A Tipsy Idol, Lowing Cows, and Golden Rats

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A Tipsy Idol, Lowing Cows, and Golden Rats

• You shall not make yourselves any idols no
  images of animals, birds, or fish. You must
  never bow or worship it in any way. Exodus
  204-5

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The Facts, Please!

• The tipsy idol-This idol was Dagon, the main god
  of the Philistines. Its body or trunk was the
  likeness of a fish, and its top half was of a
  man, with arms and hands. Dagon was considered
  to be the father of another famous heathen god,
  Baal. The Philistines had two main temples in
  honor of Dagon-one at Ashdod and one at Gaza,
  with smaller temples elsewhere.

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More Facts, Please!

• Lowing cows-In Bible times the terms used in
  regard to cattle were the same as now a male was
  a bull, a female was a cow, and their offspring
  was a calf. Before a female had any calves, she
  was known as a heifer, and the young male was a
  bullock. A milk cow was not accustomed to being
  yoked up to a cart. If her baby calf was penned
  up, she would do everything she could to go to
  where it was. It would be a very unnatural thing
  for her to walk away from her baby and her own
  pasture and pull a cart into a strange land.

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More Facts, Please!

• Rats-Rats are rodents (gnawing animals). There
  are over five hundred kinds of rats all over the
  world. Rats are very destructive. They eat
  crops and pass along disease to people. The
  black rat was responsible for spreading the Black
  Plague throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.