Bible animals

by J. G. Wood

There is nothing in any of these passages which would give any clue as to the creature that was signified by the word tannin, but we obtain a clue to it in Ezek. xxix. 2-5: "Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:

"Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

"But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and T will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

"And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field, and to the fowls of the heaven."

See also xxxii. 2, 3: "Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale [tannin] in the seas; and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

"Thus saith the Lord God, I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net."

There is a peculiar significance in the comparison of Pharaoh to the Crocodile. It is the master and terror of the Nile, of whom all animals stand in fear. It is ravenous, crafty, fierce, and relentless, keen-eyed to espy prey, and swift to devour it. Yet, in spite of all these evil qualities, the Egyptians venerated it, pampered it, hung it with costly jewels, and paid divine honours to it, exactly as they considered their despotic sovereign as a demigod during his life, and honoured him with an apotheosis after his death.

Like the Crocodile, secure in his scaly armour, Pharaoh thought himself invincible, but, though man could not conquer him, God could do so. Man could not "put a hook into his nose, or bore his jaws through with a thorn" (Job xli. 2); but the Lord could "put hooks in his jaws, and bring him up out of the midst of his rivers, and give him for meat to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven."

Taking also the Tannin of Exod. vii. to be the Crocodile, we see how appropriate were all the circumstances. The miracle was performed in the presence of Pharaoh, who is afterwards spoken of under the emblem of the "dragon (tannin) that lieth in the midst of the river." The rod of the future high priest of the Lord was changed into the Crocodile, which was worshipped by the Egyptian priests and magicians; and when they imitated the miracle, Aaron's rod swallowed up those of the heathen in token that the Lord would destroy idolatry.

It is worthy of mention here that, although in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures, the rods of both Moses and Aaron are mentioned as having been changed into serpents, the words which are translated as serpents are different. The rod of Aaron, the priest, was turned into a Tannin, i.e. Crocodile; that of Moses, the lawgiver, into a Nachash or serpent.