From the Deep - Small Bites of Fish - Misc. Bible

On From the Deep we've covered the Bible from Genesis through to the Book of Job, but along the way we missed a few tasty morsels, not enough for a meal in themselves, but each a small tasty bite of sea monster nonetheless. Today we cover some of those juicy tidbits.

Jeremiah 5:22
 ²² Should you not fear me?’ declares the Lord.
    ‘Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
    an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
    they may roar, but they cannot cross it.

כב) הַאוֹתִי לֹא־תִירָאוּ נְאֻם־יְקֹוָק אִם מִפָּנַי לֹא תָחִילוּ אֲשֶׁר־שַׂמְתִּי חוֹל גְּבוּל לַיָּם חָק־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יַעַבְרֶנְהוּ וַיִּתְגָּעֲשׁוּ וְלֹא יוּכָלוּ וְהָמוּ גַלָּיו וְלֹא יַעַבְרֻנְהוּ

Some of the mythic power of the sea monsters has been stripped from this image from Jeremiah 5, but remnants of it are still visible. God's power is manifest by his having contained the sea, bound it forever so that it cannot escape. The sea is described both literally, as having waves, and as roaring like a monster - the image is both naturalistic and mythological. Radak, one of the classic rabbinic commentators, says that the scene being described is Genesis 1 and the creation of dry land, but there is a rebelliousness to the sea here that is totally absent from the peaceful creation of Genesis 1.


More after the jump.

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 - 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 - Leviathan in Jewish Tradition - Genesis 1

Arthur Rackam, 'Leviathan'

21] And God created the great taninim, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 

כא  וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים; וְאֵת כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם, וְאֵת כָּל-עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ, וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים, כִּי-טוֹב.  


Welcome to the first blogpost of "From the Deep" a series of short thoughts and reflections on Leviathan in Jewish tradition, starting from the Bible and then spreading forward (and even backward) in history.

We begin, as all things do, with Genesis 1, in which God creates the world through speech over the course of 7 days.

Parashat Naso - Limmud Dvar Torah (with bonus material!)

I have a dvar torah up on Limmud on One Leg's blog today for parashat Naso - check it out here and then come back for some exclusive extra bonus material.

Finished? Don't worry, I'll wait.