Sharon loves dogs. She babysits dogs for three of our friends. At least one week a month, she cares for a cute dog. She hugs the dogs. She kisses them. She talks to them all day long. They’re her friends.
While the Bible doesn’t have much to say about pets, it does speak about pets in several places.
The fact that Adam named all the animals and Eve talked to the serpent might suggest that Adam and Eve were friends with all the higher animals.
When Nathan the prophet confronted David, he told a story about a man who so loved a lamb that it ate his food, slept at his side, and “was like a daughter to him” (2 Sam 12:3). While the story was fictional, David thought it really happened (2 Sam 12:5-6).
A woman of Canaan begged the Lord to heal her daughter. He said that He was not sent to Gentiles, but “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24). He added, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (Matt 15:26). She responded, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matt 15:27). The little dogs were pets.
Blomberg comments, “But the diminutive form here (kynarion rather than kyōn) suggests a more affectionate term for domestic pets, particularly since these dogs eat under the children’s table” (Matthew, p. 244, italics added).
We know that a godly person will take good care of his animals (oxen, sheep, goats, horses, cows, etc.). See, for example, Prov 12:10.
There is no mention in Rev 21–22 of animals being on the new earth. However, we know that during the Millennium, the first thousand years of Christ’s kingdom, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain” (Isa 65:25). If there are animals during the Millennium, there will be animals on the new earth.
We also know from Rom 8:22 that “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” All the plants and animals, as well as the planet itself, long for the new heavens and earth.
I have a friend who thinks that God will resurrect our pets, and we will be able to enjoy their friendship forever. While that could be, I doubt it. No Scripture even hints at that. However, I think it almost certain that we will enjoy puppies and kittens and all sorts of pets forever. And perhaps they will then be able to speak with us (like Balaam’s donkey).
For a fuller discussion of Nathan’s illustration and Jesus’ reference to the little dogs, see this article by Blake Adams.i
The Bible doesn’t have much to say about pets. But it says enough. PETA can find lots of support in the Bible for the fact that God wants us to treat our animals well, whether they are pets or livestock (cf. Deut 22:6-7; Ps 147:9; Matt 12:11; 1 Tim 5:18).
Keep grace in focus and you will be gracious to your pets and the pets of others.
i I did not come across this article until after I’d written my blog. But it appears that Adams agrees with me regarding those two incidents’ being the strongest examples of pets in the Bible.
