Do you think Jesus ever had a pet?

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Dogs were around, they scavenged for scraps. It was not fluffy fido curling up in bed.
 
Sure …sing the children’s song, “i am Jesus’ little lamb!”
 
TheLittleLady said:
Dogs were around, they scavenged for scraps. It was not fluffy fido curling up in bed.
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Again–this was not just anyone. The wind obeyed Him. A never-ridden colt submitted to him. Every animal He ever met would have behaved as if it were His pet.
 
DaveBj said:
I’m sure that there were always dogs and cats around
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Yeah, but dogs were often perceived as wild pack animals. Even those in residence as household pets weren’t so much lap dogs.
CoffeeAndDonuts said:
There’s lots of classical evidence as in depictions of pets in art.
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Would those be the same classical depictions that showed 1st century Palestinians as blonde, blue-eyed Caucasians, dressed in Western European fashions contemporary to the artists? 🤣
 
Limoncello4021 said:
Cats have been held around households since ancient times to keep the vermin population down. Think of how ancient Egypt revered cats! I suspect Jesus petted some cats in his lifetime
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I was surprised to learn that when the British occupied Palestine, they found no cats there. Lots of rodents, no cats.
 
Because the NAB/RE and RSV are not based strictly (if at all) on Saint Jerome’s work, but upon much later and considerably different manuscripts. Their version of Tobit begins in the first person but then suddenly changes to third person about three chapters in. I wonder about that.

Oh, and no dog in the story.
 
SacredHeartBassist said:
Didn’t that one Samaritan woman tell Jesus that even the dogs ate scraps from their master? Isn’t that proof of pets back then?
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In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, dogs licked Lazarus’ sores. It would do him good, of course. Dogs’ saliva contains some chemical that helps to heal skin lesions.
 
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Right. I’m not saying that the animal necessarily lived indoors.
 
Right isn’t that because the other manuscripts are better?
 
Dogs have existed since before mankind, so their presence anywhere and anytime is not unusual or proof that ancient cultures either owned or worshiped pets as our culture occasionally does.

Ancient Egypt deified dogs, but that was idol worship, not pet ownership.
 
PetraG said:
I was surprised to learn that when the British occupied Palestine, they found no cats there. Lots of rodents, no cats.
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Could that be a Muslim thing, possibly? I know they’re against keeping dogs.
 
Dogs had jobs though, like protecting sheep. I’m sure they were cared for but not in the same way we have dogs that don’t do any thing except play ball and fetch.
 
Why does that mean it can’t also be a pet simply because the animal also has utility?
 
That’s not really what I meant. I meant in Jesus time, dogs did things to earn their keep. Small breeds of dogs like lap dogs are a very recent development.

If Jesus had a lamb, I’m sure He would treat it nicely. But its purpose would be for meat or milk and wool.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
Found this article online. According to it, cats were unknown in ancient Israel. Who knew? So perhaps Jesus never petted a cat in his life. His loss! 🙂
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I just had a look at two concordances and they both say the same thing: the word “cat” appears nowhere in the Bible. I admit I found that quite a surprise.
 
When He was a baby, he was exiled in Egypt. They had cats there, so maybe He got to play with a cute basket of kittens.
 
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