Animals And The Bible

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Category: Miscellaneous

Published on Friday, 27 March 2009 05:35

Written by Ryan Hicks

ANIMALS AND THE BIBLE

By Ryan Hicks

In this treatise I am not setting out to give the details of all the animals mentioned in the Bible, rather to give general examples of how animals think, feel, and act; and how the righteous should treat them..

Like every being with a body, animals have spirits and souls. That animals have spirits is seen in Ecclesiastes 3:21, which says, "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" That animals have souls is seen in Job 12:7-10, which says, "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." Also, Numbers 31:28 says, "And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep."

The very word "animal" is from the Latin word animalis, meaning "living" or anima, meaning "soul."

We can see examples of various animal's soul and spirit activities in pets; in their personalities, memories, ability to communicate their needs and wants, anger, love, knowledge, and other attributes of the soul and spirit. In Numbers 22 the prophet Balaam was going against the Lord's word and "God's anger was kindled" against Balaam (Numbers 22:22). The Lord stood in the way of Balaam's path with a sword in hand, ready to slay Balaam (Numbers 22:23). Balaam's ass refused to go any further because she saw the Lord standing there poised to slay Balaam should he go forward in his rebellion from the word of the Lord (Numbers 22:23-27). Balaam had struck the ass three times because she refused to move, and then the Lord allowed the ass to speak "with a man's voice" (2 Peter 2:16).

Let us start the story from there:

Numbers 22:28-30
28   And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
29   And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
30   And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

The Lord opened Balaam's eyes to see the Lord standing there with "his sword drawn in his hand" (Numbers 22:31). The Lord said, "And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive" (Numbers 22:33). We see many things about animals here:

1. Desire to protect their masters (Numbers 22:25-27).
2. Real feelings of concern and questioning (Numbers 22:28).
3. Understanding of punishment and unjust punishment (Numbers 22:28).
4. Personal knowledge of their place in life (Numbers 22:30).
5. Memory of events in the past (Numbers 22:30).
6. Loyalty to their masters (Numbers 22:30).

This story is one of the few in the Bible that shows the many soul and spirit attributes of an animal. They have souls that feel and have emotions, and they have spirits that know and understand. The Lord allowed the ass to say what it was thinking, and it revealed many sensible and dedicated thoughts. The text does not say that the Lord spoke through the ass, for it was clearly the ass speaking of things relating to herself and to her master. The ass showed soul faculties by expressing emotion such as anger and confusion as to why she had been struck three times (v.28), and loyalty to her master (v.30). The ass showed spirit faculties by deciding not to go forward toward the Lord in order to protect her master (v.23), by questioning Balaam (v.28, 30), and by reasoning with Balaam (v.30). All of these actions of the ass prove that animals have souls and spirits by which they feel and know.

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