Chapter 2 Leviathan and Behemoth in Second Temple

2.1 Introduction

The monsters Leviathan and Behemoth appear together in three texts of the Second Temple period: 4 6:49-52, 2 Apoc. Bar. 29:4, and I Enoch 60:7-10, 24. We shall examine these texts in §2.2 of this chapter. Although they have individual peculiarities related to the contexts in which they are found, they represent a single tradition. Each alludes to a primordial event in which God separated the monsters and placed them in their respective spheres (Leviathan: water; Behemoth: dry land). Each also has an eschatological moment in which we learn that the two will be food for the righteous at the end of time. Because of these features, we will call this tradition the Combat-Banquet tradition. Leviathan appears alone in two additional Second Temple texts: Apoc. Abr. 10: 10 and 21 :4, and Ladder of Jacob 6: 13 (long recension, 6:3). 1 Both texts depict Leviathan in a cosmological role. There is a clear association of the monster with the Axis Mundi. Unlike the Combat-Banquet tradition, however, these Axis Mundi texts do not represent a single, well-formulated strand of tradition. Rather, they reflect two different but related forms of cosmological speculation upon the place of Leviathan in the order of things. We shall treat these texts in §2.3.

2.2 The Combat-Banquet tradition

In this section I will examine the three texts of the Combat-Banquet tradition discussed above. In each case I will begin with a close examination of the context in which the passage appears. I will attempt to delineate how the author of each work has adapted the traditional material which he has appropriated. In my analysis of the passages themselves, I will be concerned not simply with indicating the evidences of the common tradition which lies behind them, but also with discerning those distinctive points in each text which may stem from that tradition, but which were not preserved elsewhere. I will conclude the section with a summary of my findings.

1This verse is numbered 6: 13 in the translation ofH. G. Lunt, "Ladder ofJacob," OTP 2, 401-411, who bases his work on an eclectic text incorporating both long and short recensions. Long and short recensions are presented separately in the translation of A. Pennington, "The LadderofJacob," in A OT, 453-563. The designation "Long recension 6:3" presented in parentheses reflects her enumeration. 32 Two Strange Beasts

2.2.1 4 Ezra 6:49-52 2

649Then thou didst preserve two living creatures which you created: the name of the one thou didst call Behemoth and the name of the other Leviathan. 50 And thou didst separate one from the other, for the seventh part where the water had been gathered together could not hold them both. 51 And thou didst give Behemoth one of the parts which had been dried up on the third day, to live in it, where there are a thousanc' mountains; 52but to Leviathan thou didst give the seventh part of the watery part; and thou hast kept them to be eaten by whom thou wilt, and when thou wilt. 3

This reference to the monsters Leviathan and Behemoth occurs as part of the material which introduces the third vision of 4 Ezra. As in the case of the first two visions, this material takes the form of an address by Ezra to God. It is divided into two parts.4 The first of these (6:38-54) follows the basic outline of the account in Gen 1, presenting God's activity in the six days of creation, and accordingly is designated by Stone as the "hexaemeron."5 It is not, however, identical to the Genesis account. At least one of the differences reflects the narrative situation of 4 Ezra at this point. Because the material is part of a prayer on the part of Ezra, the text addresses God in the second person. We cannot explain the other differences as easily. M. E. Stone has noted that the hexaemeron is characterized by the presence of several "so/that" statements not found in the Genesis account.6 Thes