Most people see things humanistically rather than theocentrically. They do not consider the rightness of God’s law. They are sentimental rather than Biblical in their approach to things. Whether we like it or not, we are going to face death. All physical living things eventually face it. Proverbs 12:10 reads, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." A godly man takes care of his animals. He makes sure they are fed, watered and have shelter.
The Lord Jesus Christ said this regarding animals in Luke 14:1-5, "And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?" Even hypocrites take care of their animals on the Sabbath day.
Application
To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.
Leviticus 20:15-16 says, "And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. 16And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Here it is plainly stated that the death penalty was to be given for bestiality, both for the human and the animal. This is and homosexuality are extremely grievous sins, as they are so dead set against the natural order of God.
Why would God also demand the death penalty for the animal seeing that it does not have the power to reason? God must have had a good reason else He would not have enjoined the death penalty also for the animal involved in this perversion. The reason in simple. The beast has now been defiled. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines "defiled" as, "1. To make unclean; to render foul or dirty; in a general sense...4. To pollute; to make ceremonially unclean. 5. To corrupt chastity; to debauch; to violate; to tarnish the purity of character by lewdness. 6. To taint, in a moral sense; to corrupt; to vitiate; to render impure with sin..." The animal has now been rendered an unclean animal. It is tainted, corrupt and debauched. In other words, it now subject to the death penalty.
There was precedence for the death penalty being given to animals in other portions of Scripture. Genesis 9:3-5 in one of those instances, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man." Here God requires an animal being put to death who kills a man. Some life is more valuable than others. Man’s life is a higher life because we were made in the image of God. Animals were not.
"What happens to animals when they die?" is an often asked question. Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 asks this question, "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" I believe this question is answered here. Animals have temporal life only. They do not possess a soul, as does man. In other words, they cannot make moral decisions. This is in line with Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." A leopard does what God made them to do. They are already hardwired. Jeremiah 8:7 is similar, "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD." The animals do what they are intended to do. It is people who rebel against their Maker. Animals are only of this life and nothing more.
Exodus 21:28-32 gives the death penalty to an animal that has killed humans, "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 29But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 30If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 31Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. 32If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." God’s law is a life for a life. The ox killed and he in turn must also be killed.
Conclusion
Something that is unclean and has been defiled is worthless in God’s sight. Acts of sin bring death, even to animals. God is not a respecter of persons or animals. Sin is sin and restitution must be made. This restores God’s order. A defiled animal pollutes the earth.
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