Dragon

The Old Testament contains different texts about a battle during creation between God and a dragon. There are also dragon-like creatures in the New Testament.

Texts such as Job 3:8, Psalm 74:14 and Isaiah 27:1 refer to God’s victory over a monster-like creature that takes place during creation. This dragon is the symbol of forces that oppose the divine in the mythology, such as chaos, the indomitable sea of evil (the monster that lives in the sea). He is given different names, such as Leviathan, Rahab, Behemoth and Yammu (which means “sea”).

In some Bible texts, the dragon is no longer a mythological image, but has acquired a historical significance. The dragon there refers to earthly powers that are enemies of God. The monster Rahab in Isaiah 30:7 and Psalm 87:4, for example, refers to the powerful Egyptian empire.

Eschatological texts suggest the idea that the battle between God and the dragon will be repeated at the end of time, before the beginning of the new creation. This idea can be found in Isaiah 27:1 and Daniel 7, for example. The book of Revelation also contains various dragon-like creatures (see for example Revelation 12–13). They are a symbol for the evil that God will defeat. In Revelation 20:2, the dragon is equated to the snake in paradise and is identified as Satan.

In Ugaritic mythology, there is a parallel story in which the god Baal defeats the dragon Yammu, who symbolises the sea. Other nations also had such myths.