Were Biblical Behemoths Actually Dinosaurs?
Noah’s Boys in the City of Mother Earth is a
thrilling tale set in the perilous Last Days before Noah’s Flood, a time
remarkably like our own. In some
of their adventures, the heroes of the story encounter giant behemoths, huge
animals that seem identical to dinosaurs.
Could people actually have co-existed with dinosaurs? How else could you
explain the following descriptions?
“Look now at
the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips,
and his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; the
sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God;
only He who made him can bring near His sword. Surely the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts
of the field play there. He lies
under the lotus trees, in a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their
shade; the willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river may rage, yet he is not disturbed; he is
confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth, though he takes it in his
eyes, or one pierces his nose with a snare.” (Job 40:15-24)
The same book describes an even more fearsome creature known
as a Leviathan.
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook? … Can you fill his skin with harpoons,
or his head with fishing spears?
Lay your hand on him: remember the battle—never do it again! Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is
false; shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare
stir him up. … I will not conceal his limbs, his mighty power, or his graceful
proportions. … 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; … His sneezings flash forth light, …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.
Strength dwells in his neck, … When he raises himself up, the mighty are
afraid; … Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; nor does spear, dart,
or javelin. He regards iron as
straw, and bronze as rotten wood. … His undersides are like sharp potsherds; he
spreads pointed marks in the mire.
He makes the deep boil like a pot… On earth there is nothing like him
…He is king over all the children of pride.” (Job 41: 1-34)
The context of these descriptions indicates that Job and his
friends were quite familiar with these fearsome beasts. Some have suggested behemoths were
actually were elephants; but could their tails ever be described as massive
cedars? And the Leviathan was
clearly not any kind of whale, or even giant alligator. Actually, the only kind of creature
they could resemble would be extinct dinosaurs! But that cannot be, evolutionists insist.
Dinosaurs died out following the Mesozoic Era, we are
taught: a period of time further divided into the Triassic Period (245-209
million years ago), the Jurassic Period (208-145 million years ago), and the
Cretaceous Period (145-66 million years ago). And Homo sapiens only evolved approximately 300,000
years ago, they say: millions of years following the extinction of the
dinosaurs. It would have been
impossible for them to co-exist! In
fact, any evidence to the contrary would seriously shake the foundations of
Darwinian evolution, a view dominant in Western universities for more than 150
years.
Yet how do we actually know the age of any fossil? According to evolutionists, the age of certain
fossils, perhaps 200 million years, is estimated by the age of the rocks in
which they are found. And how can
the age of the rocks be known? The
surrounding rocks can be dated in two ways. First, they are dated according to similar rocks estimated
by radioactive methods (which are themselves based on questionable presumptions
of the initial proportion of radioactive isotopes, something only guessed at.)
Second, the rocks are dated by the presumed age of the fossils found in the
rocks. This, however, is circular
reasoning! We are left with no
sure answer of the age of either the rocks or the fossils!
But what if the biblical account were accurate? What if two of each kind of land animal
had actually been saved from the cataclysmic Noah’s Flood, as the Bible says: something
that occurred only thousands, not millions of years ago? If so, is it reasonable to think that
some of these creatures might have survived long enough to be described in 1500
BC? Could some have survived
another 3500 years?
The persistence of reports of modern day dinosaurs is fascinating,
especially in the light that we live in a big world that has still not been
completely explored. Even a casual
online search quickly net recent sightings of possible dinosaurs. Most famous,
of course, is the Loch Ness monster, which most resembles an Elasmosaurus. The Mbielu-Mbielu-Mbielu, a reptilian creature with
prominent back plates, seems much like a stegosaurus, while massive shark-like monsters
appearing like a Megalodon has also been reported. Another creature has been observed in the Congo River basin
that is much larger than an elephant.
Named the Mokole Mbembe, this reported animal has a powerful tail, and
resembles an Apatasaurus. Recently, WikiLeaks revealed a video of
an apparent bird-like dinosaur from the KGB records of the former Soviet Union.1 The netting of the decayed carcass of a huge creature by a Japanese trawler near New Zealand in 1977 has made many believe dinosaurs still exist. Over 32 feet long, and weighing over 4000 pounds, it was
thrown overboard because of its overpowering stench, but most resembled a plesiosaur, something supposed to have been extinct for 200 million years. And this year, the discovery of the best preserved fossilized dinosaur ever (picture from National Geographic) has brought the question again to the forefront.
While it is hard to prove that the Bible’s behemoth or
leviathan were actually the same thing as the dinosaurs (“terrible lizards”), it
seems to me that they could have been! And if so, that would have made those days before the Flood
very exciting! Get a copy of Noah’s Boys in the City of Mother Earth to
read this summer! It is exciting, satisfying,
and thought provoking!
Gregory Horning
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