Small but Wise II

“Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;"
Prov. 30:24-25

 We were visiting for the first time, the Botanical Gardens less than a mile from our apartment.  As we strolled along, learning what we could, Brenda cried out, "Look groundhogs!"

Before even seeing them I knew she had seen some hyrax.  I scurried around trying to get a decent photo only to discover that hyrax are:

• Extremely shy
• Very quick on their feet
• Extremely agile amongst the trees and rocks.

 I reminded Brenda that when in Africa right after we were married, for some reason I bought a blanket made up of squares of hyrax fur sown together.  We kept it for a few years, and in Pensacola we used it to try to make something out of a little piece of sofa that was one of our few meager pieces of furniture.

The hyrax we saw today were amazingly cute and made me regret supporting the hyrax fur trade.  I Goggled them and discovered that the Proverb 30 quote might be a lot more accurate than we thought, up until a few years ago.

In Israel hyrax are considered pests, which means they are the subject of scientific study.  Lo and behold it turns out that hyrax have a complec bird-like communication with evidence of syntax (http://www.gentlewisdom.org/5293/hyrax-intelligence-scientists-discover-biblical-truth/).  It is said they rank alongside " primates, whales, birds and bats" as top-ranked communicators.

Who knew?

But one thing should becoming clear by this point, The Scriptures, ordained by G^d, are trustworthy, not only for science but for life.

Now, if I could just live according to Scripture!  Ps 119:9-11.