Job 40:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Behemoth— The Hebrew word בהמות behemoth expresses that animal which eminently partakes of the bestial or brutish nature. Bochart seems to have proved to a demonstration, that the behemoth is the hippopotamus, the sea-horse, or, more properly, the river-horse. The Sieur Thevenot, saw one of these animals at Cairo. "This animal," says he, "was of a tan colour; its hind parts resemble those of an ox or buffaloe, excepting that its feet were shorter and thicker; in size it is equal to a camel; its snout, or nose, is like that of an ox, and its body twice as big; its head resembles that of a horse, and is of the same size; its eyes are small; its crest is very thick; its ears are small; its nostrils very wide and open; its feet are very thick, pretty large, and have each four toes, like those of a crocodile; its tail is small, without any hair, like that of an elephant; its lower jaw has four large teeth, about half a foot long, two of them crooked, and as thick as the horns of an ox, one of which is on each side of the throat; besides these, it has two others, which are straight, of the same thickness as those which are crooked, and project forwards." The river-horse shelters himself among the reeds; and the behemoth is said to be in the coverts of the reeds and fens, and to be compassed about with the willows of the brook. The river-horse feeds upon the herbage of the Nile; and the behemoth is said to eat grass as an ox. No creature is known to have stronger ribs than the river-horse; and the bones of the behemoth are as strong pieces of brass, like bars of iron. See Lowth's Notes on his 6th Prelection, 8vo. Edit.