Leviathan and the Hook (Conclusion)

A New Commentary on the Book of Job

There is one central conception of the book of Job, which makes it immortal, which will make it survive our modern time and our modern philosophies as it has survived many better times and many better philosophies. -Chesterton

---

I stared at my phone, my thoughts captured by a video of someone carrying groceries and falling up the stairs of their home. That clip was quickly followed by another, this time featuring a person falling down the icy stairs at the front of their house. Amazingly, something inside me waited eagerly for a third clip of someone falling. Up or down didn’t matter.

I catch myself strengthening this strange habit with very short articles and interviews as well. They are filled with knee-jerk reactions to unsubstantiated claims. They are frequently proven false by the end of the afternoon. Nevertheless, they do something that makes me return to them for more.

All this while I’m surrounded by writing that has survived the test of time. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “The Bible” have entertained and taught generations of people important lessons about making good happen in their lives. But my emotions urge me to turn instead to the “quick fix” of social media.

Reflecting on this makes me think of a rather disgusting, but sadly true proverb:

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

Proverbs 26:11

Chesterton’s Leviathan and the Hook provides us with more substantial fare. The title is from Job 41:1; a poetic verse in the Bible describing our attempts to control or subdue things that are far beyond our strength or ability.

“‘Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?”

The answer, of course, is “No.” Again and again our attempts to make life better fail the test of time. Nevertheless, like Sisyphus, we continue to seek control over our contemporary “Leviathans.”

Chesterton seeks to capture our attention with the idea that the book of Job contains ideas that, unlike social media, will last forever; deep, dark, and profound ideas that will remain not just over the days and years of our lives, but over centuries, over generations, and into eternity.

Chesterton begins with his main point:

There is one central conception of the book of Job, which literally makes it

immortal, which will make it survive our modern time and our modern

philosophies as it has survived many better times and many better philosophies.

That is the conception

that the universe,

if it is to be admired,

is to be admired

for its strangeness and not

for its rationality,

for its splendid unreason and not

for its reason.

Unlike many assertions I watch on social media, Chesterton strengthens his point with supporting arguments. In his first, Chesterton’s brilliance is on full display, offering not just an argument, but an argument which applies Job to contemporary philosophical solutions of G.K.’s day:

Job's friends attempt to comfort him with philosophical optimism,

like the intellectuals of the eighteenth century.

Job tries to comfort himself with philosophical pessimism

like the intellectuals of the nineteenth century.

But God comforts Job with indecipherable mystery,

and for the first time Job is comforted.

That striking final phrase “…and for the first time Job is comforted…” is reinforced by Chesterton’s saying it again but in a more specific way:

Eliphaz gives one answer,

Job gives another answer,

and the question still remains an open wound.

God simply refuses to answer,

and somehow the question is answered.

Chesterton then connects this point to the next point by exploring and expanding on the word “somehow” in the final phrase above.

Job flings at God one riddle,

God flings back at Job a hundred riddles,

and Job is at peace.

He is comforted with conundrums.

Now that he has made and reinforced his additional arguments, he ties them back to his main point.

For the grand and enduring idea in the poem,

as suggested above,

is that if we are to be reconciled

to this great cosmic experience

it must be as something

divinely strange and

divinely violent,

a quest, or

a conspiracy, or

some sacred joke.

Chesterton’s use of the word “violent” enters our mind unwelcome, but the jarring term prepares us for the final point of the whole essay.

The last chapters of the colossal monologue of the Almighty are devoted in a style

superficially queer enough to the detailed description of two monsters.

Behemoth and Leviathan

may, or may not be,

the hippopotamus and the crocodile¹.

But, whatever they are,

they are evidently embodiments

of the enormous absurdity of nature.

They typify that cosmic trait which anyone

may see in the Zoological Gardens,

the folly of the Lord, which is wisdom².

And in connection with one of them,

God is made to utter a splendid satire

upon the prim and orderly piety

of the vulgar³ optimist.

"Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? Wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?"⁴

That is the main message of the book of Job.⁵

Whatever this cosmic monster may be, a good animal or a bad animal,

he is at least a wild animal and not a tame animal;

it is a wild world and not a tame world.

It would be worth your time to reread the essay now, using all six posts on this Substack channel (start here to begin), reflecting on what parts of it most impress you and how you might integrate those points from his essay into your life.

Also, consider adding this to a list of essays and short stories you can reread each year to grow in wisdom and deepen your insight. Share in the notes below some texts on your list that you would encourage others to consider as well.

---

1. This is what our rational/scientific mind wants answered. But Chesterton is reminding us how to play with words…even words of scripture…to get their full meaning.

2. 1 Corinthians 1:18-21: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ (Isaiah 29:14)Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

3. Note the contrast, in his descriptions of the optimist, between prim and orderly (remember how order can drive us mad?) and vulgar.

4. Job 41:5. In the NIVUK it reads, “Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?”

5. He ends this section with the other side of the bookend end assertion at the beginning of this portion of the essay.