ANTELOPE
They look like deer but are part of the cow sub-family. Males are called “Tommies”. The antelope’s horn is prized for medicinal and magical powers in many places. The horn of the male Saiga in Eastern practice is ground as an aphrodisiac, for which it has been hunted nearly to extinction. In the Congo, it is thought to confine spirits. Christian iconography sometimes uses the antelope’s two horns as a symbol of the two spiritual weapons that Christians possess: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Also described as “very savage and hard to catch” and an aggressive disposition that can easily kill a human making them very difficult to herd or handle. – Source Unknown
Fun Facts:
- Their horns remain
- They are able to stand on their hind legs
- They are herbivores (they eat grass, not meat)
- They live about 10 years
- They range in size, and can be as large at 6 feet tall and 1,450 pounds.
- There are about 90 species, with the eland being the largest
Scriptures:
Deuteronomy 14:4-5
These are the animals you may eat:
the ox, the sheep, the goat,
he deer, the gazelle, the roe deer,
the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope,
and the mountain sheep.
Isaiah 51:20
Your children have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the Lord’s fury,
the rebuke of your God.
Antelope are mentioned twice in Scriptures. They are first listed along with other animals that God deems as acceptable for human consumption, which means, He has approved them as a food source.
The second mention of antelope is when God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, appeals for the the nation of Israel (His children) to return to Him. Throughout His appeal, He describes the obvious and current condition of their state, including an appeal to their paternal senses.
In Isaiah, God is painting a word picture for them by comparing their sons to antelope. Because of the calamity that has come through God’s wrath to His disobedient children, their sons lay exhausted and overwhelmed at every street corner. Matthew Henry comments that Israel’s stupor had began with the “intoxicating cup of Babylon’s idolatries,” and ended with God’s “cup of affliction.” They were trapped like a wild animal in a net. By comparing them to antelope who are wild and aggressive, He is basically stating that if they had not been subdued by God’s wrath, they would be wild and unruly, incapable of being led like sheep.
Let’s ask ourselves: Am I more like a sheep or an antelope?
Sources: Easy Science for Kids, Soft Schools, The Jungle Store, BibleHub.com, BJE.org
APE
An ape is a tailless monkey that can walk erect. Apes somewhat resemble humans. It has hair all over its body except its face, and it has claws like the nails of a man. The Hebrews and Greeks call these creatures “koph” and “kepos”, both words coming from the Indian Tamil name for monkey, “kapi”, (swift, nimble, active), which probably were brought to the Middle East by the fleets of Solomon and Hiram from Tharsis (1Ki 10:22; 2Chr 9:21). These references would appear to represent the apes as being great treasures like the gold and silver, but which were rare or not known in Palestine like the peacocks. No apes have ever been found in Palestine or neighboring regions.
A species called satyrs most resemble man [Brown] and were worshipped as gods. They have no tails and look like ugly men. The Egyptians worshipped apes [Brown], and in some place in the East and the Indies they still worship them.
King Solomon brought apes from tropical and semi-tropical regions of the ancient world to Israel. Solomon’s zoo probably contained a variety of apes, monkeys, and baboons (1 Kin. 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21). Some commentators suggest that Isaiah’s reference to the “satyrs” who “dance” and “cry to [their] fellow[s]” (Is. 13:21; 34:14), (KJV) would fit the dog-faced baboon honored by the Egyptians.
Could it possibly be that the king, or some of his own scholars, were interested in studying possible ape-human relationships? We don’t have any evidence of such investigations or speculations, of course, but the Bible does indicate the wide-ranging extent of Solomon’s scientific and religious interests. He studied, perhaps wrote, and “spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes” (I Kings 4:33). And with so many wives, and concubines practicing numerous pantheistic religions, he must have heard of such evolutionary beliefs in other lands. ~ Source: Cox Bible Dictionary
Fun Facts:
- Apes are not monkeys
- Apes have arms longer than their legs, and walk on the knuckles of their hands.
- Researchers have taught a kind of signed language to great apes in captivity.
Sources: Fact Monster, Cox Bible Dictionary
Scriptures:
2 Chronicles 9:21
The king had a fleet of trading ships manned by the sailors sent by Hiram. Once every three years the ships returned, loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Years ago, I remember coming across some text that referred to the above mentioned items as luxury pieces, and I just had to laugh at the thought of apes being included. Can you imagine? It is easy to understand how they managed the minerals and a peacock, but how on earth did they manage to get apes secured and on board of a ship?
What I also like about this account, is that these apes went to the wisest man to have ever lived. Some believe that he wanted to study the apes. I have found that when God provides a supernatural endowment, man loves to use it. Much like how our spiritual gifts operate. Because I have the spiritual gift of teaching, does not mean that I possess all knowledge to teach God’s Word, but I am able to teach what I learn in an effective manner. So, although Solomon had great wisdom, it created a hunger in Him to learn more, just like a spiritually gifted teacher loves studying God’s Word.
And what I find more fascinating is not one time did Solomon try to make a correlation between man and ape. The absence of such material further settles the matter, that if the smartest man on earth at that time, made no claim, then it is because, such a claim is baseless.
