Does the Bible (Job 40) Describe a Sauropod Dinosaur (Behemoth)?

Many people have asked where do dinosaurs fit into the biblical timeline and what does the Bible say about dinosaurs?

Yes, the Bible does mention dinosaurs even specifically, but before we get there, let's take a quick look at the

big picture.

Evolution holds that dinosaurs evolved 220 million years ago and died about 65 million years ago from any of

a number of possible extinction events.

But the Bible teaches that all land animals including dinosaurs were created on the sixth day of creation.

Just thousands of years ago and they were all named by Adam just before God handed over his completed creation to Adam and Eve.

Charging them to take dominion over his completed creation.

Then about 4 ,400 years ago the entire world was deluged by Noah's Flood and the dinosaurs

along with billions of other creatures were wiped out.

Let's take a quick look at some evidences that show that the biblical account might actually be true first.

Dinosaurs are cleverly designed.

Consider this triceratops.

It's 2 ,000 pound head is mounted in a way that allows it to turn every which way yet still be strong enough to ram something.

Even while running.

What about massive serapods with weight -bearing systems from hip to toe that allow its?

200 ,000 pound body to even walk and neck vertebrae that are 90 filled with air so it can lift up its head

next.

There's the absence of dinosaur ancestors and transitions.

Even the Chicago Field Museum sign admits there have been zero transitions between dinosaur kinds.

It shows question marks regarding where they came from.

It's almost like someone just put each basic kind on earth right at the same time.

There are even dinosaur design features that show they lived in the ideal pre -flood world.

Pterodactyls may have been too heavy to fly in today's atmosphere.

Same with huge pre -flood dragonflies.

The fossil record is filled with giant creatures and plants.

We know this because there are billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.

And when we Look at the dinosaur fossil record.

We see that they were buried furiously rapidly and simultaneously.

Oftentimes found fleeing in groups.

Take this massive bone bed in Hilda, Canada.

Thousands of centrosaurs were catastrophically buried over an entire square mile.

Or this one in China where thousands of different kinds of dinosaurs were Simultaneously buried in a single 980

foot long ravine.

There are hundreds of dinosaur bone beds all over the world including the u .s. Where the Morrison formation covers 13

states and 700 ,000 square miles.

Thousands of torn apart dinosaurs are buried here in hundreds of mass graves with many found in the classic death pose

with their next arch.

Back choking as they died.

Museum signs everywhere even admit they died in a watery Catastrophe.

Some dinosaurs are even found mummified with tree leaves flowers ferns shrubs and algae still in their stomach.

Dinosaurs are even found buried with marine creatures.

Isn't a global flood the best explanation for this?

Scientists have been discovering soft tissue in dinosaur bones.

They describe blood cells blood vessels connective tissue and even collagen which has a maximum shelf life of about 900

,000 years at 40 degrees with a maximum shelf life of less than 1 million years.

What's collagen doing in dinosaur bones that are supposedly 65 million years old.

Many dinosaur bones are even found unfossilized in places like Madagascar Alaska and Montana.

Does this evidence seem to support the Bible's recent and violent flood or Evolution stories, but some would say

if the Bible includes the truth about Earth history it would specifically mention dinosaurs.

Well, the term dinosaur wasn't even invented until 1841 and Bible translations before this time

used the term dragon over 35 times in many contexts describing dinosaur like creatures.

Job chapter 40 describes a majestic creature using the name behemoth.

Which means colossal beast.

In context Job and his philosopher friends just finished over 30 chapters of dialogue.

Trying to explain God and why he would allow such hardships into Job's life.

Then God shows up in a whirlwind.

Tells Job to brace himself like a man and says that he would be the one asking Job the questions for a while.

Then for four chapters straight God asked Job 77 rhetorical questions that all have to do with creation.

After explaining to Job that he is the master designer of space and earth God describes 13 of his created animals

such as an ostrich Horse and deer.

Then caps off the discussion by telling Job about his two grandest creations behemoth and Leviathan.

God calls behemoth the first of all his ways.

Meaning the first in rank the chief the most supreme of his creative works.

In context God is saying to Job sit down brace yourself.

And now I will tell you of the chief of all my works the biggest most amazing land creature I ever made.

When we scan through all land dwelling creatures both living and extinct.

Which one comes up as the first in rank the most colossal or the chief?

Clearly the sauropod dinosaur.

Pairing God's word that behemoth is the grandest creature he ever made with the fact that sauropods are the largest land

creatures We've ever found should give us a clue to behemoth's identity.

Sauropods were huge.

The largest one found to date was over 120 feet long that's 10 freeway lanes across

at a weight of 76 tons.

It's a wonder these creatures could even walk.

In fact dr. Waddell was granted an international award for discovering one of the secrets behind how their mobility

was even possible.

Their bones were pneumatic.

They were charged with air.

Dr. Waddell notes they were marvels of biological engineering and that efficiency of design is especially

evident in their vertebrae the bones that make up the Backbone.

It turns out their vertebrae was increasingly lighter higher up the spinal column and were filled with air.

Some up to 90 %.

When Matt puts sauropod backbones through a CT scanner.

He finds a real surprise.

The x -ray slices from the CT scans revealed not marrow.

But a honeycomb pattern inside the dinosaurs back and neck bones filled only with air.

Matt's work shows that the bigger dinosaurs got the more air they had in their vertebrae.

This is one neck vertebra from super saurus a.

Neck bone like this would have been light enough for one man to lift the same size.

Mammal bone would require a forklift.

Now we found that the biggest of these sauropods the vertebrae were about 90 air so that's comparable

to styrofoam.

So the bigger the dinosaurs got the more air.

Satellite structures running into the bone.

Absolutely.

While this may solve the puzzle of how they could lift and move their massive heads and necks It doesn't solve the challenge of how they could

possibly inhale enough oxygen through their tiny nostrils Which were only about twice the size of those on a living

horse.

Perhaps they thrived better in a world before Noah's flood when the oxygen levels were likely higher.

Their long necks and tails resembled living suspension bridges for this creature to eat breathe and

move.

It's a long neck.

The series of over 12 neck vertebrae had to be interlocking and twistable.

They also had to have anchoring points in just the right places for muscles and ligaments to connect in such a way to prevent

the Neck from pinching veins and nerves and to brace the trachea in esophagus.

God even describes behemoths diet eating grass like an ox.

In 2005 researchers found grass and sauropod coprolites in India and some

Paleobotanists are even saying that this will cause a rewrite in our understanding of dinosaur evolution.

Because evolution holds that grass didn't evolve until millions of years after the dinosaurs had gone extinct

God describes behemoth strength in his hips and power in his stomach muscles.

Again we have a strong clue that behemoth was a sauropod dinosaur because while many animals have strong

hips and stomach muscles None were as strong as the sauropod.

The muscle structure around the hips and stomach that were necessary for sauropods to move walk turn and eat

would be incredible.

In fact for some sauropods like the Diplodocus its highest point of its core body was the hips and

its whole body balanced on the hips front to back.

Diplodocus was able to rear up on its back legs and balance on his tail like a tripod.

Making use of the hips to support not just the back half of its body.

But the front half too.

This required enormous strength in the hip and stomach muscles.

Considering they lifted tons of its own body into the air.

Below the hips was an incredible weight distribution system that went from a massive femur Which in some cases was about

eight feet long to two shin bones then to five toes.

Behemoth's tail also closely matches those of sauropods.

God describes that he moves his tail like a cedar tree and follows this by stating the sinews of his thighs

are tightly knit.

Paleontologists have learned from muscle attachment locations in their bones that the tightly knit structure of behemoth's thighs and

hips Actually made his tail sway from side to side with each step much as a cedar tree does when it sways

in the wind.

Tail drag marks are only rarely found behind sauropod footprints indicating their tails were raised while they

walked.

It's difficult to think of a creature that fits this biblical description better than a sauropod dinosaur.

God describes his bones like beams of bronze.

Most Bible versions translate this phrase as tubes of bronze Conduits of bronze or pipes of brass

which conveys both strength and being hollow like a channel or a tube.

This matches the fact that sauropods had the largest leg bones of any animal and they are in fact Just like tubes of

metal having a hard outer casing and spongy marrow and veins on the inside.

Then God says that its ribs are like bars of iron.

Unlike much of sauropod skeleton that was spongy and filled with air for weight savings its ribs were fully

ossified.

They were made out of solid bone again.

We have a perfect match.

God even describes behemoth's habitat.

He lies under the lotus trees in a covert of reeds and marsh.

The lotus trees cover him with their shade and the willows by the brook surround him.

This was a creature that had to be near lots of green food living in a lush tropical environment.

Large sauropods had to eat half a ton of vegetation every day and they likely had to eat all day long to

consume this amount of food.

Next God says that indeed the river may rage yet He is not disturbed.

He is confident though.

The Jordan gushes into his mouth.

Why would God point out that this animal can stand in a rushing river?

Lots of animals can do this depending on the size of the rushing river.

In this case God said the river may rage yet He is not disturbed in that behemoth is confident.

Even though this raging river should gush into his mouth.

The Jordan River is the largest river in Palestine and it currently flows at only 15 of the rate it flowed in

the past.

Even so in the winter this river would be incredibly difficult to cross and it would take a very sizable animal to

stand Undisturbed in this rushing current and even more let the current gush into its mouth.

Some of the larger sauropods stood over 20 feet at the shoulders and weighed over 70 tons.

Creatures of this size and mass could withstand a raging river better than any others.

Even with all this evidence some say that behemoth was just a mythical creature.

But why would God try to display his awesome creative power by describing something that never existed anyone can do

that.

And why would God say that behemoth was the chief of all his creations after describing 13 real still living

animals in the same passage?

Why go through all the trouble to describe behemoth as a grass -eating animal that lies peacefully in the shadow of the river plants

along with?

His physical description died and habitat all of which happened to fit a known creature a sauropod dinosaur.

Certain Bible footnotes state that behemoth was a hippo or an elephant, but neither comes close to matching all

13 characteristics God used to describe behemoth.

Certainly hippos and elephants aren't the first in rank or chief of God's creations.

Would God tell Job to gird up his loins to behold the chief of his creations just to show off a hippo an

elephant?

These creatures were plentiful.

They also don't have tails that sway like cedar trees and both of these animals have been captured and killed by man

throughout history.

But God says that only behemoth's creator can approach him that he cannot be captured by humans when he is on watch

and that no One can use barbs to pierce his nose.

These impossibilities fit sauropod dinosaurs better than any other animals because of their towering heads and huge

size.

With a head that reached over 40 feet high it could also see people coming from far away.

Its massive tail also makes him unapproachable.

Based on what we know from fossils some sauropods could cover a 200 -foot circle with deadly force using their

tails.

Which could be over 50 feet long and weigh over 13 ,000 pounds.

Recent studies have shown that some sauropods could probably create sonic booms with their tails just like a whip.

It's not by chance that God says to Job that behemoth can only be approached by his creator.

Good luck even getting near this creature to put a snare in its nose.

To this day elephants and hippos are surrounded by hunters and killed but sauropods better fit this passage because

they are simply unapproachable.

God says that he made behemoth along with man like during the same creation week not millions of years

ago.

God made Adam as the last of his creations and gave him dominion over all the animals that had just been created during creation

week.

Not just some of the creatures.

Why else would God tell Job to consider or behold a creature which no human had ever seen?

Just in the last 20 years over 50 articles have been published in scientific journals that have documented 14

Bioorganic materials and dinosaur bones that simply cannot be millions of years old.

These include blood vessels, red blood cells, hemoglobin, bone cells, ovalbumin,

chitin, unmineralized bone, collagen, limited DNA, skin pigments, fex

proteins, histones, keratin and elastin.

Just 20 years ago most scientists simply assumed dinosaur bones were solid mineralized impressions of bones.

But modern science has now revealed that many of the dinosaur bones are original even at the molecular level.

Hello, I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson your host for Nova science now.

For the last decade the African island has offered Ray and Christy Rogers a spectacular

excavation site.

They work in an area of remote grasslands where dinosaur bones literally cover the

ground.

An Ancient graveyard where an unusually large number of dinosaurs died and

were entombed by mud flows That preserve their bones.

The preservation is unbelievable.

The quality of the material is exceptional.

This is the piece of bone from the Madagascar Locality.

It in many regards doesn't even look like fossils.

This is typical of the Madagascar material.

It is not heavily stained.

It's not been invested with iron with manganese.

It doesn't look like a typical fossil.

If you didn't know you might think you're picking up a cow bone today a bleached cow bone.

I was looking at this thing thinking this is really interesting.

It was the inside of the t -rex bone that fascinated Schweitzer.

Who made thin sections out of it and in these cross sections of fossilized bone?

She saw something that she and everyone else had thought was impossible.

Round structures that looked like red blood cells.

Dinosaur blood cells.

Inside those channels where the blood vessels would have run.

Were these little round red structures that were all kind of lined up like a like a train

and they were bright red and Translucent nobody else had seen anything like that before.

The very idea of blood cells in a 70 million year old bone was more than

unconventional.

It was radical.

Nobody was imagining that dinosaurs might have had preserved soft tissues.

Derek Briggs is curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Peabody Museum at Yale

University.

So along comes Mary Schweitzer, and she's starting to look inside dinosaur bones and

Has made this startling discovery about the presence of red blood cells.

What was your initial reaction to that?

Oh, I think the same reaction is everybody's that this was Totally improbable.

She perhaps misinterpreted the evidence or was Exaggerating the potential for what she was saying so

skeptical at first.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Why do you think it didn't occur to anybody?

Because we have this clear understanding that part of all biological cycles involves decay I mean

nature is set up to to break down that material and recycle it.

So it's just improbable that those kinds of very delicate structures would survive particularly for millions of years.

When you think about it the laws of chemistry and biology and everything else that we know say that it should be gone.

It should be degraded complete.

It's not possible.

Do it again?

We got another piece of bone.

We put it in the solution.

We waited two or three or four weeks.

Looked again.

More blood vessels.

We must have repeated that with probably 17 or 18 different fragments of bone.

Several ancient cultures have drawings and carvings of sauropod like creatures.

Look at this one from the Amazon rainforest that shows nine warriors hunting what appears to be a sauropod dinosaur.

It even dates to around the time the Book of Job was likely written.

Amazing pictographs here.

Allegedly over 5 ,000 years old and definitely look at that.

I've seen pictographs all over the world and we have a hunting scene here with a very

large Animal in the center.

Now we have one two three four five six seven eight nine Hunters and you can see this hunter

here is raising his spear getting ready to spear this animal.

Obviously these people saw this animal alive.

They didn't dig up the bones.

They saw it living breathing.

They were hunting this animal.

Well, what is it?

There's a lot of people that aren't sure what it is, but it sure looks like a dinosaur.

It's got the long neck the small head the big body and the large tail.

Some have suggested maybe this is a camel it like a llama.

But llamas don't have big large tails like that many reptiles do but according to the theory of evolution

dinosaurs went extinct at least 65 million years ago.

What in the world were people just over 5 ,000 years ago doing hunting them?

The local secular archaeologist would not tell us what he believed the animal was on film.

Off -camera, he admitted that it was a dinosaur that survived extinction and lived alongside people.

Why did so many different cultures draw and paint the same type of creature as A land -dwelling creature that breathed through

its nose.

Noah was commanded to bring these types of creatures onto the ark as juveniles.

Of course and many likely survived for some centuries after the flood.

When it comes to human history to bridge the gap between four to five thousand years ago and the distant past beyond this

time.

We each have two choices.

Rely on God who was there and told us what happened or trust in carbon -14 dating and other types of

radiometric dating beyond 100 ,000 years.

Choosing between these two histories is no small matter.

You see people won't allow God's Word to shape their daily lives or guide them in their eternal choices if they don't believe

it's historically or scientifically credible.

God's timeless word lays out Earth's initially perfect creation the fall the flood and life afterwards.

The New Testament describes Christ as the only way to be reconciled to God and live with him in eternity.

His timeless word gives us a clear testimony about when he created the world and the creatures that were present in the original

creation.

Plus some of his magnificent creatures that survived after the flood.

Why would God dedicate one of his longest animal descriptions to behemoth calling him the chief?

Could it be to reassure Christians today that his word really is true permanent and dependable and the viewpoint

offered by the world is not.

Are you a Christian student looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation the fossil record dinosaurs?

Download the Genesis apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and

more.