Deuteronomy 14:5 and Isaiah 51:20
Deuteronomy 14:3-8
3 “You shall not eat any abhorrent thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cleft in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cleft you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.
Isaiah 521:19-20
19 These two things have befallen you —who will grieve with you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will comfort you?[c] 20 Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
While I think antelope are graceful and beautiful creatures, the biblical accounts of these animals are not so charming (at least for them.)
Kosher Jews were allowed to eat antelope. (Again, that might be something that thrilled the antelope.) And when the people of God were suffering the consequences of their own disobedient ways, their very children were in such distress that they resembled an antelope in a net. (That is a frantic and tragic image.)
So how do we focus on God through the image of the antelope?
We can thank God for providing for our basic needs. And we can do our best to follow God’s direction.
Prayer
God, our Creator, you have placed us in a world where we can learn about your care for us. Help me to accept your providence and guidance, through our Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
