though women should turn Ostriches and forget their own issue yet will I not forget thee that is I will have thee in everlasting remembrance as it followeth in the next words of the Prophet vers 16. Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me And as the Lord will not forget his Sion the Church nor leave her to the danger of being crusht by every foot so whatever is left to hazard or danger whether First by any unreasonable creature as here in the Text Or secondly by unreasonable and foolish men from whom to be delivered the Apostle begged earnestly 2 Thes 3.2 Or Thirdly which the wisest men with all their care and power and diligence cannot secure from danger and hazzard there is a wakeful eye of providence that will take care in all such cases especially in the last For when men have done their utmost to keep the foot from crushing us and the wild beasts from destroying us but cannoâ— then the care of God appears most in doing it And in the case of that double necessity when good men have done their best to keep us safe but cannot and bad men have done their worst to expose us unto and leave us in danger we may and must leave all to God who naturally takes care of all creatures and is the Saviour of all men both as to temporal and eternal salvation 1 Tim. 4.10 especially of them that believe Thus we have the first part of the description of the Ostrich who being so very foolish not to discharge her duty to her eggs God himself doth it his providence orders the Sun to warm them and the Sand to bring them forth And as the Ostrich is careless of her eggs before they are hatcht so she neglects her young ones as much when they are hatcht as is shewed in the next verse Vers 16. She is hardened against her young ones as if they were not hers This verse gives us a farther description of that Bird-beast the Ostrich by her unnaturalness to her off-spring having left her eggs carelessly to hatch or perish in the dust she is as careless of her brood when they are hatched when the heat of the Sun say some by the providence of God hath done one part of her duty to bring them forth she neglects the other part of her duty which is to bring them up and so the pains that she took in laying so many great eggs one tells us her nest is usually stoâ—ed with fourscore eggs others say with twenty the least say with twelve or ten seems to be in vain she taking no care of them not having any regard to them This the Spiâ—it of God expresseth in the beginning of the 16th verse She is hardened against her young ones she is as forgetful of her chickens if I may so call them as she was of her eggs Rabbie Abraham reads thus God hath hardened her against her young ones and the reason that he gives for it is because the word is in the Masculine Gender which cannot well agree with the Feminine her And we find it in an active signification ascribed to God Isa 63.17 Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non alibi quam hic Isa 63.17 occurrit ac penè idem valet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hiphil obduravit Merc. O Lord said the Church there why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear Nor is it any where else found in the whole Bible but in this place of Job in this sence the Rabbin expounds it here nor is it either an impertinent or an unprofitable sense For as God sometimes judicially hardens the hearts of men so he doth also naturally harden the hearts of some beasts and birds and makes them of a cruel disposition against their own kind and then they l t them sink or swim and expose them to the greatest danger without any the least provision for them The Septuagint or Greek Interpreters do not read as we She is hardned against her young ones but taking the same active signification of the ve b say thus She hardneth her young ones that is she doth not bring them up tenderly nor delicately but leaves them to shift for themselves and so hardneth them And the reason of that rendring may be this because there is no particle in the Hebrew expressing the word against we say She is hardned against her young ones but the preposition commonly rendred against is not in the Hebrew that saith only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conâ—ra non habeturin fonte ideo malui duriter habet aut tractat filios suos potius quam indurat se contra filios suos Drus She hardneth her young ones or She is hardning her young ones but the sense riseth much to the same point whether we read She hardneth her young ones or is hardned against her young ones for by being hardned against them or by using them hardly she hardneth them Many parents harden their children by being hard to them If we put the sense of both readings together it will make the matter more compleat she hardneth her young ones by hardning her self against them Our reading is full and clear She hardneth her self against her young ones or children so the word strictly taken signifies As though they were not hers Implying that the consideration of them as hers should have made her more tender of them yet she carrieth it as if she had no relation to them The Hebrew is For that they were not hers which here as in other parallel Scriptures is rightly sensed in our Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Videtur hic positum esse pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut saepe alias Lamed pro Caph usurpatur sic erunt in carnem unaÌ„ i.e. quasi caro una Drus As though they were not hers As if it had been said she could not do otherwise nor worse by them if they were meer strangers to her or such as she had no title to She deals no better with them than as if they either were not hers or as if they were nothing to her and she no way concerned in them Such is that complaint of the Church Lam. 1. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by and see my sorrow is it nothing to you are you not at all concerned am I to you meerly as a stranger that you pass by and take no notice of my sufferings Thus the holy Ghost describes the Ostrich she is hardned against her young ones as though they were none of hers or as if she had nothing to do with them Hence note First They that deal hardly with others are hardened against them When Pharoah dealt so extream hardly with the people of Israel when he increased their number of bricks and denied them straw and made them serve with rigor he was extreamly hardned against them That spiritual judgement hardness of heart was deeply
upon Pharoah when he dealt so hardly with the chosen people of God notwithstanding all the corporal judgments which God brought upon him And as it was in that case between Pharoah and the children of Israel so in any case whatsoever he that dealeth hardly with others hath a heart hardned against them as this beast-bird the Ostrich upon that account is said to harden her self against her young ones Note Secondly 'T is an aggravation of hard-heartedness to deal hardly with those that are young and tender They that are grown up they that are hardned can endure hardship The Apostle Paul would have every believer especially a Minister of the Gospel to endure hardship 2 Tim. 2.3 'T is both their duty wisdom to harden themselves who are like to endure hardship and to find the world hardned against them All such should inure themselves to endure hard things or to suffer evil as the word there is as the good souldiers of Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu igitur perfer adversa Bez. Good souldiers especially old experienced souldiers will indure hardship but your raw souldiers new listed souldiers who never saw battel or siedge can hardly endure it The Ostrich puts her young ones to hardship We should be very careful if we put hardship upon any to put it upon those only that are fit to endure it we should not put hardship upon young ones 't is the spirit of an Ostrich of a beast-bird to do so Jacob had a tender respect to his flocks for this reason when Esau would have journeyed with him no saith he Gen. 33.13 My Lord knoweth that the children are tender and the flocks aâ—d herds with young are with me and if men should over-drive them one day all the flock would die As if he had said should I use these young ones hardly that are not fitted for hardship I should destroy all Jacob had a tender care of those that were tender The Ministers of the Gospel should take heed that they harden not themselves against the young ones of the flock such as are newly come in to Jesus Christ late Converts Babes in Christ as the Apostle calls them 1 Cor. 3.1 these should be dealt tenderly with The Prophet describes the tender care of Christ towards his people under this notion Isa 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young and shall his Ministers hurry and over-drive them When any do so are they not as the Ostrich in the Text hardned against their young ones yea against those that are with young Again From that addition to her hard heartedness not only is she hardned against her young ones but she is hardned as if they were not hers Hence note It is most unnaâ—ural to be hardned against those to whom we stand engaged by neer relation or natural bonds To look upon those as not ours that are ours is an extremity of hardness She is a hard mother indeed who deals with her children as if they were not her children The Apostle concludes universally in the Negative Eph. 5.29 No man ever hated his own flesh but loved it and cherished it as the Lâ—rd doth the Church Now as it is an unnatural thing for a man to hate his own flesh personal so his own flesh relational Christ speaking of the world saith John 15.19 The world loves its own The world doth not love you saith Christ to his disciples yea because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you The world and you are not of a piece are not of a Pedigree nor of the same extraction you are of another world and have had both a birth and a breeding differing toto coelo heavenly wide from theirs and therefore 't is no great wonder if the world hate you who are not of it but the world loves its own They have a nature more unnatural than the world who are hardned against their own relations Jesus Christ John 1.11 came to his own and his own received him not Now as not to be respected by our own so not to respect our own is unnatural It was the sin of the Jewish Nation that they did not respect Christ they being Christs own according to the flesh Their sin is great and they do shamefully who will not do what good they ought and can for their own The Prophet Jeremiah in his Lamentations Chap. 4.3 speaking of the women of Jerusalem in that extremity of famine saith Even the Sea monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones but the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness The Prophet compares that people to the Ostrich though that cruelty of theirs to their young ones proceeded not so much from the hardness of their hearts as from the hardness of the times and was to be charged rather upon their necessity than their nature The famine upon them was so great and pressed them so sore that they were so far from having any thing to give their children to eat that they were forced to eat their children and yet this necessitons hard-heartness of theirs towards their own the Pâ—ophet upbraids them with and reproves them for while he said The daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches of the wilderness Let all own relations to the utmost and take heed of turning away from and casting off the care of theirs as if they were not theirs The Prophet Isa 58.7 puts it among the duties of a fast That thou hide not thy self from thy own flesh Then we keep a true fast a fast that God hath chosen when we break our bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to our houses when we cloath the naked and comfort the sorrowful not hiding our selves from our own flesh by which though we are specially to understand our kindred and neerest relations in the flesh yet 't is true of meer strangers of those who are at furthest remove from us as to either alliance or consanguinity if they need our help God hath made all men of one flesh in the same sense that he hath made all men of one blood Act. 17.26 and therefore to hide our selves from the help of any man in distress is to hide our selves from our own flesh 'T is much to be wondred that a foolish bird should be forgetful of her young ones as though they were not hers but it is to be abhorred in men and women especially in those that profess the faith of Christ that they should no more look to them that are theirs than as if they were not theirs The Apostle gives this censure of or sentence upon all such 1 Tim. 5.8 If any man provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house or as the Margin hath it kindred
duly given Mat. 18.18 Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Where man binds in Gods way God binds too and where man looses in Gods way God looses too but take it either in natural or spiritual things it is not in the power of man to bind where God looseth nor to loose where God bindeth Canst thou loose the bands of Orion If God appoint cold to bind the earth man cannot loose it and if God will bind man with the cords and cold iron of any affliction man cannot free himself In the hottest natural season of the year man may be in cold providential bands and under them he must abide till the Lord breaks the frost and set him free It is said of Joseph Psal 105.17 18 19. He was sold for a servant his feet were hurt with fetters he was laid in iron or as the Margin reads it His soul came into iron But how came he out did he himself loose the bands of that Orion who cast him into prison surely no the Text tells us otherwise he lay fast enough in bands until ver 19. the word of the Lord came the word of the Lord tryed him But what was this Word of the Lord some say it was the word of God to Pharoah in a dream concerning the seven years of plenty and famine which may be said to try Joseph none but he could interpret it that may be said to unloose his bands because it was the occasion of his deliverance and advancement But I rather conceive the word that came was the word of Gods decree and promise made to Joseph in a dream for his advancement above all his brethren Gen. 37.6 7 8. When once the time came that this Word of God must come to be fulfilled then the bands of Orion were loosed for then saith the Psalmist ver 20. The King sent and loosed him even the Ruler of the people and let him go free And as it was with Joseph so with Job and so will ever be If the cold winter blasts of any adversity bind up our comforts either in our callings or relations there is no unloosing them unâ—il the word of the Lord come Solomon giveth this counsel Eccles 7.13 14. Consider the work of God that is his working in the world The reason of this counsel follows For who can make that strait which he hath made crooked Solomon intends this specially of the dealings of God in the world not that there is any crookedness or unrighteousness any iniquity or injustice in the ways of God but he means by crooked that which is troublesom and grievous Now if God himself make a thing crooked till he himself make it strait it is not in the power of all the men in the world to do it The moral sense of that Text is the very same with the point in hand If God bind who can loose There is no striving no contending with the providences of God we must deal with and apply to God himself for the altering of them we cannot alter them our selves we must desire him to mend his work we cannot This Solomon plainly intimates in the next or 14. verse In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider in a time of adversity things grow crooked and awry from what we would have and desire or from what is comfortable to us for God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him Sometimes he makes things crooked sometimes strait sometimes he gives a day of prosperity sometimes of adversity that no man may be able to say directly what shall be next And seeing there is no loosing the bands of Orion till God himself loose them therefore let all who are companions in tribulation say one to another as they in a like case are represented Hosea 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath wounded and he will heal he hath torn and he will bind us up Oâ— as this Text speaks He hath bound us and he will loâ—sen us Thirdly From both the paâ—ts of the verse considered together these negatives upon man must be resolved into affirmatives as to God He can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades he can loose the bands of Oâ—ion Whence note God can both stop the ordinary course of our comforts and deliver us from our troubles when he pleaseth God can stop those things from comforting us and those persons from shewing us any favour whose dispositions are as benigne to us as Pleiades are to the earth and he can give us favour in their eyes who naturally are as churlish as Nabal and as sharp as Orion to the earth He can make a Wolf a Shepherd and those a safety to his servants whose hearts were to swallow them up The earth shall help the woman that is the worst of the world the Church God made Ravens feed Eliah 1 Kings 17.4 And he said of Cyrus whom he calls a ravenous Bird Isa 46.11 He is my Shepherd Isa 44.28 Thus the Lord looseth the bands of Orion And when he hardens their hearts against us who formerly were tender towards us or when he turns their hearts to hate us who formerly loved us and shewed us favour then the Lord may be said to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades What sweet influences of favour did the people of Israel receive from Pharoah and the Egyptians at their first coming thither and long after yet afterwards what grievous Task-masters were they to them their favours were all restrained and changed into yokes and bands whence was this The Psalmist answers fully Psal 105.25 He that is God turned their heart that is the heart of the Egyptians to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants and cruelly too Thus the Power and Name of God is both wayes magnified Whenas we have the most benigne Pleiades dropping down sweet influences upon us God can stop them and when we have the hardest bands of Orion upon us the Lord is able to loose them This glory is due to God in all the changes which we meet with in this world whether from good to bad from the favours to the frowns of men or from bad to good from their frowns to their favours from their bands to their embraces all is of God And I conceive the scope of God in these questions was chiefly to bring Job to that conclusion The next verse bears the same sense Vers 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus and his Sons This also is a denying Question Canst thou thou canst not bring forth Mazzaroth in his season The word rendred to bring forth is applyed First to the birth or bringing forth of children Gen. 15.4 Secondly to the earths bringing forth flowers fruits Judg. 13.14 Thirdly to the rising of the Sun or
or turning round upon the nether stone which because it bears the weight of the work in grinding is the harder of the two though both are very hard as if it had been said if any stone be harder than another that 's most like the heart of Leviathan Now though this may have respect to the litteral or proper hardness of the flesh of Leviathans heart yet we are not to stay in that sense for there is a moral or metaphorical hardness as well as a natural or proper hardness The heart of one man is said to be hard and the heart of another soft and tender not because the natural flesh of one mans heart is hard and anothers soft but because of a moral hardness or tenderness in the heart of the one or other There is no difference between them in the body of a good and bad man as to tenderness and hardness but the soul-heart if I may so speak of the one and of the other differ exceedingly as to hardness and tenderness The heart of every good man as to the spiritual constitution of it is soft and tender but the heart of every evil man is hard and stony Again a fearful man is said to have a soft heart every little danger pierceth it or makes an impression upon it but a man of courage and boldness is said to have a hard heart or a heart of brass nothing can daunt him In this sense Leviathan hath a hard or firm heart a heart of brass The hardness of Leviathans heart Fortis intrepida est Jun. Est forti infracto corde seu animo nihil timet Merc. notes his courage boldness and stoutness he is not timerous like many other creatures his heart is as uncapable of fear as a stone and as impenetrable by any passion as the nether mill-stone So that to say his heart is as hard as a stone is all one as to say He is fearless or he is couragious So then There is a threefold moral hardness of heart spoken of in Scripture First Impenitency for sin is often called hardness of heart They who go on knowingly to sin against God are bold daring men they have hard hearts indeed Such hearts have all men by nature and therefore God makes that promise to sinners I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh Ezek. 36.26 Secondly Unmercifulness or cruelty towards men is called hardness of heart We commonly say of such a man Crudeles inclementes aut è saxo geniti aut cor habere saxeum dicuntur he is a hard-hearted man that is he is a cruel and unmerciful man Thirdly Couragiousness and stoutness in appearance of danger may be called hardness of heart A man of great courage hath a heart hardned against all fears and dangers Leviathan hath a hard heart in these two latter senses he is cruel and unmerciful he spares none he swallows down all without distinction a Jonah and all if he meet with him The Whale hath no mercy and therefore may be said to have a hard heart Again Leviathan is full of courage he fears no colours as we say therefore he may well be said to have a hard heart Cor durum signum audaciae fortitudinis Plin. l. 11. c. 37. And those creatures which have the hardest hearts in a physical sense are observed by Naturalists to be most daring and couragious Now as Leviathan is thus fearless at the appearance of the greatest dangers so when he appears all are filled with fear As he is altogether dreadless according to the interpretation given of this verse so he is altogether dreadful according to the express tenour of the next Vers 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid by reason of breakings they purifie themselves We have had in the seven verses last opened the description of Leviathan in many things which cannot but render him an object of fear and terror surely then when he shews himself all will be in a fright even the mighty who seem best fenced against fear as the Text speaks When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid When he raiseth up himself Whither not out of the water but in the water or to the surface of the water sometimes the Whale swims upon the top of the water Now when he raiseth up himself or as M◠Broughton translates at his stateliness or as another both putting the word into a Noune which we put into a Verb At his excellency The mighty are afraid by reason of breakings they purifie themselves In these words as was shewed before we have a double effect of Leviathans raising himself in sight or to the view of others The first effect is The mighty are afraid The second is this By reason of breakings they purifie themselves The mighty are afraid The Lord doth not say When he raiseth up himself the weak and as we say hen-hearted cowards but the mighty are afraid the mighty of all sorts not only mighty fishes but mighty men the stoutest Sea-men and Mariners yea Captains and Warriers at Sea are afraid and not only are they afraid when he raiseth up himself like a moving mountain but amazed with fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortes proprie pii i e. Angeli hoc nomine dicti quod robare polleant maxime pra ceteris creaturis hoc nomen etiam ad homines transfertur robore potentia valentes Timebunt Angeli Vulg. and even struck dead with astonishment The Hebrew word rendred mighty may be carried beyond mighty men even to Angels and so the vulgar Latine reads it When he lifts up himself the Angels will be afraid The word is applyed to the Angels all the Scripture over it properly signifies strong or mighty ones Angels are strong and mighty they excel all other creatures in strength Psal 103.20 If we take that translation The Angels will be afraid it is only to shew that Leviathan is so terrible that not only the fish in the Sea and men on earth but if such a thing could be the Angels of Heaven would be afraid of him As Christ when he would set forth the efficacy of seduction which shall be in the latter dayes saith False Prophets shall come and deceive if it were possible the very elect Mat. 24.24 So this Leviathan would make the Angels afraid if it were possible As Ships in a storm at Sea are said to mount up to the Heavens Psal 107.26 though they alwayes keep upon the billows of the water so by a like hyperbole we may say when Leviathan raiseth up himself the Angels of heaven are afraid But as the word often signifies an Angel so it is commonly applied to men of might strength and courage We translate indefinitely the mighty without determining it upon one or other sort of mighty ones and so we may understand it of any among the visible creatures that are mighty When he raiseth up himself the mighty are
Leviathans description is taken by Bochartus as a further proof that the Leviathan here spoken of is the Crocodile whose scales are not penetrable by the force of any weapon whereas saith he the skin of the Whale gives passage to the forcible stroke or thrust of any sharp-edged or sharp-pointed instrument For answer to this I have no more to say than what hath been said at the 15th 16th and 17th verses of this Chapter concerning the scales of Leviathan to which I refer the Reader and shall pass on when I have given three or four hints by way of improvement from the whole First If the Lord hath made a creature that no weapon can hurt then surely the Lord himself is exalted above all hurt from the creature as it is said in another place of this Book Chap. 35.6 If thou sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him that is thou canst not hurt God with thy sin Though men by sin lay at him as with sword and spear though they throw their sling-stones of blasphemy at him they cannot hurt him Gamaliel Acts 5.39 gives warning against this take heed what ye do refrain from these men lest haply ye be found even to fight against God They fight against God who set themselves to do mischief but what mischief soever they do to men or among men they can do none to God their weapons reach him not As Solomon tells us Prov. 21.30 There is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord so there is no weapon against the Lord Sword and spear and dart whether material or metaphorical are but stubble before him And as the Lord himself is beyond the reach of weapons and the rage of man so are they who are under the Lords protection therefore it is said of the Church Isa 54.17 No weapon formed against thee shall prosper that is it shall not have the intended effect of the Smith that made it as that Scripture speaks nor of the hand that weilds it The sword of him that layeth at the Church of God shall not hold the spear the dart nor the habergeon As none are so much assaulted as the Church so none are so well armed and defended Secondly As no offensive weapon can hurt the Lord so no defensive weapon can shelter us from hurt if under the wrath of the Lord. Though we have got an Habergeon though we have scales or bucklers like Leviathan yet the Lord hath a sword a spear a dart that can strike through them that is through all the defences of the most hardned sinners in the world There is no shelter to be found nor defence to be made against the weapons of divine wrath but only in and by Jesus Christ God is a shield and Buckler a Helmet and an Habergeon for believers against all offensive weapons of men or devils but where shall unbelievers find a shield or a buckler to secure themselves against the offensive weapons of God! Again some in allegorizing this Scripture say that Leviathan is an emblem of the Devil Now though it be a truth that no outward weapon no sword nor dart can terrifie or hurt the Devil yet the Lord hath furnished us with weapons that can pierce the Devil that Leviathan and defend us from his power Eph. 6.14 15 16. The sword of the Spirit the Word of God will wound that old Leviathan the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation the Shield of Faith will preserve us from woundings in the midst of all his fiery darts How soon would the Devil that cunning and cursed and cruel Darter and Archer wound our souls to death with his fiery darts and poysonous arrows if the Lord had not given us a shield a breast-plate and an helmet more impenetrable than the scales of Leviathan Lastly This description of Leviathan carrieth in it a fit resemblance of a hardned sinner of a sinner resolved upon his evil wayes Some sinners come at last to such a hardness that they are like Leviathan nothing will pierce them the sword of the Spirit doth not enter them Though you lay at them with all your might in the Ministry of the Word though you cast darts and shoot arrows of terrible threatnings against them they esteem them but straw and stubble sin hath so hardned them that they as we may express it are Sermon-proof threatning-proof yea judgement-proof too as to amendment by them though they are broken and perish under them Let God say what he will in his Word or do what he will in his works they regard it not they laugh at the shaking of these spears As a man that hath armour of proof cares not for sword or spears fears not an arrow nor a bullet so 't is in a spiritual sense with resolved sinners God having as a just judgement for former sins given them a shield upon their hearts as the word signifieth Lam 3.65 which we render sorrow of heart and put in the margin obstinacy that is hardness of heart they then account reproofs threats admonitions the most terrible words in all the armoury of God no more than a straw or rotten wood Woe to these Leviathans to those who harden their hearts against the Word of God Who hath hardned himself against the Word of the Lord and prospered And let all such know that as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal that is weak dull edgeless pointless tools but mighty through God c. And that though now they prevail not to conversion yet they will prevail to condemnation and that while they go on to sin they are but going as Solomon speaks of the young wanton Prov. 7.22 As an Ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver God will have a dart at last which shall enter a dart which those Leviathans shall not count stubble nor find to be so The Lord proceeds to describe Leviathan and as we may conceive to give a further demonstration of the hardness of his scales and skin Vers 30. Sharp stones are under him he spreadeth sharpe pointed things upon the mire Mr. Broughton reads it His underneath-places be as sharp-sheards The word rendred Sharp stones properly signifies the sharp pieces of a pot-sâ—â—â—rd that is stones or other hard things as sharp and pricking as the pieces of a broken pot-sheard We may expound this verse two wayes First As being a proof of the hardness and firmness of Leviathans skin and flesh so hard they are that he can lye down and rest himself upon hard and sharp stones even upon the sharp tops of rocks in the Sea as we lye down upon our beds Sharp stones are under him but he feels them not which may be the meaning also of the next words He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire That is Leviathan like some hardy man or iron-sides scorns to lye