Balaam and Gerasimos

Animal offenders and defenders

Do we have animal defenders in Scripture? What status did the animals have in those ancient times? Much is unknown, but what we do know is that animals were often utilized and abused, far beyond their natural capacity. Things started out much more promisingly, when God created the animals: “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so. (...) And God saw that it was good (Gen. 1, 24). In the beginning, everything was good.