Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear List,

TWOT, Volume 1, pp 471-472, lwh, article by J. Barton Payne.

"III. Assumed root of the following. (liwya), (loya) wreath. Occurs in the
phrase 'liwyat hen referring to the instruction of parents (Prov 1:9), and to
the work of Wisdom (Prov 4:9).

(liwyatan) large aquatic animals, may be crocodile (Job 41;1 ASV marg.), 
serpent
(Isa 27:1), or whale (Ps 104:26, usually rendered "Leviathan' (consistently in
KJV, ASV, and RSV). (MY NOTE: Leviathan is a transliteration of the Hebrew 
word
(whether or not it is Hebrew see below).

liwyatan appears six times in the OT, as literal animal, a figure for Egypt 
(Ps
74:14), and a figure for sinful mankind in general (Isa 27:1).

Derived from a root attested in Arabic, lwy 'to twist' (liwya "wreath," Prov
1:9), liwyatan is reflected in Ugaritic "ltn," a monster called Lotan.
Biblically, however it appears only with other beasts: nahash "snake" (Isa
27;1), or tannin: large reptile (Ps 74:13-14).

Yahweh overawed Job by confronting him with his invincible create liwyatan 
(Job
41 [H 40:25ff.]). Clearly the Nile crocodile, with scaly hide (vv. 7, 15-17 [H
40:31; 41:7-9]), terrible teeth (v. 14 [H 6]), and swift swimming (v. 32 [H
24]), it is described poetically, i.e. "his sneezes flash forth light...out of
his nostrils smoke goes forth" (vv. 18-21 [H10-13]), but not mythological. 
Other
hyperbolical comparison follow: ... "see rest of paragraph.

Elsewhere liwyatan swims in God's "sea, great and wide," a creature "whom Thou
hast formed to play therein" (Ps 104:25-26), presumably a Mediterranean whale 
or
dolphin (NBD, p. 729). Yet unlike the hostile beasts in the somewhat parallel
"Hymn to the Sun," composed by the reform pharaoh Akenaten, Leviathan, et al.
wait humbly upon God (v. 27) as mankind's "fellow pensioners" (C.S. Lewis,
Reflections of the Psalms). The noun liwyatan may also designate serpents, 
such
as might be roused by snake-charming magicians,m who werealso reputed to 
impose
curses (Job 3:8); cf. Num 22:5-6). "Leviathan" thus comes to denote a swift 
sea
serpent, slain of God, to symbolize his eschatological "punishing of the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity" (Isa 26:21-27:1).

Many scholars identify the OT leviathan with such mythological monsters of 
chaos
as Lotan of Ugarit or Tiamat and Kingu of Babylon. It s crushed heads in Psa
74:13 (assumed to be seven) are equated with those of seven-headed dragons
(illustrated in IDB, III, P. 116) slain by Baal (Scripture substituting the 
name
of Yahweh), and its aroused coils in Job 3:8 with those which were supposed ot
cause eclipses when wrapped about the sum.

Negative criticism holds that the writers of the Old Testament had a real 
faith
in these creatures. But that the OT authors actually believed in such 
mythology
should be roundly denied. However, some have held that the references to the
Leviathan as many-headed in Ps 74:14 and to its serpent character in Job 3:8 
may
be allusions to the current mythological themes (cf. Smick, bibliog.). 
Albright
calss this a proper demythologizing by the biblical authors (YGC, pp. 183-93).
A brief bibliography is added.

First, it should be noticed that the word is transliterated. Second, since it 
is
found in Job, Pss., and Isa., which are poetic structures. The LXX translates
"liwyatan nahash" with "TON DRAKONTA" two times, while TON DRAKONTA translate
"et-hatannin). Leviathan = snake = dragon.

Job 3:8 (LXX) has KNTOS for liwyatan. Job 41:1 (H 40:25) DRAKONTA for 
liwyatan.
In fact, we all have to account for the entirety of chapter 41 with its
description of Leviathan. Your guess will probably be as good as mind to 
capture
all the imagery used.

Psalm 74: 14 has TOU DRAKONTOS for liwyatan and Psalm 104:26 has DRAKWN for
liwyatan.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rochelle Altman" <willaa AT netvision.net.il>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 11:23 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Leviathan


> Thank you, Yitzhak,
>
> You have saved me the nuisance of digging out notebooks from the late
> 1950's-early 1960's and demonstrated that the word is a loan word, but not
> Hebrew in origin. And that is the point, not that it became a word in 
> Hebrew.
>
> Loan words do not fit the basic patterns of word formation in a given
> language. Further, accounting for lost consonants (and vowels) cannot
> always be traced to a linguistic "law." With borrowed words, a great deal
> depends upon where and when the borrowed word was heard and recorded in the
> symbol set of the recipient language. (For pertinent examples of how words
> are recorded as they are heard, see John DeFrancis, Visible Speech: The
> Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems. Honolulu: Hawaii UP, 1989)
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Rochelle
>
> > > On 16 Jul 2006 at 21:42, Revdpickrel AT wmconnect.com wrote:
> > >
> > > > I agree 100 percent that Leviathan illustration is a metaphor, no
> > question
> > > > about that.  He certainly is not a great sea monster.  Leviathan
> > means "one who
> > > > dwell among the sea of humanity," not the seas where monsters live.
> > >
> > > What's your source for this definition?  Rochelle has said several
> > times that it's
> > > not a Hebrew word and nobody has challenged that, so I assume she's
> > correct,
> > > plus it doesn't look like a Hebrew word.  Do we know what language it 
> > > is?
> > > Seems to me we'd need to know that in order to nail down such a specific
> > > definition.
> >
> >How do you define a Hebrew word?  Are $or "ox", qeren "horn", or yayin 
> >"wine"
> >Hebrew words?  For all of these, linguists seem to believe that the words
were
> >borrowed at an earlier stage of Semitic, perhaps from an Indo-European
> >language, although the evidence is probably not sufficient for a definite
> >conclusion.  Other examples from other languages could be suggested,
> >including Sumerian and Akkadian.  The word "peten" which I mentioned in the
> >context of this thread appears to be a borrowing from Aramaic
> >("pattana"), since
> >that would explain the middle consonant "t" where other apparent cognates
have
> >a "th" (thus, suggesting Hebrew should have had a "$").  Does any of this
mean
> >that these words are not Hebrew?  The word "Leviathan" has its cognate in
> >Ugaritic "ltn" ("lotan"?).  The difference in the two consonants of the 
> >words
> >would seem to suggest that neither borrowed from the other, as there is no
> >way to explain the loss of these consonants.  It would seem most logical to
> >reconstruct them both to a word in a parent language ("Northwest Semitic"?)
> >and that word may have been borrowed.  Does that make it any less a Hebrew
> >word than "yayin" which may have been borrowed at the Northwest Semitic
> >stage?  Possible etymological definitions include basing the word on the 
> >root
> >l-w-y ("to surround") and also as comparable or a borrowing from Assyrian
> >lawuta:nu "servant".  The first would definitely seem to correspond with 
> >the
> >imagery of Leviathan as a "coiling" snake.
> >
> >Yitzhak Sapir
> >http://toldot.blogspot.com
>
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