The Beastiary - Behemoth: Myth and Reality

Titanic and terrifying, the Biblical Behemoth is the focus of this new video in the Beastiary series. A rarely discussed creature, the Behemoth is a symbol of awe and power despite its passive and sedentary demeanour. Here we explore the myth, origin and cultural influences of this creature, and even take a look at how this creature might possibly exist in our world.
Music credits:
“Ofelia’s Dream” www.bensound.com
“Water Prelude” Kevin Macleod
“Shores of Avalon” Kevin Macleod
“Mary Celeste” Kevin Macleod
(Incomptech.com)
Licenced Under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http:creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
SFX:
“Tyrannosaurus Rex” Soundbible.com
Video clip Credits:
“Rotating Earth”
www.cutestockfootage.com/stoc...
“Sunrise”
www.videezy.com/time-lapse/32...
“Rolling Mist”
• B Roll : Mist Rolling ...
Sources:
“Sunny days at the stock exchange give lift to market, study says”
researchnews.osu.edu/archive/...

[@cinnireseisri]

African elephants are much larger than Asian elephants.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Ah yes, you are correct. Alas that sebtence was meant to be cut but seems to have slipped throigh the cracks. Thank you for pointing it out

[@brandonbreaker7390]

Ain't it funny how quickly and easily history can be warped?

[@sonkylergamez957]

cinnireseisri ok?

[@mrstealyogirlwitextrasauce6167]

Why is everything Africa so dang big

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

Also, Asian elephants are closely related to woolly mammoths.

[@jcb3883]

Keep making this series. Thanks for making my rides thrilling

[@PlanetZoidstar]

Fantastic video, keep 'em coming.

[@llamalover1223]

You should do one on Ziz, the beast of the air.

[@NightStrider343]

Ziz: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4PMlpiLp5uChassi=0VVaDu-viSZQ2Jpp

[@cretinousjester3475]

I swear this shit's better done than the D&D monstrous manual.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Haha, that's quite a compliment! thank you!

[@MsStorm351]

That last statement you made sent shivers down my spine , something to anticipate 😱! Thanks so much for your channel, I find it binge worthy 😎.

[@trystenlyth1139]

You genuinely deserve more likes man. I mean it.

[@LuckoDaStars]

In my bestiary, the behemoth is as large as the Argentinosaurus ( one of the largest sauropods) and is powerful to create earthquakes by merely just stepping I also refer to Behemoth as lord of the land. Leviathan would be the dragon of the Seas, Ziz would be the king of the Unbound sky

[@zolokiniir2134]

its groudon

[@mr.unethical2826]

Zolokiniir basically, yeah. And Kyogre is leviathan

[@tvbnine793]

and Rayquazza is Ziz

hey, lovely vid

[@sythowl2099]

This is a great video, thank you for the teachings

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Glad you like it!

[@sebastiansilverfox6912]

I find it worth noting that sauropods seem to match the description, perhaps, better than any living thing we know to exist. We must also consider that the passage the behemoth first appears is in Job which is written as a poem. That does not mean we should discount it entirely, for it clearly was referencing something that Job would have been familiar with but some of the descriptions can certainly be taken as poetic. For instance, the drinking of while rivers or eating of forests. Let me take these one at a time. In regards to rivers, consider the water displacement when such a beast emerges from lying in a river. While, certainly, the river would still remain, a poem could easily describe it as "drinking the whole river" as the displacement would be massive. Likewise, one must consider forests in a predominantly desert environment would not be forests as you and I would perceive them but, rather, areas of higher density of trees. Add the poetic and this, also, is not unreasonable to describe a creature that consumes large quantities of plants. In similar vein, it would certainly seem to make the whole earth tremble were it to raise up and "trumpet" some sound or tramp its feet. (I'm reminded of the scene in Jurassic Park where that is precisely what happens as the guests arrive at the park and see them for the first time.) Even if these beasts are extinct now, we cannot definitively say they were not still alive in antiquity. After all, tales of "dragons" span the world over and they certainly would have a "tail like a cedar" and other factors that creatures we see today lack.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

A very interesting idea, I dont have much more to add other than to say that you should not forget to consider our dating methods in identifying the ages of fossils. As a consequence we cannot *really* say that dinosaurs existed alongside man. However, as always, we never know. Thanks for your comment!

[@sebastiansilverfox6912]

Moon-Chicken Productions. Interesting thing about fossils is that they are formed quickly when something (sediment, ice, what have you) encased and effectively preserves the remains enough for us to have anything to find. This is not to get into when they are formed (as that has far less to do with the content and point of your channel and I hope to add, not diminish, the discussion.) The point is that if fossils are formed quickly and not slowly over time (which even bone would degrade and break down long before sediment would cover it from prolonged build-up) then it leaves us questioning all the more what the fossil record tells us and, more importantly, what it might miss. ...thought it was an interesting line of thinking that might be relevant considering the content of your videos. What you do with it is entirely up to you, of course. Thanks for posting and for responding to my comment.

[@samuelbattershell3413]

You are aware of the half-life of Carbon-14, right? Because it's a radioactive isotope of Carbon, it breaks down over time. Fossilisation doesn't replace the carbon content of the bones, it replaces the calcium. As such, by looking at the concentration of Carbon-14 in the fossils, we can date them to be far older than Job. Also, you have to remember, Biblical Hebrew is loaded with euphemisms, and given the next line talks about 'stones' (testicles)... the 'tail' is most likely the phallus.

[@tengtx]

actually we do know. science have already proven that dinosaurs did not died out 64 millions years ago but just a few thousand years ago. cause scientist can still see blood cells and soft tissues in these fossil that supposedly should not have any blood cells or soft tissues after 64 millions years of being dead. also we have rock carving and shrine that shows human along side dinosaurs. that is all the evident we need to show us that dinosaurs was once living along side us. i would rather put my trust on humans that lived on this earth thousands of years ago and have seen dinosaurs hence then carve what they see on rocks and shrine rather then put my trust on a piece of machine that we know does not do a very good job at what is suppose to do and that dating.

[@GreenSlugg]

Sebastian Silverfox Feel free to come by my channel. I am finishing up a video on these sorts of topics.

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

Like the leviathan and the dragon, the behemoth is also the inspiration for the modern kaiju genre (e.g. King Kong, Godzilla, Gamera, Pacific Rim, and Rampage).

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

And speaking of the behemoth, other modern fictional equivalents of the mythical creature would be the Groveback and the Emperor Sea Strider from the mockumentary Alien Planet as well as the Toraton and the Megasquid from The Future is Wild.

[@jasonvoorhees5180]

Nicholas Lienandjaja Behemoth and leviathan have _nothing_ to do with the origins of the Kaiju/movie monster film genre , you’re making a cause and effect that doesn’t exist (correlation =\= causation) . That’d require the filmmakers of such productions using those myths/references as a basis for their stories which isn’t the case. Those types of movies have different inspirations , different motifs and various lines of development books.google.com/books/about/The_Kaiju_Film.html?id=B7SaCwAAQBAJ. You can argue that many cinematic monsters bare resemblance to Dragons,behemoth and leviathan in their roles or appearance (some giant monsters in film are based on dragons and other mythic creatures) but implying they are solely what inspired things that specific area of science fiction means you’re a bit confused about film history. Godzilla and Kong and often regarded as the most iconic cinematic movie monsters who left a major cultural impact, Sired the genre and gave rise to whole generations of movies in a similar context that continue to this day. King Kong was made on account of Merian C. Cooper being fascinated with gorillas and other primates as a child while Godzilla was produced in 1954 not long after the bombing of Hiroshima , he was a monster created to be a metaphor for the horrors the people of Japan had witnessed at the time but later embodied other themes in the following decades en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_(1933_film) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1954_film) As for the concept of “monsters” as a whole that has an even more complex story to tell especially since there are a whole menagerie of beings,beasts and made up entities in folklore or are creative products of certain individual imagination put on screen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_movie books.google.com/books/about/Monsters_in_the_Movies.html?id=vFe5j8lRm44C

[@alicegriesel3806]

Love this methology. Well done ♡♡

[@brandonbreaker7390]

alice griesel I love your ass

[@MorinoRavenberg]

Interesting, but the Behemoth out of the Bible is a creature that is beyond our comprehension.

[@kiklopdodo5800]

I hope that once we are upgraded that we will be able to understand and see those creatures

[@jakeel85]

I didn't know elephants have cedar like tails...

[@The_PokeSaurus]

A creature of myth that I have grown very fond of.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Well, it would seem that we could not exactly determine what it really looks like.

[@thevenator3955]

8:20 I never actually realized how fat hippos were. I mean, I knew they were big, but those guys are practically wider than they are tall!

[@MoonChickenProductions]

TheVenator you know, I once ran into one when I was a kid. I was absolutly dumb, having grown up in Joburg. Let me tell you, even the video doesnt do it justice. when you see one up close, Im talking like 4 or 5 meters... I cant even beging to explain how shocking a hippo can be. and I was also the idiot kid who walked up behind a girafd one time so I really know my scales. If you get a chance, next time you go to a zoo, see if the keeps will let you into the shelter area of the hippos, where they do the mority of the feeding and tending to the animals. That should give you a good idea.

[@thevenator3955]

That must have been so awesome to live in a place where you can see animals like that in the wild. I live in Northern American, and I'm lucky to see a deer once every couple months

[@MoonChickenProductions]

TheVenator dont get me wrong, these events were on trips to places where the animals actually live, such as Limpopo province. So its not like we would have animals just blundering about. Although as soon as I write that I do recall one incident a long time ago, when I was a child, of a lion having escaped the local lion park. it ended up wandering around in an open field about 3 km from my house at that time. pooor thing must have been very scared. For the most part, Africa is hardly different fron what you might experience in North America. At least by my experience. very few places actually have any chance of acidentally contacting animals, especially in and near the cities.

[@thevenator3955]

I've only gone to a traditional zoo twice in my life, one when I was little so I don't remember much (except that there was an elephant) and the other when it was winter so most of the animals were gone ;-)

[@mrstealyogirlwitextrasauce6167]

I believe this thing did exist once in a long lost part of time

[@MoonChickenProductions]

We there have certainly been large animals before. Alas we will probably never figure out what people were reffering to beyond something like the elephant. Heck, as suggested by the title card the behemoth may have been a woolly mammoth, stories of which survived for thousands of years.

[@nickcollins8997]

Can you do one on hydra’s?

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Will do

[@AlanNguyen12398fghj]

The behemoth should have make elephant roars.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Yeah, hindsight and all that. I did want to make it sound more like something unknown as well which was the idea that won out in the end.

[@nickrodriguez9325]

can you do one about Ziz

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Yes, will do, it is on the list

[@justinthompson6364]

Perhaps the behemoth could also have a symbiotic relationship with some sort of plant living under the skin?

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

So, like the Sker Buffalo and Spore Mantis in Kong: Skull Island?

[@incomments2864]

We as humans will always try to explain something like this in a simple way that would make sense for us. However, these creatures in the bible like the leviathan and behemoth are creatures that are beyond our human comprehension. They are beyond our mortal capabilities and we will never understand what they are because these creatures are physically and spiritually out of our reach. It has been said many times that only God can tame them and only God can feed them. Humans have never seen the behemoth or leviathan. The only reason why is written in the Bible is because God himself had revealed their existence to his prophets in order to create the sacred scriptures and let those destined to participate in the feast know the reward of their loyalty to God.

[@darkangel-ve8pn]

No no no...theyre just beyond the spiritual reach of people like you....i interact daily with shit that would have christians pissing their pants and praying under the bed

[@nkdread]

If you think about it, what if the behemoth is considered the earth, think about it. Brass bones and steel can signify the earths minerals, the sun sustains the earth, etc

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Interesting interpretation. It adds a rather concerning twist regarding the fate of the behemoth at the end of the narrative in the bible

[@ZionLion44]

There is only one animal that fits the description. Babe the big blue ox. He is real, I seent it .

[@MoonChickenProductions]

I have never heard of that. What is it? care to expand? I am quite curious.

[@jerkurface602]

Paul Bunyon's big blue homie

[@willclouded]

Came here after watching Godzilla King of monsters lol

[@MoonChickenProductions]

I am so sad I made this video before that film

[@praetorianrex5571]

You still alive?

[@Vulpecula-Enfield]

Neither the elephant and hippo have a tail like a cedar tree. Not to much, even though male elephants are solitary, there is only one Behemoth. Not to mention I'm pretty Job knew what an elephant looked like.

[@samuelbattershell3413]

Given Biblical Hebrew is riddled with euphemisms, the 'tail' is most like the Behemoth's phallus

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

The "tail" is most likely not a tail, but a penis. The original passage also mentioned "stones", which most likely referred to the Behemoth's testicles. If translated correctly and uncensored, the description could be interpreted as the Behemoth having an erection.

[@shallandavarpainterofsouls9509]

It can't be an elephant because the tale is describes as being like unto a cedar. does that sound like an elephants tale?

[@samuelbattershell3413]

No, the Bible liken the Behemoth's movement of its tail to be akin to the movement of a cedar tree. Due note that the Lebanese Cedar is much more flexible, swaying in the wind

[@shallandavarpainterofsouls9509]

@@samuelbattershell3413 well, the tail is kind of the smallest part of the elephant so I don't know why they would be talking about that. if they were talking about the tail they would probably describe it as a reed or tall grass or something.

[@lewis3102]

groudon

[@MrWanapon]

What about the sauropods because it sounds like it fit the description because the elephant and the hippopotamus do not have the tail like the thick trunk of the cedar tree

[@samuelbattershell3413]

The word 'tail' in the verse in the original text is a locution of an Aramaic word which while literally means 'tail' was always used as a euphemism for the phallus. Given the use of the word 'stones' in the common translations of that verse of Job and the other pairing lines, we can conclude that the 'tail' is not a tail, but a phallus

[@MrWanapon]

@@samuelbattershell3413 A phallus? What's a phallus?

[@jeannephifer4183]

I'm sorry but I think you got it wrong the African elephant is so much bigger than an Asian elephant you might want to look that up

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Yes this was an accusebtal use of an old script. I have addressed this. Thank you for the comment. Do be sure to see if you can spot the mistake I made in my recent video

[@sonkylergamez957]

Ok... That gave me no info... Like what did the behemoth else do? Did he go to the grocery store? Try to get stoned? Lol

[@MoonChickenProductions]

It was big, at a lot of trees and its gonna die. That's pretty much it. This video was done apropos of the leviathen video, and alas this creature has less information about it than its brother so... make of that what you will.

[@petercastagnetta9591]

The Behemoth was suppose to be the biggest of all gods land creatures, the biggest land creature to ever exist that we have evidence of is a SAUROPOD. And it fits every description.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

Indeed, so mashaps the sauropod inspired ancient people who stumbled across a few skeletons?

[@logawinner]

Myth does not mean a false story it means a religious story, spread the news, repost this at will.

[@yurpdaddy4423]

The behomath is the baphomet the Baal the babaal witch is the judge of the death and 2nd birthz

[@christophersmall4661]

Bro it's probably a elephant

[@scott27288]

Biggest bunch of hooey I ever heard. "first creature created?" "draws its power from the sun?" Where is that written down? SMH.

[@MoonChickenProductions]

It depends on what you understand by "primal" In the Book of Enoch Leviathan and and Behemoth are described as the primal creatures of sea and land respectively. As for the sun-power, the Haggadah mentions that the behemoth is most powerful in the summer, particularly the solstice. This I, and a few other writers on the matter, took to mean that the sun holds sway over its energy levels, like a reptile. As you can see, I have used several sources to construct the image of the creature I have presented here, and you many not agree with what I have come up with. You may disregard my sources in favor of another. And that's perfectly fine. I really enjoy hearing the many interpretations of these mythical creatures and encourage my viewers to share their ideas, even if those ideas are different from what I have explained here. In the end it all serves to make the creatures more interesting and enjoyable for everyone. I have gotten a lot of ideas from my commenters as well, so your ideas really are quite valuable to me. So please, tell me about your conception of the behemoth, I really would like to know.