woman (in the original myth she must have been the wife of the sun) is unknown in Jewish sources. On the human form of the moon, however, see note 102. Comp. further Index, s.v. “Man in the Moon”.
113 Konen 26, where אש should probably be read instead of אור; comp., however, Ginzberg, Unbekannte Sekte, 114, note 2, as well as PRE 9.
114 Konen 26. On the three elements, light, fire, and water, by the combination of which all the heavenly and earthly bodies have been formed, comp. Konen 24.
115 Hullin 127a; Yerushalmi Shabbat 14, 14c; Tehillim 104, 445; PR 23, 117a. The creation of the sea shows God’s might as much as that of all the other creatures taken together. Similarly God’s power is manifested in the creation of Leviathan as in that of all the other creatures taken together. See Mekilta Bahodesh 7, 69b (read שהים instead of שהיום), and Mekilta RS, 109.
116 Midrash Jonah 98; comp. also vol. I, p. 40, and vol. IV, p. 249, as well as Mekilta RS, 109. A vast collection of passages from rabbinic literature, which treat of Leviathan, is given by I. Low in Judaica (Cohen-Festschrift, Berlin, 1912), 338–340. Comp. also Löw in Orientalische Studien, 555; Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze, 127–130.
117 Baba Batra 74b; BR 7.4; Konen 26; Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 1.20. In all these passages, תנינים (Gen., loc. cit.) is identified with Leviathan (so BR 11.9, and the parallel passages cited by Theodor, ad loc.), תנין is indeed the proper word for Leviathan, since by looking at it man is induced to relate (=תנן) God’s wonders. Comp. Lekah, Gen., loc. cit. According to another view תנינים means the “sea-gazelle”; comp. Baba Batra, loc. cit., and note 132.
118 Baba Batra 74b; Zohar II, 108b. Konen 26 mentions the creation of the female Leviathan, but not its slaying; it thus assumes the existence of a pair of these monsters which have no sexual desire, so that they do not multiply. This is explicitly stated in BR 7.4 with reference to Behemoth; this source quotes the dissenting view that neither Leviathan nor Behemoth exists as a “pair”. In Baba Batra, loc. cit., however, it is stated that God not only slew the female, but also castrated the male. Comp. also Targum Yerushalmi Gen. 1.20. The Leviathan “pair” may be compared with the Babylonian myth concerning Tiamat and her only mate Kingu, according to which the latter is vanquished by Marduk and made harmless, while the former is slain.
41
