Fantastic Beasts of the Bible and Where to Find Them

The Bible is full of wonders. Miracles, divine beings, and strange happenings abound. But did you know that the Bible is also full of fantastic creatures?

Divine beings covered in eyes and wheels, sea monsters, giants, supernatural heroes, dragons and unicorns are all mentioned in the Bible—it’s as exciting a text as any comic book, but far more real. Creatures you may have thought were relegated to fairy tales and mythology are right there in your Bible, too.

While some of these creatures may be poetic or symbolic in nature, others almost certainly walked the earth at some point, lending even more excitement to this list—you can even see the bones of one of these creatures in museums across the world.

So let’s go on a quick adventure and take a look at 8 of the weirdest beasts of the Bible, and where, in scripture, you can find them!

Giants

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Enormous human beings are one of the most recognizable monsters in the Bible. Who, after all, is unfamiliar with the epic tale of David and Goliath?

Goliath, himself, stood about six cubits and a span, according to 1 Samuel 17:4. This translates to about 9 feet 9 inches tall.

That’s a big guy.

This isn’t the first time we encounter a giant in the scriptures, though. Mentions of them are peppered throughout scripture, and guesses at their heights go anywhere from 6 to 30 feet., beginning in Genesis 6:4, where it is written that “There were giants on the earth in those days”.

Besides Goliath, there is Og, king of Bashahn, whose bed is described in Deuteronomy 3:11 as being over 13 feet long and 6 feet wide. He is described as being “of the remnant of the giants”.

The Amorites, who are mentioned more than 80 times throughout scripture, are said to be “the height of cedars,” and “as strong as the oaks”. In Number 13:32, they are described as “men of great stature”.

Although giants feature throughout scripture, there is, as of yet, no physical evidence of their existence, and none walk the earth today.

Perhaps we should be thankful!

Cherubim

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When most people think of cherubim, winged babies come to mind. This, however, is a Roman invention, a secular work of art depicting a chubby male child, also known as a putto.

And these chubby little angels couldn’t be further from the way cherubim are actually depicted in scripture.

Let’s take a look at Ezekiel 10.

“Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.”

Although an angel rather than a creature, this being is one of the strangest in all scripture. Covered in eyes and sporting four faces, the cherubim are a terrifying sight to behold. Oh, and they also guard the gates of Eden with flaming swords.

Not quite the winged baby, is it?

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Going back to Job, there is a second monstrous creature described by God. Job 40 speaks of a creature which possesses a tail that “sways like a cedar,” indicating the enormity of the creature. Raging waters “do not alarm it,” and its limbs are like “rods of iron”. This is a huge, strong creature.

Since God, in these passages, is speaking of real, flesh-and-blood creatures, we can rule out a symbolic meaning. What, then, is the behemoth?

Job 40: 19 says that this creature “Ranks first among the works of God”. If it was one of the earliest creatures, then could it be a dinosaur? Possibly.

Look at the brontosaurus—its tail is as long and thick as a mighty tree, and it fits the behemoth’s description perfectly. Job also mentions that the behemoth lingers around certain kinds of trees and plants, indicating that it may be an herbivore.

All of this adds up to a decidedly dinosaur-like conclusion, making this particular beast of the Bible one that we may be able to observe, with our own eyes, in a museum.

Leviathan

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In Job 41, the chapter’s namesake is receiving a tongue-lashing from God, Himself, speaking out of a storm. At one point during this divine rant, though, God lets slip the existence of a strange creature.

Throughout the chapter, the creature is described as having a “double coat of armor,” “fearsome teeth,” and breath that “sets coals ablaze and flames dart from its mouth”. It is incredibly tough, and iron, “it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood”. It also “makes the depths church like a boiling cauldron,” indicating enormous size.

A sea monster in the Bible? Believe it.

Some scholars interpret the leviathan as a symbol of chaos, of the primordial world, rather like other such monsters of mythology.

But if taken literally, what God is describing is a scaled, fire-breathing sea monster big enough to make the oceans boil with its movements, and tough enough to shrug off any attack human beings might make on it.

This seems to be the more likely of the two interpretations, as there is no evidence in Job 41 that the creature is mere symbol.

In that case, watch your feet the next time you’re swimming in the ocean.

Nephilim

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Of all the strange beings and creatures of the Bible, the Nephilim are the most fascinating, and possibly the most influential on our human history.

The Nephilim are, in Genesis 6:4, said to be the offspring of the “sons of God,” and the “daughters of men”. The word means “fallen ones,” and, from Genesis, it seems that they are the result of angels breeding with humans.

Sometimes grouped with giants, the Nephilim are more than that. Genesis describes them as the “heroes of old, men of renown”.

If this sounds like the gods and heroes of mythology, you just might be on to something.

The idea that the Nephilim feature in all the world’s mythologies is a fascinating one. What if these offspring of angels and humans went on to become figures like Odin and Zeus and Thor and Hercules?

These Nephilim were mostly wiped out in the Biblical flood, and so their line was broken, the few remaining few finished off in subsequent wars with God’s people.

Their legacy, however, may very well remain in our mythology and fiction.

Pit Locusts

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The pit locusts, however, are not creature we will ever wish to observe.

These creatures, found in Revelation 9, are terrifying. “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.”

At the blowing of a divine trumpet, these little beasts will be released onto the earth, rising out of the smoke and fires of “the pit,” which is opened with a key by an angel. What is even more disturbing, however, is that they are not given authority to kill, but to torment—this is their purpose.

They are one of six disasters which are prophesied to strike the world of man in the book of Revelation. Let’s hope we’re not around when that happens.

Unicorns

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Again, we find a fantastic creature in the book of Job. In Job 39: 9-12, God mentioned, of all things, unicorns.

That’s right. Unicorns.

This verse reads, “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave thy labor for him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it in thy barn?"

Unfortunately, contemporary linguists now think that the Hebrew word previously translated as unicorn, “re’em,” actually refers to an aurochs, which is an extinct, much larger version of what we now know as a cow.

Nobody really knows what “re’em” is, however, and so the question of the Biblical unicorn’s existence remains unsolved.

The Dragon

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Ah, the dragon: classic creature of myth, fantasy, and legend.

Here’s a revelation—there’s one in the Bible, as well!

Only this one is, literally, the Devil.

Satan first appears in the form of a small serpent in Eden, tempting Eve, but by the end of the Bible, he’s a full-blown dragon. Revelation 12:7 tells us that “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.”

Revelation goes on to describe the dragon as having “seven heads and ten horns,” and a tail capable of “sweeping a third of the stars out of the sky”.

While this may very well be symbolic imagery meant to convey the evil and power of Satan, who knows what form the fallen angel is able to take? We very well may see this dragon at the end of days.