PRIDE

— Craig Williams

Inordinate self-esteem, exalted opinion of oneself, haughtiness, arrogance.I

Leviathan (Job 41)—king over the children of Pride (Job 41:34). A ruling spirit of pride that causes people to be stubborn and stiffnecked (Job 41:22). Also responsible for Hardness of Heart (Job 41:24).

Leviathan is known as the piercing serpent, crooked serpent, and dragon (Isaiah 27:1). This spirit hates Psalm 74:14.

Five Occurrences of Leviathan:

1.Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. (Job 3:8 Revised Standard)

Job is speaking of the night in which he was born (Job 3:6-8), saying may they curse it as well as the day of his birth. This is all said in the light of his trials as he heaps ridicule upon his suffering self.

The problem of "the one who curses the night" is likened to the difficulty of one who tries to arouse Leviathan from the deep dark waters of the seas. It is easier to curse the day of Job's birth, because one can see the characteristic of it, than it is to curse the night or rouse Leviathan because you cannot see the night nor Leviathan, who is hiding in the deep. (From the Bible and The Bermuda Triangle, by George Johnson and Dan Tanner.)

2.Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? or press down his tongue with a cord? (Job 41:1 Revised Standard)

The forty-first chapter deals with the sea monster. The last verse depicts him as "the king over all the children of pride". Leviathan becomes the personification of Satan with the spiritual form of a serpentine sea monster.

3.Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan, thou didst give him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. (Psalm 74:14 Revised Standard)

The Psalmist is speaking of Egypt during the Exodus. The sea monster in verse 13 is the Hebrew tannin, a symbol of Egypt, possibly the crocodile. When Pharaoh and all his hosts drowned, so was their crocodile sea god destroyed.

Leviathan is symbolic of the might of Satan who was crushed by the power of God in Israel's deliverance and supernatural provision in the wilderness. On the one hand, God feeds them "angels' food" and sustains them for forty years; and on the other hand, He feeds the fears and taunts of Leviathan to the creatures of the Sinai desert.

It was Moses' rod that became a serpent (Hebrew: taneen'—sea serpent, possibly a crocodile), that ate up the Egyptians' rods which also became sea serpents (Exodus 7:10-12).

4.Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teems with things innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it. (Psalm 104:25-26 Revised Standard)

The Psalmist makes reference to a creature of the sea that was well known to the Hebrew minds of their day.

5.In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 27:1 Revised Standard)

The dragon is Satan in Revelation 12:3. John saw "a great red dragon", which most commentators say is the devil as mentioned in Revelation 20:2 (also called "serpent of old" and Satan).

The Hebrew word for dragon in Isaiah 27:1 is tanneen'—sea serpent.

Both Leviathan and the dragon in this passage stand for a large marine animal, not a land serpent (Hebrew: nachish).

Spirits related to Pride include:

Hardness of heart—causes divorce and marital problems (Matthew 19:8); unbelief and doubt (Mark 16:14);. lack of spiritual perception, spiritual dullness, lack of wisdom and understanding, forgetfulness (Mark 8:17-18); lack of repentance and godly sorrow (Romans 2:5); backsliding and departing from God (Hebrews 3:12).

Rahab—spirit of pride meaning outrageous, violent, tumult, fierce, courageous, proud, vain and insolent. A sea monster, crocodile, destroyed by the arm of the Lord (Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 51:9). Has helpers (Job 9:13—literally meaning the helpers of Rahab).

Bashan—spirit of pride. Oaks of Bashan (Isaiah 2:12-13) represents pride and loftiness; Bulls of Bashan (Psalm 22:12) represents strength, and breaking forth in wild strength as a bull; or king of Bashan (Numbers 21:33), a long necked giant representing pride.

Arba (Joshua 14:15)—a giant meaning strength, a cube, four, symbol of great strength and stability, characterized in the square of a cube. Kirjatharba city of Arba, four giants (Judges 1:10).

Anak (Deuteronomy 9:2)—the long necked giants, represents pride.

Ishbibenob—a giant, meaning my dwelling is on the prominence; my abiding is in the height; represents pride and loftiness; defeated by David (2 Samuel 21:16).

Crown of Pride (Isaiah 28:1), Chain of Pride (Psalm 73:6), Rod of Pride (Proverbs 14:3).

God deals with the proud in dreams (Job 33:15-17). Pride in women causes baldness, burning, itching, and body odors (Isaiah 3:16-24).

Other manifestations of Pride include:

Cursing and Lying (Psalm 59:12), Contention (Proverbs 13:10), Drunkenness (Isaiah 28:3), Wrath (Proverbs 21:24), Strife (Proverbs 28:25), Disobedience, Rebellion and Stubbornness (Nehemiah 9:16,29), Arguing and Disputing (2 Timothy 3:2), not seeking the Lord