Christian Message Boards: Are These Dragons?

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Posted by Carol Swenson (Member # 6929) on :

Out of his mouth go burning torches; Sparks of fire leap forth.

Job 41:1-34

1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?

2 "Can you put a rope in his nose Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 "Will he make many supplications to you, Or will he speak to you soft words?

4 "Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant forever?

5 "Will you play with him as with a bird, Or will you bind him for your maidens?

6 "Will the traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants?

7 "Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears?

8 "Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle; you will not do it again!

9 "Behold, your expectation is false; Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?

10 "No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; Who then is he that can stand before Me?

11 "Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

12 "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, Or his mighty strength, or his orderly frame.

13 "Who can strip off his outer armor? Who can come within his double mail?

14 "Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth there is terror.

15 "His strong scales are his pride, Shut up as with a tight seal.

16 "One is so near to another That no air can come between them.

17 "They are joined one to another; They clasp each other and cannot be separated.

18 "His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 "Out of his mouth go burning torches; Sparks of fire leap forth.

20 "Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

21 "His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.

22 "In his neck lodges strength, And dismay leaps before him.

23 "The folds of his flesh are joined together, Firm on him and immovable.

24 "His heart is as hard as a stone, Even as hard as a lower millstone.

25 "When he raises himself up, the mighty fear; Because of the crashing they are bewildered.

26 "The sword that reaches him cannot avail, Nor the spear, the dart or the javelin.

27 "He regards iron as straw, Bronze as rotten wood.

28 "The arrow cannot make him flee; Slingstones are turned into stubble for him.

29 "Clubs are regarded as stubble; He laughs at the rattling of the javelin.

30 "His underparts are like sharp potsherds; He spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire.

31 "He makes the depths boil like a pot; He makes the sea like a jar of ointment.

32 "Behind him he makes a wake to shine; One would think the deep to be gray-haired.

33 "Nothing on earth is like him, One made without fear.

34 "He looks on everything that is high; He is king over all the sons of pride."

Posted by Kindgo (Member # 2) on :

David Guzik's Commentary on the Bible

Usually 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. Some believe that Leviathan describes some ancient dragon-like dinosaur that either survived to Job’s day, or survived in the collective memory of mankind, so that God could refer to it as an example. Others consider that in this context, Leviathan is nothing more than a mighty crocodile.

ii. The name Leviathan means “twisting one” and is also used in other interesting places in Scripture.

•Psalms 74:12-14 refers to Leviathan as a sea serpent, and that God broke the head of the Leviathan long ago, perhaps at the creation.

•Psalms 104:26 also refers to Leviathan as a sea creature.

•Isaiah 27:1 speaks of the future defeat of Leviathan, also associating it with a twisted serpent that lives in the sea.

•Isaiah 51:9 and Psalm 89-8-10 also speak of a serpent associated with the sea that God defeated as a demonstration of His great strength, and identifies this serpent with the name Rahab, meaning proud one.

•Job 26:12-13 also refers to God’s piercing defeat of a fleeing serpent associated with the sea.