Leviathan versus the Chinese Dragon
Of all the 12 animals in the Chinese horoscope, only the dragon is missing but the 11 are still around today. Many people think that dragons are mythological creatures. I do not think so. I think dragons are real, just like the rest of the other 11 animals in the Chinese horoscope.
Isaiah 27:1 "In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea."
Psalms 74:13-14 "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
Isaiah 51:9 "¶ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?"
Rahab is the name of the leviathan, and the leviathan is a dragon in the sea. The word "crooked" means it's long but not straight. Being called a "serpent" means that the leviathan is a long-bodied creature, usually without feet, fins or ears, amphibious, breathing though the mouth by lungs only.
JOB'S DESCRIPTION OF THE LEVIATHAN
Job 41:1-2 "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? 2 Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?"
The words "draw out" tells us that the leviathan dwells in the deep, and he only shows himself in the open for a reason.
Job 41:3-6 "Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 5 Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?"
To make supplication is to speak “soft words”. The leviathan is not a tame animal. He cannot be tamed or made subservient to man like cattle or other domestic animals, neither can man slaughter him for food just like he could for a cattle, or sell his parts like he could for other animals.
Job 41:7-8 "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? 8 Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more."
The leviathan has a strong protective outer covering that even barbed irons cannot pierce through. It also has a head which is heavily armoured so that no fish spears can pierce through it. It is extremely ferocious. If a man happened to survive an encounter with one, he will never want to fight it again.
Job 41:9-10 "Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?"
The leviathan is a fearsome creature. The bible used the words "cast down" to describe the fear a man would experience at the sight of a leviathan. The memory of his encounter will struck the man's heart with much fear. No man is brave enough to stir up a leviathan.
Job 41:11-13 "Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. 13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?"
The leviathan is an extremely majestic-looking creature: powerful and comely in proportion. Only God can come to him with a "double bridle" just like a man would to a horse, and only God can break his head and give his meat to the people inhabiting in the wilderness (Psalms 74:13-14).
Job 41:14 "Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about."
The leviathan has very powerful jaws with teeth "terrible" round about.
Job 41:15-17 "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. 16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered."
The hide of the leviathan is made up of hard scales, and scales that are so close to one another that not even air can come through. The armour of the leviathan is hard and impenetrable, and only God can wound him (Isaiah 51:9).
Job 41:18-21 "By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. 20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 21 His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth."
The leviathan is a water-dwelling fire-breathing dragon. He literally breathes fire from his nostrils and mouth. His eyes also shine in the dark like the "eyelids of the morning".
Job 41:22-23 "In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. 23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved."
The leviathan has a very strong neck, and he will use that neck to raise up his fear-inspiring heavily armoured head in display of aggression. His muscles are in the form of flakes joined together, and are very firm. Snakes also have flesh like flakes joined together, and a python can easily overpower its prey with those muscles.
Job 41:24 "His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone."
The leviathan's heart is like a piece of flint. He does not show affection to you like a cat or a dog would do.
Job 41:25 "When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves."
The leviathan will raise up himself, like a cobra raising up his body to show aggression to intruders. The sight of a leviathan raising up himself in aggression can put so much fear even in mighty men that by reason of breakings they "purify" themselves.
Job 41:26-29 "The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. 27 He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 28 The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear."
The leviathan is not afraid of men bearing swords, spears, or darts. Men in habergeon does not scare him. The leviathan is not afraid any weapon made of iron or brass. Arrows cannot make him flee, and slingstones are useless against him.
Job 41:30 "Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire."
The underbelly of the leviathan is covered with sharp scales that are very hard, and he rest his belly on the soft mud of the sea floor, leaving a print.
Job 41:31-32 "He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary."
The leviathan makes bubbles like those of a boiling pot from the deep where he lives. When the leviathan moves, one can see a path of light coming from the deep, along with the bubbles like those of a boiling pot he makes.
Job 41:33-34 "Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride."
The leviathan is not afraid of anything. He knows no fear.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHINESE DRAGON?
The appearance of a Chinese Dragon or “Long” (Chinese: 龙) is generally described as such:
Long, snake-like creature;
Crooked body (not straight);
Extremely ferocious;
Has hard impenetrable scales;
Powerful jaws with terrible teeth roundabout;
Breathes fire;
Eyes that shine in darkness;
Dwells in water.
Most modern depictions of the Chinese dragon would show that it has small clawed limbs, but the earliest dragon-like depictions found in archaeological sites throughout China suggest that the limbs may have been artificially added, just as the mane was, and the Chinese dragon has no wings.
During the days of Imperial China, the Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial strength and power. It is also not uncommon for the Chinese people to use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" (simplified Chinese: 龙的传人; traditional Chinese: 龍的傳人) as a sign of ethnic identity even to this very day. Think about the similarity of leviathan being a "king over all the children of pride” (Job 41:34).
The Emperor of China (Chinese: 皇帝; pinyin: Huángdì) was the title of any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of the Qin dynasty that unified China in 221 BC, until the abdication of Puyi in 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China.
Revelation 13:2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."
The emperor was also referred to as the "Son of Heaven" (Chinese: 天子; pinyin: tiānzǐ), a title that predates the Qin unification, and recognized as the ruler of "all under heaven" i.e. the whole earth. Connect this to Jesus Christ as the "Son of God" (Mark 1:1) in view of the law of opposites. Historically, the Chinese dragon was the only symbol that all Emperors of China go by, and it is the symbol that signifies their absolute authority over everything under heaven.