Is Deer Hunting Biblical

It’s Sunday evening, I have just gotten up from my afternoon nap. My

children are gathered on the bed around me. As we lay around, we are

simply enjoying one another’s company. While the family is talking,

I pick up the Lectionary Passage for the coming week. The Old Testament

reading comes from the Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verses 8 through 11. I

read the passage to myself and just kind of giggle. I then read the

passage out loud to my family. By the time I am through reading, we are

all laughing hysterically as we envision some guy in a white cotton gown,

dancing through a field of flowers not unlike Tiny Tim. Listen to the

words.

“The voice of my beloved. Look, he comes, leaping upon the

mountain, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young

stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the lattice.

My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and

come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and

gone.’”

Well, maybe you just had to be there. But then a strange thought hit me.

This passage is about deer. I just received my deer hunting packet from

the Delta National Forest. Deer season is just around the corner. Could

there possible be a biblical tie to hunting in general and deer hunting in

particular? Was deer hunting important in Old Testament or New Testament

Times? I thought to myself, “Why not find out?” Deer hunting

might be fun for a sermon topic. So, hold on to your rifles, here we go!

Let’s start our deer hunt in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy

which is the last book in the Law of Moses. The word Deuteronomy means

“repetition of the law”. So, Deuteronomy is an integral part

of God’s law that was recorded by Moses. Moreover, Jesus himself

quotes Deuteronomy as law. In fact, there are almost 100 quotations and

references to Deuteronomy in the New Testament. Therefore, we can be

assured that Deuteronomy is not just Old Testament Law, but is, instead,

God’s law for both the Old and New Testaments.

Now, as we begin our reading in Deuteronomy, we find Moses and the

Israelites in the territory of Moab. Moses is delivering his farewell

speeches in order to prepare the people for their entrance into Canaan.

Moses is readdressing God’s covenant with the Israelites and is

emphasizing the laws that will be needed in their journey into the

promised land. Let’s see what Moses has to say about deer in the

12th chapter, 15th verse of Deuteronomy.

“Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns

and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer,

according to the blessing the Lord your God gives you.”

In this passage, God tells the Israelites that they can slaughter and eat

as much meat as they want, just as if it were gazelle or deer meat. Does

this mean that we can eat as much deer meat and gazelle meat as we want?

Let’s look at the 22nd verse of chapter 12.

“Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially clean

and unclean may eat.”

Seems to me that God has given us permission to hunt deer and gazelle. And

God has given us permission to eat of it as much as we want. But, are

their other animals which we may hunt? Listen to Deuteronomy 14:4.

“These are the animals you may eat; the ox, the sheep, the goat,

the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the Ibex, the

antelope, and the mountain sheep.”

Now, even though we are told that we may eat of these other animals, there

seems to be a special significance to deer and gazelle. In the 15th

chapter of Deuteronomy, God tells the Israelites to set aside the first

born of their flocks and to eat them in His presence as if they were

gazelle or deer. As you can plainly see, Deer and gazelle hunting have

been with us since the time of Moses. Maybe this is the reason that deer

hunting has always been important with church folk. And Deer hunting seems

to have been a significant part of the lives of many biblical characters.

Listen to the words of King David in the 42nd Psalm.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you,

O God.”

In this Psalm, David makes the deer the symbol for the soul’s

longing for God. And it is because of this one passage, deer have become

the symbol for purity, and the pursuit of intimacy with God. Because of