Does the book of Jonah call human beings animals?

disciple1

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The book of Jonah says:



I've tried diligently to try and figure out this passage but it just comes off as the bible is saying certain people are animals. To add to the that the book of Jonah finishes off saying:



This last verse confirms at least in my mind some people are considered animals according to the bible. I looked up the word "animals" in strong's concordance and the word is behemah.

Here's a link: Strong's Hebrew: 929. בְּהֵמָה (behemah) -- 190 Occurrences

The thing is when one inserts people into some of the passages where behemah is used the passages only make sense if the verse is talking about literal people. For instance, Zechariah 8:10.



As far as I can tell there aren't any instances where I suspect any people were potentially called animals in the new testament, perhaps it was that the nations were considered "animals" before Christ hit the scene? Does anyone have a rationalization for this or am I reading into things too much, thanks in advance for the response.
or am I reading into things too much,
Your trying to make something that's not there.
Romans chapter 11 verse 32
For God has bound all men over to disobedience, so that he may have mercy on them all.
 
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Paul of Eugene OR

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The book of Jonah says:



I've tried diligently to try and figure out this passage but it just comes off as the bible is saying certain people are animals. To add to the that the book of Jonah finishes off saying:



This last verse confirms at least in my mind some people are considered animals according to the bible. I looked up the word "animals" in strong's concordance and the word is behemah.

Here's a link: Strong's Hebrew: 929. בְּהֵמָה (behemah) -- 190 Occurrences

The thing is when one inserts people into some of the passages where behemah is used the passages only make sense if the verse is talking about literal people. For instance, Zechariah 8:10.



As far as I can tell there aren't any instances where I suspect any people were potentially called animals in the new testament, perhaps it was that the nations were considered "animals" before Christ hit the scene? Does anyone have a rationalization for this or am I reading into things too much, thanks in advance for the response.

Look, pay attention to the speaker when you quote scripture, and weight the words according to who is speaking. In the book of Jonah, it is the king who makes the decree:

Jonah 3:6-7
6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
NASU

Don't take the words of this heathen king and attempt to derive prophetic truths from his limited understanding. Look for the direct words from God's prophets.
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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This is a case of a person who has come to a conclusion and is way to proud to consider anyone's alternate views and explanations... You got to wonder why people come in and ask questions like ""Does the book of Jonah call human beings animals" when it then becomes subsequently clear their intention was not to ask a question at all but to push their own interpretation of scripture and ignore all else..
I'm not ignoring any other interpretation the interpretations just don't seem to really fit or make sense. I'll ask you, do you believe that the inhabitants of Nineveh literally put sackcloth on the animals in the book of Jonah?
 
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Adstar

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I'm not ignoring any other interpretation the interpretations just don't seem to really fit or make sense. I'll ask you, do you believe that the inhabitants of Nineveh literally put sackcloth on the animals in the book of Jonah?

Yes i believe they did.. You have to understand the people of Nineveh where probably pagans but their leader must have believed that the God of Abraham was a powerful God.. So out of fear he ordered even the beasts to be covered in sackcloth and ashes..

I don't see why you would have trouble believing people in 1000 BC would do such things if they believed they where under a death sentence from a God and it was imminent.. You also have to consider that the people of Nineveh might have been nature worshipers who looked upon beasts like Cattle as being sacred.. So they probably did not look upon their animals as just being animals. So in their minds putting sackcloth on their beasts made sense..
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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Yes, let's look at them. : )



God wasn't just "comparing" humans to other animals (beasts). He was pointing out that humans are beasts (animals). It's like asking if "Toyota sedans" are "cars". Yes, they are. They are a type of car. Just like humans are a type of animal (beast). All humans are animals, just as all toyota sedans are cars. There are also other cars that aren't toyota sedans (such as honda accords*). In the same way, there are other animals that are not humans (such as lions, tigers and bears - oh my).



Today we consider humans animals (beasts), just as God was pointing out in these verses back then. Biologists have recognzied for a long time that humans are a type of animal, just as a raccoons and horses are types of animals.

I guess I'm not sure what questions are left in this?

in Jesus' name-

Papias

* Jesus drove a Honda Accord. He says so right in the gospel of John.

John 12:49 -
Jesus said "for I do not speak of my own Accord....."

: D

The intellectual dishonesty is really disheartening I'll be honest. I expected some legit responses to explain this away but rather I see people are jumping through hoops rather then just telling the truth at what the text appears to say.

First off it was the king who made the proclamation that humans and animals need to wear sackcloth. Also, what animal cries to God?

7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.

Also, why would an animal be commanded to turn from it's "evil" ways? I do not get why you're trying to take modern classifications or understandings and apply them to bible which was written 1,000's of years ago, obviously classifications were not the same, and I'm referring to humans beings with the label of "animal."
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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We have an animal body, but God gave us a spirit, and so we have a soul, and that's something more than mere instincts and drives and thoughts about how to get more stuff.
If we have an animal body then why weren't all the people in Nineveh called "animals?" The King ordered all human beings and animals put on sackcloth.
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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Genesis 1 (all NASB)
Creation of the Animal Kingdoms
20 Then God said, “Let the waters [ad]teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”(atmosphere)
21 God created the great sea monsters (dinosaurs?) and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind,
and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,
and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

More on "fifth day"

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind:
cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

The "sixth day": Creation of Mankind

27 God created man in His own (spiritual) image,
in the image of God He created him (mankind);
male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them,
Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,(populate with homo sapiens)
and subdue it (all life on planet earth);
and RULE (HAVE DOMINION OVER) over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Not sure what the purpose of these posts are. These posts do not explain why the King of Nineveh appeared to call people animals when he told all human beings and animals to put on sackcloth and told both groups to also pray to their God.
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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It's used dog/dogs...meaning gentiles. Dogs in biblical times weren't cherished pets...
they were mongrels that ran wild and scavenged to survive.
Lambs: denotes innocent/innocence. Sheep:goods/ those who are dependents.
Goats: wicked/unsaved. (Turtle)Dove(s): purity/pure.
Lion: power/authority...such terms are used as a metaphors/symbolisms in
various verses:
Philippians 3:2

Matthew 15:21-28
Matthew 25:32
Psalm 74:19
Hosea 5:14
Well this answer at least makes more sense then what other people have been putting forth. Most people just try to sidestep the question or pretend like that there isn't something odd about the passage.
 
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Dave-W

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Now do you actually believe that or do you just say that because of the implications of those "animals" aren't really animals such as dogs and cats.
Yes I definitely believe that.
 
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sparow

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The book of Jonah says:



I've tried diligently to try and figure out this passage but it just comes off as the bible is saying certain people are animals. To add to the that the book of Jonah finishes off saying:



This last verse confirms at least in my mind some people are considered animals according to the bible. I looked up the word "animals" in strong's concordance and the word is behemah.

Here's a link: Strong's Hebrew: 929. בְּהֵמָה (behemah) -- 190 Occurrences

The thing is when one inserts people into some of the passages where behemah is used the passages only make sense if the verse is talking about literal people. For instance, Zechariah 8:10.



As far as I can tell there aren't any instances where I suspect any people were potentially called animals in the new testament, perhaps it was that the nations were considered "animals" before Christ hit the scene? Does anyone have a rationalization for this or am I reading into things too much, thanks in advance for the response.


I believe you are side tracked; Jonah is given a warning to give to Nineveh; Jonah is afraid and bolts; Jonah spends three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, after which Jonah is confident enough to deliver the warning; this event seems to be the only recorded time a city or people have heeded God's warning. I do not believe people are being called animals.
 
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Polar Bear Quest

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Look, pay attention to the speaker when you quote scripture, and weight the words according to who is speaking. In the book of Jonah, it is the king who makes the decree:

Jonah 3:6-7
6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.
NASU

Don't take the words of this heathen king and attempt to derive prophetic truths from his limited understanding. Look for the direct words from God's prophets.

Later in the book God uses the same term.

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” 10 Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

So was God talking about different animals?

There are also, plenty of other passages that have this problem.

Jeremiah 31:27
27Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
 
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Paul of Eugene OR

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Later in the book God uses the same term.



So was God talking about different animals?

There are also, plenty of other passages that have this problem.

Jeremiah 31:27

I wouldn't draw a lot of theological implications from the fact that men and animals are mentioned in the same sentence.
 
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