How are dinosaurs explained in the Bible?
I belive in both evolution and creation but I am unsure how the Bible explains when dinosaurs lived.
I am not asking for a dispute of evolution and creation I am just wanting to know about how dinosaurs are explained in the Bible.
Thank-you!
Behemoth has the following attributes according to Job 40:15-24
It “eats grass like an ox.”
It “moves his tail like a cedar.” (In Hebrew, this literally reads, “he lets hang his tail like a cedar.”)
Its “bones are like beams of bronze,
His ribs like bars of iron.”
“He is the first of the ways of God.”
“He lies under the lotus trees,
In a covert of reeds and marsh.”
Some bibles and study bibles will translate the word “behemoth” as “elephant” or “hippopotamus.” Others will put a note at the edge or bottom of the page, stating that behemoth was probably an elephant or a hippopotamus. Although an elephant or hippopotamus can eat grass (or lie in a covert of reeds and marsh), neither an elephant or a hippopotamus has a “tail like a cedar” (that is, a tail like a large, tapered tree trunk). In your kid’s dinosaur book you will find lots of animals that have “tails like a cedar.”
We would expect behemoth to be a large land animal whose bones are like beams of bronze and so forth, so whatever a behemoth is, it is large. A key phrase is “He is the first of the ways of God.” This phrase in the original Hebrew implied that behemoth was the biggest animal created. Although an elephant or a hippopotamus are big, they are less than one-tenth the size of a Brachiosaurus, the largest (complete) dinosaur ever discovered.[1] A Brachiosaurus could therefore easily be described as “the first of the ways of God.”
Comparing all this information to the description in your kid’s dinosaur book, you may come to the conclusion that “behemoth” is not a normal animal, it is a dinosaur—the brachiosaurus. We agree with that conclusion!
Note: Some paleontologists have found fragmentary leg bones, ribs, or vertebrae which they propose belong to “new” sauropods larger than Brachiosaurus. Examples of these include Amphicoelias, Argentinasaurus, Sauroposeidon, Seismosaurus, Supersaurus and Ultrasaurus. There currently is not enough evidence to really determine the size of any of these, and some paleontologists believe that they are merely large examples of known dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus or Diplodocus. In any case, only the “modern scientific name” of behemoth would change. The point would still remain that behemoth refers to a dinosaur, not a “modern animal” like an elephant or hippopotamus.
Leviathan has the following attributes according to Job chapter 41, Psalm 104:25,26 and Isaiah 27:1. This is only a partial listing—just enough to make the point.
“No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.”
“Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around?”
“His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted.”
“His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.”
“Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the threat of javelins.”
“On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear.”
Leviathan “played” in the “great and wide sea” (a paraphrase of Psalm 104 verses 25 and 26—get the exact sense by reading them yourself).
Leviathan is a “reptile [a] that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)
[a] Note: The word translated “reptile” here is the Hebrew word tanniyn. This shows that “Leviathan” was also a “tanniyn” (dragon).
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March 25 2009 08:04 am | Bible
quietsilentfree on 25 Mar 2009 at 1:43 pm #
Dinosaurs were extinct before human origins.
There are no dinosaurs referenced in the bible.
References :
Leviathan & Behemoth:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=275&letter=L
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Behemoth
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Leviathan
Aeon on 25 Mar 2009 at 2:13 pm #
they are not explained at all case closed
References :
Be Blessed on 25 Mar 2009 at 2:59 pm #
Behemoth has the following attributes according to Job 40:15-24
It “eats grass like an ox.”
It “moves his tail like a cedar.” (In Hebrew, this literally reads, “he lets hang his tail like a cedar.”)
Its “bones are like beams of bronze,
His ribs like bars of iron.”
“He is the first of the ways of God.”
“He lies under the lotus trees,
In a covert of reeds and marsh.”
Some bibles and study bibles will translate the word “behemoth” as “elephant” or “hippopotamus.” Others will put a note at the edge or bottom of the page, stating that behemoth was probably an elephant or a hippopotamus. Although an elephant or hippopotamus can eat grass (or lie in a covert of reeds and marsh), neither an elephant or a hippopotamus has a “tail like a cedar” (that is, a tail like a large, tapered tree trunk). In your kid’s dinosaur book you will find lots of animals that have “tails like a cedar.”
We would expect behemoth to be a large land animal whose bones are like beams of bronze and so forth, so whatever a behemoth is, it is large. A key phrase is “He is the first of the ways of God.” This phrase in the original Hebrew implied that behemoth was the biggest animal created. Although an elephant or a hippopotamus are big, they are less than one-tenth the size of a Brachiosaurus, the largest (complete) dinosaur ever discovered.[1] A Brachiosaurus could therefore easily be described as “the first of the ways of God.”
Comparing all this information to the description in your kid’s dinosaur book, you may come to the conclusion that “behemoth” is not a normal animal, it is a dinosaur—the brachiosaurus. We agree with that conclusion!
Note: Some paleontologists have found fragmentary leg bones, ribs, or vertebrae which they propose belong to “new” sauropods larger than Brachiosaurus. Examples of these include Amphicoelias, Argentinasaurus, Sauroposeidon, Seismosaurus, Supersaurus and Ultrasaurus. There currently is not enough evidence to really determine the size of any of these, and some paleontologists believe that they are merely large examples of known dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus or Diplodocus. In any case, only the “modern scientific name” of behemoth would change. The point would still remain that behemoth refers to a dinosaur, not a “modern animal” like an elephant or hippopotamus.
Leviathan has the following attributes according to Job chapter 41, Psalm 104:25,26 and Isaiah 27:1. This is only a partial listing—just enough to make the point.
“No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.”
“Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around?”
“His rows of scales are his pride, shut up tightly as with a seal; one is so near another that no air can come between them; they are joined one to another, they stick together and cannot be parted.”
“His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning lights; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.”
“Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are regarded as straw; he laughs at the threat of javelins.”
“On earth there is nothing like him, which is made without fear.”
Leviathan “played” in the “great and wide sea” (a paraphrase of Psalm 104 verses 25 and 26—get the exact sense by reading them yourself).
Leviathan is a “reptile [a] that is in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)
[a] Note: The word translated “reptile” here is the Hebrew word tanniyn. This shows that “Leviathan” was also a “tanniyn” (dragon).
References :
China Doll 3 on 25 Mar 2009 at 3:08 pm #
Everything that exist was Created by God.
References :
Rubym on 25 Mar 2009 at 3:50 pm #
They are not. But then again, neither are kangaroos, opossums, American Bison, Chimpanzees, gorillas or South American spider monkeys.
The Bible is not a natural history text. Many things, many places, many animals and species, even that existed at the time the Bible was written are not mentioned, let alone things that were extinct. Moses, or whoever actually wrote down Genesis did not know about dinosaurs and the point of the writings was not to tell the entire story of natural history but to tell about God, and that he created the world, but not details of every species that ever lived. .
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XD Chic.babii on 25 Mar 2009 at 4:05 pm #
Rawr…XD
References :
Patio of Fun on 25 Mar 2009 at 4:35 pm #
The Bible explains the dinosaurs with the single term 'behemoth'. This fully explains 120,000,000 years of dinosaur evolution, and gives us everything we need to know about thousands of different species of dinosaurs and giant aquatic and avian reptiles.
References :
MissyLady on 25 Mar 2009 at 5:25 pm #
Consider also that there is nothing in the Bible that leads us to believe that there were not dinosaurs. Many times there are references to great "beasts" of the fields.
References :
TLM Prime on 25 Mar 2009 at 6:04 pm #
Monsters are referenced in every mythological book, from the Iliad to the chinese stories. This in no way means that dragons or cyclops existed.
References :
Janian on 25 Mar 2009 at 6:19 pm #
They are not mentioned let alone explained in the bible.
For those who say that there are no Kangaroos etc.
Do you know what part of the planet the bible was written in? The species mentioned are from other parts of the world.
Dinosaurs however, existed all over the planet.
Why would the bible not mention them? If humans and dinosaurs lived together, then surely there would be substantial deaths due to these massive predators.
Something like that would have been documented, if it happened……
References :
atheist and 'evolutionist'
pugjw9896 on 25 Mar 2009 at 7:07 pm #
They are NOT explained…
The Bible does mention…great sea monsters , and Behemoths, but these were contemporary with man and man has only been in existence for around 8,000 years.
whales , whale sharks and elephants.
The dinosaurs were pre 65million years ago. They could easily have been wiped out as the scientists say , by a big meteor strike.
References :
Ken E on 25 Mar 2009 at 7:43 pm #
They are not in the Bible, and neither are kangaroos, coral reefs, sharks, llamas or giraffes. The people who wrote the Bible didn't know about them. Nor did they know that the Americas, Japan, Australia or New Zealand existed and the ones who wrote the Old Testament probably did not know that Europe or China existed either. They had next to no grip of mathematics and next to no interest into enquiring about the physical world.
They rarely went to sea, possibly because there are no decent harbours along the coast and were suspicious and distrustful of any person or idea that came from the west, across the sea. They hated and feared the Greeks, for instance.
References :