908. The symbolism of every wild animal that is with you, of all flesh, as everything that was alive in the people of this church can be seen from this: The wild animal refers to a quality in Noah, or in other words, in the people of this church, now that they had regenerated. And it plainly looks ahead to the bird, beast, and creeping thing, since it says, "every wild animal that is with you, of all flesh, including the bird and the beast and every creeping thing creeping on the earth."
The word for wild animal in the original language strictly means life or a living thing, yet in the Word it means not only a living thing but also a relatively nonliving thing: a wild animal. 1
(You can see why those who do not grasp the Word's inner sense will sometimes be at a loss as to its meaning.) The reason the word means both living and nonliving is that the people of the earliest church, in humbling themselves before the Lord, confessed that they were nonliving, were not even good animals but wild beasts. They knew intimately that this is what humans are, viewed in themselves or as independent creatures. So the same word means both a living thing and a wild animal.
[2] The meaning of a wild animal as a living thing is evident in David:
Your wild animal will live in it [God's inheritance]. 2
You will strengthen the wretched person with your goodness, God. (Psalms 68:9-10)
The wild animal, because it will live in God's inheritance, simply means a regenerate person and consequently, as here, a living quality in such a person. In the same author:
Every wild animal of the forest is mine, the beasts on mountains of thousands. I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild animal of my field is with me. (Psalms 50:10-11)
The wild animal of the field "with me," that is, with God, also 3
stands for a regenerate person and so for the living qualities in that person. In Ezekiel:
In its branches nested every bird of the heavens, and under its branches bred every wild animal of the field. (Ezekiel 31:6)
This passage describes the spiritual church as a plant, so the phrase stands for the living qualities in the people of that church. In Hosea:
I will strike a pact on that day with the wild animal of the field and with the bird in the heavens. (Hosea 2:18)
This is about people regenerating, with whom a pact will be struck. So strong is the meaning of a wild animal as a living thing that even the guardian beings or angels seen by Ezekiel are called four "wild animals" (Ezekiel 1:5, 13-14, 15, 19; 10:15).
[3] The fact that a wild animal in the Word is taken in the opposite sense of a nonliving thing, or a savage creature, can be seen in many places. Let these alone serve for proof. In David:
Do not hand the soul of your turtledove over to the wild animal. (Psalms 74:19)
In Zephaniah:
The city became a wasteland, a lair for the wild animal. (Zephaniah 2:15)
In Ezekiel:
They will no longer be plunder for the nations, and the wild animal of the land will not eat them. (Ezekiel 34:28)
In the same author:
On its wreckage will live every bird of the heavens, and among its branches will stand every wild animal of the field. (Ezekiel 31:13)
In Hosea:
I will devour them there like a lion; the wild animal of the field will rip them apart. (Hosea 13:8)
In Ezekiel:
... given to the wild animal of the land and to the bird in the heavens as food ... (Ezekiel 29:5)
This phrase recurs often. 4
The Jews stuck exclusively to the literal meaning, understanding a wild animal as a wild animal and a bird as a bird, unwilling to see (much less acknowledge) any deeper content in the Word or to learn about it. As a result, they were so cruel, so feral, that they found pleasure in refusing to bury enemies killed in battle, leaving the bodies out to be eaten by the birds and wild animals. 5
This also demonstrates clearly what a wild animal a human being is.
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