Drawing Out Leviathan
March 01, 2008
A recent story from Fox News reports on the findings of a research team from the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, led by Dr. Jørn Hurum. The team found the fossilized skeleton of a sea monster known as a “pliosaur.” The skeleton was found in the mountains of Spitsbergen. Spitsbergen is the largest island in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, inside the Arctic Circle.
This pliosaur, found in the summer of 2006, is the largest sea creature of its type ever found in the world. It is estimated to have been over 50 feet in length and its jaws were 10 feet long. This would make this animal about the size of a school bus.
This sea creature is in the same family as the Kronosaurus found in Australia. A general description of this animal would be better describing it as a short-necked plesiosaur. The legendary Loch Ness Monster is thought to have been a plesiosaur.
With the rarity of a find like this and the size of the sea monster, team leader, Jorn Hurum, has nicknamed this animal “The Monster.”
Sea Monsters?
Stories of great sea monsters have been shared for generations. We hear the stories, we read the findings, we may even see the evidence first-hand in a museum, but where do we turn to find the truth of these great sea creatures?
As a Christian, I immediately turn to the Bible for answers. What if there were rooted deep in these stories, elements of reality; a sea creature with great size, strength, and power … something other than the great whales that swim our world’s oceans today, a sea creature beyond compare?
Levithan, a fire-breathing sea creature
In the 41st chapter of the book of Job, there is such a sea creature as this: “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fishhook?” The Tyndale Bible dictionary defines leviathan as a “Great sea monster or large aquatic reptile.” The book of Job describes it as having “strong scales” that are “so near to one another, that no air can come between them.” This sea creature is not a whale (whales do not have scales), nor is it an alligator as some have suggested (alligators are not sea creatures). The description of the size and strength of leviathan, as shown in the following verses, is compatible with the one of the great plesiosaurs or pliosaurs found as fossilized skeletons today.
Chapter 41:1-8 describes the strength of leviathan this way…
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!"
Job 41:14-27
"Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. His back is made of[d] rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth. In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable. His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone. When he raises himself up the mighty[e] are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
Chapter 41 describes a real sea creature with size, strength and power unlike man has seen today; but in the midst of this demonstration, God wants to remind us He is the One without equal, levithan is only a demonstration of God's power. As mentioned above, the creature named "pliosaur" is very similar to the levithan, but both animals were created to bring glory to God.
Let me encourage you to remember that while we are often amazed with the enormity, complexity and mystery of this world, all of the seen and unseen rest in the palm of God’s hand. He is our sovereign Creator.
Tommy