From the Deep - Drawing Borders - Leviathan in Job 26

10] He drew a boundary on the face of the waters, at the border between light and darkness. 11] The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof.

12] By His power He stirs up the sea (Yam), and by His skill he struck Rahav. 13] By His wind He calmed the heavens; His hand slew the swift serpent (Nachash).

14] Behold, those are but parts of His ways; and how little is the thing that is heard of Him - who can understand the thunder of His power?

י חֹ֣ק חָ֭ג עַל־פְּנֵי־מָ֑יִם עַד־תַּכְלִ֖ית א֣וֹר עִם־חֽשֶׁךְ: יא עַמּוּדֵ֣י שָׁמַ֣יִם יְרוֹפָ֑פוּ וְ֝יִתְמְה֗וּ מִגַּֽעֲרָתֽוֹ: יב בְּ֭כֹחוֹ רָגַ֣ע הַיָּ֑ם ובתובנת֗ו [וּ֝בִתְבוּנָת֗וֹ] מָ֣חַץ רָֽהַב: יג בְּ֭רוּחוֹ שָׁמַ֣יִם שִׁפְרָ֑ה חֹֽלְלָה יָ֝ד֗וֹ נָחָ֥שׁ בָּרִֽיחַ: יד הֶן־אֵ֤לֶּה ׀ קְצ֬וֹת דרכו [דְּרָכָ֗יו] וּמַה־שֵּׁ֣מֶץ דָּ֭בָר נִשְׁמַע־בּ֑וֹ וְרַ֥עַם גבורתו [גְּ֝בוּרוֹתָ֗יו] מִ֣י יִתְבּוֹנָֽן:

In Job 26, Job is speaking once again (funny how, in a book of conversations between Job and his 3 friends only Job ever mentions sea monsters... we'll talk about this in two weeks time when we review the book of Job as a whole), and he describes how God slew the sea monster at the time of creation (when God drew a boundary around the waters).

We see three words/phrases used in parallel - Yam, Rahav and Nachash Bariach. I wrote about Yam here, Psalm 74,, and Nachash Bariach, the swift serpent here on Isaiah 27, but while we saw Rahav mentioned in Isaiah 51, I haven't written much about the significance of this particular name of the sea monster.

Today is Rahav's day.

From the Deep - Watching Leviathan - Leviathan in Job 7

Zeus fights Typhon

11] 'Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12] Am I a sea (Yam), or a sea monster (Tanin), that You set a watch over me?

יא גַּם-אֲנִי לֹא אֶחֱשָׂךְ-פִּי אֲדַבְּרָה בְּצַר רוּחִי אָשִׂיחָה בְּמַר נַפְשִׁי
יב הֲיָם-אָנִי אִם-תַּנִּין כִּי-תָשִׂים עָלַי מִשְׁמָר

We saw last week Job calling on those who are ready to rouse Leviathan. In chapter 7, when Job begins his response to his 'friend' Eliphaz, protesting that he will not keep silent any more and will voice his pain. He calls out to God saying "Am I Yam or Tanin that You set a watch over me?"

Here we see concrete evidence that Tanin and Yam are to understood by the Bible to be synonyms for sea monsters. Job asks God if He considers him to be like a sea monster that he feels watched and constantly chastised.

But hang on, I hear you cry, didn't God slay the sea monster at the dawn of time? Why would there need to be a watch set over the sea monster?

From the Deep - Waking Leviathan - Job 3

Job 3:7-8

7] May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.

8] Let the cursers of day curse it, who are prepared to rouse up Leviathan.
 

ז הִנֵּה הַלַּיְלָה הַהוּא יְהִי גַלְמוּד אַל-תָּבוֹא רְנָנָה בוֹ
ח יִקְּבֻהוּ אֹרְרֵי-יוֹם הָעֲתִידִים עֹרֵר לִוְיָתָן 

I could write a whole book on mythical themes in the book of Job (and perhaps one day I will) but for the sake of this blog I will restrict myself to 5 posts - one each on Job 3, 7, 26 and 40-41, followed by a big picture look at the book as a whole.

By the third chapter, Job has lost everything he has - his money, his children, his wife, his health - and after seven days of sitting in silence with his three friends, he now opens his mouth to curse the day on which he was born: "Let that day be darkness;" he declares (Job 3:4) "let not God inquire after it from above, neither let the light shine upon it."

It's in this context that Job first mentions the primordial monster the Leviathan, mentioning an unspecified group who in the future are ready to wake the creature from its rest (more on this next week).

But what do we learn from the idea that some seek to wake Leviathan?

From the Deep - Here Be Dragons! - Habakkuk 3

Habakkuk 3: 8, 15
8] Was your wrath against the rivers (neharim), O Lord?
    Was your anger against the rivers,
    or your indignation against the sea (yam),
when you rode on your horses,
    on your chariot of salvation?

15] You trampled the sea with your horses,
    the surging of mighty waters.
 

ח  הֲבִנְהָרִים, חָרָה יְהוָה--אִם בַּנְּהָרִים אַפֶּךָ, אִם-בַּיָּם עֶבְרָתֶךָ:  כִּי תִרְכַּב עַל-סוּסֶיךָ, מַרְכְּבֹתֶיךָ יְשׁוּעָה

טו  דָּרַכְתָּ בַיָּם, סוּסֶיךָ; חֹמֶר, מַיִם רַבִּים

Welcome back to From the Deep, your weekly look into the primordial chaos monsters of the Bible and Jewish tradition.

This week we're moving on to a new prophet, the little read minor prophet of Habakkuk. The third and final chapter of this book is described in the first verse in a similar manner to a psalm "a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on the Shigionot", and it uses the word "sela" a word used elsewhere only in the book of psalms.

The third chapter describes God marching to war with pestilence and fire around God's feet. But who God fighting against? According to verse 8 it seems to be the Rivers / the Sea.

Where does this image come from and what does it mean for us?

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?

From the Deep - Aaron's Staff - Exodus 7

8 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 

9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying: 'Perform a wonder'; then say to Aaron: Take your staff, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent (tanin)."

10 Then Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did just as the Lord had commanded; and Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent (tanin).

ח וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהֹוָ֔ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֖ן לֵאמֹֽר: ט כִּי֩ יְדַבֵּ֨ר אֲלֵכֶ֤ם פַּרְעֹה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תְּנ֥וּ לָכֶ֖ם מוֹפֵ֑ת וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֣ אֶֽל־אַֽהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֧ח אֶֽת־מַטְּךָ֛ וְהַשְׁלֵ֥ךְ לִפְנֵֽי־פַרְעֹ֖ה יְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין: י וַיָּבֹ֨א מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְאַהֲרֹן֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֔ן כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוָּ֣ה יְהוָֹ֑ה וַיַּשְׁלֵ֨ךְ אַֽהֲרֹ֜ן אֶת־מַטֵּ֗הוּ לִפְנֵ֥י פַרְעֹ֛ה וְלִפְנֵ֥י עֲבָדָ֖יו וַיְהִ֥י לְתַנִּֽין:

Moses receives signs to show God's power both to the Israelites and then to Pharaoh, including the miraculous transformation of a staff into a serpent.

The original instruction for this miracle came in Exodus 4:3-4, in which Moses tells God that the Israelites won't listen to him, and God replies telling him to throw his staff on the ground where it becomes a snake. The word used here is nachash, which seems to clearly indicate a mundane snake, albeit transformed miraculously by the power of God.

But when it comes time to confront Pharaoh, the staff does not become a nachash but rather a tanin, the word that we have already seen in Genesis 1 last week refers to Sea Monsters, something monstrous and supernatural. Then all Pharaoh's sorcerer's repeat the trick, and their staffs also become serpents (taninim). But Aaron's staff swallows all the others, proving the supremacy of God.

Should we take this shift in language seriously? And if so, what does it mean that the staff became a tanin for Pharaoh and the Egyptians?