ed. Sulzbach, Job, loc. cit. All these legends concerning Leviathan and Behemoth point to the fact, which has already been observed by several authors (comp. especially Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, 41–69), that a good deal of old mythological material has been preserved in them. Nevertheless one must not look exclusively for Babylonian myths, and one is not warranted to identify, on the basis of Enoch, loc. cit., Behemoth and Leviathan with Tiamat and Kingu, respectively, of the Babylonian mythology, since not only the rabbinic sources but also Job 40 clearly describes Behemoth as a land monster. It may therefore be said that Behemoth belongs to quite another cycle of myths, but owing to learned combinations, the pseudepigraphic authors made it the consort of Leviathan, whereas the rabbinic sources retain the original conception of it as a land monster. The allegorical interpretation of the Leviathan-Behemoth legends originated at a very early date, and is found not only among the Gnostics (comp. the Jewish gnostic Apocalypse of Abraham, loc. cit., and Hippolytus 5.21, on Leviathan as a bad angel in the system of Justinus), but also in rabbinic sources. Comp. ER 2, 61–62 (partly quoted in note 124); Guide of the Perplexed, III, 23; Kimhi on Is. 27.1, and particularly in kabbalistic literature in which Leviathan is identified with “Evil” which will disappear in Messianic times, when the righteous as purely spiritual beings like the angels, will enjoy life in paradise. See Ma‘areket 8, 102–103b; Nefesh ha-Hayyim 1, 17; the numerous passages cited from Zohar by Heilpern, ’Erke ha-Kinnuyim, s.v. לויתן. See also the remark of R. David b. R. Judah he-Hasid in Shitah Mekubbezet on Baba Batra 75a. On Leviathan as the serpent encircling the world, comp. Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsälze, 129, and note 275 on vol. I, p. 394.
128 Hullin 27b; PK 4, 35a; Tan. B. IV, 112 (the feet of the hen therefore resemble the scales of the fish); Tan. Hukkat 6; BaR 19.3; Koheleth 7.23; Konen 26. Philo, De M. Opif., 20, finds the relationship between birds and fishes in that these two kinds of animals swim, the former in the air (νήΧειν “to swim” may also be used for the flight of birds), the latter in the water. On the view of PRE 9 concerning the origin of birds and fishes, comp. Ginzberg, Unbekannte Sekte, 114. See further Targum Yerushalmi, Gen. 1.20.
129 The name Ziz is derived from Ps. 50.11 (זיז שדי), which is taken by the Haggadah as a proper name. Johann Heinrich Wolfius wrote a monograph on Ziz under the title “Dissertatio de portentosae magnitudinis ave זיז שדי”, which appeared in Leipzig, 1683.
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