I will quote 4 references where this word is found and hopefully, we can get “a feel for its meaning back then,” and possibly “its significance for a believer today.”

Job 41:1: “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?”

Psalm 74:14: “You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”

Psalm 104:26: “There the ships sail about; There is Leviathan which You have made to play there.”

Isaiah 27:1: “In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.”

There is a common thread in these passages which reveal that Leviathan is a “SEA CREATURE,” though some believe it may be a “RIVER CROCODILE” or possibly an ancient “MARINE DINOSAUR.” Job alone gives a long and detailed description throughout the chapter of this fierce creature, one that reveals it could not be captured or tamed by man (verses 2-9). His limbs, hide, teeth, scales, eyes, mouth, nostrils, neck, skin, and chest (verses 12-24) are formidable and brings fear into the hearts of men (verse 25) and prevents them from destroying him with their weapons (swords, spears, darts, javelins, arrows or slingstones…verses 25-29). As one considers its anatomy in detail, it would seem to rule out the crocodile or any creature we are familiar with today. Though mythology believes Job is describing a “seven-headed SEA DRAGON,” many believe this was a real, yet unique, “SEA MONSTER” that God created to show man that if he is powerless to subdue it, he is surely powerless to resist God Who made it. This is borne out in verses 10-11, “No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me? Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is mine.”

Now let us muse on verses 33-34, “On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear. He beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride.” This sums up the uniqueness of this awesome creature from the Hand of God; he is FEARLESS and as he looks upon other creatures, he knows they are no match for him; he is indeed “king of all proud creatures, including man.” It is here that another creature comes to mind, one who is also likened unto a “dragon” and a “serpent” (though at one time he was the most “beautiful and wisest” of all God’s creatures…see Isaiah 14:12-14 with Ezekiel 28:12-17) and who is feared by puny man. I am speaking of man’s archenemy, the Devil. Yet he will surely be punished for his cruel and fierce attacks upon man and his rebellion against his Creator. I will close by quoting again Isaiah 27:1 along with Revelation 20:1-3: “In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will PUNISH LEVIATHAN the fleeing SERPENT, Leviathan that twisted SERPENT…Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the DRAGON, that SERPENT of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him.”  (DO)  (586.1)