תן and תניין, Gen. i, 21; Job vii, 12; Ezek. xxxii, 2; κῆτος,
Matt. xii, 40; the largest of all the inhabitants of the water. A late
author, in a dissertation expressly for the purpose, has proved that the
crocodile, and not the whale, is spoken of in Gen. i, 21. The word in
Job vii, 12, must also be taken for the crocodile. It must mean some
terrible animal, which, but for the watchful care of Divine Providence,
would be very destructive. Our translators render it by _dragon_ in
Isaiah xxvii, 1, where the prophet gives this name to the king of Egypt:
“He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” The sea there is the
river Nile, and the dragon the crocodile, Ezek. xxxii, 2. On this
passage Bochart remarks, ”The תנין is not a whale, as people imagine;
for a whale has neither feet nor scales, neither is it to be found in
the rivers of Egypt; neither does it ascend therefrom upon the land;
neither is it taken in the meshes of a net; all of which properties are
ascribed by Ezekiel to the תנין of Egypt. Whence it is plain that it is
not a whale that is here spoken of, but the crocodile. Merrick supposes
David, in Psalm lxxiv, 13, to speak of the _tunnie_, a kind of whale,
with which he was probably acquainted; and Bochart thinks it has its
Greek name _thunnos_ from the Hebrew _thanot_. The last-mentioned fish
is undoubtedly that spoken of in Psalm civ, 26. We are told, that, in
order to preserve the Prophet Jonah when he was thrown overboard by the
mariners, “the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him up.” What kind
of fish it was, is not specified; but the Greek translators take the
liberty to give us the word κῆτος, _whale_; and though St. Matthew, xii,
40, makes use of the same word, we may probably conclude that he did so
in a general sense; and that we are not to understand it as an
appropriated term, to point out the particular species of fish. It is
notorious that sharks are common in the Mediterranean.
Matt. xii, 40; the largest of all the inhabitants of the water. A late
author, in a dissertation expressly for the purpose, has proved that the
crocodile, and not the whale, is spoken of in Gen. i, 21. The word in
Job vii, 12, must also be taken for the crocodile. It must mean some
terrible animal, which, but for the watchful care of Divine Providence,
would be very destructive. Our translators render it by _dragon_ in
Isaiah xxvii, 1, where the prophet gives this name to the king of Egypt:
“He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” The sea there is the
river Nile, and the dragon the crocodile, Ezek. xxxii, 2. On this
passage Bochart remarks, ”The תנין is not a whale, as people imagine;
for a whale has neither feet nor scales, neither is it to be found in
the rivers of Egypt; neither does it ascend therefrom upon the land;
neither is it taken in the meshes of a net; all of which properties are
ascribed by Ezekiel to the תנין of Egypt. Whence it is plain that it is
not a whale that is here spoken of, but the crocodile. Merrick supposes
David, in Psalm lxxiv, 13, to speak of the _tunnie_, a kind of whale,
with which he was probably acquainted; and Bochart thinks it has its
Greek name _thunnos_ from the Hebrew _thanot_. The last-mentioned fish
is undoubtedly that spoken of in Psalm civ, 26. We are told, that, in
order to preserve the Prophet Jonah when he was thrown overboard by the
mariners, “the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him up.” What kind
of fish it was, is not specified; but the Greek translators take the
liberty to give us the word κῆτος, _whale_; and though St. Matthew, xii,
40, makes use of the same word, we may probably conclude that he did so
in a general sense; and that we are not to understand it as an
appropriated term, to point out the particular species of fish. It is
notorious that sharks are common in the Mediterranean.