Creationists believe that there are dinosaurs found in the Bible. In a way, they are right. Passages, such as Isaiah 40:31 for example, do give references to dinosaurs such as eagles, sparrows, owls, ravens, and doves. But in another way they are wrong. If you ask them are there dinosaurs in the Bible, they will tell you "yes" and point out a passage in Job 40 which, to them, gives out a detailed description of a alleged sauropod dinosaur known at that time as 'Behemoth'. The word 'Behemoth' literally means "beast" or "dumb beast" and the passage does describe a large massive beast that "..eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron (Job 40:15-18 KJV)." Here, click on this Biblegateway link to read the whole Behemoth passage.
This passage is what creationists claimed to be one of the evidences of human beings encountering live non-avian dinosaurs. The evidence is entirely invalid because that doesn't explain how come there are no remains of humans found in and around dinosaur remains in the fossil record. Whether YECs like it or not, the Behemoth passages does not describe a dinosaur.
In my opinion, The 1950's B-movie The Giant Behemoth may have prompted the creationists to conclude that the monster in Job 40 is exactly what the dinosaur is regarded as after they saw the movie. Which seems evident to conclude that YECs got all their evidences for their heresy from mythology, folklore, cryptozoology, and other science fiction paraphernalia!
Why Behemoth Is Not A Dinosaur
No matter how many times they insist he's a dinosaur, Behemoth is not at all a dinosaur. Here is the factual reason why.
According to the passage, Behemoth is said to eat grass like an ox. Sauropods on the other hand can only browse among the treetops like a giraffe. Unlike cows, they completely lack chewing teeth. They're unable to chew their food because their jaws can only move up and down like the jaws of a crocodile, not in a circular pattern like the jaws of a cow. They had to swallow stones, instead. These stones called gastroliths travel down the necks and into the gizzard area. There, the stones help to grind their food by mashing plant matter into a digestible pulp with the help of special muscles found inside of the gizzards.
Believe it or not there were grass growing at the time of the dinosaurs. Once thought to first appeared around 40 million years ago, grass is now known to appear in the late Cretaceous period at the very end of the dinosaur age. Grass must have evolved as method of defense against the marauding chewing jaws of dinosaurs like Homalocephale and Edmontosaurus simply by having the ability to grow fast and have very tough fibers that made things difficult for an animals to digest it without having an adequate digestive system like what cows and horses have. Thus, dinosaurs, at that time, took advantage of this new food source and begin eating it just like what a Titanosaur had done 65 million years ago, then took a dump and left a pile on the ground that eventually became a coprolite fossil unearthed recently by scientists who were caught off guard when they first look at the fossil up close and saw remnants of grass blades found inside of it. The fossil dung is dated back between 70 and 65 million years ago and the grass inside of it was eaten by hadrosaurs and titanosaurids who took advantage of this new rapid growing food source. This perhaps explains why do Hadrosaurs and Titanosaurs have broad mouths. Although, it is now known that there were grass growing at the time of the dinosaurs as depicted in Rudolph Zallinger's classic paintings, this does not serve as a justification of Behemoth being a sauropod dinosaur due to the dinosaur's lack of chewing teeth.
Movements, Not Size
Behemoth, in the passage, is said to have strength in his hips and powerful muscles in his belly. However, the next verse becomes an unwitting victim of deliberate verse mining. What do I mean on that? It means the creationists have misquoted the verse on purpose.
The verse in full context says,
"He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together."
But creationists took that verse and distorted it to make the verse erroneously say,
"His tail is like a cedar: the sinew of his stones are wrapped together."
In their false reasoning as illustrated in many of their literature including Duane Gish's book Dinosaurs by Design, it means the tail of Behemoth were as big and thick as a large cedar tree in comparison to the small tails of the hippo and the elephant. Thus, confirming the notion of Behemoth being a sauropod dinosaur because unlike the tail of an elephant and the hippo, sauropod dinosaurs has huge, long, thick, chunky tails that can easily be compared to a cedar tree.
Even Allan K. Steel, on this page from Ken Ham's idiot site make claims of this falsehood by giving out what he claims to be technical explanations of what he claims Behemoth was by giving out a whole list of the same verse he misquote in purpose coming from different versions of the English Bible and concludes that the tail of Behemoth is a lot like a cedar tree. Thus, Behemoth, according to Steel, is indeed a dinosaur because its tail is exactly like a cedar tree.
This is flat out false. The verse in full context does not say "His tail is like a cedar." The verse actually says, "He moveth his tail like a cedar.." which means there is absolutely nothing in the verse that says anything about the size of the tail. Instead, it only has everything to do with the tail's movements. Nothing else.
Tail Equals Phallus
Even if the verse has to do with the tail's size, it is still wrong to assert that Behemoth was a dinosaur. For, believe it or not, the 'tail' in the verse, when interpreted correctly, has nothing to do with cedar trees or animal tails, but has tons to do with the beast's sexual pleasures! When you look at a much fuller context version of the passage you will find that the 'tail' in the passage is used as a euphemism for "phallus." The "wheenie" part of the penis— a male sex organ!
Let's look at Job 40:16-17 again,
Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail [phallus] like a cedar: the sinews [muscles] of his stones [testicles] are wrapped together.
Now compare that with other version of the 2 verses accurately translated by Stephen Mitchell, a professional translator who wrote and published a highly accurate translation of The Book of Job in 1992,
"Look: the power in his thighs, the pulsing sinews of his belly. His penis stiffens like a pine; his testicles bulge with vigor."
Don't you think these 2 passages tell us that Behemoth was in heat and with great intention, desire, and determination wishes to mate with any female of his kind he chooses? It sure does look like it! This can mean one thing. These 2 verses, all the way, does not describe the dinosaur's bendable whiplash tail. Instead, the verses clearly refers to the sexual behavior of Behemoth, who was a huge powerful mammal, with his penis stiffened like a tall tree while mating with a female of his own kind. Besides, dinosaurs, being avian and reptile like, don't have navels (belly buttons), nor do they have penises outside their bodies.
The Danger Side to Behemoth
Moving to the rest of the passage, we find that the animal is being the "chief of the ways of God," ranking first in God's creation (creationists would quote the "chief of the ways of God" verse out of context on purpose to make it as if it does refer to the giant, larger-than-life dinosaur much bigger than elephants and giraffes, while the verse in fact doesn't refer to such an animal.), has huge, strong bones, and is extremely dangerous when provoked. Anyone, approaching the creature, must arm himself with raw firepower; any weapon needed to kill this vicious monstrosity, including a sword. The hippopotamus is such a creature, a highly dangerous animal that have been said to kill humans more than any other dangerous animal in Africa. It can also snap a crocodile in two with just one bite of its massive jaws filled with strong, sharp ivory teeth. Its hide can resist bullets with the exception for the head which the hunters aim their rifles at in order for them to shoot down their intended target without causing it to attack.
Indications of an Amphibious Animal
The rest of the passage also talks about mountains bringing the creature food as well as seeing him hiding among the lotus plants and lounging among the willow plants while keeping himself cool and being brave when water rages around him. When thirsty, he drinks a lot of water including the waters of the Jordan River in Israel. This animal has real tough skin that can easily resist traps and can never be tamed, just as the last verse of passage indicates.
The rest of the passage refers to Behemoth being a large amphibious mammal. On the other hand, contrary to popular belief embraced by people in the early to mid 1900s, sauropods would not enjoy being stuck, bogged down, and up to their armpits in mud, mire, and water all the time and, in other cases, be drowned in their own tissue while standing in deep water.
What People Used To Think Sauropods Were and What Sauropods Are Really
Sauropods were once thought to be amphibious dinosaurs that spend nearly all of their lives in the water as depicted in a famous painting of Apatosaurus standing and feeding in the swamp created by Charles R. Knight a little over a century ago. People back then didn't think the sauropods were capable of walking on land because of their massive weight. So, they envisioned the sauropods as huge swamp bound giants that spend nearly all of their lives in the water to lighten up their weight, eat water plants because of their weak teeth, stand completely underwater due to their nostrils located on top of their heads, and be safe from meat-eating dinosaurs that cannot swim. But In the 1970s, scientists began to learn that sauropods were not at all what people think they were.
Careful studies made in 1970s reveal that sauropods were able to live quite comfortably on land, eating dry plants due to the teeth being worn from raking in plants with their peg and/or spoon shaped teeth depending on species of sauropod. They were able to carry their weight just fine with the help of their strong, yet hollow bones that reduces their weight and made it easy for the sauropods to walk on dry land. Unlike the hippo's feet, the toes on the feet of sauropods are not splayed, but compact together. They have elephantine back legs and nearly toeless semi-circular front legs (hands). Both supported by soft, squishy pads that gave the feet lots of support while walking on dry land. It would be useless to have them stand in a damp, muddy area for their compact feet, not suitable for walking on soft muddy terrain, and their massive weight, would sink the sauropods and helplessly bog them down. While the hippo body is round and barrel-like, sauropod bodies were narrow and compact like elephants, also useless for swamp-like living. It is now known that sauropods have fleshy noses in front of their faces, not at the top of their heads as previously thought. If a sauropod stands in deep water, the weight of the water would crushed their lungs to the point where sauropods can easily suffocate and drown in their own tissue. And finally, in St George, Utah, have there is a special site that featured well preserve foottracks belonging to a meat-eating dinosaur that can swim even in deep water. Thus, debunking the old fashioned myth about aquaphobic carnosaurs unable to get at their dinner because their dinner is way out of reach in deep water.
Hippo, Not Dinosaur
For a long time, the passage is said to have described the hippopotamus, truly a wild animal that "eateth grass like an ox," can never be tamed, and makes his home in the swamps, lakes, and rivers of Africa. They were once common in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, but were not seen anymore in that area due to them being hunted down for their ivory teeth, meat, and hide by humans.
Steel claims that the Egyptian word reference for the hippo, pehemou or pehemout which means ox of the water doesn't exist. He is right. But Steel is completely ignorant of the actual Egyptian word for the hippo which is db or deb. And this animal <em>db</em>, a mammal also known as the hippopotamus, clearly fits the description of Behemoth far better than any other animal it seems. Thus debunking the well known creationist claim about Behemoth being a sauropod dinosaur Job saw and God described in the Bible. To know more about this well known African animal of the swamps, check out the Hippo page from Wikipedia.
But I've got news for you all. Behemoth is neither a dinosaur, hippo, nor an elephant Job saw in the Bible. The real truth about Behemoth is the fact that this monster God has described to Job in the Bible is none other than a monstrous, supernatural bull ox of Jewish folklore!
The Real Behemoth and Leviathan
Both Behemoth and Leviathan are really in fact monsters of Jewish folklore. Behemoth or Behemot is a mammalian monster in form of a bull ox, a male cow. Leviathan is a fish monster in form of a coiling, serpentine eel-like fish that serves as one of the gatekeepers of Hell, with eyes and scales that glow and illuminate from many miles around. Both Behemoth and Leviathan are also 2 parts of the Triune Beasts of Jewish Folklore. The Bull monster Behemoth lives in a mountain range made up of the Yabul Stream flowing from Eden or Paradise and a thousand hills that provided him with plenty of grass to feed on as reference to the midrash supplement to Psalm 50:10. Leviathan makes his home in the Mediterranean, where when he gets hungry, he churns up the waters with his hot, fiery breath to make them boil. And the bird monster Ziz makes his home in the sky where the spreading of his wingspan is known to block the sun. Ziz resembles the mythical griffin, while Leviathan resembles the serpentine fish, and Behemoth resembles a raging bull ox. According to midrash recording traditions supplement to Genesis 1:21 and 1:24, God created 2 Leviathans, male and female and one Ziz on the 5th day of Creation Week. The next day, God created 2 Behemoths, both male and female. But realizing these 2 monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan, could produce offspring that would destroy the whole world, God killed off the females and place the males into 2 different locations each, where they will remain until the End Times come and both Behemoth and Leviathan would rise up from their places and battle one another to the death, with Behemoth interlocking Leviathan with his horns while Leviathan flails back with his fins until God intervenes and kill both monsters along with Ziz and use their remains and their meat to provide His people in the New Heaven and New Earth with luxurious meals, jewelry, tent skins and wall coverings to decorate Jerusalem's protective wall.
Behemoth is known as the King of all mammals and the Chief of the Ways of God while Leviathan is the King of all fish as well as King of all the children of pride and Ziz is the King of all birds in the air. Unlike all of today's animals, all three of these supernatural animals are the only animals man cannot control. They can only be controlled and killed off by the One who created them in the first place — God.
These 3 supernatural beasts can never be dinosaurs left over from Noah's Flood. For unlike dinosaurs, these 3 monsters are all supernatural beings. None of them resemble dinosaurs in every way, nor can they be controlled and killed off by man. And neither can they explain why are there no dinosaur remains found alongside human remains anywhere on earth even if they are what creationists falsely claim they were.
