The Bible is literally crawling with animals — from the crafty serpent of Genesis to Jesus's parable of the lost sheep. That's because animals (both wild and domesticated) were an integral part of life in the ancient world. In today's episode,  Lloyd Llewelyn-Jones is back to explain what lions, donkeys, doves and dogs really meant to the ancient authors of the Bible (and also what a locust and honey sandwich actually tastes like).

For more of Lloyd's fascinating insights, check out the sweeping reference book he co-authored with Sian Lewis, The Culture of Animals in Antiquity: A Sourcebook with Commentaries. 

And if you want to dive deeper into some of the animal references from today's episode,  try these articles from our content partner Bible Odyssey:

• The Creation of the Animals
• Shepherds in the Bible
• Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Israel
• Like Swarming Locusts (Joel 1-2)
• The Story of Balaam

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos