Does the Bible or 'Judeo-Christian' thought explain what Behemoth and Leviathan in Job 40 v6 thru 41 v34 truly are?

Answer 1

You can find the meaning of Behemouth in a Strong's Concordance ... its Hebrew word 929,930, however the definition given in Job 40:15 through 24. would be enough to understand its a dinosaur that is being discussed as there is no animal of the mass being discussed, in existence today.

Answer 2

Behemoth is just an old-style transliteration of Behema, which is the Hebrew word for beast. Behema is used for any large mammal, such as a horse or a lion. It is not a terribly specific term. Leviathan or Tanim, in Hebrew, used to refer to a sea serpent or whale. In Modern Hebrew, Tanim exclusively applies to whales.

Answer 3

No one living today really knows what the Behemoth (or Leviathan for that matter) was that's mentioned here in Job. But from the description...:

"Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly! Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword. The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it. A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth. Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?"

Some might say that it could be the elephant or hippopotamus, but because it says, "its tail sways like a cedar", it would more likely be the crocodile - except that it also says, "Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?", and they also don't eat grass, so, it would more likely be the dragon (which was sort of in-between a crocodile and a dinosaur). And, since the book of Job was the earliest written book of The Bible, it's likely that dragons did live at that time.

Leviathan was most likely the whale, though it could have been a large shark or some other sea animal that in now extinct. But, again there is nothing that definitively says what they were.

Answer 4

Here is a reference source analysis from Expositor's: "By telling of his dominion over Behemoth and Leviathan, the Lord is illustrating what he has said in 40:8-14. He is celebrating his moral triumph over the forces of evil. Satan, the Accuser, has been proved wrong though Job does not know it. The author and the reader see the entire picture that Job and his friends never knew. No rational theory of suffering is substituted for the faulty one the friends proffered. The only answer given is the same as in Genesis. God permitted the Accuser to touch Job as part of his plan to humiliate Satan. But now that the contest is over, God still did not reveal his reason to Job. Job did not find out what the readers know. That is why Job could be restored without destroying the integrity of the account. To understand this is to understand why the forces of moral disorder are veiled underneath mythopoeic language about ferocious, uncontrollable creatures.... We emphasize that if the specific and ultimate reason for his suffering had been revealed to Job even at this point Âthe value of the account as a comfort to others who must suffer in ignorance would have been diminished if not cancelled" (note on 41:1-34).

Leviathan is noted in other passages of the Old Testament (Psalm 104:25-26, compare Job 41:1 to Ezekiel 29:3-4 and Isaiah 30:6-7 where Egypt = Rahab a great physical empire or ruler) usually about pride as noted here in Job:

Job 41:34New King James Version (NKJV)34 He beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children of pride.
So is Leviathan a physical creature - apparently so but it is also metaphorically Satan.

Again, Behemoth the great land creature may probably have been a now extinct physical animal. A recent discovery by scientist have suggested the now-extinct giant hornless rhinoceros known as Baluchitherium (named after Baluchistan in Pakistan, where its fossil remains were found). This extremely large animal - 25 feet long, standing 18 feet high at the shoulder, with a thick, 8-foot-long tail, is believed by some to be the largest land mammal that ever lived. It is possible that this animal was contemporary with human beings as late as Job's time.