What happensPermalink
Continuing to question Job, God asks whether any man can subdue or tame Leviathan, the most powerful of creatures. If not, how would anyone presume to stand before God? No man has given God anything that puts God in his debt, because the whole of creation belongs to God.
Why it mattersPermalink
Leviathan completes God’s challenge to Job’s ability to govern creation and justice. Human beings cannot domesticate, commercialize, or defeat this creaturely power, much less place the Creator in their debt. If Job cannot stand before Leviathan, he cannot summon God as though God were subject to human judgment. The chapter humbles Job before the God whose rule includes even what humans cannot control.
Key versePermalink
No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?