Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 41:1

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

This the Lord openly indicates to blessed Job, saying: "Will you catch Leviathan with a hook?" By Leviathan, which means "their addition," that whale who devours the human race is designated. For while he promised to add divinity to man, he took away immortality. And the guilt of transgression, which he gave the first man to drink, he multiplies to those who follow him through the worst persuasion, heaping punishments upon them without end. On a hook, however, the bait is shown while the barb is hidden. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 25 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

After the Lord described the characteristics of the devil under the simile of an elephant, the largest land animal, he describes him under the simile of Leviathan, that is, a whale, the largest of marine animals. As Pliny says, "he is the size of four acres," and Isidore says, that "they have bodies the size of mountains." The name Leviathan alludes to this, for one can interpret it to mean "their excessive size." So Isidore says this animal is called balena from the Greek "balein", which means to send forth, because it sends forth …

Commentary on Job ↗