{Here’s a Quora post I made a while back. :) }
Q: “Do you think that when animals are shown using human language to communicate in the Bible, some type of supernatural puppetry is taking place?”
When the serpent speaks in the garden, the Bible says it was Satan. The idea that Satan possessed a snake is extrabiblical, if not contradictory to Scripture. Satan is an angel, who is referred to both as a man, and as a serpent. There is possibly a connection to why God allowed animals to be eaten after the flood, and to the angels intermarrying with the descendants of Adam before the flood; it seems there was a connection between heaven and earth that was severed at that time, which may have had to do with angels having a connection with animals, in fact being both human and animal at once.
Balaam’s donkey was given the ability to speak, and Scripture says it spoke. If it was being used as a puppet then neither of these things would have really been true, so no, no puppetry taking place according to Scripture.
In visions animals talk, as well as other things, like horns. As well as spirits these things often represent human beings or nations (e.g. Alexander the great as a one-horned goat).
However, one point which is probably closest to supernatural puppetry I think would be the dove at Christ’s baptism. Rather than a vision, the Spirit appeared in a “bodily form” the Scripture says. It was still symbolic of course, showing the relationship that existed between the Father and Son, but it was an actual animal involved.
Another case of God making animals do things would be the kine that drew the cart with the ark from the land of the Philistines, though it was more like they were simply being driven by angels than being puppets. Similar would be when God brought animals to Adam to be named, and brought animals to Noah to be saved. It was more directed than when God blew locusts into and back out of Egypt with wind. There were more directed plagues, like hornets and lions. There were the she-bears that punished the children who mocked Elisha, the lion who killed the man who refused to smite the prophet at God’s command, and the lion that killed “the prophet from Judah” but then stood without eating him or killing his ass. There were the lions who did no harm to Daniel, then furiously devoured the men and their families who had accused him. There are those kinds of things.
2023/03/04 #sabbathposts
"The secret of Yahweh is with them that fear him"
Ps 25
Do clothes reflect character, or does character influence clothing choice? And what relevance does that question have to God’s people?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023..../03/04/clothes-make-
Do clothes reflect character, or does character influence clothing choice? And what relevance does that question have to God’s people?
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023..../03/04/clothes-make-
https://tnc.news/2023/03/02/rs....s-whats-next-for-tam
God knows you better than you can ever know yourself. He is never fooled by anyone's façade. God is never fooled by your bravado or insecurities. He knows what you can accomplish and he'll give you the tools if you trust Him!
He will also give you the destruction that you told yourself would never come.
Jeremiah 12:3-4
Shabbat Shalom Tribe of the Most High!
My wife bought me this magnificent mug!
I shall call him Mr. Muggly. ☕️
#goodmorning #shabbatshalom
SERIES I --- THE NATION UNITES --- LESSON 13
SAUL’S FAILURE
SOUND THE ALARM THROUGH ALL THE LAND
From 1 Samuel 13
In the second year of his reign, Saul chose three thousand of his men to fight the Philistines. Two thousand went with Saul to Michmash and the hill country near Bethel, while a thousand stayed with Jonathan, Saul’s son, at Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. The others who had been with Saul and Jonathan were sent home. On one occasion, Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison at Geba and completely destroyed it. The Philistines were furious, so Saul had trumpets blown to sound the alarm through all the land of Israel. ‘Let all our people know about Geba!’ Saul proclaimed. The news spread throughout Israel that Saul’s forces had destroyed the Philistine garrison at Geba and had brought the wrath of the Philistines upon them. The men of Israel were summoned to leave home and join Saul at Gilgal. As the Israelites expected, the Philistines called their men to arms, assembling thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen and troops too numerous to count. This vast Philistine army gathered at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw this great army gathering, they were filled with fear and ran away, hiding in caves, thickets, cisterns and among the rocks. Some waded across the Jordan River, hiding in the territory of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal, along with his faithful followers, who trembled when they thought about the Philistine hordes. For seven days Saul waited there for Samuel to come, as he had said that he would. As time passed, more and more of Saul’s men ran away in fear. At last, Saul made plans that he, not Samuel would offer the burnt offering. ‘Bring the burnt offering and the peace offerings here to me,’ Saul ordered. Saul had just finished making these offerings when Samuel came. Saul hurried to meet Samuel, hoping that Samuel would approve of his offerings. ‘What have you done?’ Samuel demanded. ‘The people were running away!’ Saul argued. ‘The Philistines were gathering at Michmash and you didn’t come, so I had to make the offering myself.’ ‘You have been very foolish!’ Samuel said. ‘You have not done what YHVH Commanded you to do. If you had, YHVH would have appointed you and your heirs as kings over Israel forever. But now He will take away your right to rule and give it to a man He has already chosen, a man who will obey Him. He will do this because you have not followed His Commands.’ After Samuel told Saul this, he went to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. When Samuel was gone, Saul counted the men who had remained with him. There were only six hundred! But Saul set up camp with these men and his son Jonathan, at Geba in the land of Benjamin, while the Philistines kept their camp at Michmash. From the Philistine camp three bands of raiders left; one toward Beth-horon, another toward Ophrah in the land of Shual and the third toward the border overlooking the Zeboim Valley toward the desert. In those days there was no blacksmith in all Israel, for the Philistines would not permit any, lest an Israelite blacksmith make swords and spears for his people. The Israelites had to take their ploughshares, mattocks, axes or sickles to the Philistines to have them sharpened. The charge for sharpening a ploughshare or mattock was a pim, worth about twenty to sixty cents, while the charge for sharpening an ox goad, axe or sickle was a third of a shekel, worth about ten to thirty cents. It happened that the Israelites were caught without a sword or spear when the Philistines gathered for battle. Saul and Jonathan were the only Israelites who had iron weapons. In addition, the mountain pass near Michmash was held by the army of the Philistines.
COMMENTARY
WEAPONS OF IRON AND BRONZE
Smiths of the ancient world had experimented with iron hundreds of years before Saul’s time. Working with iron was difficult and different from any other metal. Both copper and tin could be melted and cast into moulds and bronze was a mixture of the two. But metalworkers of that time could not build fires hot enough to melt iron. It merely softened to a red-hot mass and had to be hammered into shape. By Saul’s time, smiths had discovered that heating iron many times and cooling it in warm water each time made the metal much stronger. The Philistines were the first to bring this new process to Canaan, but were careful to keep it a secret. The bronze swords and spears of the Israelites were a poor match against iron daggers, arrowheads and chariots. This imbalance helped keep them under Philistine control. Not until David defeated the Philistines did the Israelites begin to make iron weapons for themselves.
Why do the wicked prosper and cheaters win? Jeremiah believed in God's promises despite the evidence. Sometimes bad people triumph for a time because God is using them for a greater good or because God wants to make an example of them. God lets them win temporarily for His own purpose. Everyone eventually gets what he deserves. Their end is always bad even if we don't witness it.
Jeremiah 12, 17:9
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