Difference between revisions of "Behemoth"

<p> (&nbsp;Job 40:15-24.) The Egyptian, Coptic, '''''Pehemout''''' , "the water ox," Hebraized; our "river horse", hippopotamus. "Behold I made him with thee." Yet how great the difference! "He eateth grass as an ox;" a marvel in an animal so much in the water, and that such a monster is not carnivorous. "His force is in the navel (rather muscles) of his belly"; the elephant's skin there is thin, but the hippopotamus' skin thick. "He moveth his tail like a cedar," short indeed, but straight and rigid as the cedar. "The sinews of his thighs are twisted together," like a thick rope. "His bones are as strong tubes of copper .... his spine like bars of iron." He that made him hath furnished him with his sword" (his sickle-like teeth). Though so armed, he lets "all the beasts of the field play" near him, for he is herbivorous. </p> <p> "He lieth under the lotus bushes," in the covert of the reed and fens (being amphibious). "The lotus bushes cover him with their shadow." "Behold (though) a river be overwhelming, he is not in hasty panic (for he can live in water as well as land); he is secure, though a [[Jordan]] swell up to his mouth." Job cannot have been a Hebrew, or he would not adduce Jordan, where there were no river horses. He alludes to it as a name known only by hearsay, and representing any river. "Before his eyes (i.e. openly) will any take him, or pierce his nose with cords?" Nay, he can only be taken by guile. Jehovah's first discourse (Job 38-39) was limited to land animals and birds; this second discourse requires therefore the animal classed with the crocodile to be amphibious, as the river horse. </p>

<p> <strong> BEHEMOTH </strong> . The hippopotamus (&nbsp; Job 40:15 ), as leviathan (&nbsp; Job 41:1 ) is the crocodile. It has been suggested that the ancient [[Babylonian]] Creation-myth underlies the poet’s description of the two animals (Gunkel, <em> Schöpf. u. [[Chaos]] </em> , 61 ff.). This is doubtful, but the myth undoubtedly reappears in later [[Jewish]] literature: ‘And in that day will two monsters be separated, a female named [[Leviathan]] to dwell in the abyss over the fountains of waters. But the male is called Behemoth, which occupies with its breast [?] an immeasurable desert named Dendain’ (En 60:7, 8; cf. 2Es 6:49-51 , Apoc. [Note: Apocalypse, Apocalyptic.] Bar 29:4, <em> [[Baba]] bathra </em> 74 <em> b </em> ). <em> [[Behemoth]] </em> is rendered by ‘beasts’ in &nbsp; Isaiah 30:6 . This may be correct, but the oracle which follows says nothing about the ‘beasts of the south’; either the text is corrupt or the title may have been prefixed because Rahab, another name for the chaos-monster, occurs in v. 7. The psalmist confesses, <em> ‘Behemoth </em> was I with thee’ (&nbsp; Psalms 73:22 ). The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] understood this to be an abstract noun, ‘Beast-like was I with thee’; others substitute the sing., and render ‘a beast,’ etc. </p> <p> J. Taylor. </p>

<p> [[Behemoth]] ( ''Bç'He-Mŏth,'' or ''Be-Hç'Moth'' ), ''The Great Beast;'' or, if it be supposed an [[Egyptian]] word, it may mean ''The Water-Ox.'' A mammoth animal, described in &nbsp;Job 40:15-24, where the explanation is added in the margin of the R. V., "that is, the hippopotamus." The identification of behemoth has puzzled critics, and the strangest conjectures have been propounded. The mammoth, or other extinct quadruped, has been thought behemoth by some; while others maintain it is the elephant; and some would take the word as having a symbolical meaning. The weight of evidence is in favor of the hippopotamus. As leviathan is most likely the crocodile, it is not unreasonable to suppose that behemoth is, like the crocodile, an inhabitant of the Nile; and that, as leviathan is amphibious, behemoth must be amphibious too, and hence the hippopotamus, a conclusion which is strengthened by the comparison of verses 15, 21, 22 with 24. </p>

<p> (Heb. behemoth, '''''בְּהֵמוֹת''''' , 15; Sept. '''''Θηρία''''' ; in Coptic, according to Jablonski, ''Pehemout'' ) is regarded as the plural of '''''בְּהֵמָה''''' , ''Behemah'' ' (usually rendered "beast" or cattle"); but commentators are by no means agreed as to its true meaning. Among those who adopt [[Elephant]] are Drusius, Grotius, Schultens, Michaelis, etc., while among the advocates of [[Hippopotamus]] are Bochart ( ''Hieroz.'' 2, 754 sq.), Ludolf ( ''Hist. Aethiop.'' 1, 11), and [[Gesenius]] (Thes. Heb. p. 183). The arguments of the last in favor of his own view may be summed up thus: </p> <p> '''(1.)''' The general purpose and plan of Jehovah's two discourses with Job require that the animal which in this second discourse is classed with the crocodile should be an amphibious, not a terrestrial animal, the first discourse (38, 39) having been limited to land-animals and birds. </p> <p> '''(2.)''' The crocodile and hippopotamus, being both natives of Egypt and ''A'' Ethiopia, are constantly mentioned together by the ancient writers (see Herod. 2:69-71; Diod. 1:35; Pliny 28:8). </p> <p> '''(3.)''' It seems certain that an amphibious animal is meant from the contrast between &nbsp;Acts 12:15; &nbsp;Acts 12:20-22, and &nbsp;Acts 12:23-24, in which the argument seems to be, "Though he feedeth upon grass," etc., like other animals, yet he liveth and delighteth in the waters, and nets are set for him there as for fish, which by his great strength he pierces through. </p> <p> '''(4.)''' The mention of his tail in &nbsp;Acts 12:17 does not agree with the elephant, nor can '''''זָנָב''''' , as some have thought, signify the trunk of that animal; and </p> <p> '''(5.),''' though '''''בְּהֵמוֹת''''' may be the plural "majestatis" of '''''בְּהֵמָה''''' '', Beast,'' yet it is probably an Egyptian word signifying ''Sea-Ox,'' put into a Semitic form, and used as a singular. </p> <p> The following is a close translation of the poetical passage in Job (&nbsp;Job 40:15-24) describing the animal in question: </p> <p> Lo, now, Behemoth that I have made [alike] with thee! [[Grass]] like the [neat-] cattle will he eat. [[Lo!]] now, his strength [is] in his loins, Even his force in [the] sinews of his belly. He can curve his tail [only] like a cedar; The tendons of his haunches must be interlaced: His bones [are as] tubes of copper, His frame like a welding of iron. He [is the] master-piece of God: </p> <p> his Maker [only] can supply his sword [i.e. tushes]. For produce will [the] mountains bear for him; Even [though] all [the] animals of the field may spors [there]. [[Beneath]] [the] lotuses will he lie, In [the] covert of [the] reedy marsh; Lotuses shall entwine him his shade. Osiers of [the] brook shall enclose him. Lo! [the] liver may swell-he will not start; He will be bold, although a Jordan should rush to his mouth. In his [very] eyes should [one] take him, Through [the] snares would [his] nose pierce. </p> <p> "But in some respects this description is more applicable to the elephant, while in others it is equally so to both animals. Hence the term behemoth, taken intensively (for in some places it is admitted to designate cattle in general), may be assumed to be a poetical personification of the great Pachydermata, or even Herbivora, wherein the idea of hippopotamus is predominant. This view accounts for the ascription to it of characters not truly applicable to one species; for instance, the tail is likened to a cedar (provided '''''זָנָב''''' really denotes the tail, which the context makes very doubtful; see Zeddel, ''Beitr. Z. Bibl. Zoolog'' ' ''E'' ) '','' which is only admissible in the case of the elephant; again, "the mountains bring him forth food;" "he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan," a river which elephants alone could reach; "his nose pierceth through snares, "certainly more indicative of that animal's proboscis, with its extraordinary delicacy of scent and touch, ever cautiously applied, than of the obtuse perceptions of the river-horse. Finally, the elephant is far more dangerous as an enemy than the hippopotamus, which numerous pictorial sculptures on the monuments of Egypt represent as fearlessly speared by a single hunter standing on his float of log and reeds. Yet, although the elephant is scarcely less fond of water, the description referring to manners, such as lying under the shade of willows, among reeds, in fens, etc., is more directly characteristic of the hippopotamus. The book of Job appears, from many internal indications, to have been written in Asia, and is full of knowledge, although that knowledge is not expressed according to the precise technicalities of modern science; it offers pictures in magnificent outline, without condescending to minute and labored details. [[Considered]] in this light, the expression in &nbsp;Psalms 50:10, "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle (behemoth) upon a thousand hills," acquires a grandeur and force far surpassing those furnished by the mere idea of cattle of various kinds. If, then, we take this plural noun in the sense here briefly indicated, we may, in like manner, consider the LEVIATHAN (See Leviathan) (q.V.) its counterpart, a similarly generalized term, with the idea of crocodile most prominent; and as this name indicates a twisting animal, and, as appears from various texts, evidently includes the great pythons, cetacea, and sharks of the surrounding seas and deserts, it conveys a more sublime conception than if limited to the crocodile, an animal familiar to every Egyptian, and well known even in Palestine." (See Hippopotamus). </p>

<p> ''''' bē´hē̇ ''''' - ''''' moth ''''' , ''''' bē̇ ''''' - ''''' hē´moth ''''' ( בּהמות , <i> ''''' behēmōth ''''' </i> ̌ : &nbsp;Job 40:15 ): Apparently the plural of <i> ''''' behēmāh ''''' </i> , "a beast," used of domestic or wild animals. The same form, <i> ''''' behēmōth ''''' </i> , occurs in other passages, e.g. &nbsp;Deuteronomy 28:26; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 32:24; &nbsp;Isaiah 18:6; &nbsp;Habakkuk 2:17 , where it is not rendered "behemoth" but "beasts." According to some, the word <i> ''''' behēmōth ''''' </i> , occurring in &nbsp;Job 40:15 , is not a Hebrew word, the plural of <i> ''''' behēmāh ''''' </i> , but a word of Egyptian origin signifying "water ox." This etymology is denied by Cheyne and others. The word has by various writers been understood to mean rhinoceros and elephant, but the description (&nbsp;Job 40:15-24 ) applies on the whole very well to the hippopotamus ( <i> Hippopotamus arnphibius </i> ) which inhabits the Nile and other rivers of Africa. Especially applicable are the references to its great size, its eating grass, the difficulty with which weapons penetrate its hide, and its frequenting of streams. "He lieth under the lotus-trees, In the covert of the reed, and the fen. The lotus-trees cover him with their shade; The willows of the brook compass him about." </p> <p> The remains of a fossil hippopotamus of apparently the same species are found over most of Europe, so that it may have inhabited [[Palestine]] in early historical times, although we have no record of it. There is a smaller living species in west Africa, and there are several other fossil species in Europe and India. The remains of <i> Hippopotamus minutus </i> have been found in enormous quantities in caves in [[Malta]] and Sicily. </p> <p> For an elaborate explanation of behemoth and leviathan (which see) as mythical creatures, see Cheyne, <i> EB </i> , under the word </p>