There is a current movie about Noah that has drawn a torrent of criticisms. Scripture records which animals were to be put on the ark and how many of each and especially how many of the \u201cunclean\u201d creatures or those that were unsuitable for food. Unclean doesn\u2019t actually mean it\u2019s wrong, just not suitable for food because it consumes carrion (road-kill). It was not just \u201ctwo by two\u201d More \u201ctrash disposals\u201d were taken on than those to keep the new earth clean for the survivors. Expeditions to Turkey have brought back enticing narratives of broken vessels stuck in the ice, even a Titanic-like wreck captured in a time warp. A vessel complete with hay mangers and a vast interior is claimed to have been found by one group. The photos are never clear, and the videos are puzzling for all. But the basic truth is there. The Flood did occur and animal life was preserved along with a sturdy and faithful clan, Noah and his family. After the Flood everyone left the grounded ark and the long journey of the centuries began to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob\u2019s Israel.<\/p>\n
When we see animals in our Bible readings, which ones do we see ? If you are in the UK, you will see the local breeds and stock, in America the variety will be much wider. Bible heroes are known for protecting their flocks and herds. When he declared his willingness to King Saul to confront the warrior-giant who was champion to the King of the Philistines, David testified that he had killed a bear and lion that were about to attack the flock he guarded. A shepherd used a sling for defense. The sling is a serious weapon. It is deadly accurate and in practiced hands nothing to be mocked. David won and we know the rest of the story.<\/p>\n
![\"Child-at-Zoo\"](\"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Child-at-Zoo.jpg\")
<\/a>Child-at-Zoo<\/p><\/div>\n
There are bas reliefs, statues and other images of lions which were excavated from Iraq, the Hittite cities and Assyrian sculpture. They are large and fearsome animals to say the least. They disappeared long ago, victims of ongoing desert encroachment into abandoned agricultural areas over-cut forests and excessive hunting expeditions by the ancients. Samson killed a lion Tarzan-style. Need we say more? Fatted calves, donkeys, horses and mules are part of the narratives. Just what did they look like? How big was the donkey The Messiah rode into Jerusalem? The Book says \u201cthe foal of an ass\u201d, that\u2019s an above average size animal. The animal had never been ridden; he must have known Who he was to bear into the city and been overwhelmed with the honor. \u201cLet everything that has breath praise the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 It is inferred that animals have a spirit of sort, not like ours but a spirit nonetheless. The animal just knew how to behave and bore his rider in utmost joy and dignity.<\/p>\n
Much of our view of how the Bible world and its people looked is based on 19th century art. \u201cThou shalt make no graven images \u201cwas intended to prevent the plagues of backsliding by the Israelites into idolatry and often the foreign gods took animal shape. So we have few images of actual breeds of the flora and fauna of Bible Times. What we do have are some specifics for birds such as eagles, ospreys and the like which still populate some regions of The Land. Other than that it\u2019s best guess and excavations.<\/p>\n
Escaping from a Hollywood Ark and big star cameos of Biblical characters is not easy. Our parents and their parents had 19th century European artists to base their visual perceptions of what it was like in Biblical Times. But we should strive to delve deep into understanding. People of the Bible were for the most part villagers, daily-bread subsistence farmers and fisherman and like the Native Peoples of America lived within a nature that provided much of the things for a day\u2019s food, shelter and life.\u00a0\u00a0 Animals and fish provided the materials for life and they saw a different collection of them than we see today. There are constant references to birds of the air (which ones, what color were they, what sounds did they make?). Foxes are noted having their dens, and one of the Herods is called \u201cthat fox\u201d by the Messiah. Why did He use that term? There are oxen, horses and donkeys everywhere. Balaam\u2019s donkey could talk. Messiah\u2019s donkey was given the honor of bringing the Messiah into Jerusalem and His mother to Bethlehem. What kind of donkey?<\/p>\n
Our perception of the narratives of the bible can get bigger when our visual information is better. Zoos in Israel try to give us a better vision of the animals, sizes and colors and herd sizes that the Israelites knew as part of their \u201cdaily bread\u201d lifestyle.<\/p>\n
There is a wonderful zoo in Jerusalem which works to preserve, educate and inform Israelis and visitors about animals and the wildlife and domestic animals of Israel past and present. It\u2019s worth a visit. Israelis and visitors alike are amazing in their curiosity and interest in their homeland. The amount of research, education and study that goes on in a place with a smaller land mass than almost any other nation on earth is simply overwhelming. The study of animals, connecting this study to a better understanding of the parables, metaphors and allegories that are a part of the literature of the Bible will only help us understand what was meant and intended. There are plenty of resources and very few excuses for not learning and it will be quite an experience.
\nZoos are about sight, smell and sound. Biblical zoos in Israel help us use our senses to help us get closer to the times, events, and miracles that we read about and that even the best special effects can only pretend to portray. If you can find a local zoo that has a collection of animals that have a Bible story attached, try to visit and bring your Bible for a guide, you can\u2019t go wrong.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Tom Brennan Biblical Zoos in Israel and why we should know about the animals mentioned in Scripture. There is a current movie about Noah that has drawn a torrent of criticisms. Scripture records which animals were to be put on the ark and how many of each and especially how many of the \u201cunclean\u201d more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[218,219,627,75,625,631,125,217],"class_list":{"0":"post-1483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-biblical-spiritual","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-animals-of-the-bible","10":"tag-biblical-spiritual","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israeli-news","13":"tag-israeli-life","14":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","15":"tag-noahs-ark","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}