What is the Biblical basis for mankind being morally required to treat animals well?
score:7
It's true that the Bible says that man has "dominion" over the animals:
And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28, ESV)
But there are many, many passages in the Bible regarding the treatment of animals. Here are some examples from the Old Testament:
- Exodus 20:10: Animals are not to work on the Sabbath, just like people
- Exodus 23:5: Relieve overburdened animals, even if you hate their owner
- Exodus 23:11: Allow animals to graze fallow fields
- Deuteronomy 11:15: Some interpret this verse to mean that humans should feed their pets and livestock before they eat themselves, though that's a rather tenuous interpretation.
- Deuteronomy 25:4: Allow animals to eat while working
- Proverbs 12:10: The righteous have regard for their animals' lives
Some also see significance in the fact that heroes like Jacob (Gen. 29), Moses (Ex. 3), and David (1 Sam. 17) were shepherds, while a hunter like Esau (Gen. 25) is not exactly a model citizen. Similarly, Rebecca is rewarded for treating animals well (Gen. 24:19). Abraham is rewarded after he separates his herd from his nephew's to relieve overgrazing (Gen. 13). We need to be cautious not to take such examples too far, however, because they could be mere coincidence, or reflections of the importance of animals to agrarian economies, rather than indications of God's moral standards.
In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of God's regard for animals, as in Matthew 6:26 (cf. Luke 12:6–7):
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [ESV]
Jesus also speaks favorably of rescuing livestock that falls into a pit on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:11).
That said, as the quote above from Jesus makes clear, animals are considered inferior to people in the Bible. There are many places where God sanctions the eating of meat, for example, and animals are extensively used for ritual sacrifices and labor. But the Bible does not condone reckless abuse of animals, specifically forbidding a number of types of animal mistreatment.
Upvote:0
The bible says that God wants us to be like him
Leviticus 11:44a NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
The bible also shows that God cares about animals. God was concerned for not only the people of Nineveh, but also its animals.
Jonah 4:11 NIV And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?
Therefore, there should be a caring of animals within the children of God.
Upvote:3
The other answer seems to largely explain it, and I was going to comment to add this but could not for want of rep.
Genesis 9:3-4 states that:
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. (NRSVA)
This seems to often be cited as a prohibition against animal cruelty (for instance, in this Boston College discussion of the Talmud -- see the top portion involving the Noahide Laws), if not at least an act that might appear needlessly cruel.
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