Some time ago, Rachael requested in the Comments section of my Dinosaurs post that I post a picture of the Leviathan. At the time, I thought that I didn’t have time to do one. (I’ve gotten away from drawing and painting in favor of home schooling, knitting, and a writing career.) But then I realized I had on hand a watercolor that I had done years ago which includes the Leviathan.
The image below is from a version of the Book of Job that I did for my kids when they were little. I made it because there simply were no children’s books that accurately summarized the Book of Job. It’s not a popular topic in the first place, and even when it is dealt with, it tends to be handled very moralistically as being all about Job’s patience and righteousness. But that’s a rant for another day.
The reason the animals are portrayed as being in a tornado is that God “spoke to Job out of the whirlwind.” My son, at the time, was equal parts fascinated and terrified by the idea of tornadoes. The animals shown are unicorn, eagle, behemoth (the sauropod) and, in the lower left corner, Leviathan. (I include a unicorn because the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, mentions “monoceros” or “unicorn” where some English translations render “wild donkey” or “wild ox.”)
I must admit this Leviathan owes more to C.S. Lewis’s description of the sea monster in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I’ve portrayed it as a deep-sea creature. There is no hint of fire breathing or scales bumpy enough to leave an impression in the mud. Sorry, folks.
And … tah dah …!
Yes! My request has been granted! If more children saw this picture, then by popular demand more children’s books about Job would be made. A unicorn, a dinosaur, and a sea monster is a killer combination.
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You are so right. Our Arch book about Job doesn’t even mention the animals, despite a couple of other virtues.
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I have a Children’s Bible that was given to me in 1981. 505 pages, with illustrations, but no mention of Job or Leviathan.
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See? See???
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For some reason I always thought the leviathan was a crocodilian. Don’t know why.
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My NIV study Bible suggests in two footnotes that the Leviathan might have been a crocodile, right after it suggests that the Behemoth might be a hippo or an elephant. I think this is an attempt to make the Bible more believable by making it more boring. 🙂
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My student Bible has a footnote that the Behemoth large cedar trunk “tail” could mean “trunk”, as in elephant.
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Yes, we are reeeally trying, here. 🙂
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Maybe it was a Komodo Dragon
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The ESV study Bible notes that “tail” was used as a euphemism for the *ahem* reproductive organ.
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Oh great. I’m not going to draw that version.
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I’m partial to Gustave Doré’s interpretation: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Destruction_of_Leviathan.png
But I just love Doré.
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That looks terrific! Is it a woodcut?
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Yup. Did you know he did a whole series illustrating Paradise Lost? I’m reading Paradise Lost and just discovered it.
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No, that’s cool.
I feel like at some point in my education I heard his name, learned that he was the master of woodcuts, and saw one or two of his most famous ones. Then forgot all about it.
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I tried to post another comment with this link but it’s not showing up so I’ll try again.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-dore/all-works#!#filterName:Series_paradise-lost,resultType:masonry
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Thanks!
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I just found your other comment. It got flagged as Spam and sent to the Spam folder. Since you posted this one I went ahead & deleted it.
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