#676 Leviathan Come Forth

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook

or tie down its tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a cord through its nose

or pierce its jaw with a hook?

3 Will it keep begging you for mercy?

Will it speak to you with gentle words?

4 Will it make an agreement with you

for you to take it as your slave for life?

5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird

or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

6 Will traders barter for it?

Will they divide it up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons

or its head with fishing spears?

8 If you lay a hand on it,

you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

9 Any hope of subduing it is false;

the mere sight of it is overpowering.

10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it.

Who then is able to stand against me?

11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,

its strength and its graceful form.

13 Who can strip off its outer coat?

Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,

ringed about with fearsome teeth?

15 Its back has rows of shields

tightly sealed together;

16 each is so close to the next

that no air can pass between.

17 They are joined fast to one another;

they cling together and cannot be parted.

18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19 Flames stream from its mouth;

sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke pours from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,

and flames dart from its mouth.

22 Strength resides in its neck;

dismay goes before it.

23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm and immovable.

24 Its chest is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;

they retreat before its thrashing.

26 The sword that reaches it has no effect,

nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

27 Iron it treats like straw

and bronze like rotten wood.

28 Arrows do not make it flee;

slingstones are like chaff to it.

29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds,

leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron

and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;

one would think the deep had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is its equal—

a creature without fear.

34 It looks down on all that are haughty;

it is king over all that are proud.” Job 41 NIV

Leviathan spoken of in Isaiah 27 and Psalm 104, but described in much more detail here. Again, many more modern writers think this describes a crocodile, but I wonder what those who read this passage before the discovery of the dinosaur thought? I remember reading it from a time long after the discovery of dinosaurs, but I was told that they were long extinct before the time of Job. I wonder now, if among those who first uncovered dinosaur bones, who put together the first full sets, if it dawned upon them that what sounded like a monster in Job, a fictional beast, a sea serpent, was no longer so ridiculous? Imagine laughing at such a fairytale, for no creature like this exist in your local zoo or aquarium, it is the stuff of dragons and legends, but here you are excavating it's bones.

With a hook - Men have caught many things with a hook, large fish have been tamed on specialized rod and reels, but I doubt Job was familiar with Penn or Shimano at that time. I have hooked into things not meant for the rod and reel I was using, and they have spooled me or broken off with little effort. It is a magnificent feeling to know you are connected to something that you cannot turn. Listen to your drag peeling, and it doesn't even make her hesitate, and though you are first crushed by her freedom, it is quickly followed by a smile. Job is familiar with this beast, the dilemma of her power, her armor, she is beyond his control. For all our fear, our unknowns, the creatures yet unearthed by the withering of our humanity, there is following the smile, a great tingling comfort. I have a relationship with the Creator of all these things, what I fear the most is yet under His control.

King over all that are proud - There is a lot to ponder here, and just as many rabbit trails, but I think one should not miss the poetic picture also here, tying it back to the conversation God has with that other serpent. He is known for his pride as well, and this poem does not only teach men, but reassures angels as well. Satan was cast down, the tempter is bigger than us, but he may still only go so far as God allows. Leviathan's head would be crushed, and God does not tell Job the reason for his suffering, but Job has come to know that God knows better, and that men have no place to try Him.  

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…1 Peter 5: 7-9

Leviathan P1

Leviathan P2