Chafer Theological Seminary Journal
Equipping believers for the work of the ministry
Volume 11 Number 2 Spring 2005
Articles
Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part Two) 2 by Mark Perkins
To Possess One’s Vessel: 1 Thessalonians 4:4 23 by René Lopez
A Free Grace Critique of Irresistible Grace 52 by Timothy R. Nichols
Historical Considerations and Openness 64 Theology by Ron J. Bigalke Jr.
Amyraldianism: Theological Criteria for 83 Identification and Comparative Analysis by David Wenkel
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Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part Two) by Mark Perkins
A Review of the Thesis
Nineteenth-century archaeology unearthed a wealth of information related to the Bible, and with it, numerous documents containing secular myths which had striking similarities to the Bible—similarities that were forged into weapons of criticism and deconstruction, leading many to discard their high regard for Scripture. Old Testament passages that deal with sea monsters in particular have some parallels to the ancient secular literature. Unlike the creation and flood narratives of Genesis, however, these passages have not enjoyed a vigorous apologetic defense. The following questions need to be answered: Do these passages employ secular myths and figures? And if so, how? Carl F. H. Henry has rightly asked, “Could the God of the Bible have used myth as a literary device? Surely we must allow the sovereign God of Scripture complete freedom among the various possible means of expression. But whether God in fact used myth as a revelatory means is quite another question.”1 Later in the same discourse, he clarifies, “The basic issues reduce really to two alternatives: either man himself projects upon the world and its history a supernatural reality and activity that disallows objectively valid cognitive statements on the basis of divine disclosure, or a transcendent divine reality through intelligible revelation establishes the fact that God is actually at work in the sphere of nature and human affairs.”2 Does the Bible testify in support of the doctrine of inspiration? Can its sea monster passages be understood in light of their own contexts, apart from the finds of modern archaeology? This part of the article will attempt to answer these questions using the following two arguments: First, the God who inspired the Bible would not allow the interpretation of major passages to depend on the finds of archaeology. If He did, some passages could not have possibly been understood for centuries. Second, the contexts of the passages themselves, up to and including the whole Bible, are clearly sufficient for interpretation, so that no external documents are needed.
A Brief Roster of the Ancient Mediterranean Sea Monsters
Rahab. Rahab (the monster, not to be confused with Rahab the harlot in Joshua 2) means “proud one,” which immediately evokes the arrogance of Satan, as do the passages containing his name. Rahab is present in Job 9:13;
1 Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority (Nashville: Word, 1979), 1:44. 2 Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, 1:45. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 3
Job 26:12; Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 51:9. TWOT describes the verbal form in this manner:
The verb occurs only four times in the OT and signifies storming at or against something. The fundamental idea of rahab appears in the proverb, ‘Make sure thy friend’ (Prov 6:3 KJV), literally, storm him; . . . It denotes a tempestuous, and then arrogant, attitude.3
The Bible is the only text which contains the named sea monster Rahab in an original context, whomever or whatever Rahab describes, arrogance must remain central to the meaning of the description. Tannîn is the sea monster or dragon referenced in Psalm 74:13; Job 7:12; Isaiah 27:1; and Isaiah 51:9. The Ugaritic text from tablet I* AB contains the word tannîn, which is translated “serpent”:
If thou smite Lotan, the serpent slant, Destroy the serpent tortuous, Shalyat . . . of the seven heads4
Since tannîn is not a proper noun, it remains general enough to avoid much controversy on the mythology front. Yet, for many scholars, its appearance in several biblical passages has lent strength to the thesis of myth dependence. In many biblical contexts, tannîn conveys the idea of the common serpent. A much more provocative argument comes from Leviathan. Leviathan, “the crooked serpent,” is a name “derived from a root attested in Arabic, lwy ‘to twist.’”5 Ugaritic text from tablet I* AB also serves as an example here. Lotan is the Ugaritic equivalent of the Hebrew Leviathan. Another passage may also be added from Ugaritic Tablet V AB:
What enemy’s ris[en] ‘gainst Baal? What foe ‘gainst the Rider of Clouds? Crushed I not El’ Belov’d Yamm? Destroyed I not El’s Flood Rabbim? Did I not, pray, muzzle the Dragon? I did crush the crooked serpent, Shalyat the seven-headed.6
Yām, the sea, is perhaps the most fascinating of the monsters:
The key Canaanite myth that confirmed the power of Baal is the story of his battle with Yamm. The name Yamm means ‘sea,’ and the other name by which this adversary is known, Nahar, means
3TWOT, 2:834. 4ANET, 138. 5 TWOT, 472. 6 ANET, 137. 4 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
‘river.’ Like his many counterparts, from the Akkadian Labbu to the Skamander of Iliad 21, he embodies the chaotic, disintegrating power of water, whether as raging sea or flooding river. He is the enemy of good order in the husbanding of nature or in the governing of the state.7
As a reminder, here is a portion of the previous quote from Ugaritic V AB above: “Crushed I not El’s Belov’d Yamm?”8 The sea is personified as a prehistoric terror and enemy of God. In Daniel 7:2 and Revelation 13:1, as in other passages, the sea also spawns evil. These two, however, depict the sea as a dwelling place for evil and fall short of a personification. There are two ways the Hebrew language can describe a large body of water. The first is mayim, a plural noun which occurs hundreds of times in the Old Testament. Most often, it is translated as “water.” The second is yām, or sea, which also occurs frequently. It may be innocuous, as in Genesis 1:10: God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas. There are also more sinister usages. In Daniel 7:2 and Revelation 13:1, yām is mentioned in the context of evil sea monster activity, which makes yām malignant. Yām is present in Job 7:12; 26:12; Psalm 89:9–10; Habakkuk 3:15.
Take a Number: One Sea Monster at a Time, Please
A brief analysis of each of the sea monster passages will follow this format: 1) a consideration of the natural reading of the immediate context in the writer’s original language, 2) an annotation of the interpretive difficulties, 3) a discussion of the passage in light of other related passages, 4) conclusions.
The Reverse Birthday: Job’s Curse, Job 3:1–10
I) General introduction, v. 1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. II) The curse for the eradication of his birthday, vv. 2–9
And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, A) The initial curse, vv. 2–3 And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’
7Neil Forsyth, The Old Enemy Satan and the Combat Myth (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), 46-47. 8 ANET, 137. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 5
May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. B) The curse of darkness, vv. May darkness and the shadow of death 4–6a claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, C) The calendar curse, v. 6b May it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! D) The birth analogy curse, v. 7 May no joyful shout come into it! E) The appeal to professionals, May those curse it who curse the day, v. 8 Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its morning be dark; F) The curse against the coming May it look for light, but have none, of the day, v. 9 And not see the dawning of the day; Because it did not shut up the doors of my III) The reason for the curse, v. 10 mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
Job is filled with grief. He has lost his livestock, servants, and children (Job 1:13–19). Additionally, he is profoundly affected by illness (2:7–8) and by the anger of his wife (2:9). His friends arrive to comfort him, but they only stay with him and say nothing (2:11–13). Job has remained faithful to God with spectacular faith (1:20–21; 2:10). However, chapter 3 seems to begin with a different tone. Job launches a diatribe against the day of his birth, expressing his desire for its eradication: he wishes it to perish, to be cloaked in darkness and terror, to be removed from the calendar, and, ironically, not to be born. In v. 8, Job calls upon skilled hunters to curse the day of his birth. He finishes with an appeal for the night before his day of birth to come to a halt before the first light of dawn. Throughout this passage, Job employs the word llq (qll), to curse. The idea is to invoke an external power to do harm to someone or something. The majority of uses of this word in the Bible are in Numbers 23 and 24, where Balaam is goaded into cursing Israel. Here, Job wishes that harm from an external power (skilled hunters) come to the day of his birth. Who is Leviathan? This is the first time Leviathan is mentioned in the Bible. Job 41 gives God’s description of the creature. Leviathan is described as a physical creature of awesome power. Leviathan is a sea creature (v. 1) who is mighty in power (v. 12), whose skin is tough as armor (v. 13), and who breathes fire (vv. 18–21). This monster is incomparable among the creatures 6 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
of the earth (vv. 33–34). The description is given by God as an example of His creature—awesome in strength and impenetrable in defense. Job summons hunters who are skilled at rousing Leviathan because they are the mightiest men in all the earth, fierce and fearless sailors who are trained in the use of the best weaponry of the day. The modern day commandos are something of an equivalent of these men. Job desires to task them with a terrible mission, the destruction of the day of his birth. His agony and desperation are evident in these words, which turn out to be ironic in the light of God’s revelation later in the book. In chapter 41, God declares that Leviathan is a creature who cannot be killed (vv. 8-10). God’s description in chapter 41 is a sound refutation of Job’s assertion and can be applied to it even though there is no direct mention of Job’s reference. Even as no hunter is equal to Leviathan, so no one can refute God’s decision for Job to be born. Since God describes Leviathan as a literal creature of the sea, one of His making, there is no intent to present it as a monster of myth. Secular literature is not the source of information on Leviathan in Job, for this is original material.
A Not-So-Dangerous Man
Job 7 finds the man in continued anguish. His friend Eliphaz has weighed with a harsh judgment against him, and Job is now in the full swing of his rebuttal. He has admitted the rashness of his previous grief-filled discourse (6:3) and continues to insist on his innocence in the matter of his suffering. At this point, he only wants to die. Here is the outline of verses 11–15:
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I) Job’s reason for continued I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; discourse, v. 11 I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. II) Job’s observation regarding his Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, impotence, v. 12 That You set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, III) Job’s utter lack of comfort, even My couch will ease my complaint,’ in sleep, vv. 13–14 Then You scare me with dreams And terrify me with visions, So that my soul chooses strangling IV) Job’s conclusion about life, v. 15 And death rather than my body.
In 7:12, Job’s complaint turns to the sea and the sea monster. He asks, Am I the yām or tannîn, that you set a guard over me? The implication is that he is not dangerous, but impotent. It would be ridiculous to set a guard over Job. But yām and tannîn in fact do have guards over them because they are indeed Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 7
dangerous. Who is this that Job is talking about? To answer this, there is insufficient information in the immediate context. However, the underlying point here is that Job sets forth as a fact that there are two creatures who do have a guard over them. One is a corporate entity, while the other is an individual, tannîn; and though tannîn does not appear elsewhere in Job, yām occurs many times, both as the common word for a large body of water and as a reference to a group of sinister creatures. Scripture records that there are creatures kept under guard in Tartarus. Second Peter 2:4 has this to say: For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; Compare also Jude 6: And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Both refer to fallen angels who are incarcerated and awaiting final judgment (Revelation 20:10-14). Since Job presents this as fact and there is ample explanation for the situation he speaks of within the pages of the Bible, no dependence on secular myth is necessary. These are not Mesopotamian monsters concocted in the imaginations of ancient tellers and writers of fiction.
An Impotence without Recourse
Job 9:1–15 contains Job’s retort against Bildad, who has proclaimed that there is a faithful correlation between the inward spiritual condition of men and their outward circumstances. Job’s reply is that man cannot dispute God, that nature illustrates the awesome power of God, and that God in His very essence is awesome. In v. 13, he gives a historical example of God’s victory over those who dispute with Him.
Then Job answered and said: “Truly I know it is so, I) Man’s inability to dispute God, But how can a man be righteous before God? vv. 1–3 If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. II) The failed history of those who God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. have disputed God, v. 4 Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? III) The awesome power of God in nature, vv. 5–10:
8 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
He removes the mountains, and they do not know A) The God of the When He overturns them in His anger; earthquake, vv. 5–6 He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble;
C) The God of supernatural He commands the sun, and it does not rise; darkness, v. 7 He seals off the stars;
He alone spreads out the heavens, D) The God of creation of the And treads on the waves of the sea; heavens and earth, vv. 8–9, He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south; E) The summary of His He does great things past finding out, power in His works, v. 10 Yes, wonders without number. IV) The awesome power of God in His very essence, vv. 11–12:
A) The imperceptible God, v. If He goes by me, I do not see Him; 11 If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; B) The sovereignty of God, v. If He takes away, who can hinder Him? 12 Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ God will not withdraw His anger, V) The historical example of The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath God’s wrath, v.13 Him. “How then can I answer Him, VI) The rhetorical plea, v.14 And choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not VII) The indictment against God’s answer Him; mercy, v. 15 I would beg mercy of my Judge.
There are two possible references here to mythological monsters: v.8 and v. 13. The first of the two is the more difficult one. Vv. 5 and 6 seem plain enough, being a sound description of an earthquake. V. 7 refers to the times when God has caused astronomical events. Then Job 9:8 breaks into halves, with the first half being a reference to God’s creation of the heavens, and the second, to a trampling of the sea, yām. Is this a creature-entity or just the sea? There is a problem in that trampling is not a normal word for creation, but rather for destruction (as in “the trampling of rampaging elephants”). The translation of the participle dôrēk (“trampling”) is misleading. It means “walking,” and with the first participle, “stretching,” it describes God walking and stretching at the same time. The anthropomorphic picture in the verse— God walking on the sea with His feet and stretching out the heavens with His arms—is a way to communicate His awesome power in creation. Therefore, Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 9
yām is nothing more here than a common word for the primordial sea at the time of creation. After a further description of creation and God’s essence, Job moves on in v.13 to a historical example of those who failed in disputing God’s sovereign power. He says, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. As indicated earlier, Rahab is unique among the sea monster words in that it occurs only in the Bible. It means “proud one,” and that should govern our interpretation of passages where it occurs. The allies of the Proud One lie prostrate beneath God. The word is xxa# $f (s]a4h[ah,[ to bow down shamefully), as in Isaiah 2:11:
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Job says, “The Proud One.” His use of the definite article makes this a reference to a unique person, instead a class of individuals with the same quality. “In Hebrew, as in English, the definite noun directs attention to the referent’s identity, while the indefinite noun focuses on the class to which the referent belongs, its quality and character.”9 Who is the primary, easily identified “Proud One” of the Bible? With reference to pride, Satan stands out in stark contrast to all other biblical personages. Ezekiel 28:17 testifies to this: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. Also Isaiah 14:12-14 chimes in:
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Can any other person of the Bible bear the title “The Proud One” as well as Satan? Job is looking back on the time when God did not turn His wrath
9Bruce K. Waltke and Michael Patrick O'Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 236. 10 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
away from the helpers of the Proud One, perhaps referring to the prehistoric fall of angels mentioned in Revelation 12:3, or the plot attempted in Genesis 6. These helpers did not prevail, and so Job’s assertion regarding the invincibility of God stands. Additionally, consider the conduct of Satan in Job 1-2. He disputes with God, accusing God’s excellent man Job of weakness in prosperity (Job 1:9- 11). The very thought of anyone accusing God and disputing with Him over the character of one of His very own is outrageous. In his rejoinder to Bildad, Job says that he is neither righteous nor able to answer God—an answer that works very well as an unconscious reply to the accusation of Satan!
Assertion, Agreement, and Ultimate Point
Chapter 26 is the culmination of a lengthy debate on Job’s sinfulness. In chapter 22, Eliphaz makes many false accusations against Job in order to confirm that Job’s suffering correlates to some hidden wickedness. The following chapter has Job searching for God, and acknowledging His sovereignty. Then in chapter 24 Job makes a list of many sins which men commit and concludes with a statement concerning the fleeting nature of life on earth and the inevitability of death for all. Chapter 25 holds Bildad’s response, which seems to be in concord with Job’s statements. He agrees that God is indeed sovereign and that no man is righteous before Him. Chapter 26 begins with Job’s opinion of his friends’ counsel. He goes from there to describe God’s omniscience and omnipotence.
I) Sheol is not hidden from
God, vv. 5–6: A) The abode of the The dead tremble, departed spirits, v. 5 Those under the waters and those inhabiting them. B) God’s viewpoint on Sheol is naked before Him, Sheol, v. 6 And Destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, II) God’s power and Yet the clouds are not broken under it. intelligence in creation is He covers the face of His throne, evident in nature, vv. 7–10 And spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 11
The pillars of heaven tremble, III) God’s power and And are astonished at His rebuke. sovereignty toward the He stirs up the sea with His power, creatures of heaven, vv. 11– And by His understanding He breaks up the storm. 13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, IV) The absence of And how small a whisper we hear of Him! understanding on earth, v. 14 But the thunder of His power who can understand?”
The ability of God to see into Sheol demonstrates his omniscience. There is truly no human being who is able to match that. It seems that Job is contrasting the help of his friends with the potential help he might gain from God. This supports the reason for Job’s search for God in chapter 23. For similar reasons, he turns to the theme of the creation of the heavens and earth, which has left observable phenomena as evidence of its occurrence. What a wonder to observe the clouds, full of tons and tons of water, yet staying suspended in the air! Those same clouds obscure the face of the full moon—a wonder we often forget, perhaps because it is so common. And last, Job makes a remarkable observation for his time—that the line between daylight and darkness circumscribes a circle on the face of the earth. Job was no flat- earth believer. But for him, those things are evidence of God’s awesome power of creation. In vv.11–13, Job cites the case of the “pillars of heaven” and the “fleeing serpent.” These demonstrate divine sovereignty, the certain result of omniscience and omnipotence. Verse 11 establishes the awe of the greatest of heavenly creatures, the pillars of heaven. The pillars are the great ones who hold up the architecture of the angelic hierarchy. Yet even they tremble before God and are amazed at His rebuke. It is not immediately evident from this verse which historical rebuke Job refers to. It may well be the conspiracy from Noah’s time, or perhaps the prehistoric fall of Satan as depicted in Ezekiel 28:11–19. Regardless, those luminaries of the heavenly places are amazed at His rebuke. Verse 12 displays two of our sinister personages in terrible glory. Both yām and Rahab raise their ugly heads. Taken naturally, the verse speaks historically and not fancifully. That is, the references to the Sea and the Proud One are not intended as mythological. Having referred to creation as the solid rock of everyday truth, Job does not now turn to fiction to demonstrate a truth about God. There are no words indicating that this as a simile nor contextual clues pointing toward a metaphor. He who created the world is the same one who quiets the sea and shatters Rahab. This plainly does not refer to a 12 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
contemporary tale which makes God the victor of a fictional battle against mythological creatures. Instead, God won the victory over a class of spiritual but real beings whom we identify biblically as angels. At least two victories are recorded in the book of Genesis: the punishment of the serpent in Genesis 3 and the defeat of the Nephilim conspiracy in Genesis 6. There is also the previous allusion to the fall of Satan—surely a third victory which is prior to the Garden of Eden. Rahab is easy enough to account for as Satan, the Proud One. But what of yām, the sea? This verse associates the sea with the Proud One: the sea is quieted, and the Proud One is shattered. As already noted, yām in a normal sense refers to a large body of water. However, if the flood of Noah is an event when God shattered the Proud One, does it also simply describe a quieting of the H2O? The verb (garf (ra4ga() is one of the more difficult words in the Old Testament. It may mean either “to rest” or “to stir to action.” In light of v.13, which depicts the clearing beauty of the skies, the former seems a better choice. Genesis 8:1–3 is a great illustration of this: Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Verse 13 continues as a direct parallel to the preceding: By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Whereas verse 12 states that the waters subsided, verse 13 declares that the rain stops, which is also evident in Genesis 8:1–3. And even as God shattered the Proud One, His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. The nāhā9 š, the serpent of this verse, is one and the same as the Proud One, and this parallelism confirms what we already know: that the serpent of Genesis 3, the Proud One of Job, and Satan are one and the same. It is ironic that Job records God’s victory over Satan, seemingly ignorant of Satan’s slander against him. Job’s words are an inspired indictment against his own accuser, despite his ignorance of the backdrop to his pain and grief.
A Song of Ancient Victory
In Psalm 74, Asaph sings of God’s power in ancient victories as an encouragement in the midst of present suffering. The first eleven verses inform us of difficulties in Asaph’s time. The record seems truly daunting. Outward circumstances indicate God’s rejection of Israel, the people of promise (vv. 1–2). The land is devastated, including its natural resources, its buildings, and its people (vv. 3–9). Final, gasping questions linger: How long? Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 13 and Why? (vv. 10–11). In the midst of it all, Asaph remembers how in past times God has acted in awesome power and victory. Here is the outline of Psalm 74:12–17:
I) General introduction to God’s For God is my King from of old, former works of deliverance, v. 12, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. II) God’s victory in the ancient
past, vv. 13–15: A) The division of the sea and You divided the sea by Your strength; the defeat of the sea monsters, You broke the heads of the sea serpents v. 13 [tannîn] in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, B) The defeat of Leviathan, v. And gave him as food to the people 14 inhabiting the wilderness. C) The openings and closings You broke open the fountain and the flood; of underground springs, v. 15 You dried up mighty rivers. III) God’s power in creation, vv.
16–17: A) The ownership and creation The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; of the light and the sun, v. 16 You have prepared the light and the sun. B) The establishment of earth’s You have set all the borders of the earth; boundaries and seasons, v. 17 You have made summer and winter.
A word about simile and metaphor is in order, since these come into play for the interpretation of this passage. The identification of a simile is easy, since it has introductory words and phrases which give the reader or listener great certainty about the intent of the speaker or author: “My true love is like a rose.” Metaphor is trickier but sometimes still obvious: “The senator was a Godzilla, wreaking destruction in his path.” There are several interpretive paths in Psalm 74: God’s defeat of literal sea monsters; the sea monsters as metaphors of a past defeat of Satan; the sea monsters as an allusion to Egypt; and maybe others. But there are some contextual clues. The first clue is that this Psalm is about Israel and is written to encourage believers who lived at the time of its writing. Therefore, it must either state what is known to the readers or explain the unknown. There is no explanation given, so the former option is better. The Psalmist must have been writing about something known to the readers, and the metaphor must have been obvious to them. One can make another step in this reasoning: Psalm 74 is included in Scripture, so God must also make it understandable within the pages of His inspired text. The second clue is in the phrase you divided the seas. Exodus 14:21 reads, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. This is the only division of seas in the 14 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
Bible, and it also happens to be a great victory of God on behalf of Israel— just the tonic to the soul of those who are pressed down in the current crisis. A third clue, Ezekiel 29:3, helps explain the rest of the reference: Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster [tannîn] who lies in the midst of his rivers, Who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’" This passage equates Pharaoh with tannîn, the word for the sea monster in Psalm 74:13. Ezekiel 32:2 expresses the same idea. Some conservative scholars disagree:
carries ideas of shattering (פוררת) However, as observed in n. 13.a., the verb or breaking rather than of splitting or dividing. This combined with the creation language and the lack of explicit reference to the exodus makes it reasonable to conclude that the primary referents are the cosmic forces commonly treated as gods in ancient Near Eastern thought. For example, in the Ugaritic literature there is a struggle for cosmic kingship between the god Baal (thunder-storms and fertility) and Yam or Yamm (sea) and with the sea- monsters associated with Yamm.10
In a discourse meant to instill longsuffering among Israelites, what would be the most likely referent, and most encouraging? There is not much need to be explicit, since the readers have intimate familiarity with the subject at hand; the reference to the dividing of the waters is enough to indicate that Asaph speaks of the Exodus and not some cosmic battle mentioned in secular literature. A historical reference, and not a mythological one, is clearly the most relevant for encouragement. Leviathan in v.14 is a twisting serpent, and as seen above, Job understands him to be a literal creature of the sea. Asaph mentions him here and describes him as both killed and served up as food for the creatures of the wilderness. Since the context has a strong Exodus theme, it would be prudent to attempt to fit Leviathan within that theme. Exodus 14:30 describes the aftermath of the water overtaking the Egyptian army: Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. The dead bodies of the soldiers washed up on the shore and, it seems reasonable, became food for the scavengers of the wilderness. But how is Pharaoh’s army Leviathan? Aside from the association of sea monsters with Egypt in the previous verse, an army on the march, armored and glittering in the sun, can be the very picture of a twisting serpent. The reference to Leviathan works as a visual metaphor associating a terrible
10Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100, WBC, vol. 20, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker; Old Testament, ed. John D. W. Watts (Dallas: Word, 1998), 251. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 15
creature of the sea with one on land. In fact, Job compares the scales of Leviathan with armor in Job 41:13:
Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle?
Furthermore, the army of Egypt was the deadliest of its day, even as Leviathan was the most terrible creature of the sea. Considering the context, the metaphor fits like a glove. The next verse makes reference to God’s provision, and withdrawal of provision, of water during the wilderness journey. As Exodus 17:5–6 narrates, And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. The remainder of the passage turns to God’s power in creation, another awesome display of power and source of encouragement for Israel in time of desperate need. God was not going to change the circumstances right away. Hence, this Psalm of Asaph is filled with metaphor, fixing the eyes of the listeners upon the God of victories past. We would do well to do the same in our times of need.
A Victory over Angels, Psalm 89:5–10
Psalm 89 communicates vital truth about the power of God, encouraging Israel to stand fast and forming a rationale for divine intervention in a difficult time. Vv. 5–8 make a comparison between God and angels; then, there is a significant shift in vv. 9–10 to God’s defeat of yām, the Sea, and Rahab, the Proud One. This is not a shift away from the topic of angels entirely, but to a different category of angels: the fallen ones. This Psalm comes from Ethan the Ezrahite, and its purpose is to remind the listeners about the Davidic Covenant. God made a covenant with Israel regarding a royal line and a throne that would be established forever. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant, though His kingdom is in abeyance and He does not yet sit on the throne on earth. The portion pertinent to the subject at hand is vv. 5–10:
The heavens will acknowledge your wonders, Lord, Also your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the clouds compares to the Lord, [Who] is like the Lord among the sons of the gods? A God greatly dreaded in the council of holy ones, And feared above all surrounding Him. O Lord God of legions, 16 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
Who is like You, the mighty Lord, And Your faithfulness surrounding You? You are ruling over the majestic pretense of the sea [yām]. When its waves rise, You yourself fully calm them. You yourself utterly crushed Rahab like one who is slain, With your mighty arm you completely routed your enemies.11
In verse 5, Ethan acknowledges the greatness of God. This acknowledgment connects to God’s faithfulness in the assembly of holy ones, or angels. Daniel 4:13 explains the term: I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven. The heavens will acknowledge God’s faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. The implication is that the holy ones will praise Him as well. There is good precedent for this in Job 38:4–7:
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In Psalm 89:6–8, the Lord is raised up as one without peer. A call goes out to compare the Lord with all the other occupants of the heavens, and Ethan gives a pool of persons for the comparison: the sons of God. This phrase, like holy ones, refers to the angels. Job 38:7 reads:
When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The word angels is parallel to the word who in the first half of verse six, so the whole verse draws a grand comparison between angels and God. The purpose of the comparison is to exalt God above all others. If He is greater than the magnificent angels, He is awesome indeed. V. 7 exalts God by portraying Him as one who causes dread and fear in a council of all the angels. Two verbs work in tandem in order to demonstrate His predominance. Cra(f ( (a4ras)[ denotes physical terror. The very presence of the Lord causes this kind of fear, a quaking dread in the face of terrible power. The adverb bra (rab) modifies Cra(f ( (a4ras),[ amplifying the dread in the council of the angels. The second verb is )r"yf (ya4re4)), which has a connotation of a respectful fear of a powerful yet good being. God is feared
11 Translation by author. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 17
above all those around Him, and the virtues of His character are superior to all those of the surrounding council. V. 8 asks a rhetorical question:
O Lord God of legions, Who is like You, the mighty Lord, And Your faithfulness surrounding You?
Ethan moves God from a council to the head of the armies of angels, a military formation, addressing Him as the leader of the most awesome military force in the universe. A comparative question follows: Who is like You? as it does in v. 6. He is the mighty Lord. The second point of comparison is the faithfulness of the Lord. To this point, the meaning is plain and is not intended as a hyperbole. God is greater than all. The Psalmist presents evidence that the Lord is able to act and will act according to His holiness. In all of this, there has been absolutely no myth content. It is simply God as He is. The description of the Lord among the angels in council and war may, according to some, resemble the descriptions of the pantheon of the Greeks and other convocations of supernatural beings. However, conservative interpreters remain united in their insistence that the reference is to a real council and army of angels as plainly portrayed by the words of the passage. The Lord is victorious, vv. 9–10:
You are ruling over the majestic pretense of the sea (yām). When its waves rise, You yourself fully calm them. You yourself utterly crushed Rahab like one who is slain, with your mighty arm you completely routed your enemies.
V. 9 states that God rules over the majestic pretense of the sea.. Since the context describes those who are in opposition to God, presumption of majesty seems to be the right interpretive direction.12 The majestic pretense belongs to yām, the sea. In the immediate context, there is a reference to Rahab, the Proud One. Therefore, to take yām as a body of water here is incorrect. This context is significantly different from Job 9:11–13, where there was a specific reference to the flood of Noah. Here Ethan metaphorically describes a periodic arrogant rising and calming of demonic activity. Just as the wave is the individual element of the sea, so the demon is an individual member of the corpus of fallen angels. God consistently acts to quiet these outbursts of evil. In v. 10 God crushes Rahab, the Proud One, who is Satan, even as He calmed the activity of the fallen angels in the previous verse. There is no indication that this verse is taken from myth or is meant in any other way than
12TWOT, 143 18 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
literal. How could it be fantasy when the Psalmist addresses God directly in the second person? The Psalmist sets forth the subject simply as “You,” meaning God, and His action as )kd (dk)), a terrible crushing blow. This is a statement of reality, an indicative sentence, and not fantasy. Psalm 89 communicates vital truth about the power of God, encouraging Israel to stand fast in present difficulties. The Lord’s historic and continuing victory over fallen angelic forces serves as a vital backdrop to His continued intervention in Israel’s national destiny. David’s throne will surely come!
The Monsters of the Apocalypse, Isaiah 27:1
In Isaiah 27, the curtains of the future are pulled back, revealing a distant time when God will win the final battle against Satan and his minions. The immediate context is the Day of the Lord, that future time of great significance for Israel and all the world. Isaiah intends this as encouragement for the faithful of Israel, equipping them to endure in a time when few will be interested in God’s plan for them and their nation.
In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile [ie. dragon, tannîn] that is in the sea.
Isaiah makes two bold statements of God’s victory. The first half of the verse records His victory over Leviathan, also described as the fleeing serpent and the twisted serpent (nāhā9 š). God will defeat him with the His great and mighty sword. The sword in general is a common and powerful metaphor for divine judgment, as in Isaiah 66:16 and especially in Revelation 19:15. The dragon (tannîn) mentioned here in Isaiah 27:1 is also identified specifically in Revelation 12:9: So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Regarding the dragon who lives in the sea, Revelation 13:1 gives adequate testimony: Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. With specific biblical cross-referencing, reliance on secular myth is unnecessary. The twisting serpent is more than a metaphor or a simile; he is a personification of Satan. Possession of the assurance of the ultimate future victory was an effective way to summon courage for the faith-battles at hand in the Israel of Isaiah’s time.
Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 19
Which Victory?
Isaiah 51:9–11 echoes some of the thoughts from Job 26 and Psalm 74. In fact, on first reading it is difficult to sort out just which biblical event it might be depicting. Is it Noah’s flood or the rescue of the Israelites at the Red Sea crossing?
Awake, awake, put on strength, I) The call upon the mighty arm O arm of the Lord! of the Lord, v. 9a Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. II) The call upon God to do the acts of power similar to ancient victories and miracles, v. 9b–10: A) The ancient victory over Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, the Proud One, v. 9b And wounded the serpent? Are You not the One who dried up the sea, B) The rescue of the The waters of the great deep; redeemed in the deep, v. 10 That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed of the Lord shall return, III) The future rescue and And come to Zion with singing, everlasting rejoicing of the With everlasting joy on their heads. ransomed, v. 11 They shall obtain joy and gladness; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The context describes an ancient victory of God over the Proud One, the dragon. The details of the victory seem very similar in language to Psalm 74:12–15, prompting an inquiry into whether they are the same event. As previously concluded, Psalm 74:12-15 refers to the defeat of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea.
For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, And gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers.
Additionally, in Isaiah 51, Rahab replaces Leviathan of the Psalm, but the tannîn remains in both. Also, both passages describe God as the one who has done works of power long ago. The parallel between the Psalm’s the fountain and the flood and Isaiah’s the sea, the waters of the great deep is also 20 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005) noteworthy. It is enough to say that the two are close, and may even speak of the same event. Even more convincing evidence of the sameness of these events is Exodus 15:4–7:
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; They sank to the bottom like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; It consumed them like stubble.
Notice the similar language concerning the depths of the sea and the right hand of God as the symbolic description of divine power working the great miracle. The two parallel passages are enough to make a strong case for this passage as a description of the crossing of the Red Sea, meant to encourage those enduring the trial of Isaiah’s time. Isaiah is speaking to Israel about Israel. Instead of taking a biblical route, the Word Biblical Commentary follows the mythological course in its interpretation of this passage: "The references clearly relate Yahweh to a great victory over these primeval sea monsters in a form that is not included in Scripture and which is probably not acceptable in biblical doctrine. Yet it obviously played a role in popular thought."13 The commentator seems to have bought into the notion that the Bible borrows from secular myths. Yet for thousands of years before the discovery of the secular myth tablets, were the people of God left without a clear understanding of this passage? It seems rather uncharacteristic of God to give His message to man with a footnote, “See attached document,” and then leave it unattached for dozens of centuries until an archaeologist stumble across it. Furthermore, it would make little sense for Isaiah to quote from the mythology of another nation in order to encourage his own, especially when there are so many historical illustrations to choose from in the Torah. A folktale or a myth can provide no real measure of comfort compared to a historical allusion. In a national time of crisis, where do we find our own American foundation of hope for our own present endurance? In the folklore tales of Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan, or in history? It is better to say, “With
13John D. Watts, Isaiah 34-66, WBC, vol. 25, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker; Old Testament, ed. John D. W. Watts (Dallas: Word, 1998), 211. Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part 2) 21
God’s help, George Washington and the Continental Army endured at Valley Forge; so also will we in our hour of crisis,” or to encourage the nation from folktales or comic books. Isaiah cites history, not myth, and his encouragement is all the more effective for it.
Some Final Thoughts
Do any of the above passages employ an ancient myth as an illustration? More specifically, are the references mythological or historical? At the heart of the matter of deciding the allusions of the sea monster passages lies the principle that a metaphor requires intent. If these are metaphorical allusions to secular myths, then we could expect the biblical authors to make their mythical quality clear. What clues in the text may we expect if this were the case? To illustrate, one valid source material for the Bible was mentioned in the first half of this work,14 the Book of the Wars of the Lord. The reference to it occurs in Numbers 21:14–15: Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: “Waheb in Suphah, The brooks of the Arnon, And the slope of the brooks That reaches to the dwelling of Ar, And lies on the border of Moab.” The obvious clue here is a direct citation, a plain mention of the source— perhaps the earliest recorded footnote! Lacking such an obvious clue, then we must default to letting the Bible interpret the Bible, according to our rules of interpretation. Many scholars have noted the similarities between the biblical Noah and the countless secular flood myths. Yet, the biblical flood narrative should be taken literally because it is written as such. We should apply this principle consistently to the sea monster passages. Imagine if it were assumed that Genesis 6–9 was mythical allusion. Noah would simply be a reference to myths as an illustration of divine power and judgment, so that our understanding of the literal intent of the author would be lost. Likewise, if this method were applied to the creation narrative, it would cast that crucial portion of Scripture into the netherworld of equality with other myths and deprive it of the divine witness to the creation of the universe and man, the fall of man, and ultimately the redemption of man! The “sea monster” passages of the Old Testament are not dependent on long-buried secular myths for understanding, and it is a fundamental error of hermeneutics to assume that they are. In every case, the Bible itself provides sufficient information by way of the analogy of faith, so that the message of God is preserved in its original form.
14 Mark Perkins, “Bible Sources: Truth or Myth (Part One),” CTS Journal 10 (Spring, 2005): 25-39. 22 CTS Journal 11 (Fall 2005)
Conclusion
The neoorthodox movement cut a swath through evangelical Christianity, leaving much wreckage in its wake. Its basic hermeneutical tenet was the equality of all ancient literature and the denial of the doctrine of inspiration, which commonized Scripture and rendered it hors de combat, no longer “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”15 Its method focused on historical criticism and literary comparison, so that the trio of inerrancy, infallibility, and authority fell as one. Conservative scholarship differs presuppositionally, taking the Bible alone as the inspired word of God. Although the Bible does employ obvious pre-existing sources, this does not deny inspiration but instead strongly confirms dual authorship. Instead of finding and applying truth about God’s ancient victories over Satan, the demons, and Egypt, even conservatives have enshrouded the sea monster passages in neoorthodox attitudes and methods. These passages remain great veins of truth, waiting to be mined by those who will delve into them with the traditional orthodox hermeneutics. Encouragement and spiritual momentum will be the proper result, according to the divine design.
Mark Perkins received a B.A. from Azusa Pacific University in 1982 and an M.Div. in New Testament from Talbot School of Theology in 1985. He served as a Cavalry Scout and Fire Detection Controller in the Army National Guard from 1986 until 1991, was ordained in 1987 at Berachah Church in Houston, Texas, and since 1988 has served as pastor of Front Range Bible Church in Denver, Colorado. Mark and his wife Rene married in 1987 and have two children, Turner, born in 1995, and Alexandra, born in 1998. They enjoy backpacking and adventuring in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
152 Tim. 3:16b-17.