Are there hidden dragons in Scripture? What do these mythical animals symbolize? Could they simply be an extinct animal like a dinosaur?
Dragons are, by far, the most mentioned mythical animal in the Bible! They are found 35 times in the King James, with 22 occurrences in the Old Testament and 13 in the New. The second most recorded of such unique beasts are unicorns which are listed nine times.
The books that contain the most references to this mythical beast are Revelation (13 times) followed by both Isaiah and Jeremiah (6) and then the Psalms (4). Seventeen times the KJV Old Testament derives "dragon" from the Hebrew word tanniyn (Strong's Concordance #H8577).
Their wine is the poison of dragons (tanniyn), and the cruel venom of asps. (Deuteronomy 32:33, KJV throughout).
I am a brother to dragons (tanniyn), and a companion to owls. (Job 30:29).
Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons (tanniyn), and all deeps . . . (Psalm 148:7).
Three times the word for this creature comes from the Hebrew tan (Strong's #H8565) which references an elongated monster or sea serpent. It can also refer to a dragon, whale or possibly an extinct dinosaur called the plesiosaurus. Interestingly, the only other time this Hebrew word is used it is translated as "sea monsters" in Lamentations.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons (tan), and a court for owls. (Isaiah 34:13).
Even the sea monsters (tan) draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. (Lamentations 4:3).
The remaining two Old Testament occurrences of this mythical animal comes from tannah (Strong's #H8568)
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons (tannah), and mourning as the owls. (Micah 1:8).
New Testament Dragons
All 13 New Testament occurrences of "dragon" appear in the book of Revelation. They are all derived from the Greek drakon (Strong's #G1404) which references a fabulous or great kind of serpent, a dragon, or Satan the devil (Thayer's Greek Definitions).
Characteristics
These creatures can be colored red and make a mournful cry like wailing.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (Revelation 12:3).
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. (Micah 1:8).
They can snuff up air, swallow their prey whole and be quite poisonous.
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass. (Jeremiah 14:6).
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out. (Jeremiah 51:34).
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. (Deuteronomy 32:33).
The animals possess solitary habits (Job 30:29) and can live in either deserted cities, dry places, in water, in the wilderness, or anywhere that is desolate.
And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. (Jeremiah 9:11).
The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. (Isaiah 43:20).
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. (Psalm 74:13).
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. (Malachi 1:3).
Symbolism in the Bible
Dragons can be symbolic of Egypt's Pharaoh.
Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. (Exodus 29:3).
Perhaps the most well-known symbolism of these beasts is of evil in general and Satan the devil in particular. Such symbolism runs entirely through the book of Revelation.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him . . .
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years . . . (Revelation 12:9, 20:2, see also 12:7, 13, 16 - 17, 13:2, 4, 11 and 16:13).
What Was It?
Biblical commentaries offer a wide variety of ideas regarding the KJV references to the mythical dragon. While some commentaries merely consign such references to mythical (imaginary) beasts, many others state they refer to jackals, hyenas, sea monsters, great fishes, whales, crocodiles or serpents (depending on the context).
Concerning what the Bible is referencing when it mentions dragons, the book "The Biblical Basis for Modern Science" offers an intriguing solution.
"The dragons of the Bible could well be the dinosaurs of paleontology. It is significant that not only in the Bible but also in the ancient records and traditions of most of the nations of the world, tales of dragons abound. Such a universal phenomenon must have a universal explanation, and the best explanation is that all the ancient nations actually had had experiences with dinosaurs.
"A detailed study of the different dragon "traditions" has pointed out that there were evidently many different kinds of dragons and that these more or less corresponded to the different known kinds of dinosaurs.
"Unfortunately, because of the reluctance of modern translators to commit the Scriptures to teaching the existence of something they regard as purely mythical, modern versions commonly translate tannim (tanniyn) by "jackals" or "serpents" or "sea monsters," depending on the context in each passage. But how can the same Hebrew word carry such a wide, even contradictory, diversity of meanings? . . .
"As a matter of fact, if one will simply translate tannim (tanniyn) by "dinosaurs," every one of the more than 25 uses of the word becomes perfectly clear and appropriate. The fossil record reveals both terrestrial and marine dinosaurs, small and large dinosaurs, dinosaurs of many different characters living in different environments with one or another of them fitting well into each context where tannim (tanniyn) is used." (chapter 12).
Hidden Dragons?
There is an amazing hidden fact in Moses and Aaron's first confrontation with Egypt's Pharaoh.
Moses' rod had the ability to become a serpent (Hebrew nachash, Strong's #H5175) in his hand (Exodus 4:3, 7:15). Aaron's rod, however, and that of the Egyptian magicians, had the ability to do something else.
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent (Hebrew tanniyn). (Exodus 7:10).
The word "serpent" in Exodus 7:10 is derived from tanniyn, the same word from which we get "dragons" elsewhere in the Old Testament. Aaron's rod presumably was able to miraculously turn into a small dragon in order to challenge Pharoah's evil powers!
Other Fascinating Facts
The 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica states the following about this mythical beast.
"He (dragons) is a power of evil, guardian of hoards, the greedy withholder of good things from men; and the slaying of a dragon is the crowning achievement of heroes - of Siegmund, of Beowulf, of Sigurd, of Arthur, of Tristram - even of Lancelot, the beau ideal of medieval chivalry.
"Nor were these dragons anything but very real terrors, even in the imaginations of the learned, until comparatively modern times." (article on dragons).
These mythical creatures are, of course, mentioned in the King James Bible's Old Testament. There are, however, other Old Testament translations that record them as well. These include the Holy Bible a Faithful Version, The Living Bible, New American Standard, Young's Literal Translation, Today's English Version and at least eight other translations!
Incredibly, the first use of the Hebrew word tanniyn is in the book of Genesis, where God re-creates the heavens and the earth. Before the Eternal created both land-based animals and man on the sixth day (Genesis 1:26 - 27) he made on the fifth day animals that lived in water or which could fly. Some of these created were massive in size.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind . . . (Genesis 1:21).
The word translated as "whales" in the above verse is tanniyn. A more accurate translation of Genesis 1:21 might be "And God created great dragons (dinosaurs) . . ."
The writer of Psalm 148 amazingly calls on dragons to praise God!
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens . . . Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps . . . (Psalm 148:4, 7).