Dragon

VIEW:43 DATA:01-04-2020

DRAGON.—(1) tannîm (pl.), AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7, Job_30:29, Psa_44:19, Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33. (2) tannôth, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘jackals,’ Mal_1:3. See Jackal. (3) tannîm (sing.), ‘dragon,’ Eze_29:3; Eze_32:2, refers to Egypt, and probably means specially the crocodile (wh. see). (4) tannîn (pl. tannînim), tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in RV [Note: Revised Version.] of Gen_1:21 and Job_7:12 ‘sea monster(s)’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘whale(s)’); Aaron’s rod became a tannîn (Exo_7:9-12, EV [Note: English Version.] serpent [wh. see, §11]). The same term, tannîn, is also applied metaphorically to Pharaoh (Psa_74:13, Isa_51:9; and thus perhaps refers to the crocodile), and to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_51:34). Doubtless many references here and elsewhere are tinged by current mythological tales of ‘dragons,’ such as that preserved in the Assyrian creation-epic of the contest between Marduk and Tiamat. The reference in Rev_12:3 ff. is certainly of this nature.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

Tannin, tan. Tan in Jer_14:6, "dragons" "snuffing up the wind" is translated by Henderson jackals; rather the great boas and python serpents are meant, which raise their body vertically ten or twelve feet high, surveying the neighborhood above the bushes, while with open jaws they drink in the air. They were made types of the deluge and all destructive agencies; hence the dragon temples are placed near water in Asia, Africa, and Britain, e.g. that of Abury in Wiltshire. The ark is often associated with it, as the preserver from the waters. The dragon temples are serpentine in form; dragon standards were used in Egypt and Babylon, and among the widely-scattered Celts.
Apollo's slaying Python is the Greek legend implying the triumph of light over darkness and evil. The tannin are any great monsters, whether of land or sea, trans. Gen_1:21 "great sea monsters." So (Lam_4:3) "even sea monsters (tannin) draw out the breast," alluding to the mammalia which sometimes visit the Mediterranean, or the halichore cow whale of the Red Sea. Large whales do not often frequent the Mediterranean, which was the sea that the Israelites knew; they apply "sea" to the Nile and Euphrates, and so apply "tannin" to the crocodile, their horror in Egypt, as also to the large serpents which they saw in the desert. "The dragon in the sea," which Jehovah shall punish in the day of Israel's deliverance, is Antichrist, the antitype to Babylon on the Euphrates' waters (Isa_27:1).
In Psa_74:13, "Thou brokest the heads of the dragons in the waters," Egypt's princes and Pharaoh are poetically represented hereby, just as crocodiles are the monarchs of the Nile waters. So (Isa_51:9-10) the crocodile is the emblem of Egypt and its king on coins of Augustus struck after the conquest of Egypt. "A habitation of dragons" expresses utter desolation, as venomous snakes abound in ruins of ancient cities (Deu_32:33; Jer_49:33; Isa_34:13). In the New Testament it symbolizes Satan the old serpent (Genesis 3), combining gigantic strength with craft, malignity, and venom (Rev_12:3). The dragon's color, "red," fiery red, implies that he was a murderer from the beginning.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Dragon. The translators of the Authorized Version, apparently following the Vulgate, have rendered by the same word "dragon" the two Hebrew words, tan and tannin, which appear to be quite distinct in meaning.
1. The former, tan, is used, always in the plural, in Job_30:29; Psa_44:19; Isa_34:13; Isa_43:20; Jer_9:11. It is always applied to some creatures inhabiting the desert, and we should conclude from this that it refers rather to some wild beast than to a serpent. The Syriac renders it by a word which, according to Pococke, means a "jackal."
2. The word tannin seems to refer to any great monster, whether of the land or the sea, being indeed more usually applied to some kind of serpent or reptile, but not exclusively restricted to that sense. Exo_7:9-10; Exo_7:12; Deu_32:33; Psa_91:13, In the New Testament, it is found only in the Apocalypse, Rev_12:3-4; Rev_12:7; Rev_12:9; Rev_12:16-17, etc., as applied metaphorically to "the old serpent, called the devil, and Satan."
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

This word is frequently to be met with in our English translation of the Bible. It answers generally to the Hebrew תן , תנין , תנים ; and these words are variously rendered dragons, serpents, sea- monsters, and whales. The Rev. James Hurdis, in a dissertation relative to this subject, observes, that the word translated “whales,” in Gen_1:21, occurs twenty-seven times in Scripture; and he attempts, with much ingenuity, to prove that it every where signifies the crocodile. That it sometimes has this meaning, he thinks is clear from Eze_29:3 : “Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers.” For, to what could a king of Egypt be more properly compared than the crocodile? The same argument he draws from Isa_51:9 : “Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, [Egypt,] and wounded the dragon?” Among the ancients the crocodile was the symbol of Egypt, and appears so on Roman coins. Some however have thought the hippopotamus intended; others, one of the larger species of serpents.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

drag?un (תּנּין, tannı̄n, plural תּנּים, tannı̄m, תּנּות, tannōth; δράκων, drákōn):
Ṭannı̄n and the plural tannı̄nı̄m occur 14 times, and in English Versions of the Bible are variously rendered ?dragon,? ?whale,? ?serpent? or ?sea-monster?; but Lam_4:3, the King James Version ?sea-monster,? the King James Version margin?sea calves,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?jackals.? Ṭannı̄m occurs 12 times, and is rendered ?dragons,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?jackals,? except in Eze_29:3, where the King James Version has ?dragon? (the American Standard Revised Version ?monster?), and in Eze_32:2, where the King James Version has ?whale? and the English Revised Version and the King James Version margin?dragon? (the American Standard Revised Version ?monster?). Ṭannōth occurs once, in Mal_1:3, where it is rendered ?dragons,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?jackals.? Drakōn occurs 12 times in Rev 12; 13; 16; and 20, where it is uniformly rendered ?dragon.? (Compare Arabic tinnı̄n, the constellation, Draco.) Ṭannōth Septuagint δώματα, dṓmata, ?dwellings?) is a feminine plural form as if from tannāh, but it suits the context to give it the same meaning as tannı̄m̌.
In Exo_7:9, Exo_7:10, Exo_7:12, tannı̄n is used of the serpents which were produced from Aaron's rod and the rods of the Egyptian magicians, whereas in Exo_4:3 and Exo_7:15, for the serpent produced from Aaron's rod, we find nāḥāsh, the ordinary word for serpent. In two passages we find ?whale,? the Revised Version (British and American) ?sea-monster?; Gen_1:21 : ?And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth?; Job_7:12 : ?Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou settest a watch over me?? Other passages (the English Revised Version and the King James Version) are Deu_32:33 : ?Their wine is the poison of dragons (the American Standard Revised Version ?serpents?), and the cruel venom of asps?; Neh_2:13 : ?And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the dragon's (the American Standard Revised Version ?jackal's?) well? (the King James Version ?dragon well?); Psa_91:13 : ?Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the serpent (the King James Version ?dragon?) shalt thou trample under foot?; Psa_148:7 : ?Praise Yahweh from the earth, ye sea-monsters (the King James Version ?dragons?), and all deeps?; Jer_51:34 : ?Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me,... like a monster? (the King James Version ?dragon?). Here also two tannı̄m passages; Eze_29:3 : ?Thus saith the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster (the King James Version ?dragon?) that lieth in the midst of his rivers, that hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself?; and Eze_32:2 : ?Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou wast likened unto a young lion of the nations: yet art thou as a monster (the English Revised Version ?dragon,? the King James Version ?whale?) in the seas; and thou didst break forth with thy rivers and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.?
The foregoing passages offer no especial difficulties in the interpretation of the word tannı̄ň. All may fairly be understood to refer to a serpent or sea-monster or some imaginary creature, without invoking any ancient myths for their elucidation. The same may be said of the passages in Revelation. A dragon is taken as the personification of Satan, as of Pharaoh in the passages in Ezekiel. It is of course true that ancient myths may more or less distantly underlie some of these dragon and serpent references, and such myths may be demonstrated to throw additional light in certain cases, but at least the passages in question are intelligible without recourse to the myths. This however is not equally true of all the tannı̄n passages. In Psa_74:12 we read: ?Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters (the King James Version ?dragons?) in the waters.? Compare Isa_27:1; Isa_51:9 f.
The three passages just cited seem to denote each some particular act, and are referred by Canon Cheyne (Encyclopedia Biblica, under the word ?Dragon?) to the old Babylonian myth of the conflict of Marduk and Tı̄amat in the Assyrian creation-legend (Thus Gunkel, etc.). Indeed he refers to that myth not only these passages, but also Jer 5:34; Eze_29:3-6; Eze_32:2-8 and Job_7:12, which have been cited above. In translating the last two passages, Canon Cheyne uses the definite article, ?the dragon,? instead of ?a? as in the Revised Version (British and American), which makes a great difference in the meaning. In Psa_87:4, it is clear that Rahab is a country, i.e. Egypt. Isa_30:7 is to the same point. In Isa_51:9, Isa_51:10, ?that didst cut Rahab in pieces? and ?that didst pierce the monster? (the King James Version ?dragon?), are two co?rdinate expressions of one idea, which is apparently the defeat of the Egyptians, as appears in the reference to the passage of the Red Sea. In Isa_27:1, ?leviathan the swift serpent? and ?leviathan the crooked serpent? and ?the monster (the King James Version and the English Revised Version ?dragon?) that is in the sea? have been identified with Babylon, Persia and Egypt (Encyclopedia Biblica, under the word ?Dragon,? 4). It is more probable that the first two expressions are co?rdinate, and amount to ?leviathan the swift and crooked serpent,? and that the verse may therefore refer to Babylonia and Egypt. Psa_74:12-15 is more in line with the idea of the article in EB, but it is nevertheless susceptible of an explanation similar to that of the other two passages.
Ṭannı̄m, ?dragons? (the Revised Version (British and American) ?jackals?) occurs in Job_30:29; Psa_44:19; Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7; Isa_43:20; Jer_9:11; Jer_10:22; Jer_14:6; Jer_49:33; Jer_51:37; tannōth, ?dragons? (the Revised Version (British and American) ?jackals?) is found in Mal_1:3. In all these passages, ?jackal? suits the context better than ?dragon,? ?sea-monster? or ?serpent.? An exception to the rendering of ?dragon? or ?serpent? or ?sea-monster? for tannı̄n is found in Lam_4:3 : ?Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones.? the King James Version has ?seamonster,? the King James Version margin?sea calves.? A mammal is indicated, and the Revised Version (British and American) apparently assumes that tannı̄n is an error for tannı̄m̌. Two other exceptions are in Eze_29:3 and Eze_32:2, where English Versions of the Bible renders tannı̄m by ?dragon,? since in these two passages ?jackal? obviously will not suit. See JACKAL.
On the constellational dragons or snakes, see ASTRONOMY, II, 1-5.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Dragon occurs principally in the plural form (Job_30:29; Psa_44:19-20; Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7; Jer_9:11; Jer_14:6; Jer_49:33; and Mic_1:8). These texts, in general, present pictures of ruined cities and of desolation in the wilderness. Where dragons are associated with birds of the desert, they clearly indicate serpents of various species, both small and large, as already noticed in the article Adder. In Jer_14:6, where wild asses snuffing up the wind are compared to dragons, the image will appear in its full strength, if we understand by dragons, great boas and python-serpents, such as are figured in the Pr?nestine mosaics. They were common in ancient times, and are still far from rare in the tropics of both continents. Several of the species grow to an enormous size, and, during their periods of activity, are in the habit of raising a considerable portion of their length into a vertical position, like pillars, 10 or 12 feet high, in order to survey the vicinity above the surrounding bushes, while with open jaws they drink in a quantity of the current air. The same character exists in smaller serpents; but it is not obvious, unless when, threatening to strike, they stand on end nearly three-fourths of their length. Most, if not all, of these species are mute, or can utter only a hissing sound; and although the mallipambu, the great rock-snake of Southern Asia, is said to wail in the night, we have never witnessed such a phenomenon, nor heard it asserted that any other boa, python, or erpeton had a real voice; but they hiss, and, like crocodiles, may utter sounds somewhat akin to howling.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Deu_32:33 (a) The counsel of wicked leaders and teachers is compared to the poison of cruel animals.

Job_30:29 (a) Job compares his companions to evil, ugly, horrible animals who brought only dismay to his heart.

Psa_44:19 (a) The writer compares his spiritual condition with the dark, dank place inhabited by wild animals.

Psa_74:13 (b) These dragons probably refer to the enemies of Israel whom they met on the way to the promised land. The "waters" represent peoples, nations and tongues, all of whom GOD subdued before His people who were marching to Canaan.

Psa_91:13 (a) Here is a type of the public enemies of Israel who were openly and outwardly enemies of GOD and of His people. The adder represents hidden dangers and seductive sins that do not operate openly.

Psa_148:7 (a) It is quite evident that GOD will make all the great nations of the earth (the dragons). to bow the knee, to acknowledge the Lord, and to yield to His power.

Isa_13:22 (a) This is probably a type of the powers, such as Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, who invade Jerusalem and take up their dwelling places in the palaces of the GOD's city. (See also Isa_34:13; Jer_9:11; Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33; Jer_51:37; Mal_1:3).

Isa_35:7 (a) These are the great leaders of foreign countries who have been taking their places in the palaces of Jerusalem, but now are cast out, and the blessing of GOD has taken their place.

Rev_12:3 (a) This is a picture of Satan, in his cruelty, wickedness and evil actions. He is the enemy of Israel, of the Church, and of CHRIST.

Rev_13:2 (a) This reveals the antichrist who exercises tremendous power over the people of the world, and he receives this power from the Devil. He is like a leopard because of his swift and cruel actions. He is like a bear because of his subtlety. He is like a lion because of his tremendous strength.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Dragon
(from the Greek δράκων, as in the Apocrypha and Revelation frequently), an imaginary serpent of antiquity, especially in mythology, supposed to be supplied with feet and often with wings, stands in our version usually as a translation of two Hebrews words of different signification, but common derivation — tan, תִּן, and tannian, תִּנַּין(according to Gesenius, from תָּנִן, to extend, with reference to the great length of one or both of them). The similarity of the forms of the words may easily account for this confusion, especially as the masculine plural of the former, tannin, actually assumes (in Lam_4:3) the form tannin, and, on the other hand, tannim is evidently written for the singular tannin in Eze_29:3; Eze_32:2. But the words appear to be quite distinct in meaning; and the distinction is generally, though not universally, preserved by the Sept. Bochart, however, proposes (Hieroz. 2:429) to read uniformly tannin as the plur. of tan, and thus merge both terms into one. SEE WHALE.
1. The former (always "dragon" except Eze_32:2 "whale") is used, always in the plural, in Job_30:29; Isa_34:13; Isa_43:20 (Sept. σειρῆνες); in Isa_13:22 (ἐχῖνοι); in Jer_10:22; Jer_49:33 (στρουθοί); in Psa_44:19 (τόπῳ κακώοντες); and in Jer_9:11; Jer_14:6; Jer_2:37; Mic_1:8 (δράκοντες). The feminine plural תִּנּוֹת, tannoth', is found in Mal_1:3; a passage altogether differently translated by the Sept. It is always applied to some creatures inhabiting the desert, and connected generally with the words יִעֲנָה("ostrich") and אַי("jackal"?). We should conclude from this that it refers rather to some wild beast than to a serpent, and this conclusion is rendered almost certain by the comparison of the tannim in Jer_14:6, to the wild asses snuffing the wind, and the reference to their "wailing" in Mic_1:8, and perhaps in Job_30:29. The Syriac renders it by a word which, according to Pococke, means a "jackal" (a beast whose peculiarly mournful howl in the desert is well known), and it seems most probable that this or some cognate species is to be understood whenever the word tan occurs. This interpretation, however, although favored by the grammatical forms, is supported by little more than conjecture as to the identification with the jackal, or wild dog of the desert, which the Arabs call awi, plur. awin (corresponding to the Hebrew אַיִּים אַי, '"wild beasts of the islands," Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Jeremiah 1, 39, i.e., jackals), so called from their howling, although they call the wolf by the name taynan, which is somewhat like תִּנַּין. SEE JACKAL.
2. The word tannin', תִּנַּין(plur. תִּנַּינַים), is always rendered by δράκων in the Sept. except in Gen_1:21, where we find κῆτος. It generally occurs in the plural, and is rendered "whale" in Gen_1:21; Job_7:12; "serpent" in Exo_7:9-12; "sea-monster" in Lath. 4:3. It seems to refer to any great monster, whether of the land or the sea, being indeed more usually applied to some kind of serpent or reptile, but not exclusively restricted to that sense. When referring to the sea it is used as a parallel to לַוְיָתָן("leviathan"), as in Isa_27:1; and indeed this latter word is rendered in the Sept. by δράκων, in Psa_74:14; Psa_104:26; Job_40:20; Isa_27:1; and by μἐγα κῆτος in Job_3:8. When we examine special passages we find the word used in Gen_1:21, of the great sea-monsters, the representatives of the inhabitants of the deep. The same sense is given to it in Psa_74:13 (where it is again connected with "leviathan"), Psa_148:7, and probably in Job_7:12 (Vulg. cetus). On the other hand, in Exo_7:9-10; Exo_7:12; Deu_32:33; Psa_91:13, it refers to land-serpents of a powerful and deadly kind. It is also applied metaphorically to Pharaoh or to Egypt (Isa_51:9; Eze_29:3; Eze_32:2; perhaps Psa_74:13), and in that case, especially as feet are attributed to it, it most probably refers to the crocodile as the well-known emblem of Egypt. When, however, it is used of the king of Babylon, as in Jer_51:34, the same propriety would lead us to suppose that some great serpent, such as might inhabit the sandy plains of Babylonia, is intended. SEE LEVIATHAN.
3. In the New Test. dragon (δράκων) is only found in the Apocalypse (Rev_12:3-4; Rev_12:7; Rev_12:9; Rev_12:16-17, etc.), as applied metaphorically to "the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan," the description of the "dragon" being dictated by the symbolical meaning of the image rather than by any reference to any actually existing creature. Of similar personification, either of an evil spirit or of the powers of material Nature as distinct from God, we have traces in the extensive prevalence of dragon-worship, and existence of dragon temples of peculiar serpentine form, the use of dragonstandards both in the East, especially in Egypt, and in the West, more particularly among the Celtic tribes. The most remarkable of all, perhaps, is found in the Greek legend of Apollo as the slayer of the Python, and the supplanter of the serpent-worship by a higher wisdom. The reason, at least of the scriptural symbol, is to be sought not only in the union of gigantic power with craft and malignity, of which the serpent is the natural emblem, but in the record of the serpent's agency in the temptation (Genesis 3). For the ancient allusions to these fabulous or monstrous animals, see Smith's Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Draco. A well-known story of one of these occurs in the mediaeval legend of "St. George (q.v.) and the Dragon," and a still earlier one is named below. SEE MONSTER.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

FACEBOOK

Participe de nossa rede facebook.com/osreformadoresdasaude

Novidades, e respostas das perguntas de nossos colaboradores