20150407 Tuesday, April 7 2015
Psalm 131: Amazing Bible Facts About Animals

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"As a child that is weaned of his mother"

Humans are not the largest of God's creatures - many kinds of animal life are much larger e.g. elephants and whales.

Humans are not the fastest of God's creatures - many kinds of animal life can run, fly or swim with greater speed. A cheetah can run over 60 miles per hour. A peregrine falcon can fly at over 240 miles per hour. A black marlin can swim at over 70 miles per hour.

Humans are not the strongest of God's creatures - many kinds of animal life are much stronger, including in relative terms e.g. rhinoceros beetles can lift over 700 times their bodyweight (the equivalent of a 200 pound human lifting 140,000 pounds), while dung beetles can pull over 1,000 times their body weight.

Humans are not the most long-lived of God's creatures - some animals live much longer e.g. giant tortoises have been documented to live over 180 years.

Humans are not the most intelligent of God's creatures - in all things. Animals are able to communicate and have some abilities that humans don't - the reason that humans have used animals to help them do things that animals do better.

It is widely recognized that the first humans were created from the Earth, but so were animals - before humans. The LORD created all, from the same substance, by the same means (see also The Identity Of The LORD God and The Christian Universe).

"1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:20-26 KJV)

The English-language word "soul" originated from an Anglo-Saxon word, sawel, that meant an age, as in a lifetime. The actual meaning of "soul" was physical, not something spiritual. Whether coincidence or not, that Anglo-Saxon word sounds very much like the Biblical Hebrew word, pronounced sheol, that referred to the place where physical creatures return after they have lived their lives. Both words are based upon that reality, that is described throughout the Holy Scriptures.

"Soul" is used to translate two original words of the Holy Scriptures.

The Hebrew word, pronounced nay-fesh, which literally means a breathing creature (human or animal), is variously translated as soul, life, person, mind, heart, creature, body, himself, yourselves, dead, will, desire, man, themselves and appetite.

The Greek word, pronounced psoo-kay, which literally means life's breath or breathing (see Giving Up The Ghost), is variously translated as soul, life, mind and heart.

According to God's Word, a "soul" is a living, breathing creature that eventually dies.

Humans and animals were made living by the Spirit of God from the "dust" of the Earth. When humans and animals die, they are both dead - "as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast" - until the LORD does something about it. Resurrection of the dead will be done in the same way as life was originally created, with the same Spirit of God, from the same "dust" (see the Fact Finder question below).

"2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7 KJV)

"34:14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; 34:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." (Job 34:14-15 KJV)

"3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 KJV)

Humans die, but a joyous resurrection of humans is surely coming (see the Fact Finder question below). Can or will animals be resurrected too? The Holy Bible does not specifically say, but the Holy Scriptures do plainly state that there will be animals in the Kingdom of God.

"11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:5-9 KJV)

As we've read from the Holy Scriptures, there is no difference what-so-ever in how and from what humans and animals were created, what keeps them all alive during their physical lifetimes, and what happens to all when they die. The resurrection of humans is surely coming. The resurrection of animals in general, or specific animals for a reason, by the identically-available means, is absolutely possible. It depends solely upon whether the LORD wills it, of Himself, or in response to a request from one of His then born-again children (see also What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16?), when the time comes. Nothing is impossible for God.

David was a shepherd who understood God's other creatures - and of why the LORD is called the Good Shepherd to all of the life that He created. The LORD does nothing in vain.

"131:1 A Song of degrees of David.

LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 131:2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

131:3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever." (Psalm 131:1-3 KJV)

Fact Finder: What does the Bible really say about how and when eternal life happens?
See Leaving The Soul Behind and Dust In The Wind