Job 3 Footnotes

3:8 “Leviathan” is known from texts from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit, see 1:14-19) in which the god Baal battles and defeats Lotan (a great sea monster) and Yam (the sea god) with weapons over which he has pronounced an incantation. Some suggest this verse reflects those events and revocalizes the Hebrew word “day” (yom) to “sea” (yam). Others seek a background in mythologies that portray a solar or lunar eclipse as being caused by a great dragon. Mythological allusions need not indicate scriptural endorsement of paganism. Identical terms have different meanings in different contexts. Ancient Near Eastern backgrounds may have supplied the form but not the content of biblical material. Metaphorical use of “Leviathan” occurs elsewhere (41:1; Ps 74:14; 104:26; Is 27:1). Leviathan may symbolize an evil spirit. Job wished that it could have eradicated the day of his birth. A similar picture occurs in Rv 12:1-6.