The crocodile is potentially malignant and a threatening force and, very likely, its capacity to incarnate a divine being depends upon this dangerousness. At a certain time, and in certain places, the Fayyum people started to worship it, preferring to pacify its nature through offerings instead of fighting it.

Sobek of Shedet The Crocodile God in the Fayyum in the Dynastic Period by Marco Zecchi (via obsidianservant)