Covenant Critters (#11 in a series)

When we studied the life of Noah, we discovered that the animals were included in the Rainbow Covenant in the aftermath of the flood. That is found in Genesis 9:9-10

I'm establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you,
and with every living creature that is with you—the flying creatures, the livestock, and all the wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the earth's animals that came out of the ark. 

Today, I want to briefly connect a couple more dots so that we can reinforce this display of "compassionate justice" as being characteristic of God's motivation over time. God does not change; He was not making a one-time-only exception in reaction to cataclysmic conditions. His concern for animals is everlasting. 


Jonah 4:11

Delivering God's love to Ninevah

   Most people are somewhat aware of the basics of Jonah's story.  God wanted him to go take a message of impending judgment to the city of Nineveh.  Jonah balked and got on a ship headed in the other direction. The ship was caught in a hurricane of unusual duration, and eventually, in desperation, a reluctant crew threw Jonah overboard to appease God. The storm ceased and a great fish swallowed Jonah, taking three days to swim back to shore and spit him out. 
   What you may not know is that from the standpoint of human-reasoning, Jonah had a pretty good excuse for his actions. Jonah knew that if he prophesied destruction like God told him to and it did not happen, which he also knew was likely, then under the law he should have been put to death for being a false prophet. More was going on than garden-variety stubbornness; God had asked Jonah to put his life on the line.
   As we will see, God was concerned not only for Jonah's life and the citizenry of Ninevah, but also about SAVING THE ANIMALS!

"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"
Jonah 4:11

'Not knowing the difference between the right and left hand' does not mean there were 120K stupid people living in Ninevah; it is a metaphor for not knowing right from wrong. Many Bible scholars see this as a reference to the number of children¹ who were not old enough to understand moral differences.  God's thoughts were toward the sparing of animals and children. This character trait of God valuing the innocence of children and animals is consistent with what we find Jesus teaching in Matthew 18:3, "Truly I tell you," He said, "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
 
Hosea 2:18
Hosea prophesied about a future covenant that He will make for the Israelites with the animals. In an earlier post about Noah, we saw that God made a covenant with animals in the past. With the addition of Hosea's prophecy to our growing list of evidence, this pattern of God's intent that humans live in relationship with animals is strengthened still further.  This is an everlasting objective in God's plan for creation.

On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
Hosea 2:18

It is becoming clear that our "natural love" for our pets isn't just something that we thought up, but it is an affection that the Lord designed for us and placed into us. God's intended state-of-nature is for humans to have a fondness for animals. This innate regard for animals is part of God's equipping humans to carry out their instructions to "have dominion" over animals. We were designed for loving command, not to become tyrants over them. 

God has a loving concern for animals, and as we are created in his image, so do we. It was His plan when man was in Eden; it was His plan in the post-flood world, and it will still be God's plan on the New Earth. It was God's considered and premeditated aim in creating mankind that their rule over animals would reflect God's loving rule over men.



And what is one way God demonstrates His loving authority over man? He provided a way of salvation so that man could be with Him forever!  Humans as under-rulers over animals is a very strong pattern and indication that there is provision to have our pets in Heaven.


One thing that does need to be pointed out: not all animals were created equal. In Jonah's biography, the animals were domesticated livestock, whereas Hosea's prophecy includes wild beasts, birds of prey, and "creeping" things. These are not the warm fuzzy pet animals but are the feral animals that could become dangerous.  In our current fallen world, the practical application of our authority over a wild animal is fairly rare. God hasn't scrapped mankind entirely, neither in the days of Noah nor in the time of Moses;² so our assignment has not changed, even though the environment has turned against us.

The specifics of how scripture differentiates between wild and domestic animals is something that you may wish to go study further on your own. For the purpose of answering the pets-in-heaven question, the pets are counted as domesticated animals, so it is a moot point. All the strongest evidence for pets-in-heaven is for animals that have been domesticated under man's rule. Going forward, especially when we discuss the topics of Naming, Justice, and ultimately Love, an animal's submission to human authority will play into the evidence that I am presenting.

But for today, the main takeaways are:
1. We showed animals, in this case a great fish, can play important roles in accomplishing God's will.
2. We strengthened the evidence that God makes covenants animals.
3. We showed that God's willingness to make covenants with animals is not limited to only one instance or time period.
4. We laid more groundwork from which we will be able to expand on the significance of  relational patterns:  God → human being reflected in our human → pet relationships.   







Footnotes

¹ If that is the case, then population models would have made Ninevah a city of just over a half-million at that time. Jonah's statement that it was a 3-day walk to go around it would have included the "suburbs" or small farming villages that provided food supplies that do not store well. It is likely that many of the animals were in these villages, being kept to be butchered as needed. Ninevah is in Assyria on the banks of the Tigris River.  Unlike pictures in my Sunday School book, Jonah could not see it from the beach; Ninevah is about 550 miles ENE from the coast of Israel.  

²  In Exodus 32, right after the Israelites made a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain getting instructions, we read of a time where God told Moses, "Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." Verses 11-13 record Moses' prayer to spare the people, and in verse 14 we read, "And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people."