{"id":16202,"date":"2019-09-28T10:25:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T14:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/?p=16202"},"modified":"2020-09-14T10:19:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T14:19:47","slug":"no-the-leviathan-is-not-a-crocodile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/2019\/09\/28\/no-the-leviathan-is-not-a-crocodile\/","title":{"rendered":"No, The Leviathan Is Not A Crocodile"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I have heard many pastors and church leaders attempt to link the leviathan with a real animal which could be recognized by humans. This idea that the Leviathan was a crocodile or similar creature is a very popular teaching. I can still recall being in youth group discussing the possible animals that could be the mythical creature. The teaching is probably best displayed by the popular Christian website “gotquestions.org<\/a>“. Below I will demonstrate why scholars believe this view is flawed. keep in mind that I am not picking on this online resource. I have a lot of respect for the work done by gotquestions.org<\/a>. However, the site represents a very traditional and unscholarly view of this topic, which needs to be corrected.<\/p>\n

The leviathan is a large aquatic creature of some kind. The Bible refers to it as a fearsome beast having monstrous ferocity and great power. The Hebrew word for \u201cLeviathan\u201d has the root meaning of \u201ccoiled\u201d or \u201ctwisted.\u201d Isaiah 27:1 speaks of \u201cLeviathan the fast-moving serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; . . . the sea monster\u201d (NET). Whatever this monster of the sea is (or was), its strength and wild nature were well known.<\/p>\n

There are a handful of references to the leviathan in the Old Testament. Most passages describe the leviathan as a real creature, familiar to people (who, of course, kept their distance) by reputation if not by sight. In Psalm 104:25\u201326 God is praised as the One who created the habitat for the leviathan: \u201cThere is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number\u2014living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.\u201d Only a great God could have created Leviathan and then made a place big enough for it to \u201cfrolic\u201d safely.<\/p>\n

In Isaiah 27:1 the leviathan is used as a symbol for the wicked kings of the earth who withstand God\u2019s people. The great power that wicked nations wield can be terrifying, but God assures His children that evil, no matter how monstrous, will be defeated: \u201cIn that day, the LORD will punish with his sword\u2014his fierce, great and powerful sword\u2014Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.\u201d Psalm 74:14 contains a similar reference to God\u2019s victory over Leviathan; in that psalm, the pharaoh of Egypt is most likely meant.<\/p>\n

Job 41 gives the most detail about Leviathan as an actual sea creature. In that chapter, God describes Leviathan, emphasizing the animal\u2019s size, strength, and viciousness. The leviathan cannot be tied down or tamed (Job 41:1, 5); it is frightening to even look at (verse 9); it is best left alone (verses 8, 10). The leviathan has a graceful form (verse 12) but is incredibly well protected with scales (verses 13, 15\u201317). Its chest is as impenetrable as its back (verses 15, 24). It has fearsome teeth (verse 14), and death awaits anyone who approaches its mouth (verses 18\u201321). Even mighty men are terrified of the leviathan (verse 25). No sword, spear, dart, javelin, arrow, stone, club, or lance can defeat it (verses 26, 28\u201329). It cannot be caged, because it breaks iron like straw (verse 27). On land, the leviathan leaves a trail of ruts; in the water, it produces a deep, churning wake (verses 30\u201332). God\u2019s description of the leviathan concludes with a statement that it is the true king of the beasts: \u201cNothing on earth is its equal\u2014a creature without fear\u201d (verse 33).<\/p>\n

So, what animal is Job 41 describing? Some commentators believe Leviathan is a crocodile. Others believe it is a whale or a shark. Based on the biblical description, it seems more likely that Leviathan is a large sea reptile, possibly a species of dinosaur such as the plesiosaurus. Job\u2019s acquaintance with a dinosaur is not far-fetched at all, given that the book of Job is set in a very early time of history.<\/p>\n

The point God makes in Job 41 is that Leviathan is under God\u2019s sovereign control. Job had been questioning God (Job 26\u201431), but God turns the tables and uses the leviathan\u2019s might to emphasize Job\u2019s weakness and frailty. If God created Leviathan (an animal Job cannot stand before), then how great is God? Why is Job even trying to grapple with the Almighty?<\/p>\n

Leviathan was a dangerous creature that caused seasoned warriors to turn and run. Leviathan is no myth, but rather a real creature of the sea, subject only to its Creator.<\/strong> As God says in His description of Leviathan, \u201cWho then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me\u201d (Job 41:10\u201311).
\n(What Was The Leviathan?<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Admittedly, the explanation above is somewhat convincing if one doesn’t read the texts carefully, especially if one is not familiar with Canaanite and Mesopotamian folk-lore. However, the Leviathan was much more than a living animal in the mind of the ancients. Keep in mind that we have to interpret the passage from the view point of the original audience, not from our own perspective.\u00a0The modern mind want’s to rationalize the texts about the Leviathan\u00a0<\/span>because we know it doesn’t exist. But to the ancients, it was very real. The problem arises mostly with biblical literalists because clearly God cannot speak of a creature that doesn’t exist…. right? But this reading eisegesis, not exegesis.<\/p>\n

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Leviathan in the Ancient Near Eastern Texts<\/h2>\n
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I contend that the Leviathan was, in fact, a mythical creature. This fact is easily determined by looking at the same passages that are listed in the explanation from gotquestions.org<\/a>, and then interpreting the language through the lens of the ancient audience.<\/p>\n

In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
\nwith His fierce and great and mighty sword,
\nEven Leviathan the twisted serpent;
\nAnd He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
\n(Isaiah 27:1)<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The prophetic oracle delivered through Isaiah envisions events that will take place during the “day of the Lord”. This is even more evident if we read the passage in context, which for some reason, people rarely do. Let us also examine Isaiah 26:21.<\/p>\n

For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place,
\nto punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
\nAnd the earth will reveal her bloodshed,
\nAnd will no longer cover her slain.
\nIn that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
\nWith His fierce and great and mighty sword,
\nEven Leviathan the twisted serpent;
\nAnd He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
\n(Isaiah 26:21-27:1)<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does it\u00a0<\/span>make sense that in the day of the Lord, Yahweh is going to punish all the alligators or serpents? Or is it more probable that something more is being communicated? Clearly, the oracle is about something much more significant.<\/p>\n

In the time of Isaiah, many thought that a mythical serpent-like dragon dwelled in the seas. Did the animal actually exist in reality? Of course not. But that didn’t stop people from believing that it existed. In this sense, the\u00a0<\/span>name Leviathan was both figurative and literal. However, the ancient audience would have taken it to be completely literal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The passages from Isaiah 26 and 27 about the Leviathan are alluding to the Canaanite and Mesopotamian myth that there was a sea deity that was defeated by a god, or even THE God. Ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan abounded in sea deity lore. The prophet Ezekiel alludes to the sea deities in his oracle against the king of Tyre.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause your heart is lifted up
\nAnd you have said, \u2018I am a god,
\nI sit in the seat of gods
\nIn the heart of the seas\u2019;
\nYet you are a man and not God,…”
\n(Ezekiel 28:2)<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Mediterranean sea was the home of an entire Pantheon of Greek deities, including a Leviathan-like creature. However, he older sea deity legends, from Ugarit, are likely the object of reference for the Isaiah’s Leviathan. The section of Isaiah’s message \u00a0that mentions the Leviathan immediately proceeds an oracle against the northern Canaanite city of Tyre. Tyre was a neighbor of Ugarit, along the coast of the Mediterranean sea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Leviathan of Ugarit was named Lotan and Lotan is a Ugaritic word that means “coiled” or “twisted” or “slanted”, just like Isaiah said, “Leviathan the twisted serpent<\/i>“.<\/p>\n

If thou smite Lotan, the serpent slant,
\nDestroy the serpent tortuous,
\nShalyat (\u0161ly\u1e6d<\/i>) of the seven heads,<\/p>\n

Crushed I not El\u2019s Belov\u2019d Yamm?
\nDestroyed I not El\u2019s Flood Rabbim?
\nDid I not, pray, muzzle the Dragon?
\nI did crush the crooked serpent,
\nShalyat the seven-headed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Canaanite legend, Lotan was a servant of the Canaanite sea deity Yam\/Yamm\/Yammu. Yam was the watery adversary to Ba’al. Ba’al was the great sky god and son of the god most high, El\/Elyon. This is also where the name El and Elohim derive from in the Hebrew scriptures, hence the name of the northern tribes of Jacob, Israel (Isra-El, god-contends). It should be noted also that Yam is the Hebrew word for sea (\u05d9\u05d0\u05dd\/\u05d9\u05b8\u05dd).\u00a0The fact that the Hebrew people inherited much of it’s culture and language from northern Canaan should not be a\u00a0<\/span>surprise. The proto-Hebrew script was identical to the Phoenician script (NW Semitic).<\/p>\n

In the NW Semitic cultures (Pnoenician) Ba’al (Ba’lu) goes to war with the serpent.<\/p>\n

When you smite L\u00f4tan, the fleeing serpent,
\nfinish off the twisting serpent,
\n<\/sup>the close\u2013coiling one with seven heads,
\nThe heavens wither and go slack
\nlike the folds (?) of your tunic.
\n<\/sup>(Then) I, with groans, am devoured,
\n(like) a piece of dung I die.
\n<\/sup>So) you must (for your part) descend into the throat of M\u00f4tu, son of \u02beIlu,
\ninto the watery depths of the beloved warrior of \u02beIlu.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yam and the Leviathan are considered wicked fugitives in most Canaanite and Mesopotamian lore. In Canaanite lore, Yam and Lotan rebelled against the pantheon, kidnaped El’s wife, Asherah, and even tried to usurp El’s throne. Outraged, Ba’al leads a fight against Yam and Lotan and is victorious.\u00a0 <\/span>Once Yam is defeated, he is imprisoned to the sea, no longer capable of rebelling against the gods. The story is usually referred to as the Epic of Ba’al or the Ba’al Cycle. Of course, multiple variations of this epic exist in neighboring territories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A similar battle exists in the mythology of the Mesopotamian peoples. All of the great Mesopotamian peoples had their own version of a powerful deity going to battle with the god of the sea. In Assyria and Babylon it was Marduk defeating Tiamat by blowing into her mouth so that she expands and then Marduk explodes Tiamat with an arrow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n