In Athanasius' " Life of St. Antony," at the words, "the weapons which are 'in the navel of his belly,'" * reference is made to the parallel passage in Job xl, 16, where the Lord says of Behemoth, "his force is in the navel of his belly," and it is stated that "the descriptions of behemoth and leviathan are allegorically referred to Satan." Therefore we hope to give some clue to the identity of Behemoth and Leviathan, what they are, and how they manifest.
EHEMOTH. JOB xl, 6.--Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
14. Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
This verse states that man may become his own saviour, affording a key to the allegory which follows.
15. Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee;
"Bĕhēmōth is no doubt an intensive plural form, and means 'a colossal beast.'" † Behemoth symbolises the beast in man, the vital energy or Solar Force manifesting ungo,verned in the lower or animal nature of man. ‡
Loins in Hebrew as in Greek is used as a euphemism for the organs of generation. During the present cycle of evolution the strength or power of the Solar Force * is manifesting in sex expression.
and his force is in the navel of his belly.
"The shining, vital energy which is the manifestation of life . . . is sleeping like a serpent, having three and a half coils." § The first stirring or uncoiling of this force prior to its passage through and energising of the ganglia of the sympathetic system manifests in the abdomen in the region of the navel. In chapter xxxii, 18, 19; 8, of the Book of Job, the Initiate Elihu describes this stirring
18. His bones are pipes of copper; his bones are like tubes of iron. †
The bones of Behemoth are the net work of nerves which are the channels of the Solar Force. Prior to Initiation these nerves are in the atrophied or, relatively speaking, hardened state here typified as copper and iron. In Sanskrit writings these channels are similarly termed pipes or tubes (nadis). The Uttara Gita states that these nadis "are like pipes, are hollow and in this space there exists a certain substance, like oil, in which the Chaitanya (Divine Energy) reflects." § In the fourth chapter of Zechariah the word "pipes" is used in this sense. "And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick (the spine) all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it," ("The golden bowl is the
brain," † or accurately speaking the medulla oblongata which is a reservoir of vital force,) and his seven lamps thereon, (the seven principal ganglia), and seven pipes to the seven lamps."
"And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil" (namely the nerve fluid in which the radiance of the Solar Force is reflected or manifested). ZECHARIAH iv, 2, 12.
19. He is chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
Behemoth is the chief manifestation to man of Nature, God. The God in man can govern Behemoth. The sword is the symbol of authority, government and the Great Law of Nature, God.
20. Surely the mountains bring him forth food,
In sacred writings the word 'mountain' is often used to signify those higher levels of consciousness wherein the Seeker attains to communion with God, and the Divine Self is able to instruct the man through the instrument of the mind. Thus Moses went up into the mount to receive the Law: and Isaiah foretells that spiritual enlightenment
Presumably a reference to those streams of consciousness or Divine Force playing through the signs of the Zodiac known as the ram, bull, and goat--of which the spirit of man when functioning in the mountain or higher states of consciousness is aware, and from which he can gain knowledge of of the government of Behemoth.
23. he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan (salvation) into his mouth.
The eyes of Behemoth are the seven principal ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system. " Those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord," Zechariah, iv, 10. Man works out his own salvation through the awakening of these centres.
24. his nose pierceth through snares.
Already the Solar Force seeks to manifest in upward direction for the regeneration of man and the race, though ensnared by the baser inclinations and ignorance.
EVIATHAN. JOB xl, 1.--Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?
The word Leviathan in Hebrew is made up of two roots, Levi and Than. "ThN, Than, which is the root of Serpent or Dragon. 1 Than will be the symbol of transgression, but a symbol also of influence and of power." 2 Since the root meaning of Than is serpent, Leviathan means literally the Than or serpent of Levi. Of this word Levi "The root, we may suppose, describes the coils of the serpent, perhaps the metallic gleam of its scales." 3 For Levi was the serpent tribe, bred for generations to the knowledge and control of the World Serpent, Solar Force. * Leviathan or the Serpent of Levi signifies the Solar Force governed and direted upward through the spine by the priests of the tribe of Levi for regeneration, the upbuilding of the deathless Solar Body. † Accurately speaking, Leviathan is the Solar Force manifesting in the cerebrospinal nervous system after its passage through the ganglia of the sympathetic system.
The following verses make reference to the various temptations which beset Job, overcoming of which mark different degrees in his Initiation.
3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
Will you even now be tempted to misapply this force? The current would descend if possible, for it becomes either a regenerator or a destroyer, intensifying the lower nature.
5. or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
Until a man is able so to govern his lower nature, mind, and body as to express his higher or Divine Self in sex relationship he has not passed that stage in the evolution of his Godhood typified in ancient myths as
the slaying of the lion or dragon. * Samson slew the lion after his lower nature had been roused by his love for a daughter of the Philistines. And Hercules overcame the Nemean lion after the fifty daughters of King Thespius had been given him as wives. This verse alludes to a definite degree of Initiation, an experience wherein the passions are overcome by a manifestation of the God in man.
6. shall they part him among the merchants?
Will you sell the superhuman powers where with the God in self endows you for personal advantage or money?
7. Wilt thou fill . . . the cabin of fishes with his head? †
The word "Dag" or "the Fish" is frequently used in the Talmud for the Messiah or regenerative spiritual force. When man becomes his own saviour this force passes upward to the brain, where its currents unite for the perfecting of the Solar or spiritual body. The cabin of fishes would seem to
8. Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
These words indicate that Leviathan is a conquered or governed force; indeed, Leviathan is Behemoth governed and augmented. The battle or test referred to is supreme and terrible. Plato says in the Phaedrus, "But whenever one who is fresh from those mysteries" beholds beauty of face and form "he first of all feels a shuddering chill, and there creep over him some of those terrors that assailed him in that dire struggle." In the elder Edda, that voice of the ancient religions of the north, this degree of Initiation is described as follows: "Comes forth the glorious offspring of Earth, Thor, to strive with the glistening Serpent. . . . Lone Serpent-slayer, and Shield of Men, he baited his hook with the head of the ox, and he whom the gods hate gaped thereat,
THE ELDER OR POETIC EDDA. OLIVE BRAY'S TRANSLATION, PAGES 295, I 21. THE LAY OF HYMIR. PROPHECY OF WORLD PEACE FROM THE ELDER EDDA, COMMENTARY CONCLUDED.
10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
None is so fierce that dare stir him up:--meaning Leviathan or the Solar Force governed, who then is able to stand before me, the Architet of the Universe, and before my manifestation the Super Solar Force?
11. Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him?
Repay is here used in the Hebrew with the sense of "give an equivalent for." What has prevented the substitution of the Super Solar Force for the Solar Force, of immortality for mortality?
13. or who can come to him with his double bridle?
After passing through the centres of the sympathetic nervous system, the positive and negative currents of Solar Force meet in the forehead where, as it were, their balance registers; so that at this degree of evolution the Initiate can sense whether the balance is perfedf, or whether positive or negative current predominates. This power to sense and govern the currents is hère called the double bridle of Leviathan. † And the Adept Kings of Egypt bore upon their
15. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
The word translated scales has the literal meaning in Hebrew of 'strong pieces of shields,' and is used to designate the ganglia which "are shut up together as with a close seal" prior to Initiation. The word seal is used similarly in the Apocalypse when St. John says of the seven principal ganglia of the sympathetic system, "I saw when the Lamb (the immortal mind) opened one of the seven seals." REVELATION vi, 1.
The Divine Energy or Fire * enkindles the ganglia. Or this verse may be taken literally, for when the Solar Force has reached and energised a certain ganglion the Initiate is able to enkindle substances by directing the Solar Force upon them through the medium of the breath.
22. and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
The suffering experienced in the physical body during the period when the centres are energised is transmuted into the joy of divine realisation.
27. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
his is an allusion to xl, 18, the "pipes of copper and tubes of iron," or the nervous systems, channels of the Divine Energy, which adapt themselves for the conveyance of this Force.
33. Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
276:*"Hail dragon, lion dynamic by nature and first principle of fire!" Translated from Dr. Carl Wessely, Griechische Zauber Papyrus. 1889 Page 68, line 939.
276:† TRANSLATION OF ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB. VOLUME iii, PT. ii, PAGE 590. PUSEY LIBRARY OF THE FATHERS.
277:*The Serpent is the Solar Force. Compare page 42.
