Fishing for the Leviathan

“Can you draw out Leviathan[b] with a fishhook

or press down his tongue with a cord? (Job 41:1)

The Hebrew word translated here as leviathan (liweyathán) literally means “twisted” or “rolled up”.

It occurs six times in the Hebrew Bible (Job 3:8; 41:1; Psalms 74:14; 105:26; Isaiah 27:1) and its meaning has been a subject of debate among translators since ancient times, as it is a mythical monster common to many Semitic mythologies.

For example, the distraught Job curses the day he was born and utters these words: “Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse Leviathan.” (Job 3:8).

He is referring here to the Canaanite conjurors who would summon the mythical marine monster, capable of changing the light of day into darkest night.

The eclipses of the sun were its specialty, as it delighted in throwing everything into dark chaos, and if it was awakened out of its sleep, primeval chaos and darkness would descend upon the earth.

The Leviathan, in the mythology of Ugarit (now Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast), the primal force which stood opposed to the creation and ordering of the cosmos (Gen. 1:2). It is no surprise to find that certain Hebrews saw it as the diabolical enemy of God in creation.

However, in the book of Job (chapter 41) this being reappears, and some of its attributes are described as if it were a real animal.

For example, it is said to have had a tongue and long rows of teeth; smoke was coming out of their noses, there are also references to its skin and its heart; its skin was thick, made up of hard, tightly interlocked epidermal shields, etc.

This description led some commentators to the conclusion that it was the Nile crocodile, and this is how it is still read today.

Others, by contrast, such as the young earth creationists, think that the leviathan “might have been a creature like the Sarcosuchus imperator (a fossilised giant crocodile from the Cretaceous period, like the one found in the Sahara, which measured up to 12 metres long) or the Liopleurodon (another fossilised carnivorous marine reptile, 25 metres long, with very highly developed fins)”.

However, there are authors who see in the Leviathan the astological influences of other groups, as reflected in the Dragon constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, which is configured by a quadrilateral shape (the dragon’s head) and a long serpentine tail of stars.

On the other hand, some commentators of the book of Isaiah argue that the use made of the term “Leviathan” in the first verse of chapter 27 alludes to the two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) which stand for two Empires: Assyria and Babylon, while the monster that is in the sea (Rahav) might symbolize Egypt.

This seems to be what the psalmist means when he writes: “You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the desert. (Sal. 74:13-14).

This image, taken from Canaanite mythology, is used – in the view of some exegetes – to refer to the great events of the Hebrew Exodus. The Egyptian soldiers, drowned in the Red Sea as they pursued the Jewish people, were devoured by the wild animals of the desert.

As has already been pointed out, some exegetes believe that the Leviathan might be the “Lotan” monster in the Ugarit texts, represented by an elusive beast with seven heads, also known as the dragon (Ez. 29:3; 32:2), which would appear to symbolise the malevolent supernatural powers of the primeval chaos.

So Israel knew Leviathan both from the biblical text and from Semitic mythology.The book of Revelation also describes a “great scarlet dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns” (Revelation 12: 3-4) to refer to the evil that will be unleashed against believers from the ocean depths.

This is Satan, the ancient serpent of Genesis, the seducer, who deceives humankind into doubting and opposing the Creator.

The fact that the Bible speaks of the Leviathan as a figure that also appears in the ancient mythologies of the peoples that surrounded Israel does not mean that these mythologies are accepted as true, or that such creatures really existed.

Rather, they are literary images, common at the time, to express ideas in such a way that they would be understood by all. Now we say, for example, “That man is a monster!” to refer figuratively to a personal who is exceptional either in a positive or negative sense.

We can even make comparisons with mythical figures without implying that they really existed. In a Sunday sermon we could preach about Don Quixote’s idealism or the realism of Sancho Panza, knowing that these characters only ever existed in Cervantes’ imagination.

In the same way, we might say that Jesus (a real person) was more powerful than Superman (a fictional character). The poetic style frequently used in Scripture often involves symbolic expressions with the intention of enhancing the emotional impact of the message being conveyed.

However, this does not mean that the authors of Job, Psalms or Isaiah, accepted as true the pagan mythologies underlying the figure of the leviathan, but rather used such popular images to make themselves understood as clearly as possible.