romcm 25 4 1 52 B a w e usu

THE M"THICAL S E R P E N TS

""

HE B R EW L ITE RAT"R E .

B" R o s s G . M"R I S"N , M . A B . D

Lec tu r e r "r ion ta"Langu ages in "n ive r sity College ,

THE M"TH ICAL SERPENTS "" H EBREW L ITERAT"RE .

R oss G. M u r ison , M .A . , B .D .

There seems to be no l im it to human credu l i ty as to the forms

wh ich an imals may assume , or the attributes wh ich they may

possess .

1 Th ree s tages i n the deve lopmen t of fabu lous creatu res

may be traced : The an imal i s fi rs t cred i ted w i th ce rtain powe rs

i t does not , and p robab ly cannot then an imal s a l toge the r

fabu lous , but st i l l be longing to a defin i te and we l l-known class , are

supposed to ex i st ;3 and the th i rd stage i s to imagine mons ters of no

certain c lass , but possess i ng parts and attr ibutes of seve ral , and al l

greatly exaggerated . Vari ous k i nds of these last-named creatu res ,popu larly ca l led d ragons , have been be l i eved i n , bu t w i th rar e

except i on s the basal fo rm has been the se rpent or the crocod i le ,and they have often been known as se rpen ts or even as worms .

‘

They dwe l t i n sec luded or desert spots , and were of h ideous shape

w i th g low i ng eyes , fie ry b reath and impene trable sca les . The i r

hunge r was insat i able , man be i ng the i r favori te food , and young ,

beau t i fu l ma idens seem i ng ly the i r greates t de l icacy .

When pr im i t i ve man began to seek causes fo r the phenomena

of nature , these monsters be ing al ready the most h ideous th i ngs he

had imagi ned , such phenomena as we re regarded as ev i l cam e

natural ly to be conce ived of as being the work of some dragon of

s im i lar form . The first th i ng to suggest the monste r se rpent was

probably the ec l ipse,wh ich being rare i s the more myste r i ous , and

i t also attacks the moon , wh i ch i s the great fr i e nd of the savage

because i t l ights up the d readed darknes s . The shadow creep i ng

gradual ly ove r the face of the moon must be the work of some

mon ste r of ev i l who has se ized i t and i s gradua l ly swa l low ing i t as

a serpen t swal lows i ts v ict im .

” The l i gh tn i ng flash ing ac ross the

sky suggested the w i nd ing snake,the thunde r c loud creep ing up

as i f seek i ng to blot out the sun became a monster,and the long

ex tended ra inbow looked l i ke a se rpent s tretched across the heavens .

“

1 See Ash ton , “ Curious C rea tures i n Z oo l ogy .

2 Some people still bel ieve that the ordi nar y rat has foreknowledge and can tel l when a shipit i nfests is to si nk .

3 As , for ex ample. the Basil isk. the Lamb -T ree , and the Barnacle Goo se .

4 Cf . the “ Laidly lo athely)W orms " of B ri ta i n . This name is probably the "ld Engl ishte rm for these monste rs . Cf . Ge rman , L i ndwu rm , Se rpen t W orm .

5 I n Chi na. as i n ancient Egypt, duri ng an eclipse the people make al l sorts of hideous noisesto frigh ten o ff the dragon .

6 I n I ndia the rainbow is bel ieved to be a gigantic se rpent blown up to the sky from underground ; in Pers ia i t is cal led the “ celesti al se rpen t.

”

(Crooke."olklore of I ndia. I I

4 M anson : The Myth ical Se rpenls of Hebr ew L z'

tem fu r e .

Then,as man began to perce i ve the ete rnal warfare be tween good

and ev i l,the causes of evi l ceased to be conce i ved of as simpl e

dragons,an d became evi l sp i r i ts i n that shape . Darkness and dawn ,

summer and win te r , and al l th i ngs moral and physical we re part of

th i s t i tan i c s t ruggl e . "i n al ly i t was an easy t ran s i t i on to apply thenames and tales of dragons to h i stori cal even ts an d persons .

W ate r has always been a great gatheri ng poi n t for the myth ,

for i ts qual i t i es are so myste ri ous,and i t i s so essen t i al to l i fe .

Every sp ri ng was regarded as th e possess ion of some being , every

st ream had i ts spi r i t o r was person ified as a god .

7 The great sea

espec i al ly imp ressed i ts d racon i c qual i t i es upon mank ind . I t i s

so treach erous an d merci l ess,so fu l l of myste ry , and powe r , and

eve r-ch angi ng moods,th at mari t ime peop les came to regard i t as a

l i v i ng th ing and a bei ng not always or general ly fri endly to man .

I ts con t i nual raging agains t i ts sho res , and espec i al ly i n bays whe re

flood ti des are common,th e waves com ing i n wi th “ th e i r c rue l ,

craw l i ng foam,

’ so pe rs i sten t ly t ryi ng to redeem the l and to i tse l f,and devas tate the world

,made i t appear as the enemy of manki nd

and therefore of the gods and of good . The sea thus became among

some peop l e s a great dragon and the symbol of evi l .

There are seve ral names and many refe ren ces i n th e O ld Testa

ment wh ich c learly show that th e H ebrews , l i ke the res t of mank ind ,

be l i eved i n the same k i n d of monste rs and devel oped the same

myths . The generi c name in H ebrew for th e “ dragon i s

the exten ded th i ng , a name wh i ch may be appl i ed to any'

large

an imal of the exact characte r , s ize , and shape of wh i ch th e speake r i s

ignoran t (Gen . I 2 1 ; Exod . 7 : 9 ; Ps. 9 1 : I n Deut . 32 : 33 the

tann i n i s a fabu lous monster ; i n Ps. 1 4 8 : 7 , "o b 7 : 1 2,i t i s th e

dragon of the Deep ;8 and i n I sa . 2 7 : 1 , 59 : 9 ,

Ps . 74 : 1 3 , i t has an

h i stori cal refe rence .

A c l ose ly al l i ed word to th i s i s gun (wi th same root mean i ng ,

bu t always p lu ral,once fem in i ne tano th ,

M al. I The tan im are

jackal s,bu t the word i s several t imes employed as a synonym of

tann i n,probably th rough cle ri cal e rror .

9 I n Ezek . 29 : 3 , 32 : 2 , the

tannim i s Egypt o r Pharaoh , the Crocodi le Dragon ; and i n I sa . 35 : 7 ,

"e r . 9 : I", Ps . 4 4 : 20 ,i t seems to be noth ing more than a fabu lou s

mons te r .

7 The N i le God i s pictured as i nhabiting a chambe r formed by the outl ine of a se rpent . witha smal l opening through wh ich he pours the waters . In Cush ing 's Z uh i "olkta les there is a ta leof the Serpen t of the Sea. the spi ri t of the wate rs who appeared i n se rpent form and to whomall spri ngs belonged .

8 Gunkel'

s Sc hopfung und Chaos deals ver y exhaustively with the myth of Tiamat , the dragonof the Deep, and references to it i n the "ld Testamen t. He seeks . however , to find i t i n too manypl aces . forgetful of the fact that there were other myth ic be in gs bel ieved i n by the Hebrews .

9 I n Lam . 4 : 1 3 tannin is w ri tten by mistake for tann im . The "eth ibh gives the correct readi ng .

fila r zivon : The zl/yl/z z'

cal Se rpents of Hebr ew Lite r atur e . 5

Theflan”: qfiw(

I sa . 1 4 : the fiery flying serpen t,i s s imply

an imaginary repti l e,wi th noth i ng of the myth i n it .

1 0 The "l ee ing

Serpen t (H’flj. W31 3, I sa . 2 7 : 1 , J ob 26 : 1 3) and the To rtuous Se r

pen t I sa . 2 7 : 1 ) are descri pt i ve names of the Sky

se rpen t,the dragon of the ec l i pse and the storm cloud .

The name Levi athan root , to bi nd or coi l , of . flfil) , a

wreath or garland , Prov . 1 : 9) i s gi ven at fi rst to the ordi n ary

monster of the popular imaginat i on,and the name shows how natura l

i t was to attr i bute to these the se rpen t form . I n Ps . 1 04 : 26 the

name i s used as a col lecti ve for the monste rs of the sea , the great

tanninim of Gen . 1 and in j ob 40 : 2 5—4 1 26 the crocodi le i s

descr i bed under th i s t i t l e .

1 2 The name i s a lso given to the sky

serpen t ( I sa . 27 : 1 ) and to the dragon of the Ocean (Ps . 74 : 1 3 ,

I n the latter i t i s refe rred to as many—headed .

Dmn i s exac tly the same word as Tiamat , th e name of the Baby

lon i an dragon of the waters , and comes from the root D1fl ,to roar .

Perhaps because of i ts mytho logical s ign i ficance i n th e Babylon ian

folk lore , the O ld Testament wri te rs se ldom emp loyed i t wi th a myth i c

mean ing . On ly once (Ps . 48 : 7) does the word refe r to fabulous

c reatu res,and there the te/wmo tk are sea-monsters . I n othe r places

the name means s imp ly the sea and i ts waves (Exod . 1 5 : 5 , and

often ). The te/wmo t/z of Deut . 8 : 7 are the water-cou rses or spr ings ,and in Deut . 33 : 1 3 te/wm i s the subterranean sea which feeds

these . The express i on “ te/wmo t/z of the earth (Ps . 7 1 : 20) seems

to have been a proverbi al sayi ng mean i ng the opposi te of th e“ he igh ts of heaven .

”

The name Rahab (jflfi ) i s usual ly expl ain ed to mean arrogancy

or capaciousness . Bu t i t may be a fore ign word Hebraized,and as

i ts pr i nc i pal refe rence i s to Egypt , i t i s poss ibly Egyp ti an ,and from

some word or name compounded with Ra , th e name of the sup reme

sun-god .

“ I n Ps. 87 : 4 Rahab i s u sed as a name for Egypt , but i n

al l other i n stances of i ts use there i s a myth i c reference,and Rahab

i s almost always the equ i val en t of Ti amat .“

The Behemoth of j ob 40 : 5-24 i s the h i ppopotamus . (The name

i s the pl ura l of the word for catt l e , and may mean “ the col ossal

1 0 The bel ief in winged se rpents was unive rsal .1 1 The parallel to Leviathan is njfijx ,

sh ips . Gunkel would read mjnflx ,terrors , or

terror-causing th i ngs , wh ich gives a better paral lel .1 2 Arabs cal l the crocod i le Pharaoh .

1 3 Bel ief in a many-headed serpe nt is q uite common . Cf . Apoc . 1 2 3ff. 1 3

1 4 Hapi was the name of the N i le god , and Egypt migh t be said to be the land of Ra and Hapi .1 5 The word r eha bz

'

m i n Ps. 40 : 5 has a purely moral reference. I t has no connection wi th thenam e Rahab , bu t is probably the plural of the Hebrew word to wh ich the foreign name has beenass imi lated in form . Some take the word to be appl ied to false gods , as is shedz

'

m , demons , i nDeut . 32 7 .

6 M u r z'

son : The Mythic al Se rpents of Hebr ew Liter atu r e .

creatu re . I t may be a H ebrew form of a fore ign name,and many

regard i t as be i ng from th e Egypt ian P -ehe -mo u ,

“ wate r-o x ,

” but

th i s i s objected to because such a name has nowhere yet been found . )1 6

Gunke l wou ld find i n the Levi athan and Behem o th'

o f jo b fabu lous

and perhaps myth i c mon s te rs , because of thei r connect i on wi th the

water , and becau se the re are attri butes ascribed to them that no

natu ral an imal cou ld possess , bu t the re appears i n th e passage n oth ing

mo re than the exaggerat i on of poetry and di s tance .

I sa . 30 : 6a,

“ the orac le conce rn i ng the Behemoth of the sou th

count ry , i s ev ident ly a gloss or margina l note exp lanatory of th e

beas ts ment i oned in th i s pecu l i ar verse . Vv . 6 , 7 ough t not to be

separated , for no new prophecy begi n s here . Del i tzsch,howeve r

,

unders tands by Behemoth the h ippopotamus , and Duhm wou ld read

O racle of the dese rt (changi ng h to sh) of the N egeb .

”

One of the most cathol i c myth s the worl d h as known i s th e

Baby lon ian legend of Tiamat , the great dragon of th e Deep , th e

enemy of the gods . Tiamat of frigh tfu l mi en was before al l th i ngs ,even before dei ty . W hen the gods appeared she was en raged

,for i f

they were to ru le , her unquest i oned sway must end . She sought ,therefore , to destroy the gods , who cowered i n te r ro r , un t i l M erodach ,

son of Ea , the good god , arose and offe red to be thei r champi on .

I n the momen tous s truggle , wh i ch i s mos t graph ical ly to l d i n story

and p i ctu re , M erodach was v i c tori ous ; the d ragon was s lai n and he r

he lpers scatte red .

I n anc i en t t imes the Pers ian Gu l f extended much farth er north

than i t n ow does , and what i s now Central Babylon ia was th en i ts

sho re . M oreove r , one of th e dangers of th i s low- ly i ng land was the

overflow i ng of th e Euph rates , wh i ch was a great sou rce of loss,

especi al ly before the sys tem of canal i zat i on was begun . Thus the

water , th e Deep , obtain ed great p rom in en ce among the peop l e as a

sou rce of ev i l , and the myth of Tiamat emerged . Thi s my th i n time

became more abstract , and was appl i ed to any combat , as between

l igh t and darkness,righ t and wrong , th e coun try and i ts enem ies .

The story sp read among al l S em i t i c peop l e,and in to the nat i on s

wh ich came i n contac t wi th them , and as among these the sea was

not so dangerous , Tiamat became i den t ified wi th th e sun myth s and

1 6 I n late r"ewish mythology Leviath an and Behemoth were great monste rs created i n the beginning ma le and female. Had they been a llowed to bri ng forth young the world would soon have beendes troyed by them . God therefore destroyed the female Leviathan , and kept the male for h i s amusemen t (of : Ps. 1 04 : Accordi ng to another version of the myth , God forbade the angel to ki l lLeviathan , and made the male Levia than and Behemoth figh t wi th one another un ti l both were killed .

(This conflic t became also a c osmic struggle , like the dragon stories of other peoples . ) The flesh ofthese mons te rs is to be the food of the righ teous i n the “ ete rnity to come .

"

(Webe r , Altsynago gale nPali stinisc hen Th eologie, 1 95 , I n mediaeval times Behemoth was one of the ch ief demons ."eanne d'

Arc was officiall y declared by her ecclesias tical judges to be possessed of twel ve dev i l s , ofwh ich the ch ief were Satan , Belial , and Behemmo th .

blumso n s The "Mythical Serpents of Hebr ew Lite ratu r e . 7

storm dragon s . I t i s thus not easy to be ce rtai n what i s , or i s no t ,due to the Babylon ian story i n the i r mythologies .

1 7

j us t as the Ch ri st i an abhorrence of the snake i s due more to the

story of th e "al l and to serpen t myth s than to the rept i l e i tse lf, so i tis ce rtai n the H ebrew view of the sea i s due to th e Tiamat myth . I n

the O ld Testament the ocean appears as a se rpen t monste r , and

noth i ng i l l ust rates th e omn ipotence of God so much as H is con t rol of

the sea (Ps . The heaven ly bodies and the sea are th e two poles

of c reated th i ngs . The H ebrew poet,l ook ing up to the heavens , was

awed (Ps . The hosts of heaven are so s i l en t (Ps. 1 9) and so

o rderly , each impl i c i t ly obey ing God , by whom they are marshal l ed

fo r se rv i ce , and when H e summons them by name not one i s l ack i ng

( I sa . 40 : 26 ; Ps . 1 4 7 : They rejo ice to run the i r cou rse , and thus

the H eavens became the pe rson ificat i on of orde r,

” and God was cal l ed

J ehovah of H osts .

1 9 But when the poet l ooked down to the M edite r

ranean he was al so awed,but by the opposi te of th i s

,for there , i n stead

of a lov ing , obedien t se rvant of God , he saw a rebel l i ous dragon , con

quered and chai ned , but st i l l un repen tant .20 God has brought the Sea

i n to subjection and gi ven i t i ts bounds (je r . 5 : 2 2 ; J ob 38 : SH) , but i trefuses to be reconc i l ed , and i s cont in ual ly ra i s i ng i ts waves , i t s voice

agai n st H im (Ps . He treads upon i ts ar r ogrant waves , and

reduces them to peace ("o b 9 : but i t i s the peace of a sulk ing

monste r , which soon forgets i ts chast i sement , and attempts agai n to

avenge i tse lf upon H is people an d H is land , and i ts waves seem as i f

t ryi ng to reach the very heavens .

21 The Sea thus became the symbol

of tumu l t and rebel l i on .

22

1 7 I n Egypt , the Desert , ever present and always see king to engulf the land . was the symbolof evi l , but the story of the st ruggle between Set-Typhon and the good gods contains elemen tsbo rrowed from the Babylonian . The Aryans had thei r own and i ndependent myths , and the notionof se rpent enemies of the brigh t gods runs through the mythology of al l the Aryan peo pl es . (Co x ,

Aryan M ythology. IL : The Tiamat story may be compared wi th the combat be tween I ndra andVritra, the bi ting snake o f darkne ss ,

" or with the slaying of the B lack snake"al inak , the old se rpentwith a thousand heads , by "rishna , the S un . ( I n N epal , at the great snake fes tival , the people celebrate the victory of the se rpent i n the great st ruggle between N aga and Garuda , the foe of the se rpen trace. Crooke. II. : The Greek myths show the same forms . but unmistakable t races of theTiamat story sometimes show themselves , as would be ex pec ted . since the Greeks borrowed so muchof the beginnings of their progress from Babylonian sou rces . A good example occu rs i n ZElian ,

Var . Hist . III. : 1 , where Apol lo. at the command of Z eus , slays the Python which was guard i ng the"racle at Delph i , then in possession of the earth . (The name Python is possibly deri ved from theS e m i t i c mg). The C rusade rs found the Tiamat myth i n Pales tine , and brough t i t with themto B ri ta i n , where . under the form of S t. George and the Dragon , i t has si nce been a favou ri te tale.

1 8 Sheol is a place without any order ("o b 1 0 :

1 9 Th i s name later received new signific atio ns .

20 The old Hebrew view of the sea is very cl osely parallel to the Chri stian bel ief about Satan asseen in M i l ton . There is most probably a connection between them .

2 1 Bes ides the rebel l ion of the Sea. the Talmud says that the earth rose up against the heavens .d issati sfied because her inhabitants must suppo rt themselves by the labo u r of their hands . wh ile theinhabitants of heaven are nou ri shed by the bri lliancy of the Shekinah . ( I n the G reek myth the ea r thappears as the enemy of the sun . ) L ight and darkness were also at war with one another ti l l Godseparated them and imposed peace . The darkness in the beginn ing was Sammael , the Angel ofDeath , wh ich was enshroud ing al l th ings . (Webe r.

2 2 Th is is what is referred to when i t is said , “ Reuben is turbulen t as water. He wi l l not besubjec t to rule , therefore he cannot prevail .

8 M ur ison : The zllyt/zical Serpents qf Hebr ew Lite ratu r e .

Another v i ew of the sea a lso appeared i n Babylon i a . Becau se of

the fe rt i l i ty wh i ch fo l lowed the abatement of the wate rs after an

overflow , and espec ia l ly from the recess i on of th e Pe rs i an Gulf,wh ich

was con t i n ua l ly , though gradual ly , giv i ng up new so i l , the re arose the

be l i ef among some th i nkers that the Ocean was the fi rs t of al l th i ngs,

from wh i ch the rest of creat i on sp rang .

28 I n the Creat i on S to ry i n

Genes i s the same ideas are seen , bu t the re the doctr i n e i s mod ified and

c lar ified . God i n the begi nn i ng c reated al l th i ngs,bu t at firs t there

was mere ly Teh om , or Chaos , en shrouded i n darkness . The next

step was to d iss ipate th is darkness,the st rongho ld of Chaos

,and

then the firmament was made i n o rde r to separate be tween the

waters . Th i s done , Tehom was commanded to give up the so l id

l and ,Le t the waters gather them se lves togeth er i n to one p lace

,

that the dry land may appear . Th i s command had to be obeyed .

The great Deep was thu s b rough t wi th in bounds (J er . 5 : and

God cou ld then proceed wi th the creat i on of l i fe upon the earth .

References to the dragon as a fabu lous an imal mere ly are few ,

and have al ready been not i ced . A l l u s i on s to mytho logica l d ragons

are more common,and i t i s especia l ly th e Tiamat myth wh i ch

appears . I n J ob 7 : 1 2 , the patriarch i r r i tab ly tu rn s on God and

demands ,“Am I the Sea or the Tann i n , that thou shou ldest set a

guard over me" He re the sea i s the image of the mon ste r wh i ch

req u i res to be kep t under perpetua l su rve i l lance l est i t b reak ou t and

destroy , and J ob q ueru lous ly wonde rs i f he has a wi ld ,untameable

natu re l i ke Tiamat , th at he must be treated as she was , and hemmed

i n l ike the sea . The Tann i n and Tiamat are here synonymous .

J ob 26 : 1 2 , H e te r r ifie th the sea and smi teth th rough Rahab ,i s also the myth of Tiamat . Because of the proximi ty and constant

influence of Egyp t , the Egypt i an name Rahab becomes the mos t

freq uent synonym for the dragon,bu t though the hands be the hands

of Esau , th e voi ce i s J acob’s voi ce

,the myth i c background i s a lways

the Baby lon i an Tiamat . Rahab i s h e re Tiamat,the Sea, the enemy

who rages again s t God , but who i s terr ified i n to q u ietness by H i s

power . The "lee ing Serpen t of the fo l lowing verse i s not "i ngu thel i eutenant of Tiamat , but , as the con text shows , i t i s the

'

sto rm or

ecl ipse dragon,the p i e rc i ng of wh i ch makes and keeps th e heaven s

br igh t . 24 Ps. 89 : 1 0 , 1 1 , 26 a lso exh ib its Rahab as the sea , the enemy

of God wh i ch H e i n the p len i tude of h i s powe r has conq uered .

23 Tiamat is before al l the gods . She i s represented as female, pe rhaps bec ause she is the mother ofall . I n Hebrew Djnn i s femin in e and D1 i s masculine. The legend that the first s teps in civiliz ationwere given to the Babylonians by a dragon wh ich issued from the sea is probably a late r development from this. I n some vers ions of the Tiamat myth one hal f of her body is made i n to thefirmament, the other i n to the so lid land. I t i s from this source that Thales. an Asiatic and thefirst Greek philosopher, received the suggestion of h is cosmological doct ri nes . I t was from theBabylonian also that he lea rned how to pred ict eclipses .

24 There is here no reference to the constel lat ion of the Dragon .

lMu r ison Tb e 1V1 ftkz'

cal Serpents q f Hebr ew Lite r atu r e . 9

j ob 9 : 1 3 , where“ the he lpe rs of Rahab are ment i oned , i s to be

explain ed by v . 8 , where God i s said to t read on the h igh and proud

waves (”NDD) of the sea . Both verses express the same i dea ; but

one i s cl oth ed i n s imple figurat i ve l anguage,the other i n mythol ogi cal .

Tiamat had he r he l pe rs , who are represen ted as fighti ng bravely for

fo r her , and who i n the fi rs t form of the s to ry were probab ly th e

waves of th e sea . I n Ezek . Egypt and her hel pers are

spoken of, whi ch i s evident ly th e same expressi on as th i s , but with

th e o rd i nary name for Egypt used .

I n Amos 9 : 3 th e re occu rs the st range prophecy ,Though they

h ide themse l ves from my sigh t i n the bottom of the sea , from the re

I shal l i n st ruct the serpen t and he wi l l b i te them .

” The serpen t i s

paral le led i n th e fol lowing ve rse by the sword,conce rn i ng wh ich the

same language i s used , whi ch seems to imply that the express ion i s

to be taken l i te ral ly , and the se rpen t here may be noth i ng more than

an ord i nary se rpen t , a typ i cal i n st rumen t of puni shmen t represented

as even pene trating the sea i n search of i ts v i ct im . There i s possi b ly

some myth i cal al lu s ion,and at al l events the connec tion between the

sea and the serpen t i s c learly shown .

W hen j ob can no longer rest rai n h i s impat ien ce , he breaks forth

wi th imprecati ons upon the day of h i s bi rth : Mav those cu rse i t ,who cu rse th e days

,those who are sk i l fu l to st i r up Leviathan ”

(j ob Here the dragon Levi athan i s the flee ing serpent of

the sky , and "o b des i res that i t may destroy the brigh tness of h i sb ir thdav and rende r i t unluc kv ,

for an ecl i pse was always an ev i l

omen . Doubtl ess the magi cian s c laimed to have power to st i r up

th i s se rpen t .

“

"rom i ts con tex t, Levi athan i n Ps. 74 : 1 3 , 1 4 , i s seen to be the

D ragon of the Deep , he re represented as many-headed . The sea

and the tannin im are i ts paral le l s . Ps. 74 : 1 2—23 and PS . 89 are

seemi ngly both connected wi th some c reati on hymn in wh ich the

story of Ti amat occup i ed a prominen t p lace .

The p rophe ts and the poets of I s rae l frequen t ly l iken the enem ies

of th e i r l and to these mons ters . I sa iah was utte rly opposed to any

al l i ance wi th Egypt,and warned h i s fel low ci ti zen s agai nst trust i ng to

that l and,whose help “ i s on ly wind and empti ness .

” “ Therefore ,”

he says ,“ have I cal led her fi l a‘fljfl firm”

( I sa . These

words have been vari ous ly trans lated,but th ey ev ident ly form one

name , or epi thet,appl ied to Egyp t . The M assoret i c poi n t ing

Rahab-hem-sheb he th i s ce rtai n ly wrong . The righ t reading i s

25 Among al l pri miti ve peoples days were either lucky or un lucky there are few neutral . "ridayis still regarded by some as unluc kv. "o b by h is cu rses may seek noth ing more than to makeh is bi rthday a day of evil omen . Gunkel to identify Leviathan with Tiamat would change D

'

fl to

Dfi but such a change is unnecessary . since the contex t suppl ies the obvious refe rence .

1 0 M u r ison : The Mythical Serpents of Hebr ew Literatur e .

poss ib ly Rahab-ham—sho b heth , Rahab-roar i ng-doing-noth ing,and

wou ld mean that Egypt i s a d ragon who roars most loud ly,giv ing

prom ise of great powers to he lp i ts fr i ends , bu t i n the day of need

does noth i ng. Th i s wou ld be a very fi tt ing t i tle for Egypt,and

wou ld desc ribe we l l the part she so often p layed i n the po l i t ics of

Palest ine .

26

I n I sai ah Egyp t i s again named Rahab , and cal led a

dragon .

“ A rt thou not i t that hewed Rahab in p i eces,p i erced the

dragon and dr i ed up the sea , the waters of the great tekom"” The

reference i s to the passage of the Red Sea, wh i ch , becaus e of the

regard in wh ich the sea was he ld was always looked upon by the

H ebrews as the greatest act i n thei r redemp t i on from Egyp t . "et iti s redo lent of the myth . Tiamat was p i e rced through and cu t in

p i eces by M e rodach , just as the waters of the great Deep were

dr i ed up .

Ezek i e l 29 : 3 , 32 : 2 , cal ls Egyp t a tann im that l i e th in the m idst

of the r ivers,a tann im of the seas . The foundat i on form of th i s

monste r i s,howeve r , the crocod i le . Gunke l seeks to find he re also

the Ti amat story , becau se the tannim c laims he had made the river

for h imse lf. Such a c la im cou ld not,he says

,be made by Pharaoh ,

and therefore the w ri ter i s referr i ng to Ti amat . The s ingu lar 3W&‘i s eviden tly a M assore t i c m i s read ing for the p lu ral (cf . v . 4 )ar i s ing ou t of the use of the s ingu lar in the paralle l passage in v . 9 ;

and mu st mean the canal s and i rrigat i on channe l s,wh i ch Pharaoh

cou ld eas i ly c la im as h i s own work .

The h i s tor i cal refe rence of I sa iah i s not c lear I n that

day "ahweh sha l l v i s i t wi th h i s hard,and great

,and strong sword

Levi athan the flee ing serpen t,and Lev i athan the tortuous serpen t ,

and he shal l s lay the tann in wh i ch i s in the sea .

” These names

have usual ly been app l i ed to three d iff erent powers , of wh ich the

tann in was Egyp t , but there i s great d ivergen ce of "p in i on as to what

powers are rep resented by the two Lev iathan s . Compared wi th

ch . i t does n ot seem necessary to postu late three d iff eren t

dragons , or even two , the three express ion s are mere ly the emphat ic

repet i t i on of the one idea. ( l Cheyne,Comm . ) The ve rse i s fu l l

of the myth . The sword i s th e cherub im sword tu rn i ng every way , so

that even the flee ing , to rtuous Lev iathan cannot escape i t ; i t i s the

l ightn i ng sword of M erodach wi th wh i ch he p i e rced the d ragon . As

the flee i ng se rpen t in J ob 26 : 13 i s certai n ly the serpent of the sky , i tmay be that the wr i ter here draws from both myths , bu t the on e

name wou ld read i ly be app l i ed to d iff erent monsters .

26 I saiah seems to like names of th i s ki nd , and M ah er-shalal-hash-baz i s a clo se paral lel (Isa. 8 : x).

MacCurdy(Hist. P r o ph . M o n. IL : 43 1 ) suggests as the probable reading Rahab-hammashbith , Rahabwho b ri ngs to nought.

10 78072 e rp en zs 0 u e r azu r e .

N ebuchadrezzar ("e r . i s cal l ed a tann i n because of h is

vorac i ty fo r conquest : He hath swal lowed us up l i ke a tann i n , he

hath fi l l ed h i s be l ly wi th my dai nti es .

” The tann i n here i s s imply a

fabulous serpen t monster,and there i s no myth i cal al lus ion .

The seraph im are undoubtedly connected wi th the serpent , or

dragon . The name i s appl i ed on ly once to di v ine attendan ts

( I sa . 6 : 2 if ). The same name i s given to the se rpen ts wh i ch

attacked the I s rae l i tes in the wi lde rness , wh ich i s p robably the

reason the n ame i s not given more frequen t ly to supernatural

bei ngs . I n Greek mythology the dragons are not necessari ly evi l .

They are the cl ear-sigh ted ones , and there are many i nstances

re lated of the i r mi n is tering to d iv i ne he roes . The Semi t i c con

c eptio n was probably the same,and the se raph im

,who are r epr e

sen ted as be ing co lossa l i n s ize , are the brigh t ones , the d ragon s

of the gods . I n the v is ion of I saiah the div in e at tendan ts natural ly

take a form wh i ch i s al ready i n the consc iousness of the see r . The

main characte ri s t i c of the seraph im i s the i r flying power,and for

th i s each had si x wings . The flying se rpen t ( I sa . 1 4 : 29) i s al so a

saraph , and i t would thus seem that i n zool ogy th e saraph is a

flying se rpen t , i n theol ogy i t i s a flying heaven ly be ing , and the

one i s ce rtai n ly connected w i th the other . The Seraphim foam the

body-guard of the Lord , standi ng about H is th rone and guardi ng

the holy palace , pe rforming the functi ons wh i ch are most frequent ly

asc ri bed to the se rpen t . I t may th erefore be regarded as certai n

that th e popu lar,mythi c saraph wh ich l i es beh i nd

,and condi t i on s

the concept ion of the p rophe t , was a se rpen t-dragon of one ki nd or

anothe r . A s the extra-b i b l ical che rub was eviden tly th e s torm-cloud,

or i t s d ragon (Ps. 1 1 ; Ezek . 28 : hence , from i ts name,

the saraph i s most l i ke ly th e se rpen t-l i ke l igh tn i ng .

The D ragon ’s W e l l (PR-ln (

II") N eh . 2 : 1 3) must h ave been a

spri ng or fountai n wi th wh ich some legend of a d ragon was

connected,i n what re lat i on cannot now be asce rtai ned .

2 7 The root of the name is Spdxew,to see .