The First Agreement with the Animals

Animal Sacrifice

THE EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. INAUGURATED AN ERA

of spiritual and moral evolution in Judaism that struggles to continue in our own day. It was a giant leap in consciousness that seemed to emerge, full-blown, in the teachings of the Latter Prophets.

The teachings of those men affirmed the primary importance of social justice, rejected ceremonial and sacrificial religion, and articulated a change from henotheism to monotheism. They also taught that homo sapiens is not the end-all or be-all of Elohim’s creation—that, in fact, the animal kingdom is an integral part of the Kingdom to come. It would be a peaceable kingdom where “they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Sovereign.” (Isa. 11:9)

Although this change in consciousness regarding animals was first articulated in the Hebrew Scriptures (or Old Testament), students of religion have traditionally credited India with the concept. They point to the teachings of Buddha and Mahavira, both of whom denounced the sacrifice of animals in the sixth century B.C. The Hinduism of their day required the slaughter of sacrificial animals; it was an integral part of that religion.

 

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