“Are there dinosaurs in the Bible?”

This question comes because students (and adults) hear in church that God created animals and man at the same time (on the 6th day of creation). But in some science classes and elsewhere outside of church they hear that animals like dinosaurs roamed the earth - and became extinct - millions of years before humans evolved from monkeys. So, which is right? They can’t both be.

If God created human beings at the same time as he created the animals, we would expect that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. And if that’s the case, we might expect the Bible to mention dinosaurs, since they are such imposing creatures.

First off, if you grab a concordance (a huge book that lists all the words that occur in the Bible - and where they occur), you won’t find the word “dinosaur” in it. There’s a good reason: the last books of the Bible were written almost 2000 years ago. The word “dinosaur” was not coined until about 150 years ago when the first bones were discovered.

But if we look at a couple of chapters at the end of the book of Job, we learn about two creatures that sound a lot like the animals we now call “dinosaurs.”

"Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword.

(Did you notice God’s comment “which I made along with you” NOT “which I made millions of years before you evolved”)

Sounds an awful lot like God could be describing a brachiosaurus.

The NIV text note that says behemoth is likely an elephant or rhino is laughable. Those animals have tails like willow wisps, not like a cedar tree. (Remember the text is from God, the text notes were written in by the NIV editors)

Go on from there and read in Job chapter 41 about a creature God named “leviathan.” Here are just a couple of lines from that description:
[14] “Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? [15] His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;”

There’s no doubt that God’s description of leviathan could be a easily be a description of one of the fiercer dinosaurs - a “t-rex” perhaps.

So, my answer would be “Yes, there are dinosaurs in the Bible” (and I didn’t even mention the “dragons” the Bible talks about).

But the real question is “What does it matter?”

Quite simply, if dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible as living at the same time humans lived, then the evolution theory that says dinosaurs became extinct millions of years before humans evolved is just plain wrong. And if evolution is just plain wrong, then we don’t have to feel like fools when we say we don’t believe in it.

I’d like to invite you to Sunday morning Bible Study in November where we’ll see that it isn’t just the Bible that shows dinosaurs lived at the same time as people. (And other evidences that the theory of evolution is a dangerous lie).

Thanks for asking,
Pastor Dave

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