Scripture for Today, 4-8-17

Book of Job: Leviathan & Behemoth

“Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee.” Job 40:15
“Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? . . . None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?” Job 41:1, 10

God's Leviathan

4-7-17, Dr Morris III -- After telling Job about the behemoth, indicating it was such a great land animal that God considered it the “chief” of His ways, God turned to the other creature He drew special attention to—the leviathan.
 
Whatever this animal was, it is no longer with us, but Job was familiar with it.
 
Apparently, it was a semi-aquatic animal with a fierce character and strong body with “comely proportion” and precision scales that could withstand spears, darts, or javelins (Job 41:9-17, 26). ICR scientists have suggested fossil evidence might identify this animal as a Spinosaurus, with a bony sail on its back up to seven feet high.
 
But when God speaks of “neesings” (sneezes) that cause “sparks of fire [to] leap out,” with smoke coming out of its nose like “a seething pot or caldron,” we get the impression that this creature was something very unusual!
 
“Out of his mouth go burning lamps . . . . His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth” (Job 41:18-21).

God's Behemoth

God took 44 verses to talk about two animals—behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and leviathan citing the behavior and descriptions of these very large animals. Why the interest? Why should it matter?
 
To begin with, behemoth was “made with thee.” Whatever it was, it was created at the same time as man. It was an enormous animal that “moveth his tail like a cedar” and had bones like “strong pieces of bronze” and “bars of iron.” It was “the chief of the ways of God; only He that made him can make his sword to approach him.”
 
This animal illustrates something of the enormous power of the Creator and gives evidence that only God could control it (Job 40:15-19).
 
In the past, this creature really lived. Today, with only fossil bones to give some idea of the enormity of this animal, science would likely call behemoth an Apatosaurus;  fossils indicate it was:

- length: between 70 and 90 feet
- height at the hips: approximately 15 feet
- tail approx 50 feet long (remember the cedar tree)
- teeth peg-like suggesting it was a vegetarian
- legs were like columns
- weight is estimated around 35 ton

With this much known evidence, it's sad to see the notes in the margins of many Bibles insisting that the behemoth was either an elephant or a hippopotamus. Perhaps these “scoffers” are “willingly ignorant” (2 Peter 3:3-5).

​Excerpted and adapted original full report here:
Behemoth: http://www.icr.org/article/behemoth/
Leviathan: https://www.icr.org/article/9431/
Adapted from The Book of Beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris III

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