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Leviathan

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Revision as of 23:18, 17 June 2010 by Ishmael bnei Noah Elroi (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the biblical creature. For other uses, see Leviathan (disambiguation).
"Destruction of Leviathan". 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré.

Leviathan (Template:Pron-en; Hebrew: לִוְיָתָן, Modern: Livyatan, Tiberian: Liwyāṯān, "twisted, coiled"), is a sea monster referred to in the Tanakh and the Bible. The word leviathan has become a generalization to many sea monster or creatures. In Modern Hebrew(Serphardic Heb.), it means simply "whale."

In Kabbalah, Leviathan, the beast/animal of the seas (concealed) is one of the 36 pair of tzadik nistar (In the concealed - metaphysical - realm) set up opposed to Behemoth, beast of the earth (in the revealed - physical - realm) one of the 36 tzadikim. Both are said to be devoured/consumed/destroyed/divided at the end days by The Righteous.

The Teaching (Torah), The Prophets (Nevi'im), The Writings (Kethuvim), and the Splendor (Zohar) all unamimously declare Leviathan is a force only God can reckon with.

In the 'Hebrew' texts

Leviathan in The Prophets (Nevi'im), and The Writings (Kethuvim).


Job 41.1-26

See, any hope him must be disappointed; One is prostrated by the very sight of him.

2 There is no one so fierce as to rouse him; Who then can stand up to Me?

3 Whoever confronts Me I will requite, For everything under the heavens is Mine.


4 I will not be silent concerning him Or the praise of his martial exploits -Meaning in Hebrew Uncertain-


5 Who can uncover his outer garment? Who can penetrate the folds of his Jowls?

6 Who can pry open the doors of his face? His bared teeth strike terror.

7 His protective scales are his pride, Locked with a binding seal.

8 One scale touches the other; Not even a breath can enter between them.

9 Each clings to each; They are interlocked so they cannot be parted.

10 His sneezings flash lightning, and his eyes are like the glimmerings of dawn.

11 Firebrands stream from his mouth; Fiery sparks escape.

12 Out of his nostrils come smoke As from a steaming, boiling cauldron.

13 His breath ignites coals; Flames blaze from his mouth.

14 Strength resides in his neck; Power leaps before him.

15 The layers of his flesh stick together; He is as though cast hard; he does not totter.

16 His heart is cast hard as a stone, Hard as the nether millstone.

17 Divine beings are in dread as he rears up; As he crashes down, they cringe.

18 No sword that overtakes him can prevail, Nor spear, nor missile, nor lance.

19 He regards iron as straw, Bronze, as rotted wood.

20 No arrow can put him to flight; Slingstones turn into stubble for him.

21 Clubs are regarded as stubble; He scoffs at the quivering javelin

22 His underpart is jagged shards; It spreads a threshing-sledge on the mud.

23 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; He makes the sea boil like an ointment-pot.

24 His wake is a luminous path; He makes the deep seem white-haired.

25 There is no one on land who can dominate him, Made as he is without fear.

26 He sees all that is haughty; He is king over all proud beasts.


  • Psalms 74.14 "it was You who crushed the heads of Leviathan, who left him as food for the (meaning of hebrew uncertain recieved tradition reads -denizens of the desert- or -seafaring men.)
As received, Representing Hashem destroying Chaos and bringing order to the Universe.
  • Isaiah 27.1-2 "In that day Yehweh will punish, With His great, cruel, mighty sword Leviathan the Elusive serpent - Leviathan the Twisting Serpent; He will slay the Dragon of the Sea. (2) In that day, they shall sign of it..."
As recieved, Prophecy of the destruction of the embodiment of evil on earth.
The monster referred to in Kethuvim (cf Ps. 74.13-14) which the Lord had slain was the paradigm of chaos.


  • Psalm 104.24-26 "How many are the things You have made, O Yehweh; There go the ships, and Leviathan that You formed to sport with."
As recieved, Referring obviously to ships, and literally "Whale". The Sperm Whale which does indeed roam in the Mediterranean.

Hebrew and ancient Near Eastern references

Leviathan and similar serpent-demons have a long history in ancient Near Eastern mythology, with a seven-headed serpent being overcome by a hero-god being attested as early as the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumerian iconography. The same chaos-combat theme appears on 2nd millennium Syrian seals, where the storm-god is shown in combat with a serpent, and in the Ugarit tablets, where the sea-monster Lotan was one of the helpers of the sea-god Yamm in his battle with the weather-god Haddad Baal. In the Ugaritic texts Lotan, or possibly another of Yamm's helpers, is given the epithets "wriggling serpent" and "mighty One with the seven heads," and Isaiah 27:1 uses the first of these phrases to describe Leviathan, although in this case the name "Leviathan" apparently refers to an unnamed historical/political enemy of Israel rather than the original serpent-monster. In Psalm 104 Leviathan is not described as harmful in any way, but simply as a creature of the ocean, part of Yahweh's creation. In Job 41:2-26, on the other hand, he is definitely a crocodile-monster to be feared - the author appears to have based the passage on Egyptian animal mythology, where the crocodile is the enemy of the sun-god, but in contrast both to this source and to the Syrian chaos-battle he does not represent the image in terms of mythological combat.

In later Jewish literature

Leviathan the sea-monster, with Behemoth the land-monster and Ziz the air-monster. "And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Duidain." (1 Enoch 60:7-8)

Leviathan's identification as a single named monster facilitated his survival through subsequent ages right up to the present. By the Hellenistic age he (or she - Leviathan was now represented as female) became a dragon who lives over the Sources of the Deep and who, along with the male land-dragon Behemoth, will be served up to the righteous at the end of time. A little later, when the Jewish midrash (explanations of the bible) were being composed, it was held that God originally produced a male and a female leviathan, but lest in multiplying the species should destroy the world, he slew the female, reserving her flesh for the banquet that will be given to the righteous on the advent of the Messiah (B. B. 74b). Rashi's commentary on Genesis 1:21 repeats the tradition: "God created the great sea monsters - taninim. According to legend this refers to the Leviathan and its mate. God created a male and female Leviathan, then killed the female and salted it for the righteous, for if the Leviathans were to procreate the world could not stand before them." In the Talmud Baba Bathra 74b it is told that the Leviathan will be slain and its flesh served as a feast to the righteous in Time to Come, and its skin used to cover the tent where the banquet will take place. The festival of Sukkot (Festival of Booths) therefore concludes with a prayer recited upon leaving the sukkah (booth): "May it be your will, Lord our God and God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled and dwelt in this sukkah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the sukkah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem."

The enormous size of the Leviathan is described by R. Johanan, from whom proceeded nearly all the haggadot concerning this monster: "Once we went in a ship and saw a fish which put his head out of the water. He had horns upon which was written: 'I am one of the meanest creatures that inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan'" (B. B. l.c.). When the Leviathan is hungry, reports R. Dimi in the name of R. Johanan, he sends forth from his mouth a heat so great as to make all the waters of the deep boil, and if he would put his head into paradise no living creature could endure the odor of him (ib.). His abode is the Mediterranean Sea; and the waters of the Jordan fall into his mouth (Bek. 55b; B. B. l.c.). In a legend recorded in the Midrash called Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer it is stated that the fish which swallowed Jonah narrowly avoided being eaten by the Leviathan, which eats one whale each day.

The body of the Leviathan, especially his eyes, possesses great illuminating power. This was the opinion of R. Eliezer, who, in the course of a voyage in company with R. Joshua, explained to the latter, when frightened by the sudden appearance of a brilliant light, that it probably proceeded from the eyes of the Leviathan. He referred his companion to the words of Job xli. 18: "By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning" (B. B. l.c.). However, in spite of his supernatural strength, the leviathan is afraid of a small worm called "kilbit", which clings to the gills of large fish and kills them (Shab. 77b).

Christianity

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Hellmouth or the Mouth of Hell, by Simon Marmion, from the Getty Les Visions du chevalier Tondal, detail.

The Leviathan of the Middle Ages was used as an image of Satan, endangering both God's creatures—by attempting to eat them—and God's creation—by threatening it with upheaval in the waters of Chaos. St. Thomas Aquinas described Leviathan as the demon of envy, first in punishing the corresponding sinners. Leviathan became associated with, and may originally have referred to, the visual motif of the Hellmouth, a monstrous animal into whose mouth the damned disappear at the Last Judgement, found in Anglo-Saxon art from about 800, and later all over Europe.

Leviathan in Satanism

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In Satanism, according to occult author Anton LaVey, Leviathan represents the element of Water and the direction of West. The element of Water in Satanism is associated with life and creation, and may be represented by a Chalice during ritual. In the Satanic Bible, Leviathan is listed as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell. This association was inspired by the demonic hierarchy from The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage.

Additionally, the Church of Satan uses the Hebrew letters at each of the points of the Sigil of Baphomet to represent Leviathan. Starting from the lowest point of the pentagram, and reading counter-clockwise, the word reads "לִוְיָתָן". Translated, this is (LVIThN) Leviathan.

See also

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

  1. http://www.theadventchildren.com
  2. K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst (eds), "Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible", pp.512-514
  3. Hirsch, Emil G. "Leviathan and Behemoth". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 3 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. Labriola, Albert C. (1982). "The Medieval View of History in Paradise Lost". In Mulryan, John (ed.). Milton and the Middle Ages. Bucknell University Press. pp. 115–34. ISBN 9780838750360. P. 127.
  5. Link, Luther (1995). The Devil: A Mask Without a Face. Reaktion Books. pp. 75–6. ISBN 0948462671. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. Hofmann, Petra (2008). Infernal Imagery in Anglo-Saxon Charters (thesis) (PDF). St Andrews. pp. 143–4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. "The History of the Origin of the Sigil of Baphomet and its Use in the Church of Satan". Church of Satan website. Retrieved 3 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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