LEVIATHAN
Job 41, Psalm 104
By John Ford
May, 2007

Beneath the briny sea he sleeps,
him made to reign o’er rolling wave.
And through the dark and boding deeps
none can be found more fearful made.

His Lord the same Creator‐God
who makes, sustains, and rules man too,
his visage to our eye so odd
that God has hid him from our view.

Our proud and fallen nature would
him too make tame to bid our will,
but God against our plans hath stood,
and strives instead to make us still.

No bridle made with human hands,
no fishing stock of earth’s design
Can guide him ‘bout to our demands,
Or pull him from the loamy brine.

No hook of steel, no tethered maw
can stay him from his ardent path.
No oath of peace emits his jaw,
no covenant will bind him fast.

No seaman’s dart will he endure.
No javelin sharp can pierce his side,
No purchase may his flesh secure.
No merchant’s scale will he abide.

His frolic not disclosed to Adam,
gambol hid from mankind’s eye
below the Kraken’s coliseum,
covert play‐yard whence he hides.

Like all creatures God’s breath bellowed,
one mere brute spawned that Sixth‐Day,
Yet he, unique from all his fellows,
set full apart for Godhead play.

Adam, hewn for Father’s Glory,
image bearer of His face,
tasked with tending this, His Story,
leaning wholly on His Grace.

Mankind God has made for labor,
sweat and mud his chosen plate.
Makes war and peace both on his neighbor.
Curses God, and seals his fate.

This one God has made to mock us,
lay siege to pride, cage vanity.
One gaze t’ward his oily blackness
betrays our trite mendacity.

Armor, in which Maker clad him,
‘gainst our wax‐pale trifling frame,
Starkly bares our fraught condition,
who cannot even our tongues tame.

What chance have we, against this serpent,
his fiery blast and plate‐clad brow?
Our Strength is poured out, courage forfeit,
our vessel swamped at his first blow.

On earth is not one made his equal,
without fear, yet fearfully done,
God who doeth all things right well,
uses to portent the Son.

O Lord how manifold thy great deeds!
In wisdom you decreed them all.
Earth is filled, as well the great seas,
creatures great, and creatures small.

There go the ships, here come the galleys
Dominion Mandate drives man on.
The Lord is high, yet not withstanding,
descends to sport Leviathan.