Saint Thomas takes God’s discussions of Behemoth (Elephant) and Leviathan (Whale) as being discussions of how Man cannot confront the Devil without the aid of God:
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 water higher than the other animals. It can be said that just as the devil is compared to the elephant who lives on land because of the manifest effects which he causes in corporeal creatures on land, so one can compare the devil to the whale or balena living in the waves of the sea, because of the effects which he works in moving interior motions to and fro.
Since he already expressed the victory of man over the devil using the image of the elephant hunt, to preclude one from believing that man by his own power can overcome the devil, he begins to exclude this in the image of Leviathan. Concerning the whale first, he shows that he cannot be overcome by the method by which fish are caught, and so he says, “Or will you be able to catch Leviathan in the sea with a fishhook?” This cannot happen for two reasons. First, because he is of such great size that no power or instrument of man can lift him up, and to show this he says, “Will you be able to draw him out?” Second, because he has such great power that he cannot be held by a fishhook, and to show this he says, “and will you bind his tongue with cord?” For fish which are caught with a hook are bound by the line which is attached to the hook. This means that no man can take the devil away from his malice or even bind him to keep him from doing this evil.
Second, he shows that man cannot overcome him in the manner in which certain large land animals are overcome. An ox is restrained by man using an iron ring which is placed in its nostrils, by which a man leads him where he wills. To exclude this he says, “Will you put a ring in his nose?” Man also masters the horse, ass or camel by placing a bridle or bit in his mouth, and to exclude this he says, “or pierce his jawbones with a bit?” The jawbones of these animals are perforated with a bit, that is, with iron which is placed in their mouths. As the ox is led by a ring placed through his nostrils, so the gait of the horse is directed with a bridle or bit placed in the jaws of the horse so that he may carries a man with ease. Through this image we are given to understand that no one can lead the devil where he wants nor direct him to serve his will.
Third, he shows that Leviathan cannot be mastered by the method by which man subjects man. This happens in two ways: in one way by a simple word, for example, when someone is so humbled by another that he prays to him, and he expresses this when he says, “Will he multiply prayers to you?” He may even add flattering words, and he expresses this continuing, “or will he speak soft words to you?”, using flattering words to please you, as Proverbs says, “A quiet response shatters anger.” (15:1) In another way, it happens by the addition of some obligation which comes about either from some particular contract, which he express when he says, “Will he make a covenant with you?” or by perpetual slavery, which he expresses saying, “and will you take him for your perpetual slave?” These four methods sometimes go in order. For sometimes because of fear someone first offers prayers to a victor, second he flatters, third he submits himself to a contract, and fourth by this contract he is subjected to perpetual slavery. Through all these images we are given to understand that the devil does not fear man so that he offers him as a superior or as one stronger either prayers from fear or flatter or contract or slavery. If he pretends these sorts of things, he deceives man, so that he may subject man to himself rather than be subjected to man.
Fourth, he shows that he cannot be overcome like birds are overcome by man. Consider about this that birds are first captured with some deception by nets or bird-lime or something of the kind. To exclude this he says, “Will you deceive him like a bird,” so that you master him by deception? Second, after their capture they are bound so that they cannot fly away, and they are shown to the children and the servants like playthings. He means this when he says, “or will you bind him for your servants?” By these things he shows that man cannot by his own effort overcome the devil by deceiving him, nor can he show him to others as an object of derision.
After he has shown that he cannot be subjected by the method by which animals are subjected, he shows consequently that man cannot use him, even if he were subjected by the method by which he uses other large animals when they are given into the power of man. First he shows this by using the method by which man uses captured land animals, for example, deer, boar, and other things like this whose flesh is divided in two parts-one to give free to friends, and he excludes this saying, “Will friends cut him in pieces?” as a question; in another way by selling it to various people, and expressing this he says, “Will the merchants divide him?”, implying the answer “No”. For so great is the bulk of this animal that should it ever be captured, it would suffice for the whole region, and so it is not divided into parts by friends nor sold in the meat market like other animals. By this he means that man cannot share the aid of the demons to someone else either for free or for profit.
Second, he shows that man cannot use Leviathan like he uses fish which have been caught. Fishermen fill large nets with these fish with the larger specimens, and he expresses this saying, “Will you fill the nets with his skin?” He clearly says “skin” perhaps to express the method in which the very large whales are captured, who “by very long stalks which they have, bind the whales to the rocks when they are sleeping in their grottos,” as one source says, “and then, when the fisherman approaches up close, he loosens as much of the skin as he can from the fat next to the tail.” For the animal is very fat, and because of this fat he does not feel the cut. So when the cords have been attached he ties him to the rocks or the trees, the fisherman excites the whale with stones from a sling, who leaves his skin trying to escape. They fill other smaller instruments with smaller fish, and as to this he says, “and a bow net of fish with his head?” For the bow net is an instrument made from willow-wands which the fishermen place in a stream to capture fish. But so great is the size of the whale that neither the whole nor the part of it, for example, the head, can be contained in a great bow net. For he is said to have a head so big that one can fill forty large jugs of fat with it. This is all a figure to show that the devil cannot be bound by human power, as the magicians are of the opinion they could bind him. This results completely from his cunning which he uses to deceive men. If anyone thinks rightly about this, all these premised words seem to confound the presumption of the magicians, who seek to enter into a pact with demons either to subject them to their power or to bind them in some other way.
After he has shown that man cannot overcome the devil in any way by his own power, he says as a conclusion to all he has said, “Put your hand over him,” (“if you can” is implied) as if to say: You cannot put your hand over him in any way by your own power to subject him to yourself. But although he cannot be dominated by man, yet he is overcome by divine power, and so he adds, “Remember the war,” in which I fight against him,” and do not add another word “against me; when you see that he has been vanquished by my power whom you cannot overcome by yours. About the conquest by which he is overcome by God he adds, “Behold, his hope will be in vain for him.” If this is referred to the whale it is clear. For when the whale follows fish hoping to catch them, he runs aground on some shore, and as he cannot free himself from this because of the shallowness of the water, he is frustrated in his hope to capture fish. So when he rises to the surface he rushes to death. He express this then saying, “and he will perish with everyone looking on,” because men run from all sides when they see him to kill him. In this he wants to show that the hope the devil has for the subversion of the saints will be frustrated, and he with all his following will be cast down into hell on the day of judgment with all the saints looking on.
Go here to read the rest. Job’s attention has been on God, and God brings the discussion on to the Devil, the precipitator of so much of the evil that afflicts Man.
