Dinosaurs: (Mis)interpreting Genesis: How the Creation Museum Misunderstands the Near Eastern Context of the Bible, by Ben Stanhope

I have recently read the book that has the same title as this post. (I'll call it Stanhope throughout the rest of this post. I'll also call the author Stanhope. I think you can figure out which is meant, if both aren't.)

Amazon allows for reviews. There are many, mostly five stars (out of five), and an occasional four stars of Stanhope. There is one one-star review. The author of that review complains that Stanhope doesn't have a doctorate, whereas Jason Lisle, of Answers in Genesis (AiG) has a doctorate. I looked up Lisle, and, sure enough, he has a doctorate in astronomy. Stanhope does refer to Lisle, a little, but argues strongly against the positions Lisle takes. Lisle has little or no expertise in the subject matter of Stanhope. Stanhope, doctorate or not, seems to have a firm grasp of his subject  matter.

Here's a review by a person with expertise in ancient near eastern languages. It is highly complimentary. 

Stanhope criticizes AiG publications and positions. And his criticism is based on analysis of the manuscripts used to construct the Bible. (As he says, most of these  manuscripts, and other original source materials, have not been available until the last 150 years or so.)

What does Stanhope criticize?

Dinosaurs

First, he demolishes claims, by AiG, that there were dinosaurs alive in Bible times. He does so by examining the texts carefully. Ken Ham, of AiG, claims that Job 41 mentions Leviathan, and that Leviathan was a dinosaur. (See also Job 3, Psalm 74, 104, and Isaiah 27. A similar claim is made for Behemoth, mentioned in Job 40.) Stanhope finds other, better ways to interpret these passages.

Why does AiG insist upon dinosaurs in historical times? Well, I guess they believe they existed. But there is another reason. If, as they claim, the earth is only about 6000 years old, the plausibility of dinosaurs in historical time is much higher than it would be if the earth were very old. Conversely, if dinosaurs were around in historical times, that's evidence for a young earth. And there's another reason. Dinosaurs attract people to the Creation Museum, to AiG literature, and to AiG presentations in churches.

Stanhope analyzes AiG claims that there were unicorns mentioned in the Bible (They are, if you are using the King James version -- Deuteronomy33:17, Job 30:10, Psalm 29:6 and Psalm 92:10.) Stanhope demolishes these claims. He does the same for AiG claims that there are flying reptiles mentioned in the Bible. (Isaiah 30:6, and possibly other places.)

Genesis 1:1 

Stanhope spends several chapters to argue that Genesis 1:1 is usually mistranslated, and should say something like "in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth," with more thoughts to follow, in the same sentence. Stanhope may be right, but I only found one English translation of the Bible that translates Genesis 1:1 like this, and I'd never heard of this translation before.

I found Stanhope to be helpful, perhaps because he supports my view of dinosaurs in the Old Testament, but mostly because he seems to have solid knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.

Thanks for reading. (Edited for clarity on October 4, 2023)

Leviathan

In a previous post, I mused about behemoth, a real, or perhaps imaginary, creature mentioned in the Book of Job.

I now turn to leviathan, which is mentioned in the next chapter of Job, also as part of God's response to Job, which, basically, is that God knows what He is doing, and Job doesn't.

Job 41:1 “Can you draw out Leviathan* with a fish hook,
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope into his nose,
or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will he make many petitions to you,
or will he speak soft words to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you,
that you should take him for a servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird?
Or will you bind him for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him?
Will they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,
or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay your hand on him.
Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain.
Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Everything under the heavens is mine.
12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who shall come within his jaws?
14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror.
15 Strong scales are his pride,
shut up together with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another,
that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined to one another.
They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18 His sneezing flashes out light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches.
Sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,
as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals.
A flame goes out of his mouth.
22 There is strength in his neck.
Terror dances before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together.
They are firm on him.
They can’t be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid.
They retreat before his thrashing.
26 If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;
nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 He counts iron as straw;
and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow can’t make him flee.
Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble.
He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot.
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He makes a path shine after him.
One would think the deep had white hair.
33 On earth there is not his equal,
that is made without fear.
34 He sees everything that is high.
He is king over all the sons of pride.”

*41:1: Leviathan is a name for a crocodile or similar creature. (Quoted, including the note, from the World English Bible, which is public domain. All quotations from the Bible in this post use that version.)

Most Bible scholars suppose that leviathan means crocodile. But not all do:

Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in Job 41:1-34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bomardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon. - taken from the lexicon page on leviathan, from the Blueletter Bible. That same chapter also suggests that the creature may have been a plesiosaurus.

As far as I am aware, there is no credible evidence that dinosaurs and humans lived on earth at the same time. Nor is there evidence that fire-breathing dragons ever existed, either, however much we might wish that they had (or do). As in the previous post on behemoth, my guess is that at least some of the description given in Job is fanciful, like some of the beliefs about animals in medieval bestiaries. (We may have some equally ridiculous beliefs about some creatures now, but don't realize it.) The point of Job 41 is not to give an accurate zoological description, but to point out to Job, and early readers of the story, that God is in charge, even of remarkable creatures. My guess is that Job, and quite a few of his contemporaries, supposed that leviathan was as described, but had never seen such a creature.

Unlike behemoth, leviathan is mentioned more than once in the Bible.

There is a passing mention in Job 3:8.

Here's part of Psalm 74:12 Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation throughout the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your strength.
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.
You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

Again, this seems to be poetic, not referring to actual events, but who knows?

There is another passing reference in Psalm 104:26, and there's also Isaiah 27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea. Again, this doesn't seem to be meant strictly literally. One reason I think so is because the same chapter also talks about Israel budding, blossoming, and producing fruit.

If there really were, or are, dragons, God made them, or allowed them to come into existence. That's really the point of Job 41, I believe.

Thanks for reading.