and at the end he mentions Leviathan, which is an animal
of the sea. But some say the meaning of 'with thee' is,
that the beasts were created on the same day with the first
Adam; but this interpretation is after the manner of a
drash." (Aben Esra in loc.) This passage not only gives
Aben Esra's opinion as to the real existence of Behemoth,
but shows that other commentators, to whom he alludes,
were of the same mind. Rashi not only asserts the existence,
but says plainly, (
Hebrew characters), "Behemoth,
that is prepared for the time to come." And again,
in his commentary on Psalm l. 10, he takes the words
(Hebrew characters), which we translate, "The cattle
upon a thousand hills," as referring to "Behemoth upon a
thousand hills," and says—
(Hebrew characters)
"This is he that is prepared for the banquet of the time to come, for he eats up the produce of a thousand hills in one day, and every day they grow again." The context of these words evidently show that Rashi, the most popular, and the most read of all the Jewish commentators, looked for a real, not an allegorical, feast upon the flesh of the Leviathan and Behemoth. The preceding and following words speak not of allegorical, but of real cattle and fowls. According to Rashi, the whole passage would read thus:—"I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and Behemoth upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountain," &c. Here, then, Behemoth is introduced amongst real animals all fit for food, so that it is impossible to take it figuratively. This animal is also suitable in size for so great an entertainment; he consumes the produce of a thousand mountains every day. This was also the opinion of Jonathan, for in his Targum on the fiftieth Psalm he has paraphrased the tenth verse as follows:—
(Hebrew characters)
"For every beast of the wood is mine, and I have prepared for the righteous in Paradise pure cattle, and the wild ox, that feeds every day upon a thousand mountains." All these testimonies (and many more might be added) plainly prove, that the Jews, in times past, looked for a real and substantial feast upon Leviathan and Behemoth; and when
