Magic Leviathans - A Gathering of Sea Monsters

Let's see what we can find in Ula's Temple

To celebrate my 200th blog post here on Mythic Writing, I wanted to do something a little different. As became obvious in my Pekudei installment of Mythic Torah, I am a devoted fan of the collectible card game 'Magic: the Gathering', made by Wizards of the Coast.


Now Magic has a lot of different creatures in the game, from Armadillos to Zombies, but among my favourite, are of course, the Leviathans.

In Magic's 20 year history, there have been 15 different Leviathans printed (as well as Krakens, Serpents, Octopi, Fish, Merfolk and Cephalids), so I thought that I would run down the Biblical roots of these 15 Leviathans, and rank them from least to most Biblical in abilities, art and gameplay. Then I'm going to supply each of them with Biblical verse that would work as new flavour text.

Everyone with me? Then in reverse order:

All images are copyright of Wizards of the Coast

15] Segovian Leviathan - Legends
The only Magic Leviathan with an actual biblical quote falls right at the bottom of the list for one simple reason - it's tiny. At only 3/3, the Segovian Leviathan is the same size as a Hill Giant or Canyon Minotaur, whereas Leviathans should be world-consuming monstrosities, enormous creatures that dominate the board and your opponents.

A lesser sin is the card's depiction of a leviathan as a colourful fish. While later rabbininic sources imagine Leviathan as a fish (how else could it be kosher?) the Bible calls it a nachash, a snake, suggesting a creature far more reptilian.

It's since been stated that Segovia is a tiny plane where everything is miniature in size, explaining why the plane's largest inhabitant, its Leviathan, is only a 3/3, but this creature's diminutive stature is enough to earn the Segovian Leviathan last place on our list.

New Flavour Text:
"Will you play with him like a bird? And bind him for your young girls?"
 -Job 40:29

From the Deep - God's Mighty Arm - Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51:9-10
    9] Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, in the generations of old. Are you not the one that struck Rahav and slew the sea monster (Tanin)? 10] Are you not the one that dried the sea (Yam), the waters of the great deep (Tehom); who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 

ט עוּרִ֨י עוּרִ֤י לִבְשִׁי־עֹז֙ זְר֣וֹעַ ה' ע֚וּרִי כִּ֣ימֵי קֶ֔דֶם דּוֹר֖וֹת עוֹלָמִ֑ים הֲל֥וֹא אַתְּ־הִ֛יא הַמַּחְצֶ֥בֶת רַ֖הַב מְחוֹלֶ֥לֶת תַּנִּֽין: י הֲל֤וֹא אַתְּ־הִיא֙ הַמַּֽחֲרֶ֣בֶת יָ֔ם מֵ֖י תְּה֣וֹם רַבָּ֑ה הַשָּׂ֨מָה֙ מַֽעֲמַקֵּי־יָ֔ם דֶּ֖רֶךְ לַֽעֲבֹ֥ר גְּאוּלִֽים:

Isaiah 51 is a deep well of mythical ideas - the prophet describes the people calling on the Arm of God from exile, saying that just as the arm of God slew the sea monster in the mythic past, it should redeem us today from our troubles.

Note that each part of these two verses may be referring to a different event. Verse 9 describes the victory over the chaos monster in ancient times (known as the chaoskampf , that we already saw in Psalm 74). The beginning of verse 10 (drying up the sea and the great deep) seems to refer to the Flood narrative, a prime example of victory over the chaos waters. The end of verse 10, referring to the passage of the redeemed, refers to the splitting of the Red Sea in Exodus 15. Then verse 11, that describes how the ransomed of God will return home, is a prediction about the future redemption. The speakers argue that since God has defeated the monster many times, both in the primordial past, at the flood and at the exodus, God can do it again (David Gunn, Journal of Biblical Literature, '75).

We've already seen the terms Tanin, Yam and Tehom in mythological contexts, though Isaiah 51 ties all of them together very neatly. The new term for the chaos monster here is Rahav but we won't dwell on it too much here. Instead, I want to focus on the tone of these verses - why call on the Arm of God? Why not God God's self?

From the Deep - The Monster Always Returns - Isaiah 27

Isaiah 27:1
On that day the Lord will visit with his sword, hard, great and strong, Leviathan the swift serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the Sea Monster that is in the sea.

א  בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִפְקֹד יְהוָה בְּחַרְבּוֹ הַקָּשָׁה וְהַגְּדוֹלָה וְהַחֲזָקָה, עַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ בָּרִחַ, וְעַל לִוְיָתָן, נָחָשׁ עֲקַלָּתוֹן; וְהָרַג אֶת-הַתַּנִּין, אֲשֶׁר בַּיָּם.

    Isaiah 24-27 are known as the Apocalypse of Isaiah, and describe the prophet’s vision of “that day”, a day of true justice and national resurrection of the people of Israel. But this section is notoriously difficult to interpret - what is “that day”?
    This phrase structures the whole section, appearing at the beginning of chapter 26, our verse at the beginning of chapter 27, again in 27:2 as well as 27:12 and 13. Whereas chapter 26 is a long continuous vision, here the phrase seems to introduce a section of only a single verse, tantalising in its imagery but difficult to understand.
    Is Isaiah prophesying about the literal destruction of a sea monster (or possibly 3 sea monsters)? or is it just a metaphor for the haughty city described in chapters 24-26?
    When he refers to “that day”? Does he mean to indicate the final day, the eschaton, the messianic age? Or is he referring to future day coming within history, within the foreseeable future?
    Whatever Isaiah originally meant (and much hinges on when you date this verse, and scholars put it anywhere between the 8th and 2nd centuries BCE) we have to ask - what does this verse have to say to us?