As for the Behemoth, why would God imagine a creature just to compare
himself to it? It wouldn’t make sense to say you are like a borificjamble
a creature, which you made up and is very, very, strong; no one would
relate to the borififjamble and your meaning would be lost. As for
dragons, why couldn’t Satan be literally a serpent? If he is not what type
of creature is he? People can accept angels as literally winged creatures;
how is a dragon any more fantastic? Satan is never given a direct
description in the Bible but is often called a serpent or dragon so why
couldn’t he be one? Also couldn’t a dinosaur which I think is
scientifically proven to have once existed be the behemoth, leviathon or
dragon? Unicorns are mentioned only in the King James Version in: Numbers
23:22, Numbers 24:8, Deyteronomy 33:17, Job 39:9-10, Psalms 29:6, Psalms
92:10, Isaiah 34:7. Also in the King James Version are mentioned Satyrs
which are creatures from Greek myth which are half human half goat they
are mentioned in: Isaiah 13:21 and Isaiah 34:14. If we don’t take the
Bible more literally soon people will be saying that God is used
metaphorically and not to be taken literally: that what is really meant is
some strange force with no face, or that what is really meant is goddess,
that none of Jesus’ miracles are real. Many would say that Satan is not
real and what is meant is the evil inside each of us. In fact all of this
watered down deceiving anti Christian propaganda is already believed and
even spread in some of the new age Bible translations which are actually
tricks of Satan to deceive well meaning people into paganism and
eventually eternal Damnation and Hell. Maybe it’s time to take the Bible
seriously and stop fooling around trying to explain it away until it’s no
longer there.

You ask a number of questions and make a couple of interesting points. Let
me deal with them more or less in order.

First, it is not clear that Behemoth and Leviathan were created by God,
through Job, to make a point. Quite possibly Behemoth was a well-known
mythical figure of the day, similar to the dragon in Chinese tradition.
God may be using a well-known mythical figure as a symbol of the most
powerful imaginable creature in order to explain to Job how incredibly
powerful he is. To use a very rough analogy, it might might be like
someone today saying that God is more powerful than superman.

Could Behemoth, or for that matter could Leviathan be some sort of
dinosaur? I suppose one could not absolutely rule that out, but it is
worth bearing in mind that dinosaurs went extinct about sixty-five million
years before Job was born. Would you propose that God resurrected a
long-extinct species to provide an example in Job? Besides, there is no
known dinosaur which would fit the description in Job of either Behemoth
or Leviathan.

Could Satan literally be a serpent? The Bible describes Satan as a fallen
angel (2 Cor 11:14). Satan is a spiritual being (Ephesians 6:12). He may
very well be able to take on a physical form, as even Jesus did. In fact,
he may even be able to take the form of a snake, but Satan is not a
physical being according to the Bible. By the way, people may be able to
accept angels as winged creatures, but only in very rare instances does
the Bible describe angels as having wings.

The King James Version may mention unicorns and satyrs, but that only
reveals one of the weaknesses of the KJV. The original Hebrew does not
mention unicorns or satyrs, which is why modern translations do not
include these words.

You make a strong statement that people need to take the Bible literally
and that those who refuse to take such things as the resurrection of Jesus
or the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea as anything more than a symbol
or a myth are enemies of true Christianity. I could not agree more.
However it is worth bearing in mind that there clearly are passages in the
Bible which are intended to be taken figuratively. For example the Bible
describes God hiding us in his wings, or looking at us with his eyes. Does
anyone believe these should be taken literally? The secret is to take
those passages which are clearly intended to be taken figuratively as
figures, and those passages clearly intended to be taken literally in
their literal sense. For example, the Bible clearly intends us to take the
resurrection of Jesus to be a factual event. Jesus was not speaking
symbolically when he said that he would return to bring judgment to the
earth.

So I would agree that those who attempt to make the miracles of Jesus into
mere metaphors are way off. Many take literal passages figuratively.
However, perhaps equally wrong is to interpret clearly figurative passages
literally. For example, many attempt to read the symbolic language in
Revelation in a far too literal sense. God clearly uses symbol and
metaphor. It should not be a huge surprise if in the highly poetical style
of Job, God uses Behemoth and Leviathan as symbols.

In summary, yes we should take the Bible seriously, but that does not
necessarily mean we take every passage literally. Let the context speak
for itself.

John Oakes, PhD