- [Narrator] Those animals.
Following their conversation
about the terrifying Behemoth,
God prompted Job to examine yet another terrifying monster:
Leviathan.
Compared to the terrifying
and unconquerable power of the Leviathan,
man's pride and grandeur was nothing to write home about.
How much more humble is man in God's presence?
And that's the point.
Neither Job nor anyone else has the right
to criticize God's work.
The one who created Leviathan is worthy of our reverence,
awe, and worship.
"Will the one who contends
with the Almighty correct him.
Let him who accuses God answer him."
Job 40:2.
The Leviathan is a large aquatic creature of some kind.
The Bible describes it as a fearsome beast
with monstrous ferocity and great power.
The Hebrew word for Leviathan
has the root meaning of coiled or twisted.
Isaiah 27:1 speaks of the Leviathan.
"In that day, the Lord will punish Leviathan,
the fleeing serpent, with his fierce
and great and mighty sword,
rescuing Israel from her enemy.
Even Leviathan, the twisted serpent,
and he will kill the dragon who lives in the sea."
Whatever this monster of the sea is or was,
its strength and wild nature were well known.
The beasts in the sea glorify God.
Psalm 96:11-12.
"Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice.
Let the sea roar and all the things it contains.
Let the field be exultant and all that is in it,
that all the trees of the forest will sing for joy."
The Old Testament contained several mentions
of the Leviathan.
According to most of these passages,
the Leviathan is a real creature
that people knew of,
although they kept their distance
and only knew of it by reputation rather than sight.
In Psalm 104:25-26,
God is praised
as the one who created the habitat for the Leviathan.
There is the sea, great and broad,
in which are swarms without number,
creatures both small and great.
There, the ships of the sea sail
and Leviathan, the sea monster,
which you have formed to play there."
Only a great God could have created Leviathan
and then made a home big enough to frolic safely.
Psalm contains a similar reference
to God's victory over Leviathan.
In that Psalm, the Pharaoh of Egypt is most likely meant.
Psalm 74:12-14.
"For God is my king of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength.
Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Thou breakest to the heads of Leviathan in pieces
and gave us him to be meat
to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
What was the purpose behind God's creation
of such a magnificent animal?
And what was the lesson he intended to teach Job
and, subsequently, all of us?
The lesson was one of humility.
In order to combat Job's inflated image of himself,
God desired to demonstrate to this man
how small he was in the overall scheme of things
by using Job as an example.
You would most likely experience feelings
of insignificance and helplessness
if an enraged African elephant confronted you
while you were alone.
How much more insignificant and afraid might you feel,
however, if a Behemoth were charging you?
Would it not be natural for you to look
to God for shelter and protection?
Would you not quickly repent of any wrongs
that you have committed?
Billy Graham once noted
that there was no atheist on a crashing airplane.
Certain events humble all men.
God used this most significant
and most powerful of all land animals.
God utilized the first and largest
and most-powerful land mammal
to help crush Job's self-righteousness.
God created this giant of mammals
to humble people who, like Job,
let vanity swell their sense of greatness and importance.
He can't understand God.
He can't understand the animal world,
nevermind the moral world.
So God's main point is,
why are you attempting to dispute with me?
Job responds that God is all knowing
and that no plan of his can be foiled.
He now realizes that his questioning of God
was totally inappropriate,
and he despises himself and repents in dust and ashes.
Although the encounter with God is humiliating for Job,
the heart of his problem is dealt with
for he is back in touch with God again.
The dialogue provides a magnificent,
if unexpected, climax to the book.
Job 41 gives the most detail about Leviathan
as an actual sea creature.
In that chapter, God describes Leviathan,
emphasizing the animal's size, strength, and viciousness.
Job 41:1-8.
"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
Can you put a rope made of rushes into his nose
or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
Will he make many supplications to you,
begging to be spared,
or will he speak soft words to you
to coax you to treat him kindly?
Will he make a covenant or an arrangement with you?
Will you take him for your servant forever?
Will you play with him as with a bird
or will you bind him and put him on a leash
for your maidens?
Will traitors bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
Can you fill his skin with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
Lay your hand on him,
remember the battle with him?
You will not do such an ill-advised thing again."
This creature was first mentioned in Job 3:8.
"Let those who curse it, who curse the day,
who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan."
In that context, Job refers to how sailors and fishermen
would curse the menacing creature known as Leviathan.
Similarly, with intense emotion,
Job cursed the day he was born.
Usually, a Leviathan is considered
to be a mythical sea monster or dragon
that terrorized sailors and fishermen.
Yet in the context of Job 41,
God does not seem to consider Leviathan
to be mythical at all.
There are differing opinions regarding
the description of Leviathan.
Some suggest that it could be an ancient dinosaur,
similar to a dragon,
that may have survived until the time of Job
or remained in the memory of humanity,
serving as an example for God to refer to.
On the other hand,
some believe that Leviathan is simply a powerful crocodile
in this context.
The name Leviathan means twisting one
and is also used in other interesting places in scripture.
Psalm 89:8-10 also tells of a serpent
that was connected with the sea
and that God defeated as a show of his immense strength.
This serpent is given the name Rahab,
which means proud one in the verses.
"O Lord God of Hosts,
who is a strong Lord like unto thee?
Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
Thou rulest the raging of the sea.
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
Thou has to broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain.
Thou has scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm."
Job 26:12-13 also refers to God's piercing defeat
of a fleeing serpent associated with the sea.
"He stirred up the sea by his power
and by his understanding, he smashed proud Rahab.
By his breath, the heavens are cleared.
His hand has pierced the swiftly-fleeing serpent."
We read, "Can you put a reed through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?"
The purpose of God providing Job
with this account of Leviathan is to demonstrate to Job
how helpless he is in the face of this creature.
There is nothing that Job
can do to stop this powerful creature.
Job has no chance.
This makes the association
between Leviathan obviously some dragon-type creature.
Even if it were, in this context,
only a mighty crocodile and Satan, even more interesting.
Satan is often represented as a dragon or a serpent.
Revelation 12:9.
"So the great dragon was cast out,
that serpent of old called the devil and Satan
who deceives the whole world.
He was cast to the earth
and his angels were cast out with him."
Even as Job was powerless against Leviathan, as all men are,
so he was also powerless against an unleashed Satan
set against him.
Only God could defeat Leviathan and Satan.
The question left with Job was this, "Canst thou?"
This made him realize his own limitations
in various aspects of life
and also reminded him of the strength of God.
Job 3:8-11.
Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.
Let the stars of its early dawn be dark.
Let the morning wait in vain for the light.
Let it not see the eyelids of morning,
the day's dawning,
because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
Why did I not die at birth,
come forth from the womb, and expire?"
If mankind can't overpower Leviathan,
it can't hope to overpower God.
We read, "Who then is able to stand against me?"
This was another effective way of setting Job
in his proper place before God.
There is a second also important point,
that God himself was master over Leviathan.
"Everything under heaven is mine."