Leviathan
is described as having many heads (see Ps. 74:14), as not only a serpent but a “crooked”
serpent (Isa. 27:1), and as a fire-spewing crocodile (see Job 41:18-21).
Leviathan is the lord of the deep (see Job 41:31-32), a creature of the
darkness covered with gloom (see Ps. 44:19).
The
crocodile has long been a popular interpretation of Leviathan. Etymologically,
the word Leviathan is thought to mean something coiled or wreathed,
possibly referring to the scales that cover the body of a crocodile. Leviathan
has scales on its back (see Job 41:15-17), which certainly implies a crocodile.
However, a number of issues, weight against this interpretation. Job 41:1 (“Canst
thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou
lettest down?”) gives the clear impression that it is impossible for humans to
capture Leviathan, yet crocodiles were in fact often captures in ancient Egypt.
This passage also tells us that Leviathan has a tongue, but it was widely
believed in the ancient world that the crocodile had no tongue. In fact, the crocodile
does have a tongue, but it is flat and thick and attached to the lower jaw.
There is no way one could capture a crocodile by its tongue. In addition,
Leviathan was known throughout the Old Testament (and in other writings from
the ancient Near East, especially from Ugarit) as the “twisted one” or “twisted
serpent.” Yet the crocodile has vertebrae that do not allow it to turn its body
rapidly from side to side. When drowning its prey in water, the crocodile can
spin its whole body around (the so-called death spiral) but cannot
really twist its body. Finally, Job 41:30 (“sharp stones are under him:
he spreadeth sharp pointed things under the mire”) tells us that Leviathan’s
underside is like sharp potsherds, whereas the underside of a crocodile is
smooth. Additionally, Leviathan is described as a fire-and smoke-breathing dragon:
By his
neesings a light doth shine,
and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Out of
his mouth go burning lamps,
and sparks of fire leap out.
Out of
his nostrils goeth smoke,
as out of a seething pot or caldron.
His breath
kindleth coals,
and a flame goeth out of his mouth (Job 41:18-21).
This is
certainly not an appropriate description of a crocodile but suggests instead a
mythical monster.
Others,
at various times and for various reasons, have speculated that Leviathan was a
dolphin, a whale, a hippopotamus, and even a tunny fish (an albacore, bluefin, or
yellowfin tuna). Yet multiple objections can be easily raised to any of these
interpretations, as they fit the description of Leviathan in Job 41:1-34 even
less than the crocodile (See Day, God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea,
66-68).
In short,
Leviathan possesses a number of mythical traits that simply do not fit any
known creature. First of all, on linguistic grounds, the very name Leviathan,
as used in the Old Testament and in the Ugaritic literature, implies a mythical
sea serpent. Secondly, it is clearly implied in Job that Leviathan cannot be
captured without divine assistance, whereas all of the abovenamed creatures can
be. Meanwhile, we are told that God captured Leviathan; not only that, He has
tamed the monster, making it a pet with which He could play (see Job 41:5) (The
point of this in Job is not to clarify an obscure point in the creation
narrative but perhaps to teach us that what is impossible for man is possible
for God). (Martin J. Palmer, The Creation Concept: The Genesis Creation
Narrative In Light of Documents From the Ancient East [Salt Lake City: Eborn
Books, 2021], 165-66)
