“Destruction of Leviathan” an 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré for “Paradise Lost” by John Milton.
Leviathan is a mythical sea creature that appears in the Bible, emblematic of awesome strength. It’s described as the meanest and the biggest creature in the sea and a humbler of the Proud. Leviathan as a dragon who lives over the Sources of the Deep and who will be served up to the righteous at the end of time.
According to Ariela Pelaia:
Job 41 describes the Leviathan as a fire-breathing sea monster or dragon. “Smoke pours from his nostrils” and his breath is so hot that it “sets coals ablaze” with the “flames [that] dart from his mouth.” According to Job, the Leviathan is so massive that it causes the waves of the sea.
Job 41
1 Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook or tie down his tongue with a rope?…
9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering…
14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth,ringed about with his fearsome teeth?…
15 His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between…
18 His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze,and flames dart from his mouth.
31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair.
