5 min read

God Created a Beast Too Enormous for Anyone to Feed

On the sixth day of creation, God made a land creature that eats a thousand hills of grass each day. Each night the hills grow back. Only God can sustain it.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Made Along With You
  2. A Thousand Hills Each Day
  3. The Creature Only God Can Feed
  4. The Fight That Ends the Age

Made Along With You

God said to Job: Look now at Behemoth, which I made along with you.

Along with you. The creature that appears in Job 40:15 is not a monster from before creation or a remnant of some primordial battle. It was made on the sixth day, the same day as the human being, its existence timed to coincide with the appearance of the creature that would spend centuries debating whether it deserved to exist. God made them both. Then God pointed at the larger one and said: explain this.

The rabbis of the first millennium could not explain it either, but they described it with enormous precision.

A Thousand Hills Each Day

Bamidbar Rabbah 21, the Palestinian midrash on Numbers, preserves the central debate about Behemoth's scale. Rabbi Yohanan describes a single creature of incomprehensible size, spanning a thousand mountains. Others read the Hebrew behemot as a plural, imagining vast herds thundering across a supernatural landscape. Both readings agree on the appetite: Behemoth eats the grass of a thousand hills every single day. Job 40:20 says the mountains bring forth food for it. The Midrash takes this literally.

The obvious problem is that a thousand hills stripped daily would have no grass by the end of the first week. So the tradition supplies the mechanism: overnight, the vegetation grows back. Every morning the hills are full again. What Behemoth consumed the previous day has been replenished. This is not incidental. It is a built-in miracle, a perpetual act of divine maintenance specifically designed to sustain a creature that nothing else could sustain.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer adds the detail about thirst. The Jordan River - not just a portion of it but an entire year's worth of the Jordan's flow collected and diverted - refreshes Behemoth daily. The creature's existence requires constant divine management at a scale that makes ordinary providence look modest.

The Creature Only God Can Feed

Behemoth is not dangerous to human beings in the way that a predator is dangerous. It does not hunt. It grazes. But it grazes at a scale that requires God to personally manage the world's vegetation and hydrology on its behalf, every day, indefinitely. Psalm 50:10 says: every animal of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. The Midrash reads this not as a statement of divine ownership over ordinary livestock but as a description of a specific creature that eats those thousand hills and that God personally refills them for, morning after morning.

No human being could feed it. No human system could maintain it. The only entity capable of sustaining Behemoth is the entity that made it. The creature is, in this reading, a permanent demonstration of the limits of human capacity. God made something so large that the only way it stays alive is if God keeps caring for it without interruption across all of history.

The Fight That Ends the Age

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer records the tradition about Behemoth's death. God made a male and a female, then castrated the male and cooled the female, setting aside both creatures for the feast at the end of time. Two creatures of that scale reproducing would have been impossible to maintain even with divine intervention. So they were preserved separately, alive but not multiplying, waiting.

Vayikra Rabbah, the fifth-century Palestinian midrash on Leviticus, supplies what they were waiting for. Rabbi Yudan ben Rabbi Shimon describes a battle between Behemoth and Leviathan at the end of days, before the righteous who did not attend the Roman arena games in this world. Behemoth will gore Leviathan with its horns. Leviathan will tear Behemoth with its fins. Both creatures will be slaughtered - one by the other - and the righteous will feast on their flesh at the great banquet. The mitzvot, the same passage says, were given to Israel in order to refine them, to make them fit for the World to Come. The feast at the end of history is what they are being refined toward.

BehemothCreationLeviathanWorld To ComeAnimals
← All myths

From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Bamidbar Rabbah 21:18Bamidbar Rabbah

The ancient rabbis did, and they spun some incredible tales around the question.

The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 21, explores this very idea. It poses the question: What creature did God create that is beyond human capacity to provide for? The answer? "The animals [behemot] of one thousand hills" (Psalms 50:10). Now, behemot, this word often refers to large, grazing animals. But what does it really mean in this context?

Here, we find a fascinating divergence of opinions among the sages. Rabbi Yoḥanan pictures a single, colossal animal, so enormous that it sprawls across a thousand mountains. Imagine the sheer scale! And these aren't barren peaks; each mountain miraculously sprouts with all kinds of vegetation, specifically as food for this behemoth. This sustenance, Rabbi Yoḥanan adds, is ultimately "food for the righteous in the future," referencing (Isaiah 65:10): "The Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, and the Akhor Valley for the lying of cattle, [for My people, who sought Me]."

The rabbis (as a collective voice) offer a different interpretation. They agree it's one animal dominating a thousand mountains, but their version is even wilder. According to them, each day, each of those thousand mountains produces an animal, and that’s what the behema eats! As it says in (Job 40:20), "All the beasts of the field will frolic there." The Midrash acknowledges the seeming impossibility of a grazing animal consuming other animals, but Rabbi Tanhuma simply responds with awe: "Great are the works of our God; how numerous are His works."

And the questions keep coming! If this creature is so massive, how does it quench its thirst?

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi offers a stunning image: this behema can swallow in one gulp everything that flows through the Jordan River for six months! He derives this idea from (Job 40:23), which speaks of the behema's ability to "exploit a river." Rabbi Yehoshua emphasizes the word "exploit" to indicate the animal only takes what it needs.

The Rabbis, again, take it a step further. They claim it drinks the entire Jordan River's worth of water for a year in a single gulp, just to wet its mouth! Rav Huna, quoting Rav Yosef, quips that even that might not be enough!

So, where does it really drink from? Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai provides the most mystical answer: "And a river emerges from Eden" (Genesis 2:10). He identifies this river as Yuval, referencing (Jeremiah 17:8): "And by a stream [yuval] it will spread its roots," implying a connection to the primordial source of all life. The behema, in this view, is directly connected to Eden itself!

The Midrash concludes with a beautiful teaching attributed to Rabbi Meir, drawing from (Job 12:7-9): "'But ask animals now, and they will teach you, and birds of the heavens, and they will tell you' (Job 12:7)." Rabbi Meir equates "animals" with the behema, "birds of the heavens" with "the large fowl of the field" (Psalms 50:11), "the earth" with the Garden of Eden, and "the fish of the sea" with the leviathan. These are the primordial creatures, the witnesses to God's creation. "Who does not know, among all these, that the hand of the Lord has done this?" (Job 12:9).

So, what are we to make of this? Are these literal descriptions of gigantic beasts? Perhaps. But more likely, these stories serve as allegories, ways for the rabbis to confront the immensity of God's power and the mysteries of creation. They remind us that there are wonders beyond our comprehension, creatures and forces that dwarf our human concerns. And perhaps, they invite us to consider our own role in the cosmos – are we stewards of creation, or are there forces at play far beyond our control? It's a question worth pondering, isn't it?

Full source
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 11:4Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

It tells us that on the sixth day of creation, God brought forth from the earth a beast so massive it sprawls across a thousand hills. A creature so large it uses entire mountain ranges as its personal La-Z-Boy.

The appetite? Forget grazing; this is more like landscape architecture. Every day, Behemoth chows down on the verdant growth of a thousand hills. But here's the kicker: overnight, the vegetation regrows as if it were never touched! It’s like a divine all-you-can-eat buffet that magically replenishes itself. As it says in (Job 40:20), "Surely the mountains bring him forth food."

So, where does a beast of this magnitude quench its thirst? The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer continues, telling us the waters of the Jordan River itself provide Behemoth’s refreshment. But not just any Jordan River – the Jordan, encircling the entire earth, half flowing above and half below. It's a cosmic river system that feeds this epic creature. "He is confident, though Jordan swell even to his mouth" (Job 40:23).

The story doesn't end there.

This magnificent, gargantuan beast has a destiny. It's not just wandering around, eating hills and drinking rivers for eternity. the verse says, Behemoth is destined for the day of sacrifice, for the great banquet of the righteous. A celestial feast of epic proportions! The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer quotes (Job 40:19), "He only that made him can make his sword to approach unto him." Only God, the creator of this incredible creature, can ultimately bring it to its purpose.

So, what does it all mean? Is it just a wild tale of a giant beast? Maybe. But within Jewish tradition, these stories often carry deeper meaning.

Perhaps Behemoth represents the untamed power of creation, the raw, unbridled force that only God can control. Or maybe it's a reminder that even the largest, most intimidating things in the world have a purpose within the divine plan.

Whatever the interpretation, the story of Behemoth leaves us with a sense of awe and wonder at the vastness and mystery of God's creation. And it certainly makes you think twice about your next all-you-can-eat buffet!

Full source
Vayikra Rabbah 13:3Vayikra Rabbah

As Rav teaches us, the mitzvot (commandments) were given to Israel to refine us, to elevate us. Why? "He is a shield for all who rely on Him" (Proverbs 30:5). Because God protects those who rely on Him, He gave Israel mitzvot in order to refine them and make them fit for the World to Come. It’s about becoming our best selves, prepared for something truly amazing.

Speaking of the World to Come…get this.

Rabbi Yudan ben Rabbi Shimon paints a vivid picture. He says that the Behemoth and the Leviathan, these mythical beasts of immense power, will engage in an epic battle before the righteous in the future! Can you imagine? It's like the ultimate showdown! And anyone who didn't go to the really horrible ancient Roman animal fights in this world (and let's be honest, who wants to see that kind of cruelty?) will merit seeing this one in the World to Come.

So, how does this cosmic clash go down? Well, the Behemoth will supposedly stab the Leviathan with its horns, tearing it open. And the Leviathan? It'll smash the Behemoth with its fins and stab it to death. It's… intense.

But wait a minute. Here's where it gets even more interesting. The Sages ask a crucial question: is this even kosher? Is this a valid ritual slaughter, a proper shechita? I mean, we learn in the Mishna Ḥullin (1:2) that there are specific rules about slaughtering animals. You can’t use just anything. No serrated sickles, no saws, no animal teeth, no fingernails – because those methods strangle the animal, causing undue suffering.

So, how can this celestial battle result in kosher meat?

Rabbi Avin bar Kahana offers a stunning answer. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: "For [a new] Torah will emerge from Me" (Isaiah 51:4). A novel Torah ruling, a new law, will emerge from Me! The conventional laws regarding ritual slaughter will be temporarily suspended.! Even the rules we hold so dear can be superseded by God's will in the ultimate future.

Rabbi Berekhya, citing Rabbi Yitzḥak, takes it a step further. The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to make a feast for His righteous servants in the future. And here's the kicker: anyone who didn't partake of unslaughtered carcasses – meaning animals that died in any way other than ritual slaughter, which are forbidden to us – in this world will be privileged to partake in it in the World to Come!

It all comes back to our choices here and now.

That’s what's hinted at in (Leviticus 7:24): "And the fat of an unslaughtered carcass and the fat of a mauled animal may be used for all labor; but you shall not eat it [ve’akhol lo tokheluhu]." The doubling of the word "eat" – lo tokheluhu – is significant. As the commentary Matnot Kehuna explains, in order to eat of the feast in the World to Come, one must refrain from eating forbidden foods in this world. That's why Moses cautions Israel: "These are the living beings that you may eat" (Leviticus 11:2). It’s a preparation, a training, for the ultimate reward.

So, what does it all mean? It means that the mitzvot, the challenges, the restrictions, they aren't just arbitrary rules. They're shaping us. They're preparing us for a future beyond our wildest imaginations, a future where even the laws of nature, the laws of kashrut, can be transformed. It's a future worth striving for, a future that begins with the choices we make today. What will you choose?

Full source