Sea Monster. Several terms are used in the Bible to describe large sea creatures: sea monsters or serpents, dragons, great fish, whales, and Leviathan. All of these do not refer to one animal, but it is impossible to match the terms with specific marine life. For instance, many animals have been mistaken for sea serpents– large eels, sharks, and giant squid. The Mediterranean and Red Seas contain whales and enough other such “monsters” to provide plenty of material for sea-related scare tales.
Dragons are mythical creatures that appear in many ancient cultures. The prophet Ezekiel saw images of dragons on the city gates when he was exiled in Babylon. The book of Revelation refers to Satan as “a great, fiery red dragon” (12:3). However, Ezekiel and the writer of the Psalms also used the word dragon as a synonym for whale.
Whales, of course, were real creatures that may have been a common sight in the Mediterranean Sea during Bible times. The NEB refers to them in (Psalm 148:7) as water-spouts, a possible reference to the sperm whale.
Source: [Anon-Animals]
Sea Monster. Several terms are used in the Bible to describe large sea creatures: sea monsters or serpents, dragons, great fish, whales, and Leviathan. All of these do not refer to one animal, but it is impossible to match the terms with specific marine life. For instance, many animals have been mistaken for sea serpents– large eels, sharks, and giant squid. The Mediterranean and Red Seas contain whales and enough other such “monsters” to provide plenty of material for sea-related scare tales.
Dragons are mythical creatures that appear in many ancient cultures. The prophet Ezekiel saw images of dragons on the city gates when he was exiled in Babylon. The book of Revelation refers to Satan as “a great, fiery red dragon” (12:3). However, Ezekiel and the writer of the Psalms also used the word dragon as a synonym for whale.
Whales, of course, were real creatures that may have been a common sight in the Mediterranean Sea during Bible times. The NEB refers to them in (Psalm 148:7) as water-spouts, a possible reference to the sperm whale.
The Whale. The whale is mentioned in the first chapter of the Bible, 21st verse. “And God created great whales.” Some suppose that large fish of every kind are here meant.
An animal called the leviathan is described in one of the last chapters of Job, which some suppose to be the whale. It certainly means a large and strong animal, as you will see by the questions asked about him: “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook ? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook in his nose ? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid. The arrow cannot make him flee; he laugheth at the shaking of a spear; he maketh the deep to boil like a pot; one would think the deep to be hoary.” This is like the whale in some things; but you will remember that it is not certain that he is meant.
The common whale for which so many sailors are always seeking on the great ocean, is an enormous animal. It is often found seventy feet long; and it is said that they have been found of the length of a hundred feet. If you do not know how long this would be, you will do well to ask some friend to tell you of a building or something else with which you can compare it; for it is not very likely that you will ever see the whale itself, and its size is very wonderful. It is covered with a coat of fat, sometimes more than a yard thick; and when this is cut up and put over fires in great kettles, a hundred barrels of oil are sometimes obtained from a single whale.
Perhaps you already know how they take the whale. As soon as the sailors see one, they go towards him in a boat until they get as near to him as they dare. Then they throw their harpoons at him; these are sharp-pointed irons, fastened to a very long rope, one end of which they keep in the boat. As soon as the whale is wounded, he dives down into the water, and swims away to some distance. He is usually obliged to come up again in about half an hour to breathe, for he cannot live all the while under water; and then the men throw other harpoons at him. Sometimes he comes so near as to upset the boat with a blow of his strong tail. The picture shows you a scene of this kind, where the boat was tossed into the air, the men thrown out, and one of them drowned.
[Cook, Scripture Alphabet of Animals]
Sea Monster