The Bible’s Monsters Explained： Leviathan, Behemoth & the Dragon of Revelation

Hi, I'm Adam Driggers and this is Beneath the Surface, a channel created to promote deeper engagement with the Word of God. In this video, I want to explore the great dragons and mythical beasts of the Bible, such as the monsters found in Revelation 12 and 13. There, you encounter a seven-headed dragon that works closely with a seven-headed beast rising from the sea, aided by a ram-like creature that emerges from the earth. Their appearance in Revelation might not be surprising, right? It's a strange book. But these creatures, or similar ones, appear in various parts of the Bible and surrounding cultures. For example, Job 40 and 41 describes two creatures called Leviathan and Behemoth. Isaiah refers to Leviathan as a twisting serpent. The psalmist describes Leviathan as having more than one head and as something that God plays with. In Ezekiel 29 and 32, the great dragon is linked with Pharaoh and his armies. These monsters appear in Scripture often enough to force us to ask questions about them. The most obvious being, are they real? That's where we should start as well. Are Leviathan and Behemoth literal creatures that once existed or may still exist in some unexplored part of the world? The answers to that question can be summarized into four categories – zoological, mythological, symbolic, and cryptozoological. Now, those in the zoological camp believe the biblical monsters are real creatures, just like the elephant, lion, or any other known animal. Some think they no longer exist, while others believe they still do. Either way, to them, Leviathan and Behemoth are real creatures. Now, those in the mythological camp argue that these beasts are remnants of ancient myths from the Old World. They align with Tiamat, the great dragon, and her allies from the Marduk creation story Anum Alish, or Yam and Mot, the great enemies of Baal in the Baal epic. They are simply fantasies created to explain the origins of the world or to justify the existence of evil within it. The biblical authors then use these myths to serve the same purpose. The symbolic camp views the beast as mere symbols or something else. They serve as metaphors for evil forces or for nations. Then there are those who believe Leviathan and Behemoth are creatures, like the latinus monster or Bigfoot. They exist, but we don't have solid proof of them. They lurk in the shadows. They exist in the gray area between myth and zoology. They are regarded as real but unverified. So, which is it? Well, the answer is all of the above, in my opinion. The biblical Leviathan and Behemoth can fall into all four categories. So, let me start by explaining how they fit into the zoological or cryptozoological groups. I'll focus more on Leviathan because of the number of references to it in the bible compared to Behemoth. Leviathan can be and is used as a name for zoological creatures. Take, for example, Herman Melville's Moby Dick. This is what he writes in chapter 41. Such were the thoughts that swayed me in this wild chase of Job's well, the great Leviathan. So, here he equates the great well, a known zoological creature, to Leviathan from Job 41. Now, later he admits the ones he refers to are smaller than Job's. This is what he writes. Nevertheless, a rare old well has been occasionally captured in the North Pacific, which measures 70 feet in length. He is the very Leviathan of scripture, but viewed from his own standpoint, and the well of today is but an infant. Now, Melville uses the term Leviathan as a category of sorts, right? And this is how we can refer to Leviathan as a zoological creature. Any literal creature that is large and untamable can fall into the category of Leviathan. Now, similarly, Leviathan can be classified as a cryptozoological or fall into that category because unexplained sightings may be identified as encounters with Leviathan. So, I have a personal example of how this could happen. I live in a city called the River City. Just a few blocks from the ocean is where I live. Rivers and waterways are everywhere. Most of those lead to the sea or the open ocean. We regularly see large fish, sea turtles, dolphins, and manatees. Once, while standing on a bulkhead, I was filled with wonder and a growing fear as a large wake approached. It was V or kind of U-shaped and about 25 feet wide. The amount of water it displaced suggested something really big, enormous. Now, having seen large wells in Washington State in the wild, I can say this wake was comparable to those, if not slightly bigger. But nothing in my area could explain something this large. In this sense, it was a Leviathan. It straddled the line between myth and zoology. It was clearly real. I could see it, but I couldn't identify what it was. That is, until they surfaced. Five large manatees in a perfect V pattern swimming quickly together. The point is, if they hadn't surfaced, you can imagine what my mind, my imagination might have done with that story over time. It would have been an encounter with Leviathan. Now, these examples illustrate how some view Leviathan as a zoological creature, while others see it as a cryptozoological. However, there's another perspective worth considering. In Jewish literature, Leviathan and Behemoth are regarded as zoological creatures that God has reserved for a future feast. Now, this is the Jewish thought on Leviathan. Jewish texts across eras treat Leviathan and Behemoth as real primeval creatures, whose meat will be served at a future messianic banquet called the Feast of Leviathan. The following are two examples from Second Temple Jewish apocalyptic texts. Second Baruch 28, 1 through 5 states this, And he answered and said unto me, Whatever shall then befall shall befall the whole earth. Therefore, all who live shall experience them. For at that time I will protect only those who are found in those same days in this land. And it shall come to pass, when all is accomplished that was to come to pass in those days, that the Messiah shall then begin to be revealed. And Behemoth shall be revealed from his place, and Leviathan shall ascend from the sea, these two great monsters which I created on the fifth day of creation, and shall have kept until that time. And then they shall be for food for all that are left. The earth also shall yield its fruit ten thousandfold, and on one vine there shall be a thousand branches, and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters, and each cluster shall produce a thousand grapes, and each grape shall produce a quart of wine. Now likewise, 4 Ezra 6 verses 49 through 52 state this, Then you preserved two living creatures. You named the one Behemoth, and the other you called Leviathan. You separated the one from the other, because the seventh part, where the water was collected, was unable to contain both of them. You gave to Behemoth the one part, which was dried up on the third day, to live in, and where there are a thousand mountains. But to Leviathan you gave the moist seventh part. You kept them to be consumed by whoever you wish and when you wish. So while Leviathan and Behemoth are depicted as ancient yet zoological creatures in these two passages, I think the Bible will tell us how to handle this idea, and I'll discuss that later. Now the symbolic interpretation of the biblical dragons is widespread and almost intuitive. Remember that this view describes Leviathan as a symbol of evil powers or nations. Ezekiel 29 and 32 support this interpretation. In these passages, Leviathan symbolizes the Pharaoh and his armies, Egypt's armies. So Ezekiel 29 3 through 4 says, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, My Nile is my own. I made it for myself. I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales, and I will draw you out of the midst of your streams with all the fish of your streams that sticks to your scales. Now there's a connection here to Job 41, which is the strongest biblical argument for a zoological creature. There, God asked Job if he could hook Leviathan by the jaw. Job 41 1. Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook or press down his tongue with a cord? Now while Job 41 appears to describe a literal creature, Ezekiel uses the same imagery to symbolize Egypt. Likewise, many scholars agree that the dragons in Revelation represent the Roman Empire. Matthew Halstead takes this position. On page 69 of his book, The End of the World as We Know It, What the Bible Really Says About the End Times and Why It's Good News, he writes this, The beast seems to be a symbol for the Roman Empire. It's John's way of unveiling Rome's monstrosity and exposing the empire's depravity. Now I can't disagree with that. Halstead goes on to explain how his assertion is valid and his argument is well laid out. Leviathan is at time a symbol of evil political powers. Now similar to Halstead, Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan from 1651 shares a comparable view, but instead of a creature of chaos, Leviathan represents the will of the people that will bring about the end of chaos. It's similar in that the will of the people is embodied by the sovereign state. However, Hobbes believes that strong centralized authority will put an end to chaos. Hobbes' Leviathan is regarded as one of the foundational works of modern political theory. So whether it's Ezekiel and Halstead who both use dragon imagery to symbolize evil political powers or Hobbes who used imagery to describe how centralized authority can overcome chaos, it's clear that Leviathan is sometimes symbolic rather than literal. Now that brings us to our only remaining category which is mythical. Leviathan in particular is a mythical creature of chaos that represents or is represented in many of the ancient epics. Now I've mentioned already the Enuma Elish from Babylon in the Baal epic from ancient Ugarit. I want to briefly describe the relevant parts here to set up this section about the mythical beast. The Enuma Elish describes how the Mesopotamian god Marduk created the heavens and the earth. They resulted from a battle with a dragon called Tiamat who represents the primordial chaotic sea. Now after Marduk defeats the dragon he splits her body into two parts. One part forms the heavens and the other part forms the earth. This is how ancient Mesopotamians especially in the region of Babylon describe creation. Tiamat represents the Leviathan creature, the dragon. The Baal epic is similar although it does lack the creation part at least in its current form. Instead there is a chaos dragon symbolizing the sea which brings order to an otherwise chaotic creation. Yam is the key figure here in this myth for Baal. Yam is the Hebrew word for sea and it appears throughout the Hebrew Bible often in contexts where a conflict seems to be happening. In another part of the Baal epic, Anat, Baal's ally, is said to defeat the seven-headed Lataan. Many believe that Baal and Anat together defeat Lataan. They also destroy Mot, the Hebrew word for death. Now like these two epics, many believe that the biblical Leviathan is a mythological figure that helped the biblical audience understand how their god became the patron or creator god. Psalm 74 is thought to refer to creation and mentions a battle with Leviathan. So Psalm 74 12 through 15 state this. Yet God my king is from of old working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might. You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You split open springs and brooks. You dried up ever flowing streams. Verse 16, Yours is the day. Yours also the night. You have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth. You made summer and winter. Now another passage that depicts a battle with Leviathan is found in Isaiah. It's chapter 27 verse 1. It says this, In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Now many see these passages as a polemic against the propaganda from surrounding cultures. For example, the biblical authors are telling their audience that it was God who defeated Leviathan not Baal or Mardu. In this way the Leviathan creature is simply mythical. It isn't necessarily real. It's a literary device. A storytelling tool. So which is it? Is Leviathan zoological or cryptological, symbolic or myth? Now to find out, you'll need to wait for part two where I will lay out another way to consider these biblical dragons. In the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments and hit the like button if you enjoyed the video. If you want to catch part two as soon as it hits, subscribe to the channel. You'll get a notification that it's live. Thanks for watching.