiah 9:2), - what perhaps might appear more poetic to many. החרישׁ (once, Job 11:3, to cause to keep silence) here, as usually: to be silent. בּדּיו, as Job 18:13. דּבר signifies the relation of the matter, a matter of fact, as דּברי, facts, Psalm 65:4; Psalm 105:27; Psalm 145:5. חין (compared by Ew. with הין, a measure) signifies grace, χάρις (as synon. חסד), here delicate regularity, and is made easy of pronunciation from חנן, just as the more usual חן; the language has avoided the form חנן, as observed above. לבוּשׁ . clothing, we have translated "coat of mail," which the Arab. libâs usually signifies; פּני לבוּשׁו is not its face's covering (Schlottm.), which ought to be לבוּשׁ פּניו; but פּני is the upper or front side turned to the observer (comp. Isaiah 25:7), as Arab. wjh, (wag'h), si rem desuper spectes, summa ejus pars, si ex adverso, prima (Fleischer, Glossae, i. 57). That which is the "doubled of its mouth" (רסן, prop. a bit in the mouth, then the mouth itself) is its upper and lower jaws armed with powerful teeth. The "doors of the face" are the jaws; the jaws are divided back to the ears, the teeth are not covered by lips; the impression of the teeth is therefore the more terrible, which the substantival clause, Job 41:14 (comp. Job 39:20), affirms. שׁנּיו gen. subjecti: the circle, ἓρκος, which is formed by its teeth (Hahn).