Job 41:30

Mire - Mud; clay-like soil.

Sharp stones are under him - So hard and impenetrable are his scales, that splinters of flint are the same to him as the softest reeds.

Sharp stones are under him - Margin, as in Hebrew, "pieces of pot sherd." The Hebrew word (חדוד chaddûd), means "sharp, pointed"; and the phrase used here means "the sharp points of a potsherd," or broken pieces of earthenware. The reference is, undoubtedly, to the scales of the animal, which were rough and pointed, like the broken pieces of earthenware. This description would not agree with the whale, and indeed will accord with no other animal so well as with the crocodile. The meaning is, that the under parts of his body, with which he rests upon the mire, are made up of sharp, pointed things, like broken pottery.

He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire - That is, when he rests or stretches himself on the mud or slime of the bank of the river. The word used here and rendered "sharp pointed things" (חרוץ chârûts) means properly something "cut in;" then something sharpened or pointed; and is used to denote "a threshing sledge;" see this instrument described in Isaiah 28:27-28, note; Isaiah 41:15, note. It is not certain, however, that there is any allusion here to that instrument. It is rather to anything that is rough or pointed, and refers to the lower part of the animal as having this character. The Vulgate renders this, "Beneath him are the rays of the sun, and he reposeth on gold as on clay." Dr. Harris, Dr. Good, and Prof. Lee, suppose it refers to what the animal lies on, meaning that he lies on splinters of rock and broken stone with as much readiness and ease as if it were clay. But the above seems to me to be the true interpretation. It is that of Gesenius, Rosenmuller, and Umbreit. Grotius understands it as meaning that the weapons thrown at him lie around him like broken pieces of pottery.

41:30 Stones - His skin is so impenetrable, that the sharpest stones or shells are as easy unto him as the mire.