At Psalm 74:13, 14, God is said to be breaking the heads of the sea serpent and feeding the meat to the people. Wording varies from translation to translation, but the essence is there. Leviathan, sea serpent, sea monster... They are mentioned at Job 26:13 and Psalm 104 as well.
Usually, Christians will react to the description of the sea monster as being the issue... Did such a beast exist? Maybe multiple creatures account for multiple heads? But it's not just about whether there ever existed such a creature...
The substance of this is a picture of the deity battling the many-headed sea monster, which parallels the account of the god Marduk doing the same thing. There's no Hebrew religion - related reason why Jehovah/Yahweh would be battling sea creatures. It seems to be evidence of infiltration of the mythology of other societies into the text of the Bible.
What do you think?
2007-05-08 07:24:41 · 14 answers · asked by Suzanne 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Sea serpents were commonplace back in those days. They were like cows except a tad more violent and seaworthy. Then one day God killed all of the sea monsters and used their blood to turn the water red in order to help scare the pharaoh into letting the slaves go.
2007-05-08 07:32:09 · answer #1 · answered by boukenger 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You're kidding right? Obviously it was some kind of sea creature. Was'nt two-headed. The Lord killed some of them and used them for His purposes. It's also possibly an allegory of Him delivering His people from Egypt, and a picture of the Egyptian army being drowned in the sea. You are reading WAY too much into the passage.......theBerean
2007-05-08 19:56:55 · answer #2 · answered by theBerean 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seems to me whenever the Bible starts talking about the ocean, it just goes off the deep end - Leviathan, the Flood, and the whole book of Jonah. And all of them have analogues in other myths.
(And Marduk rears his head again in the book of Esther - Mordecai is named for him.)
2007-05-08 07:29:48 · answer #3 · answered by Doc Occam 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Loch Ness Monster!
2016-05-18 03:00:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question. It is a story written by people who believed in multi-headed sea serpents, witches, giants, demons, etc. It is mythology, as is the rest of the bible.
2007-05-08 07:30:00 · answer #5 · answered by Biggus Dickus 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I thinks it shows how nutty the Bible really is.
But not as nutty as watching Christians defend it.
That is truly hilarious, like watching a hillbilly Circe De Soleil.
2007-05-08 07:35:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think we can accurately say you've identified the original magic mushroom poppers.
Somehow, they thought that everyone would be fooled into believing this stuff was true and no one would look it up. Call their bluff everytime, I always say. Sooner or later, they'll get it.
2007-05-08 07:34:25 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are stories for the sake of having stories. The entire Christian religion is blatantly inspired by other religions. Christmas alone tells us that.
2007-05-08 07:29:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you're exactly right. It is a hero-legend borrowed from other mythologies, and awkwardly adapted to the emerging monotheism of Judaism.
2007-05-08 07:28:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Its a parable. You almost used the word yourself "Parallel"
2007-05-08 07:27:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋