Exegesis Project: Gods Animals
By
Shelby Clark
Religion 113: Old Testament Faith and History
Dr. Knauth
4 November 2014
Exegesis Project: Gods Animals
In Biblical history, animal cruelty is a controversial subject. One can see this in the story of Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22. Balaam beats his donkey three times after she did not follow his commands, and afterwards was still given permission from God to continue his journey. There are several cases today, and in the Bible, in which cruelty to animals occurs and not much, if any, punishment for the action is given. Some may question, “Why is this an issue?” By using certain sources one can show that humans were made superior to animals and in the image of God, which gives…show more content… God also created all living things, including humans and animals. Although humans were made in the image of God, animals were given a special gift too. Their ability to feel pleasure and pain can be seen in the lines, “…great prominence is given to demonstrating God’s mercy to animals, and to the importance of not causing them pain…Even the necessary inflicting of pain is frowned upon as ‘cruel’” (Kaplan, 166). As one can see, the laws set forth in both Genesis and Exodus aim to protect the “rights of animals.” “God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle and all kinds of creeping things of the earth…let us make man in our image…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground” (Genesis 1:25-26) God created all things on earth and gave man the responsibility of caring for those things. It is shown that man is God’s greatest creation; he was made in the image of God and has dominion over all the rest of God’s creation. Animals and humans are the only beings with the ability to feel pleasure and pain, which leads to the creation of laws for issues of animal cruelty in Exodus. The laws regarding the treatment of animals are scattered throughout the book of Exodus. According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, “the moral and legal rules concerning the treatment of…show more content… Compared to biblical times, the harsher laws and consequences concerning animal maltreatment have improved the treatment of animals. Organizations such as the ASPCA and other animal law enforcements give a voice to the voiceless. Other organizations for animal activists take a stand and go as far as becoming vegetarians and vegans to protest the mal treatment of animals. Although there are still those involved in these awful crimes of animal abuse, there are laws and consequences for those actions. In the United States animal cruelty laws vary throughout each state. The most common animals who are victimized are dogs, cats, horses, and other livestock (Animal Cruelty Facts and Statistics). Currently, all fifty states have laws involving felony for those who abuse animals. Before the 1980’s however, only four states including Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Michigan, had animal cruelty laws that enacted felony laws (Animal Cruelty Facts and Statistics). Since then, the crime of animal cruelty has had a steady decrease. However, there are not many laws controlling large company’s treatment of animals. Today, factory-grown animals or “meat” live lives of pain. Most of these animals are put into small cages with no room to move, they are pumped full of food and growth hormones, chickens and turkey often get their beaks cut off, and all are slaughtered without anesthesia (Norcross). This maltreatment