Lecture 2 — How Satan acts in sinners

^41:9^ His sneeze is a resplendent fire and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

^41:10^ From his mouth, the lamps go forth like flaming pine logs.

^41:11^ From his nostrils, smoke comes forth like one heats pots of boiling water.

^41:12^ His breath makes live coals blaze and flame comes forth from his mouth.

^41:13^ Power will reside in his neck and want stands before his face,

^41:14^ and the members of his flesh cling together. He sends thunderbolts against him and they are not borne to another place.

^41:15^ His heart will be hardened like stone and compressed together like a blacksmith’s anvil.

^41:16^ When he will fall, the angels will tremble with fear and, terrified, they will be cleansed.

^41:17^ When he lays hold of him, the sword will not stand neither the spear nor the breastplate.

^41:18^ For he will treat iron like straw and bronze like rotten wood.

^41:19^ The archer will not put him to flight, and stones thrown against him are turned to stubble.

^41:20^ He will treat the anvil like stubble and will deride the vibrating pike.

^41:21^ The rays of the sun are under him and he throws gold aside voluntarily as though it were mud.

^41:22^ He makes the depths of the sea boil like water in a pot, and applies it like effervescent ointments.

^41:23^ He leaves a shining wake after him; he will measure the deeps like an old man.

^41:24^ There is no power on earth comparable to him. He has been made to fear no one.

^41:25^ He sees everything which is sublime: he is king over the sons of Pride.

557. His sneeze is like a resplendent fire. After the Lord describes the order of the body of Leviathan, he next describes his powerful action. As he first described the ordering of his head and then his body, so he first begins to enumerate the actions which belong to his head. The first and most important part of the head is the brain, whose excitement causes an animal to sneeze. So he describes the sneeze of Leviathan, saying, his sneeze is a resplendent fire, because the sneeze of Leviathan produces such a great disturbance of the water that it causes a dazzling white color in the troubled water. This resembles the splendor of fire. This can also refer to the fact that when we have a great concussion in our head we see stars like the splendor of fire, and so, since the concussion in the head of Leviathan must be much greater when he sneezes, this light must be even brighter. He clearly describes this because the concussion of the head of the devil, that is, his temptations, dazzles us like the splendor of fire, of either anger, concupiscence, or vainglory.

The eyes are next in importance among the other parts of the head, and so he says, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. For the eye is transparent by reason of its lack of mass. The whale has large eyes because of the size of his head and his whole body, and so a certain clarity appears in their glance, like the clarity of the dawn. By this image he describes the temporal prosperity which the devil promises to man.

Third, he describes the work or effect of his mouth when he says, from his mouth lamps go forth like flaming pine logs. Consider here that a pine log is a type of wood which, when lit, gives forth a pleasant odor. It is said of the whale that when he is very hungry, he emits from his mouth an odor-bearing vapor like the smell of amber. Fish delight in this smell, enter his mouth and are eaten by him. Therefore, the vapors emitted from the mouth of the whale are called lamps because of the great amount of their heat generated from his insides. But they are compared to flaming pine logs because of their smell, as was said. By this he describes the fact that the devil incites men to the concupiscence of sin by showing them some good like giving forth an odor.

Fourth, he discusses the operation of his nostrils. For this animal has lungs and breathes like a dolphin, and to show this, he says, from his nostrils, which are the principal organs needed for breathing, comes forth, by breathing, smoke, that is, a burning air from the great heat which is necessary for this animal to move such great bulk. So he clearly says, like when one heats pots of boiling water, for the air which he sends forth in breathing was contained in his lungs, where it was heated by the heat of the heart which is next to the lungs, like water is heated in a pot and boils when fire is put under it. Since the animal breathes not only through the nostrils but also through the mouth, he describes the action of his mouth in a fifth place, saying, his breath, that is, his exhaling, coming from his mouth, makes live coals blaze, for it is so hot and so strong that it could light live coals. For he speaks about this analogy and says that blowing can make live coals hotter, saying, and flame comes forth from his mouth, because the vapor coming from this mouth is so igneous that it can be rightly compared to a flame. By all these things, he shows that the devil enkindles the fire of perverse desire in man by his suggestion, be it hidden or open.

558. When he has described what pertains to the strength of the head of Leviathan, he moves on to describe what pertains to the strength of his members. Consider that, as Aristotle says in II Animalium, no fish has a neck, except those who generate animals, like dolphins. Whales also belong to this genus. So he begins to describe the strength of his neck when he says, power will reside in his neck, which is necessary for so large an animal to carry the weight of his head. Because the neck joins the head to the body, one can understand, by the neck of Leviathan, those through whom the devil exercises his evil in others, who for the most part are powerful men whom the others reverence and even fear. It is evident that this animal needs a lot of food, since it is of such great size, and so, in any part of the sea, the whale takes in a lot of the fish living there, so that the sea before his gaze remains almost empty of fish. He expresses this, saying, and want stands before his face, because he attracts fish to himself, as has been said above, and the sea remains empty of fish before him. By this, he means the want of virtue caused in man before the face of the devil, who are attracted by his suggestion. He shows then the power of the other parts of his body when he says, the members of his flesh cling together, because of their density, which shows the consent of the members of the devil together in evil.

559. After he describes the strength of Leviathan in acting, he next treats of his power to resist. Although he can resist the strength of the human agent, he still cannot resist the strength of divine action in any way, and so first he shows what God does against him when he says, he sends thunderbolts against him. For clearly, thunderbolts frequently fall into the sea, and sometimes even create danger to ships. So it is also probable that sometimes thunderbolts strike whales, and so one attributes this to God, because of the grandeur and terror of this effect. So the Lord said already, will you send the lightening and will it go (Job 38:35). He then says, and they are not born to another place, which can have two senses.

First, to show the great size of his body. For lightning usually strikes in one place and is reflected by rebounding to other places close by. But the body of Leviathan is so great that when lightning strikes it, it is not reflected from his body. In another sense, this can mean the infallibility of the divine operation. Just as an archer habitually shoots the arrows in a direct line so that he only strikes the target, so when God wants to send forth lightning bolts like arrows against Leviathan or any other creature, they only go to the place where he sends them, as Wisdom says, bolts of lightning go directly to their goal (Wis 5:22). By this he describes the divine scourges, which God sends against the devil and his members, and which are not born to others. For if sometimes the good are scourged by God with temporal adversities, nevertheless, he permits this for the glory of the saints and the greater condemnation of the devil and his evil ones.

560. Second, he shows the reaction of Leviathan to what God does against him when he says, his heart will be hardened like stone. Hardness describes a natural power which is not easily corrupted by an exterior agent. Such is the natural power of the heart of the whale, because he is not easily corrupted by an exterior agent trying to harm him. To indicate this hardness, the example of the stone is sufficient when one is talking about light bodies, but not about hard ones, for although one cannot break a stone with his hand, it can be broken with an iron hammer. So, to indicate the power of the whale even against grave harm, he says, he is compressed together like the blacksmith’s anvil, which is not shattered by the hammering of the blacksmith but seems more solid. With this image he describes the obstinacy in evil of the devil and his members, for they are not softened regarding evil, even by God’s blows.

561. Third, he shows the final effect of the divine action when he strikes him. For though he seems to resist every kind of divine scourging, he still must finally give in to them, and so he says, when he will fall, by divine power from his place, the angels will tremble with fear, wondering about the power of God. In their wonder many effects of the divine power become known to them, and so he says, and terrified, they will be cleansed. For as Dionysius says in Chapter 6 of The Divine Names, angels are said to be purified not from filth but from ignorance. But since every corporeal creature is something small compared to the angels, this does not seem principally to describe the wonder of the heavenly angels at the fall of a whale, unless perhaps we understand the heavenly angels to mean men. A better interpretation is that this principally refers to the spiritual Leviathan, the devil, who was cast down by divine power when he fell from heaven through sin (Isa 14:12). Then the angels were struck with wonder at the divine majesty and were cleansed by separation from Satan’s society. Likewise, also on the day of judgment, when the devil is cast down with all his members into hell, the angels with all the saints will wonder at God’s power, and they will be cleansed in everything else by their complete separation from the evil ones. This is indicated from the Apocalypse where, after the devil is cast down, a great sound is heard in heaven, saying, now the salvation, the power and the reign of our God have come (Rev 12:10).

562. So, after he has described the way the devil bears himself for the assault of God, he shows how he bears himself for the assault of creatures, and first for the assault of man. Man attacks someone at close quarters or at a distance. He attacks someone at close quarters armed with a sword and spear to strike another and a breastplate as his armor. When he, Leviathan, lays hold of him, the sword, of man, cannot stand, namely, the sword is broken because of the hardness of his body, nor the spear, is able to stand, nor the breastplate, by which the chest is protected, can stand against Leviathan. He assigns the reason for this, saying, for he will treat iron like straw, for just as a man cannot be wounded by straw which breaks so easily, so Leviathan cannot be wounded by an iron sword or spear, but easily breaks things like that. Likewise, he thinks the bronze of the breastplate is like rotten wood, which cannot resist a blow. By this he indicates that no human power is capable of wounding the devil or resisting him, but every human power is reckoned by the devil as naught.

563. Man attacks someone who is far away with arrows and stones launched by ship, but these have no power against a whale either, and so he says, the archer will not put him to flight, with a flight of arrows, which he does not fear, because they are not strong enough to wound him. Just as arrows wound someone from afar internally, so stones from slings wound him externally. But just as the whale cannot be stuck with arrows, so he cannot be pounded by stones thrown against him, and so he says, and stones thrown against him were turned into stubble, because stubble cannot pummel anyone since it is too light, and so the whale cannot suffer any harm from stones thrown against him. By this, he wants to show that just as the devil cannot be harmed by human power striking him at close quarters, so also he cannot be harmed by the cunning of man striking him from far away. As someone may be wounded from a great distance by stones shot from a sling, so also he can be wounded at close quarters by a hammer, but the whale cannot be harmed even in this way by man, and so he says, he accounts the hammer as stubble. This can mean to the same thing as the other image he has already used, except that the hammer deals a heavier blow than stones from a sling. So one could understand by this to mean that the devil holds any kind of power or effort of man in contempt.

564. Men often overcome others not only by piercing them, but also by threatening to pierce them. But neither the devil nor the whale is intimidated by any threat on the part of man, and so he continues, and he will scorn the vibration of the spear. For the brandishing or vibration of the spear is like a threat to run someone through. Just as one man sometimes overcomes another by intimidating him with threats, so he also does so by alluring him with promises, especially when one promises gifts, which allure a man because they are beautiful or precious. Nothing seems more beautiful among corporeal bodies than the rays of the sun. But this beauty does not attract Leviathan either corporeally or spiritually in the intellect, and to show this he continues, the rays of the sun are under him, because he does not prize them as something great, and consequently, we are given to understand that he prizes nothing else which is beautiful among human things. Gold is reckoned especially precious among the things which man uses, and as to this, he says, and he throws gold aside violently as though it were mud, that is, he holds it in contempt as something vile. Therefore, it is clear that he cannot be allured by man.

565. Therefore, after he proves that he cannot be overcome by man, he shows next that he cannot be overcome by the sea or any fish in the sea, because of the strong action which he does in the sea. Pliny says that some animals in the Eastern oceans are so big that they churn the seas from top to bottom, and so they make storms in the sea. These animals certainly belong to the genus of whales. To indicate this he says, he makes the depths of the sea boil like water in a pot, for just as boiling water rolls about in a pot, so the waves of the sea are violently stirred by the violent movements of this fish. This violent motion begins in the depths and arrives at the surface, and so he says, and he applies it like effervescent ointments, which make a greater foam and motion on the surface than simple water, which does not contain so much air.

By this he indicates the disturbance which the devil excites in this world. Just as he produces a great effect when he moves about in the depths of the sea, so also he causes a great disturbance when he moves about on the surface. To indicate this he says, he leaves a shining wake after him. For just as when a ship moves through the sea, it leaves a long wake in the water where it passed by because of the movement and foam which it causes, so also, the same thing happens because of the motion of this fish on account of his great size. This indicates that the effect of the disturbances which the devil excites in the world does not immediately pass away, but sometimes endures for a long time. From the fact that the whale does such powerful movements in the sea, he fears nothing in the depths of the sea, and so he will measure the deeps, that is, the depth of the sea, like an old man, that is, as though he has an end and is powerless to take it in. For when a thing is old, it is weak and near the end. From this, he indicates that the devil does not account the depths of hell so deep that he ceases to strive against God because of it, as though his damnation must end. Just as Leviathan cannot be overcome by man either 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 great as a whale in the sea, and so Pliny says that there are greater animals in the sea than on land, and the evident cause is the lust of the humors. By this, he indicates that no material power can equal the power of a demon which is a power of spiritual nature.

566. Since he has said many things about the properties of Leviathan as an image of the devil, he consequently explains this metaphor. As I said already, all the properties treated seem to be reduced to two things. One of these is that he cannot be harmed by another, and he explains this, saying, he has been made to fear no one; that is, the devil fears no man nor any other corporeal creature from the condition of the nature in which he was made by God. Another is that Leviathan has the power to do great and powerful actions, and he explains this, saying, he sees everything which is sublime; that is, the intention of the devil is to attach himself to whatever is sublime. As these things are characteristic of pride, he shows as a consequence that the devil is not only proud in himself, but he exceeds everyone in pride and is the source of pride in others. So he continues, he is the king over the all the sons of pride, that is, over those who are slaves of pride, who all follow his leadership. Consider, then, that the Lord has begun to clearly show the action which he works in evil men with the proud (Job 40:6), and so he completes his narrative with the proud. This is to show above all that Job should have feared that the devil, who desired to tempt him, tried in a special way to tempt him to pride, and thus to convert to his kingdom. Therefore, he should beware of affections and words which have the flavor of pride.