THE WALL: a blog of Baptist Voice Ministries

The topic of dinosaurs in the Bible is part of a larger ongoing debate within the Christian community over the age of the earth, the proper interpretation of Genesis, and how to interpret the physical evidences we find all around us. Those who believe in an older age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does not mention dinosaurs, because, according to their paradigm, dinosaurs died out millions of years before the first man ever walked the earth. The men who wrote the Bible could not have seen living dinosaurs.

Those who believe in a younger age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does mention dinosaurs, though it never actually uses the word “dinosaur.” Instead, it uses the Hebrew word tanniyn, which is translated a few different ways in our English Bibles. Sometimes it’s “sea monster,” and sometimes it’s “serpent.” It is most commonly translated “dragon.” The tanniyn appear to have been some sort of giant reptile. These creatures are mentioned nearly thirty times in the Old Testament and were found both on land and in the water.

In addition to mentioning these giant reptiles, the Bible describes a couple of creatures in such a way that some scholars believe the writers may have been describing dinosaurs. The behemoth is said to be the mightiest of all God’s creatures, a giant whose tail is likened to a cedar tree(Job 40:15). Some scholars have tried to identify the behemoth as either an elephant or a hippopotamus. Others point out that elephants and hippopotamuses have very thin tails, nothing comparable to a cedar tree. Dinosaurs like the brachiosaurus and the diplodocus, on the other hand, had huge tails which could easily be compared to a cedar tree.

Nearly every ancient civilization has some sort of art depicting giant reptilian creatures. Petroglyphs, artifacts, and even little clay figurines found in North America resemble modern depictions of dinosaurs. Rock carvings in South America depict men riding diplodocus-like creatures and, amazingly, bear the familiar images of triceratops-like, pterodactyl-like, and tyrannosaurus rex-like creatures. Roman mosaics, Mayan pottery, and Babylonian city walls all testify to man’s trans-cultural, geographically unbounded fascination with these creatures. Sober accounts like those of Marco Polo’s Il Milione mingle with fantastic tales of treasure-hoarding beasts. In addition to the substantial amount of anthropic and historical evidences for the coexistence of dinosaurs and man, there are physical evidences, like the fossilized footprints of humans and dinosaurs found together at places in North America and West-Central Asia.

So, are there dinosaurs in the Bible? The matter is far from settled. It depends on how you interpret the available evidences and how you view the world around you. If the Bible is interpreted literally, a young earth interpretation will result, and the idea that dinosaurs and man coexisted can be accepted. If dinosaurs and human beings coexisted, what happened to the dinosaurs? While the Bible does not discuss the issue, dinosaurs likely died out sometime after the flood due to a combination of dramatic environmental shifts and the fact that they were relentlessly hunted to extinction by man.

People in Bible times did not really have last names like we think of last names today. They frequently went by something similar to “Simon, son of Jonah” (Matthew 16:17). The phrase “son of Jonah” identified Simon as a different Simon than all the other Simons by this family connection. This functioned very close to a last name. Today, our last names use the same distinction. John Smith identifies John as a part of the Smith family.

Sometimes a person was identified by his tribe, such as “Aaron, the Levite”(Exodus 4:14), which differentiated that particular Aaron from the Aarons in other tribes. In the same way, Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth to indicate His hometown (Matthew 26:71; John 18:5). Others in biblical times used their occupations as a functional last name, such as “Simon the tanner” (Acts 10:6). “Tanner” wasn’t his last name, but a way to distinguish him from other Simons in the area who had a different occupation. Judas Iscariot’s name was given to him to designate his native place, Carioth, or Kerioth, a small town in the tribe of Judah. Matthew, one of the Twelve and author of the gospel bearing his name, refers to himself as “Matthew the tax-collector” (Matthew 10:3), which reveals not only his occupation, but the astounding fact that even someone as lowly and despised as a tax collector could be chosen by Jesus to become His follower.

We sometimes think the name “Jesus Christ” refers to His first and last names. But it really means “Jesus, who is the Christ / Messiah.” Originally, the title took the form of “Jesus, the Christ,” but it has become common usage to shorten His name to Jesus Christ. This holy name means “Jesus, the Christ who is the Messiah, the anointed one who saves His people from their sins.”