In a stunning turn in the story, the next thing God created to correct this condition was the animals. In as high a doctrine of creation as one can find in all of ancient literature, the first candidates for companionship were the beasts of the field (represented by the lion, the king of the beasts and symbol of Mark’s gospel); the birds of the air (represented by the eagle, the king of the birds and symbol of John’s gospel); and the domesticated livestock (represented by the bull, the king of farm animals and symbol of Luke’s gospel). The last things God created were the earthlings, ish and ishah (represented by the human, the capstone of creation and symbol of Matthew’s gospel).