Where is there a Biblical verse to substantiate a notion that the sheep is Adam's favorite animal?
With all due respect, I must say that I do not remember such a thing.
I do remember in Genesis, that God sees that Adam is alone, and this is not good, so God presents to Adam each animal, that Adam might choose a helper/companion, but Adam finds none that are satisfactory. Only then does God cause Adam to fall into a sleep and creates Eve from a rib. Note that there are two creation accounts in Genesis. The first account merely says that God created all creatures male and female, and created humans in his own likeness and image (in the Greek Septuagint, this translates KAT' EIKONA sin kai OMOIOSIN" so we may notice the word IKON, that the human is an icon of God. We may conclude from the second creation account that Adam did not like any of the animals that much, or he would have shacked up with a giraffe or a hippo, or even the serpent, and the history of the world would have been different.
Anyway, I shall endeavor to find the first occurrence in the Bible for the word "sheep", using my Strong's exhaustive concordance (though one might use one of the many Bible search engines available).
I once searched on "love" and the first occurrence of "love" is quite late in Genesis (which is curious, if God is love and love is central in the commandments.) The first use of a word for "love" is to say that the father of Jacob and Esau LOVES the wild meat which Esau the hunter would prepare for him. Remember that Jacob, at his mothers suggestion, DECEIVES the blind Jacob with a domestic dish, and some wool wrapped around his arm, to simulate Esaus' hirsute nature, and then Isaac give the blessing/birthright intended for Esau, to Jacob.
(in a subsequent edit of this post)
Aha, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance shows that the first mention of sheep is Genesis 4:2 "Abel (Cain's brother) was a keeper of sheep." Now, in some sense, Abel was the first martyr, slain by his own brother, Cain, because of Cain's jealousy over the favor which Abel's religious sacrifice of a sheep finds with God, who rejects Cain's vegetarian offering.
Wow, the Cain/Able meat/beans sacrifice controversy ties right in, does it not?
By Jove, Watson, we may be on to something!
Found this on IMDb, and flashframe777 allowed me to post it here:
3) Sheep - society, as in 'following like sheep', Jack & Ennis ride the herd, outside of it, not a part of it.
7) names - Twist - cowboy lingo; also not straight, a surprise; Ennis Del Mar - island of the sea; Signal - warning or sign; Riverton - moving slowly, winding past, flow, Lightning Flat - as in struck by lightning
x Froggy
Numbers 3 and 7 above are intriguing!
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance shows that the very LAST reference to sheep in the Old Testament, is Zechariah 13:7, which predicts that Israel shall be scattered like sheep.
The very FIRST mention of sheep in the new testament is Matthew 9:36, which mentions that the Israelite are scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd. The last time that Jesus mentions the word sheep is to say "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17).
Number 12's point about Methodists is weak. The followers of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, had many nicknames. One was "the bible moths" because they were constantly reading the bible. Another nick name was the Methodists, because they studied the bible methodically. Fortunately for everyone, it was the "methodist" name that stuck, and not the "bible moths". I do not think it is accurate to infer that the Methodists had some methodical right way to do things, in contrast to the Pentecostals. I suspect that the key point here is that Ennis and Jack are innocent and ignorant of theology, but that they do pause to consider what might possibly be the eschatological estate of mankind, and the fate of their immortal soul.
In point of fact, the Pentecostals operate on a profound misunderstanding of the book of Acts, assuming that the miracle of the apostles speaking in tongues means that suddenly each apostle spoke in some unknown tongue, one perhaps speaking Tagalog, if thee were some Filipinos in the crowd, while another speaks Creol, etc. The actual miracle was that, as one apostle spoke.... each person in the crowd would hear and understand in his own native tongue. Note the verse in Revelations which speaks of a "voice of many waters". In fact, Apostle Paul was noticeably disapproving regarding the practice of churches "speaking in tongues", and he said that if it is done at all, it must be done in an orderly fashion, with one person speaking, and then another person interpreting to the congregation what has been said. Pentecostals believe that a worshiper must bring forth some visible miraculous sign of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in an unknown tongue, though the sign can also involve thrashing about as if controlled by a powerful spirit.
