As those who live in the country know, there are many kinds of cows on farms, and they are the most familiar of the large animals. Actually it is only the female that is properly called a cow; the males are more accurately referred to as bulls. It’s a very unusual cow that will attack a person, but it is always a good idea to keep a fence between yourself and a bull!
The Bible makes frequent mention of cows. We learn from Genesis 1:2525And 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. (Genesis 1:25) that “God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind,” which shows that He made a distinction between beasts of the field and domestic animals, the latter being “for the service of man,” as our opening verse states.
A cow’s stomach has four compartments. As a cow grazes in a meadow, each bite is swallowed after a small amount of chewing. This passes along to the first and second parts of the stomach where it is combined with liquids to form a “cud.” Later when resting from its grazing, the cow brings this cud back to its mouth and chews it more completely before finally swallowing it. This time the grass ends up in the third and fourth stomach parts where it is further digested.
Milk is produced and collects in the baglike underpart of the cow’s body known as the udder. When a calf is born it instinctively knows that this is the place to go to satisfy its hunger. After the calf has grown enough to eat solid foods such as grass, hay and grain, the cow continues to supply milk for the dairy man. His family will use some of it, with the rest going to market where it can also be converted into butter, cottage cheese and other dairy products. We should often thank the Lord for these things. What would we do without them?
Besides milk and meat, cows and bulls are a main source of hides from which leather is made, as well as glue, soap, some medicines and other products, most of which are produced from their bones.
In early Bible days God instructed His people how to distinguish between a “clean” and an “unclean” animal, naming two things they were to look for to designate a “clean” animal which they could eat. One was a cud-chewing animal; the second that it must have divided hoofs. The cow meets both of these requirements as do sheep, goats, deer and several other animals.
There are lessons for us in all that the Bible teaches. For instance, a “clean” animal chewing its cud speaks of one who loves the Lord Jesus and spends some time reading and searching the Bible — not just glancing quickly at a portion of it. The divided hoof tells us He wants His people to divide (separate) themselves from the world and live for Him. “Wherefore come out from among them [unbelievers], and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 6:1717Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:17). Do you fit these examples?
ML-07/14/1985