Job 7:12

'Am I so dangerous a character that I need such persistent persecution?.' Whale] rather, 'sea monster,' perhaps the personification of the sea, the mythical dragon of the ancients. The Babylonians told the myth of the dragon Tiâmat, who waged war against heaven and was slain by the God Marduk. (See art. 'Genesis and the Babylonian Inscriptions.') This myth is referred to here, but in a form which represented the monster, not as slain, but imprisoned and kept under strict observation. The sea needs to be held down lest it flood the earth or smite the sky (cp. Job 38:8), the dragon must be watched lest it bursts its bonds. Is Job as formidable as they that God should watch him as closely?