This will really put
your trust in the truth of the Word of God to the acid test! As it is in a court of law - ONE LIE degrades the Truth!!!
Dinosaurs And Dragons In The Bible
Published 20251022 -:- Revised 20251105 ---p
I am dyslexic so please bear
with me. Scripture references are from Modern King James (MKJV) unless noted
otherwise.
Aim
I would like to look at the key
issues here. ‘Do You believe the Word of God?’ ‘Can God make sure His Word has
been kept accurate for thousands of years?’ ‘Or do you simply take some parts
of it as fairytales?The Prompting
Years ago I was puddling through a Bible study on my own until quite late. My wife was at night shift and her youngest son was at a home fellowship or something, and he rang me! He said, “Adrian where would you find any mention of the Dinosaur in the Bible?” So I clicked the brain in overdrive and said, “Oh… Well… I think it might be in Psalms; and I think you should do a search for, arr.. ‘behemoth’ I think. Do you have a bible with you? He simple said, “no thanks, we’ll look for it later”. So I went back to my study and thought nothing more of it.
But it is funny how God brings things to your remembrance. A few days or weeks later, on another late night study, I decided lets do a search for ‘behemoth’! I found it in Job chapter 40, and I kept reading through to the end of chapter 41. WOW! So I rang the son who was again at a night out with church mates. And I said, “Did you get around to looking up the ‘behemoth’? “No why?” So I said, “well I looked it up, and it’s in Job chapter 40; and it defiantly sounds like a Dinosaur! And if you read chapter 41 it must be the Dragon”. The surprise in his voice quite loud; “A DRAGON!!!” I said, “Well yair! You have a read of it and you tell me what on earth could it posabaly be? ‘Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out!’ FIRE! And he is a scaled beast, with REALY tough skin! So you have a read and tell me what you think it is?” Our son never lingered on the subject. I think we had a brief chat about it over dinner the next night, then we both just decided to put it in to the “TOO Hard Basket”. One of those questions we will ask God when we get to heaven?
Are The Creatures Real?
I think the key to answering this question for both of them is in Job 40:15 “Now behold behemoth, which I made along with you”. God is saying that He created the behemoth at the same time as He created mankind, i.e. Job! The other Key issue is both the behemoth and the leviathan, MUST have existed at the time of Job! Because God starts describing them to Job, and if they were extinct at the time of Job; then Job would have NO frame of reference for either of them. Job would be quite within his rights to say to God; Lord just Hang On? With all due respects Lord what are you talking about? So the creatures must have been real, and moving around the countryside, for Job to plainly see and know about them!
Underlined Key Words
Now I have underlined some sections to bring attention to keywords about his size, his strength, standing firm in a flooded river etc. Then I have done the same with the leviathan; like; “Will you play with him as with a bird?” Birds fly! So does the leviathan fly? But anyway can I ask YOU the same question? Have a read of Job chapter 40 the behemoth, and chapter 41 the Dragon. And you tell me what you think those two monsters are?
First let’s cover the behemoth and I’ll given you some commentary notes; in particular those that speak of them being “perhaps an extinct species”. Also I’ll give you my own thoughts.
The Behemoth of Job Chapter 40
Job 40:15 “Now behold behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox; :16 see, now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. :17 He hangs his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. :18 His bones are like tubes of bronze; his bones are like bars of iron. :19 He is the first of the ways of God; his Maker brings near his sword. :20 For the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there. :21 He lies under the lotus, in the hiding place of the reed and the marsh. :22 The lotus trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook surround him. :23 Behold, though a flood presses, he does not run away; he feels safe even if Jordan swells up to his mouth. :24 Shall any take him before his eyes, or pierce through his nose with cords?”
My Thoughts
‘He hangs his tail like a cedar’; Some interpretations describe his tail action as follows: - ‘he moves tail, sets up his tail, his tail is curving, he bends his tail, his tail stands strong, like a Cedar? And in verse 23; well he has to be ruddy huge to stand and feel ‘safe even if Jordan swells up to his mouth’. I read through a lot of the commentaries and many of them refer to the behemoth as an elephant or the hippopotamus. But neither of those animals seems to fit the bill accurately. But these three commentaries listed below give a good description on the basis that it is probably an extinct beast! And if so then we today have no frame of reference for it.
Commentaries
[Ref CN by AB on Job 40:17] “The description of the movement of the “tail” here given, would agree much better with some of the extinct orders of animals whose remains have been recently discovered and arranged by Cuvier, than with that of the hippopotamus.
[Ref CN by JFB on Job 40:17]
“like a cedar — As the tempest bends the cedar, so it can move its smooth thick tail [Umbreit]. But the cedar implies straightness and length, such as do not apply to the river horse’s short tail, but perhaps to an extinct species of animal (see on Job_40:15).
(This one is long, but I have underlined some good bits for you.)
[Ref CN by Preacher’s Homiletical on Job 40:17]
“The description apparently agreeing in every particular neither with the elephant nor the hippopotamus, the animal has been conjectured by some to be a now extinct genus; and by others to be rather a poetical personification of the great pachydermata—the idea of the hippopotamus being predominant. Extinct species of this class of animals found in a fossil condition. The great mastodon the type of the elephant, though of a different species—the principal distinction being in the shape and structure of the teeth; while the mastodon also possessed short tusks in its lower, in addition to those in its upper, jaw. This animal equalled the elephant in size, but with still heavier proportions. Its remains found in a wonderful state of preservation both in America and the Eastern Continent. The skeleton of one, almost entire, found in the valley of the Missouri, now to be seen in the British Museum. The animal supposed to have been more an aquatic, or swamp-hunting, quadruped than the elephant. A mammoth—a more recent animal of the same class—measuring from the fore-part of the skull to the end of the tail sixteen feet four inches, and twelve feet in height, discovered in Siberia in 1801, imbedded in ice, with its flesh, skin, and hair as perfect as if recently dead. The remains of another found, which is supposed to have been twenty-five feet high and sixty feet in length. Gigantic elephants, of nearly twice the bulk of the largest elephant of Africa or Ceylon, believed by Professor Owen, from the abundance of their remains, to have roamed in herds over the British Islands in the period immediately before the creation of man.”
So, what do you think the behemoth is/was?
The Leviathan of Job Chapter 41
Job 41:1 “Can you draw out the leviathan with a hook, or hold down his tongue with a cord? :2 Can you put a reed rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw with a thorn? :3 Will he multiply pleas for help to you? Will he speak soft words to you? :4 Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant for ever? :5 Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your maidens? :6 Shall your companions bargain over him? Shall they divide him among the merchants? :7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fishing spears? :8 Lay your hand on him, think of the battle; you will never do it again. :9 Behold, his hope has been made false; will not one be cast down at the sight of him? :10 None is so fierce as to dare to stir him up; who then is able to stand before Me? :11 Who has gone before Me that I should repay? All that is the heavens is Mine. :12 I will not keep silent concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or the grace of his frame. :13 Who can take off the surface of his skin; who can come to him with his double bridle? :14 Who can open the doors to his face? Terror is round about his teeth. :15 The rows of shields are his pride, shut up with a close seal; :16 one is so near to another that no air can come between them; :17 they are joined one to another, they clasp each other so that they can not be separated. :18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. :19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out. :20 Out of his nostrils goes smoke, as out of a boiling pot fired by reeds. :21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth. :22 In his neck remains strength, and terror dances before him. :23 The folds of his flesh are joined together, cast firm on him; he cannot be moved. :24 His heart is cast hard as a stone, even cast hard as a piece of a riding millstone. :25 The mighty are afraid from his rising; they are beside themselves from the crashing. :26 The sword overtakes him, but will not hold firm. The spear, the dart, and the javelin also. :27 He counts iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood. :28 An arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones are turned by him into stubble. :29 Darts are counted as straw; he laughs at the shaking of a javelin. :30 Points of potsherds are under him; he spreads sharp pointed marks on the mire. :31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. :32 He makes a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be gray-headed. :33 On earth there is nothing like him, one made without fear. :34 He beholds all high things; he is a king over all the sons of pride.”
The leviathan in Other Scriptures
Psa 74:14 “You cracked open the heads of leviathan, and gave him to be food to the people living in the wilderness.”
Psalms 104: 25-26 (KJV), :25 “So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. :26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.”
Job 3: 8 (GNB) “Tell the sorcerers to curse that day, those who know how to control Leviathan.” …and in
Isaiah 27: 1 (ASV) “In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.”
My Thoughts
That is a lot of descriptive information to try to take in! My darling wife, (who is like a silent partner in my Blog articles, she proof reads and contributes scripture ideas etc.), she found some good stuff on U-Tube and I would like you to take the time to look at them please. They focus on the feasibility that the leviathan may well have been a monstrous crocodile.
U-tube Links
The first link is: - “The Bible Reveals the TRUTH About Dinosaurs”. It’s from ‘Answers in Genesis Canada’ and the host Calvin Smith. He’s a lighthearted fun bloke to listen to and he presents information in an easy practical manor.
The other link is: - “What was Leviathan in Job 41?”. It to is very interesting as it gives a good explanation for; verse 31 “He makes the deep boil like a pot”, and then a reasonable explanation for verse 19 “Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out.”
Commentaries
The Preacher’s Homiletical is quite a lengthy bit of work in general. This first section of its commentary give us quite a list of the different translations and various scholars and what they surmised the Leviathan could have been.
[Ref CN by Preacher’s Homiletical on Job 41:1]
Job_41:1. “Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook.” The term “Leviathan” (לִוְיָתָן) rendered here by the SEPTUAGINT, SYRIAC, and ARABIC, “the dragon.” The VULGATE and TARGUM leave it untranslated. Almost all the earlier interpreters understood the Whale to be the animal intended. BEZA and DIODATPS among the first to incline for the Crocodile. GROTIUS remarks: “From terrestrial he passes to marine animals.” SANCTIUS is uncertain which animal of the whale kind is meant; and observes that the Balœna would not be unknown to Job, as being found, according to Pliny, in the Arabian Gulf. CODURCUS remarks that the whale is found in the Mediterranean Sea. According to DRUSIUS, some large unknown fish akin to the dragon is meant. SCHULTENS, with the Hebrew interpreters, thinks the animal to be a terrestrial dragon. LEE: “A sea monster in general; though the description rather suits the whale, and more particularly one of the Dolphin tribe, the Delphinus Orcus Communis, or common Grampus.” KITTO: “A sea monster: here the crocodile. FAUSSET: “Literally, the twisted animal, gathering itself into folds: a poetic generalization for all cetacea, serpentine, and saurian monsters, especially the crocodile; described after the river horse, both being found in the Nile. Bishop PATRICK observes that the whale is not armed with scales, nor impenetrable, nor creeping on the earth; and that therefore the crocodile is the animal intended. S. WESLEY remarks that the crocodile was probably once in Palestine; a town named Crocodilo-polis, or the city of the Crocodile, having stood in the neighbourhood of Mount Carmel. A. CLARKE thinks some extinct animal of the waters is probably intended. DODEHLEIN thinks the word a general name of a very large and cruel beast, the real name being gathered from its attributes.
For other commentaries you can go to e-Sword and hunt through them at your leisure. But I’m sure that the U-tube links will give you ample insight into what the leviathan could have been.
Biggest Crocodile Ever Caught
I told you I would save this till last. Hands up if you have ever been to a major county town or city, and as your driving down the road towards the town you might find a BIG (whatever) to greet you? A BIG pineapple, banana, prawn, hat, frypan, ball of twine… or whatever! Well that’s what Joy and I thought as we drove into the town of Kaumba, in Queensland’s Gulf Country. “Look darling, they have a ‘BIG Crocodile’, get your camera out.” It was a huge “true-life size” fibreglass model of that monster. And it was not until we had been in town to stay the night in a caravan park and we got talking to the locales that we found out that the model was life-size! “yar mate, go read the story about it in the museum”. This is a classic photo of Kyrs the Giant Crock outside the museum.
You can click the link: - Biggest Crocodile Ever Caught. This is an extract of the history.
Krys
“We hear stories of enormous crocodiles being caught, and with today’s photography techniques, it’s hard to get an accurate picture of the actual size. I found an article this week that tells the story behind the biggest crocodile ever caught in Australia. A petite Polish immigrant with perfectly manicured nails killing an 8.6-metre prehistoric monster. TheDaily Mailbroke the story of how a struggling immigrant family’s lives were changed forever when the glamorous matriarch picked up a rifle and shot a crocodile between the eyes. Krystyna ‘Krys’ Pawlowski had no choice but to kill the beast that day in 1955 in Kaumba, in Queensland’s Gulf Country – the reptile was creeping up on her three-year-old daughter, Barbara. ‘My brother came out and saw it and yelled “Barbara, crocodile!” and my mother grabbed a rifle and shot it between the eyes,’ Krys’s son George Pawlowski told Daily Mail Australia. That shot would make the family famous because at 8.6 metres, the reptile was, and still is, the biggest ever killed or captured.”
Summing Up
This monster crocodile was real! And it is in our present time! The behemoth, (or the brontosaurus), is now extinct! But did they roam the earth at the same time as man? I believe that the rock engravings or carvings and the like are clear evidence that dinosaurs and such were on the earth at the same time as mankind. We also know from Australian aboriginal, (indigenous), art, that huge climate change has occurred in their human history. I am sure you can find hundreds of rock art or cave wall paintings, that depict animals or vegetation that is obviously not found anywhere near those drawings. So the world changes and thanks to man's inherent interest in "graphite", we do have a relatively reasonable record of VERY ancient history. So why should we think any different to the bible? It is our ancient history.
Conclusion
There is so much in those two chapters that shakes the foundation of your concept of the TRUST you put in the bible! Because there are a number of things that go through your mind, your heart and your foundational belief of the Word of God itself. Many try to ‘fob’ off the bible as just a weird book of fairy tales! But as a believing Christian, and someone throws Job chapter 41 at you and says with a ‘chuckle’, “SURELY you can’t believe that rubbish about a fire breathing monster!” Well, I’m sorry but as they say: -
“If God said it! I believe it! That’s the end of it!”
GBY, (God Bless Ya!)
Yours Adrian
Yours Adrian
Here are some of my other talks that you might find interesting: -
Stanley and The Blood Covenant
The Lies In The Bible
Lies In The Bible Part 2
The ORIGAMI Cross
Make America Great Again