Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
The Behemoth is a hulking land beast, described in the book of Job, that was said to be a
masterpiece of creation.
It has been the subject of much discussion, and even has a ride named after it at Canada’s
Wonderland.
But what if this creature was not a mythical beast, or an amusement park ride, but actually
a real animal that lived to this day?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if the Behemoth was Real?
As was the case in our video about The Leviathan, this video will not discuss whether or not
the Bible is true, or whether the Behemoth was meant to be taken literally or metaphorically.
Feel free to debate it in the comments, but the following will simply be looking at a
world in which the literal interpretation of the Behemoth stories is true, and the creature
remained alive today.
The description of the Behemoth is brief, but relatively detailed.
It describes a male creature that eats grass like an ox, with strength in his loins, and
force in the navel of his belly.
He moves his tail like a cedar, with the sinews of his stones wrapped together.
And his bones are like bars of iron.
It goes on to state that he lies under shady trees and among the reeds, and drinks a great
deal from the river, with its nose piercing through snares.
Some of the wording is rather ambiguous, but this description has led to a number of guesses
as to what the Behemoth actually was.
Some believe it to simply be a large hippopotamus, or an elephant, since they seem to fit the
description and could have been present at the time.
However, the line that talks about the Behemoth moving his tail like a cedar leads many to
believe that it might not be a living animal at all, but rather a dinosaur.
Many believe that the tail, the size, and the fact that it seems to eat plants rather
than meat, point to the Behemoth actually being some sort of sauropod, like the Brachiosaurus.
Of course, if a dinosaur still existed, that would open up a whole other can of worms that
I can’t get into in this video.
If you want to hear more on that, check out our video, What if Dinosaurs Never Went Extinct.
It should also be noted that others interpret this line about the cedar tree differently,
with some claiming it to refer to an elephant’s trunk, or that it refers to the brush at the
tip of the elephant’s tail.
Some even believe that it could be referring to the beast’s penis.
This isn’t as ridiculous as it might seem; the Hebrew word for “move” could also
mean extend, something that penises rather often do.
The line preceding it refers to the strength in his loins.
Plus, the following line refers to the sinew of his “STONES” wrapped together.
Good luck getting THAT image out of your head.
As you may already suspect, if this beast was real, whether it be an elephant, hippo,
rhino, or something else entirely, the implications would be far, far less worrisome than those
of the Leviathan’s existence.
While the Leviathan was described as a savage, dangerous beast, the Behemoth seems to be
a peaceful, plant-eating creature.
This means that we wouldn’t need to avoid certain places out of fear of the Behemoth.
It’s possible that we would even live alongside it, with people making spiritual journeys
to visit the holy creature.
That said, while this beast might not attack people, that doesn’t mean it would have
no effect on the world.
For one, it would seem that the Behemoth had some sort of supernatural ability.
Assuming the same specific creature mentioned in scripture was still alive to this day,
this millennia old beast would clearly be magically long-lived.
It’s possible that someone would attempt to study the beast, in order to figure out
how it managed to live so long.
Of course, it’s possible that this would result in an immediate smiting from God.
But it’s also possible that God would allow this, as he allegedly allows other acts to
be committed due to free will.
If, by some miracle, the secret behind the extended lifespan was discovered, and found
to be replicable, this would be wonderful for humanity, at least in the short term.
People could live far longer, only dying from accidents or injuries, which would give us
far more time to do things, and could result in a more relaxed world.
On the other hand, if long life was common, overpopulation would quickly become a significant
issue, with more people being born, but far fewer people dying.
For this reason, and also due to human greed, the procedure would likely become extremely
expensive, with only a select few able to extend their life indefinitely.
However, there is one further implication that wasn’t touched on in the last video.
If this Behemoth was found to be real, this would be used as evidence for the literal
interpretation of the Bible.
Many evangelical Christians would hold it up as proof, claiming that the fact that this
part was true must mean that others must be as well.
Of course, this would not be convincing to everyone; most people already accept that
the Bible does have at least some historical truth to it.
But this could act as a catalyst for certain believers to shift to a more literal interpretation
of the Bible.
And now we return to our question: What if the Behemoth was Real?
Well, unlike the Leviathan, it seems we wouldn’t have to fear the Behemoth, since it would
likely be a fairly peaceful herbivorous animal, possible a large elephant or hippo.
Its existence would likely be used by fundamentalists to support their literal interpretation, but
it wouldn’t stop there.
It’s possible that the beast would be studied, and its extended lifespan could hold the key
to extending human life beyond our wildest dreams.
On the other hand, it could have just referred to a random elephant, or even a metaphor for
something else, in which case this would all be moot.
Scripture’s pretty vague that way.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know what YOU would do if you could live forever.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.