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Transcript 093B — What Type of Animal Was Leviathan? [Job 41]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening. I want to thank you for this program. It's the first time I've ever called, but I appreciate listening to it.
We have a neighbor that's very concerned because the Bible never speaks anything about prehistoric animals. And I mentioned this to a fellow I work with, and he said he was listening one time when you gave a scripture describing the skin, etc., of dinosaurs. And I was just wondering if you would mind taking a few minutes to give me some of those verses.
HC: Yes. There is a passage in the Bible that describes a very fearsome beast which cannot be a beast that lives on the earth today. And that is described in Job 41, the whole chapter of Job 41. As it's described, it reminds you of the dragons that you read about in mythology. Now those myths, of course, are myths, but they still have their roots in some kind of truth way back when. And we find, of course, the fossilized bones of very huge animals that once roamed the earth.
Now when the Flood came, 7000 years ago, the world was destroyed, and all of these prehistoric (the word prehistoric really means those that lived before the invention of writing, before any written history could be recorded) animals, that lived before the Flood, would have been destroyed, although Noah was commanded to put 2 of every kind into the ark. So you can be sure that there were a couple of baby dinosaurs and a couple of baby this and baby that on the ark.
But the weather conditions were much colder after the Flood. The fact that the ice covered a large part of some of the continents was because of the Flood. And so the worldwide temperature was much lower. And so the environment was not conducive to large scale development of these large animals again.
But it seems that as long as 3000 years after the Flood, when Job was written, because the Book of Job was written around 1800 BC, whereas the Flood occurred in 4990 BC, there could have still been living some of these large animals, that had survived the Flood by coming into the Ark, and who again multiplied to some degree.
And so you have this vivid description of an animal in Job 41. It says, for example, in verse 7: "Can you fill a skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? Lay hands on him. Think of the battle. You will not do it again."
Or in verse 10: "No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he that can stand before Me?" And then verse 12: "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs or his mighty strength or his goodly frame. Who can strip off his outer garments? Who can penetrate his double coat of mail? Who can open the doors of his face, round about his teeth, his terror? His back is made of rows of shield shut up closely, as with a seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another. They clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn."
And then it goes on in verse 23: "The folds of his flesh cleave together, firmly cast upon him, and immovable, as hard as the stone, hard as the nether millstone. When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid at the crashing. They are beside themselves. Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart or the javelin. He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. For him sling stones are turned to stubble. Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rattle of javelins. His underparts are like sharp potsherds. He spreads himself like a threshing sledge on mire. He makes the deep boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a shining wake. One would think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. He beholds everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride."
Now this is actually a figure of Satan himself. From the context we would gather that. But nevertheless it is a literal animal that seems to have been living in that day.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.