Psalm 74:13-14

Psalm 74:13-14

Crushing the monsters!

There are at least 3 ways of viewing these verses. They talk of monsters and a Leviathan, using imagery that seems more in keeping with fairy tales than the Bible! 

Some say that the monster and the Leviathan are images borrowed from the myths of the Canaanites, and that the creator-god overcame these in order subdue the chaos of the primeval earth. I ask myself, why would the Bible need to borrow myths from the Canaanites? We believe this book to be the inspired Word of God not a foray into the legends of the ancient peoples.

Others suggest that these creatures were real and that they were connected to the dinosaurs and other beasts that roamed the earth and swam in the seas before mankind was created. Who knows what really happened, perhaps there were dinosaurs before the flood? Did that devastating disaster cause upheaval to the earth’s crust, destroying all the living creatures and producing the kind of fossil remains that are being found today? 

As usual, the Bible helps those who are prepared to dig deeper and there are comparative passages that give very practical answers to our questions. In Ezekiel 29:3 we read, “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams.” In Ezekiel 32:9 we find a similar analogy addressed to Pharaoh in Egypt, “You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas thrashing about in your streams, churning the water with your feet and muddying the streams.” There are numerous other Bible passages likening Egypt and Israel’s enemies to a gliding serpent, they talk of the monster of the Red Sea and to that great foe being dragged out of the water to suffer in the desert. 

Leviathan appears in the Bible as a sea serpent that is killed by God and then given as food to creatures in the wilderness, it seems that Leviathan often suggests a crushing political bureaucracy. There is no question in my mind that these analogies speak also of Satanic power, of crushing, monstrous evil dictatorships or tyrannies, that threaten large populations and the peace of mankind. ie. Communism, Naziism. In every case they are eventually overcome and scattered until the evil one spawns his next diabolical scheme. 

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