spin

I should add that the translation of behemoth as hippopotamus is definitely not secure. It comes from an assumption that it comes from the Egyptian phrase ox of the water (p-ehemau). I have been working on the notion that it is a mythical animal. It is found in the non-canonical Jewish work 4 Ezra 6:49-52 along with Leviathan, which is an alternative name of the watery chaos in Gen 1:2, tehom (simply rendered "the deep" in most translations). The Ezra reference talks of two monsters being created, Leviathan and Behemoth, the first was to be placed in the depths of the ocean and the second in the desert -- and the desert is definitely no home for a hippo. You'll find Leviathan in Isaiah 27:1 (the twisty serpent of the sea), where it is a direct reference to a tradition which can be seen in a Ugaritic text. The God Baal defeats Lotan (Leviathan) -- just as Marduk defeats tiamat (Assyrian, equal to tehom in Hebrew), the watery chaos dragon, killing her and slitting her in to proving the waters above and the waters below (compare Gen 1:6).

Gen 1:1-3 says "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, when the earth was "without form and void" (tohu wa bohu), darkness on the deep (tehom) and the wind of God hovered over the waters, God said, Let there be light..." The phrase "tohu wa bohu" is interesting, because it sets the structure of the creation. The first three days give form out of the chaos (ie from without form to formed) and the second three days populate what was created in the respective three days of formation (eg 1st day light, 4th day sun, moon, stars), and so changing the void to populated. Yet there is something else in tohu wa bohu for both tehom and behemoth are related to the terms, though tehom (the ex-watery chaos dragon) has been sanatized and no longer capable of fighting with the god, though the wind of God is preserved from the same source as that telling of Marduk and Tiamat (Marduk used the wind to hold Tiamat's mouth open so he could thrust his sword down it and kill her -- don't go phallic on me) and behemoth is not related at all in Gen 1. We have the two together in 4 Ezra though tehom has become Leviathan.

What this all adds up to is a highly complex and intelligent literary work in Gen 1, for while I have hopefully given some insight to the literary background, the text is doing a lot more, supplying a coherent (for the era) creation story (which is rather demythologized!), and instituting the sabbath based on the structure of the creation in six days after which God rested (why I don't know, though perhaps omnipotents also get tired). While religionists are too busy defending themselves and making absurd literal analyses of texts they can't understand, they usually miss out on the beauty and subtlety of the texts before them.

Net Rover

Hey Oolon, is it necessary to take mention of unicorns in the bible as an obvious reference to mythological creatures? I'm open to rebuttal here, but it seems to me that the King James translators could have used the term they were familiar with to give meaning to a creature they had no idea was being referred to.

And even if the Hebrew word does imply a single-horned animal, there are living animals with one horn: certain kinds of antelopes and of course the rhino, to mention what comes off the top of my head.

I'm in no way defending the bible. I just wouldn't want to use a questionable argument to criticise it.

Edited to correct an embarrasing grammatical error.

[ April 16, 2002: Message edited by: Net Rover ]</p>

Jesus Tap-Dancin' Christ

From discussion of biblical translation to penis size in 20 posts. Is this a record?

Corwin

Actually the unicorn may not be ENTIRELY mythological. If you look at old paintings of unicorns you'll notice they have beards... and cloven hooves. They're goats, not horses. I've also heard a reference (in conversation, and I really haven't found anything on this topic since so I'm far from convinced) that unicorns are actually a species of goat found in europe, bred to watch herds. Apparently the 'single horn' is the result of very minor surgery done when they're kids, (about as serious as docking a dog's ears or tail) that causes their two horns to grow spiraled together.

Hell maybe it's entirely an urban legend but it would explain a few discrepancies. (Of course any successful urban legend would too... )

Mageth

Net Rover:

Just curious, but what species of antelope has one horn?

Net Rover

Ya got me Mageth. That's what I get for thinking "off the top of my head." My apologies...