Biblical Intertextuality and Jonah (Part 4): The White Whale, Moby Dick–Satanic or God-like?

It is ironic that the central question literary scholars ask concerning the identity of Moby Dick is virtually the exact same question biblical scholars ask concerning the identity of the “big fish” in Jonah. The question concerning literature scholars about Moby Dick is whether the White Whale is symbolic of God, whether it is symbolic of evil, or whether it simply is an exceptionally smart whale. The question concerning biblical scholars about Jonah’s “big fish” is whether the “great fish” is symbolic of hell, and a means of punishment, or whether it is symbolic of deliverance, and is in fact God’s method of rescuing Jonah from death. Ultimately in both stories the question boils down to that of determining the relationship between the great fish/Moby Dick and God.

Before he even begins the story itself, Melville starts his novel with eleven pages of quotations related to whales. Not surprisingly, the first five quotes are from the Bible.

“And God created great whales.”                                                          Genesis

“Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him;
One would think the deep to be hoary.”                                               Job

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.”      Jonah

“There go the ships;
there is that Leviathan whom thou has made to play therin.”           Psalms

“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 in the sea.          Isaiah

With these five quotations at the beginning of his novel, Melville has laid out the very biblical themes that will run throughout the novel. First there is the association with creation, and God creating ordered land out of the primeval Sea of Chaos, which, according to ancient Near Eastern mythology, is ruled by the great Sea Serpent, who nevertheless was created by God.

Second there is the question of the very existence of evil and death as put forth in Job. Leviathan is the very embodiment of the malignant forces of devastation and destruction in the world.

Third, there is the association with Jonah’s “great fish,” while being the means of God’s judgment of Jonah, is also ironically enough the means of God’s salvation of Jonah as well.

Fourth, there is in the Psalms the association with the sea itself.

Finally there is the hope put forth in Isaiah that one day the Lord will ultimately do away with evil and death, and slay Leviathan for good.

With these five quotations, Melville gives a brief overview of the biblical and ancient Near Eastern view of Leviathan. In his novel, then, he proceeds to weave together all of these themes into an entirely fresh story that presents a biblical worldview applicable to his 19^th century audience. He does not, though, pick up on the New Testament interpretation of Jonah, which focuses on equating Jonah’s being swallowed and vomited up by the “great fish” with Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as the Gospel going out to the Gentiles. Instead, Moby Dick is very much steeped in Old Testament themes concerning the question of evil and misfortune (as put forth in Job), the need for repentance (as put forth in Jonah), and the nature of pride (typified in Satan).

We have already seen earlier that in the story of Jonah, the “great fish” should be understood against the ANE mythological background concerning the great Sea Serpent of Primeval Chaos. The fact that elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible this Sea Serpent, whether it is called Rahab, or Leviathan, is identified with “the Evil One” would initially lead one to conclude that Jonah’s “great fish” should be regarded along similar lines. Yet one cannot escape the fact that this “great fish” does end up being Jonah’s mode of deliverance.

In short, the identity of the “great fish” is purposely ambiguous, and we are left having to be content with understanding that God is powerful enough to bring about new life through death, and that even the great creatures of the deep can be used to serve his ultimate purpose. This idea is also articulated in Job, where God is understood to be the ultimate power even behind the evil that happens on the earth: both good and evil ultimately serve God’s purposes. He is ultimately in charge.

Melville’s presentation and treatment of the White Whale offers us much of the same ambiguity and uncertainty concerning its identity. Here is what various characters in the novel believe about Moby Dick. As mentioned before, the insane Shaker prophet Gabriel who is on The Jeroboam believes Moby Dick to be the incarnation of God. Various members of The Pequod’s crew regarded Moby Dick as omnipotent as the sea. Don Sebastian is told that Moby Dick is a “most deadly immortal monster.”

And then, in the closing chapters of the novel, when describing the final chase, and how Moby Dick out-maneuvered the whalemen as he destroyed them, Ishmael said, “Moby Dick seemed combindedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven.” But perhaps most insightfully, when we are told about the Town-Ho’s story, Moby Dick is described as “a certain wondrous, inverted visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men.” In other words, Moby Dick is symbolic of God’s power and judgment upon those who attempt to grasp at God’s power and knowledge for themselves.

From these examples, it is quite clear that the identity of Moby Dick isn’t clear. Its identity is similar to that of the “great fish” in Jonah. One would be correct to associate him with the ancient Near Eastern Leviathan, whose jaws are the jaws of hell itself, and who is therefore can be seen as the incarnation of evil, judgment, and death. Yet at the same time, one has to see that Moby Dick, as also the “great fish” in Jonah, as an instrument used by God to exercise righteous judgment upon those who refuse to obey him. According to the novel, Jonah’s repentance and acceptance of his punishment were things that caused God to command the “great fish” to vomit Jonah up, thus sparing his life. In a similar way, the various other sailors and crews that encountered Moby Dick suffered a loss of some sort as punishment for pursuing Moby Dick. Yet they learned their lesson, were spared from complete destruction, and their “repentance” was seen in the fact that they no longer pursued Moby Dick.

Yet for Captain Ahab, this was not the case. Ahab’s refusal to repent, and his refusal to bend his knee to the omnipotent power of God, is his sin, and is the reason he is ultimately killed by Moby Dick. In his attempt to be “a lord over leviathans,” Ahab came across Moby Dick, and received God’s judgment by losing his leg to the White Whale. Unlike the other captains and ships in the novel who suffered judgment for pursuing Moby Dick, and then humbled themselves and ceased their pursuit of him, Ahab refused to bend his knee to the omnipotent power of God, and chooses instead to attempt to destroy Moby Dick. Melville thus paints Ahab as not only the antithesis of Jonah, in that he refused to repent, but he also paints him as a man so consumed with pride and vengeance, that he takes on the characteristics of Satan himself.

What we see, therefore, in Melville’s grand intertextual masterpiece, is a completely unique story about 19^th century whaling that is filled with biblical allusions, themes, and dilemmas that speak to and terrify the human heart. Human beings are prideful; like Job, human beings agonize over the problem of evil; and like Jonah, human beings are rebellious against God, yet can never seem to completely run away from Him. Whether it is in ancient Israel, modern North America, or on a 19^th century whaling voyage, human beings find the issue of God’s power and authority confronting them at every turn.