Dragons: Myth or Reality?

by Floyd Chapallear
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 4, December 1992

"...4. any imaginary...thing spoken of as though existing" [Webster’s New Twentieth Century Unabridged Dictionary].

"Dragon, 1. A mythical monster, usually represented as a sort of winged reptile, with fiery eyes, crested head, and enormous claws, breathing out fire and smoke" [Ibid].

There you have it, on good authority; dragons are mythological creatures belonging to the imagination of ancient peoples. However, in view of the fact that dragon "myths" can be found among nearly every ancient people, perhaps there is something to the legends after all. What honest men and women need to do is look for reliable documentation that might support the hypothesis that dragons did, in fact, exist. Let us consider an ancient text that gives an eyewitness account worth reading:

"I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength and his graceful form. Who can strip off his outer coat? Who would approach him with a bridle? Who dares open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth."

Whatever the speaker was describing sounds like a dragon to me. Now the only question is whether the speaker is trustworthy. I’ll let you, the reader, decide. The speaker was God; the account is found in Job 41:12-21.