Brothers and sisters

Deuteronomy 22:6­7; 25:4; Proverbs 12:10

If you come on a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on the fledglings or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself, in order that it may go well with you, and you may live long... You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain... The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.


This Sunday is Animal Welfare Sunday, although this little collection of scattered verses demonstrates that the Bible does not say much about animal welfare as such. In a subsistence economy, domestic animals are a necessary part of existence, but they are expected to fulfil their purpose of providing labour or food. There is little room for sentimentality.

These passages, however, scattered though they are, do show that the proper treatment of both domestic and wild animals was a concern. Animals were not seen purely in functional terms. Interestingly, the verses from Deuteronomy come from a part of the chapter that is concerned mainly with the welfare of others. `Others', therefore, are not seen purely in human terms. There is a sense of interdependence, that the animals, domestic and wild, have their place and their needs and their right to respectful treatment.

Especially in the first passage, there is a careful balance between human needs and respect for nature. We need food, so it is acceptable to take the eggs or the young birds. To take the mother bird as well is short-sighted, however, trading in a larger immediate meal for the future promise of more eggs and young birds in years to come.

Even without seeing the birds and animals as our brothers and sisters, as St Francis did, it is simply good stewardship to treat them well so as to meet our own needs. But the possibility is there for a deeper sense of equality, a recognition of fellowship in our created nature, of being all children of the one Father, and therefore in truth brother and sister to one another.


Reflection

How have I made use of animals this week? Have I respected their rights as well as my needs?



Helen Julian CSF



[from New Daylight September - December 2007]