Awakening Leviathan

Job 3:8 is an intriguing scripture. The NLT Study Bible has:

Let those who are experts at cursing—whose cursing could rouse Leviathan—curse that day.

Its footnote reads: “The expression experts at cursing refers to professional cursers such as Baalam (Num 22-24).”

The New Oxford Annotated Bible explains that “Leviathan, both in the Bible … and in other ancient Near Eastern literature, is a sea monster representing cosmic chaos. The threat to the cosmos is evidence, too, in the darkening of the skies (vv. 4-6,9).”

Additionally, others take this verse to another level, as seen in Job: A New Translation by Edward L. Greenstein:

May they condemn it—the cursers of Yamm [the Ugaritic sea-monster god], Those armed with a curse for Leviathan!

He presents the following explanation in his footnote:

Although the Hebrew word is vocalized yom, the word for “day,” the juxtaposition with Leviathan makes the primary reference clear. Yom is the Phoenician pronunciation of Yamm.

Robert Alter explains in his translation that:

As will happen again and again in the poem, the poet switches into a mythological register. Leviathan is the fearsome primordial sea-monster subdued by the god of order in Canaanite mythology. For this reason, some scholars prefer to read “Yamm-cursers” for “day-cursers,” assuming the Hebrew yam instead of yom. In either case, the cursers are mythological or magical agents.

The Harper Collins Study Bible explains this connection further:

The Hebrew words for day … and sea are similar, differing only in a vowel. Both Sea and Leviathan were thought to represent chaos in ancient myth (cf. Yamm and Lotan in Ugaritic myths). Professional diviners practiced magical cursing (cf. Balaam in Num 22-24).

Regarding the cursers, and the act of cursing and awakening, The Jewish Study Bible explains, “perhaps sorcerers who curse the cosmos. Leviathan is a mythical sea-monster who played a role in the mythology of Ugarit (in modern Syria).” Finally, the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible adds:

When it was aroused as part of a curse, it implied that chaos would prevail. … In the ancient Near East, those who curse days and rouse chaos creatures are typically demons, but Job’s reference here is oblique rather than specific.

This all helps us to see the graphic, heart-pounding language Job used in his expression of personal suffering. In his abysmal anguish he desired to have the day of his birth cursed in the most vitriolic way imaginable.

However, in response to this, the NLT Study Bible presents the following admonition to the reader:

Job complained mightily and earned God’s rebuke for it, yet God ultimately confirmed his righteousness. Job’s fundamental complaint was that God did not allow him a fair hearing to demonstrate his innocence before God and man. Job’s friends attacked Job for trying to vindicate himself, but God upheld Job’s innocence. God rebuked Job for his overreaching self-defense with its implied criticism of God’s fairness. In a gracious but firm act of self-revelation, God rebuked Job and shifted his focus away from his troubles and toward God (chs 38-41).

In general, the Bible depicts complaining as wrong. For example, God judged the Israelites for grumbling about their hardships in the wilderness (Num 14:27-37). Nonetheless, God affirmed Job and rejected those who tried to stop him from complaining (42:7-8).

Scripture admonishes us to rejoice and give thanks in all situations (Eph 5:20; Phil 4:4; 1 Thes 5:16-18). If we want to complain in prayer, we should follow the pattern of the psalms, which lead us past ourselves and back to God. Scripture calls us to endure through suffering and to persist in prayer (Jas 5:10, 13). Job’s positive example (Jas 5:11) is not so much in how he responded to his troubles or to his comforters but in how he responded to God (40:4-5; 42:1-6).

To connect this back to Job 3:8, instead of awakening more chaos into our lives, we are better off awakening productive and upbuilding thinking. That’s worth praying for.

Appendix

1. Another reference: Job 7:12

Another reference: Job 7:12

This verse reads in the New World Translation:

Am I the sea or a sea monster, That you should set a guard over me?

The Jewish Study Bible gives this explanation in its footnote:

As in 3.8, the author is building upon Canaanite mythology, best known from the myths discovered at Ugarit, where the sea (actually the deity Yam) and Dragon rebelled against the high god Baal. Job is asking God rhetorically if he is to be presumed extremely guilty like the sea or Dragon, for only that could explain his severe punishment.

Job: A New Translation by Edward L. Greenstein gives this interesting translation and explanation:

Am I Yamm?^[1]
Or am I Tannin?^[2]
Then why do you place me under guard?<sup>[3]

[1]</sup> The symbol of the watery chaos is the arch enemy of God.
^[2] A primeval sea serpent, a form of Yamm.
^[3] Not “that” but interrogative; see Jeremiah 8:22 (where maddua “why?” glosses the more archaic use of ki, cognate to 'eka in Ugaritic).

Lastly, Robert Alter gives this translation and explanation:

Am I Yamm or the Sea Beast,
that You should put a watch upon me?

Am I Yamm or the Sea Beast. Yamm is the sea god of Canaanite mythology. Figured as a sea monster, he is also called Tanin (as in the second name here), Rahab, and Leviathan.

In some versions, the monster has several heads. Yamm is subdued by Baal, the weather god, and imprisoned so that he cannot rise up to overwhelm the land. Thus Job, acutely aware of the brevity of his life as mortal man, rhetorically asks the deity whether he is to be thought of as an undying monstrous god to be kept imprisoned under eternal guard.

Variations of this potent myth will continue to crop up in the poem.

Thus Job is portrayed as pouring his heart out to God in brutal honesty. We are invited to do the same. How endearing that realization is!