Planet Rahab - Part II - Return of the Dragon

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?' ". (Genesis 3:1)

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"And the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel' ". (Genesis 3: 14-15)

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"And another sign appeared in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his head were seven diadems . . . And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him . . . And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child . . . And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus . . . And he (the dragon) stood on the sand of the seashore. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were seven diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names . . . And the dragon gave (the beast) his power and his throne and great authority . . . And (the world) worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast, and who can wage war with him?' " (Revelation 12:3 - 13:4)

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"And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence . . . And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are the spirits of demons, performing signs, to gather them (the nations) together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty".l (Revelation 13:11 - 16:14)

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"And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse (Jesus), and against His army . . . And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence . . . these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire . . . And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him, who sat upon the horse . . . And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed, and after these things he must be released for a short time . . . And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth . . . to gather them together for the war . . . and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever". (Revelation 19:19 - 20:10)

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Scripture introduces us to the evil one three chapters into Genesis, and reveals to us his final fate two chapters before the end of Revelation. We know that God made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and that he looked at what He made and called it good. For some reason scripture does not tell us exactly when the angels were made, or when rebellion first came to part of that race, or why God allowed that rebellion to eventually infect mankind. We know that angels are spirit beings and that their chief residence is not on earth, but that they can come to earth and interact with it. It appears to me that there must be a lot of time elapsed in the unrevealed history of the evil one prior to his deception of Eve, and that clues to part of it can be found in Ezekiel's 28th chapter. It starts with a description of the prideful human leader of the ancient and important island city/nation of Tyre, and then in verses 11 - 19 it describes the ultimate source of that type of pride, which many Biblical scholars believe is a reference to the evil one. In verse 14 it says that "You were the anointed cherub who covers".

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The cherubim seem to be a class or type of angel charged with protecting, or limiting access to, the holy presence of God. In Genesis 3:24, after God drove man out of the garden of Eden, "He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned in every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life". The tree of life, later seen in the New Jerusalem, is or represents then something much more than just a fruit tree. There were two gold cherubim placed on top of the mercy seat, present in the Holy of Holies in the wilderness tabernacle, and in Solomon's temple there were embroidered two giant cherubim into the fabric covering the inner sanctuary. Although those were not actual angels, they represented the ones who were guardians before the real and awesome presence of God, His glory residing in the most holy place of the wilderness tabernacle, and later for a time in the first temple. In the 1st chapter of Ezekiel there is a description of the four living creatures, identified later in verse 10:15 as cherubim, and they carry what appears to be the throne of God, and they reside in, and transport, the brightness of the glory of God. It was from such a class of beings that one rebelled. This one is a deceiver and a destroyer, who was beautiful in appearance, and who had close access to the glory and majesty and very presence of the Almighty, but who became filled with pride because of his beauty, and desired for himself the worship and awe due to God alone. For some reason God did not stop the rebellion at its beginning, allowing instead the enemy to bring lies and distortion and even accusations against Almighty God, leading to the rebellion of both angels and man from the path of light, truth, and life. The result has been corruption and destruction, pain and sorrow, to both created beings and to the rest of creation.

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We have an account in Genesis of a serpent who talks to Eve. Although there is not a description of what that serpent looked like, I will guess that it was much different than our picture of a snake hanging from an apple tree. Through the Old Testament the same Hebrew root word, tannin, could be translated either serpent, meaning our picture of a snake, or dragon, as in a sea monster or a large serpent like creature with legs and wings, possibly breathing fire. Perhaps this was even a class of dinosaur, alive before most types (but apparently not all) were destroyed at the flood. It seems that although this serpent/dragon was more crafty than other created beasts, possibly even able to speak, it was not just the beast by himself, but the beast being used as a tool of the evil one, who deceived Eve. The physical judgment came to the beast, changing its form to become snake like and having to eat dust all the days of its life. But the spiritual judgment is carried through the seed of the evil one, who used the serpent/dragon to deceive. The types then go on throughout scripture. The evil one is pictured as a dragon, the evil source and power behind other beasts, who may be nations or kingdoms or individual rulers who oppose the people of God.

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This helps us to better understand the references to Rahab that occur in Job 9 and 26, Psalm 87 and 89, and in Isaiah 30 and 51. There are people who mistakenly interpret Rahab as being a planet that was between Mars and Jupiter, and that planet was the the dwelling place of the evil one. They interpret certain references in scripture in interesting ways. The 10 precious stones in their settings of the ruler of Tyre as seen in Ezekiel 28 are 10 planets. The 5th planet was Rahab, where the evil one ruled, until it was split apart by God, becoming the asteroid belt. One of those asteroids hit earth, causing the moon to come out of it, and making the earth formless and void, the condition we see between verse I and 2 of Genesis. The evil one still resides in another of those asteroids, called wormwood, and he will be cast to earth with his asteroid in the Day of the Lord. The amber stone represents the planet Saturn, which is seen as the location of Heaven, its rings as being the glory around the throne, and the cherubim in Ezekiel are really the first 4 visible planets, the wheels within the wheels being their orbits. Now I agree that our solor system, the location of the stars, the moving of comets, the rotations and orbits of them all, are planned and laid out by God. In them He has put representations and marked time, and our understanding of the signs in the sun and moon and stars has largely been corrupted. But the planet Rahab people are taking each of those scriptures out of their context, making up an imaginary world. Yet in studying the scriptures to check on their interesting claims, I have gained a little better insight into the description of the evil one as a dragon, and the powers that that oppose Israel and God's people as beasts.

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In both places in Job the word Rahab has been translated "pride" in the Septuagint translation. And we can certainly associate pride with the evil one. But Rahab is also connected with the name of a mythological beast found in the traditions of the early Mid-East civilizations. This was a large, sea dwelling beast, with multiple heads. Perhaps in the early centuries following the flood there actually were large, multi-headed dinosaur related, sea creatures that dominated their area and terrified the human inhabitants, and that there is some truth in the myth. The references to Rahab are all connected to the water, with the idea that God has conquered Rahab and is in control of the water, and thus also in control of the destiny of His people. Rahab might then be seen as an ancient sea serpent/sea dragon, an enemy of God, who God has defeated. Allusions can then be made, for example, to the deliverance of Noah from the flood, and also to compare a nation such as Egypt, which oppressed the Jewish people, to the beast Rahab. God delivers them through the waters of the Red Sea, crushing Pharaoh and his army in that sea.

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In Job 26: 12-13 it says; "He quieted the sea with His power, and by His understanding He shattered Rahab (defeated the sea monster). By His breath the heavens are cleared (the sky, not space); His hand pierced the fleeing serpent". In Psalm 89: 9-11 it says; "Thou dost rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, Thou dost still them. Thou Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain. Thou dost scatter Thy enemies with Thy mighty arm". In Isaiah 30: 6-7 it says; "Through a land of distress and anguish. From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys. And their treasures on camels humps, to a people who cannot profit them, even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her Rahab who has been exterminated". And lastely from Isaiah 51: 9-13; "Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not Thou who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon? Was it not Thou who dried up the sea. The waters of the great deep; Who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over? So the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion; And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away". HEH! When you look at the use of Rahab in its context you don't need a degree in theology or a special revelation from God to understand the meaning.