Behemoth

What is ‘behemoth’ of the Book of Job? The translations of various versions are not agreed. The A.V. – an elephant; Young’s Concordance – a rhino or hippopotamus; New English Bible – a crocodile. None of these creatures fits the description of behemoth.

Look at verse 21 of chapter 40:—

“He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.”

Reeds? Fens? In other words, bogs, marshes, soft, treacherous ground – the very sort of ground these three heaviest of all beasts would avoid – the elephant, hippo or the rhino. Any one of them would sink up to his belly in such ground. In what way do the mountains bring any of these animals their food? (verse 20). And see verse 17:

“He moveth his tail like a cedar.”

By no stretch of imagination can the droopy, little, out-of-proportion tails of any of these beasts be likened to a cedar. The elephant is timid (unless he’s turned rogue). His eyesight is weak. The hippo’s favourite pastime is wallowing in mud like a pig. The rhino is a living but brainloss tank. Surely none of these animals is “the chief of the ways of God”? (verse 19). And the crocodile “his strength is in his loins, his force is in the navel of his belly” (verse 16). Where do his loins start and end? And does this egg-laying reptile have a navel? This fellow is not all that fond of lying under shady trees; he’s more for basking in the sun, not far from the water’s edge, which he heads for at the first sign of danger. He likes his food in a decomposed state; any half rotten body floating down the river he regards as a super snack; anything he may grab alive he drags into his den under the river bank, above the water level, and there he leaves it until it’s nicely decomposed. Chewing anything fresh would be hard work for his excavator chops. He has a ropulsive appearance and his breath smells vile. He is not the chiof of the ways of God.

Let us have a look at an animal that does fit the description of behemoth – the lion. All right, he does not eat grass like an ox, but it does not say that he does. It says – He eateth grass as an ox (verse 15). This is parable languago. That sentence doesn’t sound grammatically correct if it is describing an animal that eats grass like an ox. As an ox he eateth grass. That doesn’t sound right either. The New English Bible comes close with “He devours cattle as if they were grass.” Close, but not close enough. From the time a calf of any of the cattle creatures is weaned (the ones that roam free) he begins to eat grass. His staple diet is grass, his bones, muscles, sinews and flesh are formed on grass. He is the product of grass.

Let us see how the lion fits this description of behemoth.

“His strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly” (verse 16).

Here lies the force by which he hurtles himself forward with a terrifying burst of speed, which more often than not catches his prey on the hop. Here lies the groat strength which enables him to clear a six-foot palisade with a fully grown human in his jaws.

“He moveth his tail like a cedar” (Verse 17 A.V. margin, “He setteth up”).

The tail of the lion is perfectly round, from the base to the tip, it tapers symmetrically from the base to the tip. During an attack, I believe it stands erect, and the tuft of hair at the tip gives a suggestion of foliage.

“His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron” (verse 18)

They have to be. The lion is strongest among all beasts, and “turneth not away for any” (Prov. 30:30). His bones have to be strong to withstand the strain imposed on them by the terrible strength of the muscles that cover them.

The cattle and his kind feed on the mountains, (“the cattle on a thousand hills are mine”). Sooner or later they have to come down to the water to drink, and this they do with fear and trembling, with haste (v.20 – 23). From past experience they know behemoth is sure to be there – lying in the shadow of the trees, in the covert of the reeds “Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, when they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?” (Job 38:39).

“Behold he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth” (verse 23).

Hero God is saying – no animal cares to be in the vicinity of the water when King Leo comes down to drink. He can stay there as long as he wishes to – long enough to drink up the Jordan if he were able to.

“He taketh it with his eyes” (verse 24).

His is the watchful gaze of the cat family; he misses nothing, he takes everything in with his eyes. “His nose pierceth through snares.” His sense of smell is no less perfect than his sight; he is able to smell a man-laid snare or trap, and he’s no fool. He is the perfect machine of the animal world, and with the coronation cloak that God gave him draped across his great shoulders, he treads majestically every path in his domain.

He is king of the beasts of the earth.

Isaiah 31:4 “The Lord … like a lion … roaring on his prey …”

Hosea 11:10  “He shall roar like a lion …”

Revelation 10:3 “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth.”

The lion of Judah.

He is the chief of the ways of God.