Animals of the Bible
Author: Joan Harman
August 27, 2021
This week let's think
of the animals of the Bible. We spend a
lot of time thinking about the top animal in the food chain-US.
Today let's mull over
the rest of the animal kingdom. I read
about animals in various contexts this week. One newspaper account was about a Canadian geologist who may have found
sponge fossils dating close to a billion years old in rocks in the Northwest
Territories. A nature magazine article
is cheerleading wasps as important pollinators. In a John Green book of essays, I read one in which he mentions how
short a time human has been on earth compared to many other species.
The 4 common animal
species in my life now are house pets (dogs and cats) birds at our feeders, and
an anole lizard family in our front yard.
Most of the
people-tolerating animals have long entries in Bible concordances. Wild animals get lots of coverage, as do
sheep. My ethnic background is northern
European, those meat and potato eaters. The meat I grew up with wasn't sheep and the potato is not indigenous to
Bible lands (refer back to last week's writing about plants of Bible lands).
Nevertheless, I can
thank God for the meat on the table, the herders who raise the animals, and
everyone along the system who slaughters it and prepares it for my eating.
Bible quiz of the
week: Here are the clues:
1.Mary had a little
___ and Baa-baa black_____Luke 15:4
2. Simba _________I
Kings 20:35,36
3. Uneasy as a ____
out of water John 21:6
4. The _____ go
marching Proverbs 6:6
5. Ferocious as a she
____with cubs 1Samuel 17:34
6. 3 Little ___
Matthew 8:31, 32
7. And I did find some
relatives of our anole lizards in Leviticus 11:30
Answers: lamb, lion, fish, ants, bear, pigs,
chameleon etc.
I always become
thoughtful when I read of indigenous peoples thanking the spirit of the animal
before they kill it to eat it. And
offering the plants a bit of tobacco as thanks before they harvest plant food.
Blessings,
Joan K. Harman <><<><
joanharmank@gmail.com
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