Leviathan and Body Armor
The book of Job is considered by most scholars to be the oldest book of the Bible. (It may have been written during or shortly after the Ice Age, since there are some icy references given in this Middle Eastern book.) There are a couple of creatures that God discusses that many biblical creationists believe are dinosaurs, the behemoth and the leviathan. (No, not the "leviathan" from the "Dark Shadows" television series.) This bad boy was a really ornery cuss, and nobody in his right mind wanted to get him riled.
Fortunately, we haven't seen hide nor hair (hair?) of him for a mighty long time, but it's the hide that interests us today. God's sarcastic questioning of Job described the leviathan's bad temper and how it was pretty much impervious to spears and hooks. There are creatures living today (maybe some are leviathan's descendants) that have body armor that is the envy of military people, and efforts have been undertaken for biomimetics, so we can benefit from God's creation. No, there is no rational explanation that evolutionists can offer for such armoring, past or present.
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| Sarcosuchus may have been the leviathan, image credit: Wikimedia Commons / ArthurWeasley |
From the fearful account of Leviathan described by God in Job 41, we learn that this creature’s body armour is resilient indeed. “Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.” (v. 26; similarly vv. 7, 13, 28–29)Hopefully, you're flexible enough to read the rest of the article. Just click on "The secret of Leviathan’s body-armour?"
There are creatures familiar to us today that are also wonderfully protected by resilient (yet flexible) body armour—e.g. the scaled skin of fish and pangolins, and the osteoderms (bony plates embedded in the skin) of armadillos and crocodiles. Perhaps these creatures give us an insight into the leviathan’s body armour? The crocodile’s exterior in particular is renowned for being highly resistant to puncture, able to resist arrows and even bullets. No wonder then that scientists and engineers have been avidly studying such natural armour as a guide to designing flexible protective coatings for industrial applications, personal body armour, and flexible electronics.