Leviathan

2022-06-07

What is Leviathan? The word appears six times in the Bible, five of which are simply transliterated as the name of an animal. The most description we get is from the LORD speaking to Job in Job 41.

Here are some of the leviathan’s characteristics. It has terrifying teeth, impenetrable scales, powerful sneezes, it appears to breathe fire, a strong heart, can easily break iron and brass, sharp jagged edges protrude from its body, and it can cause the water to boil. It has no fear and is called “a king over all the children of pride” (Job 41:34).

In Isaiah 27:1, leviathan is referred to “that crooked serpent” and “the dragon that is in the sea.” Psalm 74:14 says it was made to play in the sea. Amos 9:3 may be a reference to it as well, though the name “leviathan” is not used: “And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.”

From descriptions like these, commentators have described leviathan as being anything from a crocodile to a fire-breathing dragon or even a dinosaur. Google translate tells us it is a whale!

In some passages, there is a clear spiritual fulfillment. The Isaiah passage immediately follows the future wrath of God upon the earth, which seems to make Isaiah 27:1 refer to Satan, who is imprisoned then ultimately destroyed after the millennial reign of Christ. Revelation 12:9 refers to this passage, calling Satan the old serpent and dragon. The title “a king over all the children of pride” reinforces this.

Whether we refer to the physical animal or its spiritual fulfillment, God easily destroys it: “Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness” (Psalm 74:14). Moreover, the LORD’s rhetorical questions imply that only He can subdue leviathan, and no other creature can.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for leviathan is translated elsewhere as “mourning”: “Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning” (Job 3:8). This is when Job is cursing the day he was born. The book of Job begins with mourning, and the end of the book, in Job 41, shows that the LORD defeats “mourning.” The spiritual force behind leviathan, Satan, caused so much damage in the life of Job, but it is the LORD who will one day destroy the old, crooked serpent and dragon of the sea once and for all.