Behemoth

(a great amphibious animal) (2 Esdras 6:51; Job 40:10–19). Under this designation, following Bochart, one must understand not some kind of mammoth or elephant, as many think, but the hippopotamus, or river horse of the Nile, of the class of thick-skinned mammals. The description of Behemoth in the Book of Job is made in great and forceful detail, and its accuracy is confirmed by natural history. The river horse, or hippopotamus, is an animal of enormous size and astonishing strength, with a broad head, short legs, and in outward appearance resembles an enormous pig, up to 12 feet in length and up to 7 feet in height.