Well, the title is just to get some attention…it’s a photo of a piece of graffiti about dinosaurs. It is on a tree in a car park near my local Uniting Church premises. I’ve walked past it for years without noticing until now.
If you’ve trouble reading it, it says: “Why aren’t dinosaurs in the Bible?”
Answer 1: The word ‘dinosaur’ was invented in the 19th century, so the word couldn’t be in writings composed prior to that date.
Answer 2: Given that the word was not used prior to the 19th century, we could look at descriptions of animals in the Bible.
For some commentators, the descriptions of leviathan and behemoth in Job are consistent with what we know of some dinosaurs from their fossils.
Job 40:15 describes an animal that is sometimes thought to be an elephant, but the description of the tail eliminates that possibility.
Job 41:1 describes a more unusual animal, sometimes thought to be a large crocodile, but that doesn’t fit, with description including: ‘outer armour’, ‘double mail’, ‘strong scales’, ‘out of his nostrils smoke goes forth’.
It is the inconclusiveness of these descriptions that lends verisimilitude, in my view. If a writer was trying to invent a creature, they would be more likely to give a thorough description to ensure their readers understood them. But here, because Job is referring to creatures that are known to his readers, his description can be effective in abbreviated form, simply brining to mind the aspects of the creatures he is interested in.
Similarly today, if we were talking of an elephant, we might only mention its trunk, or thick legs, or big torso, or little tail, not giving a comprehensive description, and we would all know what we were talking about. But to someone who had never encountered the animal it would not be adequate to give a mental impression of the animal’s appearance.
