The Gentiles as Animal Symbols and Imagery in the Old Testament

The Gentiles as Animal Symbols and Imagery in the Old Testament


Acts 10:9-13 9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of ANIMALS AND REPTILES AND BIRDS OF THE AIR. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”                                   
Context: The Gentiles being part of the new covenant
Genesis 9:1-3 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 EVERY MOVING THING THAT LIVES SHALL BE FOOD FOR YOU.

Hosea 2:16-23 16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I WILL MAKE YOU LIE DOWN IN SAFETY. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness.                                                            
Context: Check Hosea 1:10 and 2:21-23 to confirm new Covenant with Gentiles, not literal animals.
Isaiah 11:6-9. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young SHALL LIE DOWN TOGETHER; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Context: Compare verses Hosea 2:18, Ezekiel 34:14, Jeremiah 5:6, 5: 15-17, and 31:25-30 to confirm Gentiles as animal symbols. Lastly, read Zephaniah 1:3 and Zephaniah 3:9-13. Verse 13 echoes Isaiah 11:7 and Hosea 2:18.
***Conclusion: This significantly weakens the argument of an Earthly Millennial Kingdom where Christ reigns in a partially redeemed world for 1,000 years. No one gets a pet cobra or lion sadly.



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