Dancing with Leviathan: Ps. 104:24-35

The verses are too long to reproduce here. They are filled with such richness, longing and visual language that they only come fully to life when you internalize them and repeat them to yourself. This essay will try to bring out the playful and majestic nature of the language, language that is stunning in its simplicity but lofty in its sentiment.

This Psalm has been described as written by the "Wordsworth of the Psalms," principally because it explores nature's wonders with such patient brilliance. The only passage I know of the Scriptures which more colorfully describes nature is Job 41 when the author there describes, guess who?, Leviathan. Something about that creature, that fire-breathing, scaly-backed former opponent of God has so kindled the biblical imagination that authors wax lyrical when they think of it.

One of the ways to appreciate this Psalm is through music. Two compositions that make take this Psalm as their text are the famous hymn "O Worship the King" and Haydn's unforgettable work Die Schoepfung (The Creation). Here are a few verses of the former:

"1. O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing God's power and God's love;
our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

2. O tell of God's might, O sing of God's grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space,
whose chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is God's path on the wings of the storm.

3. The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, thy power hath founded of old;
hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
and round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea."

Rather than trying to exposit each verse of this reading or to break it down neatly into two or three points (even though you could divide it into 24-30--the wonders of God's creation; and 31-35--our grateful response), I will point out a few features of its language or flow that you might find useful.

All Things in Wisdom

The multifarious complexity of creation reaches its climax in the phrase in v. 24: "How many are your works, O Lord; all of them in wisdom you have made" (literal translation)." Every one of them? What does this mean? Well, it is a biblical commonplace to emphasize the "understanding" or "wisdom" component of God's creative work. See, for example, Ps. 136:5, "who by understanding made the heavens.." But I think it is a sort of ejaculatory exclamation made by someone who has seen the complexity, order, beauty and chaos of nature and is simply stunned. I have begun some research on various animal phyla, and every time I learn about insects or other animals I am simply overwhelmed with their beauty, complexity, habits, mating patterns or whatever I happen to study. One can take any avenue of investigation in this broad world of ours and come away amazed. Is all perfect? Of course not. But is there a sort of wisdom that far exceeds our imaginative and creative capacities in the teeming realities of nature? Oh yes, and a thousand times yes. Anyone who has trouble appreciating the glory and wonder of God ought just to learn from the ants or slugs or worms or pangolins. They teach. In fact, when theological concepts become stale or just a series of rote words or concepts, I would urge the study of nature on you. If you still aren't blown away, you need a sabbatical!

Dancing with Leviathan

Leviathan may be a primeval monster associated with Rahab (Job 26:12; Ps. 89:10) or some kind of dragon. It joins a huge list of fantastic mythological beings that have entered the Western literary imagination. What is signifcant about the the Psalmist's description of this creature is how God has now tamed it and plays with it. But the verb used in v. 26 (sahaq), which can mean to play or sport or dance with, also appears in other places in the Scripture, and we are enriched by considering them briefly. Many of these references are clustered around Job 39-41 and Proverbs 8. What is used in Job 39-41 to describe the playful character of the wild animals is now in Ps. 104, used to describe God. God, too, can play. Here are some verses.

1. Of the wild ass it says, "It scorns (i.e., laughs at) the tumult of the city; it does not hear the shouts of the driver" (Job 39:7).

2. Of the ostrich Job says, "When it spreads its plumes aloft, it laughs at the horse and its rider" (Job 39:18).

3. The horse is described as follows: "It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; it doesn not turn back from the sword" (Job 39:22).

4. In discussing Behemoth and his friends, the author says: "For the mountains yield food for it where all the wild animals play (Job 40:20).

5. God challenges Job with respect to Leviathan: "Will you play with it as with a bird..." (Job 41:5; Hebrew is 40:29).

6. In describing Leviathan's might, the author says, "Clubs are counted as chaff; it laughs at the rattle of javelins" (41:29; Hebrew is 41:21).

Then there are a few appearances in the "wisdom" passage of Prov. 8:22-31. When wisdom was with God before the foundation of the earth, it was with God as a master worker. The Scripture then says, "I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race" (Prov. 8:30-31). Instead of the rather tepid translation "rejoicing," why not see this consistently with the usages in Job--and render it something like "romping" or "dancing."

The theological point of significance, however, is that God is now the one doing the romping. God is playing with Leviathan, perhaps putting it on the end of a chain or rope so that God can take it for afternoon walks. The majesty of God which suffuses Ps. 104 is heightened by our study of the little verb sahaq.

Simple but Majestic

When the Psalmist then "summarizes" God's glory in vv. 27-30 (which Haydn sets to music in The Creation), he does so with overpowering simplicity. All creatures look to God for food. It is as if we get a picture of a prairie dog standing rapt in the sun, looking heavenward for light and warmth and food. God opens the hand and good things fill the creatures. Yet, when God hides the divine face, the creatures are dismayed and, eventually, return to the dust. It is as simple and majestic as that. Whenever I am tempted to think too highly of human creativity, to sort of make a "tower of Babel" out of it, I recall these verses, and realize that the basic realities of life are described by God's opening and closing of the divine hands.

I also love these verses because they end on the note of re-creation. In Job 14, Job asks, in desperation, "If mortals die, will they live again" (14:14)? He tries to imagine a time when mortals may live again, when they will be joined in fellowship with God. But the sad ending of that poem is that it just won't happen. We only feel the pain of our own bodies. Nature teaches us that the waters wear away the rock. So God destroys all human hope (14:18-22). But Job is aware of the recreation of non-human things in Job 14. So is the Psalmist. But it may have been too much to expect the Psalmist to be able to talk about the renewing of human life. That concept (of resurrection or rebirth) just hadn't resonanted yet in Israel's consciousness. Yet the drama and majesty of nature's recreation is stunning.

Conclusion

The Psalm ends with a recitation of God's glory (vv. 31-35). But there is an "embarrassing verse" thrown in, which the lectionary makers would like you to ignore. It runs:

"Let sinners be consumed from the earth,/ and let the wicked be no more" (104:35).

So we won't ignore it. There will be those "on the outside." That is the consistent message of Scripture. We see it in Rev. 21-22, where the "unclean" have no place in the heavenly kingdom. So, the "shadow side" of glory is exclusion and consuming fire. Why should that be strange or trouble us? I don't "lead" with the point, but neither does the Psalmist. If God can do so little as "look" at the earth and it trembles (v. 32), then certainly God can set up the rules for admittance and exclusion. I bet, too, that we will be surprised as to who gets in and who doesn't.

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