H.—TANNIN AND BHEMAH.
The following synopsis of the instances of the occurrence of the words tannin and tan will serve to show the propriety of the meaning, "great reptiles," assigned in the text to the former, as well as to illustrate the utility in such cases of "comparing Scripture with Scripture:"
| 1. TANNIN. | |
| Exod. vii., 9.—Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent. | Probably a serpent, though perhaps a crocodile. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Deut. xxxii., 33.—Their vine is the poison of dragons. | Probably a species of serpent. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Job vii., 12.—Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me. | Michaelis and others think, probably correctly, that the Nile and the crocodile, both objects of vigilance to the Egyptians, are intended. (Septuagint, "[Greek:drakôn].") |
| Psa. lxxiv., 14.—Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. | Evidently refers to the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, under emblem of the crocodile. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Psa. xci., 13.—The young lion and the dragon thou shalt trample under foot. | The association shows that a powerful carnivorous animal is meant. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Psa. cxlviii., 7.—Praise the Lord, ye dragons and all deeps. | Evidently an aquatic creature. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Isa. xxvii., 1.—He shall slay the dragon in the midst of the sea [river]. | A large predaceous aquatic animal (the crocodile), used here as an emblem of Egypt. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Isa. li., 9.—Hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon. | Same as above. |
| Jer. li., 34.—[Nebuchadnezzar] hath swallowed me up as a dragon. | A large predaceous animal. (Septuagint, [Greek: "drakôn.">[) |
| Ezek. xxix., 3.—Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the rivers. | In the Hebrew tanim appears by mistake for tannin. This is clearly the crocodile of the Nile.Verses 4 and 5 show that it is a large aquatic animal with scales. (Septuagint, [Greek: "drakôn.">[) |
| 2. TAN. | |
| Psa. xliv., 19.—Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons. | Some understand this of shipwreck; but, more probably, the place of dragons is the desert. (Septuagint, [Greek: "kakôsis.">[) |
| Isa. xxxiv., 13.—[Bozrah in Idumea] shall be a habitation of dragons and a court of owls [or ostriches]. | An animal inhabiting ruins, and associated with the ostrich. (Septuagint, [Greek: "seirên.">[) |
| Isa. xliii., 20.—The wild beasts shall honor me, the dragons and the ostriches, because I give water in the wilderness. | Evidently an animal of the dry deserts. (Septuagint, [Greek: "seirên.">[) |
| Isa. xiii., 22.—Dragons in their pleasant palaces. | Represented as inhabiting the ruins of Babylon, and associated with wild beasts of the desert. (Septuagint, [Greek: "xchinos.">[) |
| Isa. xxxv., 7.—And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons,where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. | An animal making its lair or nest in dry, parched places. (Septuagint, [Greek: "hornis.">[) |
| Job xxx., 29.—I am a brother of dragons and a companion of ostriches. | The association indicates an animal of the desert, and the context that its cry is mournful.(Septuagint, [Greek: "seirên.">[) |
| Jer. ix., 11; x., 22.—I will make Jerusalem heaps, a den of dragons. | Same as above. See also Jeremiah xlix., 33; li., 37; and Mal. i., 3, where the word is in thefemale form (tanoth). (Septuagint, [Greek: "drakôn">[ and [Greek: "strouthos.">[) |
| Lam. iv., 3.—Even the sea-monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones.The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. | In the Hebrew text the word is tannin, evidently an error for tanim.The suckling of young, and association of ostriches, agree with this. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
| Micah i., 8.—I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning like the owls [ostriches]. | The wailing cry accords with the view of Gesenius that the jackal is meant. (Septuagint, "[Greek: drakôn].") |
We learn from the above comparative view that the tannin is an aquatic animal of large size, and predaceous, clothed with scales, and a fit emblem of the monarchies of Egypt and Assyria. In two places it is possible that some species of serpent is denoted by it. We must suppose, therefore, that in Genesis i. it denotes large crocodilian and perhaps serpentiform reptiles. The tan is evidently a small mammal of the desert.
I omitted to notice in the text a criticism of my explanation of the word bhemah in "Archaia," made in Archdeacon Pratt's "Scripture and Science not at Variance" (edition of 1872). He opposes to the meaning of "herbivorous animals" which I have sought to establish, two exceptional passages. In one of these, Deut. xxviii., 26, the word is used in its most general sense for all beasts, which the context shows can not be its meaning in Gen. i. In the other, Prov. xxx., 30, he says it is applied to the lion. The actual expression used, however, merely implies that the lion is "mighty among bhemah," the comparison being probably between the strength of the lion and that of oxen, antelopes, and other strong and active creatures. It does not affirm that the lion is one of the bhemah. While I have every respect for the erudition of Archdeacon Pratt, and highly value his book, I must regard this objection as an example of a style of biblical exposition much to be deprecated, though too often employed.