Job 40:15-24

Job 40:15 to Job 41:34. Behemoth and Leviathan. Most scholars regard this passage as a later addition to the poem. The point of Job 40:8 is God's reply to Job's criticism of His righteousness; the description of these beasts, however, illustrates at great length man's impotence, which is only a secondary thought in the previous Divine speech. They therefore divert attention from the main issue. Moreover, there is a great difference between these descriptions and those of Job 38:39 to Job 39:30. Here the descriptions are heavy and laboured, gaining their effect, such as it is, by an accumulation of details, a catalogue of their points and minute descriptions of the various parts of their bodies. But the poet who gave us the pictures of the wild ass, the horse, and the eagle was a swift impressionist, springing imagination with a touch, not stifling it with the fullness of detail proper to a natural historian (Peake).

A further question is whether, in accordance with the generally accepted view, Behemoth is the hippopotamus, and Leviathan the crocodile. Some modern scholars think they are mythological figures. Gunkel, followed by Zimmern, identifies Leviathan with the chaos-monster Tiamat, and Behemoth with her consort Kingu. In some cases this identification suits, while certain details do not fit the usual explanation. Still the mythological interpretation has not been generally accepted; the inappropriateness of details on the usual theory is explained by the imperfect knowledge or the poetical exaggeration of the author.

Job 40:15. Behemoth The name means a huge beast; it is an intensive plural of b e hç mâ h, beast. In Job 40:17 He moveth his tail like a cedar is an exaggeration: the tail is only a short, naked stump.

The statement that Behemoth is the chief of the ways of God (Job 40:19) suggests that he is God's masterpiece. We may, however, render the beginning of the ways of God. The idea that Behemoth was the first animal might be derived from Genesis 1:24, where cattle (b e hç mâ h) are placed first.

Job 40:19 b is corrupt. Giesebrecht reads who is made to be ruler over his fellows. In Job 40:23 translate a Jordan, the appellative denoting any torrent: the hippopotamus is not found in the Jordan. In Job 40:24 when he is on the watch is literally in his eyes. The parallelism suggests that the meaning is attack him in his eyes.

Duhm would place Job 41:9 here as the conclusion of the description of Behemoth.