Texts in Conversation
Ezekiel 32 compares Pharaoh to a lion among nations and a sea monster, harmonizing with ancient Near Eastern traditions linking the mythic Leviathan to a lion. The Targum to Job 41 portrays Leviathan as king over the lions, reinforcing this association.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ezekiel 32:2
Hebrew Bible
1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: “‘You were like a lion among the nations, but you are a monster in the seas; you thrash about in your streams, stir up the water with your feet, and muddy your streams. 3 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I will throw my net over you in the assembly of many peoples; and they will haul you up in my dragnet. 4 I will leave you on the ground, I will fling you on the open field, I will allow all the birds of the sky to settle on you, and I will permit all the wild animals to gorge themselves on you.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Targum Job 41:26
Targum
24 Behind him a path shines; one would think the deep to be gray-haired. 25 On the dust there is no dominion like his, who was made so that he would not be broken. 26 He looks on everything lofty; he is king over all the children of the fish. Another reading: he is king over all the sons of lions.”
Date: 400–900 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... While Behemoth was associated with an ox in biblical and rabbinic lore, Leviathan was envisioned as a lion. One can possibly see an early background for such an association already in the cylinder seal from Tell Asmar, dated to the third millennium BCE, where a seven-headed serpent has a lion’s body. Such an association might also be implied in the monster’s depiction in Ezek 32:2: “You consider yourself a lion [...] among the nations, but you are like a dragon [...] in the seas.” One of the readings of the Targum on Job 41:26 states that Leviathan is a king over all the sons of lions. These connections are noteworthy since the rivalry between the lion of Judah and the ox of Joseph is tied to the battle between Leviathan and Behemoth in some rabbinic accounts. ...”
Andrei Orlov, Supernal Serpent: Mysteries of Leviathan in Judaism and Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023), 144.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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