ARE THERE MYTHICAL CREATURES IN THE BIBLE?

 

                                            Peaceable Kingdom (2013, collage)

An article on the American Humanist Association website mentions why this should be a problem with those who trust the Bible: “The Bible has verses mentioning dragons (Jeremiah 51:34), unicorns (Isaiah 34:7), and cockatrices (Isaiah 11:8). These passages led many naturalists in the Middle Ages to think such mythical creatures actually existed.” But is there any proof to this accusation?

The first thing to point out is that all three of these verses appear in poetic contexts and therefore it may may not be appropriate to interpret them literally. This is especially true with the Jeremiah passage.

Also, it is common knowledge among Bible scholars that the hardest Hebrew words to adequately translate are technical terms for plants, minerals, and animals. Often the best we can do is to guess at the intended meaning, especially if there are no similar words in other Near Eastern cultures of the time as a guide. And, as you will see below, the translators of the King James and earlier versions (the only translations quoted in the AHA article) may not have done the best job of guessing.

Version                         Jeremiah 51:34                 Isaiah 34:7                                Isaiah 11:8

KJV                              dragons                              unicorns                                    cockatrices

NIV                              serpent                               wild oxen                                  viper

TEV                              monster                             wild oxen                                  poisonous snake

RSV                              monster                             wild oxen                                   adder

NRSV                           monster                             wild oxen                                   adder

NEB                             dragon                                wild oxen                                   viper

JB                                 dragon                               wild oxen                                    viper

AB                                monster                             wild oxen                                    viper

The Message                 ---                                     wild animals                                serpent

Living Bible                 great monster                     ---                                                adder

So right off the bat, I think that we are safe to say that, at least in the Isaiah passages, if anyone involved with the Bible is at all to blame for misleading the naturalists of the Middle Ages, it is not Isaiah, but his poor translators up to that time. And it may not even be their fault, as I will show a bit later.

Jeremiah 51:34

“Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has rinsed me out.” (RSV)

This case is a little different from the other two in that even today's scholars, who certainly do not believe in monsters or dragons, continue (with the exception of NIV) to translate the word as some sort of mythical beast. Here is how scholars approach this figurative verse:

Wiseman: “The picture is of a serpent (Heb. tannin, used of a large river or sea creature like the crocodile) which swallowed God's people (cf. Rev. 12:4) but is now itself destroyed and forced to disgorge its prey, as the fish did Jonah.”

“This generic term [tannin] refers to great sea creatures in Gen 1:21 and Ps 148:7. In Exod 7 and Ps 91:13 it refers to a kind of serpent that must be much smaller and may be similar to an adder (cf. also Deut 32:33). These texts contain no mythological connotation...This noun is also used symbolically for the power of the enemy/evil (Isa 51:9 and Jer 51:34)...” (M.J. Paul)

Stallman similarly adds: “The word tannin for Is. 34:7 designates a range of creatures, from those in the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7), to land snakes (Exod 7:9,10,12; Deut 32:33; Ps 91:13), to a mythological sea monster (Job 7:12) that signifies the kings of enemy nations (Jer 51:34; Ezek 29:3; 32:2) and appears in parallel with Leviathan (Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1) and Rahab (Isa 51:9).”

Rogers states that “Nebuchadnezzar is compared to a huge sea serpent (tannin) that had swallowed God's people, filled its stomach.., and then spewed them out.”

“The biblical prophets employ a range of naturalistic metaphors to denote the cosmic nature of the struggle between Yahweh, Israel and their mutual enemies. Imagery of watery chaos is part of that repertoire...The prophets Jeremiah and Habakkuk utilize motifs of chaos to describe the threat of the Babylonians. In Jeremiah 51:34 Nebuchadnezzar is cast as the 'dragon' (Heb. tannin) that swallows up Judah.” (Heiser)

“This lament uses the image of an empty jar (cf. 14.3). The absence of water of course spells death. And, perhaps to us incongruously, this is set alongside the image of the dragon who has swallowed Israel up and spewed her out...As so often with passages that are rich in imagery, difficulties with the Hebrew increase...a monster, i.e. dragon, in Isa. 27.1; Job 3:7, 7.12; named Leviathan (cf. Pss. 74.13; 104.26). This is no doubt an allusion to the near eastern creation myth which involved a combat in which the dragon was killed and the earth created. He represented the power of darkness and constituted a perpetual threat of reversion to chaos (cf. the engulfing sea in v. 43).” (D.R. Jones)

Bright says, “Nebuchadrezzar is compared with a gluttonous man devouring Jerusalem and setting her aside as one does an empty vessel whose contents have been quaffed. In a more vigorous figure still, Nebuchadrezzar is compared to a monster gulping down bread, filling its belly with food that delights it and then vomiting it up.”

Note some of the terms describing the type of comparison found in v. 34: “imagery,” “image,” “picture,” “symbolically,” “metaphor,” “figurative,” “motifs,” and “myth.” In this sort of poetic, non-literal language one should certainly not expect that there will be a naturalistic truth behind it. After all, does the humanistic author of this “problem” actually think that the author of Jeremiah believed there was a monstrous person or creature so large so as to be able to literally swallow a whole nation of people? Obviously this is the equivalent of some of us scientifically-minded, superior human beings today saying, “I am so hungry I could eat a horse” or “I have a monstrous appetite.” Of course we don't mean it literally or expect others to receive it in that manner.

Isaiah 34:7

“Wild oxen shall come down and buffaloes with them, bull and bison together, and the land shall drink deep of blood and the soil be sated with fat.” (NEB)

The solution to the so-called problem in the case of the two Isaiah passages mentioned above is somewhat different from that in Jeremiah since both can be easily resolved by realizing that the KJV and some earlier translations were in error when they rendered the Hebrew into English.

Blenkinsopp admits that the meaning of the key Hebrew word here (re'emin) “is not completely certain. Job 39:9 indicates that it is a wild animal, while Deut. 33:17 and Ps. 22:21 and 92:10 indicate it is horned.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica weighs in this subject: “The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned animal was by the historian Ctasias (c. 400 BCE)...Certain passages of the Bible refer to a strong and splendid horned animal called re'em. This word was translated 'unicorn' or 'rhinoceros' in many versions of the Bible, but many modern translations prefer 'wild ox' (aurochs), which is the correct meaning of the Hebrew re'em.”

As to the import of this verse, Wolf says, “The 'wild oxen' or 'great bulls' (v. 7) could symbolize the leaders of the land.” And Wakely states that “Kissane, who shares with others the view that the animals mentioned in vv. 6-7 stand for rulers and their nations, thinks it probable that the lambs, goats, and rams in v. represent the common people of Edom while the wild oxen, young steers, and mighty bulls in v. 7 represent the nation's leaders.”

Isaiah 11:8

“The infant shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the young child dance over the viper's nest.” (NEB)

The second snake mentioned here poses another translation problem. Some scholars (such as Tuell, Carew and Price) simply feel that since it is obviously placed in a parallel position to the cobra, the Hebrew word is just an alternative way of saying the same thing. And Easton's Bible Dictionary says, “It is generally supposed to denote the cerestes or 'horned viper,' a very poisonous serpent about a foot long.”

But one thing is clear from the context – the animal is dangerous, and probably a reptile of some sort. That doesn't exactly pin down the actual species, however, since Stallman explains, “Palestine today is home to over thirty species of snakes; only six are poisonous. These species are presumed in nearly all biblical references to snakes...”

With all of those real snakes to chose from, where did the early English translators come up with the mythical cockatrice as a rendering? By the way, the Encyclopaedia Brittanica defines it as follows: “Cockatrice, in the legends of Hellenistic and Roman times, a small serpent, possibly the Egyptian cobra, known as a basilikos and credited with powers of destroying all animal and vegetable life by its mere look or breath.” And Wikipedia (that nearly infallible reference source) states, “The first use of the word in English was in John Wyclif's 1382 translation of the Bible [from whence the KJV picked it up]...The twelfth century legend was based on a reference in Pliny's Natural History.”

As far as the meaning attached to this verse, here are the opinions of several commentators:

Domeris says that 'the picture of God's new age, found in Isa 11, is of an infant playing near the hole of a cobra (v. 8)...”

Hamilton states that “the Shoot from Jesse...will be able, without receiving a fatal bite, to 'put his hand into (or reach his hand over) the viper's nest.”

Oswalt: “The security of the child playing over the asp's hole is a different kind of security altogether than this world can offer (11:8).”

“Frequently associated with the messianic age, savage or dangerous undomesticated animals are pictured together with helpless domesticated animals that, in a post-fall world often represented the prey of wild animals...The hole of the cobra and viper will no longer be dangerous to a playing child (Is. 11:8).” (Klingbeil) See the above illustration.

Conclusion

By this time you may have picked up on the fact that when it comes to mythological creatures such as the cockatrice and the unicorn, it was not all the Bible which held back the progress of science for years. In fact, the opposite is true. It was reliance on testimony by the ancient pagan naturalists which caused the early translators of the Bible to be misled in their rendering of these words.

And these are not the only examples of this happening. Stallman cites similar case: “When sarap appears as a nom., it indicates either seraphs (Isa 6:2,6), the snakes in the wilderness (Num 21:8), or some other kind of snake characterized as meopep (lit. flying; Isa 14:29; 30:6). The understanding of this last type as 'flying serpents' rests on a report by Herodotus, but the biblical description could also indicate a jab or prick, thus NIV 'darting.'”