Monday, January 9, 2012

DRAGONS VERSES DINOSAURS PART II


Hello everyone! 
I just came from a seminar featuring Russ Miller. Wonderful, informative, and accurate teaching on Creation Vs. Evolution. I was able to meet with him and his wife personally and they are just delightful people. If you every get a chance to go to one of his teachings, you will be blown away! I know he is speaking at NAU on March 29th, mark your calendars!

And speaking of creation, the question of the week is: Does the bible mention dinosaurs?

The answer is yes! In fact, the Old Testament speaks of dinosaurs twenty two times! Now it is important to remember the lesson from last week; the word dinosaur was coined in 1842, so do you remember what word people used to describe dinosaurs before that? Dragons! In the King James Version of the bible, dragon came from the word tannyn (tannin), which is Hebrew for…dragon.

Here is a list of scripture verses were dragons are mentioned:

Deuteronomy 32:33                 Isaiah 13:22                   Isaiah 51:9                   Ezekiel 29:3
Nehemiah 2:13                         Isaiah 14:29                  Jeremiah 9:11              Micah 1:8
Job 30:29                                  Isaiah 27:1                    Jeremiah 10:22            Malachi 1:3
Psalm 44:19                             Isaiah 30:6                    Jeremiah 14:6
Psalm 74:13                             Isaiah 34:13                  Jeremiah 49:33
Psalm 91:13                             Isaiah 35:7                    Jeremiah 51:34
Psalm 148:7                             Isaiah 43:20                  Jeremiah 51:37

In addition, the bible calls two dinosaurs by name; the behemoth (Job chapter 40) and leviathan (Job chapter 41), giving physical descriptions and behaviors. For example we are told the behemoth, “eats grass like and ox”, has “his strength in his hips”, “his power is in his stomach muscles”, and “he moves his tail like a cedar tree”. Some bible commentaries liken this animal to an elephant or hippopotamus. However, both of these animals have small tails and certainly don’t have their power in their abdomen nor strength in their hips. In actuality, this description matches quite nicely with a sauropod dinosaur like Sauroposeidon or Seismosaurus. The description of leviathan, in the same regard, is a creature very much like a plesiosaur or other ancient marine reptile (not a crocodile or whale like some commentaries claim).

In the Geneva bible, there are two more references to dragons: Lamentations 4:3 and Ezekiel 32:2. And in the Apocrypha (the Catholic Bible) in the book of Daniel, chapter 14:23-28 describes how Daniel killed a dragon by giving it a ball, or cakes, of a mixture of pitch, fat and hair. Now how interesting is that!

Why would there be so many mentions of dragons in the bible? Do you know what I think? I think it is because dragons/dinosaurs were created on day six and existed alongside of man. We have an accurate account of that in the bible.

Are there any other reliable resources? Other places where dragons/dinosaurs are mentioned in early history? Tune in next week to find out!

May you all have a wonderful week in Jesus’ name!
God Bless,
Willow

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