Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 41:33

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

There is no power upon earth, which can be compared to him. Who was made to fear no one. 39. His power upon earth is said to be preeminent over all, because though he has fallen below men by the merit of his doings, yet he transcends the whole human race by the condition of his angelic nature. For though he has lost the happiness of eternal felicity, yet he has not lost the greatness of his nature; by the strength of which he still surpasses all human things, though he is inferior to holy men, by the baseness of his deserts. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Just as Leviathan cannot be overcome either by man in the sea or by some creature in the sea, so he cannot be overcome by any land animal, and so he says, "There is no power on earth comparable to him." For there is no animal on earth as large as a whale in the sea, and so Pliny says that in the sea there are "greater animals than on land, and the evident cause is the profusion of moisture." By this he indicates that no material power can equal the power of a demon which is a power of spiritual nature. …

Commentary on Job ↗