Behemoth

Primordial Beast of the Land (Art by John Linell)

### Aliases

Behemot, Behemah, Bahamut, Anti-Leviathan, The chief of the ways of God, God's Pet, 'Father' of Dinosaurs, Godzilla, The Beast from the Earth, The answer of Nature, First Kaiju, Monster of Monsters, King of Monsters, God of Monsters

## Relatives

### Offspring

Some Dinosaurs

**Behemoth** is an enormous beast from Judea-Christian texts, who is alongside Caelum and Livyatan, one of the Guardians of Earth.

## Overview

Originally considered a chaos beast, the Behemoth was confronted by God near the beginning of time; in the confrontation, the Behemoth is considered a hulking brute of unimaginable strength that is defeated by God's omnipotent nature and either banished or reduced to a divine "pet."

Behemoth is the beast of the earth, Livyatan is the beast of the sea, and Caelum is the beast of the air. Legend says that at the end of the world the Behemoth and Leviathan will kill each other, providing apocalyptic feasts for men.

## Appearance

Behemoth's appearance is that of a colossal monster, its height is 200 km and its length is estimated at 500 km, with its teeth being the size of Mount Everest. The Behemoth has pale white scales covering its entire body, which also appears to be slightly falling off. The creature's head is structured similarly to an iguana, being oval-shaped, large-mouthed and having medium-sized eyes, though these eyes appear to lack any surrounding skin to help keep it in place. The Behemoth also has large nostrils that can be difficult to see due to the circumstances of the image. The eyes of the beast are pitch-black with no visible retinas, so it is unknown how it actually operates. The mouth is lines with a number of enormous jagged teeth that get shorter the further back they are, resembling those of an alligator.

Behemot sometimes appears on earth with a smaller appearance, that of a brachiosaurus, a powerful sauropod 36-30 meters long, between 18-20 meters tall.

## Personality

He is a benevolent being and protector of the Earth, being considered the opposite of the terrible Marine Serpent that represents the primeval waters that envelop the world in watery chaos. However, this is not to say that he is an all-loving and protective entity of humanity, on the contrary, if humanity stands up against nature he will stand up against humanity to save the planet. It can be said that it is a response from Life against Entropy. He is considered among terrestrial beings the god of monsters and the supreme ruler over all monsters and beasts, with the exception of Leviathan.

In relation to God, he was formerly an enemy of the Almighty and ended up being "adopted" by the same, despite God being his Father anyway. He respects God as his superior, as a soldier respects his general.

## History

While the Behemoth, and his siblings', true origins are a mystery, one theory is that the Behemoth were created by God from the pieces of Therion. At some point in the past, the mighty monster battled God and was "tamed" by the same. Another theory is that God created Behemoth to be his "pet" and to be the Antithesis of Leviathan.

Anyway, after confirming the existence of the Livyatan, God charged the primordial monster to take charge of battling it at the End Times. After the Apocalypse, the Primordial Beasts will become food for the people of the New Jerusalem.

The remaining flesh of Behemoth will eventually come into contact with the remaining flesh of the other Primordial Beasts. This will then come into contact with the corpses of Trihexa and Divus when they are thrown into the Lake of Fire. This will bring upon the revival of the Primal Beast, Therion, but that's a story for another day.

## Myths and Legends

The name "Behemoth" derives from the archaic Jewish name for hippopotamus, from the Hebrew behema. The Behemoth is a monster described in the Christian Bible, and is one of three primordial beasts said to symbolize the physical world; Behemoth represents the solid earth and is often depicted as a gigantic creature of unknown origin (though it has been identified with many large animals, such as hippos, elephants, or bulls).

In Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, such as the 2nd century BC Book of Enoch (60:7–10), Behemoth is the unconquerable male land-monster, living in an invisible desert east of the Garden of Eden, as Leviathan is the primeval female sea-monster, dwelling in "the Abyss", and Caelum the primordial sky-monster. Similarly, in the most ancient section of the Second Book of Esdras (6:47–52), written around 100 AD (3:1), the two are described as inhabiting the mountains and the seas, respectively, after being separated from each another, due to the sea's insufficiency to contain them both. Likewise, in the contemporary Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch (29:4), it is stated that Behemoth will come forth from his seclusion on land, and Leviathan out of the sea, and the two gigantic monsters, created on the fifth day, will serve as food for the elect, who will survive in the days of the Messiah.

A Jewish rabbinic legend describes a great battle which will take place between them at the end of time: "they will interlock with one another and engage in combat, with his horns the Behemoth will gore with strength, the fish [Leviathan] will leap to meet him with his fins, with power. Their Creator will approach them with his mighty sword [and slay them both];" then, "from the beautiful skin of the Leviathan, God will construct canopies to shelter the righteous, who will eat the meat of the Behemoth and the Leviathan amid great joy and merriment." In the Haggadah, Behemoth's strength reaches its peak on the summer solstice of every solar year (around 21 June). At this time of year, Behemoth lets out a loud roar that makes all animals tremble with fear, and thus renders them less ferocious for a whole year. As a result, weak animals live in safety away from the reach of wild animals. This mythical phenomenon is shown as an example of divine mercy and goodness. Without Behemoth's roar, traditions narrate, animals would grow more wild and ferocious, and hence go around butchering each other and humans.

Modern interpretations of Behemoth tend to fall into three categories:

* He is an animal of the natural world, most often the hippopotamus (e.g. in Russian where the word "begemot" refers more often to hippopotamus rather than the Biblical animal), although the elephant, the crocodile and the water buffalo have been suggested;
* He was an invention of the poet who wrote the Book of Job;
* He is a mythical chaos-beast like Leviathan but not to be identified with him.

## Trivia

* He apparently has a love interest in Ouroboros.
* Some believe he was a dinosaur. Usually by defenders of the Young Earth Theory.
	+ This is somewhat true, as he chooses to appear as a dinosaur, although the reasons for this are unknown.
* He often refers to God in a very formal way, calling him "The Exalted", the "Most Great" and "Faithful and True", showing his reverence for the Creator. Something that strangely he doesn't have with his "full form", Therion.