Leviathan represents both the chaotic individualism of self-determination and the unity found in a common enemy since he and all associated with him are at war with God. There is abundant Biblical evidence for the idea that a single entity can represent many spirits. To explore this phenomenon, we’ll look at some examples, starting with perhaps the most striking instance - the exorcism of Legion. As we study this narrative, we will see some parallels with the entity of Leviathan:
Mark 5:1-13 “And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.”
Some observations here: Firstly, the initial language used is singular. Mark presents one man and one unclean spirit (Matthew has two men, so apparently there was more than one man, but both Mark and Luke refer only to the one that spoke to Jesus).
Then we note the shift in reference from the singular to the plural, which begins at the point where Jesus speaks to the unclean spirit. Jesus refers to the spirit as singular, and the reply comes back in the plural. After Jesus has dealt with the unclean spirit, the entities separate, leaving the man and finding embodiment in about two thousand separate beasts.
The name “Legion” is important. Everyone knows the term “legion” refers to a large group of Roman soldiers. We usually just consider the name in terms of quantity, because we know that there were many spirits within this man. But why use a military term? Why not some other word that implies a large group or gathering? It is because the military aspect is important. A legion is comprised of soldiers. Soldiers are a hostile force of strong men, mighty warriors. In Hebrew, they would be “gibborim.” In Canaanite tradition, another term might have been more appropriate. The spiritual warriors were the Rephaim.
The idea of chains being unable to restrain the man is an interesting one. While Peter and Jude drew on 1 Enoch’s text to present the fallen angels in chains, none of these authors present the unclean spirits as restrained at all. However, Jesus mastered them by His authority.
The power of Yahweh is what scattered the entities, just as at Babel Yahweh dispersed the people under the dominion of separate “sons of God,” and also as Leviathan was defeated (but not yet utterly destroyed). Note the plurality in use:
Job 26:12 “He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud [Rahab, or Leviathan].”
Psalm 74:13-15 “Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness [Amorites]. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.”
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?”
Ezekiel 29:4-5 “But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.”
The location of this encounter with the demoniac is significant. The region of the Gadarenes was outside the border of Judah, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, in Dan’s tribal allotment. That area is old Bashan, the ancient land of the Rephaim. Note also that the demons, having been permitted to enter the pigs (unclean beasts), rushed immediately down a steep decline into the sea. The sea is the cosmological (not literal) home of Leviathan, and the descent of the swine indicates the idea of a fall. We are getting hints here from the author to connect this event with the Nephilim, the Rephaim and Leviathan.
Even the storm on the sea ties into this whole concept. The storm preceded the encounter with Legion. It was an attempt to kill the Messiah before he could displace the power of Leviathan in Bashan. Although Leviathan’s storm-bringing power was able to devastate Job’s family by killing all of Job’s offspring, it was futile against the pre-eminent Son of God.
Jesus simply rebuked the wind and sea. The Hebrew term for “tempest” is related to the term for “multitude.” The “sea” as we know is connected to the personified force of chaos. Both terms describe perfectly the nature of Leviathan and the situation of the man demonized. This perfectly matches the prophecy of the psalmist:
Psalm 89:9-10 “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.”
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- Excerpt from “Answers to Giant Questions,” by TJ Steadman.

Acts 17:22-31 "Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”"

Why did Paul begin his speech about temples, idols and other objects of worship, by talking about creation?
What made Paul shift from creation to make a cluster of allusions to the Tower of Babel event in Genesis 11?
What are the "appointed times" he refers to? How were they supposed to point the way for the people of the nations, to return to God?
What does Paul mean by "repent" in the light of his words about idols and image?

These questions and many more will be answered in fascinating detail in the forthcoming "Answers to Giant Questions Podcast," coming soon to a pod catcher near you. Join me as we unlock the mysteries of Holy Scripture and reveal even more amazing insights about the Lord Jesus Christ and His mission to once and for all break the hold of the fallen sons of God upon humanity, God's true children.

Our initial focus on the show will be an exploration of the Primeval History (Genesis 1-11), as well as taking time to answer your questions and learn about Biblical spiritual warfare. You can submit questions to be answered on the show - just use the "Email" links on this page. We'll be examining pop culture as well, so if you're curious about how your comic book heroes or cinematic mythology fits with the Bible, you're going to enjoy the show.

Stay tuned for details!

- T.J. Steadman

“They are banded together and at the side of Tiamat they advance;
They are furious, they devise mischief without resting night and day.
They prepare for battle, fuming and raging;
They have joined their forces and are making war.
Ummu-Hubur, who formed all things,
Hath made in addition weapons invincible; she hath spawned monster-serpents,
Sharp of tooth, and merciless of fang.
With poison, instead of blood, she hath filled their bodies.
Fierce monster-vipers she hath clothed with terror,
With splendor she hath decked them; she hath made them of lofty stature.
Whoever beholdeth them is overcome by terror,
Their bodies rear up and none can withstand their attack.
She hath set up vipers, and dragons, and the monster Lahamu,
And hurricanes and raging hounds, and scorpion-men,
And mighty tempests, and fish-men and rams;
They bear cruel weapons, without fear of the fight.
Her commands are mighty; none can resist them;
After this fashion, huge of stature, hath she made eleven monsters.
Among the gods who are her sons, inasmuch as he hath given her support,
She hath exalted Kingu; in their midst she hath raised him to power.”

- Excerpt from ENUMA ELISH
THE EPIC OF CREATION (Tablet One)
L.W. King, Translator
(from The Seven Tablets of Creation, London 1902).

The failure of modern scholars to recognise the many cycles of the Primeval History in both Biblical and Babylonian sacred texts has led them to believe that the creatures described above cannot be identified with the Biblical Nephilim.
Things are never that simple.
When we recognise that creation stories in the ancient near eastern world are usually national foundation stories and not concerned with the universal origins of material existence, we see that it makes sense to find that the giants of the ancient world were a part of every ancient culture, not just an imaginative storytelling device employed in Hebrew literature. The giants belong in our history because they were part of our past. And even the Akkadians, who preceded the Babylonians, believed they had a role to play in our future...

- T.J. Steadman

“The Bible affirms that the Rephaim tribes were physical giants, who originated from within groups of Amorite humans, their demonic spirits having “come out of the (dead) Nephilim,” and that as such there were people groups which featured “Rephaim” as their tribal designation. There were also other tribes of Rephaim giants under different names.
There are places named after the Rephaim, particularly the region of Bashan (“the land of the Rephaim” which can also be legitimately translated as “the hell of the dead”!) and a valley in Israel (“the Valley of Rephaim” or “Pit of Death”). The term is usually translated as “giants.”
The Rephaim giants were named after the spirits within them, the very same spirits that had previously walked the earth in the Nephilim of the pre-Flood world. The physical size of the Rephaim was due to the change brought about by the corruption and defilement of the human host, a leftover trait of the Nephilim.
The Rephaim spirit within a person served as an influencer, additional to that person’s own human spirit, thus creating a kind of duality. When the spirits separated at death, the human spirit was believed to reside with the body, while the Rephaim spirit departed and was released upon the earth. These were subsequently referred to as “unclean spirits,” a term sometimes translated in the NT as “demons.”
The Rephaim gods or Biblical shêdîm (devils) being by nature territorial, often controlled earthly kings in order to take advantage of their sphere of influence. Thus, they are often associated with dead kings, and the living kings claimed connection to them through ancestral or royal heritage and occultic spiritual influence. These Rephaim gods ranged in rank from minor to supreme deities in Canaanite religion.
Because some Rephaim spirits are spirits of the dead (in the case of deified kings), they are frequently connected with the underworld, despite the fact that they are not confined to that world but are free to trespass into ours.
The Rephaim were always regarded as evil, unholy and unclean to Israelites, despite the belief of apostates that the Rephaim had healing powers. The Scriptures tell us that they have a tendency to congregate together.”
Proverbs 21:16 “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the Rephaim.”

Excerpt from T.J. Steadman, “Answers to Giant Questions.” For a much more detailed breakdown of everything discussed here, please consult the book!