LEVIATHAN lə vī’ ə thən (לִוְיָתָן, H4293, prob. from root lwh with force of to twist). There can be no doubt that this name is basically the same as that found in Ugar. documents for Lotan, the sea-monster killed by Baal (ANET, pp. 137f.); it is there called “the crooked serpent” (cf. Isa 27:1), and possibly “the seven-headed” (cf. Ps 74:14). All five occurrences (Job 3:8; 41:1; Pss 74:14; 104:26; Isa 27:1) are in poetic passages and belong to “dead mythology,” i.e., old mythological concepts are employed without suggestion that they are still believed. For Canaanite mythology Lotan belonged to the forces of chaos personified by the sea and its monsters, which were conquered by the gods of order. Because it is merely poetic imagery, there is no absolute consistency in the OT use of Leviathan. Yahweh is the defeater of chaos in Psalm 74:14, a passage uniting God’s power at the creation and in the Exodus. Chaos and its forces are God’s creation, amenable to His will (Ps 104:26). Isaiah 27:1 is part of the eschatological chs. 24-27; it refers to the future forces of lawlessness in terms of past chaos. In Job 3:8 there is a reference to black magic, which can threaten the settled world order. While Leviathan 41:1 is the crocodile, cf. the use of Rahab, another mythological monster (26:12). In Isaiah 30:7, it is so depicted that some traits of the chaos monster are seen in it; i.e., if man finds it hard to deal with earth’s monsters, how much more with those of God’s primeval creation? See Crocodile.