DRAGON
Answers, in the English Bible, the Hebrew word signifying a sea-monster, huge serpent, etc. Thus in Deu 32:33 Jer 51:34 Jer 12:1-17, it evidently implies a huge serpent; in Isa 27:1 51:9 Eze 29:3, it may mean the crocodile, or any large sea-monster; while in Job 30:29 Lam 4:3 Mic 1:8, it seems to refer to some wild animal of the desert, most probably the jackal. The animal known to modern naturalists under the name of dragon, is a harmless species of lizard, found in Asia and Africa.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Dragon
()
The word is found in the NT only in Rev 12:3-17; Rev 13:2; Rev 13:4; Rev 13:11; Rev 16:13; Rev 20:2. In each case, with the exception of 13:11 (as a dragon), the reference is to the symbolical great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns (12:3) who is expressly identified with the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan (v. 9; cf. 20:2). When inquiry is made into the origin and meaning of the symbolism, it becomes evident that what we find in Rev. is an adoption and application to Christian purposes of certain conceptions that played a large part in the literature of pre-Christian Judaism, and had originally been suggested to the Jewish mind by its contact with the Babylonian mythology. The Apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon testifies to the existence in Babylon of a dragon-worship that must have been associated with belief in the ancient dragon-myth which forms so important a feature of the Babylonian cosmogony. In the Creation-epic Timat is the power of chaos and darkness, personified as a gigantic dragon or monster of the deep, who is eventually overcome by Marduk, the god of light. In the post-exilic Jewish apocalyptic literature a dragon of the depths becomes the representative of the forces of evil and opposition to goodness and God. But it was characteristic of Judaism, with its fervent Messianic expectations, that the idea of a conflict between God and the dragon should be transferred from the past to the future, from cosmogony to history and eschatology, so that the revolt of the dragon and his subjection by the Divine might became an episode not of pre-historic ages but of the last days (cf. Isa 21:1, Dan 7:3). In Rev. the visions of non-canonical as well as canonical apocalyptists have been freely made use of; and the Jewish features of the story of the dragon are apparent (cf. Rev 12:7 with Eth. Enoch, xx. 5, Assumption of Moses, x. 2). But what is characteristic is that the figure and functions of the dragon are turned to Christian uses, so that they have a bearing upon Christs earthly birth and heavenly glory (Rev 12:5), upon the present conflict of Christianity with the worlds evil powers and its victory over them by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev 12:11; Rev 12:13; Rev 12:17), and above all upon the assurance of Christian faith that God will destroy the dragons present power to accuse His people and persecute them even unto death (Rev 12:10-11; Rev 12:13; Rev 12:17), and will at the appointed time send forth His angel to subdue him utterly (Rev 20:1-3).
Literature.-H. Gunkel, Schpfung und Chaos, Gttingen, 1895; W. Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, Eng. translation , London, 1896; article Dragon in Encyclopaedia Biblica .
J. C. Lambert.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
dragon
(Greek: drakon, serpent)
In the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, a designation for some very large sea animal (Psalm 103) or a serpent (Psalm 90). In the Apocalypse, 12, the chieftain of the host of fallen angels fights with Michael and his angels, and the dragon is defeated, “that old serpent who is called the devil and Satan.” In art the devil is frequently pictured as a dragon, a huge winged lizard. It is an emblem of
Saint Adelard
Saint Beatus of Lungern
Saint Donatus
Saint George
Saint John of Reomay
Saint Juliana of Nicomedia
Saint Magnus of Fussen
Saint Margaret of Antioch
Saint Martha , symbolizing victory over tempation
Michael the Archangel
Saint Philip the Apostle
Saint Servatus
Saint Tudwal
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Dragon
Dragon. Dragons are imaginary beasts with a long history in the folklore of many cultures. Usually the dragon is a crafty creature that represents evil. The word dragon, as used in some translations of the Bible, is often confusing. Occasionally this word is used when the intended meaning was probably jackal (Lam 4:3), (RSV), sea serpent or serpent (Psa 91:13), (RSV), or even crocodile (Eze 29:3-4).
This huge, fire-breathing monster with terrifying wings and claws is a symbol of Satan (Rev 12:3-17; Rev 16:13; Rev 20:2). In the church of early Christian history, dragons represented sin. Christian art often depicts a dragon at the feet of Jesus– to show His triumph over sin.
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Dragon
(from the Greek , 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, , and tannian, (according to Gesenius, from , 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. ); in Isa 13:22 (); in Jer 10:22; Jer 49:33 (); in Psa 44:19 ( ); and in Jer 9:11; Jer 14:6; Jer 2:37; Mic 1:8 (). The feminine plural , 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 (“ostrich”) and (“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 , ‘”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 . SEE JACKAL.
2. The word tannin’, (plur. ), is always rendered by in the Sept. except in Gen 1:21, where we find . 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 (“leviathan”), as in Isa 27:1; and indeed this latter word is rendered in the Sept. by , in Psa 74:14; Psa 104:26; Job 40:20; Isa 27:1; and by 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 () 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.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Dragon (2)
(in symbolism). The dragon, in Christian art, is the emblem of sin in general and of idolatry in particular. Its usual form is that of a gigantic winged crocodile. “It is often represented as crushed under the feet of saints and martyrs, and other holy personages. Sometimes its prostrate attitude signifies the triumph of Christianity over paganism, as in pictures of St. George and St. Sylvester; or over heresy and schism, as when it was adopted as the emblem of the Knights of the order of the Dragon in Hungary, which was instituted for the purpose of contending against the adherents of John Huss and Jerome of Prague.” Chambers, Encyclopedia s.v.; Jamieson, Sacred and Legendary Art, 1:26.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Dragon
(1.) Heb. tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Ps. 44:19; Isa. 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 10:22; Micah 1:8; Mal. 1:3); probably, as translated in the Revised Version, the jackal (q.v.).
(2.) Heb. tannin. Some great sea monster (Jer. 51:34). In Isa. 51:9 it may denote the crocodile. In Gen. 1:21 (Heb. plural tanninim) the Authorized Version renders “whales,” and the Revised Version “sea monsters.” It is rendered “serpent” in Ex. 7:9. It is used figuratively in Ps. 74:13; Ezek. 29:3.
In the New Testament the word “dragon” is found only in Rev. 12:3, 4, 7, 9, 16, 17, etc., and is there used metaphorically of “Satan.” (See WHALE)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Dragon
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.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Dragon
DRAGON.(1) tannm (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) tannth, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] dragons, but RV [Note: Revised Version.] jackals, Mal 1:3. See Jackal. (3) tannm (sing.), dragon, Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2, refers to Egypt, and probably means specially the crocodile (wh. see). (4) tannn (pl. tannnim), 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)); Aarons rod became a tannn (Exo 7:9-12, EV [Note: English Version.] serpent [wh. see, 11]). The same term, tannn, 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.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Dragon
One of the names of the devil. (Rev 12:9) Hence, in allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory over hell, the Psalmist saith, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Dragon
dragun (, tannn, plural , tannm, , tannoth; , drakon):
Tannn and the plural tannnm 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 marginsea calves, the Revised Version (British and American) jackals. Tannm 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 margindragon (the American Standard Revised Version monster). Tannoth occurs once, in Mal 1:3, where it is rendered dragons, the Revised Version (British and American) jackals. Drakon occurs 12 times in Rev 12; 13; 16; and 20, where it is uniformly rendered dragon. (Compare Arabic tinnn, the constellation, Draco.) Tannoth Septuagint , domata, dwellings) is a feminine plural form as if from tannah, but it suits the context to give it the same meaning as tannm.
In Exo 7:9, Exo 7:10, Exo 7:12, tannn 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 nahash, 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 tannm 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 tannn. 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 tannn 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 Tamat 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 cordinate 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 cordinate, 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.
Tannm, 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; tannoth, 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 tannn 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 marginsea calves. A mammal is indicated, and the Revised Version (British and American) apparently assumes that tannn is an error for tannm. Two other exceptions are in Eze 29:3 and Eze 32:2, where English Versions of the Bible renders tannm 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.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Dragon
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 Prnestine 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.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Dragon
tannin , . It may signify any great serpent or sea monster, symbolical of a huge destructive creature. Nations doomed to destruction and desolation, including Jerusalem, are said to become habitations of dragons. Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Jer 9:11; Jer 10:22; Jer 51:37. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is called the great dragon. Eze 29:3. As one of God’s creatures the dragon is called upon to praise Jehovah. Psa 148:7. In the N.T. the dragon is a type of Satan and those energised by him. In Rev 12:3 the “great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns,” is symbolical of Satan’s power in the form of the Roman empire: it endeavoured, in the person of Herod, to destroy Christ when born. In Rev 13:2; Rev 13:4 it is Satan who gives the resuscitated Roman empire in a future day its throne and great authority. In Rev 13:11 the Antichrist, who has two horns like a lamb, speaks as a dragon. In Rev 16:13 it is Satan, and in Rev 20:2 he is described as “that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan.”
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Dragon
A poisonous serpent
Deu 32:33
A serpent of the desert
Psa 91:13; Isa 34:13; Jer 9:11; Jer 51:37; Mal 1:3
A serpent of the sea
Psa 74:13; Isa 27:1
A wolf
Mic 1:8
Interpreted as a whale, in
Gen 1:21; Job 7:12
Serpent
Exo 7:9
A term applied to Pharaoh
Isa 51:9
A term applied to Satan
Rev 20:2
Symbolic
Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Rev 12; Rev 16:13
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Dragon
Dragon. The original word for this in the Bible has three meanings. Very commonly, where it occurs in connection with ostriches, owls, deserts, and ruins, it denotes the jackal, whose characteristics are unmistakably indicated, such as his “wailing” and “snuffing up the wind.” So in Job 30:29, the R. V. reads “jackals,” and also in Psa 44:19 and Jer 9:11, in which passages solitude and desolation are illustrated. The same idea is in Mic 1:8. In some passages it denotes monsters of the deep or huge land- reptiles, as in Psa 91:13; R. V. reads “serpent.” In Deu 32:33 it refers to some poisonous reptile, being used in connection with the asp, a poisonous snake. The figurative use of this term, as in Psa 74:13; Eze 29:3; Rev 12:3; Rev 20:2, is quite obvious.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Dragon
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.”
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
DRAGON
See under BEAST.
Fuente: A Symbolical Dictionary
Dragon
denoted “a mythical monster, a dragon;” also a large serpent, so called because of its keen power of sight (from a root derk, signifying “to see”). Twelve times in the Apocalypse it is used of the Devil, Rev 12:3-4, Rev 12:7, Rev 12:9, Rev 12:13, Rev 12:16-17; Rev 13:2, Rev 13:4, Rev 13:11; Rev 16:13; Rev 20:2.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Dragon
This word is frequently to be met with in our English translation of the Bible. It answers generally to the Hebrew , , ; 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.
Fuente: Biblical and Theological Dictionary
Dragon
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.