Pop quiz: What animal(s) appear in the Book of Jonah? If you answered “a large fish,” you’re half right. (And yes, it’s a “large fish,” not a whale.) 

To get full credit on this quiz, you would also need to mention the cattle.

If that last sentence has you scurrying for your Bible to check this claim, you’re probably not alone. In fact, given the drama with the large fish, even the most careful reader could easily miss the cattle. 

After narrating the episode with Jonah and the large fish, describing the repentance of the people in Nineveh and recounting Jonah’s anger at what has transpired, the book ends with a remark from God that Nineveh contains many people worthy of care “and also much cattle” (Jonah 4:11, in several translations). 

Why the cattle? In a book that seems to be intended to highlight the importance of human repentance, why should the author choose at the last minute to mention cows (although some translations simply say “animals”)?

The remark about cattle might seem misplaced. Yet, when read alongside the account of Genesis 2, with its description of the creation and commissioning of the human creature, the remark in Jonah about cattle might be more understandable. 

This comment might demonstrate the ways in which the God of the Bible is portrayed as one who cares passionately about the created world — and wants humans to care deeply about it as well.

In Genesis 2, the second story of the world’s creation, the Creator charges the human with an important task: serving the created order (Genesis 2:15). I am struck by the particular language the narrative uses here: the Hebrew word ‘avad. While some translations render this verb as “to keep,” “to watch over” or “to take care of,” the most literal translation is “to serve.” 

The same word is used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible to describe unequal power relations between humans, in which one human operates in servitude to another. When read here in Genesis 2:15, then, the use of ‘avad suggests that humans are not just to keep the Creator’s creation operating according to the status quo. Rather, the human is to act as though the nonhuman creation has a higher status than humans.

The image that emerges in Genesis 2 is that of a Creator who wants humans to prioritize care for the nonhuman creation. When this passage is read alongside the depiction of God in Jonah, suddenly the seemingly random comment about Nineveh’s cows seems less accidental. Rather, both texts support an image of God as one who cares for the nonhuman creation and who hopes humans will participate in such care as well.

Serving creation can take many forms, and the remark about cattle at the end of Jonah may be a good reminder of this. Although most of the story describes human actions, the final comment about the cattle reminds readers of the inextricable link between human and nonhuman creation. 

When the people of Nineveh repent, they save themselves from almost certain destruction. This allows them to continue to care for, feed — and, yes, even serve — the -cattle identified in the book’s final verse. 

The Ninevites have not only fulfilled the spiritual task of repentance. They have also worked toward fulfilling Genesis’ commission to humans to serve nonhuman creation.

What Might it mean for us to take a cue from Genesis and Jonah by serving nonhuman creation? 

Most of us don’t interact with cattle on a daily basis, but there are ways we can fulfill our Creator’s mandate to serve creation in other ways. Watering plants, weeding a garden, feeding chickens, even walking family pets could be ways to serve nature and the creatures God made. 

As the summer months provide an opportunity to revel in the created world, may we be attentive to the ways we can serve God’s creation in its many forms.