Mythology

(a) In Ps. 74:12-17 we have an account of how Yahweh, in a contest with the waters, smote the many-headed Leviathan, and then proceeded to create day and night, the heavenly bodies, and the order of the seasons. We have already seen [1] that in the Akkadian Epic of Creation Marduk’s slaying of the chaos-dragon Tiamat is followed by his ordering of the universe, and by the building of Esagila. It is also accepted by the majority of scholars that in the Hebrew word tehom used to denote the abyss of waters in Gen. t : 2 there is a reference to the chaos- dragon Tiamat, a point to which we shall return later. But in the passage from Ps. 74 the name of the water-dragon, Leviathan, is the same as the Ugaritic Lotan, the dragon slain by Baal. [2] Hence it is possible that the Hebrew poet was acquainted with the Canaanite form of the myth. We have also seen that another variant of the struggle of Baal against the forces of destruction was the conflict with Mot, which finally ended in the victory of Baal. [3] A reference to this feature of the Ugaritic myth has been seen in Ps. 48:14 which reads in the Revised Version, ‘For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death’. But the verse has been rendered, ‘Our God who abides for ever is our leader against Death (Hebrew mot)’, and connected with the Ugaritic myth. [4] This makes it probable that the passage from Ps. 74 is connected with the same source, although, unless we regard the myth of the building of a house for Baal as symbolic of creative activity, no Ugaritic myth of Creation has hitherto been discovered. (b) In Ps. 104 which is a meditation on Yahweh’s activity in Creation, a number of features of the Creation myth occur. Leviathan is mentioned, although not, apparently, as an enemy. Yahweh lays the beams of his chambers in the waters, where we have a parallel to the watery abode of Ea. He rides upon the clouds, an epithet of Baal in the Ugaritic texts. There is a reference to the creation of the sun and the moon and the ordering of the seasons. (c) Traces of the Creation myth which are not dependent on the two main versions found in Gen. 1 and 2 occur in job 38, one of the finest pieces of Hebrew poetry, probably of late post- exilic date. Here we find Yahweh described as laying the foundations of the earth on sockets, ‘when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy’, a feature of the myth which has no parallel elsewhere in the Old Testament, but which finds an echo in the rejoicing of the gods over the victory of Marduk in the Akkadian Epic of Creation, and also in the feast prepared by Baal for the gods and goddesses to celebrate the building of his palace. We also have the taming of the sea, to which Yahweh says, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed’ (verse II). There are two references to Leviathan in job: a cryptic allusion to those ‘who are skilful to rouse up Leviathan’ (3:8), and a description of Leviathan in Chapter 41 which is generally understood to be a reference to the crocodile. Here the monster has become completely demythologized. The former reference seems to suggest the use of Leviathan in magical spells. Under the name Rahab, ‘the arrogant one’, in 26:12-3, we find another reference to the slaying of the chaos-dragon, the taming of the sea, and the ordering of creation, ‘He stills the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smites through Rahab. By his spirit the heavens are beauty (or, adorned); his hand has pierced the swift (or, fleeing) serpent’. It is clear that in the book of job the pattern of the ancient myth of Creation has disintegrated and become poeticized. (d) Finally, the myth of the chaos-dragon passes into eschatology in the writings of the post- exilic prophets. In Isa. 27:1, an oracle, introduced by the characteristic formula ‘in that day’, declares, ‘Yahweh with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the swift serpent, and Leviathan the crooked (or, winding) serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. Again, in Isa. 51:9-10, we find another transmutation of the same myth. It has

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