The behemoth made with Man
Chapter 40:15-24
Job was silent, and the LORD proceeded to describe two astounding animals, the names of which are transcribed in the Hebrew in the older versions of the Bible because no translators can fit the description to a known living animal. More recently some translators have ventured to translate them into the names of animals who have some of the characteristics, but not all.
They were evidently animals known by Job in his days, like the others mentioned previously. As the descriptions don't fit any animal today, they must be extinct species like so many others in the past, whose bones have been uncovered as fossils by palaeontologists in recent times. Indeed, the descriptions fit closely two kinds of dinosaurs, and we shall look at their similarities.
According to Scripture, on the fifth day "God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind." (Genesis 1:21).
And on the sixth day "God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so." (Genesis 1:24).
Also on the sixth day "God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" (Genesis 1:26).
The behemoth was made with mankind and we are told it is the plural form of the common Hebrew word for cattle (behemah). Its creation can therefore be placed on the sixth day, and therefore it is not a sea or water creature.
The iguanodon
It is described as a vegetarian of powerful hips and stomach muscles, moving his tail like a cedar, having tightly knit thigh sinews, bones like beams of bronze, ribs like bars of iron. It was among the first created and was unapproachable by man. It fed in the mountains, but would lie under the shade of lotus trees, in reeds and marsh, surrounded by willows. It was not disturbed by the river Jordan, which gushed into its mouth, splashed into its eyes, or caught its nose. The lotus tree was probably a member of the elm family.
There is no animal today to fit this description - some have suggested the hippopotamus, but its size is minute compared with this beast, and it would be ridiculous to say its tail is like a cedar. Others favour the elephant, considering that its tail really means its trunk, which is a possible interpretation of the original Hebrew word. Among the fossils, the iguanodon seems to fit the description much better. It was very widespread, 9 metres long, stood nearly two metres tall at the hip, and weighed four to five tons. The animal probably spent its time grazing while moving about on four legs, although it was able to walk on two. The teeth were ridged and formed sloping surfaces whose grinding action could pulverise its diet of low-growing ferns and horsetails that grew near streams and rivers. Its tail could well be compared to the branch of a cedar!
The lesson to Job here was that, if he is unable to control this creature, how does he expect to control the world? We need not go far for proofs and instances of God's almighty power and sovereign dominion; they are near us, they are with us, they are under our eye wherever we are.
R David Jones
15 "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox.
16 See now, his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
18 His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron.
19 He is the first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near His sword.
20 Surely the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
21 He lies under the lotus trees, in a covert of reeds and marsh.
22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him.
23 Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; he is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,
24 Though he takes it in his eyes, or one pierces his nose with a snare.