Biblegems #189
Question: Job 41 seems to be God describing
fire breathing dragons as if they were real and Job was familiar with them. Is
this just poetic or symbolic language?
Most people
assume that life as we now know it is a reliable indicator for what life has
always been like (the theory of uniformitarianism). The apostle Peter reminds
us that this false assumption is in large part responsible for mankind’s
tendency to “deliberately forget” the
creation of the world from water and the destruction of that world’s
environment by a global flood (2Pet. 3:3-6). That same false assumption blinds
us to the possibility of creatures once existing that match the description in
Job 41:1-34.
The
creature described in Job is called “Leviathan”
(Job 41:1). In this passage Job—who was clearly familiar with the creature—is
reminded that even this massive animal is just another one of many created and
owned by God (Job 41:11).
Leviathan was
earth’s largest creature at the time (33-34), too huge to tie down or lead with
a rope (1-2), with a hide too tough and folded over on itself to penetrate with
spears, arrows or swords (7, 24, 26-29). His neck was powerful, his chest “hard as rock.” He was completely
untamable (5, 9), terrifying the most fearless hunters when he “rose up” (25). His massive limbs were
both incredibly strong and graceful (12), and his great jaws were “ringed about with…fearsome teeth” (14).
He made a snorting sound accompanied by bursts of fire and smoke from his
nostrils, and he could spout fire from his mouth (20-21). His back was covered
with tightly layered scales (15-17), and his underbelly likewise covered with
sharp protrusions that gouged out the ground he walked over (30). Leviathan was
amphibious, stirring up the water where he submerged as if it were boiling (31-32).
Isaiah the prophet describes Leviathan as a “gliding,…coiling
serpent (i.e., dragon),…the monster
of the sea” (Is. 27:1).
Obviously,
no such creature exists today. But historical evidence and archeological
evidence confirm that Leviathan and other dinosaurs did indeed co-inhabit the
earth with mankind.[i]
(See also: The World News Daily
Report article from March 9, 2014, “Prehistoric
Cave Art Depicting Humans Hunting Dinosaurs Discovered in Kuwait”)[ii]
Now that
supporting evidence is piling up, those who once scoffed at the idea of humans
and dinosaurs co-existing are suddenly changing gears and asking, ‘So what?’
That is a
real good question. The ‘so what’ is that these discoveries challenges current
evolutionary models that separate dinosaurs and humans by millions of years. Exodus
20:11 summarizes the Genesis creation account that “…in six days the LORD made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and all that is in them…” If the biblical account of creation is true there will be
evidence of interaction between humans and dinosaurs and the theory of
evolution will suffer a serious set-back.
The Bible
and all it teaches is grounded in history. History leaves a record in the
ground that eventually comes to light. And when such evidence is unearthed and
brushed off for all to see, the creation once again points back to the Creator:
Rom.
1:20 For since the creation of the
world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse.
[ii] See more at:
http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/prehistoric-cave-art-depicting-humans-hunting-dinosaurs-discovered-in-kuwait/#sthash.nlZKr6f2.dpuf).
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