(READ: PSA. 32: 8-11; MAT. 8:28-34; JER. 13:23; John 10:1-18.)
SA 32:8-11{AT 8:28-34{ER 13:23{OH 10:1-18{
OUR friendly talks on animals of the Bible are drawing to a close, but there are a few more about which I should like to have a little chat.
There is one creature that can hardly be passed by in silence—the serpent—for legend affirms that this was one of the most beautiful of all the animal creation, and clever as it was beautiful. Its very attractiveness made Satan choose it as his agent when he wanted to tempt man to disobey God. By means of this beautiful creature, which was wise (the Bible says "subtle"), he suggested to Eve that it was possible for her to have what God had denied. Eve was tempted and fell, we all know the sad story—but the serpent did not escape unpunished, for its beauty was taken from it and forever after it was destined to crawl and wriggle on the ground.
In its present form we regard the serpent as a reptile, and so it passes from our sight, just warning us as it goes of the folly of being misled by good looks or a pleasing exterior. Shakespeare, the greatest English poet, truly says:
"So may the outward shows be least themselves:
The world is still deceiv'd with ornament,”
but the whole truth is better and more forcibly expressed in the words of Scripture in a passage which I have already quoted in an earlier chapter, but to which I must again draw your attention: "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." I fear all of us are often misled by judging by exteriors only.
There are four more animals that I want to bring to your notice, namely: (1)The horse.
The pig.
The leopard.
The wolf.
(1)the Horse
It might have been thought that an animal which we hold in as high esteem as the horse, one of the friends of man, would have been deemed worthy of a chapter to itself, but the ordinary domestic duties, which are undertaken by the horse in our land, as we have already noticed, largely fall to the lot of the ass and the ox in Palestine.
The Bible does not give the horse a very high place, for it is usually associated with warfare rather than peace; indeed, a definite command was given that when a king was appointed he was not to multiply horses to himself (Deut. 17:16), while in the conquest of Palestine there was much slaughter and maiming of horses by the children of Israel.
That the horse was largely used in warfare cannot be doubted, for they not only drew the war chariots, but were also employed as cavalry. After the Egyptians had been engulfed in the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel in their song of rejoicing used these words: "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." (Ex. 15:1) The great prophet Elijah, who had fought so many battles for Jehovah, was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire. (2 Kings 2:1.)
In the Book of Revelation (Rev. 6.) the horse seems to speak of God's power, and in that sixth chapter we read of four horses of different colors, white, red, black and pale, the white speaking of the victory of the Lord Himself, while the red seems to suggest bloodshed and the taking away of peace from the earth, the black signifies famine, and the pale horse the plague and pestilence that so often follow warfare and famine.
From a verse in the Psalms we can learn a definite lesson, for we are told, "Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding," and we find they have to be kept in order with bit and bridle, whereas God would look for an understanding heart in us, He does not want to use the bit or the bridle or the rod of correction, He would like us to be so in the knowledge of His will that He can say to us, "I will guide thee with mine eye." Even as a son in sympathy with a parent can discern his wishes by just a glance, so God would have us in full sympathy with His thoughts. "Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding.”
(2)the Pig the Pig Was Forbidden to the Jews As Being One of the "Unclean" Creatures; and We Regard It As Dirtier in Its Habits Than Most Other Animals; Indeed, We Sometimes Hear of People Being Called "Pigs" When They Are Particularly Unpleasant in Their Habits.
The Lord Jesus performed many miracles which gave men back their health or life, but only two are recorded where destruction took place, these being the withering of the fig tree, and the devils being allowed to go into the "herd of many swine," which thereupon ran down a steep place into the sea and were drowned.
Why did He permit the destruction of these pigs? I think it was because the Jews had no right to keep them, for in so doing they were disobeying God's law. When the owners saw the fate of the pigs, did they realize their sin? No, their only thought seems to have been that they had lost a source of income, so that instead of confessing their fault and seeking forgiveness, they besought the Lord Jesus that He would depart out of their coasts. They preferred their unlawful trading to the presence of the Son of God. Put that way it sounds distinctly bad, does it not? But are we never guilty of considering our own interests first, of desiring to get on in this world at all costs, rather than to be ready to sacrifice those things that conscience tells us are "unclean" in the sight of heaven?
It is a great thing to be able to put first things first. "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”
How sad it is after having been converted, and having put our trust in the Lord Jesus, having recognized how much there is in this world in which we can take no part—if after all this we turn back again to those things of which we know He cannot approve. This is likened by the Apostle Peter in his second epistle to the "sow that was washed" returning "to her wallowing in the mire.”
Surely if we have been washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, we should earnestly pray to be preserved from any return in thought, word, or deed to anything that is contrary to His will.
(3)the Leopard That the Leopard Is a Very Beautiful Beast We Should Probably All Agree, and It Is One of the Few Wild Animals That Even Young Children Would Be Able to Recognize. How Would You Know a Leopard? by Its Spots, of Course. and It Is by Those Very Spots That Scripture Would Teach Us a Lesson.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" is a question asked by the prophet Jeremiah, and surely the answer to both questions is "No." However much a black man would like to change the color of his skin he cannot—black he must remain. In the same way the spots cannot be removed from the sleek coat of the leopard. Is it hard to find a moral in all this? I think not, for it is that we have a nature which we cannot alter. As children of Adam we are sinners, and though the great Apostle Paul when speaking of himself as viewed by his fellow men could say that as touching the law he was a Pharisee, and touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless (Phil. 3:5,6), when under the full rays of divine light he had to confess "In me [that is, in my flesh] dwelleth no good thing." (Rom. 7:18.)
Great apostle though he was, favored servant of the Lord Jesus, he still had that sinful nature in him which he could not change any more than the leopard his spots.
Divine grace could enable him to conquer the workings of human nature, but not to remove it, and this only made him the more dependent on the Lord Jesus.
The greatest saint of God would be the first to say with sorrow how often he failed, how often his natural self asserted itself; others might not see his failings, but he would be conscious of them; he would, however, be able to point to the One who said, "My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Let us not be led aside by those who would suggest that we can get a new nature, and that we can so improve ourselves as to be fit for the presence of God. We can only be fit for Him by virtue of the death of the Lord Jesus; there must be new birth.
(4)the Wolf This Dread Beast Is Found in Many Parts of the World, and Even in Europe Numbers Are Still at Large. in Former Days It Was a Terror to the English Countryside, Until Finally Destroyed As Far As This Land Is Concerned in the Fourteenth Century.
With all its fierceness, it is not only exceedingly crafty, but it is also very cowardly, and does not usually attack singly or where there is any chance of its coming off second best. It is very fearful of anything it does not understand, or that seems to suggest a trap, and this has sometimes helped men to escape from its terrible fangs, fangs that snap together like a pair of pincers.
The combination of fierceness, craftiness, destructiveness and cowardice makes the wolf a fitting picture of the wicked, and in the Bible this animal is alluded to as "ravening," for it has murder in its heart, and it seeks to destroy life, life that may be good and useful.
You remember when our Lord speaks about Himself as the good Shepherd, the One who is prepared to lay down His life for the sheep, He speaks of the wolf as the scatterer of the sheep. Even as the wolf seeks to scatter the sheep, to destroy the peace of the fold, so the wicked, the agents of Satan, would seek to sow dissension and strife amongst the followers of the Lord Jesus, to destroy their faith, and to substitute discord for peace and joy.
Fortunately the good Shepherd cares for His sheep, and will not allow any one to steal them. It is only when the sheep strays from the fold that it is in danger, and even then so great is the love of the true Shepherd that He will search after that one sheep "until he find it.”
What a comfort it is to feel that there is One who thus cares for us! But may we be preserved from doing anything that would help in the bad work of scattering the sheep.
Another scripture, which we have not read, warns us to "beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matt. 7:15.) Outwardly harmless, actually bent on destruction, and so once again we must not be misled by a fair exterior. The great test is the Bible, and if we hear people preaching or saying what is not in the Bible we must suspect them of being wolves in sheep's clothing.
Even as the fierce animals of the Bible may remind us of all the powers of evil with which we are surrounded, they may also help to make us realize how powerless we are of ourselves to offer effective resistance, and so they should make us remember that there is One alone whom we can trust fully.
We can then pass on to consider the lessons taught by those animals that are useful, that do their daily work, and this may lead us to ask that very good question: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
Then we might linger for a moment over the smallest of the animals about which we have talked, and remember that it was exceedingly wise, and this in itself gives us a picture of God's kingdom, where not many mighty are called. The Lord Jesus set a little child in the midst of those who took the place of being wise, and said: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
So I would like each reader of these pages to know something of true wisdom, and to do that they must know something of the One who was declared to be "the power of God, and the wisdom of God"
(1 Cor. 1:24), in whom "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2:3.)
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