In Job we find God speaking of 2 great creatures that he has created, behemoth
and leviathan.
Behemoth =Strongs 930 Definition:
perhaps an extinct dinosaur, a Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus, exact meaning unknown ++ Some translate as elephant or
hippopotamus but from the description in Job 40:15-24, this is patently absurd.
Job 40:15-24 " Behold now
behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his
strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He
moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He
is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to
approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the
beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the
reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of
the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not:
he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his
eyes: his nose pierceth through snares."
Leviathan = Strongs 3882 Definition: leviathan, sea monster, dragon, large aquatic animal, perhaps the extinct
dinosaur, plesiosaurus, exact meaning unknown ++ Some think this to be a
crocodile but from the description in Job 41 this is patently absurd. It
appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the
bomardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon
may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire
breathing dragon.
Job 41:1-34 " Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue
with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or
bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee?
will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt
thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?
or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of
him? shall they part him among the merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with
barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon him, remember
the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be
cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up:
who then is able to stand before me? Who hath prevented me, that I should
repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. I will not conceal
his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Who can discover the face
of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? Who can open
the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his
pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that
no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick
together, that they cannot be sundered. By his neesings a light doth shine,
and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning
lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of
a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of
his mouth. In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy
before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in
themselves; they cannot be moved. His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as
hard as a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth up himself, the
mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. The sword of
him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He
esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him
flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as
stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp stones are under him: he
spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like
a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. He maketh a path to shine
after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his
like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king
over all the children of pride."
If these don't sound like dinosaurs I don't know what does!
This would also explain why so many countries have tales of dragons in their
folk lore.
Leviathans/Dragons are even spoken of in the Psalms, apparently the Lord at one
point provided a Leviathan as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Psalms 74:13-14 " Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest
the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in
pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
Psalms 104:25-30 " So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things
creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there
is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon
thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest
them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou
hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die,
and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created:
and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Ezekiel speaks of a great dragon that was living
in the nile river.
Ezekiel 29:3 " Speak, and say,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the
great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river
is mine own, and I have made it for myself."
Jeremiah speaks of dragons being large enough to eat a man.
Jeremiah 51:34 " Nebuchadrezzar the king of
Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel,
he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my
delicates, he hath cast me out."
I find it interesting that Nehemiah speaks of a dragon well, could a dragon have
drunk from it?
Nehemiah 2:13 " And I went out by
night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung
port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates
thereof were consumed with fire."
Dragons have been around since the
generations of old.
Isaiah 51:9 " Awake, awake, put
on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the
generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?"
The Apocrapha tells of the creation on the fifth day of
Leviathan. Some may consider the Apocrapha unreliable/uninspired, yet there
is something to be gleemed from it.
Apocraphal Book II Esdras 6:49-53 "Then didst thou ordain two
living creatures, the one thou calledst Enoch, and the other
Leviathan; And didst separate the one from the other: for the seventh
part, namely, where the water was gathered together, might not hold them
both. Unto Enoch thou gavest one part, which was dried up the third day,
that he should dwell in the same part, wherein are a thousand hills: But
unto Leviathan thou gavest the seventh part, namely, the moist; and hast kept
him to be devoured of whom thou wilt, and when. Upon the sixth day thou
gavest commandment unto the earth, that before thee it should bring forth
beasts, cattle, and creeping things:"
Where did they go ?
Isaiah speaks of the Lord destroying
leviathan at the end of the age when he punishes inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity, so clearly the still exist!
Isaiah 26:21 "
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall
no more cover her slain."
Isaiah 27:1 " In that day the
LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the
piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the
dragon that is in the sea."
So yes, Scripture speaks of Dinosaurs.
This 28-foot crocodile was shot and killed in Queensland in 1957
