Pt1 Leviathan, Behemoth, and Jerusalem in the Messianic Future (Bava Batra 74b-75b)

This is the first part of a three-part series. The outline of the series is below.¹

Part 1

The sugya begins with interpretations of the “great sea creatures” created in Genesis 1:21. A Babylonian tradition identifies them as “gazelles of the sea”, while R’ Yoḥanan identifies them with the two forms of Leviathan mentioned in Isaiah 27:1: “Leviathan the slant serpent” and “Leviathan the tortuous serpent.” This interpretation introduces Leviathan as a creature of primordial creation whose continued existence must be regulated by God.

Rav Yehuda, citing Rav, explains that God created every species male and female. Leviathan was likewise created as a male and a female, but their reproduction would have destroyed the entire world. God therefore castrated the male, killed the female, and salted her flesh for the righteous in the future. Isaiah’s statement that God will kill “the serpent that is in the sea” is read as referring to the female Leviathan.

The same problem applied to Behemoth “on the thousand hills,” based on Psalms 50:10 and Job 40. God created a male and female, but their offspring would have destroyed the world. He castrated the male and suppressed the female’s sexual desire, preserving both for the future. The different treatment of Leviathan and Behemoth prompts several practical questions. The female Leviathan had to be killed because fish are sexually unrestrained. The female rather than the male was preserved because salted female fish is considered better, or because Psalms describes God “sporting” with Leviathan, and it was considered improper to speak of such sport with a female. Behemoth was preserved alive because salted fish is good, whereas salted meat is not.

A second statement of Rav describes the creation of the sea. God ordered the minister of the sea to swallow all the world’s waters and thereby expose the dry land. The minister refused, saying that it was enough for him to remain within his own domain. God struck and killed him, an event derived from Job 26:12: “By His power He stirs the sea, and by His understanding He crushed Rahab.” R’ Yitzḥak identifies Rahab as the name of the sea’s minister. His corpse produces such a powerful odor that no creature could survive if the waters did not cover it. Isaiah 11:9, “as the waters cover the sea,” is reread as “as the waters cover the minister of the sea.”

Part 2

The final statement in Rav’s series describes the route of the Jordan River. It originates in the cave of Pamyas, flows through the Hula Lake and the Sea of Galilee, descends to the Mediterranean, and ultimately reaches Leviathan’s mouth. This is initially based on Job 40:23: “He is confident though the Jordan rushes into his mouth.” Rava bar Ulla objects that the verse describes Behemoth rather than Leviathan. He therefore explains that Behemoth remains secure when the Jordan pours into Leviathan’s mouth, apparently because Leviathan’s consumption of the river restrains the waters or maintains the cosmic balance between the two creatures.

The sugya then turns to teachings transmitted by Rav Dimi from the sages of Eretz Yisrael. R’ Yoḥanan interprets Psalms 24:2, which states that God founded the earth “upon the seas” and established it “upon the rivers,” as referring to seven seas and four rivers surrounding the land of Israel. The seas include the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, the Hula Lake, the Mediterranean, and several other bodies of water identified by ancient geographical names. The rivers are the Jordan, the Jarmuth, the Keiromyon, and the Piga.

R’ Yonatan describes Leviathan’s future defeat. The angel Gabriel will hunt it, based on Job’s question whether Leviathan can be drawn out with a hook or restrained by a cord. Even Gabriel could not overcome it without God’s assistance. Leviathan’s scale is further illustrated through interpretations of Job 41. When hungry, its breath boils the depths of the sea. It must place its head in the Garden of Eden to make its odor tolerable. When thirsty, it drinks so much that it cuts furrows into the sea, and the depths do not return to their normal state for seventy years.

Leviathan’s death supplies the material for the eschatological reward of the righteous. God will prepare a feast from its flesh. Job 40:30 asks whether the ḥabbarim will make a feast from it; ḥabbarim is interpreted as Torah scholars, and the verb yikhru as preparing a banquet. The remaining flesh will be divided and sold in the markets of Jerusalem. The “Canaanites” among whom it will be divided are interpreted as merchants, following biblical passages in which “Canaanite” denotes a trader.

Leviathan’s skin will also be distributed according to the merits of the righteous. The most deserving will receive an entire sukka made from it. Others will receive a smaller covering, a necklace, or an amulet. The hierarchy of rewards reflects different degrees of righteousness. The remaining skin will be spread over Jerusalem’s walls, and its radiance will shine from one end of the world to the other. Isaiah’s description of nations walking by Jerusalem’s light is thus understood literally as illumination produced by Leviathan’s skin.

From Leviathan’s shining skin, the sugya moves to the precious materials of the future Jerusalem. Isaiah 54:12 promises that Jerusalem’s pinnacles will be made of the precious stone kadkhod. The archangels Gabriel and Michael, or alternatively Yehuda and Ḥizkiyya, the sons of R’ Ḥiyya, disagree whether this means onyx or jasper. God resolves that it will be “like this and like that,” deriving kadkhod from an Aramaic phrase meaning “this and this.”

R’ Yoḥanan interprets the next phrase, “your gates of precious stones,” as enormous gems measuring thirty by thirty cubits, with openings ten cubits wide and twenty high. A student mocks the teaching because gems even the size of a dove’s egg were exceedingly rare. Later, while traveling at sea, he sees angels preparing precisely such stones for Jerusalem’s gates. When he returns and reports that experience, R’ Yoḥanan condemns him for accepting the teaching only after seeing it himself. R’ Yoḥanan looks at him, and he becomes a pile of bones.

A baraita appears to challenge the proposed dimensions of the gates. R’ Meir teaches that the people of the future will be two hundred cubits tall, twice the height of Adam. R’ Yehuda gives a height of one hundred cubits, corresponding to the Temple and its walls. Either figure would make a gate twenty cubits high inadequate. The sugya therefore explains that R’ Yoḥanan’s gemstones were intended for windows or ventilation openings, not for the main entrances.

Part 3

The discussion next addresses the individual rewards of the righteous. God will make seven canopies for each righteous person, with each canopy corresponding to its recipient’s honor. The smoke mentioned in Isaiah 4:5 punishes those who were miserly toward Torah scholars in this world. The fire causes each person to be “burned” by embarrassment upon seeing the greater canopy of another. The passage compares this shame to the contrast between Moses and Joshua. Moses’ face was like the sun and Joshua’s like the moon, since Joshua received only part of Moses’ glory.

Adam is also described as having possessed ten or eleven canopies in Eden, corresponding to the precious stones and gold listed in Ezekiel 28. Gold was the least valuable because it appears last. The same chapter’s reference to “drums and openings” is interpreted as God’s response to the future arrogance of Hiram, king of Tyre. Anticipating Hiram’s claim to divinity, God created bodily openings in human beings, or decreed death upon Adam, to demonstrate human mortality and dependence.

The final section describes the population, sanctity, and dimensions of the future Jerusalem. Unlike the present Jerusalem, which anyone may enter, the future Jerusalem will be accessible only to those invited to it. The righteous will be called by God’s name, as will the Messiah and Jerusalem itself. The righteous will even be called “holy,” using language ordinarily applied to God.

Jerusalem will be raised three parasangs above the ground, corresponding to its original area. Its inhabitants will ascend without difficulty, flying like clouds or doves. God initially sought to establish fixed dimensions for the city, but the angels protested. Other nations possess cities without fixed limits; Jerusalem, which contains God’s name, His Temple, and the righteous, should not be restricted. The measuring plan is therefore abandoned, and Zechariah’s prophecy concludes that Jerusalem will be inhabited as an open city because of the multitude of people and animals within it.

Across these teachings, the sugya portrays the future world as a transformed version of creation. Primordial threats are brought under control and converted into rewards. Leviathan’s flesh becomes food, its skin becomes shelter and light, and enormous precious stones become architectural materials. Jerusalem becomes the center of this order: elevated, radiant, immeasurable, selectively accessible, and populated by righteous people who themselves bear divine names and titles.

Outline

Intro

The Passage

1. Babylonian interpretation - The “great sea monsters” are sea gazelles - Genesis 1:21

2. R’ Yoḥanan - Leviathan is the ‘slant serpent’ and ‘tortuous serpent’ - Isaiah 27:1

3. Rav Yehuda citing Rav - God created Leviathan male and female

   1. God prevented the Leviathans from reproducing lest they destroy the world: He castrated the male and killed and salted the female for the righteous in the messianic future - Isaiah 27:1

   2. God likewise created Behemoth male and female, and prevented them from reproducing lest they destroy the world

   3. God castrated the male Behemoth and cooled the female’s sexual desire, preserving her for the righteous in the messianic future - Job 40:16

4. Rav citing Rav - God killed the minister of the sea Rahab for refusing to cooperate in Creation - Job 26:12

5. R’ Yitzḥak - The minister of the sea is named Rahab; the waters cover his corpse because no creature could endure its smell

   1. Prooftext - Isaiah 11:9

Part 2

1. Rav Yehuda citing Rav - The Jordan emerges from the cave of Pamyas

2. Baraita - The Jordan flows from Pamyas through Lake Sivkhi and the Sea of Tiberias, reaches the Great Sea, and continues to Leviathan’s mouth - Job 40:23

3. Rav Dimi citing R’ Yonatan - In the messianic future, Gabriel will hunt Leviathan with God’s assistance - Job 40:19, 25

4. Rav Dimi citing R’ Yoḥanan - When Leviathan is hungry, its breath boils the deep - Job 41:23

   1. Leviathan must place its head in Eden so that creatures can endure its smell - Job 41:23

   2. When Leviathan is thirsty, it cuts furrows through the sea - Job 41:24

5. Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov - After Leviathan drinks, the deep (tehom) does not recover for 70 years; “elderly” implies an age of at least 70 - Job 41:24

6. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - God will make a feast for the righteous in the messianic future from Leviathan’s flesh

   1. Prooftexts - “Companions” means Torah scholars, and “prepare” means a feast - Job 40:30; II Kings 6:23; Song of Songs 8:13

7. The remaining Leviathan meat will be divided and sold in Jerusalem’s markets

   1. Prooftexts - “Canaanites” means merchants - Job 40:30; Hosea 12:8; Isaiah 23:8

8. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - In the messianic future, God will make rewards of differing sizes from Leviathan’s skin: a sukkah, covering, necklace, or amulet, according to merit - Job 40:29, 31; Proverbs 1:9

9. The Leviathan’s remaining skin will be spread over Jerusalem’s walls and illuminate the entire world - Isaiah 60:3

10. R’ Shmuel bar Naḥmani - Gabriel and Michael, or Yehuda and Ḥizkiyya sons of R’ Ḥiyya, dispute whether Jerusalem’s future walls will be made of onyx or jasper; God declares that they will be made of both - Isaiah 54:12

11. R’ Yoḥanan - Jerusalem’s future gates will contain gemstones 30 by 30 cubits, hollowed out to openings 10 by 20 cubits - Isaiah 54:12

    1. Anonymous student mocked R’ Yoḥanan’s claim

    2. The anonymous student later went to sea and saw angels preparing the stones exactly as described by R’ Yoḥanan

    3. The anonymous student then affirmed it to R’ Yoḥanan

    4. R’ Yoḥanan condemned the student’s earlier disbelief, and killed the student with his gaze

12. R’ Meir - In the messianic future, people will be 200 cubits tall, twice Adam’s height - Leviticus 26:13

13. R’ Yehuda - In the messianic future, people will be 100 cubits tall, corresponding to the Sanctuary and its walls - Psalms 144:12

Part 3

1. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - In the messianic future, God will make 7 canopies for every righteous person

   1. Each according to that person’s honor - Isaiah 4:5

2. R’ Ḥanina - The smoke in the canopies punishes those who were stingy toward Torah scholars

3. R’ Ḥanina - The fire signifies the embarrassment each righteous person feels upon seeing another’s greater canopy

4. Joshua received only part of Moses’ splendor; the elders compared Moses to the sun and Joshua to the moon and lamented the decline - Numbers 27:20

5. R’ Ḥama bar Ḥanina - God made 10 canopies for Adam in Eden

   1. corresponding to the 10 precious materials listed in Ezekiel - Ezekiel 28:13

6. Mar Zutra - Adam had 11 canopies, counting the phrase “every precious stone” as an additional item - Ezekiel 28:13

7. R’ Yoḥanan - Gold was the least valuable of Adam’s coverings, since it is listed last - Ezekiel 28:13

8. Rav Yehuda citing Rav - God told Hiram that, foreseeing his claim to divinity, He created human bodily openings to expose human frailty - Ezekiel 28:13

   1. Alternative tradition - God told Hiram that, foreseeing him, He decreed death upon Adam to demonstrate human mortality

9. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - Unlike present Jerusalem, Jerusalem in the messianic future will be accessible only to those invited to it - Isaiah 4:5

10. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - In the messianic future, the righteous will be called by God’s name - Isaiah 43:7

11. R’ Shmuel bar Naḥmani citing R’ Yoḥanan - Three entities are called by God’s name: the righteous, the Messiah, and Jerusalem

    1. Prooftexts - Isaiah 43:7; Jeremiah 23:6; Ezekiel 48:35

12. R’ Elazar - In the messianic future, people will proclaim “holy” before the righteous as they do before God - Isaiah 4:3

13. Rabba citing R’ Yoḥanan - In the messianic future, God will raise Jerusalem 3 parasangs above the ground

    1. Prooftext - Zechariah 14:10

14. Rabba citing an anonymous elder - Jerusalem pre-Destruction measured 3 parasangs, supporting the height assigned to future Jerusalem - Zechariah 14:10

15. People will ascend elevated Jerusalem easily, flying like clouds and doves - Isaiah 60:8

16. Rav Pappa - The verse implies that a cloud rises 3 parasangs - Isaiah 60:8

17. R’ Ḥanina bar Pappa - God initially intended to assign Jerusalem fixed dimensions - Zechariah 2:5–6

    1. The angels objected to God that Jerusalem, containing God’s name, Temple, and righteous people, should not be limited more than gentile cities

    2. God therefore declared that Jerusalem would expand without walls - Zechariah 2:7–8

Appendix - The Future Messianic Banquet and the Passing of the Cup (Pesachim 119b)

1. Rav Avira citing Rav Ami/Asi - Future Feast for the Righteous - Genesis 21:8

2. At the future banquet, major Biblical Figures (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua) will all decline the Blessing, each due to a sin or failing, until David

The Passage

Bava_Batra.74b.5-75b.8

Babylonian interpretation - The “great sea monsters” are sea gazelles - Genesis 1:21

״ויברא אלהים את התנינם הגדולים״ –

הכא תרגימו: ארזילי דימא.

The verse states: “And God created the great sea monsters” (Genesis 1:21).

Here, in Babylonia, they interpreted this as a reference to gazelles² of the sea.

R’ Yoḥanan - Leviathan is the ‘slant serpent’ and ‘tortuous serpent’ - Isaiah 27:1

רבי יוחנן אמר:

זה

1. לויתן נחש בריח

2. ולויתן נחש עקלתון,

שנאמר:

״ביום ההוא

יפקד ה׳ בחרבו הקשה וגו׳״.

R’ Yoḥanan says:

This is

1. Leviathan the slant (בריח) serpent,

2. and Leviathan the tortuous (עקלתון) serpent,

as it is stated:

“In that day

YHWH with His sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the slant serpent, and Leviathan the tortuous serpent” (Isaiah 27:1).

Rav Yehuda citing Rav - God created Leviathan male and female

אמר רב יהודה, אמר רב:

כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו –

זכר ונקבה בראם.

אף

1. לויתן נחש בריח

2. ולויתן נחש עקלתון –

זכר ונקבה בראם

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says:

Everything that God created in His world³ --

He created male and female.⁴

Even

1. Leviathan the slant serpent

2. and Leviathan the tortuous serpent --

He created male and female.

God prevented the Leviathans from reproducing lest they destroy the world: He castrated the male and killed and salted the female for the righteous in the messianic future - Isaiah 27:1

ואלמלי נזקקין זה לזה –

מחריבין כל העולם כולו.

מה עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא?

• סירס את הזכר,

• והרג הנקבה

ומלחה לצדיקים לעתיד לבא,

שנאמר: ״והרג את התנין אשר בים״.

And if [the Leviathans] would have mated (נזקקין) and produced offspring --

they would have destroyed the entire world.

What did God do?

• He castrated the male Leviathan

• and killed the female Leviathan,

and salted the female to preserve it for the banquet for the righteous in the messianic future.

As it is stated: “And He will slay the serpent that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).

God likewise created Behemoth male and female, and prevented them from reproducing lest they destroy the world

ואף בהמות בהררי אלף –

זכר ונקבה בראם,

ואלמלי נזקקין זה לזה --

מחריבין כל העולם כולו.

And He created even the Behemoth (בהמות - “beasts”) on the thousand hills (see Psalms 50:10) --

male and female.

And the Behemoths were so enormous that if they would have mated and produced offspring --

they would have destroyed the entire world.

God castrated the male Behemoth and cooled the female’s sexual desire, preserving her for the righteous in the messianic future - Job 40:16

מה עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא?

• סירס הזכר,

• וצינן הנקבה

ושמרה לצדיקים לעתיד לבא,

שנאמר:

• ״הנה נא כחו במתניו״ –

  • זה זכר,

• ״ואונו בשרירי בטנו״ –

  • זו נקבה.

[...]

What did God do?

• He castrated the male Behemoth

• and cooled (צינן) the sexual desire of the female Behemoth

and preserved it for the righteous in the future.

As it is stated about the Behemoths:

• “Lo now, his strength is in his loins” (Job 40:16) --

  • this is referring to the male Behemoth

• The continuation of the verse: “And his force is in the stays of his body” --

  • this is the female Behemoth, alluding to the idea that they did not use their genitals for the purpose of procreation.

[...]

Rav citing Rav - God killed the minister of the sea Rahab for refusing to cooperate in Creation - Job 26:12

(See footnote.)⁵

ואמר רב יהודה, אמר רב:

בשעה שביקש הקדוש ברוך הוא לבראות את העולם,

אמר לו לשר של ים:

פתח פיך ובלע כל מימות שבעולם.

And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says:

At the time when God sought to create the world,

He said to the minister of the sea:

Open your mouth and swallow all the waters of the world,

so that there will be room for land.

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

די שאעמוד בשלי.

מיד בעט בו והרגו,

שנאמר:

״בכחו רגע הים

ובתבונתו מחץ רהב״.

The minister of the sea said before [God]:

God!

it is enough that I will stay within my own waters.

God immediately struck⁶ him and killed him;

as it is stated:

“He stirs up the sea with His power,

and by His understanding He smites through Rahab” (Job 26:12).

R’ Yitzḥak - The minister of the sea is named Rahab; the waters cover his corpse because no creature could endure its smell

אמר רבי יצחק:

שמע מינה:

שרו של ים ״רהב״ שמו;

ואלמלא מים מכסין אותו –

אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד בריחו,

R’ Yitzḥak said:

Conclude from here that

the name of the minister of the sea is Rahab,

and were it not for waters of the sea that cover him --

no creature could withstand his smell,

as his corpse emits a terrible stench.

Prooftext - Isaiah 11:9

שנאמר:

״לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי וגו׳,

כמים לים מכסים״ –

אל תקרי ״לים מכסים״,

אלא ״לשרה של ים מכסים״.

As it is stated:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of YHWH, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

Do not read this phrase as “cover the sea”;

rather read it as: “Cover the minister (שרה) of the sea,”

i.e., the term sea is referring to the minister of the sea, not to the sea itself.

1. For the previous sugya, see my three-part series, “Talmudic Odyssey: Giant Creatures, Cosmic Wonders, and Other Tales (Bava Batra 73a-74a)”, final part: Pt3.

For the passage after, see my “ “I remember”: Memories of the Olden Days of Galilean Cities - Tiberias and Tzippori (Bava Batra 91b and 75b)”, section “Reminiscences of the grandeur of the city of Tzippori in its heydey, and the future grandeur of the city of Jerusalem“.

For more on material wealth in the messianic future in the Talmud, see especially this series of mine: “Eretz Yisrael’s Miraculous Agricultural Fertility: Past, Present, and Future (Ketubot 111b-112a)”, final part: Pt2

2. ארזילי - “gazelles, antelopes”.

Steinsaltz translates “oryx”.

3. כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו.

Compare the statement elsewhere, where the Talmud starts with the same clause as here, cited in my “Appendix 2 - Animal-Based Natural Remedies and Weak Creatures That Intimidate the Mighty (Shabbat 77b)“, section “Everything Created Has a Purpose: A list of five animal-based natural remedies“:

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב:

כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו,

לא ברא דבר אחד לבטלה:

[…]

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said:

Everything that God created in His world,

He did not create anything for naught:

[…]

4. זכר ונקבה בראם.

This clause is taken directly from the verse in Genesis 5:2.

5. I previously cited this passage in a footnote, in my “Pt2 Solomon, Ashmedai, and the Shamir: Demonology, Temple-Building, and the Reversal of Royal Power (Gittin 68a-b)“, on section “Access to the shamir: Ashmedai says the shamir is held by the sea’s ministering angel and entrusted to the hoopoe (wild rooster/dukhifat)“.

6. בעט - literally: “kicked”.