What was the Leviathan?

14 July 08 | Posted in Animals, Bible

Psalm 103.

25 So this is the great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms: there are creeping things without number: creatures little and great. 26 There the ships shall go. This sea dragon which thou hast formed to play therein. leviathan_old.jpg

I love the sea. I love dinosaurs. I love mystery monsters, especially sea monsters. I have all three with the Leviathan. What was it?

Biblical scholars and others have numerous theories about what it was, what it could have been, and what it represented.

I think it might have been an extra large Nile crocodile; but it could also have been an imaginative literary creation based on the discovery of the bones of an ancient marine reptiles. It possbily could have been a living creature of legend, much like the Loch Ness Monster.

Depending on the translation, it can be read as “whale” or “coiled.” If the Leviathan was more whale-like, then I would say it resembled a dunkleosteus or liopleurodon.  If “coiled” then a mosasaur or sarcosuchus.

Walking along the beach at Orient, NY I came up this driftwood sculpture. I named it “Leviathan” for its open, roaring mouth and stare across the sea. leviathan.JPG

One Response to “What was the Leviathan?”

  1. BLT Says:

    How does that explain smoke and fire coming out of his mouth in the description of Leviathan.
    Crocs are built for stealth not speed” He maketh the deep to boil like a pot:” When he swims he leaves a wake.
    And as for the “imaginative literary” comment go back and check out the questions God was asking Job about gravity, the abscence of stars over the north and south poles, the depth of the oceans(the deep) that until recent history we thought was relatively shallow(Marianas Trench about 7 miles). Prescientific knowledge. These questions were written about three thousand-five hundred years ago. When did Newton discover God’s gravity? Didn’t “we” find the Marianas trench in the 60’s? Not many bathyspheres or ROV’s 3500 years ago. How did the author new to include these scientific facts when giving us these words to us?

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