Behold Behemoth
Behold Behemoth In the “Book of Job“, God brings before Job, and us, a description of an amazing creature called Behemoth. Modern scholars have had, and still have, a great deal of difficulty trying to determine just which animal in our natural world it is referred to in the scripture. I will provide arguments of some modern theories and then present my own theories of what this amazing creature could have possibly been, or was meant to be, through discussion of the scripture in the “King James Version” and the “New Revised Standard Version” versions of the bible. The first modern interpretation of some modern scholars is that Behemoth could have represented a dinosaur. This is the view of the young-earth theorists. They claim the “moveth his tail like a cedar” (KJV 40:17) is referring to a sauropod dinosaur. However, it is not without problems. First, while most of the passage could be attributed to a sauropod, the passage in which he “drinketh up a river” (KJV 40:23) does not sound like a sauropod. The NRSV version states “Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened; it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth“ (NRSV 40:23). Given the smallness of the sauropod’s mouth, this is unlikely. The second problem with the sauropod interpretation is verse 21. The KJV is good, but a more literal translation is better here. The NRSV says, “Under the lotus plants it lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh” (NRSV 40:21). It is difficult to imagine the Argentinosaurus at 100 feet long, and a height of 70 feet when standing (sitting, probably 20 feet), resting under the limbs of a lotus plant or tree. Nor would he be able to take cover under the low-lying branches of a willow tree. However, these problems don’t prove conclusive enough to claim that Behemoth was not a dinosaur, so the possibility remains that the sauropod interpretation is correct. With that said, there is one final thought to ponder. Since there is no physical
Cited: The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, King James Version. New York. American Bible Society. 1999. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, New Revised Standard Version. Thomas Nelson, Inc. Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 1989. Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Job 40". "Coffman Commentaries on the Old and New Testament". http://www.studylight.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=job&chapter=040. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.