Which mythical animals does God directly name? What were their interactions with humans? What, if anything, did they symbolize? Could these beasts be extinct creatures such as dinosaurs or marine reptiles?
Mythical Creatures
There are at least seven mythical animals mentioned by name in the King James. They are dragons (35 times), unicorns (9), leviathan (5), cockatrices (4), satyrs (2), the behemoth (1) and, hinted at once, the Phoenix bird (firebird).
The Bible's testimony about these rather strange animals runs from the earliest Old Testament writing (Job) to the last one created in the New Testament (Revelation). The book of Job was penned in the 1660's B.C. while Revelation was completed between 95 and 96 A.D. This comprises an amazing time span of more than 1,750 years!
Eleven Biblical writings discuss these fantastical animals. Those with the most "mythical" references are Isaiah (14 times), Revelation (13), the Psalms (9), the book of Jeremiah (7) and Job (6).
Translation Difficulties
How did the names of mythical beasts end up being placed within the King James Bible translation?
In 1604, King James I of England commissioned forty-seven scholars with the monumental task of translating ancient manuscripts written primarily in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into English. One of their major obstacles was that Hebrew (used in writing in the Old Testament) was a notoriously hard language to learn and understand.
Accurately translating Hebrew's unique words and phrases, especially those referencing plants and animals, into their equivalence in English, proved especially tough. The translators did the best they could and after seven years of work produced the KJV translation.
Although largely succesfull in their efforts, scholars still debate how accurate the King James translators translated certain sections, including those that list the names of seemingly imaginary (mythical) creatures.
Myths in the Bible?
A few commentaries argue that some verses refer to strictly mythical creatures. Still others, like the IVP Background Commentary of the Old Testament, state that certain animals exist only in the spiritual realm. In their commentary on Job 41:1 the IVP states the following.
"Biblically, Leviathan would therefore most easily fit into the category of "supernatural" creature (like cherubim) as opposed to natural or purely mythological."
Many study tools state that most of the believed mythical creatures discussed in this series did exist but that the KJV translators made an error when they tried to match Hebrew words and phrases to an equivalent in English. Most modern translations of God's word attempt to correct these errors.
Were They Real?
Evidence suggests that the mythical beasts referred to in Scripture are not the stuff of legend and tall tales but rather were quite real. In his pivotal book "The Biblical Basis for Modern Science," Henry Morris dismisses the practice of some to either consider such creatures imaginary or attempting to link them to currently living animals.
"Although fossils as such are not mentioned in the Bible, it does contain references to various animals that do not appear to exist in the modern world. The best known of these are the dragon and the unicorn, but other such exotic animals as the behemoth, the leviathan, the satyr, the ibis, and the cockatrice also are mentioned.
"Most liberal commentaries have interpreted these as simply legendary animals, while conservative commentators have tried to identify them as picturesquely describing living animals . . .
"In several cases, however, the specific biblical descriptions of these strange animals do not correspond at all to those living animals with which they have been associated." (Chapter 12, section "Dragons and Unicorns").
It is highly likely that some of the seeming mythical animals found in the Bible actually existed just as they are described.
"The biblical writers mention at least 160 different specific animals by name, and always the descriptions seem quite accurate, except for these few equivocal animals. The latter are apparently also intended by the writers as real animals, as real as the many others they describe accurately.
"Thus, it is more reasonable to regard these animals, in most cases at least, merely as extinct animals, known to the patriarchs as living animals but later known only by their ancient reputations." (ibid.).
Mythical Variety
Two Biblical books, Job and Isaiah, are noteworthy in that they both possess the most variety of mythical animals covered in this series. Each one lists five of these seven distinct creatures hidden within the pages of the Bible.
Thirteen verses in Isaiah write about unicorns (Isaiah 34:7), cockatrices (11:8, 14:29, 59:5), leviathans (27:1), satyrs (13:21, 34:14) and dragons (13:22, 27:1, 34:13, 35:7, 43:20, 51:9). Six verses in Job discuss mythical beasts such as dragons (Job 30:29), the behemoth (40:15), the leviathan (41:1), unicorns (39:9 - 10), and possibly the phoenix bird (29:18).