Behemoth is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.

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Behemoth (; Hebrew: בְּהֵמוֹת, bəhēmōṯ) is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.\n

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Etymology

The Hebrew word behemoth (Biblical Hebrew: בְ֭הֵמוֹת, romanized: bəhēmoṯ) has the same form as the plural of Biblical Hebrew: בְּהֵמָה, romanized: bəhēmā, lit. 'beast', suggesting an augmentative form meaning \"great beast\". Despite its plural form, it takes singulative adjectives, much like other pluralised augmentative forms such as Elohim \"God\". \n

Some theorize that the word might originate from an Egyptian word of the form pꜣ jḥ mw \"the water-ox\", meaning \"hippopotamus\", altered by folk etymology in Hebrew to resemble bəhēmā. However, this phrase with this meaning is unattested at any stage of Egyptian. Even before the decipherment of Ancient Egyptian in the early 19th century, there was widespread identification of the biblical behemoth with the hippopotamus. The word for \"hippopotamus\" in Russian remains derivative of behemoth (бегемот), a meaning that entered the language in the mid-18th century.\n

Biblical description

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The Hebrew word behemoth is mentioned only once in Biblical text, in a speech from the mouth of God in the Book of Job. It is a primeval creature created by God and so powerful that only God can overcome him:\n

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The passage later pairs Behemoth with the sea-monster Leviathan, both composite mythical creatures with enormous strength that humans could not hope to control, yet both are reduced to the status of divine pets.\n

Later interpretations

In Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, such as the 2nd century BC Book of Enoch (60:7–10), Behemoth is the unconquerable male land-monster living in Duidain, an invisible desert east of the Garden of Eden, Leviathan is the primeval female sea-monster, dwelling in the Abyss, and Ziz is the primordial sky-monster.\n

Similarly, in the most ancient section of Second Esdras 6:47–52, written around the 1st century, after the destruction of the Second Temple, the two are described as inhabiting the mountains and the seas, respectively, after being separated from each other, due to the sea's insufficiency to contain them both. Likewise, in the contemporaneous 2 Baruch 29:4, it is stated that Behemoth will come forth from his seclusion on land, and Leviathan out of the sea, and that the two gigantic monsters, created on the fifth day, will serve as food for the elect, who will survive in the days of the Messiah.\n

A Jewish rabbinic legend describes a great battle that will take place between them at the end of time: \"they will interlock with one another and engage in combat, with his horns the Behemoth will gore with strength, the fish [Leviathan] will leap to meet him with his fins, with power. Their Creator will approach them with his mighty sword [and slay them both];\" then, \"from the beautiful skin of the Leviathan, God will construct canopies to shelter the righteous, who will eat the meat of the Behemoth and the Leviathan amid great joy and merriment.\" In the Haggadah, Behemoth's strength reaches its peak on the summer solstice of every solar year (around 21 June). At this time of year, Behemoth lets out a loud roar that makes all animals tremble with fear and thus renders them less ferocious for a whole year. As a result, weak animals live in safety away from the reach of wild animals. This mythical phenomenon is shown as an example of divine mercy and goodness. Without Behemoth's roar, traditions say, animals would grow wilder and more ferocious and would go around butchering each other and humans.\n

Modern interpretations of Behemoth tend to fall into several categories: \n

Behemoth is an animal of the modern natural world, most often the hippopotamus (e.g. in Russian, where the word begemot refers more often to hippopotamus rather than the Biblical animal), although the elephant and water buffalo could also be candidates. All three consume grass and chew it as an ox would, and the elephant and water buffalo both have mobile, sprucy tails that sway in a similar manner to a cedar.

Behemoth was an invention of the poet who wrote the Book of Job.

Behemoth and Leviathan were both separate mythical chaos-beasts.

Additionally, some Young Earth creationists, such as the Christian fundamentalist organization Answers in Genesis, claim that Behemoth is some species of sauropod or other dinosaur based on the comparison of the tail with a Western redcedar in Job 40:17.

Literary references

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The 17th-century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes named the Long Parliament 'Behemoth' in his book Behemoth. It accompanies his book of political theory that draws on the lessons of English Civil War, the rather more famous Leviathan.\n

The Dictionnaire Infernal version of Behemoth is a demon that resembles a round-bellied humanoid elephant. He works as the infernal watchman for Satan and oversees the banquets in Hell while having a good singing voice.\n

The Behemoth is also mentioned in the opera, Nixon in China, composed by John Adams, and written by Alice Goodman. At the beginning of the first act, the chorus sings \"The people are the heroes now, Behemoth pulls the peasants' plow\" several times.\n

The Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov used a demonic cat with the name Behemoth as a character in his novel The Master and Margarita. In the book the cat could speak and walk on two legs and was part of the entourage of Woland, who represented Satan.\n

The webnovel Worm features the Endbringers, a trio of city-destroying monsters named Behemoth, Leviathan and the Simurgh.\n

References

Citations

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Bibliography

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Etymology

Biblical description

Later interpretations

Literary references

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

Behemoth

Broadcast History