BEHEMOTH . The hippopotamus ( Job 40:15 ), as leviathan ( Job 41:1 ) is the crocodile. It has been suggested that the ancient Babylonian Creation-myth underlies the poet’s description of the two animals (Gunkel, Schöpf. u. Chaos , 61 ff.). This is doubtful, but the myth undoubtedly reappears in later Jewish literature: ‘And in that day will two monsters be separated, a female named Leviathan to dwell in the abyss over the fountains of waters. But the male is called Behemoth, which occupies with its breast [?] an immeasurable desert named Dendain’ (En 60:7, 8; cf. 2Es 6:49-51 , Apoc. [Note: Apocalypse, Apocalyptic.] Bar 29:4, Baba bathra 74 b ). Behemoth is rendered by ‘beasts’ in Isaiah 30:6 . This may be correct, but the oracle which follows says nothing about the ‘beasts of the south’; either the text is corrupt or the title may have been prefixed because Rahab, another name for the chaos-monster, occurs in v. 7. The psalmist confesses, ‘Behemoth was I with thee’ ( Psalms 73:22 ). The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] understood this to be an abstract noun, ‘Beast-like was I with thee’; others substitute the sing., and render ‘a beast,’ etc. J. Taylor.
Behemoth. This is a Hebrew word and is now very generally believed to refer to the Hippopotamus. Job 40:15. Jehovah calls the attention of Job to this wonderful animal that he might see the wisdom and power of its Creator.
Be he’moth - Beasts