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QA - 587

June 11th, 2011 | posted by TASC
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Question: 

The Bible never mentioned dinosaurs but we keep finding their bones. What happened to them?

Answer: 

The word "dinosaur" did not exist at the time of the King James version of the Bible (1611) - dinosaurs had not been discovered by modern science. So, in that translation at least, you won't find the word.

However, the Bible DOES make mention of large animals - behemoth and leviathan are two major ones, both mentioned in the book of Job. Behemoth has a tail like a cedar tree! Some have suggested this animal might be a hippopotamus, but does the tail of a hippo remind you of a cedar tree? On the other hand, tails of many dinosaurs are relatively thick.

Several possibilities exist as to what became of dinosaurs. Lots of species have become extinct, such as the dodo bird. We in fact often hear of the concern that modern species may become extinct. So, the fact that dinosaurs disappeared is not so unusual.

One possibility is that they became extinct due to climate changes after the flood. There may have been other changes, such as changes in their food supply, after Noah's flood. Some flood models include major geologic changes at the time of the flood. The recent formation of a canyon following Mt. St. Helens' eruption points out that geologic formations that were once thought to form only over long periods of time, in actuality may form very quickly. So, there could have been drastic changes to the habitat of these animals, which led to their extinction.

On 3:55am, July 20th, 2011 TASC said:

Re: QA - 587

The quick answer to the last part of the question is, the Flood of Genesis 7 and 8 happened to them. But actually, the Bible does seem to mention dinosaurs although it calls them by different names.
 
The term “dinosaur” was not coined until the first dinosaur fossils were found in the 18th century long after the Bible was first translated into English in the 16th/17th centuries. Job 40 describes an animal called “Behemoth” as having strength in his loins and power in the muscles of his belly. Behemoth’s tail is said to resemble a cedar (the trunk of mature cedar trees found locally can be one or two feet in diameter – and possibly more) and its bones are likened to tubes of bronze or bars of iron. It is implied that this animal was impossible to capture which speaks to great size and power, unlike the hippopotamus or crocodile that are mentioned in most Bible notes as candidates for “behemoth.” I rather suspect that if the Bible translators had known of the term “dinosaur” they would have used it instead of “Behemoth”, “Leviathon” (which seems to describe a marine dinosaur such as a Plesiosaur), or “dragon” (Isaiah 51:9 and others).
 
The fact that unique animals such as “Behemoth” and “Leviathon” and “Dragons” were described in the Bible after Genesis would support the idea that at least some of them survived the Flood on the ark, since God brought either 2 or 7 of each “kind” (not “species” which is a term invented to be used in the contrived classification system) to Noah to be preserved. To save space requirements it would not have been necessary for adult specimens of the larger dinosaur “kinds” (sauropods comprising many species would possibly represent one “kind” of dinosaur, raptors another, etc.) to have been brought onboard the ark even though it was a very large craft about 450 feet long – and that’s only if the short cubit equal to about 18 inches was used!
 
Drawings and crude clay statues that pre-date the modern discovery of dinosaur fossils have been found that appear to be dinosaurs of various types. The grave of Bishop Bell (who died on the 1500s) in England shows a clear likeness of a sauropod dinosaur among many other modern animal images. The temple at Angkor has a clear representation of a stegosaurus carved into a stone wall. Many American Indian tribes have legends of “thunderbirds” that seem to describe flying reptiles such as pterosaurs. This type of data shows that the Bible is trustworthy to faithfully preserve actual historical facts as God inspired its human writers to record His very Word for us.