Daily Devotional – July 15

History

What happened to the dinosaurs? The biblical explanation is that the majority were killed during the Flood of Noah. This is the reason why we find their fossilized bones buried in the rock layers that formed during the Flood. Yet, Noah was told to take land-dwelling, air-breathing creatures upon the Ark, and this would have included young, small dinosaurs. These creatures must have gone extinct after the Flood. But why? Let’s look at two modern examples; the demise of the Asian elephant and the tiger.

Today, across Asia, wild elephants are killing hundreds of people every year. Here are some accounts from just the last few years:

• In Thailand, an elephant stomped three rubber plantation workers to death.
• In Nepal, 11 people were killed by elephants in one week while gathering firewood.
• In Vietnam, a herd of elephants killed at least 10 people.

In response, villagers are fighting back, and the elephant population is shrinking with each passing year.

Back in 1819, Singapore was primarily swampland and teeming with tigers. By 1840, tigers were killing 200-300 people a year. As the city grew, 600-800 people a year were reported being killed by tigers, and a certain area was even called “Tiger Resort.” Desperate authorities offered bounties, and by 1930, the last wild tiger was shot in Singapore. It took less than 100 years for the most fearsome predator of mankind to go from killing almost 1000 people per year to complete extinction in an entire region of the world!

The parallel between the extinction of dinosaurs and the localized “extinction” of elephants and tigers is obvious. As the human population grew, dangerous dinosaurs had to be eradicated. What happened to the dinosaurs? They were quite likely hunted into extinction.

[Into the Ark went] every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. ~Genesis 7:14-15

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.