book of Job (chaper 40 and 41) The Behemoth and the Levithan. What animals are they referring too. The descriptions are as if the writer has actually seen these beast but I can't figure it out.
2007-03-24 04:52:26 · 6 answers · asked by Agnon L 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
leviathan was a water animal, usually represented as some type of whale or crocodile while Behemoth was land - usually a hippo or elephant type of animal.
Christian scholars now believe that Leviathan is based on a seven-headed sea monster named "Lothan" found in Canaanite myths. This Lothan is a primordial enemy of the thunder god Baal, who ultimately destroys it, even as God in Psalm 74 "breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness" (verse 14). Lothan/Leviathan is also paralleled in Greek myth, where Zeus faces down a many-headed dragon named Typhon.
Behemoth was basically same type of thing... orginating from other religions/myths.
generally, for those not so scholarly however, there are several hundred interpretations of what they mean in the bible. mainly - they were just used to represent land and water....... or some type of great force (good or evil) therein.
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2007-03-24 05:07:29 · answer #1 · answered by raspberryswirrrl 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Commentators have had a great deal of difficulty trying to determine just which animals in our natural world are referred to here. Some think that Behemoth is either the hippopotamus, or the elephant, or perhaps the rhinoceros. Others say that Leviathan is the crocodile, though some think it could be the whale. Whatever version you read will present these animals in one form or another according to the interpretative conviction of the commentator, or the editors of the version. And then there are some that think they are dinosaurs. Personally I go with Hippo and Croc.
2007-03-24 05:02:30 · answer #2 · answered by Doc E 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Behemoth is probably referring to a Brachiosaurous. the key phrase here is "tail like a cedar" compare the tail of a Brachiosaurous to that of an elephant or a hippo. Which one looks more like a cedar tree?
Leviathan may be a type of water "dragon". An unknown species. Something not discovered yet.
2007-03-25 08:23:54 · answer #3 · answered by RG 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
DINOSUARS!! yes I said it dinosaurs...the behemoth and Leviathan the bible tells us that the behemoth had long powerful legs well maybe its an elephant and a big belly elephants have big belly's and it says it had a long neck wait elephants dont have long necks?? maybe its a giraffe and it had a mighty long tail like a cider tree WHAT??? what animal has all those features??
2007-03-24 06:48:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Leviathan and a whale.
The Leviathan is possible a hippopotamus (or an elephant).
2007-03-24 06:21:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Elephant and whale, in that order.
2007-03-24 05:01:45 · answer #6 · answered by sity.cent 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋