The question why cats are not mentioned in the Bible is a funny question if you haven’t thought of it before. Let’s dive into this neglected question and see if we can come up with an answer.
A Short History of Cats
Historians believe ancient Egypt was the site of cat domestication, due to the clear depictions of house cats in Egyptian paintings about 3,600 years old.
Ancient Egyptians were the first to use cats as a form of pest control near food warehouses. They revered the cat as a hunter and worshiped them as gods and goddesses. The ancient Egyptians imposed the death penalty for killing cats.
When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They gave them funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice.
Cats were also said to be the culprits of “The Black Death” during the Dark Ages because their population was highest in the world during that period. This they say originated from ancient Egyptian cats down to Europe.
So some scholars think that because of the deadly plagues associated with cats this might be the reason they aren’t mentioned. Or perhaps because they aren’t kosher animals and were worshipped by pagans.
During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which caused an increase in the spreading of the Black Death.
During the Middle Ages, cats were associated with witchcraft, and on St. John’s Day, Europeans would stuff them into sacks and toss the cats into bonfires. On holy days, people celebrated by tossing cats from church towers.
It’s a wonder that they survived this long. Today, cats are North America’s most popular pets with 73 million cats. More than 30% of households in North America own a cat.
C’ome on, where do you get all these inspirations from? Abeg you are too original and highly detailed with your works here. Thank you for this thought provoking piece. God created cats just like every other things around us. If there are things we don’t understand about the pet, let’s leave it that way as long as they serve the purposes we rear them for. Cats are good pets and should be treated well
I believe God created the domestic house cats because God created the big cats called lions, tigers, cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, black panthers, and cougars.
Poorly written, poorly punctuated. Writer must have English as a second language because this article is horrible! Almost unreadable. Wrong words, wrong tenses. Just awful! Couldn’t get through it. My eight year old could do better.
To Dorothy- Dorothy, punctuation has nothing to do with English being a first or second language or mind you- third or fourth language. Many non-native speakers publish articles and books and are excellent writers; therefore, what you bring up is a stereotype. There are many sloppy writers (and sloppy speakers) with English as their first language. Although there were a few confusing phrases, the article was OK for its topic, which is unusual to begin with. It is not an article written for an English writing class audience and perfection of tenses is not its main priority.
First I want to apologise on behalf of Dorothy. Most likely, she is not aware of the work and time you put into this article. I came here from a comic with questions about dinosaurs and then cats popped into my head. So, here I am do to that. Now, I have thoroughly enjoyed the article, it’s interesting and grabs the readers attention. There are some errors in the article but, the way Dorothy said it was very rude. And other than those minor errors, it doesn’t distracts the reader too much. The story and history in this is joyful. I can say I have learned more about this topic than I have in a church. Thanks for taking time to make a good learning lesson. Keep up the good work!
Cats are just plain evil. That’s why they were not mentioned in the Bible. I’ve had cats before and they are sneaky night creatures that should not be kept in the home.
As for cats creating the plague, I believe it. They kill rats and leave them on your doorstep. If that rat had fleas, they didn’t die with the rat and either would get on the cat or get on the person, which caused them to get sick and the disease to spread. So yeah, I would say cats did have a hand in spreading the black plague that nearly killed most of Europe in the dark ages.
An extremely interesting and thought provoking article. I love cats and have two of them. Much cleaner than dogs and they don’t bark! Also cats are very independent.
You got it right! Ignorant people think cats are nocturnal not true either: Cats are crepusculars- up at twilight people.
You do not know why cats are not mentioned in the Bible. You just make up stories that sound good to you. Animals are not evil. They are different from humans who have free agency to choose good or evil. Animals commit murder every day but they are not evil, they are just hungry and doing what God programed them to do.