“May those who are ready to awaken Leviathan curse that day”
The Book of Job 3:8.
The name of this mythical beast comes from Hebrew and means “the one who twists” or “the one who stretches”.
The name is mainly found in Christian sources: the Old Testament (the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Psalms) and in the apocrypha (the Book of Enoch, the Book of Esdras), where it refers to a snake, a dragon, a crocodile, a whale or even a sea beast.
Leviathan is also mentioned in Rabbinic literature and in several Gnostic manuscripts. The Bible presents Leviathan as one of Yahweh’s creations.
“There are ships coming, and the Leviathan that you created to play in it.”
The Book of Psalms, 104:26.
Yahweh created this wonderful beast as the pride of the world.
However, Leviathan is also Yahweh’s enemy, he is the embodiment of evil, vanity, darkness and chaos, which this god constantly strives to defeat.
As a seven-headed serpent, Leviathan is one of the forms of the devil:
“On that day, the Lord will strike Leviathan, the running serpent, Lefiathan, the writhing serpent with his hard, great and strong sword, and kill the dragon that is in the sea.”
The Book of Isaiah, 27:1
The Old Testament describes Leviathan as the most dangerous monster that Yahweh must confront.
But in the apocrypha and Rabbinic literature, two monsters are mentioned,6 a man and a woman. The female is a Leviathan and the male is a Hippopotamus (plural “behamah” — “beast”).
According to the Midrash, two Leviathans were created on the fifth day of creation.
In the beginning, they were a married couple, but God, fearing that their offspring would destroy the world, killed the monster woman. Her flesh will be served as a treat for the pious on Judgment Day. The male monster lives in the seas, in particular in the Mediterranean Sea, and the waters of the Jordan run into his mouth. Leviathan’s eyes are also described: they glow with a strange light, they are “like the eyelids of the dawn” (Job 41:18).
However, according to the Book of Enoch, Leviathan and Behemoth will not be separated until the Day of Judgment:
“On that day, two monsters will be distributed for food: a female monster named Leviathan, who lives in the depths of the sea, above water sources; and a male monster named Behemoth; his chest is an invisible desert. His name is Dandayen in the east of the garden, where the elect and the righteous will live.”
The Book of Enoch, 7-9.
Both monsters will be defeated and Leviathan will be killed, and his body will be served to the feast of the righteous. From the skin of Leviathan, God will make tents for the most devout people, as well as belts, necklaces and jewelry. The remains of the skin will be hung on the walls of Jerusalem, and they will shine all over the world. According to legend, it is Gabriel who will meet Leviathan in battle. But he won’t be able to defeat the sea serpent by himself. Neither Yahweh nor any of his angels are strong enough to kill a sea serpent. God will order Leviathan and Behemoth (the proud bull) to engage in a duel, and their battle will end with the death of both monsters.
The Day of Judgment is also represented in the Syrian Apocalypse of Baruch. According to this apocryphal scripture, Leviathan and Behemoth will be killed on the day of the coming of the Messiah, and their flesh will serve as a feast for the elect.
Another apocrypha, the so-called “Books of Esdras” does not foresee the fate of Leviathan and Behemoth. However, they describe them as two monsters that were created on the fifth day and separated because the waters couldn’t hold them together. Behemoth went to live in the mountains and deserts, and God assigned Leviathan a seventh part of the earth — the one that was filled with waters. Then Behemoth became the lord of the land, and Leviathan became the lord of the waters and all aquatic creatures.
A description of Leviathan’s appearance is given in the Book of Job, where he is called a crocodile. His back consists of rows of shields, flaming torches come out of his mouth, sparks of fire pop out. Smoke comes out of his nostrils, and his breath can ignite coals. His heart is as hard as a stone. When he gets up, the strong faint in horror. When he moves, he leaves a shining trail behind. His breath moves the waves of the sea. He is the lord of storms and storms. No weapon can hurt him. He is invincible and is not afraid of anything.
“There is no such creature on earth without fear. He contemplates everything that is high. He is king over all the Sons of Pride.”
The Book of Job, 41,33-34.
Leviathan and Behemoth also appear in Gnostic sources. The Ophites considered these two entities as two (out of seven or ten) circles or stages that the soul must go through in order to purify itself and achieve bliss. In their writings, Leviathan is the soul of the world, identified with the serpent Ouroboros.
These two primordial beasts also have many analogues in other mythologies of the world and legends of different cultures. They are often identified with the Babylonian chaos dragon Tiamat and her consort Kingu (similarity in Aramaic phonetics “akna” — “serpent”). The name “Tiamat” means “abyss”, which corresponds to the Hebrew “tehom” — “depth”. In Ugaritic mythology, the analogue of Leviathan is Lotan, identified with another sea deity— Yamm. Perhaps the biblical story was based on the Canaanite story of the struggle between Yahweh and Baal: at the dawn of time, there were only two creatures: Yam and Baal. Yamm, also known as the “Prince of the Seas”, has been described as a sea monster dragon, serpent, or seven—headed beast. Baal was the god of storms, clouds and air. These two primordial beings have entered into a battle for power (sovereignty) above the world. This ended with Baal’s victory over the sea serpent Yamm.
A similar story is a myth about the battle between the Babylonian god Marduk and the goddess Tiamat, depicted as a sea dragon and represented by the personification of all waters. From her flesh he creates the earth and human bodies. Leviathan also shares many qualities with other snakes and sea beasts from many other mythologies, for example, with the Scandinavian Jormungander, Rahab and Tannin — sea demons from Jewish legends, the Norwegian Kraken or the legendary Hydra. Bernard Havelmans writes in his book “In the Footsteps of Sea Serpents” that Leviathan may be a real giant sea serpent, which was seen by many sailors during sea voyages.
In the Christian tradition, Leviathan is often identified with Satan or presented as one of the fallen angels who serves him: the lord of the waters and the western direction. This is how he appears in the grimoire of the Book of Sacred Magic by Abramelin the Magician. There he is mentioned as one of the main representatives of Hell, along with Lucifer, Belial and Satan. In this aspect, he is identified with the angel Rahab, who is often called the angel of death. this point of view stems from the ancient belief in the connection between the sea beast and darkness, evil — the common features of the devil:
"… The essence of Shaitan was called the “Ancient Serpent (Dragon)” and the “Lord of the Abyss.” According to experts such as I. A. Budge and S. N. Kramer, Leviathan is an Ancient Serpent or an Ancient Dragon. Leviathan is Lotan. Lotan leads to Tietan. Tietan, as we are told by authorities in Middle Eastern mythology, is a later form of Tiamat. In their opinion, the Dragon of the Abyss, called Shaitan, is the same Dragon of the Abyss called Tiamat [1].
Leviathan is also described as an intermediary between Lilith and Satan-Samael, a pair of hellish rulers. Moreover, he is the image of their union (intercourse): “You already know that evil Samael and evil Lilith are like a sexual couple who, through an intermediary, receive an evil and immoral emanation from one and emanate from the other.” I will explain this by relying on the esoteric meaning in the verse “On that day the Lord will punish with His great, cruel and mighty sword Leviathan, the coiled serpent, and Leviathan the writhing serpent” (Isaiah 27:1).
“Just as there is a pure Leviathan in the sea, and its name is the serpent, so there is a large defiled serpent in the sea, literally. The same is true in the hidden way above. The heavenly serpent — the blind prince — is the image of an intermediary between Samael and Lilith. His name is Tanin’iver… He is the bond, escort, and alliance between Samael and Lilith. If he had been created whole in the fullness of his emanation, he would have destroyed the world in an instant.”[2]
Thus, the name Leviathan (LvTHN) appears on the symbol of Baphomet, representing the union of Lilith and Samael, as an ambient and eternal Force — a symbol half-invented by Anton LaVey from the French occultist Eliphas Levy.
In the medieval encyclopedia of biblical art, the so-called Liber Floridus, we see Leviathan as a beast carrying the Antichrist on its back. Here Leviathan is represented as a beast resembling a dragon, with four eyes and sharp teeth. The drawing implies that the Antichrist draws his power from the beast he rides. This is confirmed by the Apocalypse of St. John: “People worship the Dragon, because he gave power to his beast” (Revelation 13:4).
Symbolically, Leviathan more represents the lower forces, the primary chaos that creates balance in the cosmic order. He is also the primordial beast serving as a cosmogonic sacrifice — Marduk defeats Tiamat, or Baal kills Yamma, so Yahweh kills the female Leviathan and uses her skin and flesh as elements for other creations. The “Garments of Light” prepared for Adam and Eve were created from the skin of a slain Leviathan. Since “clothes” are interpreted as flesh covering the human soul, so human bodies are part of the primordial beast of chaos.
Michael Aquino writes in The Diabolicon: “Before God or Angel, Daemon or man, there was only Leviathan, the principle of continuity and eternal existence.” Therefore, Leviathan represents the very beginning, the primordial cosmic forces that gave birth to the universe. It is no coincidence that the Gnostics believed that he was Anima Mundi, the soul of the world. He is the eternal beginning and the end. It cannot be defeated or tamed because a slain dragon or snake always comes back to life or exists as part of the world and human nature.
He can be awakened and summoned, as Job says, cursing the night of his birth, and saying that there are people who have managed to do this. In a microcosmic sense, Leviathan represents the darkest levels of the unconscious. He is an element of chaos and a potential of power lying dormant in the dark spaces of the human psyche.