Wisdom's Corner
Beware of Dogs

To call someone a dog in Bible times was very degrading. It meant you did not have much use for a person. It meant you thought very poorly of that person. And people did not like to be called dogs.

Dogs in Bible lands many times ran in packs. This means that they organized into groups and stayed together. The dogs sometimes would take over a particular street. They would lie around and make it difficult to even walk through them. The dogs were usually ferocious. They were usually thin and hungry.

They were very protective of the area that they claimed their own. Thus it could be dangerous to walk among them. They also would fight other dogs who might enter onto their street. Dog fights usually happened at night and would awaken people. Sometimes they would bark and howl all night long.

So you can see why dogs were not well liked in the Bible lands. And you can understand why calling someone a dog was not a complement.

In Philippians 3:2, we read, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." The dogs Paul are referring to are the Christians who were teaching that a Christian had to be circumcised to be a true Christian. These were Jews who just could not give up some of their beliefs from Judaism. They felt that they were still the chosen people of God and could not fully submit themselves to Jesus.

Today we must beware of those who say they are Christians but do not fully submit themselves to follow the New Testament teachings. They may sound very strong in what they say but we must not allow them to lead us away from the truth. And we must be careful not to allow ourselves to hang on to false beliefs. We must always strive to live the way the Bible tells us to live.

Keep reading your Bible. Learn what you need to in order to live like God wants you to. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 2002

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)