Dragons In The Bible?

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.

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[i] Morris, J. 2008. The Dinosaur Next Door. Acts & Facts.

[ii] See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/prehistoric-cave-art-depicting-humans-hunting-dinosaurs-discovered-in-kuwait/#sthash.nlZKr6f2.dpuf).

How Old Is The Bible?

Biblegems #165

Question: Since Genesis is the first book of the Bible and records the creation of the earth, does that also make it the oldest book of the Bible?

Actually, Genesis is not the oldest book of the Bible. Moses compiled the first five books of the Bible around 1400 B.C. The events in Genesis alone cover the roughly 4,300 years—from creation to the death of Abraham’s son, Joseph, in Egypt. Earth’s early history would have been handed down from Adam and Eve, who lived nearly a thousand years, to their descendants.

Older than the book of Moses by perhaps as much as 700 years is the book of Job. Job was a real person, as testified by the Lord God Himself:

         Ezek. 14:20 …as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.

James, the Lord’s brother and first leader of the Jerusalem Church, also refers to Job as an historical person:

         James 5:11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

He lived in the region in Arabia called Uz, named after one of Adam’s great-grandsons (Gen. 10:23). Evidence from the book of Job itself indicates that he lived around the time of Abraham, just a few centuries after the Flood. Both he and his friends reminded each other of the Flood as God’s judgment upon mankind as if it were a relatively recent event in history (Job 12:15; 22:15-16; 26:10; 38:8, 11).

Job also lived at such an early stage of history that he saw dinosaurs, which he called “behemoth” (Job 40:15-23). He also interacted with (and was abused by) what appear to be Neanderthal tribes. They are described as those who lived in the wastelands, and who had a staggered way of walking that made them look as if they were drunk (Job 12:24-25). They were treated as outcasts and “…were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land” (Job 30:6-8).

Job, probably written somewhere around 2100-2000 B.C., is the Bible’s oldest book, dating back a few hundred years after the great Flood. The most recent book of the Bible is Revelation, written around 95 A.D. That means the Bible is over 4,000 years old from the time the first book, Job, was composed. The book of Genesis, composed much later, contains material dating all the way back to Adam, to the dawn of human history and creation itself.

What a treasure! We have eyewitness accounts going back to the first humans, a trustworthy history that describes not only our origins but also God’s very plan and purpose for the human race!

         Ps. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Dinosaurs On The Ark?

Biblegems #34

One young lady recently asked, were dinosaurs on the ark?

The first question that needs to be asked is, what, technically, is a dinosaur?

Today, most scientist agree that the term “dinosaur” generally refers to a variety of extinct, land-based reptiles whose limbs extend beneath the body, like that of a crocodile. Many were very large, some quite small. Most of these scientists also adhere to the theory of evolution, and so would assume that dinosaurs existed between 230 million and 65.5 million years ago. According to that point of view, dinosaurs were extinct long before humans came on the scene.

Biblically, of course, dinosaurs and humans did coexist. In fact they were both brought into existence on the sixth day of creation (Gen. 1:25-27). Roughly 1,600 years later the Flood inundated the entire earth, and nearly all land based animals and mankind were annihilated, including the dinosaurs. However, God had Noah bring onto the ark representatives of every “kind” of animal, including dinosaurs, along with the eight people of Noah’s family.

The term “kind” in the Bible refers to living creatures of the same type. Dinosaurs would be considered one “kind” of animal. So it was not necessary for the ark to have carried several variations of dinosaur, such as a brontosaurus or tyrannosaurus. It is certainly possible that a flying pair of dinosaurs were aboard the ark in addition to those that walked on the ground. It is also quite possible that infant dinosaurs of the larger variety were aboard.

What we do know for sure is that some dinosaurs were on the ark, because Scripture itself gives eyewitness accounts of humans interacting with them long after the Flood had receded (Job 40: 15-24; Job 41:1), and art work from post-Flood human settlements portray a great number of dinosaurs. Well known and respected historians and travelers such as Herodotus, Marco Polo and Alexander the great reported sightings of dinosaurs. And several Native American tribes have left oral and cave art records of interaction with dinosaurs, especially a giant flying reptile they call the “thunderbird.”

Most dinosaurs, of course, perished in the Flood. Those that did travel on the ark would have found it extremely difficult to survive in the radically altered landscape of the post-Flood world. Gone were the vast plains of tropical vegetation and the green-house-like conditions maintained by the pre-Flood water canopy around the earth. The Ice Age that followed the Flood would have wiped out many dinosaurs that struggled to breed and survive.

Eventually, dinosaurs became extinct, with the slight possibility that an extremely small number have continued to breed and may exist to this day in remote jungles, the ocean, or deep places in some large fresh water bodies where local inhabitants claim to encounter them.

The fossil remains of dinosaurs and the artwork and oral history of ancient peoples are a great testimony to the authority and accuracy of Scripture. God has left His signature upon the canvas of creation. The whole earth is indeed full of His glory!