Many have given messages describing the Leviathan of Job 41. This article explores scriptures describing Victory over Leviathan.

Verses

Psalm 74:10-14 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them! But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth. It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

Isaiah 27:1 In that day, the Lord (YHVH) will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.

Exodus 14:21-22 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Observations

Many have engaged in descriptive studies of the nature of the Leviathan described in Job 41 , , . It is not my purpose here to delve into the details of pride, intimidation, despair, apathy, prayerlessness, relational contention and strife amongst other characteristics that are discerned in this passage. Of more interest are the victories over this entity that are contained in the word of God, and, as it turns out, enacted by the word of God.

Markers of the Season

We will commence by noting the circumstances prior to the victory in Psalm 74. It was a time marked by mockery of God (and by implication, His people), and of His name. This word has the same root as the defiant words issued by Goliath to taunt the armies of Israel. It was a time marked by those reviling the name of the Lord. This word has the same root as was used to describe the actions of the participants in Korah’s rebellion, so it is not only referring to those outside the camp, so to speak. It is also used a few verses later in Psalm 74:18 in reference to fools (nabal), those with no perception of ethical or religious claims.

In an earlier study, we turned our eyes to the spirit of wisdom to enact a counter strategy for wisdom to displace foolishness. This is a necessary foundation in order to step up in the face of intimidation that can become so infectious. However, there is more to the victory in Psalm 74.

Request for Intervention

Psalm 74 goes on to request the intervention of the right hand of God. In an earlier study of the name JHVH Nissi, we discovered that hand (yad) raised to, or upon, the throne is pointing us to the authority and rule within the kingdom of God. This implication is also in this Psalm. The Psalmist is requesting the Lord to stretch out his right hand from “the folds of his garment”. More directly, the underlying words of this phrase, qereb (inside) and cheq (bosom) indicate that the request is to draw out and exercise the reign and rule of God from within his bosom, from the core of his heart and the centre of his being.

Looking back with the hindsight the cross now permits, the phrase “you bring salvation (jesuowt) upon (qereb, inside, in the midst of) the earth” is both a memorial statement of a past event, and a prophetic request for an event yet to come. Jesus was sent to manifest the kingdom of God in the midst of the earth, and the Body of Christ continues that service to the people of the earth. Jesus and the church demonstrate the heart of God by extending his reign and rule.

Memorialising the Red Sea

Then from the request, the Psalmist steps into a victorious example from history to illustrate why he has faith that God will surely perform this again. “It was you who split open (parar divided) the sea (yam sea, red sea) by your power (beazzekah strength, might, boldness, loud volume).” This is not just any sea that was split open; this is a precise reference to the remarkable events of the Exodus at the crossing of the Red Sea. These events were initiated in the context of Pharoah’s armies almost overtaking the Israelites as they reached the Red Sea.

Moses held out his hand, and the strong east wind (beruah qadim azzah a fierce and mighty breath of His Spirit from the east) turned the water ahead of them into dry land (leharabah which has the same root as charabah desert). This was not the gentle quiet and soft whisper, but an extraordinarily powerful manifestation of the Spirit of God. So powerful that it turned a sea into dry ground or desert overnight. As a land dominated by vast inland deserts, this is an attention grabber for Australians. Not only that, but this same strength that the Lord demonstrated in dividing the sea was also prophesied in the Song of Moses (Ex 15:13, beazzekah) to be the strength to bring the people into the holy dwelling place of God himself.

Victory over Leviathan

Now we get to the specific details indicating this is a victory over Leviathan. “You broke (sibbarta shattered, crushed, broke into pieces, destroyed) the heads (rase heads/chiefs of fathers/households, leaders) of the monster (tanninim sea monster/serpent) in the waters.” We need to look behind this language as our explorations of the ocean depths have not (yet!) revealed to us any large sea creatures with multiple heads. So we are pointed to something more than a natural animal. In the context of the story of crossing the red sea, it would not be unreasonable to equate the monster with the Egyptian army destroyed by the waters.

The repetition of the phrase draws us towards this conclusion. “It was you who crushed (rissasta crushed, discouraged) the heads of leviathan.” The extension of this second phrase to indicate that the remains were then given as food to the creatures (leam which means people every other time it is used) of the desert. Once more we are pointed to the people who passed through on dry ground. Once more Australians would note it is talking about not only dry ground, but a desert wilderness. This is describing the people of the desert having a testimony of the victorious intervention of God that becomes food for their faith from that time onwards.

Jane Hamon describes being given a dream, while in Australia in August 2015, of 4 angels confronting leviathan . The next day, at an event in Brisbane with Jane, Greg Bailey enacted a symbolic alliance between heaven and earth, and told the story of the 100 year anniversary of Gallipoli in 2015, and the coming 100 year anniversary of ANZAC Lighthorse charge to liberate Beersheba in 2017. There is clearly a role for Australia to play.

God’s Intervention

So the Psalmist is recounting specifically the passage through the red sea during the Exodus, and is explicitly and precisely identifying leviathan with the power behind Egypt. Egypt’s Pharoah was worshipped in his land as a deity. This is one of many occasions recorded in scripture where God intervened powerfully in the affairs of men when their rulers demanded worship as a deity. Examples are the tower of Babel, and Babylon in the book of Daniel. Jesus also was born into a season when the Roman ruler Augustus deified his father, and consequently set himself up as “son of God”. The purpose of the Father manifests powerfully in circumstances in which the rulers of peoples overstep their boundaries to lay claim to the divinity of heaven for themselves. Leviathan is identified as the driving force behind this overreach by the rulers of Egypt.

God’s Process

In Isaiah 27 we are told a little about the process by which the Lord brings about His intervention with Leviathan. The first element is to “punish with the sword”. Here the word “punish” is yipqod, derived from paqad, which has the meanings to visit, to appoint, to take care or to call to account. The word “sword” is beharbow, which as a derivative of chereb meanings the sword as a weapon. However, as a derivative of hareb the word indicates more commonly the cutting edge of a sword.

The word of God is described as a “sharp double edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 6:17). Likewise praise of God is also described as a double edged sword (Psalm 149:6). So while it may be tempting to interpret the first step in Isaiah 27 as a military or militant intervention, this is not how the story of Exodus would lead us to interpret this phrase in Isaiah. In Exodus, God first appointed Moses to present his words, his strong and powerful, perhaps even severe and harsh words, to call the nation to account. Only when that carefully constructed, and sequentially escalated visitation failed did we end up at the crossing of the Red Sea.

When we combine Isaiah 27 with Psalm 74 and Exodus 14, we have a complete picture of the process by which the Lord overcomes Leviathan. The first part of Isaiah 27 brings us to the edge of the Red Sea. Psalm 74 and Exodus 14 tells us of the mighty power of the wind of God’s spirit creating dry land, and then all three give us the story of the sudden and complete destruction visited upon Egypt’s mobilized armies and their leaders, all operating under the influence of leviathan.

Constructing a Prayer Campaign

Perhaps as a result of the descriptive nature of other studies of Leviathan, most prayers for victory over Leviathan have focused on many of the individual characteristics it exhibits and which are described in Job 41. However, by looking at God’s process, we can enter into partnership with the Lord on a higher level. Paradoxically, engaging on this higher level involves less militancy in our prayer, but has us walking the path of peace with the authority of the kingdom of heaven.

Moses commenced this process with his encounter with God at the burning bush. He encountered God by name on the mountain of God. Another article on this blog addresses the unified ascent of the mountain of the Lord. This is a battle that requires us to encounter God. He dwells in the praises of his people. This invitation is to praise God by name. Our hearts become memorial altars to our encounters with the Lord by name, and our encounters with Jesus, who has the Name above all Names. We enter the heavenly realm with Christ seated in the throne room of heaven. This is the place where his name and his word are exalted and carry the full weight of the authority and glory of the kingdom of heaven.

From that ascended place of praising God’s name, we begin to take God’s word on our lips. Psalm 148 is a command to all creation to praise the Lord. Within this Psalm, Psalm 148:7 is a prayer that directly addresses the great sea creatures – we have been given words of a command to be issued to leviathan! Reading aloud this entire Psalm is a great way to take the word of God on our lips as a sharp double edged sword. In this place, courage and boldness arise in our hearts to express the word of God more generally.

Who knows, perhaps we may avoid the red sea experience. Perhaps the rulers will respond to the word of God as Pharaoh did not respond to the words God gave Moses. But if not, our prayer from the place of ascended unity will be to request the right hand of God, the Lord Jesus, to move in strength and power across this land, and for the mighty, forceful wind of the Holy Spirit to completely dry up the sea. The environment in which leviathan lives and moves and indeed frolics shall be completely dried up. The voices of those choosing not to respond to the word of the Lord shall be silenced and stopped in their tracks, before they reach the location in which Leviathan will be destroyed by the very water he thought would be his home. The Lord will crush leviathan under the weight of that returning water.

Not only will leviathan become food to the people of the dry land, the story will become our memorial of praise to God. Indeed, Jewish prayer and legend has it that the skin of Leviathan would become the material from which their tent at the Feast of Tabernacles would be made .

References