Leviathan
Leviathan,
in the Bible, one of the names of the primeval dragon
subdued by Yahweh at the outset of creation: "You crushed
Leviathan's heads, gave him as food to the wild animals"
(Psalm 74:14; see also Isaiah 27:1; Job 3:8; Amos 9:3).
Biblical writers also refer to the dragon as Rahab
(Job 9:13; Psalm 89:10) or simply as the Abyss (Habakkuk
3:10).
The
biblical references to the battle between Yahweh and Leviathan
reflect the Syro-Palestinian version of a myth found throughout
the ancient Near East. In this myth, creation is represented
as the victory of the creator-god over a monster of chaos.
The closest parallel to the biblical versions of the story
appears in the Canaanite texts from Ra's Shamrah (14th century
BC), in which Baal
defeats a dragonlike monster: "You will crush Leviathan
the fleeing serpent, you will consume the twisting serpent,
the mighty one with seven heads." (The wording of Isaiah
27:1 draws directly on this text.)
A
more ancient version of the myth occurs in the Babylonian
Creation Epic, in which the storm god Marduk defeats the
sea monster Tiamat and creates the earth and sky by cleaving
her corpse in two (Assyro-Babylonian Literature). The latter
motif is reflected in a few biblical passages that extol
Yahweh's military valor: "Was it not you who split Rahab
in half, who pierced the dragon through?" (Isaiah 51:9;
see also Job 26:12; Psalm 74:13, 89:10). The basic pattern
of the Leviathan myth recurs in the Greek story of the battle
between Zeus and the
many-headed dragon Typhon, recounted by Hesiod in the Theogony.
It may also lie behind the much later legend of Saint
George and the dragon, which is set in northern Syria.
In
the Jewish apocalyptic
writings it is foretold that Leviathan will break out
of captivity at the end of the present era but will suffer
a second and final defeat at the hands of God (2 Esdras
6:52; 2 Baruch 29:3-8). The apocalyptic version was probably
influenced by parallel Iranian beliefs. In the New Testament,
the many-headed dragon of Revelation chapter 12 shares a
number of characteristics with Leviathan—in particular,
it functions as an embodiment of forces hostile to God.
In later Christian lore, Leviathan came to be identified
with the "great fish" in which Jonah spent three days and
three nights (Jonah 2:1), and subsequently with hell.
"Leviathan,"
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com
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