Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 51 and Psalm 74 both recall a mythic battle where God defeats chaotic sea monsters, using imagery also found in Canaanite and Babylonian stories. This portrayal, unlike the more peaceful Genesis creation account, links divine power to victory over mythological, watery chaos.
Share:
Psalm 74:13
Hebrew Bible
11 Why do you remain inactive? Intervene and destroy him. 12 But God has been my king from ancient times, performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 13 You destroyed the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast. 15 You broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Isaiah 51:9
Hebrew Bible
8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last.” 9 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity. Did you not smash Rahab?26 Did you not wound the sea monster? 10 Did you not dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep? Did you not make a path through the depths of the sea, so those delivered from bondage could cross over?
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Search:
Notes and References
"... Perhaps the most striking instance of this typological understanding of the exodus (and of history more generally) is found in Isaiah 51:9-11, which calls on “the arm of YHWH” to awake as in the days of old. The prophet first recalls creation: “Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?” This is not the account of creation that we find in Genesis, but one that we know only from passing allusions in Hebrew poetry, such as Job 26:12 or Psalm 74:13-14. It is closely related to the stories of Baal and Yamm in the Ugaritic myths and less directly to the Babylonian myth of Marduk and Tiamat ..."
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.