Difference between revisions of "Leviathan"

<p> In the book of Job we meet with the mention of this huge creature, &nbsp;&nbsp;Job 41:1-34. Some have supposed it the whale, and others the crocodile. The word itself is probably compounded of Leviath, what is joined together—and Than, a great fish. It should seem to be a specific word, in allusion to this sea-monster, as if they said, there is the leviathan, that is, the great fish, whose parts are so closed together that nothing scarce can pierce them. The sacred writers, in more than one instance, make use of this name figuratively, to describe the devil and his ministers. Thus (&nbsp;&nbsp;Isaiah 27:1) "In that day the Lord, with his sore and great and strong sword, shall punish the leviathan,the piereing serpent, even leviathan, that crooked, serpents and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." The great enemy of souls will be reckoned with in the great day of God, and he shall be punished in due time; and subordinately to him, all the enemies of the church of Christ, the leviathans, and dragons, and serpents which act in the devil's name, and fight in his cause, will come in also for the doom. So again the Psalmist, speaking figuratively, saith, (&nbsp;&nbsp;Psalms 74:14) "Thou brakest the head of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to thy people inhabiting the wilderness:" meaning, that as in the Red Sea the Lord overthrew and destroyed that type of the devil, Pharaoh, so in the after-journies of the people during their wilderness state, whenever they were put to wilderness straits, the recollection of the Lord's deliverance of them in that memorable instance, became meat for their faith to feed upon. He that had delivered them from so great a death, they were taught to believe, did and would still deliver them. It is blessed thus to feast upon past mercies; when new ones are only coming on, and not fully come. Every enemy subdued, every affliction past, then becomes sanctified, when the [[Holy]] [[Ghost]] as the [[Remembrancer]] of Christ Jesus, brings them forth again to our recollection. Oh, how many leviathans, and serpents, and scorpions, have the Lord's people, in the Lord's strength, contended with and conquered during their short pilgrimage state. Surely it may be said of the church now, as well as of the church of old, "the Lord thy God led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions and drought, where there was no water." And what was the result? "The Lord thy God brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; he fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end." (&nbsp;&nbsp;Deuteronomy 8:15-16) </p>

<p> From &nbsp;lewy "joined" (referring to its joined, plate armour like scales) and than a monster drawn out, i.e. long; or else Arabic lavah "to twist." So &nbsp;Job 41:15-17. The crocodile. The whale having a smooth skin and no scales cannot be meant. The crocodile's teeth, 30 on each side of each jaw, lock into each other. [[Lips]] are wanting, so that the teeth are seen even when the mouth is closed, illustrating &nbsp;Job 41:14, "who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about." As behemoth is the hippopotamus, so leviathan is the crocodile, both found in [[Egypt]] along the Nile. The term elsewhere is used for any large monster of the "sea" or water. &nbsp;Psalms 104:26; &nbsp;Psalms 74:13-14; "Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." The king of Egypt is symbolized by the "dragons" and "leviathan" (compare &nbsp;Ezekiel 32:2; &nbsp;Ezekiel 29:3); he and his host at their overthrow in the Red Sea became a spoil to [[Israel]] (compare "bread for us," &nbsp;Numbers 14:9) "in the wilderness." </p> <p> The context shows that it is the benefits of God to Israel that are here recounted. In &nbsp;Job 3:8 translated "let them curse it (my day of birth) ... who are ready to raise up a leviathan," i.e. necromancers who rouse and control wild beasts at will (compare &nbsp;Psalms 58:5). In &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1, "leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked (wriggling) serpent," "the dragon in the sea," literally refers to the crocodile in the sea or Nile, or else to the great rock snakes. [[Spiritually]] every foe of Israel and the church. Antitypically and finally [[Satan]] "the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil" (&nbsp;Revelation 20:2; &nbsp;Revelation 20:10), whom finally "Jehovah with His sore, great, and strong sword shall punish." For" piercing" (&nbsp;bariach ) translated "darting from side to side." Foiled on one side he tries to gain on the other side (&nbsp;Job 26:13; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:14; &nbsp;2 Corinthians 2:11). Typhon, the destroyer, was worshipped in Egypt under the form of a crocodile. </p>

<p> &nbsp;לויתן , &nbsp;Job 3:8; &nbsp;Job 41:1; &nbsp;Psalms 74:14; &nbsp;Psalms 104:26; &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1 . The old commentators concurred in regarding the whale as the animal here intended. Beza and [[Diodati]] were among the first to interpret it the crocodile: and Bochart has since supported this last rendering with a train of argument which has nearly overwhelmed all opposition, and brought almost every commentator over to his opinion. It is very certain that it could not be the whale, which does not inhabit the Mediterranean, much less the rivers that empty themselves into it; nor will the characteristics at all apply to the whale. The crocodile, on the contrary, is a natural inhabitant of the Nile, and other Asiatic and African rivers; of enormous voracity and strength, as well as fleetness in swimming; attacks mankind and the largest animals with most daring impetuosity; when taken by means of a powerful net, will often overturn the boats that surround it; has, proportionally, the largest mouth of all monsters whatever; moves both its jaws equally, the upper of which has not less than forty, and the lower than thirty-eight sharp, but strong and massy, teeth; and is furnished with a coat of mail, so scaly and callous as to resist the force of a musket ball in every part, except under the belly. Indeed, to this animal, the general character of the leviathan seems so well to apply, that it is unnecessary to seek farther. </p>

<p> &nbsp;Leviathan. &nbsp;(jointed monster). Leviathan occurs five times in the text of the Authorized Version, and once in the margin of &nbsp;Job 3:8 where the text has "mourning." In the [[Hebrew]] Bible, the word &nbsp;livyathan, which is, with the foregoing exception, always left untranslated in the Authorized Version, is found only in the following passages: &nbsp;Job 3:8; &nbsp;Job 41:1; &nbsp;Psalms 74:14; &nbsp;Psalms 104:26; &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1. </p> <p> In the margin of &nbsp;Job 3:8 and text of &nbsp;Job 41:1, the crocodile is most clearly the animal denoted by the Hebrew word. &nbsp;Psalms 74:14 also clearly points to this same saurian. The context of &nbsp;Psalms 104:26 seems to show that, in this passage, the name represents some animal of the whale tribe, which is common in the Mediterranean; but it is somewhat uncertain what animal is denoted in &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1. </p> <p> As the term &nbsp;leviathan is evidently used in no limited sense, it is not improbable that the "leviathan the piercing serpent," or "leviathan the crooked serpent," may denote some species of the great rock-snakes which are common in south and west Africa. </p>

<p> &nbsp;Leviathan (&nbsp;jointed monster). This word occurs five times in the A. V., and once in the margin, &nbsp;Job 3:8, where the text has "mourning." In Hebrew the word &nbsp;livya-than is found only in &nbsp;Job 3:8; &nbsp;Job 41:1; &nbsp;Psalms 74:14; &nbsp;Psalms 104:26; &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1. In the margin of &nbsp;Job 3:8 and text of &nbsp;Job 41:1 the crocodile is no doubt the animal meant, and also in &nbsp;Psalms 74:14. In &nbsp;Psalms 104:26 the name represents some animal of the whale tribe in the Mediterranean; but it is uncertain what animal is intended in &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1. The term may denote some species of snakes which are common in south and west Africa. </p>

<p> &nbsp;(1):&nbsp; (n.) The whale, or a great whale. </p> <p> &nbsp;(2):&nbsp; (n.) An aquatic animal, described in the book of Job, ch. xli., and mentioned in other passages of Scripture. </p>

<p> (Heb. &nbsp;לוְיָתָן, usually derived from &nbsp;לַוְיָה, a &nbsp;wreath, with adject. ending &nbsp;ןָ but perhaps compounded of &nbsp;לַוי, wreathed, and &nbsp;תִּן, a &nbsp;sea-&nbsp;monster; occurs &nbsp;Job 3:8; Job 41, I [Hebrew xl, 25], &nbsp;Psalms 74:14; &nbsp;Psalms 104:26; &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1; Sept. &nbsp;δράκων, but &nbsp;τὸμέγα &nbsp;κῆτος in &nbsp;Job 3:8; Vulg. &nbsp;Leviathan, but &nbsp;draco in Psa.; Auth. Vers. "Leviathan," but &nbsp;‘"their mourning" in &nbsp;Job 3:8) probably has different significations, e.g.: </p> <p> &nbsp;(1.) A &nbsp;serpent, especially a large one (&nbsp;Job 3:8), hence as the symbol of the hostile kingdom of [[Babylon]] (&nbsp;Isaiah 27:1). </p> <p> &nbsp;(2.) Specially, the &nbsp;crocodile (&nbsp;Job 41:1). </p> <p> &nbsp;(3.) A &nbsp;sea-monster (&nbsp;Psalms 104:26); tropically, for a cruel enemy (&nbsp;Psalms 74:14; compare &nbsp;Isaiah 51:9; &nbsp;Ezekiel 29:3). </p> <p> This Heb. word, which denotes any twisted animal, is especially applicable to every great tenant of the waters, such as the great marine serpents and crocodiles, and, it may be added, the colossal serpents and great monitors of the desert. (See [[Behemoth]]); (See [[Dragon]]). </p> <p> In general it points to the crocodile, and Job 41 is unequivocally descriptive of that saurian. But in Isaiah and the Psalms foreign kings are evidently apostrophized under the name of Leviathan, though other texts more naturally apply to the whale, notwithstanding the objections that have been made to that interpretation of the term. "It is quite an error to assert, as Dr. Harris (&nbsp;Dict. Nat. Hist. Bib.)&nbsp;, [[Mason]] [[Good]] (&nbsp;Book of Job translated)&nbsp;, Michaelis (Supp. 1297), and Rosenm&nbsp;ü ller (quoting Michaelis in not. ad Bsochart Wie roz. 3:738) have done, that the whale is not found in the Mediterranean. The Orca gladiator (Gray) &nbsp;— the grampus mentioned by [[Lee]] &nbsp;— the Physalus antiquorumn (Gray), or the Rorqual de la Mediterranee (Cuvier), are not uncommon in the [[Mediterranean]] (Fischer, Synops. Mamm. p. 525, and Lacepede, H. N. des Cetac. p. 115), and in ancient times the species may have been more numerous." (See [[Whale]]). </p> <p> The word crocodile does not occur in the Auth.Vers., although its Greek form &nbsp;κροκόδειλος &nbsp;' is found in the Sept. (&nbsp;Leviticus 11:29, where for the "tortoise, &nbsp;צָב, it has &nbsp;κροκόδειλος &nbsp;χερσαῖος, Vulg. &nbsp;crocodilus)&nbsp;; but there is no specific word in the Hebrew of which it is the acknowledged representative." Bochart (3:769, edit. Rosenm&nbsp;ü ller) says that the [[Talmudists]] use the word &nbsp;livyath&nbsp;â n to denote the crocodile; this, however, is denied by Lewysohn (&nbsp;Zool. des Talm. p. 155, 355), who says that in the [[Talmud]] it always denotes a &nbsp;wchale, and never a &nbsp;crocodile. For the Talmudical fables about the leviathan, see Lewysohn (&nbsp;Zool. des Talm.)&nbsp;, in passages referred to above, and Buxtorf, &nbsp;Lexicon Chald. Talm. s.v. &nbsp;לויתן (Smith). Some of these seem to be alluded to in &nbsp;2 [[Esdras]] 6:49; &nbsp;2 Esdras 6:52. The [[Egyptians]] called it &nbsp;tsmok (see Biunsen's &nbsp;AEgyptens Stellung, 1:581), the Arabs name it &nbsp;tamse (compare &nbsp;χάμψη, Herod. 2:69); but [[Strabo]] says that the [[Egyptian]] crocodile was knolwn by the name stuchus, &nbsp;σοῦχος &nbsp;, probably referring to the sacred species). It is not only denoted by the leviathan of &nbsp;Job 41:1, but probably also by the &nbsp;tannin of &nbsp;Ezekiel 29:3; &nbsp;Ezekiel 32:2 (compare &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1; &nbsp;Isaiah 51:9); and perhaps by the &nbsp;reedbeast ( &nbsp;חִיִּת &nbsp;קָנֶה "spearmen") of &nbsp;Psalms 68:30. Others confound the leviathan with the &nbsp;orca of Pliny (9:5), i.e. probably the &nbsp;Physter macrocephalus of Linn. (see Th. Hase, &nbsp;De Leviacthan Jobi, Brem. 1723); Schultens understands the fabulous &nbsp;dragon&nbsp;s (&nbsp;Comment. in Job. p. 1174 sq.; compare Oedmann, &nbsp;Satnmml. 3:1. sq.); not to dwell upon the supposed identification with fossil species of lizards (Koch, in Lidde's &nbsp;Zeitschrift verygleich Erdk. Magdleb. 1844). In the detailed description of Job (ch. 41), probably; the Egyptian crocodile is depicted in all its magnitude, ferocity, and indolence, such as it was in early days, when as yet unconscious of the power of man, and only individually tamed for the purposes of an imposture, which had sufficient authority to intimidate the public and protect the species, under the sanctified pretext that it was a type of pure water, and an emblem of the importance of irrigation; though the people in general seem ever to have been disposed to consider it a personification of the destructive principle. At a later period the Egyptians, probably of such places as Tentyris, where crocodiles were not held in veneration, not only hunted and slew them, but it appears from a statue that a sort of Bestiarii could tame them sufficiently to perform certain exhibitions mounted on their backs. The intense musky odor of its flesh must have rendered the crocodile at all times very unpalatable food, but breast-armor was made of the horny and ridged parts of its back. [[Viewed]] as the crocodile of the Thebaid, it is not clear that the leviathan symbolized the Pharaoh, or was a type of Egypt, any more than of several [[Roman]] colonies (even where it was not indigenous, as at Nismcs, in Gaul, on the ancient coins of which the figure of one chained occurs), and of cities in Phoenicia, Egypt, and other parts of the coast of Africa. During the Roman sway in Egypt, crocodiles had not disappeared in the Lower Nile, for Seneca and others allude to a great battle fought by them and a school of dolphins in the Heracleotic branch of the Delta. During the decline of the state even the hippopotamus reappeared about Pelusium, and was shot at in the 17th century (Radzivil). In the time of the [[Crusades]] crocodiles were found in the Crocodilon river of early writers, and in the Crocodilorum lacus, still called Moiat el-Temsah, which appear to be the Kerseos river and marsh, three miles south of Casarea, though the nature of the locality is most appropri ta at Nahr-el Arsuf or el-Haddar" (For a full account of the treatment of the crocodile and its worship in Egypt, see Wilkinson's Anc. Agypt. 1:243 sq.). (See [[Rahab]]). </p> <p> Most of the popular accounts of the crocodile have been taken from the American alligator, a smaller animal, but very similar in its habits to the true crocodile. See generally Herod. 2:68 sq.; Diod. Sic. 1:35, &nbsp;A Elian, Hist. Anim. 5:23; 17; 1:6; 2, Ammianus Marcell. 22:15; Hasselquist, Trav. p. 344 sq., Pococke, East, 1:301 sq.; Oken, Naturgeschichte, I, 2:329 sq.; Cuvier, Anim. Kingd. 2:21; Thom, in the [[Halle]] Encyklop. 21:456 sq.; Bochart, Hieroz. 3:737 sq., Oedmann, 3:1 sq.; 6:53 sq.; Annales du Museum d'histoire nattu. vol. 9, 10; Minutoli, Trav. p. 246 Rosenm&nbsp;ü ller, Altertshum, sk. IV, 2:244 sq. Denon, Trav. p. 291; Norden, Reise, p. 302. (See [[Crocodile]]). </p>

<p> ''''' lḗ ''''' - ''''' vi´a ''''' - ''''' than ''''' (&nbsp; לויתן , <i> ''''' liwyāthān ''''' </i> (&nbsp; Job 41:1-34 ), from &nbsp; לוה , <i> ''''' lāwāh ''''' </i> , "to fold"; compare Arabic name of the wry neck, <i> ''''' Iynx ''''' </i> <i> ''''' torq̱uilla ''''' </i> , <i> ''''' abū ''''' </i> - <i> ''''' luwā ''''' </i> , from kindred , <i> ''''' lawā ''''' </i> , "to bend"): </p> <p> (1) The word "leviathan" also occurs in &nbsp;Isaiah 27:1 , where it is characterized as "the swift serpent ... the crooked serpent"; in &nbsp;Psalm 104:26 , where a marine monster is indicated; also in &nbsp;Psalm 74:14 and &nbsp; Job 3:8 . The description in Job 41 has been thought by some to refer to the whale, but while the whale suits better the expressions denoting great strength, the words apply best on the whole to the crocodile. Moreover, the whale is very seldom found in the Mediterranean, while the crocodile is abundant in the Nile, and has been known to occur in at least one river of Palestine, the <i> '''''Zarḳa''''' </i> , North of Jaffa. For a discussion of the behemoth and leviathan as mythical creatures, see <i> EB </i> , under the word "Behemoth" and "Leviathan." The points in the description which may well apply to the crocodile are the great invulnerability, the strong and close scales, the limbs and the teeth. It must be admitted that there are many expressions which a modern scientist would not use with reference to the crocodile, but the Book of Job is neither modern nor scientific, but poetical and ancient. </p> <p> (2) See [[Astronomy]] , II, 2,5. </p>