God created the world in 7 days, all the animals etc were created. But nothing mentioned the dinosaurs. How can that be explained?
Answer:
The Scriptures make it clear in Genesis 1:24-26 that all land animals were created on day 6 of creation, on the same day man was. Dinosaurs, as land creatures, were created on the same day as man. Adam followed by Eve were created after these creatures on the same day. Sea dwelling creatures and flying birds were created on day 5. Anatomically, dinosaurs fall under the classification of reptiles.
There are some clues about the existence of dinosaurs in the bible. Key texts include Genesis 1:24-25 and Job 40:15-24. Representative of all kinds of air-breathing land animals were directed by God (Genesis 7:15-16) to enter Noah’s Ark. Those that did not enter the Ark died in the global flood.
Since the King James Bible was first translated three centuries before the word dinosaur was invented. The word dinosaur is not in the bible. However, in the bible, we read about an animal sometimes translated as a dragon or beast. The Hebrew word for this animal translated from the Hebrew is tan, tannin, tannim, tannoth, and appears in the Old Testament close to 30 times. There are passages in the Bible about ‘dragons’ that lived on the land. (Jeremiah 51:24; Malachi 1:3; Genesis 1:21)
Even Strong’s Concordance lists ‘dinosaur’ as one of the meanings of tannin/m.
In Job, we read of an animal called Behemoth.
Job 40:15-19 “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. (KJV)
This was the largest land animal God created and has a tail that is compared to that of a cedar tree (Job 40:17). The tails of elephants and hippopotamus are puny in comparison to a cedar tree, but this would certainly be a fitting description of the sauropod dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus, one of the larger dinosaurs.
For more information on dinosaurs and the bible, the following links and books below are highly recommended.
References:
http://creation.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter19.pdf
Batten, D., Ed. (2006). The Answers Book: Updated and Expanded, Creation Ministries International.
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