A Dragon-Gulping Dragon

Moses' battle with the magicians

You remember that one time that Val Kilmer got into a magic-fight with Steve Martin and Martin Short?

Prince of Egypt is awesome. But in the movie, as well as in the Biblical account itself (Exodus 7:8-13), it appears that this is a relatively small confrontation, necessary only to the set the scene for the more dramatic plagues to come.

Old Testament scholar and Egyptologist, John Currid and Kenneth Kitchen, on the other hand, believe this confrontation to be pivotal for the entire Exodus story:

Exodus 7:8-13 is paradigmatic in that it defines for the reader the true issue at stake in the entire Exodus struggle…What the serpent contest portrays is a heavenly combat—a war between the God of the Hebrews and the deities of Egypt. For the biblical writer the episode was a matter of theology.¹

So, given its significance, I’ll reproduce the ESV translation of the passage here:

8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” 10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 12 For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. - Exodus 7:8-13

The Setting

Last year, I intended on finishing a series of articles on this, but got distracted by other projects. But, briefly, here’s a short synopsis of the previous work:

Staffs and Snakes

In this article, I lay out the setting for the confrontation, and then examine the unique role that staffs and snakes play in Egyptian culture.

Purging Egypt out of Israel

In this article, I look at Moses’ theological purpose in how he crafts the Exodus narrative—namely, to de-Egypt-ize Israel by showing Yahweh as superior to the Egyptian deities. When Aaron’s staff swallows (bala) the staffs of the court magicians, it is an ominous sign to all watching (and reading) because this resonates with certain Egyptian beliefs.

Here Be Dragons

The arguments laid out above, the significance of the rod, serpents, and the interpretive role 7:8-13 plays for the rest of the Exodus account, now provide the foundation for a closer examination of the specific word used to describe what Aaron and the magicians’ staffs turn into: תַּנִּין (tahneen).

This term is noteworthy for a number of reasons:

1. It is not the usual word used for snake (נָחָשׁ, nahash).

2. In this section, the narrative breaks with its normal pattern of describing the kind of serpent the staff turns into. Before and after the event, the staff is described as turning into the normal word for serpent (nahash). But in the actual event itself, it turns into the tahneen.

   1. “So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent (nahash). - Ex 4:3

   2. “Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent (tahneen)…and it became a serpent (tahneen)…For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents (tahneen).” - Ex 7:9-12

   3. “And take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent (nahash).” - Ex 7:15

3. This term is most frequently used in the Bible to refer to a gigantic, reptilian monster (dragon), usually associated with the sea, for example:

   1. So God created the great sea creatures (tahneen) and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm. - Gen 1:21

   2. Am I the sea, or a sea monster (tahneen), that you set a guard over me? - Job 7:12

   3. Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons (tahneen), and all deeps. - Ps 148:7 (KJV)

4. Elsewhere in the Bible, this term is associated with the sea monster Leviathan (sometimes called Rahab).

   1. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters (tahneen) on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. - Ps 74:14-15a

   2. In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon (tahneen) that is in the sea. - Isa 27:1

   3. Awake, awake, put on strength,

      O arm of the LORD;

      awake, as in days of old,

      the generations of long ago.

      Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,

      who pierced the dragon (tahneen)? - Isa 51:9

5. This term is associated with the ancient chaos-monster in ancient near Eastern culture (we’ll come back to this in the next article).

But…hang on. How are we supposed to make sense of this? Is Moses actually claiming that there were dragons fighting in the court of Pharaoh? Every major English translation of the Bible has evidently found this difficult to believe, so they have all chosen to translate tahneen simply as “serpents.”

But, let me try to prove that this isn’t helpful.

Dragons, Not Serpents

While it is possible that the term could be only referring to typical serpents,² the term is most likely referring to something much more than a mere serpent, if not an actual dragon/sea-monster.³ This is a Substack article, not an academic journal, so I’m going to tuck most of my work in the footnotes, but let me lay out a couple of reasons that—even if it seems weird—Exodus is wanting you to think of a battle of dragons in the court of Pharaoh.

1. While most english translations choose to use the word “serpent” in Exodus 7:8-13, this is not the consensus by most commentators.⁴

2. Further, the Greek translation of the book of Exodus (LXX) translates tahneen as drakōn (δράκων), “dragon.”⁵

3. Later prophets use the word tahneen in ways that are unambiguously describing a large sea-monster/dragon, and then specifically associating it with Pharaoh/Egypt (Ez 29:3, 32:2;⁶ Isa 51:9-10;⁷ 27:1;⁸ Ps 74:12-14;⁹ Jer 51:34¹⁰). Why? It would appear that the repetition (3x here) of this rare term (used only 15x total in the whole Hebrew Bible) caused it to stick out in the minds of later authors.

4. The tahneen is a creature of water who dwells both in lakes and rivers, but also in the primordial deep—the ta’hōm (תְּהוֹם), the subterranean primeval waters of the deep that represent chaos, darkness, and disorder, an idea ubiquitous in ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies (Gen 1:21; Ps. 148:7; cf. Gen 1:2).¹¹ Water serves as a critical symbol of either life or death in the Exodus 1-15 narrative.¹² The main emphasis is on the reversal of expectations: waters intended for the death of Israel, become their means of life; waters that appear to be advantageous for Egypt, become their demise.¹³ Right smack dab in the middle of this section (7:8-13), we have the conflict of the tahneen. As we will explore later, the Egyptians believed that their deities granted them specific power over these very chaotic forces, represented by the tahneen. Thus, the reversal theme plays out here: Egypt would have expected that they had mastery over the tahneen, but they are surprised to find that that their staffs/tahneen are devoured by Moses’. But, of course, if the tahneen is only seen as a serpent, then this significance is lost.

Hold Up

So, what does this mean? Were there literally dragons in Pharaoh’s court?

Admittedly, one would think that Pharaoh would have made some remark upon seeing such a fantastical sight if the staffs did indeed turn into dragons. Hard-hearted Pharaoh later at least feigns repentance under the weight of the more severe plagues; surely, the sight of Leviathans battling in his court would have produced some response. The absence of any comment suggests that regular serpents, not dragons, were present.

So, why does Moses describe the staffs turning into dragons? Dragons are conceptually linked to serpents, only magnified to mythic proportions, much like I could describe a large dog like a “werewolf.” John, in his apocalyptic vision, sees Satan take on the form of a seven-headed dragon (δράκων), but can refer to him as both a dragon and a serpent (Rev 12:9; 20:2). Satan is a serpent—the serpent—but he is much more than just a serpent. He’s a dragon. John isn’t being slippery or deceptive by using these different terms. So too, Moses can use a mythic-sized word tahneen to describe the serpents in the Egyptian courtroom.¹⁴

But, of course, this begs the question…why did Moses choose to describe the scene this way?

In the next article, we will examine ancient myths about the tahneen to see why Moses deliberately chooses this word to describe the confrontation with the Egyptian magicians.

1. John D. Currid and Kenneth Kitchen, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 1997), 86.

2. What are some of the major arguments for translating תַּנִּין simply as “serpent”? The fact that every major English translation of Exodus 7:8-13 translates תַּנִּין as “serpent” is in of itself a strong argument to consider viewing the תַּנִּין as nothing more than a synonym for “serpent.” Further, the immediate context seems to understand that Moses’ staff is to turn into a snake, not a dragon or sea monster (cf. Ex 4:3; 7:15). Also, the term תַּנִּין appears in parallel constructions elsewhere in the Old Testament with venomous snakes, lending itself to possibly being understood as a synonym for “serpent.” For example, in Deuteronomy we read, “their wine is the poison of serpents (תַּנִּין) and the cruel venom of asps (פֶּ֫תֶן),”(32:33). Interestingly, the KJV translates this as, “their wine is the poison of dragons,” but its parallel structure with “asps” implies thatתַּנִּין here likely refers to a serpent. Similarly, Psalm 91 states, “You will tread on the lion and the adder (פֶּ֫תֶן); the young lion and the serpent (תַּנִּין) you will trample underfoot,” (91:13). A word’s definition should be governed by its usage and its context, not an illegitimate transfer of all its possible meanings. Thus, since the parallel passages above (Ex 4:3; 7:15) refer to the event in 7:8-13 as the staff clearly turning into a serpent (נָחָשׁ), not a dragon, and the term תַּנִּין can lexically mean “serpent,” there is good reason to think that the term here simply refers to a snake. See Currid and Kitchen, 86-87; Leslie S. Wilson, The Serpent Symbol in the Ancient Near East: Nahash and Asherah: Death, Life, and Healing, English ed. edition (Lanham, MD: UPA, 2001), 74, for arguments against interpreting the term as anything other than “serpent”.

3. The term תַּנִּין appears only 15 times in the Old Testament (three of them occurring here in Exodus 7), with the majority of these uses clearly referring to something other than a mere serpent. In Genesis 1:21, Job 7:12(?) and Psalm 148:7 the term refers to unspecified, giant sea creatures of the deep. In Isaiah 27:1, 51:9, Jeremiah 51:34, Ezekiel 29:3, 32:2, and Psalm 74:13 the term refers to an enormous sea-dragon. The final occurrence is in Nehemiah 2:13 where it is used as a proper noun to refer to a well called the “Dragon Spring.” If the contested passages from Exodus 7 are removed, that leaves only two occurrences of תַּנִּין being used to refer to snakes (Deut 32:33; Ps 91:13).

4. T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017), 158-59; Walter Brueggman in Leander E. Keck, ed., The New Interpreter’s® Bible Commentary Volume I: Introduction to the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), 739; William Johnstone, Exodus 1-19: Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary, 1st edition (Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Inc., 2014), 158; Peter E. Enns, NIV Application Commentary: Exodus, First Edition (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2000), 196-97; Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1991), 113; John I. Durham, Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 3, Exodus (Waco, Texas: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1987), 91; James K. Bruckner, Exodus: New International Bible Commentary, Old Testament (New International Bib (Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 75-76; Umberto Moshe David Cassuto;, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus (Publisher\’s Row / Varda Books, 2005), 94.

5. And, just as like the Hebrew text, the LXX uses the ordinary Greek word for “serpent” ophis (ὄφις) in the sections prior (4:3) and following this event (7:15). So, the authors of the LXX similarly saw the switch from nahash to tahneen in the Hebrew text as a deliberate and significant alteration that they too wanted to mirror in their own translation.

6. In both of these passages (Ez 29:3, 32:2) Yahweh swiftly executes judgment on this dragon, snaring him with his hook and net, then flinging his massive carcass on the countryside, covering the mountain ranges with his flesh, filling whole valleys with his blood (Ez 29:4-5; 32:3-6). Obviously, the poetic image the prophet is employing is imagining a creature much larger than a typical serpent.

7. Isaiah 51:9-10 recalls the Exodus event and stylizes Pharaoh as a sea-dragon, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon (תַּנִּין)? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?” Rahab, a proper name for the תַּנִּין, is equated elsewhere with Egypt by the prophet Isaiah, “Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still,” (30:7; cf. Ps 87:4). See Robert Fyall and D. A. Carson, Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job (Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2002), 88 for an argument that Rahab is simply the sea personified.

8. Further, if it is granted that Rahab and Leviathan are synonyms in the Bible (as will be argued below), then perhaps the תַּנִּין of the sea in Isaiah 27:1 likewise is an allusion to Pharaoh as a typological figure of Yahweh’s enemies. Rahab, called “the fleeing serpent” who is in the sea in Job 26:12-13, appears to by synonymous with Leviathan, also called “the fleeing serpent” from the sea in Isaiah 27:1.

9. In Psalm 74:12-14, the term may be used to describe Yahweh’s battle with Pharaoh since it is a recollection of Yahweh’s “salvation” where he “divided the sea” by his might and crushed the heads of Leviathan, the תַּנִּין. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, eds., Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol 15, trans. David E. Green (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2006), 730, argues that Psalm 74:12-14 is referring to Yahweh’s primordial battle with chaos in creation due to vv. 16-17.

10. Though Jeremiah 51:34 identifies Nebuchadnezzar as the sea-monster, he is described as swallowing Israel like a dragon (בְּלָעָנוּ כַּתַּנִּ֔ין), which mirrors the language of the staff of Aaron devouring the staffs of the Egyptian magicians in Exodus 7:12:

וַיַּשְׁלִ֙יכוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ מַטֵּ֔הוּ וַיִּהְי֖וּ לְתַנִּינִ֑ם וַיִּבְלַ֥ע מַטֵּֽה־אַהֲרֹ֖ן אֶת־מַטֹּתָֽם

11. Baby boys are thrown into the water (death, Ex 1:22), Moses is delivered by a reed (sūph, סוּף) basket (life, Ex 2:1-6); God gives Moses the ability to turn water into blood to help inspire belief ( life, Ex 4:9), and when Moses performs this miracle it results in Pharaoh hardening his heart (death, Ex 7:14-25); climactically, God’s people are trapped by the Re(e)d (sūph, סוּף) Sea and are about to be slaughtered by Pharaoh (death, Ex 14:1-12); but then, like baby Moses saved by his reed (sūph, סוּף) basket, God parts the Re(e)d (sūph, סוּף) Sea and the water now becomes a means of salvation (life, Ex 14:13-22); but when Pharaoh and his army attempt to charge in after them, thinking they can take advantage of the parted waters (life, Ex 14:23), they perish (death, Ex 14:23-31). Finally, when Israel finds a spring of water, it is poisonous (death, Ex 15:22-24); until God tells Moses to cast a log into it, and it is made sweet (life, Ex 15:25, 27).

Even more interesting, the word for “cast”, shalak ְ(שָׁלַך) creates a harmonious bookend of sorts in this narrative. Pharaoh commands the Hebrew babies to be cast (שָׁלַך) into the river Nile (Ex 1:22, the first instance of the theme of water). Then God commands Moses to cast (שָׁלַך) the log into the bitter springs (Ex 15:25, the last). The only other occurence of shalak in Ex 1-15? When God tells Moses to cast his staff onto the ground to turn into a nahash/tahneen (Ex 4:3, 7:9-12). Thus, the understanding of the word תַּ נִּין as sea-dragons fits in nicely with the theme of water, life and death; the תַּ נִּין are sea creatures, one devours the others, foretelling the destruction of Egypt and the salvation of Israel. What appears to be a miraculous sign to demonstrate Moses/Aaron’s prophetic credentials to Pharaoh (7:8-9), becomes the means by which Pharaoh’s heart is hardened and the destruction of his kingdom is foretold (7:12b-13); life—>death.

12

13. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol. 13, Annotated edition edition (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2004), 575-78. While the Babylonian sea goddess’ name, Tiamat, is not the source of the Hebrew word t^ehōm, the words appear to be lexically related.

14. On the other hand, the fact that Aaron’s staff devours all of the staffs of the “wise men and the sorcerers and…the magicians”—and we don’t know just how many sorcerers and magicians there were—seems to imply at least that Aaron’s staff had to turn into a much larger than average serpent.