This article first appeared in The Banner of Truth Magazine
John Stott famously wrote that “many Christians have a good doctrine of redemption, but need a better doctrine of creation,” and urged people to be ornithologists or what he called, tongue-in-cheek, orni-theologists, in light of Jesus's command to Consider the birds.1 If we love the Bible we should not only be ornithologists but zoologists too, to some extent, as the Bible mentions over 120 species in its pages.2
That is not so easy for many of us today who live in urban settings and see very little of animals. Some cats and dogs, a few birds and squirrels, perhaps, but little otherwise. In Jesus's day far more people came across animals in their everyday life, whether living in the countryside or in the town. Certainly Jesus interacts with and speaks about many animals. Camels, chickens, dogs, donkeys, fish, foxes, goats, oxen, scorpions, sheep, snakes, sparrows, vultures, wolves. Nearly a score are mentioned in the Gospels altogether.
Jesus and the animals
Most homes at that time would have been set up so that one part of the house was occupied by human beings and the other part by animals. Farmyard smells would be normal.3 We know that when Jesus was born, there was no room where humans normally slept and so he was born among the animals and at first placed in a manger, originally designed for feeding animals. Because of that setting a tradition has developed that oxen and donkeys were present at the birth. That cannot be proved, any more than we can be certain that Joseph and Mary travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem on a donkey rather than on foot.4 However, the reference to shepherds in Luke 2 alerts us to the fact that they were looking after sheep near the place where Jesus was born.5
Luke tells us that when Jesus was six weeks old his poor parents sacrificed two young doves or pigeons at the Temple, as required by the law.6 The sacrificial system would have brought many Jews into regular contact with animals. The smell of blood, offal and roasting meat would have been familiar to Jewish people.
It would seem that Jesus cleansed the Temple at least twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of his ministry. In John 2:14, 15 it specifically says that In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.7
As he grew up, it is likely that Jesus would have interacted with and observed various animals, although there is no direct evidence for this.
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was baptised by John, a man whose very basic diet consisted of locusts and wild honey made by wild bees.8 John declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God pointing to him as the Passover Lamb.9 When John had baptised Jesus, a dove descended on the Messiah symbolising his anointing by the Spirit.10 Straight after his baptism he was thrust out by the Spirit into the wilderness to be confronted by the Devil. Mark 1:12, 13 says that during those forty days He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.11 As in Luke 2, where shepherds, sheep and angels are referenced, it reminds us that in this universe, there are heavenly creatures who are pure spirit, animals with no immortal soul and human beings who, like Jesus, God incarnate, have a soul and a body. As C S Lewis once put it “Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.”12 The wild animals would perhaps include striped hyenas, wolves, Arabian leopards and lions.
Jesus's disciples included several fishermen and several miracles feature fish – either being caught from the lake or multiplied in order to feed multitudes.13 Tilapia were perhaps the most common fish at the time. Jesus sends out his disciples to fish for people.14 In Matthew 12:40 he refers to the great fish that swallowed and vomited out Jonah, a picture of Jesus's own resurrection.15
In the parables of the wedding feast and the prodigal son, there are references to fattened cattle used for a feast.16 Then there is Jesus casting demons into the herd of pigs, unclean animals for Jews, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The pigs then ran into the sea and drowned.17 In Luke 14:19 a man says that he cannot follow Jesus because he has just bought five yoke of oxen, and is on his way to try them out.
In the final week of his life, Jesus deliberately rides into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfil the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. A donkey rather than a horse as it speaks of a royal peace bringer.18 In many cultures the sound of the rooster or cockerel crowing is common, especially in the early morning. Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before the cockerel crows.19
Jesus's references to animals as he teaches
In the course of his teaching, Jesus makes several references to different animals. He clearly accepts that we can learn from the animal kingdom. Fish and fishing have already been mentioned but also, teaching on prayer, Jesus pointed out that if a child asks its father for a fish, he will not give them a snake, or if he asks for an egg, he will not give them a scorpion.20 Fish and snakes are both scaly, eggs and scorpions bear no obvious resemblance. Jesus might have come into contact with snakes and scorpions. Some 42 species of snake are said to exist in the area today, half of these being venomous.21 As for scorpions, 21 of the one thousand known types can be found in the area today, only five of which are poisonous. The most dangerous is the yellow scorpion or deathstalker.22 In John 3:14 Jesus refers to the bronze snake Moses held up in the wilderness, which foreshadows the cross. When the seventy or seventy-two return from their mission Jesus tells them he has given them authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm them.23 Like John, Jesus refers to the Pharisees and Sadducees and others as snakes and vipers who poison people with their false teaching.24
The biggest concentration of animal references comes perhaps in Matthew 10:16, where some four animals are mentioned. Jesus says to his disciples that he is sending them out like sheep among wolves. Therefore he says they need to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Proverbially, the latter two are known for their subtlety and for their innocence (doves are simple and transparent). Wolves were known as predators, especially against sheep.
Sheep, of course, are mentioned many times by Jesus. He tells us he is the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep.25 He also sees the people as sheep without a shepherd.26 They lack the leadership the Good Shepherd can give. In Matthew 25 there is a parable about the end of the world where the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, standing for the righteous and the wicked.27 Certain types of sheep and goats, especially in the east, can look similar and are often kept together. In Hebrew the two are not always sharply distinguished. In John 21 Peter is told by Jesus to feed and take care of his sheep and lambs.
In a striking image in Matthew 11:29, 30 Jesus calls on all to take his yoke upon them and learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For he says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The picture is of oxen, Christ and his disciple under the same easy yoke.
Using a powerful zoological image, Jesus laments over Jerusalem, saying, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.28 More than one reference is made to birds, especially sparrows, mainly to encourage believers to see that if God looks after little birds he will also look after them.29
The Canaanite woman in the Tyre and Sidon area refers to Gentiles as dogs, as does Jesus, when she asks him to heal her daughter. It was a common term in that time, Jesus is impressed with her reply.30 In Matthew 7:6 Jesus himself warns against giving what is holy to dogs or throwing pearls to pigs.31 Dogs then, of course, were not often pets but tended to be the disease ridden, wild or scavenger mongrel type.
At one time Jesus told a man who wanted to follow him that Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.32 He also refers to Herod Antipas, a deceitful destroyer, as that fox.33
A famous saying of Jesus is that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.34 A camel, probably a one humped dromedary, would be one of the biggest animals around, elephants being native to Africa and India but not, at least by that time, to the middle east.
Another saying of Jesus says Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.35 Vultures, it is well known, look for carrion. Wherever there is a dead body, they will swoop down When Jesus comes again it will be very visible and obvious.
The only other obvious reference to animal life is where Jesus, warning of hell, describes it as the place where worms do not die and the fire is not quenched.36 When a body is buried, the worms, as we say, eat it. These worms are not earth worms but maggots, which hatch from the eggs that flies lay on dead bodies. There are also “worms” that do not die, in hell, that continuously eat away at the souls of unconverted sinners.
Such references remind us that when we encounter animals, there are lessons to be learned, if we are awake to the possibility. At the very least we should have in mind the lessons that shrewd snakes, innocent doves, well fed birds, unholy dogs, foxes in their dens, yoked oxen, incongruous camels, gathering vultures and never dying worms can teach us.
Footnotes
1 John R W Stott, The Birds, Our Teachers: Essays in Orni-theology 2008
2 See the online Wikipedia article Animals in the Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_the_Bible)
3 See Kenneth E Bailey Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, cultural studies in the Gospels 2008
4 The ox and ass tradition is based on Isaiah 1:3
5 Luke 2:8-21
6 Luke 2:24
7 Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48, John 2:13-16
8 Matthew 3:4, Mark 1:6
9 John 1:29, 36; see also Revelation 5:6-13
10 Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32
11 Interestingly, in this context, when Satan quotes Psalm 91:11, 12 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. he forbears to quote the succeeding verse (13) You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Perhaps a little too close for comfort. See Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13.
12 C S Lewis, Screwtape Letters, Letter VIII, 1942
13 Matthew 14:17-21, 15:34-38; Mark 6:38-44, 8:6-9; Luke 9:13-17; John 6:9-13
14 Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17
15 Jonah is also mentioned in Luke 11:30. The species of the fish is unknown.
16 Matthew 22:4; Luke 15:23, 27, 30
17 Matthew 8:30-32; Mark 5:11-13, Luke 8:32, 33
18 Matthew 21:2-7; Mark 11:2-7; Luke 19:30-35; John 12:14, 15
19 Matthew 26:34, 74, 75; Mark 14:30, 72; Luke 22:34, 60, 61; John 13:38, 18:27
20 Matthew 7:10, Luke 11:11, 12
21 A Bar and G Haimovitch A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel 2011, 117-201
22See Hadassah University Medical Center online article (https://www.hadassah.org.il/en/er_bites_and_stings/)
23 Luke 10:19
24 Matthew 3:7, Luke 3:7; Matthew 12:34, 23:33
25 John 10:11, 14, etc
26 Matthew 9:36
27 See verses 32, 33
28 Matthew 23:37, see also Luke 13:34
29 Matthew 6:25, 26, 10:29-31. Ravens are specified in Luke 12:24 See also the passing references to birds in the parables, Matthew 13:4, 32; Mark 4:4, Luke 8:5, 13:19
30 Matthew 15:26, 27, Mark 7:27, 28
31Pigs and dogs were unclean animals under Jewish law. Pigs are pronounced unclean in Leviticus 11:7, 8.
32 Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58
33 Luke 13:32
34 Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:24, 25, Luke 18:25
35 Matthew 24:28, Luke 17:37
36 Mark 9:48, referencing Isaiah 66:24
