Each year, approximately nine billion animals are slaughtered for food in the USA. Americans consume more than 13.6 million tons of beef annually. In contrast, the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) reported on April 30, 2024, that the average Rwandan only consumes about eight kilograms of meat per year. They estimate that each person in Rwanda is missing out on an additional 37 kilograms of meat that they should ideally be consuming. This underscores the popularity and desirability of meat. However, slaughterhouses are not popular destinations for public visits. Although many people enjoy eating meat, they often find the process of slaughtering and processing animals to be gruesome and unappealing.
The thought of the process is unsettling. Cattle are crammed into trucks or railcars, often traveling hundreds of miles from the farm in overcrowded, stressful conditions. Some don’t survive the journey. Those that do are funneled through narrow corridors into holding pens, where they meet their fate. Suspended upside down, their blood drains away before the butchers begin their grim work.
Does this disturb you? Most readers instinctively recoil, thinking, enough! Why dwell on something so gruesome? But there is a reason to confront it. This very image is the one Solomon uses to illustrate the fate of the foolish both men and women who are lured into adultery. What appears to be a path lined with pleasure is, in reality, the road to the slaughterhouse
At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. 7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. 8 He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house 9 at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. 10 Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. 11 She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; 12 now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks. 13 She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: 14 “Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. 15 So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! 16 I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. 18 Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! 19 My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. 20 He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.” 21 With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. 22 All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose 23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.
Proverbs 7: 6-23
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