Behemoth

Biblical Text

Behemoth is a great beast that appears only in Job 40:15–24. It is described in God's second speech to Job out of the whirlwind (Job 40–41) and is paired with Leviathan, which is described immediately afterward.

The text introduces Behemoth as a beast that "eateth grass as an ox" (Job 40:15). "His strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly"; "he moveth his tail like a cedar"; "his bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron" (Job 40:16–18). Behemoth lies under the lotus plants, in the covert of the reeds, and in the marsh, and remains undisturbed even when the waters of the Jordan River rush into its mouth. God calls this beast "the chief of the ways of God" (Job 40:19) and declares that no one can capture it face to face or pierce its nose.

Etymology and Background

The Hebrew behemot is the plural of behemah, which means "beast," especially domestic livestock. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the word is used as a common noun meaning "beasts." In Job 40, however, it takes a singular verb and refers to a single animal. For this reason, many scholars regard the plural as an intensive form meaning "the beast of beasts," that is, the greatest of beasts. Korean Bibles, including the New Korean Revised Version, transliterate the Hebrew name as Behemot.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

In the Book of Job, which belongs to wisdom literature, this passage is part of the section in which God reveals the vastness and mystery of creation to Job, who had been asking why he was suffering. As the words "which I made with thee" (Job 40:15) indicate, the passage emphasizes that even a colossal beast beyond human control is a creature made by God. The passage is therefore commonly read as an affirmation of the sovereignty of God and of creation.

The name Behemoth does not appear in the New Testament. Some interpreters connect the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth in Revelation 13 (the Beast (Revelation)) with the Leviathan–Behemoth tradition, although the text itself does not make this connection explicitly.

Interpretations and Points of Debate

What Kind of Animal?

• A real animal: The most common interpretation in modern commentaries is the hippopotamus, on the grounds that the description of a grass-eating creature living in marshes and reed beds fits that animal. In earlier times some interpreters identified it as the elephant.
• A symbolic creature: This view holds that the passage borrows the imagery of chaos monsters found in ancient Near Eastern literature. On this reading, Behemoth, together with Leviathan, represents a power that only God can control.
• A dinosaur: Some adherents of young-earth creationism regard Behemoth as a sauropod dinosaur. They argue that the small tail of a hippopotamus or an elephant could not be compared to a cedar. Interpreters who disagree respond that the expression is poetic imagery and that a specific creature cannot be identified from the description of the tail alone.

Later Traditions

Later Jewish literature reportedly contains a tradition pairing Behemoth as the monster of the land with Leviathan as the monster of the sea. According to this tradition, God separated the two monsters at creation and will serve them as food at the banquet of the righteous at the end of the age. This story appears in pseudepigraphal works such as 1 Enoch and 4 Ezra and in rabbinic literature; it is not found in the text of Job.

In the Korean Church

In sermons on Job, Behemoth and Leviathan are frequently presented as examples of God's creative power, which lies beyond the reach of human wisdom. In creation science lectures and materials in Korea, Behemoth has been cited as evidence that dinosaurs lived alongside humans. Assessments of this interpretation are divided even within the Korean church.