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The Bible’s Most Famous Monster — Leviathan

The Bible’s Most Famous Monster — Leviathan

Last updated on: December 20, 2024 at 11:32 pm by B. J. Oropeza

The Bible’s Most Famous Monster — Leviathan 2024-12-20T23:32:50-07:00 B. J. Oropeza

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The most famous biblical monster is Leviathan—that is, if we are talking about earthly creatures. Job 41 provides us with the most-prolonged description of this creature. Questions still come up on whether this is a crocodile or some sort of dragon. And if the latter, is it real, mythological, or descriptive of a dinosaur? I think it’s a good idea to revisit this monster with some new information.

Descriptions of Leviathan

In other biblical texts where Leviathan appears, it does not seem to be quite the same creature as described in Job 41. Psalm 74:13 mentions an evil sea monster that God fights against. It is a multi-headed creature that perhaps resembles Lotan or Tannin from Ugaritic myths. It may be symbolic of human powers like ancient Egypt or Babylon. The text of Isaiah 27:1 speaks of an apocalyptic or symbolic being that is evil, somewhat similar to the red dragon associated with Satan in the end-times of Revelation 12.

Apocalyptic non-biblical texts like 1 Enoch 60, 4 Ezra 6:49–52, and 2 Baruch 29:3–4, likewise speak of an end-times monster. This one will be eaten by the faithful survivors of that age, perhaps pointing to God’s defeat of rival powers on earth.

The only creature that seems to resemble Job’s well is the Leviathan mentioned in Psalm 104:26. This sea creature, though monstrous in size, almost seems to be God’s pet or toy! The mighty beast does not appear to be evil. Rather, it points to God’s power and greatness as its Creator, similar to what we find in Job.

Descriptions in Job 41

Some interesting features of the Leviathan in Job are as follows:

1. It is found in water—it moves in deep sea water (Job 41:31–32). Harpoons and fishing spears do not avail against it (41:1, 7).

2. Its bottom part, apparently its belly, is compared to sharp potsherds and a threshing sledge (41:30). This suggest that it crawls, apparently on the scales of its belly, like a reptile or snake. It appears to be an amphibious creature.

3. It may be able to fly, too. God questions Job about having girls play with it like a bird on a leash (41:5). Of course, its size makes that impossible, but the assumption may be that this creature can fly.

4. Its limbs, face, neck, eyes, mouth, and teeth are utterly menacing (41:12, 14, 18–20, 22).

5. Its body, back, and skin seem to be impenetrable (41:13, 15–16, 23–24). An arsenal of weapons may be used against it, but none of them can prevail against it (41:26–29).

6. Most unique of all, its sneeze flashes light, its nostrils smoke, and its mouth shoots flames that can kindle coals (41:18–21).

7. It cannot be tamed, controlled, captured, wounded, killed, and there are no other creatures that are its equal. It is the king of beasts (41:33–34; cf. vv. 1–9, 12–18, 26–32).*

A Crocodile?

David Clines brings up comparison of Job 41 with a crocodile: “The points of connection between the Leviathan pictured here and the crocodile are principally its terrifying jaws and teeth (v 14 [6]), its interlocking scales that cannot be penetrated (vv 13, 15–17, 23 [5, 7–9, 15]), the strength of its neck (v 22 [14]), the traces it leaves in the mud (v 30 [22]), and the fact that it is equally at home on land or sea (vv 30–33 [22–25]).” (Clines, Job 38–42, Word Biblical Commentary; 2011: 1191).

But unlike the crocodile, Leviathan is a creature that cannot be subdued by hunting, as shown above. In the ancient world, crocodiles were not difficult to subdue by skilled hunters.** The ancient historian Herodotus tells us how to catch one in his Histories (2.70):

You put a chunk of pork on a rope, and spank a live pig on the shore so it cries. This attracts the crocodile who thinks the pork is alive. It bites it and you pull him in. Then you cover the crocodile’s eyes with mud so he can’t see. Once that happens, he can be easily subdued. Herodotus, in fact, claims there are many ways to hunt crocodile; he just mentions this one! Such knowledge must have been fairly common in regions that had crocodiles.

Also, different than a crocodile, Leviathan can sneeze, its hide is impenetrable, weapons are useless against it, it may be able to fly, and it is the most powerful of all creatures. Beyond all this, of course, is that it breathes out fire. This capability does not correspond with crocodiles or any other large creature.

A Fire-Breathing Dragon: Hyperbole or Surmised from Dinosaur Fossils?

Scholars who support the crocodile interpretation of Leviathan suggest that Job uses hyperbole when it comes to the creature emitting fire. One could compare this to Achilles Tatius’s exaggerated description of a hippopotamus in Leucippe et Clitophon 4.2 (as brought up by David Clines, Job 38–42, WBC 2013:195).

Having read this text I must admit there is some exaggeration here, notably that the hippopotamus can eat a whole crop (Leucippe et Clitophon 4.3.2), and its wide nostrils are described as “breathing out hot [πυρώδη: fiery, like fire] vapour, as from a spring of fire” (4.2.3; tr. E. Capps, T. E. Page, W. H. D. Rouse, S. Gaselee, Loeb, 1917: 193). Also, its hide is very thick. Either the hippo or its skin “does not want to be persuaded” [οὐκ ἐθέλει πείθεσθαι] by a wound from iron (4.3.5). The Loeb translation of this verse has: “but his hide, as you may see, is of great thickness, and cannot be penetrated by the steel” (1917: 195).

The hyperbole here, though, is quite moderate in comparison to the description of Leviathan in Job. Even Clines admits in Job 41:18–21 that “what we have here is an embroidering of the picture of the real crocodile with fanciful or mythological material about a dragon” (Clines, Job 38–42, 1196).

I would interpret this from the other end of the spectrum. The author of Job probably believes that dragons once existed. His evidence was perhaps comparable with other ancient people who could point to dinosaur fossils. Like most people today do, this author and other ancients probably imagined how these dinosaurs must have looked like. They may have compared them to the closest living creatures they could imagine—giant crocodiles, lizards, or snakes.

It also would not be too much for them to infer from the dinosaur’s great size that their breath must have been super-hot! This, I would suggest, is how many people came to believe that dragons existed.

A Dinosaur Imagined as a Dragon?

Dinosaur fossils imagined as dragons I suspect are the origin of Leviathan. But I must quickly qualify this. I do not believe such a dinosaur existed in Job’s time or whenever humans first existed. Rather, ancient people did not comprehend the age of the earth and some of its creatures as millions of years old, like we do today. They probably thought that these dinosaur fossils belonged to creatures who used to live at the same time as their ancient ancestors.

Since the author of Job is writing about a character who lived many centuries before he did, he may have assumed that what we today call “dinosaurs” must have lived during Job’s time. Behemoth and Leviathan would be two such creatures.

Dinosaur fossils have been found in the Middle East and Egypt, the general area most familiar with Job and this author. The Paraceratherium seemed to look like a hornless rhinoceros but larger and possibly resembles Behemoth in Job 40. Fossils of the Spinosaurus, a gigantic dinosaur similar to the T-Rex, were found in Egypt and north Africa. A large serpent-like monster called Apep is known in Egyptian mythology. Visible dinosaur and huge mammal remains may have contributed to ancient people imagining creatures that resembled monstrous beasts, serpents, and gigantic lizards or crocodiles—dragons.***

Job 41

An image of Leviathan developed from Job 41 (A.I. image created by ChatGPT/Dalle).

Concluding Thoughts on Leviathan in Job

The author of Job is writing in the genre of wisdom literature. The purpose of the Book of Job, then, is not to provide us with an exact history of the life of Job, even if he happens to be an actual person in biblical tradition (LXX Genesis 36:33–34 and Ezekiel 14:14). Nor is its aim to collect old artifacts of exact transcripts from long speeches that Job and his friends make to one another. Rather, Job is wisdom discourse, and as such it provides us with a story on how to interpret suffering.

2. The Book of Job does not intend to give us a scientific or anatomically-based portrait of the creature it calls Leviathan. The point of wisdom communicated in this chapter (at least one them) is that God is Leviathan’s Creator, and so God must be far more powerful and knowledgeable than Job. If so, then who is Job to contest what God does? If the book’s purpose is to provide godly wisdom and reverence for God despite human suffering, this discourse serves the book’s purpose to that end.

3. The author of Job is writing about an ancient character (Job) who lived many centuries before the author did. This author probably assumed that the dragon, Leviathan, already legendary when he wrote Job, may have existed during the time of Job.

4. Ancient people perhaps developed their understanding of dragons from dinosaur fossils. This may also be the case with Leviathan.

5. The Septuagint version (LXX) of Job replaces “Leviathan” with “dragon” in the Greek (δρακων/drakōn: LXX Job 40:20 [English tr. 41:1]; and also in Isa 27:1). The ancient translators thought this to be a dragon or serpent, not a crocodile. They could have used κροκόδῑλος (krokodilos) if they thought it was a crocodile. Herodotus and other Greeks used the latter term centuries before the time of Christ.

Notes

* On point #7, see further the handy list by John H. Walton, The NIV Application Commentary: Job (Zondervan, 2012), 410.

** See examples in David J. A. Clines, Job 38-42; WBC (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011), 1193.

*** Google searches and A.I. exploration (via ChatGPT) confirmed this dinosaur information to me. Naturally, this is not my area of expertise!

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About B. J. Oropeza

B. J. Oropeza, Ph.D., Durham University (England), is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Azusa Pacific University and Seminary. Among his many publications include Perspectives on Paul: Five Views (Baker Academic), Practicing Intertextuality (Cascade), and editor and/or contributor to the Scripture, Texts, and Tracings volumes (Romans; 1 Corinthians; 2 Cor & Phil; Gal & 1 Thess: Fortress Academic). He participated on Bible translation teams for the NRSV (updated edition), Common English Bible (CEB), and Lexham English Septuagint (LES). He also has commentaries on 1 Corinthians (New Covenant commentary series: Cascade) and 2 Corinthians (longer work—Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity: SBL Press; shorter work—Wesley One-Volume Commentary). His current specialties include Romans, intertextuality, and Perspectives on Paul. He can be followed on X-Twitter (@bjoropeza1) and Instagram (@bjoropeza1). You can read more about the author here.

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