Leviathan:A Canaanite Myth in the Hebrew Bible

[Olavarria]

Isa 51.9(NRSV)

Awake, awake, put on strength,O arm of the Lord! Awake, as in days of old,the generations of long ago!Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,who pierced the dragon?

Ps 89.10(NRSV)

You crushed Rahab like a carcass;you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

Isa 27.1(NRSV)

On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

Job 41.1-2(NRSV)

*â??Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish-hook,or press down its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose,or pierce its jaw with a hook?

Ps 74:14(NRSV)

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness.

Ps 104:26(NRSV)

There go the ships,and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

In Canaanite mythology, the god Mot reminds the god Baal of the time Baal defeated the Leviathan.

KTU 1.5

...(Y)ou killed Lithan the Feeing Serpent,

Annihilated the Twisty Serpeant,

The Potentate with seven heads...

[hagoth7]

As with most cultures, that narrative also plays out in Nordic tradition, between Thor and Jormungard.

[maklelan]

Isa 51.9(NRSV)

Awake, awake, put on strength,O arm of the Lord! Awake, as in days of old,the generations of long ago!Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,who pierced the dragon?

Ps 89.10(NRSV)

You crushed Rahab like a carcass;you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

Isa 27.1(NRSV)

On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

Job 41.1-2(NRSV)

*â??Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish-hook,or press down its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose,or pierce its jaw with a hook?

Ps 74:14(NRSV)

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness.

Ps 104:26(NRSV)

There go the ships,and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

In Canaanite mythology, the god Mot reminds the god Baal of the time Baal defeated the Leviathan.

KTU 1.5

...(Y)ou killed Lithan the Feeing Serpent,

Annihilated the Twisty Serpeant,

The Potentate with seven heads...

The serpent is also defeated by Marduk in the Babylonian Enuma Elish. In the Canaanite variety that battle has nothing to do with creation, but rather with divine kingship. The Mesopotamian version deals with creation. For this reason you find in the earliest texts God's dominion over the serpent related to his kingship in heaven. Only in later texts, when Babylon and Assyria become prominent in Israelite socio-politics, does it begin to be associated with his creation of the earth.