King James and his Dinosaurs

Limestone fossils are found around the world at many different elevations leaving evidence of ocean beds that have been lifted by upheaval of the earth's crust over thousands of years.

There are several different approaches we find when having bible discussions.  There are those who believe that if it is not found in the bible it is not true.  Then there are those who admit that there are things in this world that the bible simply does not address or at least not in obvious definitive terms.  Then there those who admit there are things in the world that are difficult to explain and will go out of their way to force the bible to explain it.  They will often go so far afield as to be dishonest about it.  The topic of dinosaurs is one of those areas that get people in lots of trouble.  There is no question that there is ample evidence of dinosaurs for there are museums around the world that display a large variety of collections as proof.  On the other hand there are bible believers who reject this evidence as simply manufactured fantasy dreamed up by secular science as a means to push their agenda and make money.  You could take them to a dig where fossilized bones are being dug out of the ground and they would reject what their very eyes are witnessing.

Peggy next to a petrified dinosaur bone with other fossils

The King James bible is usually what is cited for proof that dinosaurs are in the bible.  The word dragons appears numerous times in the Old Testament, but only in the KJV.  In the New Testament  all bibles agree that the dragon which is found in several places in the Book of Revelation is simply referring to the devil (Rev. 12:3-13, 16:13, 20:2).  In the OT dragon is used many different ways.  Job says in his misery, "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls" (KJV 30:29)  The psalmist writes, "Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death" (Psm 44:19).  In most cases newer translations have come up with jackals in place of dragons.

It might be worthy to note that the Hebrew word that is translated serpent in Exodus where Moses threw down his staff and it became a serpent is the same word that the KJV translated dragon in these other disputed passages.  So if dragons are dinosaurs, were Job's brothers really dinosaurs or is this merely a figure of speech like when Jesus said of his enemies that they were a brood of vipers?  The answer appears obvious.  Even the NKJV has avoided the word dragon in the OT.

Another creature mentioned once in the book of Job is a behemoth.  It is often cited to "prove" dinosaurs in the bible.  The passage reads "Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eatheth grass as an ox" (Job 40:15).  Though many dinosaurs were vegetarians,  many were actually carnivores which would not have eaten grass as an ox.  So once again this is a forced effort to make the bible explain something that is not there.

Job chapter 40 speaks of a Leviathan, a mighty sea creature with a heart of stone.  Some try to link this chapter with some prehistoric creature of the age of dinosaurs, however verse 34 says "he looks on everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride".  This is the same kind of language used to describe the Devil in other places of the bible.  Rev. 13:1-2 speaks of a beast coming up out of the sea and it is the dragon that gives him his power.

In the KJV of Ezekiel 29:3-5 we read of a great dragon that lies in the river of Egypt.  It is likened to the Pharaoh who says of the river "it is mine" yet he has scales.  The illustration here is nothing more than a run of the mill crocodile of the Nile, though more recent bibles simply call it a great monster.  And it was a monster the the Egyptians and given divine respect.  But no dinosaurs here in the days of Ezekiel, just a poetic picture of a Pharaoh who God is about to judge.  Ezekiel uses similar illustrations as in chapter 28 referring to the King of Tyre, where the language compares him to Satan in the garden of God. 

The cult of Sobek

Some people will even go so far to "prove" that dragons existed that they will cite the Alexander Romance a largely fictional account of his exploits in India where he supposedly had an encounter with a dragon.  The original version of this story was composed in Greek and later translated into Latin.  

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