Today’s Scripture Reading (September
6, 2015): Leviticus 22
The Sumatran
Rhino has been declared to be extinct in the wild. Less than one hundred
individuals are left alive all in captivity, of this Rhinoceros breed that once
lived across most of Southeast Asia. There are plans in the works to develop
Intensive Management Zones (IMZs) and re-introduce the Sumatran Rhino back into
the wild at some time in the future, although it seems that no concrete model
has been developed yet. The purpose of the IMZs would be to maximize the
potential of survival of the rhino so that the species could multiply and grow.
The major decline of the rhino has been blamed on poaching and logging. The decline
was so severe that during the early years of the 21st century, it
became increasingly unlikely that a male and a female Rhino would ever meet in
the wild in spite of their protected status – a situation which sealed the fate
of the entire species.
I know that
some wonder why we should care about the disappearance of a rhinoceros. The human
race seems to have so many problems of its own that need to be solved without
worrying about the disappearance of an animal from the wild. But what that
egocentric thought pattern sometimes seems to fail to understand is that the
future of our own survival is highly interconnected with the health of the
planet – and the failure of any species damages the total health of the planet
on which we live.
But beyond
that I believe that Bible specifically stresses our role, not as consumers of
the planet, but as protectors of the planet. God’s closing comment to Jonah has
always amazed me. After Jonah whines and complains about the death of a plant
that happened to provide him with shade, God answers his questioning prophet with
this comment - “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or
make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 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” (Jonah 4:10-11)? I don’t necessarily want to wade into
the “do dogs go to heaven” debate, but didn’t God just tell Jonah that he is
concerned over the animals that might have been destroyed in Nineveh?
The range of debate that happens around this verse in the law that specifically
states that an animal should not be killed on the same day as its young maybe
says more about our curiosity over the verse than anything else. Many people
have tried to figure out reasons for God’s concern over this issue. The
baseline response has been that maybe this practice of killing mom and child on
the same day was a regular practice of the nations with which Israel dealt on a
daily basis – that, like so many other laws, this was just another example of
the “don’t conform to the world around you” instructions that are so prevalent
within the Mosaic Law. But we can’t rule out that God was concerned with
anything that might look like cruelty to animals. God created everything, and
the first job that he gave to his newly created Adam was the protection of the
creation – he was to attend to the needs of the Garden of Eden and name the
animals. In the eyes of God, there would seem to be no excuse for cruelty
exercised against any element of his creation. And maybe that is all we need
for a reason explaining the presence of this concept within the Mosaic Law -
for this reason a mother and child must not be killed on the same day.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Leviticus 23
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