142 



REiMARKS ON THE LEVIATHAN AND BEHEMOTH. 



The very able article on the above subject, in the last numbers of 

 the miscellany, is well calculated, apart from further investigation, to 

 leave the impression that by these animals, when mentioned in the 

 Scriptures, are meant the megalosaurus and the iguanodon. Never- 

 theless, to show that creatures are there represented as actually existing, 

 which are met with now only in a fossil state, the evidence should be 

 clear and distinct. The interpretation of the various passages of 

 Scripture referred to for that purpose may seem, on viewing them 

 closely, rather arbitrary than convincing. Not a vestige of proof, 

 apart from the acute observations in the article now noticed, appears 

 to exist, that since the deluge, to go no further back, the megalo- 

 saurus and the iguanodon have been inhabitants of the earth or its 

 waters ; it is therefore desirable to express objections which may 

 arise to any evidence which is drawn from such an interpretation of 

 the word of God as may be en-oneous ; and in the course of the 

 following remarks will be embodied the sentiments and research of 

 critics of well recognized ability in connexion with this subject. 



The description of the leviathan and the behemoth in the book of 

 Job, with whom these creations must have been coeval, naturally 

 leads to the attempt to determine his era. In the article under con- 

 sideration, it is said that " most biblical critics think that he lived 

 long prior to Moses ; possibly even before the flood." Now a refer- 

 ence to Job, chap. 22., ver. 15 and 16, will prove that he lived after 

 the flood ; it is also supposed that the 20th verse refers to the fate of 

 the cities of the plain of Jordan, which is later than the time of 

 Abraham. On the other hand, it is clear that he lived before the 

 time of Moses ; the date must therefore be fixed between these two 

 periods. Further, Isaiah who lived unquestionably much later, 

 refers in chap. 27, ver. 1, to the leviathan — " The Lord shall punish 

 leviathan, &c." From the concluding verses of this chapter, where 

 Egypt is expressly named, it is obvious that Isaiah refers to an inhabi- 

 tant of the Egyptian river then existing. These would necessarily be 



