– The word animal in Latin comes from anima , soul, and means everything that has life.
– It is placed in the Bible many times in opposition to man :
Gen 1,26-28 : Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Gen 2,18-20 : The man gave names to all the animals, to all the birds of the sky and to all the animals of the field.
– God commands Noah to take a pair of each kind of animal to the ark to save them from the flood:
Gn 6,19-20 : Of […] each kind of animal, you shall bring into the ark two, male and female, so that they may live with you.
– After the flood, God includes the animals in the covenant he makes with Noah and his posterity:
Gen 9,8-7 : Be fruitful therefore and multiply, and spread over the earth abundantly.
– In chapter 11 of Leviticus animals are differentiated between clean and unclean. Hence, Peter’s reluctance to accept eating profane and impure food is understood:
Ex 11 : You may eat: every animal that has a cloven hoof and a split hoof, and that chews the cud.
Acts 10:9-23 : Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, for I have never eaten anything profane or unclean”.
– Aaron, his sons and all the Israelites should also obey precise rules on how to prepare the animals to offer them in sacrifice to the Lord:
Ex 17 : You shall not eat the blood of any animal, for the soul of all flesh is its blood.
– The Israelites worship a golden calf and are rebuked by God for having corrupted themselves:
Ex 32 : Then, taking the calf that they had made, he burned it and crushed it until he reduced it to dust.
