Serpents and lions often appear together in the imagery of the prophets precisely to portray the condition of fallen humanity.  The serpent first tempted  Eve, who then tempted Adam, to eat from the Tree of Animals (as it was put by Philip in the Gospel of Philip) rather than from the trees of vegetation as they were commanded to in God's original vegetarian covenant of "Genesis" 1: 29, thereby succumbing to the temptation of the devil, and helping to initiate the carnivorism, the diet of lions, that is now the standard fare for the Jewish orthodoxy, as well as for the orthodoxies of Christianity and Islam.

  Lions are commonly used as a symbol for the carnivore by the vegetarian writers of the Old Testament, as any trip through a major concordance will testify. This recurrent imagery is seen not only in the Torah and New Testament but in Essene writings as well and is deliberately and constantly employed to dramatize the fall from vegetarianism to carnivorism that we see portrayed in the "Book of Genesis."

   We shall also see that Muhammad was well aware of this breaking of the covenant and wrote of it in numerous Surahs in the Quran, including Surah 5.

    The Judaeo-Christian-Islamic orthodoxies refuse to comment on the lion-carnivore imagery in the "Psalms" and in the later prophets, because it undermines the practice and the sanctioning of animal sacrifices by the Jewish orthodoxy, which is condemned by the vegetarian prophets, some psalmists, the author of the Book of Job, the Essenes as seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the original vegetarian followers of Jesus.
 

    The Fall from Vegetarianism was not only a fact, but the central tragedy, the tragic flaw, of the Jews' religious heritage, and its only cure was not to succumb to the temptation of flesh-eating demons, but instead to retain humility and to be satisfied with the produce of the earth, as advocated by God in the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30, in the scriptures of Jeremiah and other prophets who portray God as stating we should be satisfied with produce, as well as in the scriptures of the true vegetarian Moses, seen clearly in "The Words of Moses" in the Dead Sea Scrolls. We can also see the affirmation to be vegetarian in the events of the life of even the Moses of the Torah, if we but scrape off some its veneer, created by those who made up false scriptures showing Moses to sanction the animal sacrifices. Moses after all wore the Hindu bindi as did the fleeing Israelites, and the Israelites called themselves the Hodu meaning Hindustan (people).  Thus the etymology of the word Exodus (ex-hodus), which does not simply mean the departure, but the departure of a very particular group of people, those who remained true to the Hindustan beliefs teaching compassion towards all creatures and vegetarianism.  The vegetarian covenant of "Genesis" is also seen implicitly pervading the entire Book of Enoch, which absolutely forbids all bloodshed, and any alteration of creation as it is.

   Moreover, we see how Psalm 40 is quoted in "Epistle to the Hebrews" in the New Testament, an epistle which sees Jesus as having the same mission as David: to abolish the animal sacrifices.  Neither the Jewish nor the Christian orthodoxy deals with their vegetarian missions for obvious reasons.  For the holy wars of David and Jesus against the animal sacrifices and carnivorism, like those of Shiva, Krishna and the Jains and Buddhas, Pythagoras,  would show them to be in the compassionate Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions of the east, and in the compassionate teachings of Pythagoras, rather than in the bloody traditions of orthodox Judaism and orthodox Christianity.

   Significantly, Muhammad discusses this common mission of David and Jesus in the Quran.  This fact supports the contention of some Shia Muslims that the (original vegetarian) Quran was altered.  Readers of the Quran are well aware that one of its common themes, a theme repeated over and over again, is the fact that the people of the Book, Jews and Christians, have forsaken their original covenants with Allah.  Indisputably, the original dietary covenant--even according to Rabbinical Judaism--is the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30.  The Quran points out that David and Jesus had a common mission. From Surah 5 of the Quran:

     Those of the children of Israel who went astray were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, son of Mary.  That was because they rebelled and used to transgress. 5: 78

     "Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an open ear.  Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.  Then I said, "Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart."  David, Psalm 40: 6-8.

     For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure."  Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,' as it is written of me in the roll of the book.  Said of Jesus in "Epistle to the Hebrews," 10: 4-7.

   We can see David's denunciations of animal sacrifices, sometimes blunt, and sometimes oblique, in a number of psalms, for example, in Psalms 58 and 91, the latter of which is also used to describe the mission of Jesus.

 "They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter. O God break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither. Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun."  Psalm 58: 3-8.

   There are many who teach that God is not just, by stating that, instead of choosing to understand why we feel bad, what actions, and what foods, and what choices, make us feel good or bad, they choose instead to say that we need only believe in Jesus and not change our way of life.  According to their attitude, we need not be compassionate toward other creatures, even when the practical ramification of such compassion leads to us being more healthy physically as well as emotionally, since we don't ingest the emotional and physical poison of animal flesh.

   Psalm 91 is quoted in the New Testament as confirmation of Jesus as the Promised One of Israel.  However, orthodox commentators, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, ignore the fact that the passage prophesies a teacher or messenger who would restore Israel to its Vegetarian Covenant, who would conquer the serpent tempter and the lion-forces of carnivorism, because he has the protection of God's angels.

 "For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.  You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot."  Psalm 91: 11-13.

9   Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.

12  They shall  bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13  Thou shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

    The lion is as a representation of carnivorism is a symbol used throughout the Old and New Testament. The lion, mentioned twice in Psalm 91, represents fallen man in his hostile aggressive state.  In David's day, as in Jesus' day, as in Muhammad's day, the religious orthodoxies, industrialists, and governors of the nation were extremely evil, exactly like the hypocritical ministers, industrialists and the governments who rule the industrial nations today.  In psalm 91 the lion to David was orthodox Judaism transgressing the vegetarian covenant of "Genesis."  It is important to realize that the lion is to be regarded as a conscious being with free will, as is seen in "Genesis" 1: 30.

    Following are some examples of how some of the late vegetarian prophets of Judaism used the imagery of the lion, as well as the images of other carnivorous animals, to depict the violent history of orthodox Judaism.
 

   Like other Old Testament scribes, and like the Essenes later, Nahum uses the lion as a symbol of carnivorism and the fallen state of orthodox Judaism as well.  In "Nahum" not only does God promise to punish the carnivorous orthodoxy of Judaism, but also to remove from it its lineage of prophets, which is, in fact, what has happened historically.  Jesus and Muhammad both severely chastised the immorality of the Jewish nation.  And John of Patmos in "Revelations" calls the Jews' religious meeting place the "synagogue of Satan," because all sorts of immorality are taught there, not only the sanctioning of animal sacrifices, but of sexism, bigotry against homosexuals, economic elitism, and even human slavery.  All these, in a book that purports to be God's revelations!
 
 

"Where is the lion's den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion brought his prey, where his cubs were, with none to disturb?  The lion tore enough for his whelps and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh....Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard."  2: 11-13.

   In the following verses from "Zephaniah" we see that not only lions but wolves are used to designate the predatory hierarchy of orthodox Judaism, which not only preyed on the animals they sacrificed and oppressed through industry, but also preyed on humans as well.  The priests have polluted the sanctuary of the temple by accepting the absurd and brutal morality of the Pentateuch, parts of which were written by false scribes, and by shedding the blood of the sacrificed animals in the temple. Therefore Jerusalem, personified as a woman, as in Ezekiel 16, is described as a polluted and oppressing city.

1: Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
2: She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
3: Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
4: Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

     Isaias uses the image of the predatory carnivorous lion to show that in the final times there will be no creature preying on another, no carnivorism.  His view of paradise is the same as that of Enoch, and Isaias no doubt felt inspired by the fact that there was a document such as the Book of Enoch which still affirmed an uncompromising morality in which no creatures whatsoever were to be oppressed or killed.  Isaias was prophesying what would exist after the destruction of the present industrial world order.  Isaias denounced cities and affirmed that there will be a return to the paradise of the vegetarian covenant of "Genesis" 1: 29-30, wherein Deity commands all of his conscious creatures, humans and other animals, to eat vegetation only.

   In the following passage Isaias sees the Final Time as an era in which Deity allows the earth to thrive in water and vegetation.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.  For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein.  No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it...  35: 5-9.

"For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and without number; its number; it's teeth are lions' teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.  It has laid waste my vines, and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white....The cereal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord....The fields are laid waste, the ground mourns; because the grain is destroyed, the wine fails, the oil languishes."  Joel 1: 6-10.

    Hosea in chapter 13 points to the apathy of the orthodox Jews, who, though their normal appetites are satisfied, desire to satisfy their
baser appetites instead.  One should see a parallel here with the description of the Jews craving flesh who are given the disease-ridden quail to eat, and therefore die.

5 It was I who fed you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

6 When I fed them, they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart was proud; therefore they forgot me.

7 So I will become like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

   God's vengeance is clear.  As in the correct exegesis of the Book of Job, wherein Job the cattleman is punished because he has consistently sacrificed animals, and thereby transgressed God's original covenant, in the Book of Hosea we see that God will likewise treat the Jews brutally, as they have treated the animals they have sacrificed.

8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and will tear open the covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild animal would mangle them.

9 I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you? 10 Where now is your king, that he may save you? Where in all your cities are your rulers, of whom you said, "Give me a king and rulers"?

   So too the late prophets respected the lives of creatures as having a value in their own, and did not see them as tools or food for humans.  In so doing, the late prophets respected creatures as having free will and consciousness, as does Genesis 1: 30, contrary to the belief of the orthodoxies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

   Therefore, we once again see that original Judaism was Hinduism transplanted in Canaan and Palestine.  Every student of Hinduism knows that there are abundant scriptures in that religion affirming that carnivorous humans will be born as carnivorous animals until they become vegetarian once again, and therefore obedient to God's original dietary covenant.  This view is in perfect harmony with the morality of the Book of Enoch wherein all bloodshed is forbidden, whether of other creatures, or of humans, and wherein all alteration of creation is likewise forbidden.

   The lion, as well as all other animals whom we have been taught to regard as instinctually carnivorous, violently breaks the covenant by capturing, killing, rending apart and eating other animals all of whom God regards as sacred creations.  When the animals do this, they transgress Divine law as seen in "Genesis" 1: 30 which commands all creatures to be vegetarian, and the Divine Law seen in the Book of Enoch.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." "Genesis" 1: 30.

    The Book of Daniel is one of the main sources for those who have predicted our present time as the Final Days. Hal Lindsay's works, including The Late Great Planet Earth are a few among many fundamentalist and orthodox presentations of what is to occur in the final times.  One of the main teachings regarding the final times, which fundamentalist commentators do not usually comment on except superficially, relates to the destruction of the city Babylon in "Revelations."  Babylon is often interpreted as being New York, the home of Wall Street.  What "Revelations" makes clear, following the tradition of the Book of Enoch, however, is that the city is a center of industry, which is, according to Enoch and Noah in the Book of Enoch, taught to humans by fallen angels such as Azazel who teaches humans how to make weapons and how to sacrifice animals.  Mining is also forbidden in the Book of Enoch, as are any alterations of creation.

    In other words, while Lindsay and other writers on the Final Days point out that the Antichrist is coming and will attack Judaism, Christianity and Islam, they really don't specify what teachings the Antichrist will attack. That is because Lindsay and most of the Christian writers writing on the topic defend Christianity as it is, in all its present corruptness and violence.

   These writers see nothing wrong with the fact that the orthodoxies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam routinely support the widespread killing of the creatures of the earth through industry, the polluting of nature's air, water, and earth, the eating of animal corpses and therefore the spreading of a legion of cholesterol-related diseases, the fact that rich industrialists routinely control wage slaves living on subsistent wages throughout the world, and that there are homeless, hungry people without medical care in all the industrial nations, that are virtually uncared for by the industrial elite.  However, I do not want to emphasize the abuse of humanity over the abuse of other creatures.  Both are evil and unforgivable.  For the sin to be forgiven, forgiveness must be requested, but industrial cultures continue to sin and continue to point to obviously false, rewritten scriptures, such as Genesis 1: 26-28, and Genesis 9: 2-3, scriptures which only the most brutal among humans would defend as legitimate, and only with the ulterior motive of protecting one's economic interests, or one's addiction to eating flesh.

    What we see in both "Revelations" and the Book of Enoch is the end of the age of industrialism.  The fact that Daniel sees the images of metal, gold, silver and brass as breaking, shows that Daniel also was channeling the anti-industrial morality of the Book of Enoch.

 "You O king, sawest, and behold a great image standing before You, whose head was of gold, its arms and shoulders of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay. You sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands; and it smote the image upon its feet, which were part of iron and part of clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the clay and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."

"I Daniel saw, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lioness, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given it. And behold, a second beast, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo a third beast, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl: the beast had also four heads. After this I saw, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; its great iron teeth and its claws of brass devoured and brake in pieces and it stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse exceedingly from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered its horns, and behold, there came up among them a little horn, and before it there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." (Dan. 2:31-35)

     "The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great.  The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.  Its leaves were fair and its fruit abundant, and it was food for all.  The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of  the air dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it." 4: 10-12.