Dinosaurs in the Bible
One of the more fascinating questions about the Bible involves Dinosaurs. Specifically, why aren’t they mentioned, and what is their relation to the Bible. Fortunately, the Bible does talk about dinosaurs, but not in the way you think!
Dinosaur was a term coined in the 1841 or so. It means ‘terrible lizard’, in response to the large bones found by paleontologists. So why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs? Because the word ‘Dinosaur’ was invented way after the Bible was canonized.
But wait, weren’t all land animals created on Day 6? Wouldn’t this include dinosaurs too? Yes it does! Dinosaurs were created on the same day as all other land animals. So what gives? Where are they in the Bible? Wherever the word ‘tanniyn’ is found in the Bible. The most closely related word in english for what that means is the word Dinosaur. So where can you see the word in use? Try Malachi 1:3, Jeremiah 14:6 and Isaiah 27:1 in King James Version (they are translated as dragons). For a good look at dinosaurs in the Bible go to Job 40 and 41 where God describes two creatures: The leviathan and the behemoth. God calls them his most impressive creations and describes them with incredible power — just as we think of dinosaurs today.
Dinosaurs are another massive topic that I am sure I will be visiting again in the near future. The fact is that dinosaurs coexisted with man, and the Bible mentions them plenty of times. It is the evolutionary thinking pervading the Bible that has made translators try and erase mention of dinosaurs from the Bible (as you can tell if you looked at those verses in anything but the King James Version).