“Can you
draw out Leviathan with a
fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” (v.1)
In Genesis
we are told, “God created great sea creatures and every living thing that
moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind” (1:21). In
Psalm 104 David writes, “There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms
without number, animals both small and great. There the ships move along, and “Leviathan”, which You have formed
to sport in it” (vv.25-26)
Here in
chapter 41, we find the “leviathan” described in the direct words of God
saying, “his breath kindles coal, and a flame goes out of his mouth” (v. 21), “he
makes the deep to boil like a pot” (v. 31). While
there is no animal living today which fits this description, it must be an
extinct animal, almost certain a great marine reptile, still surviving in the
oceans of Job’s day, which gave rise to the worldwide tales of great sea
dragons.
But
that is not all. In ending His discourse, God called the leviathan “a king over
all the children of pride” (v. 34). Sound familiar? The creature is symbolic of
Satan, whose challenge to God instigated Job’s strange trials. He is “the great
dragon… that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole
world” (Revelation 12:9).
But
take heart, in the coming Day of Judgment God “shall punish the leviathan” (Isaiah
27:1), the “devil”, that “deceiver”, and will “cast him into the lake of fire…
to be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
The
Truth: “In
that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish
leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and He
shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)
