Dragon (Tannin, δράκων)

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
It may signify any great serpent or sea monster, symbolical of a huge destructive creature. Nations doomed to destruction and desolation, including Jerusalem, are said to become habitations of dragons (Isa. 34:1313And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. (Isaiah 34:13); Isa. 35:77And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. (Isaiah 35:7); Jer. 9:1111And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. (Jeremiah 9:11); Jer. 10:2222Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. (Jeremiah 10:22); Jer. 51:3737And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. (Jeremiah 51:37)). Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is called the great dragon (Ezek. 29:33Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. (Ezekiel 29:3)). As one of God’s creatures the dragon is called upon to praise Jehovah (Psa. 148:77Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: (Psalm 148:7)). In the New Testament the dragon is a type of Satan and those energized by him. In Revelation 12:33And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (Revelation 12:3) the “great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns,” is symbolical of Satan’s power in the form of the Roman empire: it endeavored, in the person of Herod, to destroy Christ when born. In Revelation 13:2, 42And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:2)
4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:4) it is Satan who gives the resuscitated Roman empire in a future day its throne and great authority. In Revelation 13:11And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1)1 The Antichrist, who has two horns like a lamb, speaks as a dragon. In Revelation 16:1313And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (Revelation 16:13) it is Satan, and in Revelation 20:22And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (Revelation 20:2) he is described as “that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan.”