Dragon

Scripture references: Isaiah 27:1; 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3; 32:2; Psalm 74:13–14; Revelation 12:3–9, 13–17; 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13; 20:2–10

The Hebrew and Greek terms, תַּנִּין (tannin) is the sea-monster, dragon, or serpent, overlapping with Leviathan and with the crocodile (Pharaoh-as-tannin in Ezekiel). The Greek δράκων (drakon) is the dragon of Revelation, derived from a root meaning "to see sharply", the all-seeing serpentine creature. The tannin/dragon occupies the intersection of the sea-chaos mythology of the ancient Near East (where chaos powers threatened creation) and the explicit theological identification in Revelation with the personal adversary.

The dragon YHWH has already pierced, Isaiah 51:9, "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?" Israel calls on the arm of YHWH that cut Rahab and pierced the dragon, events understood as the Exodus (when the sea was divided and Pharaoh's army drowned). Egypt = Rahab, the chaos power; the dragon = the sea-monster associated with Egypt. YHWH has already done this once; the prayer is for the same arm to act again. The dragon has been pierced; the wound is already given; the redemption has precedent.

The day YHWH slays the dragon, Isaiah 27:1, "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 that is in the sea." The final-day version of what Isaiah 51 announces as already accomplished in principle. Leviathan the fleeing serpent and the dragon in the sea are both named in the same verse, the chaos-enemy whom YHWH will finish with his great sword. The dragon's death is the eschatological event that closes the current age.

The great red dragon, Revelation 12:3–4, "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth." The dragon in Revelation has royal insignia (seven heads, ten horns, diadems) and cosmic power (a third of the stars swept with its tail). It pursues the woman clothed with the sun and her child.

The dragon identified, Revelation 12:9, "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." Revelation 12:9 is the clearest identification in all of Scripture: the dragon = the ancient serpent = the devil = Satan = the deceiver of the whole world. All the serpent imagery from Genesis 3 (the ancient serpent) through the sea-dragon of Isaiah 27 through Pharaoh-as-tannin in Ezekiel through the accuser of Zechariah 3 converges in the dragon's explicit naming.

Bound for a thousand years, Revelation 20:2–3, "And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer." Then released, then cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10). The dragon's end: eternal fire, not eternal power.

The dragon is the ancient serpent made explicit, named in Isaiah as the sea-monster YHWH has already pierced (at the Exodus) and will finally slay, and named in Revelation as the great red dragon who is the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, and the deceiver. The Sanctum holds it as Canon-tier: the tannin of Isaiah's past and future sword, named and bound and cast into fire in Revelation 20.