Behemoth and Leviathan & Theme Parks?

   Behemoth and Leviathan, watercolour by William Blake from his illustrations of the Book of Job(1805).

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In wisdom you have made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, great and wide;
    creeping things innumerable are there,
    living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships
    and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

                    Psalm 104: 24-26 NRSVue 

Many moons ago we spent time at Canada's Wonderland, the huge theme park in southern Ontario. Back then I was considerably more cowardly than our children when it came o some of the scarier rides and they have only become more extreme over the decades. I shuddered at the news of a death at a Six Flags venue in the state of Georgia, an incident where a rider fell to his death from a ride called Goliath. Condolences to his loved ones. 

The name intrigued me because while I can assume that this ride is huge we live in an age of general biblical illiteracy, so would riders make a connection with the oversized Philistine, the adversary of the young David, who came to a grisly end?

                                                         David and Goliath -- Peter Paul Rubens 

The news story became broader when we were told that rides at other theme parks, including Canada's Wonderland (same corporate ownership) had been temporarily closed as a precaution. These include Leviathan and Behemoth. If the story of David and Goliath might not ring a bell with riders, these two biblical names would elicit nuttin'. 

Psalm 104 is a wonderful hymn of praise for the diversity of Creation, including a nebulous creature, perhaps a sea serpent,  called Leviathan. The name Leviathan shows up elsewhere in both scripture and theological speculation as an embodiment of chaos, threatening to eat the damned when their lives are over. In the end, it is annihilated. Phew. 

Enter Behemoth from the book of Job, this one a land monster. Some scholars have speculated that this may have been a hippopotamus, somewhat amphibious, and the most dangerous mammal on the African continent. Behemoth is a creature evoking awe and terror. 

While these rides may be "monsters" it's crazy that they have been given names from the bible unknown to most enthusiasts. When you do an online search for them what comes up first is theme park info, but we know better.

 I suppose " there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

“Look at Behemoth,

    which I made just as I made you;
    it eats grass like an ox.
16 Its strength is in its loins
    and its power in the muscles of its belly.
17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;
    the sinews of its thighs are knit together.
18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,
    its limbs like bars of iron.

              Job 40: 15-18 NRSVue 

                                         Behemoth and Leviathan rides, Canada's Wonderland