Cats in the Bible
He leads me …
While there are no clear references to domestic cats in the Bible, there are to lions and leopards.
The reason that household cats are not recorded is most likely due to their history. Cats were probably domesticated several thousand years ago in Mesopotamia when farmers made them pets in order to protect their granaries from rodents. This practice developed in the areas that we now know as Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey.
Archaeologists have found the remains of mummified cats dating back to around 1350 BC. They have also discovered ancient cat inscriptions carved in tombs, buried cat murals, and cat trinkets.
Cats came to be worshiped in Egypt, where they had the cat goddesses Mafdet and Bastet. Bastet was often shown as having the body of a woman and the head of a domestic cat. So it is believed that Israel did not mention domestic cats in the Bible on account of their association with the pagan gods of Egypt.[1]
The cats that are referred to in the Bible are the lion and the leopard.
Of the two, the lion is mentioned 157 times throughout Scripture in both positive and negative ways. Jesus was pictured as a lion (Revelation 5:5) but so was the devil (1 Peter 5:8). In each case the likeness to a lion was mainly about power – Jesus as the Son of God and the devil as the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2)
· Kingship: (Genesis 49:9, Proverbs 19:12, 20:2, Jeremiah 50:17, Ezekiel 32:2)
· Wisdom: By working together, female lions successfully bring down their prey which provides a “more satisfying return for their labor;” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 AMP).
· Strength & Power: “What is stronger than a lion?” (Judges 14:18) Being the strongest among the beasts, lions were often used to determine a warrior’s strength. Samson, David, and Benaiah slew a lion single handed (Judges 14:5, 1 Samuel 17:34-37, 2 Samuel 23:20).
· Honour: Lions are honoured at the top of the animal food chain. They have no natural predators, being feared by other animals. As a result they have boldness (Proverbs 28:1) and bravery.
· Glory: No other group of predatory animals have their leader stand out the same way male lions do in their pride. It is as if they are portraying royalty.
The leopard, however, is only mentioned in the Bible eight times and those mentions have only a proverbial or symbolic meaning. They will lurk near the towns of Judah (Jeremiah 5:6), they are swift (Habakkuk 1:8), and they cannot change their spots (Jeremiah 13:23).
Both lions and leopards appear in the Bible as predators that lurk, stalk, and eventually devour their prey.
We can see domestic cats do the same thing. They will crouch down and stare at their toy. Then they will slowly and carefully stalk it before pouncing on it. Just like a miniature lion or leopard stalking its prey.
So if domestic cats are not mentioned in the Bible, maybe Christians should not have anything to do with them? Not at all. In the Old Testament all cats were regarded as unclean. Leviticus 11:27 (NLT) says -
Of the animals that walk on all fours, those that have paws are unclean. If you touch the carcass of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening.
But we know from Acts 11:5-10 that it changed when the Apostle Peter had a vision of ‘all sorts of tame and wild animals’ being lowered in a sheet. Peter heard a voice tell him, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’ Peter protested, but the voice told him, ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ While we do not see domestic cats mentioned specifically we do read that, ’all sorts of tame and wild animals’ were in the sheet which would include pets like cats.
So, even though they do not really feature in the Bible, our cats actually have a real purpose in our lives. The Lord allowed us to have cats, because they show us exactly how He sees us.
Here are some similarities between cats and us:
They ignore us most of the time, but won't be quiet if they want something from us.
· They are nearly impossible to train.
· They put themselves into situations that they need help to get out of.
· If they get lost and find their way back to us, we are rapt.
· They can be quite lovable when they want to be.
· Even though they're flawed, we totally love them, and want them to live with us so we can love and care for them and enjoy their company forever.[2] ☺
[1] Cats and Dogs in the Old Testament by Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament; https://claudemariottini.com/2009/10/21/cats-and-dogs-in-the-old-testament/
What Is the Biblical Meaning of Cats? by Charles Joseph, Cat Checkup; https://catcheckup.com/biblical-meaning-of-cats
[2] God gave us cats to show us exactly how he sees us, posted by Christian (Ichthys) on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/456dhd/god_gave_us_cats_to_show_us_exactly_how_he_sees_us/
