Perspectives rate enhancement. A phosphatase, A new candidate for These extinct creatures were all which catalyzes the hydrolysis of wholly marine reptiles. Due to their phosphate dianions, magnified the Leviathan? great size, they would have lived in reaction rate by a thousand times more the deep ocean. They would not have than even that previous enzyme—1021 Peter Booker been opponents for land-dwelling times. That is, the phosphatase allows humans armed with swords, spears, reactions vital for cell signalling and Chapter 41 of the book of Job in darts, arrows and slingstones, which regulation to take place in a hundredth the Bible describes a creature called Leviathan was. of a second. Without the enzyme, this Leviathan. Leviathan was massive Verse 30 says of Leviathan: essential reaction would take a trillion and terrifying, and apparently could 30 ‘His undersides are jagged years—almost a hundred times even breathe fire. God describes Leviathan potsherds [broken, generally sharp, the supposed evolutionary age of the to Job, as an example of something pottery fragments], leaving a universe (about 15 billion years)!3 which He created which is beyond trail in the mud like a threshing mankind’s ability to compete with.1 sledge.’ Implications A number of creatures have been Pliosaurs like Kronosaurus proposed as candidates for Leviathan. had flippers and not legs, so they could Wolfenden said: not stand or move along on the land, ‘Without catalysts, there would Leviathan—Tyrannosaurus rex? and could not leave trails in the mud be no life at all, from microbes to at the water’s edge, as would, say, a humans. It makes you wonder how The massive size and terrifying crocodile. natural selection operated in such teeth described in Job could lead one a way as to produce a protein that to propose that Leviathan may have Leviathan—the crocodile? got off the ground as a primitive been a theropod (flesh-eating) dinosaur catalyst for such an extraordinarily such as Tyrannosaurus rex. However, Long-agers are offended by slow reaction.’1 verses 31–32 say of Leviathan: the notion that the Bible might be Actually, it should make one 31 ‘He makes the depths churn like describing creatures which, according wonder about the faith commitment to a boiling caldron and stirs up the to their belief system, died millions evolution from goo to you via the zoo, sea like a pot of ointment. of years before people appeared on in the face of such amazingly fine-tuned 32 ‘Behind him he leaves a the scene. So the identification of enzymes vital for even the simplest glistening wake; one would think Leviathan as a still-living creature life! And natural selection can’t the deep had white hair.’ suits modern long-age tastes. (This operate until there are already living This clearly describes an probably also helps drive the common organisms to pass on the information aquatic creature. Psalm 104:25–26 [mis]identification of Behemoth as coding for the enzymes, so it cannot also confirms that Leviathan lived in an elephant or hippopotamus, rather explain the origin of these enzymes. the sea: than a dinosaur. However, the tail of 25 ‘There is the sea, vast and these extant creatures can scarcely be References spacious, teeming with creatures compared to a cedar tree, as is the tail beyond number—living things of Behemoth.) 1. Cited in Lang, L.H., Without enzyme both large and small. The NIV has a footnote to Job 41:1 catalyst, slowest known biological reaction 26 takes 1 trillion years, Biocomp Life Science ‘There the ships go to and fro, suggesting Leviathan is ‘possibly the News,
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However, a crocodile’s scales, in 1966, and is said to have lived in scales. In fact, the wording in National while tough, can be sundered by a the middle Cretaceous period. There Geographic has remarkable parallels to weapon. (The NIV refers to ‘shields’ is an article about Sarcosuchus in the the KJV’s wording: rather than scales.) December 2001 edition of National ‘“Gorgeous armor” mused Verse 25 could also very easily Geographic (pp. 86–89), which has paleontologist Hans Larsson, refer to a crocodile: some descriptions that remarkably examining a stack of foot-long 25 ‘When he raises himself up, the parallel those of Leviathan in Job. bony scutes that looked like mighty are terrified … .’ Job 41 is quite clear that Leviathan roofing tiles. These would have A crocodile raises itself from had exceptional scales, scales that provided an impermeable shield a prone position on its stomach onto could not be penetrated by spears, over SuperCroc’s neck, back and its legs to walk, run or attack. But arrows or darts: tail.’3 although a rising crocodile would 15 ‘His scales are his pride, shut up Scales ‘… that cannot cause most people to be afraid, it can together as with a close seal. be sundered …’(KJV), and ‘… be killed by a warrior with weapons, 16 ‘One is so near to another, that no an impermeable shield’(National so perhaps a ‘mighty’ warrior need air can come between them. Geographic). not be terrified of one. An ordinary 17 ‘They are joined one to another, Leviathan had huge jaws and crocodile also seems to lack the size they stick together, that they cannot terrible teeth: 14 and invincibility clearly indicated in be sundered ... . ‘Who dares open the doors of the Bible’s description of Leviathan. 26 ‘The sword of him that layeth his mouth, ringed about with his And certainly no existing crocodile at him cannot hold: the spear, the fearsome teeth?’ breathes fire! dart, nor the habergeon. The National Geographic 27 ‘He esteemeth iron as straw, article says of Sarcosuchus: The real Leviathan? and brass as rotten wood. ‘It’s SuperCroc’s skull that is 28 ‘The arrow cannot make him unparalleled. More than a hundred A new candidate which meets flee: slingstones are turned with teeth jut from narrow jaws that the features described in Job much more him into stubble. must have been adept at snagging precisely than the candidates described 29 ‘Darts are counted as stubble: fish. And unlike any other croc, above is Sarcosuchus imperator (flesh he laugheth at the shaking of a living or extinct, SuperCroc’s crocodile emperor), commonly called spear.’ skull gets wider toward the front ‘SuperCroc’. It was first discovered Sarcosuchus had remarkable end, which is armed with a deadly row of enlarged incisors. … Our most complete skull is just shy of six feet.’4 Then we come to a very interesting possibility. Comparing the skull of Sarcosuchus to that of an ordinary crocodile, we see that not only is it much bigger, but also that Sarcosuchus has a bulbous structure on the end of its snout. The author of the National Geographic article, Paul Sereno, speculates about the purpose of this structure: ‘The swollen end of the snout houses an enormous cavity under the nostrils, meaning this croc may have had an enhanced sense of smell and a most unusual call.’5 This may shed new light on some otherwise cryptic passages in Job 41. 18 ‘His snorting throws out flashes The fossilized remains of Sarcosuchus imperator (flesh crocodile emperor) were discovered of light; his eyes are like the rays on 24 October 2001 in the Tenere Desert of Niger in North Africa. In this illustration, the of dawn. Sarcosuchus skull dwarfs the 50-centimetre skull of a living adult Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus 19 ‘Firebrands stream from his intermedius). mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
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20 ‘Smoke pours from his nostrils being Leviathan. However, it fits The astronomical as from a boiling pot over a fire crocodilians such as Sarcosuchus. of reeds. Leviathan was described in verse theory of the Ice 21 ‘His breath sets coals ablaze, and 33 thus: Age becomes more flames dart from his mouth.’ 33 ‘Nothing on earth is his equal—a This passage from Job has creature without fear. complicated correlations with the enduring legends 34 ‘He looks down on all that are of fire-breathing dragons. Could haughty; he is king over all that Michael J. Oard Sarcosuchus have breathed fire? are proud.’ Here we have an organism with an In the National Geographic Uniformitarian scientists believe unexplained bulbous snout, under article, Sarcosuchus is depicted fighting that there were 30 or more cycles of which is an enormous cavity. Could a large dinosaur. It would indeed have glacial advance and retreat during the its function have been to produce been fearless, and a king among living past 2.5 million years of the most recent fire? We can see in the existing things. ice age.1 It is generally believed that natural world an example of a highly these cycles are controlled by oscilla- exothermic metabolic process, in the Conclusion tions in the orbit of the earth accord- bombardier beetle. If such a tiny ing to the astronomical theory of the organism can produce such heat from There are some remarkable paral ice age or Milankovitch mechanism.2 mixing chemicals in a tiny chamber, lels between Leviathan, as described This mechanism is based on small it is surely conceivable that a large in Job, and Sarcosuchus imperator. I radiational (sun heating) changes at structure such as the ‘enormous’ believe that Sarcosuchus is the best mid and high latitudes caused by three cavity under the bulbous snout of the candidate yet proposed for Leviathan. cycles in the earth’s orbital geometry: Sarcosuchus could actually have been I would like to suggest that publishers the 100,000-year eccentricity cycle, the part of a biological mechanism to of future creationist literature should 41,000-year tilt cycle, and the 19,000- produce flames and smoke. also stress the remarkable parallels to 23,000-year precession cycle. Job is quite clear that Leviathan between Leviathan and Sarcosuchus. Prior to 900,000 years ago (uni- was a large and terrifying enemy. (I note with approval that in the just- formitarian timescale) the ice ages 9 ‘Any hope of subduing him is printed new book Dragons of the cycled according to the 41,000-tilt false; the mere sight of him is Deep,6 AiG’s Dr Carl Wieland comes to frequency, then for some unknown reason, the cycles apparently switched overpowering. the same identification of Leviathan as to the 100,000-year eccentricity peri- 10 ‘None is fierce enough to rouse this article—each of us independently od—a cycle with almost no radiational him.’ of the other.) change on the earth.3 As identified Sarcosuchus meets this Indeed, Bible footnotes could elsewhere,4 there are many other dif- description. National Geographic credibly state, ‘Possibly the now- ficulties with the astronomical theory extinct giant crocodile Sarcosuchus says: of the ice ages. imperator’. ‘… we estimate that a mature A recent quantitative estimate of adult Sarcosuchus grew to about the Milankovitch radiational forcing 40 feet long. Its weight? As much References 5 for climate change has demonstrated as ten tons.’ that the eccentricity cycle is no differ- 1. As space precludes reprinting the whole of A creature of this size ent from chance.5 would certainly make a human feel Job chapter 41 here, I would suggest that prior to reading this article the reader reviews that ‘Evidence cited to support the overpowered at the sight of him. chapter in their Bible. Here I have quoted hypothesis that the 100 Ka glacial/ When Sarcosuchus rose up from a from both the King James Version (KJV) and interglacial cycles are controlled prone position onto its legs, it would the New International Version (NIV). by the quasi-periodic insolation indeed make even the mightiest human 2. Ham, K., The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved! [solar] forcing is likely indistin- afraid, and retreat before him. It would Master Books, Green Forest, AR, pp. 43–47, guishable from chance … .’ also make the depths churn like a 1998. Moreover, the other Milanko- boiling caldron and leave behind a 3. Sereno, P., SuperCroc, National Geographic, vitch cycles contribute no more than glistening wake (verses 31–32) by December 2001, p. 88. 20% to the variance in climate records.5 creating a massive trail of turbulence 4. Sereno, ref. 3, pp. 88–89. In contrast to such extremely weak and bubbles as it plunged into the water 5. Sereno, ref. 3, p. 89. variation, the Ice Age was a dramatic and swam. event, suggesting the uniformitarian As we noted earlier, verse 30, 6. Wieland, C., Dragons of the Deep, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, pp. 44–47, 2005. scientists really do not have the answer describing the jagged potsherds to the Ice Age and its many subsidiary beneath Leviathan, and the trail in mysteries.6 However, regardless of the the mud, argues against Kronosaurus facts, numerous textbooks have trum-
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