266 MICHAEL V. FOX some cetaceans do. In the psalm, !tywl has become one of God’s playful creatures, not a primordial monster and not at all a threat to civilization. The rhetorical questions pointing out what Job cannot do (40,25-31) are not meant to recall Yahweh’s deeds in his mythical battle against Leviathan. In earlier Canaanite mythology it was Baal who fights the monster. Baal uses a club to smash (mhs) his enemies (KTU 1.2 IV 23, etc.) and smite ̮. (mhš) Leviathan (KTU 1.3 III 38; KTU 1.5 I 1). Yahweh similarly defeats ̮ his aquatic foes by club and sword ― “smashing” (#xm), “shattering” (rbX, #cr), “scattering” (rrp, rzp), “cleaving” ([qb), and “piercing” (llx) them (Isa 51,9; Pss 74,13-15; 89,11). The mythical Leviathan was not, according to the extant myths, enslaved by covenant (Job 40,28) nor did he have his carcass cut up and sold (40,30) ― a notion out of place in the primordial context. And 40,29 certainly cannot imply that Yahweh puts his daughters on a leash (like a pet bird)! Nor are these things true of the whale ― or the crocodile, though the hunting techniques described in 41,25-26.31 are re- miniscent of the ways Egyptians hunted crocodiles 21. In these verses the author is making the point that the techniques that can be used even against the crocodile will fail against this Leviathan. The incompatible images in Job 40,25-32 are not based on a single myth but simply remind Job, in various ways, that man’s most effective hunting techniques cannot subdue Leviathan. Yahweh, as Leviathan’s cre- ator, could do so, but he never says that he does. That is just not part of what is described here. We are to be awed, not intimidated, by this picture. 3. God and His Creatures The God of the Theophany takes pleasure in his creatures, even the two that came with mythological connotations of evil. He shows a certain affec- tionate possessiveness when he says of Behemoth: “Look at Behemoth, whom I made as I made you” (40,15a) 22 and “He is the first of God’s ways” (40,19a); and of Leviathan: “Under the entire heaven he is mine” (41,3b), that is to say, he is no one’s creature but God’s. As Newsom says, “[a]lthough God’s ability to overcome them [sc. Behemoth and Leviathan] is taken for granted, there is little or no reference to enmity or hostility between God and these creatures. Instead, God describes them with evident admiration” 23. God cares for these creatures enough to have provided them with armor and powers that shield them from attack. (Even though, if, as proposed above, 40,24 is in the indicative mood, Behemoth’s inviolability is not absolute.) See KEEL, Jahwes Entgegnung, 142. 21 $m[ can mean either “like you” (HALOT, 839.2.2b) or “with you” (at 22 the time of creation). C.A. NEWSOM, The Book of Job. A Contest of Moral Imaginations (New 23 York 2003) 249. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati