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By William Van Zyl
Published September 29, 2026
DON’T MISS THE AMAZING VIDEO OF AN OCTOPUS ESCAPING FROM A FISHING BOAT AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE.
When God Uses the Unexpected
I have recently been reading the Apocrypha and other ancient writings, and I came across something that stopped me in my tracks.
It was the story of a strange creature from the sea.
A creature with extraordinarily long arms.
According to the Book of Jasher, it came out of the sea and entered Egypt during Moses’ plagues.
The creature was called Sulanuth.
Could this be what later generations might have called a Kraken?
The possibility is fascinating.
But even more fascinating to me is the thought behind the story:
How creative is God when He chooses to intervene in human affairs?
A Creature from the Sea
In Jasher chapter 80, the account describes a succession of creatures being sent against Egypt. Flies, hornets, fleas, bugs, gnats, reptiles and other creatures came upon the Egyptians.
Then something unusual happens.
The Egyptians retreat into their houses and lock their doors.
And then, according to Jasher:
“God ordered the Sulanuth which was in the sea, to come up and go into Egypt.”
The text describes the creature as having extremely long arms—ten cubits long—and says it climbed onto the roofs, uncovered the rafters and flooring, and reached into the houses.
It then removed the locks and bolts, opening the houses so that the swarms of insects could enter.
ABOVE IMAGE: The Sulanuth. LENGTH: 10 cubits = 4.572 meters (frequently cited as about 15 feet in biblical texts like Exodus 26:16.
That is an extraordinary picture.
The Egyptians had closed their doors.
They had tried to protect themselves.
But according to Jasher, God simply used something from the sea to open the doors they had closed.
The creature became part of the judgement.
Is This the Kraken?
The word Kraken does not come from the Book of Jasher. The famous Kraken belongs primarily to Scandinavian maritime folklore and is traditionally described as an enormous sea creature resembling a giant squid or octopus.
Descriptions developed over centuries. The creature became associated particularly with the waters around Norway and Iceland. Later accounts portrayed it as enormous enough to threaten ships.
Interestingly, real animals may have contributed to the Kraken tradition.
Giant squid are real.
Large octopuses are real.
And enormous deep-sea cephalopods have certainly existed.
The Natural History Museum notes that large, rarely seen cephalopods could have helped inspire stories of gigantic sea monsters, particularly when sailors encountered strange remains washed onto beaches.
So when I use the word Kraken here, I am using it as a modern descriptive term for the extraordinary sea creature described in Jasher—not claiming that the biblical-era creature was historically known by the Scandinavian name Kraken.
But Was It Really an Octopus?
This is where the question becomes particularly interesting.
Jasher does not simply say:
“There was a symbolic creature.”
The account presents the Sulanuth as an actual creature.
It comes out of the sea.
It travels into Egypt.
It climbs onto roofs.
It tears through rafters.
It reaches into houses.
It removes locks and bolts.
And then the insects enter.
According to the text, this is not a dream or vision.
The text presents it as something that actually happened.
Could such a creature have existed?
We cannot establish that from the available historical or zoological evidence.
No established scientific evidence supports an octopus with ten cubit-long arms—roughly several metres, depending on the cubit used—that could leave the sea, climb Egyptian buildings, and manipulate door bolts.
So I would be cautious about declaring:
“This was definitely a giant octopus.”
But I am equally fascinated by the possibility that an ancient writer was attempting to describe something he understood as a real creature.
And that leads us to an intriguing passage in the Psalms.
David Mentions the Coasts
Psalm 105 recounts the mighty works God performed in Egypt.
David writes:
“He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.”
— Psalm 105:31, KJV
The word translated “coasts” in the King James Version means boundaries, borders or territory. Modern translations generally render it as “territory,” “country”, or “borders.”
That is important.
The verse does not necessarily mean coastal towns in the modern sense of the Word.
The Hebrew term refers broadly to a boundary or territory.
So we should not build an argument on the assumption that David specifically meant Egypt’s seashore.
Nevertheless, the wording catches my attention.
“In all their coasts.”
And when I place that beside Jasher’s account of the Sulanuth coming from the sea, I cannot help wondering whether there could be some connection.
Was the creature simply part of an ancient tradition explaining the plague?
Was it symbolic?
Was there an extraordinary animal involved?
Or was Jasher preserving a tradition that we simply cannot independently verify today?
We don’t know.
And I think it is perfectly acceptable to leave the question open.
The Canonical Account Is Different
There is another important distinction.
The canonical book of Exodus does not mention a Kraken, octopus or Sulanuth.
Exodus simply tells us that God brought the plagues upon Egypt.
Regarding the fourth plague, Scripture says swarms of flies came upon Pharaoh’s house, the houses of his servants, and throughout the land.
Psalm 105 looks back upon those events and declares:
“He spake…”
And then the creatures came.
That phrase is enormously significant.
He spoke.
God did not need a complicated mechanism.
He spoke.
And creation responded.
God Has an Unlimited Toolbox
This is what fascinates me most.
When God wants to accomplish something, He is not restricted to the methods we would choose.
He can use water.
Wind.
Fire.
Darkness.
Light.
Animals.
Birds.
Insects.
Fish.
Clouds.
Rain.
Hail.
A shepherd’s staff.
A tiny stone.
A trumpet.
A donkey.
A giant fish.
A burning bush.
A whirlwind.
A star.
Or something we have never imagined.
The Bible repeatedly demonstrates the astonishing variety of God’s methods.
When He wanted to bring judgment upon Egypt, He did not have to send an army.
He could use frogs.
Flies.
Gnats.
Locusts.
Hail.
Darkness.
And, if the Jasher account is to be taken literally, even a remarkable creature from the sea.
The Great I AM Is Creative
Perhaps we underestimate God’s creativity.
We think of God as powerful.
Certainly He is.
We think of God as omniscient.
Certainly He is.
We think of God as eternal.
Certainly He is.
But God is also the ultimate Creator.
Look at creation.
Some creatures are so strange they seem almost imaginary.
The octopus itself is astonishing.
Eight arms.
Suction cups.
Remarkable camouflage.
Complex nervous systems.
Problem-solving abilities.
A soft body that can squeeze through incredibly small spaces.
Then consider the deep ocean.
Creatures that human beings hardly knew existed until modern exploration.
The ocean is filled with strange and wonderful forms of life.
And suddenly the question becomes:
If God can create an ordinary octopus, what could He do with an extraordinary one?
God’s Creativity Can Bless or Judge
The Bible shows that God’s creative power can operate in very different ways.
Creation can become a blessing.
The rain falls.
The earth produces food.
Fish fill the sea.
Birds fill the sky.
The sun gives light.
Water sustains life.
But creation can also become an instrument of judgement.
In Egypt, the Nile became blood.
The land was filled with frogs.
Insects swarmed.
Locusts consumed vegetation.
Hail destroyed crops.
Darkness covered the land.
The created order that normally sustains humanity became an instrument of divine judgment.
That is a sobering thought.
The same Creator who provides the world we live in can also show that He is not controlled by the world He created.
A God Who Thinks Outside Our Box
I find something else in the story fascinating.
The Egyptians closed their doors.
They thought the doors would protect them.
But the creature came from somewhere they didn’t expect.
The sea.
The roof became an entrance.
The locked door became irrelevant.
The rafters became vulnerable.
The very architecture intended to protect the people became part of the pathway through which the judgment entered.
Whether we take the Jasher account as historical, traditional or symbolic, there is a powerful lesson here:
We cannot put God inside our boxes.
Human beings think in systems.
God is not confined by our systems.
We think:
This is impossible.
God says:
“Watch what I can do.”
We think:
There is no way through.
God makes a way.
We think:
The door is locked.
God can use the roof.
The Unexpected Instruments of God
The Bible contains some wonderfully unexpected instruments.
Moses had a staff.
David had a sling.
Samson had a donkey’s jawbone.
Gideon had a small army.
Elijah had ravens bringing food.
Jonah had a great fish.
Balaam had a donkey that became part of a divine encounter.
Jesus used mud and saliva to heal a blind man.
Again and again, God shows that effectiveness isn’t necessarily in the instrument.
The power belongs to Him.
The instrument simply becomes the means through which His purpose is accomplished.
And What About the Kraken?
So, was there really a giant octopus in ancient Egypt?
I don’t know.
Was the Sulanuth of Jasher an actual creature?
The text presents it as real, but we don’t have enough independent evidence to establish it as historical fact.
Could the story have preserved a memory of some extraordinary marine creature?
Perhaps.
Could it be a symbolic or legendary elaboration of the biblical plague tradition?
That is also possible.
Could God have created and used such a creature if He chose to?
From a biblical perspective, there is no difficulty in saying that the Creator can create whatever creature He chooses.
But perhaps the greater lesson is not whether we can prove the Kraken.
Perhaps the greater lesson is this:
God is creative beyond our imagination.
The Great I AM
When Moses stood before Pharaoh, he did not come representing a small local deity.
He came representing I AM.
The God who created the heavens and the earth.
The God who separated light from darkness.
The God who commanded the waters.
The God who created every creature of the sea.
The God who can speak—and creation responds.
Psalm 105 repeatedly uses the words:
“He spake…”
He spoke—and the water changed.
He spoke—and frogs came.
He spoke—and insects came.
He spoke—and hail came.
He spoke—and locusts came.
The emphasis is not ultimately on the insects.
It is on the One who commanded them.
Perhaps That’s the Real Mystery
Maybe the most amazing thing about the Kraken story is not the Kraken.
It is the God behind the story.
A God whose creativity is so immense that we are still discovering the wonders of His creation.
A God who can use the smallest creature or the greatest force of nature.
A God who can bless through creation.
A God who can judge through creation.
A God who can open a way where no way appears to exist.
And a God who does not have to work according to the methods we expect.
The Book of Jasher gives us a strange and fascinating picture of a creature from the sea entering Egypt and opening what human beings had locked.
Whether the Sulanuth was a literal creature, an ancient tradition, or a description we can no longer fully understand, it has certainly given me something to think about.
Because perhaps there is a lesson hidden beneath the tentacles:
Never underestimate the Creator’s creativity.
The Great I AM is not limited by our imagination.
He created the oceans.
He created the creatures within them.
He created the heavens above us.
He created the earth beneath our feet.
And when He chooses to act in human history, He can use the ordinary, the extraordinary, the small, the enormous, the visible, the invisible—or something we have never even considered.
The question is not:
“Could God use a Kraken?”
The greater question is:
“What could the Great I AM do that I have not yet imagined?”
And that, perhaps, is where the real mystery begins.
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Just for fun:
Copyright © 2026 by William Van Zyl
The Kraken
All rights reserved. This eBook/article or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
without the publisher’s permission, except for using brief quotations in a book review.
Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)
First published, September 2026
More eBooks and articles are available at https://fivehousepublishing.com/
More about the author at http://williamvanzyl.com/
