As the storm continues to rage around Job, God continues to speak out of the whirlwind. But why, oh why, does his attention fall on two creatures from mythology? Over a third of what he says to Job focuses upon telling him about Behemoth (a male land monster that ancient people thought lived in the wastelands) and Leviathan (a female sea serpent thought to dwell in the depths of the ocean).
Imagine the modern-day equivalent of going for grief counselling, only for the counsellor to spend a third of the time talking to you about the might of Cyclops and the Minotaur.
It makes no pastoral sense whatsoever.
And it's worse for Job, because it's God speaking to him and not a human.
So what's going on?
Job brought this topic up first
It may surprise you to discover God's not gone off-topic because Job mentioned these mythical creatures first—and only eight verses into his first speech.
Yes, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry be heard in it.
Let those curse it who curse the Sea,
those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.
Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none;
may it not see the eyelids of the morning...
— Job in his first speech, Job 3:7-10 NRSV
As verse 8 has an air of mystery to it in most English translations, I include a second translation for comparison.
May that night prove infertile,
and may no moan of pleasure be heard there.
Bring out the enchanters, the diviners who cast their spells on the day—
who can awaken that beast, Leviathan—
And may the early-morning stars be extinguished.
Let the day wait for a light that won't ever come,
And may it never see the eyelids of dawn crack open.
— Job in his first speech, Job 3:7-9 VOICE
Job is in a really dark place in his opening speech. The pain of his loss is so great he wishes he'd never been born. In eloquent language, Job expresses how he wants to reverse creation. Not just to undo the day he was born, but the joyful night he was conceived, too, and then the whole day and night cycle itself!
In Job 3:8, Job seeks those who excel at cursing—a mysterious group that the VOICE suggests could be enchanters or diviners. Whoever they are, their role is to "curse the Sea" and "awaken that beast, Leviathan."
Both the Sea and Leviathan were thought of in the ancient world as mythical forces of chaos. Job wants them roused to help him achieve his goal of turning the earth back to the non-ordered existence of darkness and deep waters that's described before day 1 in Genesis 1:2.
In his despair, Job seeks to return creation to primordial chaos, the same chaos that marks his current experience.
— Kathryn Schifferdecker
Out of the Whirlwind, p.29
