Leviathan

What was the Leviathan?

Dictionary: "Bible, a sea monster; any huge marine animal such as the whale; anything of immense size and power."

Job 3:8 - May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

Job 41:1-4 - "Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its maw with a hook? Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words? Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as a slave for life?"

Job 41:12-34 - "I will not fail to speak of Leviathan's limbs, its strength and its graceful form. Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth? Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn. Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth. Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing. The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it. A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance. Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair. Nothing on earth is its equal--a creature without fear. It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all the proud."

So, Leviathan:

• Cannot be killed or beaten by men
• Makes large waves in the sea
• It breathes out smoke
• It has a double coat of thick armor
• It has fearsome teeth
• Its body is hard as a rock
• Its hide cannot be pierced
• It snorts out light
• It breathes fire
• Its belly is protected by sharp scales or spikes
• It has eyes the color of the dawn
• It has no earthly equal
• Is not a whale!

Man! That is one fearsome creature! Of course, what the creature is is not the point of that chapter of the book of Job, or any chapters of the book of Job. But I've always wondered: What is this Leviathan?

To me, it sounds like a dragon.

When you're done laughing, I'll continue...go ahead. I have time.

This site likens the leviathan to a large sea dinosaur which lived until the waters of the flood receded and it got dropped on dry land.

So, no one today except God knows what the Leviathan was. It existed, as we know from its mention in scriptures. It isn't only mentioned in the book of Job, either. It is also mentioned in the Psalms.

Psalm 74:14 - It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.

Psalm 104:26 - There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan which you formed to frolic there.

So, Leviathan was created to play in the seas - to rule them. It was the mightiest creature in the sea. Humans could not kill or tame it. God made Leviathan food for desert creatures (great flood recedes).

One other book of the Bible talks about Leviathan. I think it sums up my research nicely.

Isaiah 27:1 - In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword--his fierce, great and powerful sword--Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

So, Leviathan was a huge, unmatched sea monster created by God to play in the seas. It probably died out after the great flood, at which time it became fossilized like the dinosaurs. It was probably a species of creature, rather than just one single being, since Job and his friends had enough knowledge of it that God could use it for a lesson. As far as we know, there are none living today.

This was just something I had been curious about for a long time. There are still more questions I have about this fearsome creature, but I'm willing to accept that I don't have to know everything.