Devotional Thoughts: Behemoth and Leviathan

Continuing toward the end of Job ...

Usually don't cover two chapters in one bite. But I figured addressing the "behemoth" and "leviathan" in one shot might be the way to go.

The LORD said to Job:
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!"

Job had pretty strong words in lamenting his situation to God through the many chapters.

And God went face-to-face with Job in return.

I suppose we can take comfort in the fact that when Job went toe-to-toe with God that Job didn't become a smoking hole in the ground.

Now, before we get too comfortable, God can turn cities full of people into ashes as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19.

Why the difference?

Sodom and Gomorrah was truly wicked ... Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous ... but Abraham begged God to spare the cities if 10 were found righteous. God said yes. Alas, not even 10 were found righteous and so Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

How about Job?

We know from the beginning of the story that he was a righteous man. He wasn't sinless because no man is sinless. But he was right with God by seeking to live rightly and when he went astray confessing and seeking God's forgiveness.

Was his complaints about God ... was that sin?

It seems that God would rather we go face-to-face with Him with our complaints than go off and live a life of sin ignoring God.

Then Job answered the LORD:
"I am unworthy - how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer -
twice, but I will say no more."

Job wanted an audience with God and got it. The questions melted away and he had nothing really left to say.

God continued to dwell on His power as His response to Job's complaints...

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
Prepare to defend yourself;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God's,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at all who are proud and bring them low,
look at all who are proud and humble them,
crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.

Some scholars think behemoth was the hippopotamus!



image source: http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/hippopotamus/

Look at the 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?

I've seen some hippos while on safari. I suspect the fact that I saw them at a pretty safe distance inside a large vehicle made them seem less fearsome!

We now get a description of the leviathan.

Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak to you with gentle words?
Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.
No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.

Some experts say the leviathan is a crocodile while others say a whale.

What does it sound like to you from the description so far?

Did the ancients in the Middle East hunt for whales?

I suppose you could throw spears and harpoons at crocodiles.

I will not fail to speak of Leviathan's limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
Its back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.

Now this part sure sounds more like an armored beast like the croc!


image source: http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/tsmith/new_page_14.htm

Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.

Fire-breathing dragon of fantasy tales?

Or is it poetic license in describing how fearsome a crocodile is?

Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
Nothing on earth is its equal -
a creature without fear.
It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud.

Again, the ruggedly look of this creature seems more in line with a crocodile than a whale or some other ocean faring beast.

Some insist that these two creatures were dinosaurs because they seemed so terrible and frightening.

I think that might be a stretch.

To us, the hippo and croc aren't as fearsome because we now have guns.

But to the ancients, these beasts would be quite scary for they had mere spears.

As Job listened to God speak of these mighty creatures, he is reminded that God made them. GOD is mightier than the mightiest. And God deigns to speak with Job.

Lord Jesus, you are the God who speaks the words of this story of Job. Yet, you set aside the rights of that divinity to make yourself like us, like Job. You even humbled yourself to dying on a criminals cross. And so you are vindicated and exalted to the highest place so that we have nothing to say against you and instead bow down and thank you for your grace and love. Amen.